shop update.

I haven't been updating as much as I'd like since I moved, mostly because the color of my walls is so hard to work with for shop photos. Depending on the garment color, sometimes it comes out a light, pretty custard-y yellow, and other times it comes out a harsh, dark mustard yellow. Which is fine as a wall color but a bit too severe for shop photographs and definitely not as soft as I'd like. It made it very difficult to create a cohesive look in my shop. 

So...I finally gave up trying to work with my stubborn, difficult walls and painted my shop-photo wall WHITE. It's so much easier to work with now, and I'm still working on it but I think it looks much, much better. Now I'm motivated to list more often (and shop for my shop more) which is a good thing because after all, this is my job.

This week's shop update is filled with pretty 1950s and 1960s dresses with bold prints- perfect for Spring and Summer. A bit of a mish-mash but I wanted to pile in as many new listings as I could just to get caught up. The next one will be a bit more coordinated. All dresses are available in the shop now.

SHOP HERE

cat snaps / house peeks.

After looking in nearly every antique/used furniture shop in town, I pretty much gave up searching for a kitchen table... but when my downstairs neighbor was moving out I took a peek at that apartment to see if I liked it better and I noticed his kitchen table was the only thing not moved out, and it was exactly what I had been looking for. I asked him what he intended to do with it, if he was selling it, and he said it belonged to the building and had been there when he moved in, so I went right ahead and usurped it for my own apartment.

It's normally situated right under my front window, where there's lots of nice light to enjoy while drinking my coffee and eating blueberry scones and reading in the early afternoons, but the other day I tested it out on the opposite wall (where my elusive future yet-to-be-found settee will eventually go) and I quite liked it. It didn't stay for long, however, because Oliver and Gus were so excited to finally be able to reach all those frames they'd been so curious about, and they almost knocked one or two down. Oliver managed to grab that little dried pod/stem branch and pull it down, so I decided maybe it was best to move it back for now.

And here we have Oliver looking so fancy on the tabletop. The cats are normally not allowed on the table, and they're usually very good about it, but with the novelty of the new location they were extra curious so I let them hop up a time or two. (also, please excuse the mess that can be seen in my room. there were cat toys laying all over the floor that I couldn't be bothered to pick up for these photos).

I wore this dress on Easter but I only went to my mom's in it and no one saw me so I thought it'd be okay if wore it again a few days later. I bought it from one of those cheap mall shops about five to six thousand years ago when I was working at the mall, and I had never worn it all those years for some reason so I pulled it out on Easter and it seemed just right for the occasion. I was much cooler in this than in the 1920s dress and slip I wore last Easter. It seems the perfect warm weather dress so I can see myself wearing it a lot this Spring and Summer. The cream bow fascinator was a gift from my friend many many years ago, she bought it for me from an antique shop in Hawaii.

I found the pretty lace treasures hanging on my door at an estate sale a few weeks ago, the pink lace dress is 1950s and the ecru ruffle top is Edwardian. Both need a few mends and then they will be put right in the shop. The white one in the center is a big fluffy crinoline which I will be keeping for displaying clothes in shop photos. I have two others but neither is as full as this one and I've been searching for a new one for quite some time.

I hope you all had a nice Easter and have been enjoying this nice weather we've been having! (I'm just assuming here that we've all been having nice weather). I am still stalking craigslist for a new bike, which I'll hopefully find before the hot Summer rolls around.

shop update preview.

We had a bit more sun today, so I was finally able to photograph this weeks' shop dresses. All of the dresses shown (except the blue beaded one- I decided to keep that one for now!) will be in the shop this evening or tomorrow at the latest. If you have any questions about one of the dresses or would like to reserve something, you can contact me here.

