A Jazzy Flapper's Golden Dream

Last weekend I went Governor's Island in Manhattan to attend the Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party hosted by the Michael Arnella & His Dreamland Orchestra.  I went with my sister and a few of her friends.  We learned how to dance the Peabody and had a picnic on the lawn.  It was such a blast!  I have never been before, but we will definitely be bringing more friends to enjoy with us next year!

So, of course, with a change in decade, comes an alteration in my wardrobe.  I had been eyeing a gown at Re-Threads Boutique for a while; a gorgeous gold beaded gown.  It was loosing some of it's beads, so it was only $20, and then further reduced to $5 on the boutique's Third Thursday Sale!  I realized that it was quite big for me, and would need some work to become a flapper dress.  However, I was quite up for the challenge the afternoon before the big day!

I removed the sleeves right at the edge, so that I did not have to sew the arm holes.  I only had to tack down the lining to keep it from popping out.  I then cut the bottom half of the dress.        For the seam, I folded over the fabric three times to ensure that the beads would not start falling out the bottom.  It was quite precarious, but was not too hard once I pinned the folds.  For the back of the dress I used an eye-hook to pull the sides closer, and my sister pinned it together for extra security throughout the dancing activities!

I absolutely adore how the dress turned out!  I paired it with gold and brown accessories found at Re-Threads.  The bag, vintage, is one of the cutest little purses I've ever bought, and surprisingly held a lot of the essentials.  I propped up the vintage hat so it would not blind me, but it was the perfect fit, and quite appropriate for the time period.  My sister had the gold shoes, and my mom helped me out with the necklace.

 

I cannot wait for my 21st birthday because I decided long ago that I would have a 1920s themed party. I have so many ideas because of this festival for my soiree!  Hope everyone had a great summer as well!

~M. Margaret

A Blue Dress: Take 2

It's kind of bad weather outside, so I wanted to bring some pleasant spring into my life this morning!

My second showcased blue dress is from American Vintage in PA.  This thrift store is a little wild, and they had way too many piles of unmarked clothing.  I spent a total of 15 minutes in the place with Amy and Laura before we got a communal headache and decided to leave.  But I did not leave empty handed.  I had found this one dress in a pile on the floor.  I fell in love, despite the age stains.  I ended up with it for $5 and knew that if cleaning didn't work out, at least it'd be a learning experience!

During my spring break I decided to take out the dress and give it a go.  The stains were quite dark, so I had decided that if I couldn't get them out, I could shorten the dress.

At first, I tried soaking the dress in a solution of vinegar and water.  It helped lighten the stains a slight bit, but not enough to make a difference.  Afterwards, my mom and I used oxy-clean stick.  It took a lot of the stains out, and made them so faint, that I didn't have to shorten the dress at all!

We washed the dress on a delicate cycle (we still aren't sure what type of fabric it is - possibly chiffon) and then I spent an hour ironing it!

The dress came out so well, I was jumping around because I was so excited!  My sister took some modeling shots of me the next day :)

We thought that I looked quite like Alice in Wonderland, so obviously I had to do a pose as if I were falling down the rabbit hole!

I hope this weather clears up!  Happy May 1st, everyone!

M. Margaret

Happy Easter Evening!

Today was a great Easter, I hope all of you who celebrated as well had a pleasant day!  I had a very nice dinner with family and family friends at my house.  We also celebrated my birthday (which is actually in 30 minutes technically) and everyone was very generous :)














I wore a vintage skirt suit that Nancy gave to me.  I had to revive it a bit for today; I devoted a nice chuck of time to ironing it and I also glued all the rhinestones back into the buttons.  I also happened to have a perfect hat to match the outfit; I bought it at Nancy's antique shop three years ago!  By chance, it was the exact same lavender color!  The hat is the same style that Chuck wears in an episode of Pushing Daisies as well.









I also wore an appropriate bunny ring I purchased earlier this year from iluxo on Etsy.




Have a great evening!  I can't wait to be 20 tomorrow!

A Mad Men Affair

   Mad Men is quite the show, and I absolutely love it, most definitely because it is set in my favorite decade.  I also love throwing parties.  Keeping these two things in mind, I had a Mad Men Party in January.  Much to my delight, everyone dressed up (all the boys wore suits!) and we had so much fun!

I unfortunately did not take nearly enough photos of the decorations, but there are a lot of my friends!

If you are interested in throwing a Mad Men party, or a 1950/60s party in general, I'd love to see it, and I would love for you to take some of my suggestions!

Music:
   Grooveshark "Mad Men" playlist and my dad's Beatles record albums


Decorations:
   Fun vintage items borrow from Nancy (my boss) including books, a TV light, a World's Fair bottle from alcohol, and vintage Barbie dolls.  I also had my portable Royal typewriters on display.

I printed out a bunch of old advertisements I found on the internet, some were even featured in Mad Men!

The bathroom had two beauty advertisements, as well as a lipstick holder (so cute, and now on consignment at Re-Threads Boutique) and an old hairdryer/rollers.




Food:
   My friends came over in the late evening, so I planned to serve snacks and desserts.  We had crackers and cheese, chips and dip, and Planters peanuts.

