Category Archives: fashion

February 19, 2010 · 1:08 pm

I’m Not Only The President, I’m Also A Client

I became a vintage seller because I am also a vintage buyer. When I realized that my personal collection included too many “specimen pieces” which were lovely but not my size, I decided to share the booty. I can have a dress tailored, but too-small shoes are going to remain too-small shoes. And how many silver lamÃ© handbags should one girl rightfully own?

Of course, in order to keep things going, I need to keep buying. When my inventory is running low, I may pick up a few things that aren’t to my taste, but which I feel have merit. However, most of the time, I pick up stuff that I would be happy to wear (or use) myself. Which leads me to…

I’ve been scouring eBay for vintage swimsuits. I need a “new” one, and as long as I’m looking, I’ll see if I can afford a few for the store. If you feel like it, you can do a keyword search and see how many come up. A good number are vintage-reproductions. An equally large number are represented as true vintage, but I can tell from the photos that the seller is either confused, clueless, or flat-out lying. I saw one that definitely was vintage, but the Rose Marie Reid label either wasn’t original to the suit, or was original but had fallen out and been sewn back in (badly) by an owner at some point. There are all sorts of things to look out for, and I consider myself pretty savvy. I have to be.

When I spotted a listing for a “50s-60s rockabilly VLV vintage bathing suit” “in great condition” with no accompanying photo and a low starting bid, I added it to my Watched list. After a few days, a single photo appeared. The photo was small, blurry, and cropped off the very bottom of the suit. I’ve passed over other listings for similarly vague photos, but the low opening bid and 100% feedback score must have encouraged me to dive in. I placed a low bid, and forgot about it. Completely. I mean, when I received notification that I won the auction, I honestly didn’t remember bidding on it. But hey, there you go. I paid right away, and waited. Priority Shipping meant that I wouldn’t have to wait long.

Oh, but I did. 11 days after I paid the invoice, I contacted the seller and asked about the status of the package, and for a tracking number (heads up: all Priority packages include tracking, although it isn’t as robust as UPS or FedEx). I heard nothing. I thought about writing again the next day, but decided to give it another 24 hours. Lo and behold, my package arrived today! Postmarked 11 days after I paid! And wrapped in a United States Post Office bag, because the seller’s original packaging, a brown paper grocery bag, had torn open in transit. Now I ask you: If you’re selling a 40 or 50 year old swimsuit, are you shipping it in a grocery bag? Well no, no you’re not. Because I finished opening the bag to see a swimsuit that isn’t more than 5 years old. It’s an attractive color and a flattering, vintage-INSPIRED cut, but with clear hints as to its modern creation. For one thing, it’s a spandex blend fabric with a fine hand. Swimsuits weren’t made out of fabric this drapey before the ’80s, and the matte finish puts it no older than the ’90s. The lack of pilling, the blue-on-blue faux brocade print, and the cast metal rosettes on the straps indicate that it’s likely even newer.

This seller doesn’t accept returns, but I’ve sent a message explaining my dissatisfaction and am now in Wait And See mode. The next step is to contact eBay and PayPal and file disputes with both, but I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. Be careful out there, kids!

United We Stand

I am pleased to announce that my online shop has been accepted for membership into the Vintage Market Team (see groovy new button on right —>). VMTeam is dedicated to promoting quality vintage goods on Etsy, and as a vendor, it will provide me with a network of camaraderie and support. As a customer, you can count on VMTeam shops to keep you supplied with a hand-picked selection of vintage clothing/accessories/housewares that are accurately described, well photographed, and shipped with care. Also, team-wide sales! Click on the link to see some beautiful “treasuries” of wares offered by VMTeam shops, and search for listings tagged with “vmteam” whenever you search Etsy. We (hee, I can say we!) are a group of shop owners with some pretty good taste, and you won’t be disappointed.

Note: I have started the slow process of retagging my own listings to be vmteam-compliant, but I’m heading to the airport in 4 hours and I have errands to run before I go, so it may be a few days. I’ll show up in those vmteam searches eventually!

