Vintage Maternity

How does one continue to look stylishly vintage with an expanding waistline? Google doesn't tend to help I am afraid, there are just many blogs about how fab Betty Draper looked when she was expecting Eugene....alas, the sad fact is, when actress January Jones was actually pregnant they just dressed her in voluminous dressing gowns and called her fat!

I love that second blog post though, especially the picture of Jackie Kennedy smokin a fag and quite obviously pregnant....can you imagine any prospective (or actual) First Lady being pictured thus?  OMG she would be eviscerated by the media, it just illustrates how very much times have changed.  Course, we should never forget that she was killed by cancer so...well smoking sucks but back then, everyone was doing it, I like how in Mad Men the person who doesn't smoke (Pete Campbell) seems quite odd for it.

It seems like it is smock style all the way

When tradition and worldview collide.....

It would be fair to say that most of the people I know are not religious and yet they are the most ardent celebrants of that most Christian Festival of Jesus's birth.
Now I am not going to discuss how to have a splendid vintage Hanukkah or some such, that was already covered by our lovely Glamorous Vintage Housewife, Bethany over on her blog

(As an aside, I really do appreciate how much more they incorporate a Holiday 'Season' that includes other religions, over here we don't really have that and sadly, that means a lot less appreciation of diversity. )

But  instead I am going to talk about how my deep seated Victoriana self is triggered at Christmas, let it just be known that there isn't a version of 'A Christmas Carol' that I have ever missed!  This season to me speaks of Plum puddings, wood fires, parlour games by candlelight, and, of course lovely, lovely Victorian frocks.

When my daughter was little, we took her to the Rochester Dickens Festival that happens every year, I went dressed up in my rather proper green bonnet, green velveteen jacket (with black trim) and Campbell (I think) Tartan skirt (hooped petticoats).  I was disappointed by the half hearted costumes by some of the locals but I must admit that most people were very well dressed!  I even met three lovely Rochester ladies when I was running my Victorian group.

So what happens when you love THE most traditional of Christmas imagery but do not celebrate it yourself?

I still have not found the best way to handle this conundrum, but until I find it, I will just keep enjoying my Dickensian scenes

And enjoy whichever new version of A Christmas Carol I happen to come across every year!!

Fantasy costuming

Have I mentioned some of my favourite shows for costumes recently?

I am not a big fan of the Beebs 'Merlin'  it is a little bit juvenile for my tastes, I am more a 'Excalibur' type of girl but the outfits they suit up Morgana and Guinevere with are, frankly, amazing, especially Morgana who tends to be dressed in bold, primary colours which resonate with the Goth side of me!!!  I am also totally in love with the American show, Once upon a time, set in Modern day small town Maine and also Fairytaleland. Some of the gowns worn by Big Love Alumni Ginnifer Goodwin are Lush! Although she rarely wears them, Snow  is more often seen in leathers, yep this version of Snow White is not a helpless Maid but actually kicks some butt!!!  Rock on Warrior women!!!!!

Guinevere

Snow

Morgana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I would love to re-structure my Intentional Community along Fairytale lines. Tourism income plus a life less ordinary and a bit more magical....bliss!!!!

Woohoo, Tate Exhibition opens!!

Today the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain opens.

I am SO excited, I have not seen many of the paintings in the flesh so to speak, so I am very excited at seeing them, will go in full Goth Victoriana, just because I CAN!!!

Day 10 - Almost done

Yesterday I spent a huge amount of time beading the can can skirt and it is now finished and packed.
Back to Green dress and the button holes.

I feel like I threw myself straight back into sewing after a long time off and realised it is like riding a bike!  I am not the slightest bit daunted with finishing up all my other projects now.

Day 8 - non sewing productivity

Well, I got up to pinning the sleeves on the dress last night before finally setting it down.  Than I pinned up my can can skirt and it worked first time!  So I felt ok about being able to have the morning off whilst I went to the West end...whilst there I purchased my zip (finally!) and the ribbon for our can can skirts.

Ole! I am on a roll......

Later sleeves and may pin zip to dress.

x

Day 7 - Getting some sleeve sewing in....

Hemming sleeves now and hope to sew the seams in before putting it down for the day....no zip yet tho, will try to buy one tomorrow....

