Weekend Finds (2)

What a weekend for estate sale and Goodwill finds! After a drought of many weeks, this past Saturday and Sunday was a veritable bonanza of items snapped up practically for the asking. Hallelu!

I went to an estate sale in Green Hills on Saturday, where I picked up the Brownie 8 projector seen above, nestled amongst my other vintage cameras in its new home ($15...first day price). I'll stop collecting vintage cameras and related equipment...oh, fifth of never. It's getting a little out of hand, but this one was too pretty to take a pass on.

The house was unusually full of vintage clothes-- one men's dressing gown, brightly colored and beautifully kept, had a hand-pinned (and penned) note attached to it by the antecedent who claimed the garment had been worn by a Judge in colonial America sometime around 1746...! I touched the robe, then the note, and recoiled as if bitten. 1746! Boggles the mind. An all white cotton women's dressing gown, baroquely embellished in all manner of lace frippery and pin tucks, probably from the turn of the century, was hanging in another alcove with a ghostly trio of similar, linen shirtwaist dresses. I honestly haven't seen any clothes items this old at an estate sale in all my ten plus years of going. The prices were fair, but astronomically out of my range, so I kept snooping, lugging the above projector (in its box, with the instructions and price tag!) along for the ride.



Above, Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book from the late 50's (same sale, $4), and a pair of bowling shoes that will save me from looking a mess at the bowling alley next time I'm inclined to go (Goodwill, $4). They look nice together, don't they?

The biggest score from that sale was a gorgeous 1940's, bejeweled, Veronica Lake-ish number on the second day, but it really warrants its own post. That, and I haven't taken pictures of it yet. Next time!!




Some pictures from a dog show in 1976, as well as an AKC Best-in-Show ribbon from a living estate sale in West Meade. I'm a sucker for one-of-a-kind personal ephemera, so this one had me at hello. "Do you show dogs?" the cashier asked me as I was trundling my quarry up to the sale table. "Uhhhh, no," I answered, feeling a little foolish, while nevertheless adamantly reminding myself of how good these framed pictures and ribbon would look at the end of my hallway... I need another framed picture like I need a hole in the head, and yet here we are. Look at the pup! Whole lotta hair going on there.




Goodwill in Hendersonville, why are so good to me? I found the grouping of "Forum International Stoneware", designed by Ben Siebel, on the right at an estate sale on the second day, several weeks ago, at the same sale that yielded my colonial curtains...the pair of pots were $4 for both, and the casserole was $3. I was kind of bummed I didn't have a fourth piece in white to balance out the two browns, UNTIL I found this. Which is a simply enormous version of the smaller dish. The set came with the main dish, a matching ceramic stand, and a wooden base for you to put a can of sterno or similar heat to keep items warm. This is essentially a giant, gorgeous chaffing dish set, in good condition, which MATCHES the original set to a tee. Thank you, thank you, Goodwill gods. $11.99.



Some Goodwill finds--Shoshtakovich, Bobby Vinton, and what looks like a Jaws-knockoff CHILDREN'S album. Because, really, why not. A "Home Alone" game for the Sega Genesis sang its siren's call to me, and I ended up taking it home. Note the "Holy Cow" photoshopped into the right hand side of the frame. Like "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" was not enough of a statement to make.

This is really the crowning glory of my finds this weekend, other than the Lake dress.




Um, promotional silk jacket from the 1984 release Rhinestone, featuring the immortal pairing of Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton? I just about let out a shriek when I realized what I was holding in the jackets section of the Goodwill up in Gallatin ($6.99). I thought it might be a baseball league jacket, owing to the glimpse of a shiny sleeve I saw from afar, or maybe, if I was lucky, even a poorly silk screened country band's promotional jacket. But I was so very wrong. Babu gamely donned the world's ultimate jacket (the western styling, down to the pearl snaps and green piping?) for the photo, but we might have to put it in a glass case and just display it. It's really too crazy/nice to wear.

I hated to spend more than $20 this weekend (usually my cut-off budget for sale snags), but I couldn't let some of the things I found go.

