What You Find

When you sell vintage clothing and sewing patterns you have a habit of finding things in pockets and envelopes.
Mostly I find old (un-used) Kleenex in pockets.
Vintage Patterns can be more of a "historical" snapshot.
I've found notes and fabric and newspaper.
Tons of newspaper that was used to remake a pattern piece or the ad a pattern might have be orderd from.
The newspaper pattern pieces are odd and disjointed.
You never get the full article since it will follow the pattern and not the story.
In a way it is more like real life, never following a straight laid out path.
My latest find was in a 1938 mail order American Weekly Standard sewing pattern.
Not only did I get a pattern piece cut out of a newspaper, but also the ad that ran for the pattern:

Pattern 3793-TAKE YOUR CHOICE OF A GAY HOUSECOAT OR A SAUCY WASH-FROCK_ BOTH FROM ONE EASY-TO-STITCH PATTERN! Designed from misses' or women's sizes.....

Saucy wash-frock?
Well, whatever you may call it, it is a great pattern from a pretty 1930's princess seamed dress.
Soon to be listed at Sew-Retro Vintage Sewing Patterns.

TMI and Teen Sex

Was just listening to NPR and they had a story about Gernarlow Wison finally being released from prison.
(and just let me say i can not believe that ANYONE would think that a getting a blowjob from a teenager a couple of years younger (he was 17, she 15) then you is worth 10 years in prison and the lifelong label of "sex offender". Stupid? Yes...Worthy of any prison time? No.)

His lawyer mentioned this website:
my5th.org

From the website:

This legal maxim means that it is no defense to plead I didn’t know what I did was illegal!!! So that’s why you have to know your rights! My5th™ is a non-profit to discuss the laws that apply to you. We want to be real and tell you how laws affect your everyday life… you decide if they are right or wrong. We will cover both criminal and civil law issues. My5th™ gets it's name from the 5th Amendment of the Constitution---the clause that guarantees due process of the law before you are deprived of life, liberty or property and provides that you cannot be a witness against yourself. My5th™ will cover these rights and so many more.

Please show this to your teens so they know what are their rights and how to protect themselves from the laws and authorities in your area.....'cause in some places folks are just NUTS about that fact that ~gasp~ teenagers have sex.
Whats more teens seem to enjoy taping it and sharing it...which really I don't get and that freaks out parents even more and the kids just do not see why is bugs us...they think we are way too uptight.

All I know is that when I was a teen there were a couple of guys who might have gone to jail because of me.
Which just chills me to the bone since they were other teens, not creepy 20 or 30 year old guys, guys from school AND I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING. I wanted to have sex, it was fun, there was no pressure from the guys.

Do I think teens should wait?
Sure, it is a good idea and even though sex is a biological urge it is still best enjoyed as an adult.
(and no, I could care less if you are married or not or who you do the deed with as long as they are other consenting adults)
I'm sure I was sexually active at an early age because of a slightly emotionally distant father and man, was I lucky I did not get pregnant or get an STD and this was before AIDS.
It was a crap shoot and I had luck on my side.

Do I talk to my son about this?
Oh, HELL yes.
He knows I was sexually active, that I'm lucky I did not end up pregnant or worse.
What's more we talk about what could happen to him as he gets older, the crazy sex offender laws that apply to both creepy pedophiles, peeping toms AND guys who had sex with their teenage girlfriends alike.
We talk about condoms and girls coming on to him and trying to resist (yes, I do tell a teenage boy to resist, but really I don't expect it to happen....I'm more interested in him knowing he can tell me ANYTHING or ask me ANYTHING without me getting mad or judging him) them if the time is not right or the condom is not available.
We talk about how when he is 17 to make sure he avoids girls under 16 at all times.

So he and I will spend sometime on My 5th and make sure he is aware what is and is not legal for him to do with his own body.

