Retro/Vintage Archives - Be Kind, Thrift and Rewind

A couple of months ago I decided to join some of the vintage, antique, and retro resale groups on Facebook. At first I was reluctant to add more and more posts to my news feed, but now after the fact, I am so glad I changed my mind and got a better attitude about joining these groups. The various posts by their diverse members are fun, and educational and brighten my days. I get to see so many pretty outfits and find out about some gorgeous pieces of antique jewelry. Now I look forward to enjoying these groups pretty much every day.

The groups I am in:

Vintage Pattern Bazaar

Ooh La La! Vintage Swap and Sell Shop

Vintage/Rare Sewing Pattern Exchange

We Sew Retro Buy & Sell & Trade

All Things Vintage, Antiques and Nostalgia

If you know of any other great group drop me a comment. These are the ones I have joined that display antique jewelry, vintage clothing, retro clothing, sewing patterns, and even antique china and art. Sets of linens dating back to 1800, plates and cups with covered wagons, all kinds of interesting finds, and many are for sale. Some are in the US and some are overseas. There are times that a member just posts a picture of themselves dressed up in a special outfit, particularly if they are sharing a special thanks to someone else in the group that they bought from.

The vintage pattern groups have patterns they sell and exchange, plus often they have vintage lace, elastic, or ribbons, for sale. If nothing else you can enjoy looking at the various patterns through the years.

Most of the groups have two thousand or more members. We Sew Retro Buy & Sell & Trade is the smallest one I am in with 1,800 members. Ooh La La! Vintage Swap and Sell Shop has 18,659 members! The group member’s sell clothing, jewelry and other vintage items in the US and worldwide. I see a lot of posts from the UK, but often they offer to ship internationally. The other good thing about these groups is that if you are a collector who doesn’t want to open an Etsy shop or sell at a flea market you could sell in these groups. Most groups have some basic rules as to being polite, what to post and what not to post, very basic guidelines.

Also some of the members are very interesting. There is one young lady who lives in Russia who regularly finds and shares some of the most amazing vintage photos. She is an art history major. Another woman had a photo of herself with walls from doll houses wrapped up in her hair. What an amazing profile picture. I recently ended up in a vintage clothing discussion with a young man who had some lovely pink vintage dresses that could lead any woman to a case of envy.

One of the pages I like that is not a member-based group is Boylerpf Antique Vintage Jewelry. The reason I mention it even though it is not an open group is that if you love vintage there is a huge amount of lovely jewelry being posted regularly. They have everything from ring collections to rare jewels and they also post pictures of pieces that are housed in special collection in museums, or perhaps private collections (the photos often say “with”….. meaning with either the photographer, or the owner I assume.)If you enjoy seeing these types of items it is worthwhile to like the page and see what they share. They recently shared a photo of a brooch by Salvador Dali made in 1949. It is called the Eye of Time. A blue-faced enamel watch is revealed in an open eye, which is surrounded by diamonds on platinum. A small ruby cabochon is the tear duct. This piece is so unique and beautiful. It is a treat to even see such an item.

My favorite piece they shared recently is an 18^th century German Chatelaine Perfume bottle made of hand-finished crystal. It is suspended from a silver chain with silver angels on the side. I am sorry I can’t share the photos with you. You have to either like the page for this jewelry business or join groups to see their particular photos.

I did search for some vintage pattern pictures on Flickr and I hope you enjoy those. Please stop by the comment section and share any other groups you find or know of. It would be fun to know what other readers are finding as well.

Also on the topic of resale vintage or thrifting, things further down the chain of mass production, recently I was quoted and my blog mentioned by another blogger, Nicole Molders, of High Latitude Style. She wrote a recent post called “6 thrifting blogger’s secrets for great fashion finds.” So if you’d like you could read that and visit Nicole’s blog. I was so excited that she asked me to participate in the post!

I hope all of you are looking forward to spring as much as I am. I have enjoyed winter and I was glad we had some snow. I am rather excited that spring is on its way though, along with all the flowers and buds and pretty leaves that come with it.

