i love this dress

{vintage hollywood pattern #1352. found here.}

I'm not sure if I'll have time between now and next weekend, but I was looking around for a dress I could make to wear to a wedding. I initially thought I'd make a black dress and then got to thinking that is a little too dressy for this particular wedding. Plus I keep going back and forth about which pattern to use for that "little black dress." The one I was going to use I don't think will work so great. Anyway, so this is finally what I found that I think will work. I have a pattern that I changed slightly that should work. Here's my quick sketch that I made of my ideas:


{i kind of like that green buckle best, but i also think the round burgundy one would be nice. hmmm.}

Now, we shall see if this actually gets made. Though even if I don't get to it now, I hope to get to it eventually! My life is freaking busy and sewing is piling up. Mostly work, which is great! Just gives me hardly any time to sew for myself, because I tend to get burned out by the end of the day.

Well tomorrow sometime {not sure when yet} I'm taking a break and heading to the lake! More sewing tonight and possibly a movie at the same time. I'm in another old movie mood {but then, when am I not??} so I'm trying to decide between Ginger Rogers or Myrna Loy. :) They both make me extremely giddy. {Whoa, I'm a dork!} Have an awesome weekend! And if you have a peach tree filled with lovely peaches like I do, make this amazing peach/blueberry cobbler. I made it last night and oh man, it's like, the best.

linen shorts, '30s sailor style

{Three Smart Girls 1936}

Finally got around to taking a few pictures of the shorts I made. I seriously feel weird posing for pictures, 'cause I know some of you out there are going to think I'm completely into myself. Okay, every girl is sorta into themselves. Even if just a smidge. Because it's just kinda fun to get dressed up and I get obsessed about clothing, especially when it has anything to do with historical or vintage clothing. Since I rarely buy clothing anymore, I've been making my own clothes and it has encouraged me to dive into the 1930s, which is a style I love so much and believe is easily adaptable to modern wear. I haven't gone full fledge 1930s, as cool as that would be, I still like other styles of clothing I like whether they are modern or have a vintage flair to them. All that said, here are the pictures of the shorts I made. (Yeah, ME in shorts. I know it's hard to believe.) I used a 1940s overall pattern I got for $1 a couple years ago. I changed them a bit (which required one failed attempt a year ago plus three or four extra mock ups) and this is what I got:


{linen sailor shorts}

I'll take more detailed shots of the actual shorts themselves when I'm not wearing them. :)

I also took a picture with the 1930s blouse I made last year. I'm liking the shorts a lot, even if it shows a lot of white pastey leg. Oh man, I couldn't tan even if I wanted to. And believe me, I don't want to! I've learned to embrace the curse of the redhead. We don't tan, we freckle. And I'd rather have freckles than a gross cancer shade of brown. Yuck.


{sailor shorts and the '30s blouse i made last year}

a hot day

We finally turned on the AC. It's amazing that we haven't really used it much this summer. It's usually on all the time and turned up way too high (I'm usually freezing my butt off in this house). It is a hot day today. I put off some things that I should have done because of it. I think hot weather must make me sleepy and groggy and a big loss of inspiration.

On a side note, Saturday I made myself a pair of linen sailor shorts. Think 1930s. You thought I had forgotten about the 1930s? Not so. I'm still sucked in. I tried taking pictures yesterday, but I look ridiculous in every single one. So I'll take them another day. {There is something about posing in shorts that just feels weird. I want it to look like the cover of a 1930s French fashion magazine {you know, like circa 1931 on the beach}, but instead I just look dumb. Besides, I feel somewhat narcissistic {yes, THAT word} taking pictures of myself. I feel like cutting off my head in every picture because of it.}

The above text I wrote earlier this afternoon. It's now past midnight and I've already gone to bed and then gotten up again because I couldn't sleep. I even had an Oreo and a glass of milk and yet I am not sleepy. There's something lacking. I kept thinking of looking for inspiring images and I really haven't come up with too many. I guess it was just one of those days where your brain does not seem to function properly and everything you want to do gets thrown to the wind. I did get stuff done, but not nearly as much as I wanted. I was even going to get to bed early so I could wake up early tomorrow to catch up. And what do I do? I can't fall asleep. I was really tired all day and all night so I thought it would be easy, but no. So here I am up late rambling away in my journal. Hm...I know it's terrrribly boring to read so I should stop.

I'm going to get another glass of milk. Maybe another Oreo.