Day 6 - Babysitting

I put away the iron because I have my toddler niece here but....the sleeves are cut out!!!  Probably won't get sewing until Friday afternoon now though.

Day 5 - Relaxing

Well yesterday I did so much sewing that I was able to take it easy today, only sewing the little cross onto my cap.
Whew...uniform is done....

Still need to sort out the sleeves on the green dress though....tomorrows job I think.

Day 4 - Catching up

Slow weekend where I did not meet my targets at all.....

Today's targets would be finding a sleeve pattern appropriate for green dress and pressing together apron tie seams.

Day 2 - Sewing

White cotton has arrived for apron.

Tasks for today will be sew buttons on green dress and cut out apron ties.

Eventing

I am not too sure that I mentioned it before, but BF and I are going to an event.  It is in Kent and it is a living history event. I am so excited.  I am making a cotton day dress to wear and will also have my uniform.  BF is desperately trying to dig out her kit from several years ago and buying up some more vintage/reproduction pieces.  We still need a tent but I think we are ok for most everything else, I am trying to keep this trip low cost because otherwise it will cost a fortune, hence our trip yesterday to the Vintage Market at Spitalfields.

Two weeks exactly to go, so I am counting down from today.

Day 1:
Green cotton 1940s dress made from 1930s pattern.

Skirt to be sewn onto bodice. Iron seams, sew buttons on bodice.

Hair experiments.....

Yesterday's beehive

 

 

Victory roll

Vintage Cookies

Today's baking is courtesy of Margurite Patten's Wartime cook book, :We'll eat again' the top are Raisin Crisps and the bottom lot are Carrot Cookies.

40s Style....

Hey all,

If you are wondering what I have been up to recently, well I have been trying to gather in a 40s style to attend some war time era events.

I seem to have misplaced most of my gear you see and now I need to start again. One change that has happened is that my hair is much longer now than when this picture was taken:

So now I need to think about Victory rolls and such....oh well, I will keep you all updated!!!

Natja
x

New purchase - Airer

Brought a huge retro wooden Clothes Airer at Spitalfields Market, it was on my list (along with with a vintage soap dish which I did not find).  Amazing and under £18!!
I stopped off at my sisters on the way home and when I told her how much of a bargain it was,  she said "You could have got a plastic one at Argos for £5".....*sigh*  She SO does not get it!

 

Pin curls

Ok quick hair update,  Kester brought me this book:

It is available from Amazon so buy it, if you are a vintage hair beginner.  If you are experienced it probably will be pretty useless for you, but for those of us who are hair lazy....it is perfect.

No black hair models though which is a shame but you can't have everything.  Retro women of colour have had to learn to adapt anyway.

Anyway, the book is such an eye opener for the novice vintage hair styler.  I have been using regular hair pins for my pin curls...duh....

Also, my fantastic, stylish Vintage friend Anna suggested a wrap lotion to use on my styles!  Fantastic, not only a product that is created for black hair but also it is non aerosol.  As an asthmatic and also a person concerned about Green issues, I was keen to avoid all the hairspray suggested in the book.  The lotion and pin curl clips arrived in the post and last night I did my whole head except my fringe.
This is how it came out:

Updo number two

Ok, I thought I would give it another go, this time I slept with bendy rollers in the back and pin curls in the front, I then pinned the back hair up in a twist and then pinned the pin curls up separately towards the twist. I then pinned the fringe curl back.  I really think I could have done better but please give me some feedback.

New purchase - Pattern...

Check out my new pattern guys, it is pretty groovy eh?

Half moon nails

As some vintage gals may know, the fashion of the 40s (I am unsure of when it ended or indeed started, was to paint ones nails and leave the pale half moon semi circle by the cuticle unpainted.  Now I heard about this years ago in my 1940s hairstyles book which I brought when I was still re-enacting.  However I made a right hash of them and gave up.
Yesterday I happened to see a picture on the lovely Glamorous Housewife's blog of the fabulous Dita with her glorious red nails done this way, coupled with some advice on how to do this nail trick in the latest issues of Vintage Life Magazine.  I thought I may give it another go.  Luckily for me, this time I am armed with some nail art pens, the pens have two ends, one a narrow brush and the other a metal pipette.  I used the pipette to draw a border over the semi-circle and then painted up to the border...so viola!