A Celebration of Grace

Last week the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship store displayed couture creations inspired by garments worn by Grace Kelly and then auctioned off to benefit the Princess Grace Foundation-USA.
I was happy to see that one of the dresses used as "inspiration" was the lovely black and white beauty Edith Head designed for Rear Window. I will watch that movie just to see that dress.
While I thought Carolina Herrera's design was a fine gown with its chiffon skirt and wrap black blouse, the truth is that Head's vintage 50's dress is so perfect, so lovely that it outshines the
inspired design and makes us go "ahhhhhh" at how sublime it is.

Caturday!!

I'm Back!
Took a tiny vacation at home and from my Damn Good Vintage duties.
Got a new computer and cell phone and have been spending time playing with them.
Hubby was on vacation to so we got a ton of things done around the house.

Here is today's LOLcat.As always the kitty fun is from i can haz cheeseburger.

You Rock, JKR!!!

I'm sure you already know, but Dumbledore was teh Gay!
JKR has spoken.
I always thought he was a bit too broken up about Grindenwald turning out to be an Evil Overlord Wanna Be.

In the end this is made of awesome.
Fandom has exploded.
The gay haters are all stirred up.
The slashers are unhappy that the canon gay is an old, wrinkled dude.
And there is a shiny new, huge thread over on Fandom_wank with lots of links to the wank.
This on LJ is a hoot, I am very entertained.

Caterday....Somewhere

LOLCats!
hahahahahaha!
icanhascheezburger

I Want to Hug It

That's how I feel about Pushing Daisies.
It makes me grin and cry and I just want to hug it.
I can't even explain why it is so good.
The crazy retro look, the clothes Chuck wears, Chuck's Aunts, Chuck's Aunts jeweled eye patches (yes, she has them to match her outfits!!!!), Olive singing Hopelessly Devoted to You while dancing with the dog, PIE, how I'm always worried that Chuck and the Pie Maker will accidentally touch, the fact the PI calls Chuck "Dead Girl" and the most amazing decision to have Jim Dale (of the Harry Potter audio tapes...the only thing that could make me love this more is if Stephen Fry was doing it.) do the voice over which gives the show that wonderful, almost magical fairy tale feel.
There is so much more.
It is just so fucking sweet.
Every week
So sweet, but just slightly off balanced.
Unconventional and romantic.

PLEASE watch this show so it will not get cancelled.
The new shows this fall have pretty much sucked and really this is the only bright spot.

And if you watched last night you would have seen Chuck channelling Audrey Hepburn in an awesome RED new look dress (vintage or not) with huge shades and huge hat.

Good Housekeeping Vintage Fashion

Hattie Carnegie Gown with Jay-Thorpe Fur Cape

I got this insert from a 1938 Good Housekeeping awhile ago and had been planning on scanning it.
There are a few really lovely vintage dresses, one a silver Hattie Carnegie halter evening gown.
The photographs are are from the Good Housekeeping "Fashion Salon" that GH opened in their building in NY in the late 30's.

"In this salon the clothes, the hats, the shoes, the furs, and the hundred and one smart acessories of the fashion you see illustrated each month in GH"

Martha Weathered Hattie Carnegie I. Magnin

Bergdorf Goodman Jay-Thorpe

To see the full layout on my website, click here.

In Praise of Separates

40's cool rayon blouse

I love a vintage dress as well as the next gal, but really when it comes down to it vintage separates are much easier to integrate into a modern wardrobe.

Some of us do not have bodies that fit well into vintage dresses or just are not dress (gasp!) aficionados.

40's Green Gabardine Nipped Waist Jacket

50's Black Beaded Vintage Sweater

A 40's nipped waist jacket looks great with pants or a skirt, can be worn in many situations and makes you look just chic as can be. Skirts and tops can be mixed and matched with modern or other vintage clothing items to give you a one of a kind look all your own.

40's Eight Gore Vintage Flannel Skirt

All of the above items can be found at Damn Good Vintage Clothes.