{p.s. Now that the AC is on I am freezing again. Go figure.}

i feel like writing whatever i feel like writing

{finally had a chance to visit the lake the other day, only to find out the beach was closed. but we had fun anyway and i will go back to be sure! a few more pictures on my flickr.}

Dude, this chick has got something going here! {Thanks Casey for pointing out that link in your blog!} Let's just say I'm definitely going to be making this dress as part of my summer wardrobe. Looks easy, I've actually got some jersey fabric sitting in my closet {it's been there for umm almost going on three years now??} and it's the perfect weather for dresses. So yeah, totally going to be printing this one out for when I get a spare moment. These days the free-moments have been few and far between. I'm really trying to get a lot of work done and instead I'm going crazy over here feeling like I am all of a sudden going back to school and writing research papers. It's kinda funny, but also I'm learning a lot. Mainly I'm learning how I need to prioritize. Also documentation, documentation, documentation. Yeah I know you are going "huh?" How 'bout we just leave it that way.

So back to my favorite topic; clothing and "stuff." Actually you know what? I've found that I can do quite well without stuff. I don't really have a lot of summery clothes because my style has changed a lot in the last few years and for some reason I thought I looked bad in shorts so I don't really have any, except for a pair I use to paint in. And I'm not buying anything right now. Thus the whole "anti-stuff-movement" I seem to be into these days. I haven't even gone thrifting in months. It's just too easy to see something that is a good price and blow my money on it only to find out later I didn't actually need it. Even a top for $3 is well, THREE DOLLARS! It's like going down to the coffee shop and getting a macchiato {to DIE for}, which these days I've tried to cut back on {sad, I know}. As far as clothes are concerned, I have enough so I don't walk around naked and if I'm so desperate to have something different to wear, I'll make it myself. And since my time is limited, I better wear whatever it is I am making for myself otherwise I will feel awful about spending all that time for nothing. When you do business you realize time is money. Whether or not that is a good thing, I couldn't tell you. Though somehow I still manage to waste large amounts of time. Now I feel like I'm contradicting myself. hmm...Anyway, don't listen to what I say. I'm sure you can find a million contradictions in my blog if you look at past entries. But I'm OK with that. Well now I'm just rambling.

Let's go back to the dress-wearing topic, because I like that topic.

I'm actually wearing dresses and skirts every day for the first time in umm since I was like a three year old. Every year I tell myself I'm going to do it and then every year I get all weird and decide I feel too dressy in a skirt or dress. Right now it's more a matter of "I'm hot, jeans suck." And who wants to wear jeans on a hot day, especially when your legs are severely sunburned from that day at the lake when ::ehem:: someone forgot to put on sunscreen? Besides, I've started quite a nice little collection of summer dresses. Some are vintage and some are dresses I've made; I'm hoping to add to that little collection when time permits. Of course the moment I end this post I will lay out what I'm going to wear tomorrow and it will probably be linen pants and a tank. Yeah, go me. But heck, I don't care. I'm gonna wear what I feel like wearing so whether or not it's a cute summer dress because I want to feel good and look pretty all in one, or a baggy shirt and baggy pants because I feel like it. Whatever it is, I'm sure the rest of the world will continue on as per usual. :) And that fact alone makes me happy.

Also, some music for your perusal.

cherry bounce & summer dresses

{made this yesterday & hope to wear it often in the hot summer days to come.}

Well the water is starting to recede and blocked roads are beginning to reopen. It's gonna be a nasty and probably a very long clean-up process, but it will get done. In the meantime, I am still enjoying the weather, despite the massive rains we've been experiencing. And the humid summer months will continue to annoy the hell out of us. Bad hair-days here we come! (Though I am experimenting with something to battle this; we'll see if it works.)

Onto something a little brighter...

Yesterday I got this serious summer-dress kick. I think it was partly due to a recent post I happened to read the other day on abby try again. She's seriously a huge inspiration. For those who haven't already seen her photographs and her blog, check it out 'cause she rocks. :)


{close-up of the dress.}

Anyways, back to 'serious summer-dress kick.' Several months ago you might remember me talking about making a 'little black dress' for formal occasions. Well that hasn't happened yet, though I did start making a pattern and got to the point where all I needed to do was fit the muslin mock bodice to make sure the pattern worked. Never got around to it... until yesterday. All I needed to do was make a few minor adjustments to the bodice and I was good to go! (I love it when it works like that.) Instead of making the black dress, I decided to make a sundress with some printed cotton I had in my stash. And it just so happened that I already had green binding and a green zipper. Cool. I did have to adjust the skirt because using two panels of 40-something-inch wide fabric made me look like a little 7 year old after it had been gathered to the waistband. Not exactly what I had in mind. But the adjustments I made weren't too terribly difficult and I like how it turned out in the end. I also made sure to add pockets, which I loooove in skirts and dresses. There ought to be a rule that every dress should have at least one pocket. And yeah, there definitely will be pockets in the black dress I make. Whoever invented pockets; I love you.


