Spring Dress Refashions

I usually try to visit my local thrift stores at least once a week but for some reason I have been letting that good time slip me by. So on Friday I made myself go to my local Thrifty Shopper and check out their goods.

Seeing all the great refashions on the blogesphere has got me inspired, so I headed over to the dress section. I'm not sure how the price points are for your area but I think $7.99 for a dress is high..... I don't know maybe I'm just cheap. =)

Regardless of the staggering price I did end up buying 6 dresses. I'm trying to build my vintage style wardrobe without spending a lot of money. Also, I won't feel like I need to walk on eggshells with these clothes because they didn't cost a fortune like some of the dresses I have in my closet.

Here is what I brought home.....

This brown with cream dress made for Vera Wang's line at Kohls. It is a size small but it is huge on me but yet too short for comfort! How do people sit in these things? I was thinking of making this into a skirt.

This cute bird print reminds me of some prints that are sold on Mod Cloth. I'm not sure if this is a short dress or a tunic but I will be making this into a shirt. Original tag on it still, $45.00.

This cute little number is the prettiest shade of pink and blue plaid. As a dress it is waaaayyy too short and the strapless is something I would have rocked when I was 25, sigh...

As a skirt it will hit right above the knee, which is something I can live with and didn't want to pass this up. Tags still on it,

"Tommy Girl" from Macys.

This is a larger party dress from "Fashion Bug". It is light as a feather and flowy, I'm always drawn to pink. Part of me wants to keep it as a dress and just take it in but I know I would wear it more often as a skirt.

A short and low cut summer dress will be a cute skirt.

This is my favorite of the group! I love the green and fuchsia. Too short and low cut for my comfort so another cute skirt!

So there you have it.... more fun projects in store! I think now at this rate I'm only going to make a beeline to the dress racks!! Oh no....

 



The Great Gatsby Sewing Challenge

Wow! Since discovering all these great sewing blogs, I have really been motivated! Erin over at Miss Crayola Creepy is hosting a sewalong called The Great Gatsby Sewing Challenge!! Woot!! Here is her link:

I am super excited! I have never attempted anything from the 1920's. I have always loved the dresses from this era, so fluid and floaty!

I looked through my stash of dress patterns and the earliest I own are 2 Anne Adams patterns from the 30's. Being the one-track-minder that I am, I stayed up one night scouring the pattern websites for something to jump out at me. My main rule of thumb is that it has to be something I could wear to work and sit in all day at the salon.

Here are some choices I found.....

Simplicity Lisette 1892

New Look 6141

Burda 7067

Burda 7055

Vogue V8020

Vogue V8805

Vogue V8629

Simplicity Cynthia Rowley 1802

All of these patterns have potential to be transformed into a 1920's dress by lengthening the waist or skirt etc. Imagining it with period colors and fabrics would also help with your decision.

But here is the beauty I choose....

Vogue V8814

In detail.

I purchased the pattern from Joann's and also looked through their fabric choices. As much as I LOVE the nightlife of The Great Gatsby, in reality I'm thinking more of a day dress that Daisy Buchanan would wear. Here are some of my inspiration pictures...

Flickr

Fine and Dandy Shop.com

Gypsy Purple French on tumblr

www.antiquedress.com

The fabric I was looking for was something in the exotic flower family or in an exotic art deco pattern.

I found something in the clearance aisle at Joann's and I am excited about it! Only $7.00 a yard! Here she is.....

Peacock feathers! Super soft, drape-y and flow-y!

Close up of color.

I can't wait to get started, deadline is end of May!



Golumpki~ Polish Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

As promised here is the recipe for my favorite comfort food: Polish Golumpki. I make this in bulk usually and freeze them raw and my family has this for dinner a few times a month!

My mother in law is 1/3 Polish BUT if you were to ask her she is 100% Polish. Her son, my husband is by far no way 100% of anything but if you were to ask her- he is all Polish boy! ..... okay then.... this is where I roll my eyes.......onto the recipe. lol.

Golumpki

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage

2 cups cooked rice

2 lbs meatball mix (beef, pork, veal) or a mix of beef and pork

1/2 cup onions, minced

1 cup water

salt and pepper (only a smidge, I leave that to each persons taste)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 10 oz can tomato soup

1 10 oz can cream of mushroom soup

Directions:

Take as much of the core out of the head of cabbage. Place cabbage in a large pot of boiling water and boil until the leaves are pliable and can be removed from the head easily.

Put the meat mix in a large bowl and add the 2 cups of rice, and onion. Add water, salt and pepper and garlic powder. Mix with your hands (I always wear hair coloring gloves for this- yuk).

Take a hefty size tablespoon full and place on the stem part of the cabbage leaf. Bring each side of leaf over into middle and then roll, steam part towards top of leaf. Place rolls into a sprayed baking dish, seam side down. Repeat until all meat is used. 

Pour tomato and cream of mushroom soup into a bowl and mix well. Pour over the rolls.

Now you can either cover with foil and put in the freezer for future dinner or cover with foil and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with sliced kielbasa. 

Enjoy!! 

Morning Randoms

Morning all! A few randoms for you before I head into the salon today...

• All day yesterday I was discovering a TON of sewing blogs!! I just love knowing there is a huge community of sewers out there to learn from and motivate each other. Had me thinking of blogs in general. Every hobby I have, there is a blog associated with it. I'm thinking why or why can't all these creative people be my neighbors??! I say we buy a ton of acreage and make a "Creative" housing development! One section will have the DIY/Home Improvement folks, another section will have the ultra awesome homesteaders, so I can trade some of my homegrown veggies for their eggs and cheese. Another section will be the vintage loving seamstresses or vintage loving folks in general. And then there should be a back section devoted to the world of genealogy, just to add to the awesome factor of this community. Oh I can dream can't I?





