The best gift ever for a vintage fashion lover...

Earlier this month my long anticipated birthday present from my parents arrived (even though my birthday was in January, it took awhile shipping from the States).

They got me a 1940's Montgomery Ward's catalogue and get this, it has the fabric samples in it!!!!  After ooohing and ahhing...I still can't put it down!

It doesn't have a year written on it but by looking at the styles and this inside ad, I'm guessing it's from around 1943:

Here are a few of my favorite outfits and their corresponding fabrics:

This suit is made from Julliard's 100% Virgin Wool.  The wool is amazingly thin and supple:

I've seen lots of similar patterns to this spring suit-style dress but with the black and white photo is hard to imagine how colorful this really is:

These are the fabric samples for the skirt....I am loving the vibrancy of the color in these rayon crepes.  I can't decide which is my favorite....

These dresses are made out of linen-look rayon fabrics:

Stripes! I love this striped spring suit!

ackkk....I really want this fabric! I can never find the perfect striped fabric for the 1940's look at my local fabric store...

This is one of my favorite dresses in the entire catalogue:

And here's an up-close picture of the amazingly beautiful rayon crepe!

My second favorite print from the entire catalogue:

Love, love, love this fabric!  I think the navy and white one is my favorite!

I am definitely in heaven!  I would so love to make one of these dresses with similar fabric!   Which is your favorite?

Also, just a heads up that there is a whole month of LOVELY pincushion giveaways at the Sew Weekly.  Check out this cutie--today's giveaway:

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway for the EvaDress pattern of your choice!  Go to this page and leave a comment!  The giveaway closes tomorrow (Thursday) at midnight EST!

The new to me 1950's/60's coat

My lovely sister gave me a present last time I was home--an AMAZING 1950's/1960's coat:

There is a really lovely inverted pleat in the back:

 

It's nice and toasty and I'm wearing it a lot!!

I have two questions for all of you:

1) What year/decade do you think this coat is from (I'm guessing 1950's/1960's--but would love to hear your thoughts)

2) I would love to eventually make a dress to go with this coat.  I haven't sewn much (or anything really from the 50's or 60's...though I am itching to try a pattern out).  Is there a pattern you've seen that you think would look fabulous with this coat?  Do share!!

I made out like a bandit...

It's my birthday, it's my birthday, I'm gonna party like it's my birthday...woot, woot!!!

I've had a fabulous birthday today!  First off, yesterday I went to a local charity shop and came home with 20 yards of fabric! I kid you not.  And 75% of it was wool...oh, how I love Scotland!

In addition to the fabric, I got 49 vintage zippers and a bunch of hook and eye closures and snaps, as well as thread!

David and I started out the day at a lovely little tea parlour called Eteaket.  Their motto is:

We took a quick walk around Edinburgh.  The Christmas market is still going on:

After that, we checked out the vintage stores in Edinburgh.  The most amazing store is Armstrongs....it is absolutely wonderful...floor to ceiling vintage fashion:

This is definitely the place to come if I need to buy a little hat or vintage gloves to match an outfit!

Then we went to the fabric store....I walked away with some lovely lightweight wool (more wool---I love it so much!) and some very soft viscose:

Finally, we capped off the wonderful day with a lovely dinner at a local vegetarian restaurant.  For dessert, I had chocolate souffle...yummy!

And when we walked outside...it was snowing!  What a perfect birthday! Thank you all for your lovely birthday wishes!

Swoon worthy shoes

As many of you know, I am unfortunately allergic to leather (actually the chemicals used to tan leather) BUT I am dying to try out some vintage shoes (late 30's/early 40's) as the chromium tanning process didn't begin until the late 30's and wasn't widespread until later.  I am holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, I can find me a pair of vintage lovelies that won't cause an allergic reaction!

The other problem with trying to find vintage shoes is the sizes!  It must be a gold mine if you are a size 5 or 6 but much more difficult if you wear an 8, 9 or 10 size shoe.

I stumbled across these shoes on etsy this last week:

I think these are the PERFECT shoes.  They looked very familiar...so I dug out my Forties Fashion book and sure enough, they are the SAME shoes (sold by Kickshaw Productions which is run by the man who wrote the book, started the Fashion History Museum in Ontario and has this blog):

Oh how I wish I could fit into these size 5 shoes!