I still haven't gotten around to putting my shelves up yet...I need to borrow a screwdriver (and maybe a ladder) but I think I'll have a little helper this weekend to assist with hanging shelves and picture frames and mirrors and all the pretty little things that make houses cozy, so expect house-progress updates next week!

my new little aloe plant and peace lily that are waiting for homes!

pâtisserie

Some confectionery dresses I found today:

some for me, some for the shop. (maybe? I haven't tried them on yet but unfortunately they look like my size). If I do part with them, they'll be in the shop just as soon as I spruce them up a bit. I have a mini shop update planned for tomorrow or Friday at the latest...a few pretty jewelry pieces I've collected over the past few weeks and maybe a handbag or two. And then I should have another tiny update of tiny dresses the following week, two or three sweet cotton 1930s little girl dresses and the loveliest 1920s baby dress I ever did see. It looks like a tiny version of an adult dress. I have a little stack of vintage children's clothing and I was never quite sure whether I'd list them in fanciness or not, but they're really cute and I have no need for children's clothing so I'll most likely be putting them in the shop very soon.

Also,
I noticed some new followers from the giveaway I held at Vixen Vintage- thank you for following and I hope you'll stick around!

i'm here!

After a few apartment key mix-ups and leaky plumbing-related ordeals, I'm finally moved in to my new place. Aside from my dress form and record player and a few big boxes filled with my books, furniture is still scarce, but only because I'm selling all my old furniture at a yard sale this weekend so I can replace them with new old ones. I've been on the lookout for a sturdy antique bookshelf, a parlor table, and a velvet settee but I haven't had any luck finding what I have in mind. And to think of all the perfect ones I've passed by in the past for lack of a place to put them... 

I've been moving things around, trying to find the wall with the best light for my dress form...I'm planning to start adding new things to the shop very soon, with my new yellow walls as the backdrop but I'm a little nervous about the transition from the gray walls and my shop not having a consistent look. We'll see. 

I went to an estate sale yesterday that had hundreds, maybe thousands of records from the 1930s on, and like a dummy I wore this little dress because it felt like Spring, not realizing that the house was on the water and that they would be set up outside, on a sun deck. Windiest day of the century. So I couldn't even dig through the records, since both hands were full with gingham skirt pleats and tightly grasped at each side, holding my dress down. I was able to look through a box of old Decca records that was inside, and I left with an Ella Fitzgerald 33 and a few pieces of costume jewelry, so not a complete loss. 

I feel like I should apologize to anyone who had to see this. my legs, I know. So pale. Also, I went into a store wearing this dress and the girl at the counter said I look like Mary Poppins? okay. And that hair, well I'm just about ready to chop it.

gone wandering in woods.

Probably my favorite kind of dresses are floral cotton dresses from the 1930s and 40s, they're just easy and pretty. I bought this pretty one just the other day, and it's easily become one of my favorite dresses already.


These days I've mostly been lazing about; I wander, read Voltaire. Take naps with my kittens. Debate taking up painting once again, when I spy my lonely easel resting in the corner, but remember how fruitless it always is. I bore so easily. or distract, rather. A million unfinished books and paintings and half knitted scarves. It's inevitable.


I'm still waiting on Winter to arrive, Fall even. It's been quite mild here and although I do like that sort of weather, a bit of frost would do to help me feel more festive. Something feels a little off this year, I usually get excited about the holidays pretty early but that just hasn't been the case lately. Maybe I'll dedicate this week to baking and pom pom ornament making. St. Augustine is still on the schedule since we didn't end up going last weekend like we planned, so maybe that's what's missing.

(I can't tell if these photos are really blurry or if my vision is just off from lack of sleep. having kittens is like having a newborn, I swear. I was awoken extremely early this morning by Beatrix jumping on my face. So, sorry if they are.)

st. augustine.

My cousin declared Saturday the 11th to be my fake birthday, since she wouldn't be here for the real one, so we put on our cutest polka dot dresses and headed to my favorite place in Florida (probably the only place in fl I actually like), St Augustine. We were going to make a stop at the st john's flea market first, but we got a bit of a late start so we picked up some sprinkle donuts and coffee and went straight to historic downtown. We visited the Lightner Museum (which will take up a whole post on it's own) and spent the day walking around and peeking into cute antique shops and eating macarons, and I kept finding pretty little gifts throughout the day; one sitting on the seat of my car when I got in, another mysteriously popping up on the table when I came to sit down, etc.