These photos link to Flickr

Vintage Embroidered Blouse And A 1930’s Style April Cornell Skirt

February 23, 2016

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Recently I finally got around to shortening this April Cornell skirt I bought sometime around 2001. Originally it was floor length but for one thing it couldn’t really fit my waistline anymore and for another I thought I’d wear it more if it was mid-calf length. I have always thought the blue velvet around the lower part of the skirt was gorgeous. It really makes the skirt elegant. The skirt always lent itself to a 1930’s look even when it was longer. When I shortened the skirt I took the fabric from the waist area. Then through the years I managed to find this black cotton blouse with the black embroidery along the front. Together I think they really create a nice pair for a 1930’s looking outfit.

I am not sure how old the blouse is. I think it may be from the 1930’s due to the pleated sections on the right and left of the blouse, in the front and back. The length of the blouse is short. At first I was tempted to add some black lace to the bottom to lengthen it but then when I was at the Pier Antique Show back in November of 2015 I saw a few very similar blouses and they all were this short length. So I decided to preserve it the way it was when I found it. The only other thought I had was to perhaps sew a small ribbon on the back so as to be able to tie it in the back. I did see one like that at the show but I still couldn’t bring myself to alter the original design of this blouse in any way. The blouses I saw that were similar to mine at the show cost anywhere from $125 to $200 dollars each! Recently I have, for the most part, been wearing the blouse with this skirt. I have also worn it with black jeans for a mix of modern and vintage. When I worked in the fashion industry I liked to wear it with a black pencil skirt. I always feel like my blouse is very unique.

The embroidery is what confuses me most about the timeline for when this blouse was made. I found on a fashion archive website that Joshua Heilmann designed an embroidery machine back in 1848. By the 1870’s there were apparently fourteen companies manufacturing embroidery machines in Switzerland. So this blouse could easily be from the 1930’s. The embroidery does look like it was sewn with a machine. If any of you reading this think the blouse is from a different timeline let me know in the comment section. I like how the black embroidery on black fabric kind of lends itself to white work, which was a type of embroidery very popular in the 1800’s, particularly with white stitches on white fabric. They were typically buttonhole stitches. White work is a fading craft and I myself hope to get into it someday before too long.

I haven’t been able to find any pictures of women wearing boots with their 1930’s dresses or outfits. They must have been cold at times and worn them. In the winter I tend to wear my outfit with black lace-up boots, which gives it a slight grunge look. I really like the grunge-vintage floral mix so that is fine with me.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post. Spring should be approaching soon but we have still had some bitter cold even as recent as last weekend. So I am still wearing my winter clothing and enjoying wearing my vintage sweaters and lots of layers.

1930's look vintage outfit

April Cornell skirt

1930's embroidered blouse

Dottie Angel Dress I Made For My Daughter

January 14, 2016

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My daughter asked me to make her a Dottie Angel dress so I decided that was my task for a Christmas present. Meanwhile I had not made a dress from a pattern in about thirty years. Simplicity pattern 1080, known as the Dottie Angel Dress, has twenty-eight steps in order to make dress A, which is the one my daughter wanted. I literally worked on about two steps at a time or the whole thing would have seemed very overwhelming. I had never worked with bias tape before but with patience it all started to make sense. My mother, who has far more sewing experience than I do, was surprised I was working with bias tape – she thought it over-complicates things. I do think it helps keep things neat and tidy once you get used to it.

My stitching is not perfect and there were a few times I took out a seam and redid it to attempt to get it in better shape. I need more practice! Anyway in the long run the dress came out lovely. Emily likes muted colors and I thought the orange sherbet colored bias tape perked up the brown floral background. The pink pockets were made from Liberty of London fabric, which has small bits of that orange sherbet color in the background. I am a complete sucker for any fabrics with brown background and florals as the print. Emily wears a lot of brown as well.

When I first came across Tif Fussel’s website I of course wanted her dresses, which she refers to as “frocks,” as apparently many women do. Her dresses are vintage-inspired and feminine and have that soft, relaxed, country look to them. They tend to remind me of German dirndls when they are made with florals or small prints, and the strap that ties at the back accentuates the waist. As a child I wore dirndls for several years when we lived in Germany. When I used to work at April Cornell as a sales lady many women spoke about the modern workplace’s clothing being so androgynous. These women were coming in looking for floral dresses that captured a softer, feminine look. Tif has mentioned in her blog that she thinks she “was a farmer’s wife in another life.” She also refers to her style as “granny chic.” Well she has definitely done her part to make granny chic popular.