Feb 1: Two Months to Viva!

AAAAAAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAA!

Whew. Okay. As many of you know, my Biggest Event of the Year is the annual Viva Las Vegas rockabilly weekender. I first attended VLV10 in 2007 at the urging of (and spending all of my time with) my friends at Peek Photo and a mutual friend of ours. They were absolutely sure that VLV was my bag, Baby, and boy were they ever right. I live a relatively sheltered life, and I did not know that there were people out there, hundreds of no thousands no TENS OF THOUSANDS of people out there who listen to really great music and dress the way I wanted to dress. I was hooked!

VLV10 was a pivotal event in my life. For one thing, I met my now-boyfriend, although I didn’t run into him again (and learn his name) for another 6 months. For another thing, spending an entire weekend with my friends brought us that much closer, and they are just about the only ex-coworkers with whom I still hang out (I am historically bad at keeping in touch with people). And finally, I felt free to dress in my beloved mid-century silhouettes without worrying about what people might think, because I knew that scattered around the globe were more people like me who supported my style. To be truthful, I did get some funny looks. I worked at that time within very close proximity to a semi-upscale shopping mall, where I would frequently head for lunch. I was occasionally aware of someone staring, but for the most part I went surprisingly unnoticed. The only time anyone ever approached me directly was to tell me how nice I looked. This was unexpected!

I bought my first vintage dress during my freshman year of college (boy do I ever wish I still had that dress, let alone the 22″ waist that once fit into it) and I’ve been casually collecting ever since. Those of you who know my age know that references a long time. Now it was my goal to make sure that I had enough vintage and repro clothing in my closet to support another year at VLV! I began to collect more aggressively, spending hours lurking around eBay and diving deeper during thrift store excursions with my similarly-afflicted Bestest Friend In The Whole Wide World. As my collection grew, I also had more to wear on a daily basis. And wear it I did. A different-yet-similar group of friends got together for VLV11, and as we prepared we would hunt in packs for dark-rinse high-waisted jeans and era-appropriate shoes. We studied the events schedule and planned our outfits weeks (months) in advance so that we could pack as efficiently as possible. I managed, after months-months-months of looking, to buy for myself a coveted deadstock-with-tags 1960/61 gold lamÃ© DeWeese swimsuit, lightly embroidered and studded with rhinestones. A swimsuit so stellar that I dared to wear it two years in a row. Of course, I can’t get away with wearing it three years running, so the hunt is on for this year’s swimsuit.

Oh yeah, did I mention the swimsuits?

The weekender is held in early April, but it’s held in April in Las Vegas. 100-degree days are not uncommon. And so the weekend winds down on Sunday with a pool party. While this pool party is the first time that us revelers have a chance to slow down, it is also a veritable gallery of vintage swimwear. People are there to see, and to be seen. In swimsuits. In April. Pasty-white April. Only-three-short-months-from-holiday-excess April. So, when VLV attendees say that they’re starting their diet on January 1, this is no empty New Year’s resolution. This is an Emergency Situation.

Nick’s diet plan included being a complete glutton over the holidays, eating himself sick so that by January 1st, he wanted nothing but juice and salad. And of course, the extra pounds that he had packed on melted right off, because his body never adjusted to that artificially high caloric level in the first place. But from a mental standpoint, those pounds dropping encouraged him to keep going and he has been eating an almost-entirely-raw diet (exceptions made for coffee and Monday night dinner with friends) and he feels fantastic and looks better than I’ve seen him in months.

My own diet is less extreme and less effective, but more realistic for a foodie. On a recommendation from Erin,Â I downloaded an iPhone app called LoseIt. It’s helped to keep me on track, and as of this morning I am 2/3 of the way to my goal weight (and halfway to the weight I was when I had that 22″ waist). Jeans that fit a year ago once again fit properly. I very much look forward to them being a little too big. I’ve started my flickr album of outfit planning, which for the first time is overloaded with options. I have an increasing pile of “needs sewing for Viva.”