So, not perfect my any means but not bad for my first go with the nail art pens.  What do you all think?

Another elephant in the room*

Dietrich - the sexiest genderqueer ever!

Patsy Kelly - very out

In this post you will find pictures of beautiful talented women from the Golden Age of Hollywood, women at their peak in the 30's, 40's,50's, an era that we laud in the Vintage scene.

Garbo

These women are the ones known to be women who love(d) women, there are many more, some like Agnes Morehead never really admitted it or some, like Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck or even Hattie McDaniel  were only rumoured, we will never know, they are long dead. Louise Brooks openly admitted sleeping with many women, but she claimed  curiosity, and did not believe she was bisexual.

Brooks - enjoyed women but only in bed

 But they were like I am a woman who loves women, I identify as bisexual because I love men too.  As a person who has spent so much time in the LGBT accepting Poly/Geek/Kink communities, I think I have forgotten what it is like to seem exotic and weird in other scenes, especially one I closely identify with as a part of my nature, never in my life have I ever felt attached to the era I live in, my imaginary life has been filtered through an historical aesthetic, forever!!

Bankhead - fabulously wild....

DaCosta

However I have been made aware that the vintage scene may not be entirely comfortable with my sexuality and that worries me, not only for my need to be completely open in this scene, but also just because it almost invalidates the lives and experiences these amazing women had

All B's- Baker, Black, bisexual, burlesque and beautiful....

Eva Le Gallienne

. It makes them invisible again, by pretending that the past was entirely heterosexual (and white, middle class and Christians) 

Lilyan Tashman - Jewish and Gay

I never really expected to be some sort of sexuality trailblazer in any scene, it was a pain enough to feel like some sort of token ethnic in reenactment, I don't want to be a token, I just want to be me, in the same way that people who have majority privilege get to be themselves without having to worry that people will turn their nose up at them or not befriend them.

Bessie Smith

Since the past equally belongs to us, well so does the Vintage communities that celebrate it.





*I wrote another Elephant in the room post in a Poly blog

Hair

Well last night I was too tired/lazy to curl my hair before bed so decided this am to try an updo with the mess I awoke with.....can I just say....NOT easy!!!!
How on earth did women manage, I really do not know what I am doing and I would appreciate some help (bearing in mind that water...cannot be involved).  I did pass by some fantastic blogs by some  vintage sisters but I seemed to have mislaid them, if anyone can help me out I would appreciate it.

N
x

New purchase - Waist cincher

Ok, so I wanted a WKD waist cincher, for....ever...but could never justify the cost (I am a bit low on coin).  Luckily for me, I was in the Orlando Premium Outlet (don't blame, me, BF wanted to go in there) and there was a Maidenform shop....well, what do you think I found?  That's right, a black waist cincher*, at $23, that is like, a third of the cost.....I feel all frugal and proud of my good housewifery!!!!

So it is a pretty decent alternative for those of us who are lacking in funds....

Toodle pip...

N
x



*I did not buy the one in the picture, it was not on the website.

Skirts and butts

I have to get on with sewing asap.  I am so sick of buying full skirts (and dresses) that were created for the less.... generous buttocks of the fairer skinned ladies......they are always hitched up a bit at the back, making them look a tad uneven, I will really need to make my own.  It doesn't happen with the pencil skirts and I suppose that is because they are form fitting.....oh well, just another thing you learn on the road to Retro-fication!!!

I need me some skirts made for Sisters.....

Here endeth today's moan...

Last night's Charity event

Well bf and I had great fun at last nights The New Vintage Look's charity evening.  The venue Proud Cabaret was lovely, I can't believe I never heard of it before and it is so local to me.  We had our picture taken coming in and although BF stressed that she wasn't dressed up enough, she looked lovely as always.

The night was in aid of the Royal Brompton hospital neonatal unit, I really hope some money was made for them.  It was a wonderful night out and what a great way for the vintage community to do some fabulous charity work.  It is inspiring.

There was so much going on and it was just so good to get out, I hardly realised how cooped up I had been.