It was such a lovely day (aside from the weather which was disgustingly hot and almost unbearable) and I felt pretty special all day, like it was my real birthday. We ate lunch at a little wine bar that looked cute and promising but ended up being sort of terrible and awkward, but despite the odd, pushy owners and weird food we had a fun time at our little table and there were little white lights hanging across the ceiling, which pretty much makes any situation better. And at the end, when I came back from the restroom, there was a pile of gifts and a giant cookie and sparkler candles waiting for me and it was pretty amazing.

1940s style glasses - anthropologie

1930s swiss dot dress (from this post) - ebay
navy vintage bag - thrifted

dream within a dream.

This past weekend and the end of last week were uncharacteristically nice weather-wise, instead of the mid-ninety degree weather we'd been having, it returned to a late Winter/early Spring-like (for Fl) mid-seventy degrees. I had a big list of things to do on Saturday but when I felt how nice it was outside I decided that those things would just have to wait and threw on this cotton 1930s dress I'd been really excited about wearing, grabbed a picnic basket and hat and out I went. It was such a lovely, lazy day filled with peach iced tea in pretty glass cups, warm grass, and just enough sunshine. I snapped a few photos for my shops, and some of them unintentionally turned out sort of Picnic at Hanging Rock?

The dress. The dress is a light pink cotton 1930s dress with navy blue swiss dots, little ruffle sleeves and three little navy colored bows at the neckline. Oh! and the buttons- big, carved plastic, perfect 1930s navy blue buttons down the back. I'm facing a bit of a dilemma, however. This dress as it is is quite the dream dress, kind of a pretty lawn dress inspired sort of thing, but I'm not sure how practical (for me) it is right now and I'm really considering removing the ruffle at the hem. I'd really hate to alter or hem a vintage dress, and it's super pretty how it is, but I feel like if I removed the ruffle I would not only like it way better, but I would live in this dress, like wear it to pieces until it was a pretty little scrap to be hung on my wall I would wear it so often. There are a few scattered stains on the bottom so it's not like it would be pure frivolity, right?

vintage straw hat available here

antique picnic basket available here

UPDATE: I went ahead and pulled, yes pulled, the ruffle off, and I don't feel one bit bad about it. I inspected the seam more closely and there had been numerous poor mends in the past, and it seems that the ruffle may even have been a later addition using the same fabric. So I found a spot (there were several) were the seam was already separated and gave it a gentle tug and the seams pulled right apart, no seam ripper required.

easter.

Easter was pretty low-key this year, I spent the day at my mom's house with my family, my mom cooked on the grill and my brother and I sat around eating jellybeans and peeps and playing nintendo. I wore this little seafoam ghost of a dress, I've had it for several months and had been waiting for an excuse to wear it, so I decided I might as well throw it on for Easter since it's such a pretty pastel color and light enough for the hot weather we've been having. I ended up changing out of it after not too long, as it's super delicate and I'm not ready to retire it to hanging on my wall just yet. I was so nervous steaming it the night before because I didn't want to damage it and I know steam and olde fabrics are not always friends. The necklace I wore came from the estate of a woman named June Rose Gader who was a writer and major clotheshorse and travelled the world with her husband and owned a second home in France.

I took a bit of hair inspiration from Zooey Deschanel at the NY Times Wine Festival, but the weather sort of ruined/flattened it, which is strange because I have wavy hair and the humidity usually makes it look like this naturally. I already had blown it out that day and added the curls with an iron, so maybe next time I should just leave it wavy to start.

Overall it was a lovely day, I ate so much potato salad and so many deviled eggs and possibly some other mayonnaise-y based foods, and more jellybeans than anyone should ever be allowed to consume, but eating is the best part of holidays, after all. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

credit

seafoam 1920s flapper dress - greatest friend on etsy

cream 1920s flapper necklace - etsy

ring - antique store