I have two months to get everything done. Let the countdown begin!

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Filed under fashion, food, friends, nostalgia, shopping, vacation, vintage, Viva Las Vegas

December 11, 2009 · 9:56 am

Stocking Stuffer: Stockings!

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In love with a vintage gal? Looking for a stocking stuffer? I suggest more stockings. And none of that Leg Avenue garbage, either. I’m talking about the real deal here. Full fashioned, keyhole-welted, seamed, reinforced.*

These specialty items are difficult, although not impossible, to find at brick-and-mortar stores, but are readily available online. This close to Christmas, shipping times are an issue so while many vendors ship overseas, you’ll probably want to stay closer to home for now. The top of the heap for U.S. customers has to be Secrets In Lace, which carries Dita Von Teese line as well as a broad selection of other stockings and a full selection of underpinnings. In the U.K., What Katie Did will be glad to help you out. These companies are fully engaged in what they do, and they carry quality products. They’re not the only horses in the barn, though. You may also find just what your gal wants at MyTights, Christel and StockingsHQ (U.K.), or StockingStore, StockinGirl, GirdleBound, or Alexis4U (U.S.). A search for “full-fashion stockings” on Google will bring up a bevy more.

While you hunt around, you may run into some terms that you’re unfamiliar with. Here’s a quick glossary that I hope will help un-muddle your head while you shop:

Cuban Heel: A reinforced heel that is blocked (squared off) at the back of the ankle
Denier: Unit of weight by which yarn is measured, used to describe the sheerness of hosiery
French Heel: A reinforced heel that comes to a point at the back of the ankle, also called Point or Pyramid
FF, Full Fashioned: Nylon stockings, knitted flat and shaped to fit the leg by decreasing the number of stitches towards the ankle, sewn together at the back to create our beloved seam
Hold Ups: See Stay Ups, below
Keyhole: Formed by doubling over the welt and then leaving a small section un-seamed, a foolproof way to determine if the stockings are full-fashioned or circular-knit
Manhattan Heel: A reinforced heel with a decorative outline
Pantyhose: Hosiery with an attached panty. Not what we’re discussing here.
RHT: Reinforced Heel and Toe
Stay Ups: The U.K. equivalent of the U.S. Thigh High. These are elasticized to “stay up” on their own, without the need for garters (suspenders in the U.K.). And what fun is that?
Thigh Highs: See Stay Ups, above
Tights: See Pantyhose, above
Welt: Knit in a heavier denier yarn and folded double to give strength for supporter fastening

Remember, FF stockings don’t have much stretch, and are therefore not one-size-fits-all. Don’t try to do this without at least some insight into the recipient’s actual size/shape, or the stockings may come up too short on the thigh, and/or bag at the ankle. I myself have, ahem, fuller thighs and honestly don’t mind occasionally giving up the authenticity of FF in exchange for a better fit. Additionally, there are very few of the original machines left that can still knit full-fashioned stockings, and the prices reflect that.

_____________________

*Leg Avenue makes at least one model of FF stockings, and I can tell you from personal experience that they are awful. Terrible fit and they ran the first time I wore them. Unless you have thick ankles, skinny thighs, and glass-smooth skin: stay away.

TRUTH IN BLOGGING: None of the companies mentioned above have given me anything in exchange for writing this post. But I wish they would. :)

Ketchup

What did the big tomato say to the little tomato? Hey, ketchup!

So here I am, probably a month since my last post, and where has the time gone?