{why take a picture of my feet? just because.}

Another thing I've been getting into the last few days is making Cherry Bounce. It's this glorious 1850s drink that is made with whisky, cherries and sugar. Lots of sugar. It's pretty much to die for, but you have to be careful how much you drink 'cause that stuff is gooood. The only thing about making this is you have to make it when the cherries are in season (well, duh) and then it takes 6 months to do 'its thing' before you can enjoy it. But it's so simple to make and definitely worth the wait. And hey, it makes a great gift come Christmas time!


{cherry bounce goodness.}

Frank's Cherry Bounce Receipt:

1. Fill a 1 quart jar with cherries [I purchased 1 lb bag of cherries and that worked for about two jars] and about 1 cup of sugar/ brown sugar / or molasses. [I used just plain white sugar.]
   
2. The rest of the space fill with the cheapest whiskey you can find. [A bottle of 750 ML. should be enough to fill two jars.]
   
3. Seal the jar turning it every two weeks.
4. Open around Christmas Time.

i'm such a horrible bad person

{1930s sunglasses from a German eBay store.}

Okay, this could be debated. But I just had to share this recent eBay purchase. ehem... I could NOT resist. These were just too good to pass up. And I convinced myself that if for some odd reason I didn't like them on me, I could just re-sell them on eBay.


{Myrna Loy in Libeled Lady - check out those visors! cute.}

Honestly, is it really that bad of me to want to look like this? Will I look like a complete and total dork? Then again, I don't seem to care if I look like a total dork, 'cause I like what I like and I wear what I want. :) And why should I care if I am "accepted" by my appearance? These simply make me happy and besides, they would go with the whole 1930s theme I seem to be obsessed with lately.


{Three Smart Girls 1936.}

On the subject of my '30s obsession, Saturday morning I made a bunch of sketches of some of the clothing I want to make myself for the summer. Mostly relating to the early to mid '30s. I got a lot of inspiration from French fashion magazines from the '30s while listening to music of Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire. Yes, I actually listen to this music and I love it. Oh oh and I must share an image of the sailor shorts I'm gonna make. Haven't decided the material yet, but I'm leaning towards a tan linen or possibly a twill. Any thoughts?


{another scene from Three Smart Girls.}

talk about falling in love

I just happened to see a picture of the cover of this magazine on someone's flickr pages and oh my. oh man. oh my, oh man. I am falling in love with the images in this issue! I'd never even heard of Vogue Italia before. Just take a look at these. I'm wondering if I can still get a hold of this magazine. It seems to have been out for a few months. I'm sure it ain't cheap either, but I do wonder if our B&N might carry it. hummm...Will just have to take a trip out that way and find out for myself. Yikes. So many inspiring images! Can I help it if I am terribly old fashioned? I just adore these styles.













{more images here.}

may day::

{being silly with annie.}

Today is the beginning of a new month. Not just any month, but May! It's kind of a special month because it speaks of warmer weather, flowers, green grass, a sort of new beginning. When I was little my mom would buy candy like circus peanuts, m&m's and licorice and she'd pop popcorn and make May Baskets by putting the popcorn and candy in red plastic cups with the red licorice in the formation of a basket handle. We kids thought it was pretty swell and would get super excited to drive around our neighborhood sneaking to our friends' houses to drop off a load of baskets. It was fun to run up, ring the doorbell and run as fast as we can to get to the car before they saw us. These are the kind of holidays that my mom always had fun celebrating with us. She was full of great ideas and fun "sweet" projects to do on these occasions. We even celebrated Lincoln's birthday with a Lincoln Log (chocolate jelly roll filled with ice cream...amazing). I hope I can continue this tradition with my kids someday (if I ever have any, that is). ;-)


{pumpkin muffins my brother made.}

Last night I thought I would make some muffins for breakfast, so I thought I'd get out the cookbook and open it up to the recipe so I wouldn't forget. Well I forgot to set my alarm clock and when I got up to go make them, I saw my brother whipping something up. He said he saw the cookbook open and thought muffins sounded good, so he made them! How lovely. I have some pretty nice brothers, at least some of the time. :)