Dessert included homemade rice-krispie treats, brownies, and oreos.

I had coke, and some small tips to make mocktails.
I also have a punch concoction that is always a hit at my parties, courtesy of my friend from Juniata.  It's a combination of orange juice, raspberry lemonade, and sprite.  Frozen berries and balls of raspberry sherbet are added as well.  If you want to make this, I just added everything to taste; there are no specific proportions of each ingredient.  However, I'd definitely recommend it for any party!


Clothing:
   I instructed the girls to wear simple cocktail dresses or pencil skirts, or to go more housewife with full skirts and cardigans.  I also lent out some of my vintage aprons that I have picked up at my boutique!

The dress I wore I had bought, shocker, at Re-Threads Boutique.  It is from the 40s/50s, and the consigner had brought in three white and blue vintage dresses at the same time.  I adored all three, and ended up buying two of them.  This one was in the shop for a few months, and I got it on a final sale which I was ecstatic about!  The apron is also from my shop.  My hat/hairband was my grandmother's hair piece for her wedding.  She then had it dyed, and wore it for my parents' wedding.  It's simply darling :)

Photo-booth:
   I have decided that the photo-booth is a must at my parties.  They bring out a lot of fun ideas from people, and the pictures turn out great!  I have made lips and mustaches on sticks for people to use as props in the past, but this time I left out vintage hats, a boa, and a pair of cat eye glasses.

    

I gave out candy cigarettes to the girls and bubblegum cigars to the boys (I bought these at local candy shops) at the beginning of the night.  They were also used in the photo-booth!

I loved this party so much because my friends really got into the costumes!  I'm always looking for good party to throw - which is very appropriate, since it's my birthday next week and I've been avidly crafting and planning for another shindig!

Have a great Thursday!

~M. Margaret

A Blue Dress: Take 1

So, I have a knack for obtaining blue dresses apparently.  I came to this conclusion yesterday when I was mulling over the clothes that I wanted to post about.  I have at least six blue dresses, and four of them are worthy of posts because they are either vintage, thrifted, altered, or (which a majority of them are) are all three!

The first blue dress was thrifted from Jubilee in Palmyra.  It is originally from The Limited.  It is really warm, and I am not usually a fan of wrap dresses for myself, however, it is very comfortable, and I really like the style!

Lovin' the Late Sixties

Spring Break has given me the opportunity to blog again!

I have spent every day so far (starting last Friday) with some type of craft in my hand, which I am very pleased about!  I have a lot to share!

But before I share the new things, I need to blog about one of my favorite dresses.  This late 1960s purple-out-of-control-hippie dress came from my shop, Re-Threads Boutique.  We get some amazing vintage items that I cannot help but purchase for myself!  I love Re-Threads, not just our items, but working there is seriously such a great job, and Nancy, my boss, is such a great person as well!

So here is the dress when I first got it:

I knew that I wasn't too comfortable wearing a full length dress when I bought it, so I had every intention of shortening it.  I did end up shortening it and I absolutely love how it turned out!  I didn't cut the fabric, because I really would like to have it's original fabric intact incase I ever wanted it at full length again.  Cutting is too permanent for me, so if I can help it, I will just double up fabric, especially on vintage pieces!

The dress was actually altered twice before I got it.  There is a small length in the skirt to shorten it, but it was taken up in a way to preserve the pattern.  Then the bottom was also folded up as well (the picture above is of the dress after I took out this shortening seam.)  

I had to figure out some math, because the bottom hem is a lot longer than the fitted waist!  I also had to account for the zipper, so there is some extra fabric in the back of the dress that allows me to actually get into it.  Doubling up the fabric actually has a nice affect because it makes the skirt a little fuller.  At first I thought that loosing the bottom of the pattern would take away from the dress, but I've grown to like the simpler bottom half of the dress, especially since the unique pattern is still at the top, sleeves, and waist!

Here is what it looks like now!  (Pictures courtesy of Amy in March when I visited her and Laura in Pennsylvania.)

(windy much?)

I hope you enjoy this beautiful weather!

~M. Margaret

Pennsylvania Dreamin'...

My thrifting trip yesterday with Amy and Laura (of Thrifting Through Life) was a blast!  On Long Island we simply do not have the same type of cheap, widely stocked thrift stores like I see here in Pennsylvania!  (**If you live on Long Island and know of a really great thrift store, please share!!  There are a few, but I feel that it is a huge hit or miss.)

We started out at Blue Mountain, where I bought red spectator oxford pumps, a record, a cute blue houndstooth halter top, and some fabric for a future project.

Then we hit some antique stores in Annville.  I invested in a jewelry box that needs a little bit of love to be beautiful, and I also bought a rustic wooden box that was apparently used to dry cigars.  It has tray drawers which I will be fixing up, lining with velvet, and using for my jewelry/beading supplies as well!  I absolutely love finding random old items that I will use in a future craft project.

We checked out two other thrift stores: American Vintage and Jubilee.  I got a dress that needs a lot of serious help at American Vintage, but I fell in love with the style, so I asked for a good price.  I also got a really nice blue wrap dress from Jubilee!  It was a great day of thrifting!

Today we took lots of photos today which I cannot wait to share!

~M. Margaret