As if I hadn't been a bad enough pack rat, my friend Jules suprised me at her boyfriend's birthday party with a gift for me! And me alone! I was like, "Wait! It's James's birthday, not mine!" Jules then related to me the backstory of this PERFECT FONDUE POT, being that her grandfather passed away in 1982, whereupon her grandmother downsized to a smaller house and packed up everything extra in storage. Once a year, at Christmas, her grandmother pulls some non-heirloom, but definitely vintage item, out of storage to give to her grandchild. Who turned around and, out of the goodness of her heart, gave it to me!! The pot, though dusty, looks to be in excellent shape, and even came with a recipe book and a set of color-coordinated long forks! You better believe we'll be "fondue-ing" some "fondue-ables" with a quickness. Thanks, Jules! You're the first on my fondue party invite list. Also, you are way too nice to me. :) In the same vein, Matthew's mom gave me this late 70's, JC Penney brand wok, which is a delicious, kitchen-matching red, as she was decluttering her kitchen weekend before last. I always want to try Asian wok recipes at home, and have never had one. Thanks, Deb! A-cooking we will go, go, go, people.

Anyway, if you've gotten this far, thanks for looking! How was your luck this weekend? Is it something in the lunar cycle...did everybody make killer hauls? I'd love to know!

Introducing Fabric Collage (1969)

I was running paging slips yesterday for some rogue titles that had eluded the initial morning runs whennnnn... I came across a book that contains the above illustration. Wait a minute. Fabric collage? Check. Done by English schoolgirls? Check. Of Bonnie and Clyde? Oh, you'd better believe it! Note the waylaid officer of the law, sprawled to collage stage right. Note the featureless faces of the famed bandit couple, her cigar, his tommy gun. Really? We spent a lot of time doing still lives of sneakers in my middle school art class, but grisly tableaux of 30's gangsters in felt? Definitely a class on which I would have liked to have sat in.


The odds that two sixties' instructional manuals on non-paper-based collage work should catch my eye without any prior hunting and pecking for them seem small, but, as you'll see in this post, are not entirely unheard of. Introducing Fabric Collage, by Margaret Connor, was shelved two books down from a book I was actually looking for.




Inside, the book showcases the work Ms. Connor did with the "Needlecraft Department of a Leeds Secondary School". What a class! What a department! Ms. Connor's accomplishments include membership in the Embroider's Guild, several city exhibitions both with and without her pupils, and a collection of poetry (she is large, she contains multitudes). While the writing style can be saltine-cracker-dry, I have to give the lady her due in that she and these kids have created some ne-e-e-e-at fabric pictures.

First off, rock concerts. Popular subject for obvious reasons.

Probably the best illustration in the book. I mean, wait. These are monkeys...dressed as THE MONKEES. Doing some kind of deranged frug. Two pages of text are dedicated to describing the creative process involved in making this dream a reality. "An imaginative girl...suggested that a good picture might be made by portraying the Monkees (a pop group enjoying great publicity at that time), quite literally, as monkeys!" Ms. Connor goes on extol the virtues of this thirteen year old fabric maverick, slowly piecing together the components and making design decisions. "Contrary to the practice of the Monkees group who all dress the same in shows, these fabric monkeys were arrayed in different shirts." It's the little things that count.

In the same vein, this piece is called "Dance Hall". "Two girls, who were inseparable companions...wished to interpret a scene from the interior of the local dance hall...[The girls describe the outline of the piece, what's in it, etc] The writer secretly quailed at the thought of the girls trying to represent all this in fabrics, but respected their ability, and did not wish to dissuade them from the attempt." Yes, the whole book is written like this. I thought at first the authoress was "quailing" (a word I have GOT to use more often) at the rock-show setting, before realizing she was referring to the level of difficulty making all the separate components of the girls' vision come off. So maybe she hates the Merseybeat. Or maybe she's just into simple, straightforward design ethic. In either case, I think the girls in question acquitted themselves of their task admirably. The band looks great! The dance floor! What about the dance to the far right who appear to be wearing a bikini with a sheer net dress over it?! Daring, gals. Daring.