But those aren't the only lovelies on esty.  How about these beautiful rich brown seude shoes with adorable red bows:

 Sadly, a size 7--I think it would be too tight for comfort.

I just came across this amazing and unique 1930's/1940's shoes on etsy.  Sadly, a size 6--but I am in love with this color combination:

Or what about these tan and brown shoes which are a bit closer in size (but would still probably be too tight to be truly comfortable):

I think I must have a thing for the 30's/40's shoes that have bow details because I also love these lighter ivory shoes:

If it wasn't always so cold here, I would invest in more sandels.  I love these colorful 1940's wedges:

Talk about small, these beauties are a size 4:

While I think the late 30's and 40's is my favorite time period for shoes, I also really like shoes from the 1920's/early 30's.  Check out these beautiful flapper shoes:

And finally, these AMAZING ivory shoes!  These would be perfect for a vintage wedding:

Which ones are your favorite?  Do you own any vintage shoes?

A little vintage R & B

Rolls-Royces and Bentleys that is....

A group of vintage Rolls-Royce and Bentley owners brought their lovely cars to the Falkland Palace today.  Viewing the cars was not to be missed...

Check out this amazing 1934 Rolls-Royce (drool):

Bolero and matching skirt: made by me from the 1950's Simplicity 3879 pattern

Gold blouse: Monsoon

Shoes: Payless

Purse: Vintage Mall in Newburg, OR

Here we are in front a 1936 Rolls.  It started raining for just a bit then luckily it stopped and the sun came out!

This is a Bentley from the late 30's/early 40's!  I love the red stripe down the side and the matching hub caps!  

This Bentley is around the same time period (just a little older) than the vintage pattern I made my outfit from.  It's an absolutely beautiful shade of green.

All of the car owners were very lovely.  One of them let me sit in his car:

Ahhh...they sure don't make cars like they used to...

Reminisce

Have you heard of the magazine called Reminisce?  This is their June/July cover:

My grandma recently got me a subscription and I absolutely LOVE it!!  It's published once every 2 months and what I really like is that Reminisce is reader written.  Readers send in their stories, memories, photos, home movie films all based on their own true life stories or personal reminiscences of years gone by (specifically the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's).  It is a treasure trove of amazing stories and pictures from people across the U.S. and further afield.

Check out this two-page spread photo of women working at the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company in Burlington, Iowa in the late 40's:

This photo was sent in by Virginia Bresser Jurss of West Bend, Wisconsin who joined the company in 1947 (she's standing in the back in the plaid skirt): You'll notice all the girls have on sleeveless blouses as it was very warm in there and we only had fans to cool us in those days...One girl would want the fans on the next one requested to have them turned off.  It was hard to please them all.  Notice the racks on the backs of the chairs where the girls stored their purses while working...

I absolutely love the photo and looking at their great skirts and blouses!

Here's the photo from the back cover:

Morgan Cars

The other day David ran across a vintage car enthusiast meet-up in our village...

These are vintage cars from the Morgan Motor Company, a family run British motor car manufacturer. The company was founded in 1909 by Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan (seen in the photo below), affectionately known as "HFS" and is still run by his great-grandson today!

 Here's a photo of Mick Jagger in a Morgan Car in the 60's:

Not sure how old these ones are?  Any thoughts?  They look fantastic!

They only produce about 650 cars a year!

I only wish I had been there to take some snapshots near the cars (hmmm...what would I have worn?  Definitely my bolero and matching skirt from the 1950's pattern!!  Or one of my 1940's outfits....hmmmm... what do you think?)

spring comes a week early...

We had a glimmer of sunshine this morning so I decided to get all dolled up and go out to brunch with my sweetiepie.  Back in December I found this amazing 1960's dress and matching jacket at our local auction house for really cheap.  I decided to try it on and it fit perfectly!  I'm so excited to be able to wear it now as it's perfect for spring.

And I ended up buying the cute 'Ness' matching purse for my shoes.....oh, how I love it!!

I experimented with doing a 60's inspired hairdo (hello backcombing!) and like the way it turned out:

And there are the first signs that winter is almost over in our village...crocuses!!