Once Upon A Hot Day

. . . There was a girl that decided to sew an 1850s day dress . . . Wait that's not what you do when its brutally hot?!

It was super hot this weekend, almost 100 at the coast, even hotter inland. And we're just not used to that kind of heat, so it really kicked the stuffing out the whole weekend. So instead of attending a picnic with friends we sat at home with all the fans pointing directly at us (no air conditioning) and tried to move as little as possible, and as a result a dress was started. I know that doesn't sound much like no movement  but that's about as close as I get ;)

It's going to be one of my new dresses for SF dickens fair this year. Half the reason I am making this dress is for its sleeves: 

Giant, poofy, and smocked what more could you ask for! I love the big sleeves of the 50s and 60s and the smocking is only because I just discovered our vintage singer has a special foot just for it!!

It made the whole process a piece of cake :) so far the rest of the dress is turning out pretty basic but I like the skirt decoration from the fashion plate below:

The Art Deco Weekend on the Queen Mary

Two weekends ago Michael and I attended the art deco festival on the Queen Mary. The event is put on by the art deco society of LA and is three days of vintage fun. And we get to spend the weekend with so many of our good friends :)

This year was my second year attending and Michael's third or fourth. The event starts out on Friday night with cocktails up on the fore deck accompanied by live music and dancing, followed by a pajama party with desserts and an original betting game from the ships heyday. For the arrival Michael and I wore our vintage suits and I finally got to wear that black hat which was Christmas present last year :) for the pajama party Michael wore an incredible brown velvet and quilt silk smoking jacket and I wore my vintage Asian inspired pajamas.

Saturday has deco themed lectures on everything from famous people to art and architecture. There is also a small gathering of old cars on display from the local vintage car community and down in the hold there is a vintage marketplace for shopping.  During the day Michael wore his favorite red wool jacket and cream pants and I wore my light blue summer suit, though no real pictures showed up of those outfits :(

Saturday night is the grand deco ball held in one of the beautifully restored ballrooms, complete with dinner and dancing with music provided by Dean Mora and his band. Early this year on etsy I had found this vintage 30s burgundy silk ball gown and snagged it door this event, unfortunately it's very fragile and I don't think it will be worn again especially not for dancing. Michael looked handsome as always in his white dinner jacket! 

Sunday has more lectures and then a tea dance with live music provided by Ian Witcomb. Though Sunday is the end of the official event many people stay till Monday so there is always a good crowd at the observation bar at night. In the morning before the tea dance I wore my women's palm beach suit!! And Michael wore another great red sporting blazer. For the tea dance I wore a little cotton dress that has tiny rows of red dots, funny enough they are so small the dress looks pink :) Michael was in his palm beach suit.

Michael and I stayed on the ship for the event, and this year we had the best room! It actually had a little sitting area in it which was great for entertaining friends and picnic lunches in the room. 

We packed for the weekend in our original steamer trunk! The thing is huge but it packs two people and all our stuff very nicely and the porters are used to having to move it now as we are not the only people to show up with that kind of luggage. Although when you add in hat boxes, shoe cases, my train case and food its a lot of stuff!

It was another great event and even with all hassle of all that luggage and vintage clothing it actually felt like a vacation :)

An English Country Gentleman

Michael has a wonderful knack for scouting out and snagging some really great eBay finds, but I have to say when that houndstooth suit showed up I thought he had finally lost it ;)

The suit is loud and if you stare at the pattern too long it starts to move on you  I swear. and though i was skeptical Michael loved it and thought it would be the perfect piece for a summer picnic, and that he could go for the country gentleman/ shooting look.

Then I came across this book i hadn't yet seen in the research materials stash that is one of the bookshelves in Michael's back room:

And wouldn't you know it but right near the beginning was a man in almost exactly the same suit!

Now having seen this i could finally visualize the look he was going for and realized how great it would look with just a little sprucing up :) and he did look great in it when he wore it to the lighthouse picnic!

Dinner plate hat

Or that little flat thing I wore on my head for the picnic ;)

It is actually a vintage 30s/40s hat, now wait before you panic because it's not in any way ruined and can quickly and easily go back to being vintage. As all the decoration on it to match my dress was very carefully sewn around the original decoration. So the vintage hat is just hiding underneath :)

I found the hat at a vintage shop in downtown Orange when there last month for my friend Beth's birthday tea party( which was an absolute blast!) 
the hat matched the dress I was wearing that day so perfectly I just couldn't pass it up.

Details of the lighthouse dress

My goal this year with my sewing has been to try and reuse as much of what I have already made when I want a new outfit rather then making a whole new ensemble from scratch. So for a new summer picnic dress I chose to reuse a skirt done for a ball gown last summer.
(See previous post for draping of the overskirt) 

The bodice was based on a couple different ideas and due to that it was made with a mish mash of pattern pieces from different patterns. and though it doesn't have the best fit because I was rushing to complete it in one day, I did like the overall look and some of its details like the big buttons on the false bolero

And the little white etched buttons on the false vest front

The little puffed cap on the sleeve was a fun easy detail but the best part of the sleeves was the gathered trim.

I used one of those new wavy edged rotary cutters to cut the strips (yes I splurged and finely bought one). I was surprised it actually worked and cut so well and am looking forward to using it again. So far it looks like it could be a really easy way to make pinked edges which are such a popular trim in almost every era. 

And while my bustling was giving me fits and I was not totally pleased with the shape they created, all in all it's not too far from the fashion plate :)

Point Fermin Lighthouse Picnic

. . . Was two Sundays ago. And despite the suffocating heat we have been suffering under here in southern California, it was a beautiful day out on the coast. High 70s when we were setting up and cooling down to the low 70s by the late afternoon. And right around 3 in the afternoon the most refreshing breeze blew in off the water. 

We were a very small group, as a lot of the regular crowd was our of town. But it was still a very fun little event and in such a beautiful setting :)

As per previous posts i had made a new dress for the event using parts of an old dress. And Michael wore his new hounds tooth suit, he looked very countrified ;)

From one angle:

And now for the other:

And no picnic is ever complete with out the dogs!

A wonderful surprise

A friend of my mothers from work gave her a modest collection of items previous belonging to an old friend who had recently passed away. She gave the items to my mother because she knows I sew and am into vintage.

I received a huge collection of late 40s and 50s sewing supplies, two jewelry boxes full of vintage, a couple of lovely crocheted shawls and a very sturdy old hay box. Check it out! I am in little pig heaven and so grateful that she thought of me!!! :)