I haven’t sewn anything since the last post, although I’ve managed to score some more vintage fabric yardage with which to make more dresses, to add to the stock of items in my etsy store. It’s only the actual SEWING OF THE DRESSES that I haven’t gotten around to. But I keep futzing with the pattern I drafted, or rather, I’m futzing with it in my head. What I need to do is futz with it on paper, and get the “final” pattern cut already! Perhaps I should add the Wild Ginger pattern drafting software to my Kaboodle list! Drooool. For myself, I bought a few new patterns: Simplicity 3673, Vogue 8555, Butterick 6582 (which was NOT on sale, and I rarely—if ever—pay as much for a modern pattern as I did for that one, but I didn’t want to wait for a sale and JoAnn was still out of stock, so I had to get it from Hancock and here it is two weeks later and I haven’t done a thing with it), and McCall’s 5382 for which I also bought a lovely Hawaiian-print fabric with which to sew View A. Of course, I already have plans to alter the dress with convertible straps and a contrast fabric, a choice forced by the just-a-bit-less-than-required length of that Hawaiian-print fabric that was left on the bolt.

My over-the-range microwave had a stroke, a fact that I mentioned on Twitter. Minutes later, as I was looking up prices for a replacement, a friend (@fruitlady) tweeted back that she had her old over-the-range sitting in her garage, and I could have it if I wanted. Let us now all praise the magic of Twitter, and the kindness of friends. Friends who offer up their microwaves, and other friends (@jgamet, @ekwoman, and @gogobigred) who offer their services and maintain a sense of humor while uninstalling the old and installing the new-to-me microwave. Complete with a late-night trip to the hardware store only to NOT find all of the bolts I needed, which required a second day of instally goodness when I did get the right bolts. New microwave in its native environment:

I made a dairy-free cake for the lactose-intolerant host of a 4th of July party, and it wasn’t half bad. I subbed coconut oil for the butter in a cocoa cake recipe that didn’t call for any milk in the first place. Filled the layers with cherry jam, and topped it with a meringue frosting which involved no milk, butter, or cream cheese. The cake was a little dry in my opinion, but I don’t know if that was a result of the fat substitution or of my high-altitude cooking adjustments.

I tried to make the cake a little patriotic, although the blue is more “baby shower” and less “field of stars.” I also wore my stars-and-stripes Chuck Taylors, a red, white, and blue Mickey Mouse t-shirt, and our host, an ex-cop, taught us a little about gun safety:

I took my mom to a Rockies game for her birthday. She enjoys baseball, but hadn’t been to a pro game since she last saw the Dodgers… at Ebbets Field. I believe she was 6. The weather was perfect, the company (we went with friends) was lovely, and the Rockies won the game 1-0. Mom described it as “like an amusement park, but without the sticky rides.” Which I think is a good thing.

Nick came out for a weekend visit, which nearly didn’t happen as his dog-sitter went missing before getting instructions regarding Ringo’s new medication. The dog sitter finally reappeared, but not until after Nick had missed his flight, and United cancelled both Nick’s arriving AND departing tickets, forcing him to buy them all over again, at last-minute prices. I cannot thank him enough for shelling out what he did just to come see me, and it was my great pleasure to make an airport run that night. As a result of all of the flurry and stress, we decided to skip the camping trip we’d anticipated, and instead spent a relaxing weekend loitering over coffees, floating in the pool, watching DVDs, and generally giggling.

Today, I’m back to a bit of jewelry making (a specific project, but I’ll try to get new things posted to my store soon) and thinking about what it will take to get my place in “guest condition” if Dave and Jessi decide to stay here for the duration of their upcoming visit to Denver. There are a few flies hanging out in the kitchen, a small offshoot gang from the swarm that has invaded my yard as a result of my next-door neighbors penning their dogs in their back yard 24/7 and then not picking up after them.* Yech. The fly trap is reaching maximum capacity, and stinks, so old-fashioned flypaper may be my next experiment.

*Every time I thought about reporting them to Animal Welfare, they would coincidentally clean up the poop. Additionally, the wife’s father is a cop in this town, and I wonder if anything would actually come of a warning or if it would get “taken care of.” I know it’s a health hazard, so I sent a message to the landlords. Even if they can’t do anything about it, they should know.

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Filed under fashion, friends, jewelry, kitchen, romance, relationships, sewing