I plan on making a Dottie Angel dress or two for myself as well. Emily bought me some fabric for a Christmas present that I plan on using for one dress. She took me over to Fancy Tiger Crafts in Denver with my gift certificate and I picked out a soft grey print fabric with little navy and red bicycles. I might even make a couple that have solid fabric on top and a floral or patterned print on the bottom since some offices are very conservative about prints. I will wait and see where I am working to figure that out. One of the things that is so nice about making your own clothing is that you can choose the fabrics and how you want to arrange things. I also think this dress would be beautiful if upcycled from a vintage sheet set.

Emily wanted to illustrate how she winterized her dress quickly for a snowy, winter Colorado day. It was Christmas Day in Denver. With her sweater, scarf, hat and army jacket she looks cozy, comfy and pretty in her Dottie Angel dress. I like the mix of army jacket with floral. It transforms the outfit to a grunge look from the late 1980’s to early 1990’s. Emily has long been a fan of granny type boots. Plus she is a crazy for hats, which seems to run in my family. Whenever I am in Colorado I always love how once winter hits it is so common to see people wearing their hats indoors as well as outside. There is something so peaceful about being wrapped up in a hat and a warm sweater.

I hope you enjoyed this post about the Dottie Angel dress. I certainly enjoyed making it and hope to make a few more. The design is a classic and therefore is a wonderful addition to any lady’s wardrobe.

Dottie Angel Dress granny chic

Photo by Emily Owens

Dottie Angel Dress

Dottie Angel Dress Frock simplicity pattern 1080

Tif Fussell Dottie Angel Dress

dottie angel pattern 1080

My Daughter’s Apartment Is So Vintage Punk

January 9, 2016

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My daughter Emily’s apartment is so vintage punk. It is cozy, comfy and slightly crooked due to the floors being slanted. It looks so quintessentially her. She has a mannequin she refers to as “Lisa” who stands naked at the rear of her vintage bathtub. A cut-out of a red fox sits between the wall and the tub. Not many people I know have such an interesting bathroom. I mean Lisa and her red fox are quite striking. The walls in the bathroom have more vintage punk art on them. Emily has an assortment of collages she has made and her paint palette also hangs up with its dried paints displayed.

Emily’s assortments of cameras are sitting on top of a vintage old metal rack organizer. A “Ladies” sign is perched on top of a black case. Her little teddy bear “Teddy” sits to the side of the rack with his friend “Wolf”, both from her childhood.

My daughter told me with a look of sneaky delightful joy that she enjoys screwing screws into the wall. She is the daughter of a carpenter so that explains that. On these screws she has perched several drawers which hold a variety of items she likes to display, such as her Mary candle and a can of Heinz beans. Where we lived when Emily was a baby was a large Hispanic neighborhood and those candles were very popular, as were any items displaying pictures of Mary. Off to one corner she has a small altar area with several Mary items displayed. Another drawer holds an old typewriter. Emily is a big fan of typewriters. She values the occasion to sit and type a poem sometimes.

It snowed on Christmas Day, adding to the charm of the apartment, with its large windows creating a view of the snow flickering slowly down to the ground. Emily has a small collection of cactuses she is growing and a tiny fern in her kitchen; they are all growing out of old Café Bustelo cans.

She also has a drawer that she collaged in the inside sitting on the floor near her dining table. This also says “Coffee” since coffee is a big part of Emily’s life. She has been a barista most of the last eleven years.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit in Denver and Boulder, Colorado. I also got a big kick out of she’s Emily’s first apartment that she has had on her own. The building is old and was damaged in a fire. Her landlord bought it for way below the going rate, fixed up the part that was destroyed and is making a nice profit on the place. She is lucky that she lives so close to her work place and a bus ride away from school.

Well I hope you all are enjoying the beginning of the New Year! I am hopeful this year will bring some steady, long-term employment for me and other good things.

Lisa punk decor- steampunk vintage punk