Sock Monkeys + Quilts = Good Times

I know that Sock Monkeys have their fans.
So do clowns...and those creepy "dolls" that crazy ladies display
in glass cases.

I am NOT a Sock Monkey lover.
I think they are creepy and probably plan to take over the world,
but when Sock Monkeys are added to a quilt and created out of
vintage Bark Cloth fabric well, then that might equal love.

I give you "Sock Monkey Jamboree"

That makes even me smile with glee.

The quilt has been aquired The University of Nebraska's
International Quilt Study Center along with other quilts created by
the extremely talented and creative Mary Catherine Lamb including a
quilt titled THE FOUR HORSEMAN OF THE freaking APOCALYPSE(!).

From their website: "The INTERNATIONAL QUILT STUDY CENTER at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln houses one of the largest publicly owned collections in the world. The quilts range from outstanding early examples of American quilts to contemporary and international quilts. The International Quilt Study Center's comprehensive collection now numbers more than 2300 quilts from seventeen countries, dating from the early 1700s to the present."

Of course this begs the question what will she create next?
I think there is only one way to go after using the Four Horsemen and
Evil Sock Monkeys.
That would be to place all of the Evil Overlords List on a quilt.

I'm sure this is all some evil plan to bring about the APOCALYPSE
and install Sock Monkeys as our Evil Overlords....hopefully they
won't read the list.

What I'm Watching

How could I not be?


~swoon~
Black velvet Ceil Chapmen vintage dress with side skirt wings.
WINGS, I tell you!
Jebus where is my Ceil?

From the most awesome Couture Allure.

Vintage Sewing Pattern

I had a hard time figuring out which of my recently listed patterns was my favorite.
I decided that this one was it.
1930's pajama set, besides the fact that I love wearing my PJs all day and this is one has a freaking sleeveless bolero, the picture with it's pretty pinks and purples make me smile.

Vintage Image

I got this photo at an estate sale this weekend.
There was just something about how happy they look that drew me in.


Not just happy, but close.
I wonder if any are still friends, still alive.
Probably not. This has to be late 20's.
Did they stay in touch as they grew up?
Who moved away?
Who was the wild gal that left Texas and
went to New York and had an amazing life.
Who stayed behind, had a family and died after having
lived a full life surrounded by their children
and grandchildren.


Were these gals all related or was this an all woman school?
I'd like to think this is from an all girls school.
That these gals all went on to be strong women who lived
life on their own terms.

Crazy, Mad Buttons

This amazing vintage 4o's dress is one of the new items at Damn Good Vintage.
Hello! Look at that hip treatment.
Is that not the best?
Awesome 40’s dress with "crazy button hip madness" going on.
Just look at those yellow buttons and faux pockets.
Look at that multi colored chevron pattern!
The 40's whimsical, quirky charm makes me smile.

LOL Cat Sunday

This week I bring you Lolsecretz.

"Lolsecretz is the meeting of two of the internet's most famous memes– PostSecret (the blog where people anonymously confess their deepest darkest secrets) crossed with Lolcat Macros (the phenomenon where people ascribe poorly spelled human emotions to animals). Enjoy!"

Need I say more?

Good Times

This article over at Radar Magazine about the worst toys of all time had me and my hubby in stitches.
My favorite was, of course, the most awesome toy of all time; Lawn Darts.

Removable parts? Suffocation risk? Lead paint? Pussy hazards compared to the granddaddy of them all. Lawn Darts, or "Jarts," as they were marketed, would never fly in our current ultra-paranoid, safety-helmeted, Dr. Phil toy culture. Lawn darts were massive weighted spears. You threw them. They stuck where they landed. If they happened to land in your skull, well, then you should have moved. During their brief (and generally awesome) reign in 1980s suburbia, Jarts racked up 6,700 injuries and four deaths.

I loved jarts.
The best toys are always the most dangerous.

