A wonderful vintage surprise!!

This August I will have been a nail technician for 14 years. Hard to believe the time has flown by! My son was 3 years old when I started!!  Wowza!

 

 

Most of my clientele has been with me from day one. They see me every 3 weeks to get their nails filled, our appointment lasting for almost an hour. Every 3 weeks for 14 years is a big chunk of our lives together. We have lived through and talked about: school, sickness, death, family, fun, weddings, birthdays..... and the list goes on and on. My clients know things about me, for example: that I love to sew and collect old things and that I can name each English monarch in order since Edward V in 1483. =)

 

 

Well, anyhoo, one of my original clients Ann V. came in on Monday for her appointment and said she had something for me. She said that if I didn't want them she would understand. On my desk she plopped a gallon sized freezer bag of her mother's silver plate flatware...... I almost passed out. I also restrained myself somehow from hugging the life out of her!

 

 



 

 

 

 

She went on to say that she had no use for them because she already had real sterling flatware of her own and also her grandmothers sterling. Both her children are a touch older than me and very modern.... they see no need for things like silver plate flatware. Ann knew that in the past I have picked up mismatched pieces from the thrift stores for pennies and use them. They are just so much more prettier than the stainless steel flatware we usually use.

 

 

Needless to say I am over the moon excited to own them! Later that evening I went online to the website Replacements.com to look up the pattern and then realized that in the bunch were actually 2 patterns, both made by Oneida Ltd using the WM. A Rogers mark.

 

 

I have 10 pieces of "Meadowbrook" from 1936. A pretty vine like pattern of a few leaves on the handle.

 

 

 

www.replacements.com

 

Meadowbrook 1936

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ice tea spoon and sugar spoon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

teaspoons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other pattern is 34 pieces of "Happiness" from 1940. Also a very lovely design. The oval shaped end of their handles are very similar to Meadowbrook that they merge beautifully.

 

 

 

 

 



www.replacements.com

 

Happiness 1940

the handles of the "new french hollow grille knives"

salad forks and sugar spoon

 

 

 

 

So now I have 44 pieces of lovely silver plate to use! I can't wait to polish them up, they have been stored well and there is little tarnish on them. They are actually worth a pretty penny to replace, so I have made my son swear to me that he will not sell them..... he has to pay it forward and give them to someone that will cherish them as much as I will. I may just make that my own mission, so he has one last thing to worry about when dealing with my collections. =)



I love that my clients think of me when they come across something in their home and think I might get better use out of it!

 

 



 

 

 

 





Randoms- May 13th

Morning all, I should be getting ready for work but my mind is racing a million miles a minute. Just thought I'd jot down what's on my mind at the moment.


Jeff and I saw "The Great Gatsby" in 3D Saturday night and I have to say that I absolutely LOVED it!! So much so that I am going to scour my friend pool and see who else wants to go watch it! I have read all over the Internet about some of the history snobs that have already written off this movie... how it will never properly represent the book, no one can replace Robert Redford and how the rap music and quasi 1920's/1930's mish mash isn't historically correct. Yes, I get that, 100%. BUT if you just go into this movie with an open mind and a thrill of seeing characters brought to life with a 2013 CGI flare, it is amazing. The opulence and excess that Fitzgerald writes about absolutely comes to life. It is beautiful to behold. I think Leonardo's Jay Gatsby is played wonderfully. You can see his sadness, his almost crazed grasp of trying to hold onto something that can not be replayed. Carey's Daisy is beautiful and shallow. Even if it isn't historically correct, I think the costumes are quite beautiful, the scenic backdrops grand and I can only imagine the great feeling of wealth that was going on in our nation for some people... before the great slap in the face of the crash of 1929 and our plunge into the Depression.

When the heck did Leo get swoon worthy?? Seriously! One minute he's a cutie in Titanic then BAM holy hot manlyness!



Busy week ahead.....

Friday night Jeff informed me that we have to have the house appraised again!! We are refinancing and I guess the old appraisal we did in the fall has expired. Ugh, so I have to really get my bum into gear and get the house ship shape, but my mind is in dress making mode.... not housekeeping mode. Booo. Hisss.



This Saturday night is Caiden's Jr. Prom. Very exciting! We pick up his tux on Thursday. For some reason I got in my head that I can make his and Haley's boutonniere and corsage.....uh huh...  sooooo, we shall see how that turns out,  on this very busy week......let's just add one more project to the mix shall we??! Mmkay. I will post about my flower arranging skills next week. Wish me luck with that one!

       1960's prom vieillemarde.com

I have many sewing projects that I am in the middle of and it doesn't look like I will have a chance to touch them this week. Ack, talk about depression!

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!