{cutting out a new dress. trying to avoid the ugly kitchen border print.}

And to really make my day and to continue my obsession for all things 1930s, I happened upon this lovely clip about a woman who practically lives in the 1930s every day, all the time. Isn't it absolutely marvelous? I happened upon her website several years ago and ever since have been a little jealous, but mostly fascinated about her way of life. Hearing about people who are passionate about history makes me light up. It's something I think has sort of gone-out in this day in age. No one really seems to care as much for history and the culture of times past. I just think people knew what they were doing back in those days and it wouldn't hurt us to learn from them.

sewing projects + spring cleaning

It's been busy around here lately. Chicago was great! We went shopping and fabric whoring and meeting of old friends...Really a grand time. Although since I took off last weekend for the Chicago jaunt, I decided to skip out on the living history event I was going to do this weekend in St. Louis. A little disappointed about that, but I'll get over it. There will be other times.

However...This weekend, starting tomorrow morning, I am going to sew crazy. Sometimes sewing for myself helps me get inspired about sewing again. I know right now I'm feeling a lack of enthusiasm, so taking off two days to sew anything I want should be tons of fun. The possibilities of what to sew are endless. Here's the list I made:

+ Little Black Dress
+ Sailor pants with linen I picked up in Chicago
+ Sailor shorts with brown sateen?? or tan linen? (could it possibly be I wear shorts again...hmm...have to think about that one. Shorts look nasty on me.)
+ Make pattern off of favorite vintage dress to make new dress out of pretty cotton printed voile!
+ 1930s summery tops
+ More summery tops in different designs...
+ '30s bathing suit

I'm leaning towards getting that Little Black Dress made, though. I know of at least one event to wear it to this summer and I've already started on the mock-up. So if all goes well, I might have a new dress by the end of the weekend.

::Pictures from Chicago jaunt found on my flickr.

:::Also doing a bit of spring cleaning and unloading my stuff on eBay. Not sure anything on there is of interest to my readers, but thought I would give you the heads-up nonetheless. I have lots more stuff to get rid of and will be adding as I get time. :) Have a lovely weekend!!

thank you

{some buttons and a few broaches i picked up last week}

Just wanted to drop back on here to let you know that I appreciate all of your comments on my '30s trousers {here and on my flickr pages}. You guys are very encouraging! My idea to start making my own clothing began when I decided I'd really love to make a line of clothing that I'd actually wear. But since most of my time is spent making historical clothing for others, I didn't think I'd have enough time to put together a line. So I figured if I just start making things for myself whenever I get a little time here and there, maybe I can take what I've made and turn it into a small line. A few people asked if I had the trousers available for sale, but right now I'm not sure I'm ready to take on orders. I'm also planning to make another pair in a similar style, but alter it slightly (shorten the waist, drawstring, zip fly instead of buttons on either side, hem the legs shorter so they are more like mid-calf, made in linen). I also have several tops in mind that I want to make. This whole "line" will largely be influenced by the 1930s or thereabouts. I love the '30s so much {even more now that I whacked the hair off} and am finding that's really "my" style. It's what I feel the best in.

If you are ever interested in something I'm making, please feel free to drop me a line {gracefullady@gmail.com}. And depending on my work load, I might be tempted into making it for you. ::And I haven't forgotten about the leather bags. Still working on finding the right leather. In a few weeks I'm going to Chicago and a friend there said she wants to take me to a place that just might have some. So we'll see. {Not to mention the loads of fabric shopping we'll be doing...if only I had a larger wallet...}

On another note, I haven't had much to write about in the last few weeks, but I'd like to get better at blogging. I always enjoy it, but finding something to write about that is of any interest can sometimes be hard, especially when there's mostly just work and nothing exciting going on in my life. I think mostly I'm just overloaded with a lot of things so I haven't been able to really sit down with a clear mind. I'll be on here again before too long. I've got a 1940s dresser and vanity that Mom gave me and needs some TLC. So I'm thinking some before/after pictures are in order. :) And that chair I got last year which dearly needs new cushions made. Also have a vintage bike that needs help. badly. I want to do more biking as the weather gets nicer, so I need this bike in shape! If anyone knows of some DIY linkage on fixing old bikes, I'd love to hear about 'em. I'd like to try and do it myself, because that's the way I am. It was a cheap bike and cost me barely $8, but I'd like not to have to drop an arm and a leg fixing it up if at all possible.

Have a lovely week. As for me, back to sewing.

1930s trousers::inspiration::images

More inspiring clothing collages to come for spring/summer.