Good times.

PEEPS

What teenage boys do when they are bored and have a few packages of peeps.



Peep Torture!

MCM Nuts

By the time you read this, this 50's or 80's vintage dress will be sold, but that does not mean we should neglect to mention how it is made of awesome.
Really, I'm just speechless.
Fab print, color and design.

Good Things

Erin over on Dress A Day bought this pattern a couple of weeks ago off of my vintage pattern website Sew-Retro Vintage Patterns.
She has now finished it and you can see the completed dress over on her blog. Very cute ad I love gray and yellow striped fabric.
If you are not reading Dress A Day, well you should be.

Just So You Know

It is still hot here.
Yes, I'm talking to you rest of the country*.
100 degrees.
So.
Fucking.
Hot.

I hate summer.

*and my parents who happen to be on a Cruise in fucking Alaska.
Where is my Alaskan Cruise?

Pie Makes Everything Better

I made a Derby Pie yesterday minus the pecans.
Fang really wanted some and The Boy said I should give her some.
I said no "pie is not good for crazy big head dogs" and then my teen said;
Pie is good for everyone, pie makes everything better.

No truer words have been spoken.
Like I said he is a budding philosopher.

Mr. Kitty says;
More Pie

Cat Macro

Bringing the LOLutz.

I've discussed my love of the 40's Noir look many times.
Of all the eras I sell I would be happy if all I had was 40's Noir vintage clothing and, of course, vintage shirtwaist dresses.
What makes me sad is that my luck in finding those dresses is not so hot.
It may be that my area was pretty poor and conservative during that time and that style was just too "fast" to be acceptable.
I need to get an estate of a gal who lived "loose" during that time, a gal who was a mobster's moll and went to swanky clubs then retired to Arkansas with all her "stuff".
Anyway, I do have this great dress listed now:
Yummy.
Love the sheer smocked bodice and the ruched cummerbund.....and I just like black.
Also this pretty sheer Peggy Bets blouse to be worn under a nice nipped waist suit.

Cat Macros Make Me Happy

I don't know if any of you have ever read Smart Bitches, but they are a hoot, mostly making fun of bad romance novels (they like good ones) and cheesy covers. Recently they had a contest using cat macros and acceptance letters for LOLuz novels.
Cat macros as cheesy romance novel covers.
OMG, I just spent 15 min or so laughing so hard I was crying.
For your enjoyment:
LOLurve Letters and Cat Macros

Mad Men

Of course I am in love with Mad Men on AMC.
Set in 1960 New York, the daring new series is about the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell while their private world gets sold.

The booze, the smoking, the smarmy sexism and good God, the clothes!
Sexy secretary dresses, full skirt cocktail dresses and everything in between.
I think my favorite would have to be the body enhancing outfits Joan (Joan is on the right in the picture above) wears and the more "good girl" garments of Betty Draper.

Joan would have loved this Suzy Perette (which were copies of Paris designs that the working girl could afford) wiggle dress or worn this great pinup sweater from Darlene with a really tight skirt:

Betty would wear this perfect pink shirtwaist dress or the ice blue vintage cocktail dress below:Of course you can feed your inner Joan, Betty, Peggy and any other character you find compelling at Damn Good Vintage.

And it ends....

If you have NOT read Deathly Hallows you are about to be spoiled:







I just finished my 2nd reading and I am even happier with the book then I was on my 1st reading.

I will admit that the only thing I did not like in the book was the use of "Sev" in the Prince's Story. That annoying nickname is now canon.
Ugh.

To me the deaths, even Snape's are all about the randomness of violence and how even after you have devoted your life to something you just might get screwed in the end and die alone and unloved, but I'm pretty cynical that way.
He was always gonna die. Would I have preferred a more glorious one for Snape?
Well sure.
But he was a man who never grew up, who could not get past his horrible childhood nor his 1st love or his childhood rivals.
He was not even close to being a nice person.
He was a bitter git who was ruled by his insecurities and petty hatreds.
Which is what makes him so compelling...plus he could fly.

