Saturday, May 29, 2021

#thevintagefashionchallenge Day 28: Something Changed

 I turn 65 in 5 days (but who's counting? haha).

When I think about the beginning of my vintage and used clothing journey, and where I am now...
Things have changed.

If I remember correctly, my first Vintage purchases were a 50's 16-gored Mexican skirt and a 40's style plaid dress. I got them at a church tag sale in Troy NY. They cost under a dollar! I was 14.
Those were my days of a fit and flair silhouette. And those days lasted for about 35 years.

And Then Something Changed: my body!

[2016]
Goodbye breasts!
Hello stomach!

It took me a while to get comfortable in my new shape.
A lot of those experiments happened here on SpyGirl.

I'm happy in my skin.
Sad about all the skirts that don't work as skirts any more.
My pile of refashioning remains high.
Not giving up.

xxox

Linking up with Shelbee's On the Edge

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

#thevintagefashionchallenge Day 5: Pink

 I featured the Pink crinoline in today's Instagram post:

The first photo was at Otis College, Spring 1987.
I'm wearing a black boatneck top that I sewed out of blackout flannel, a black velvet belt with rhinestone buckle, the pink crinoline under a shirred prairie skirt, uncomfortable lace tights, the black "witch" shoes I featured on IG on Day 2.

The second photo was used in Bag and a Beret's  2013 edition of VOGOFF
See my post with outtakes

I'm wearing:
Black nylon/spandex bubble knit tube dress -- Trash and Vaudeville, NYC 80s
Pink petticoat -- Cowboys and Poodles on Melrose, LA? Screaming Mimi's, NYC? 80s
Red/black stripe cotton/spandex leggings -- Betsey Johnson 79(?)
Booties -- Norma Kamali 85
African bracelets + necklaces -- Jone Pasha, Providence RI, 80s
Jumbo Chain necklace -- Patucci, The Front Porch, Providence RI, 80s
Sunglasses -- vintage from optician Providence, RI 80s

I no pink patches from the quilt today.
Patch fatigue has set in (already).


Tuesday, May 4, 2021

#thevintagefashionchallenge Day 4: Yellow

 On Instagram, I showcased my old favorite 50's cotton sateen dress that I wore until I couldn't squeeze myself into it any more (and the extremely interfaced bosom became absurd when I lacked boobs).


After posting, I put some scraps of it into a Stitching Meditation, a new series that I started this month:

No patches from the dress on the quilt. The Fluevog sandals, however, are there:
This was a strikeoff that I had to order from Spoonflower in order to make it available in my Spoonflower shop
Fluevog Sandal Clog

Last year, during my big quilt mend, I discovered the Petal Cotton makes for excellent patches.
I've got a bunch more designs I need to proof, maybe it's time to put in an order.

Linking up with Shelbee's Spread the Kindness

Sunday, May 2, 2021

#thevintagefashionchallenge Day 2: Throwback

 For the Throwback prompt, I give you the 50's Launay print that I sewed into a tunic in the late 80s.

The Textile Binder has two Launay swatches, I wonder what I did with the upper one...

I thought I'd written a post about the print itself, but can't find it.
I really like this scribbly print style, which to me has a Parisian 50's vibe to it.


On the quilt:

The outfit:

Saturday, May 1, 2021

#thevintagefashionchallenge Day 1: Hello!

The Vintage Fashion Challenge is an Instagram event hosted by
@iliveinmylab, @makethislook, and @tinyangrycrafts.

I'll be investigating individual patches on the Crazy Quilt and telling their stories, both on IG (short form verbiage) and here, longer posts with links.

Here's my intro video that I posted incorrectly on IG:


For Day 2 (which I combined with Day 1 on the IG post) I actually donned an entire vintage outfit!

Here is one of the pages I was waving around in the video from my Otis Fashion Textile Class Binder:

I'm going over some of the original pencil in ink, as my instructor suggested in 1985.

Stories

1) The African knockoff print

I still have the top I made out of this! It was hanging behind me in the above video. Lou decided it was a lovely cat napping station after I left it on the bed. (Sorry, no documentation).

I think I bought this yardage at my favorite fabric shop in Poughkeepsie, NY in the '70s.
The top was sewn in 1973.

2) The Vintage Floral 

This one I bought at Pilgrim Mills in Providence, RI. There used to be a lot of fabric mills in the Providence area and Pilgrim was an outlet for mill ends. Sewn in 1981, it started as a retro boatneck fit-and-flair dress.
I recently found an old slide with me wearing the dress, but since I'm already so late in posting this, I'll come back and add it later!

Other notes: 
Did a full rendering of this print in gouache, plus a colorway for an Otis class. Another thing to hunt for.
I refurbished this into a skirt (currently lives on Mending Mountain).

On the quilt, not sure if any patches have lasted.
This one, in the upper left corner, I covered - look how faded it got!

3) The Couch Fabric 

This covered a love seat that my parents gave me when I moved to Manhattan in 1977.
It was my paternal grandmother's, I still have it (in storage in the garage).
Again, a photo search for another day!