• Tomorrow Jeff and I are hosting our monthly game night with friends! Really looking forward to that!  After work I have to go to the grocery store and pick up the goodies to make Golumpki (Polish stuffed cabbage) to serve to our guests. That recipe will be up soon.        





• Caiden has a Venture Crew camping trip in Highland Forest later this evening. When he comes home on Sunday it will be the fun filled day of junior prom tux shopping. Oh boy.

Ha, ha! Have a great day everyone!!



IT IS FINISHED!!!- Mad Men Dress Challenge 2

Whew! I never thought I would finish this dress. What started back in February in this post, got completely sidetracked by regular life and some unexpected badness... BUT fear not, all is well now. Since completing this dress it definitely makes me want to dig into my pattern stash and make something else!! Thank you Julia Bobbin for getting me off my arse and making something for myself!!


Now.... onto the dress!


Here is the inspiration photo again, Mrs. Betty (Draper) Francis, looking lovely as ever..... even if she is ticked off in this photo. =)



For the pattern I used New Look 6910. Using view C dress with the cap sleeves from view B.



I altered the dress a bit using size 10 for the bodice and size 12 for the skirt. (I need to be able to sit in it for long hours at the salon) 

I used this beautiful Amy Butler fabric from fabric.com, it is so pretty and springlike.



Amy Butler Midwest Modern Fresh Poppies Green

The lining is a pretty blue to match the flowers.

 

So without further adieu...........The Betty Dress

forgive my tired after work face.

Closeup of front

Backside

The pattern was easy to follow and I love the way it turned out. I can't wait for the weather here in Upstate New York to warm up a bit so I can wear it! I think I will use this pattern again and make view A. The creative wheels are turning!

Collections: Lu-Ray Pastels

You may have noticed in some of the pictures of my kitchen redo found in this post, were some lovely, soft, bright, happy dishes called Lu-Ray Pastels. I personally call them my "beloveds". They are pretty, add a bright freshness to my kitchen, they make me extremely happy and if you can't tell by now I am madly in love with them. 

Beautiful new kitchen

This madness started way back in 1996 when I was a new mother and started receiving Martha Stewart Living Magazine. (which I also collect, but that's another story of crazy) The issue was April 1996. Once I opened to the page that showcased this dinnerware reminiscent of Easter goodness I was hooked. I had to find them. I needed to find them. And soon!

Here is the magazine article that started the crazy...



All photo's above are from Martha Stewart Living Magazine; April 1996: Number 38

They were made by the Taylor, Smith and Taylor Company from 1938 to 1961. The four original colors are Surf Green, Windsor Blue, Persian Cream and Sharon Pink. The color Chatham Gray was added in 1949 and at the time proved not to be popular and was discontinued in 1952, which now makes this color extremely rare. What is fun about this collection is that when you find a piece all you have to do is flip it over and you can tell what month and year it was made. Unfortunately towards the mid to late 1950's they stopped marking some of their pieces this way.

This "after-dinner coffee cup" shows a manufactured date of January 1942.

Here it is next to an average sized tea cup, so cute.



I received my first Lu-Ray Pastel from my ex sister-in-law Deb as a housewarming gift when my ex husband and I bought our first house in 1999. She had gone to an auction and found a beautiful set of Windsor Blue dishes.

After receiving those dishes I purchased the book Collector's Guide to Taylor Smith and Taylor "Premier Potters of America" Lu-Ray Pastels U.S.A.: Featuring Conversation, Pebbleford, Vistora and More by Kathy and Bill Meehan. To this day it is still considered the "bible" to all collectors of this dinnerware.





As the years have gone on I have found different dishes at several antique stores. Once scoring a Chatham Gray platter for only $14 because the store owner thought it was Windsor Blue. In reality it was worth quite a bit more!! Win for me! Jeff has given me a few expensive pieces for our anniversary (that I just couldn't convince myself to purchase) such as this Sharon Pink flower vase known as an "Epergne". 



Epergne



I don't buy pieces off of Ebay myself, I'm not sure why. My guess is that somehow I feel it's "cheating" when it comes to the "hunt" of collecting. I have been lucky enough to find a few pieces at my local Salvation Army and Thrifty Shopper for mere pennies! Like this small Sharon Pink bowl called a "36s" which I had never ever seen in an antique store, even at an outlandish price!

Sharon Pink  36s sitting atop of a Chatam Gray saucer.



I'm not sure what my favorite piece is.... I do love my covered casserole, it was part of the set that Deb had given me all those years ago. I really love them all. =)

Covered casserole and salt and pepper shakers

Dinner plates in all four colors with a Windsor Blue sugar bowl on top. A Surf Green salt and pepper shaker. In the back is the awesome find Chatham Gray platter. In front of the platter is a Surf Green juice jug, Sharon Pink egg cup, Windsor Blue sauceboat with a Persian Cream butter dish underneath.

Cups and saucers in all the colors with bread and butter plates in the back.

Persian Cream water jug, Windsor Blue sugar bowl and platter.

Notice the difference with the Chatham Gray platter and the Windsor Blue sauceboat?? What a score!

Persian Cream Nappy (veggie bowl) with Sharon Pink creamer (sitting inside) and baker in the back. Windsor Blue teacup sitting on a Surf Green pickle dish.

Sharon Pink sauseboat and a stack of fruit dishes, the top dish is in Chatham Gray.

Two bakers in Surf Green and Sharon Pink and also a creamer.

I just love the top of the lid, like a dollop of cuteness.

There are still so many pieces of Lu-Ry that are yet to be found, the hunt will always continue.... they just make me smile. =)