I like Dumbeldore much more now that we know his shades of gray could be quite dark.
There is a nice tension between Dumbeldore growing and learning from his insight into his flaws whereas Severus never could.
He could not see why Lily turned her back on him, he could not see why it was NOT ok with her that he did not think she was a "mudblood", but all the rest of the muggle borns were, he could not understand that he was making the wrong choices that she could no longer support.
Tough love, eh.
He only turned aganist Voldemort because of his obsessive love for Lily he could care less about Harry or even the fight between the dark and the light.

Though I did like how he told Phinius not to call Hermonie a "mudblood".

I like that JK makes it clear in her interview that he was "immensely brave" but not really a hero. I also like it fits in with the whole "don't judge a book by its cover" theme that runs though out the books.

BUT she does throw us a bone in that we do not have a funeral or a headmaster’s portrait on the wall.
No one will ever make me believe Snape was not prepared for Nagini ...well at least until she says "he is dead" or puts a date of death in her encyclopedia.

While I wish Neville had killed Bella (and really he could have never beat her and in the end he was a hero by killing that damn snake) I thought Molly was made of awesome and deserved to seek retribution on those who had decimated her family.
Plus one of the main themes of the books was what love, a mother's love, could accomplish.
It turned Narcissa into a traitor (and how much I love the fact that in the end the only thing the Malfoys really cared about was Draco), made Molly a warrior and saved Harry's life.

On a forum someone was upset that Molly "who has not done anything for the Order" all of a sudden turned out to be this bad ass and that she did not deserve the glory of killing Bella.
I disagree that what Molly was doing was not useful to the order.
She provided a warm place in a cold world for order members, a place to meet, a place to find sustenance and companionship and proved once again that there is no such thing as "just a housewife".

Of course all the deaths made me weep.
Though I think Dobby's was the most unexpected and tragic....but we should have known Bella liked to play with knives. I actually cannot think of Fred without tearing up.
War is cruel.
I could go on and on...I feel drained and happy to see that Harry goes on to live a life of joy with the family he always wanted.

And it begins...

The next few weeks will be fun as the Harry Potter fandom explodes with movie wank and then, OMG!, the last book wank.
I'm gonna need tons of popcorn.

On our way out the door to meet friends for food and fun and then the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Batshit crazy Bella.
Snape.
and Lucius.

In leather.

ETA:
~meh~

There is NO bigger Potter dork out there then me, but I was so sadly disappointed (and I am never one to complain about what gets left out, except for the Snape stuff).
I kept thinking "Jesus will this never end?".
That's pretty bad.

I can't even put why I thought it was just ~meh~ into words.
It just was.

Lat 30 min was great though.
Bellatrix was awesome.
Lucius in leather....yumm.
Lots 'o Snape.
Oh, and Mack Daddy Sirus in his velvets.

But I still am just ~meh~......
I have a feeling I will be alone in my opinion since everyone we went with last night thought is was all "OMG AMAZING".

EETTAA:

To show what a Potter dork I really am I actually went today and saw it AGAIN (yes a movie I was not happy with) and I am happy to report that on a 2nd viewing I like.
It could be that I was just too tired and old to go to a midnight movie, or that I needed to pee, or that the seats lean back and it kills my back.
I might of been focusing too much on stupid stuff left in (Garwp), added (Minerva being scared of Umbridge) or left out (hello, the screaming picture which while small added tension and emotional conflict to a flat start)....it seemed very flat at the beginning.
But I enjoyed it soooooo much more this time.
Ummmmm Lucius.
So view.
Enjoy Lucius in leather, Sirus in pimp velvets and lots 'o Snape.....

"We don't have many problems with our blacks."

I live in the South and even I can't believe this shit still happens.
Even in Bush's America.
Amazing.