New purchases....drool

Reading glasses

 Specs!!!  Yep, the first one I thought  may have been clear but it turns out they are reading glasses, or so I think because when I put my real glasses on over them I could see perfectly, which only seems to happen with reading prescriptions





.
These are sunglasses but obviously not UV filtered and very scruffed up, I doubt I could see through them very well but they are pretty.  I probably won't take these to Orlando as I have a sturdier pair.  I am thinking of visiting the opticians soon so may need a new pair of glasses and will definitely buy a cats eye style.

Sunglasses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may also be able to see the big bangs I created with my little rat I made with my collected hair, I think the rat may be a bit small .

 

Cupcakes on hiatus

I am on a health food kick. I have just over two weeks before my short holiday and wheat is off the table....as is sugar....dairy...booze and coffee..... *cries*

On the plus side I have retrieved my We'll eat again recipe book back from Sir.  If you buy one Vintage Recipe book buy this one, not only is it wide, varied, and tasty, it is a war time recipe book so you know the bad calories are rationed so all the items are far more healthy.

Latest cupcakes

Green tea, made with matcha powder and walnuts.

New fifties pattern

Check out the pattern I brought at the local vintage market.  It is a Vogue pattern so would be considered super stylish at the time. It is a 36 bust which is....let's just say, inadequate to my needs, but I have some experience upsizing patterns successfully so I am not daunted.

Vintage Life

The only birthday present I chose directly (as opposed to being either a surprise or wish list item) was a subscription to Vintage Life, a magazine for the retrosexually inclined...my first subscription edition arrived this week and I have been loving it!  Take a look, it is great fun.

Anyway  with my life  stabilising  a lot more now, I have experienced a resurgence of my vintage loving self and have had great fun browsing vintage stalls or online shops for inspiration (can't afford anything, I really have to get to sewing again...), looking up events to attend and watching media about retro lifestyles and was reminded...rather sadly, that the uber - norms are just as disparaging over people who want to live a traditional life as those of us living in other thoroughly modern alternative ways....

For example,some comments regarding   Neo-traditional types in the 2009 Channel 4 feature, Time Warp Wives:

 I've seen it too I think, they even have 1950s houses - all kitted out. it was quite weird but worth a watch, if not to confirm you are sane, and these people clearly are not

 Insane?  Really?

I felt there were other issues going on to be honest

Yep, it can't be that they just simply do not want to live like everyone else.

That all three have found partners as committed to denial as they are is, we suppose, nice for them. But there is something deeply sad about adults who need this level of fantasy

It seems I can't win approval by those types whichever way I bend, which since society sees me as terribly bent anyway I suppose I am lucky that I do not crave its approval.

I am really confused and, I must admit, a little irked, that people react with such abhorrence and  disrespect to people who just like to dress in an old fashioned way and who don't think it necessary to have an Iphone, is modern society so very insecure that it just cannot cope with anyone stepping out of line by being different?

Peer Pressure to indulge in superficiality is nothing new, but I hate to see it so far from the school yard.

Todays cupcakes

Lime cupcakes, decorated with vanilla frosting and lime zest (hard to see on the camera).

Made them with agave syrup rather than sugar but that is only because I am just practising rather than making them for other people and want to avoid lots of sucrose.

Next up....raspberry.....

Baking cupcakes

Yes, bit of a bore I know, I have started cake decorating, starting small with cupcakes.
BF brought me this lovely icing set along with a really nice vintage style cake stand and a beautiful shawl.
Will update with pictures in future.

Cushions.....

Since my walls went from a burnt orange terracotta to a strong Damson broken up by white and cream, I have had to find a way to deal with my old orange brown sofa.  It was a significant purchase a decade ago and I really can't afford to replace it.

Original covers

Covering up seems like a logical answer.  I am starting off by covering the cushions.  I have a couple of pairs of Aubergine curtains that were a lovely colour but sadly too short. I can do two cushions per curtain panel. 

New covers

It really feels amazing doing something myself and the fact they look fine, albeit plain, is wonderful despite it being all handsewn.  Sometimes we really feel helpless by our reliance on brought products because we feel we do not have the skill to do some things ourselves. For me, the flat has always been my weakness, because I was so busy I did not feel I had the time to make anything and too poor to buy, I actually have exchanged time for even more poverty and found that the time was actually the more important aspect, we pay SO much money for people to do things for us....sometimes quite simple things, like covering a cushion.