From the text: "An amusing picture called 'The Surprise Catch' [above] was created by two fourteen year old girls, and showed a surprised-looking mermaids with sequinned tail, being caught in a net by an equally surprised-looking fisherman!" True, true. I was surprised at the nearing PG-13 amount of nudity in this collage, but I so love the mermaid's Twiggy eyes and long hair that I'll put away my prudishness for now and enjoy her Dollybird looks.

Underwater scenes seem to be popular-- here's a pair of fish. Doesn't the pattern on the fabric for the lower one look kind of like scales?

What! What is happening here! Titled "Underwater Adventure", this piece has a skin diver stabbing what looks like a beluga whale/shark hybrid as his companion exits a sunken ship to the right. More like..."Underwater Horror Nightmare With Death". It took me a minute to realize that the item in his hand is indeed a knife, and he is doing violence upon the major marine life in front of him. Definitely one of the pages I wish was in color, this is what Ms. Connor would no doubt call an "imagination collage". Jeepers!

The comparitively safe subject matter of these pictures include a elven domestic scene and a trip to whatever the British equivalent of a state fair is. A carnival? A fete? I like that in the first picture, the elves keep an elf-sized snail as a pet. Nice to know the minute scale we're talking about here.

Ms. Connor's own work, seen here above and below, really does use incredible detail to get across the effect of the patterns in the design scheme. I love the city scape above and below, with is cooling towers and smoke stacks blowing breathy plumes of smoke into the skyline above the plaid accented buildings.

The picture below reminds me of William H. Johnson or other Harlem Renaissance painters' figural use of simple everyday life scenes of housework or play. The muslin background gives the picture an interesting texture, and can you see all the little labels piled up as the foundation? Killer.

I promise my next post will be less Girl Scout craft inspired...or will it? :)

Found a few trinkets this last weekend at estate sales and goodwills...will try after the weekend's haul to combine lots and share some pictures. Til then!

The Clothes Off My Back (5)

Greetings from the frozen tundra of formerly sunny Tennessee! Owing to the ice planet like conditions of the streets near my house, I've done without driving to the parking area in favor of making one half mile trek to the bus stop on foot this week, followed by the usual four block hike from the bus depot to the library. By the end of this snow business, I will doubtless have legs like Angie Dickinson. Or pneumonia. But in any case, last week, before flurries, I dimly remember a time when I left my house in less than eighteen layers of life-preserving wool wrappings (this would have been a good week to rewatch Altman's Quintet). And we have the pictures to prove it!

The jacket above is from a sleeveless-dress-and-jacket set I bought in college at some waaaaay- far-out-from-campus thrift store. I bought two such Jackie Kennedy ensembles, knit, bold pastels, and memorably eschewed the purchase of an enormous, complete-with-picture-light, copy of the Last Supper because it was too big to fit in the car. Everything at that place was so-o-o-o-o che-e-e-e-e-ap. I think the two dress sets were four dollars apiece, and the Jesus painting I am actually feeling a little rueful about, five years down the road, was like five.

The matching dress to this jacket is sized unbelievably small... much more suited to someone of 1950's-Jane-Wyman-stature than my own tailleur. The top is a pale, matchy green silk with two false pockets, and the skirt portion is made from the same dreamy mintish green/blue as the jacket. To make the jacket look less like a petite-sized piece and more me-wearable, I covered the jacket's collar with the cowl neck of a sweater Matthew's grandmother gave me for Christmas (best sweater! Still needs to be thank you note'd!), added my own black skirt, and just for a little extra oomph, a little gold pin circlet of rhinestones from an estate sale ($1). The belt came with the dress, and I love the thumb's-width belt loops built into the waist to accomodate it. All in all, this may be my top favorite outfit. Last worn to karaoke out at my favorite local bar. I can't wait til temperatures become, well, more temperate, and I can wear it again without the encumbrance of layers of outerwear.



Overlook the weird presidential face I'm making in this-- that's what happens when you take a cursory look at the photos when Bab's taking them and go "Ah, that'll work" before double checking for usuable ones :) . The skirt is seventies A-line sort of deal with hip pockets and a matching pleather belt with gold buckle-- it's from the last estate sale I attended pre-holidays. The location featured a roof slanted attic completely stuffed with vintage clothes... which, initially, sounded like the best news I'd heard that morning. However, as I got closer, I was super put off by cotton-batting-like cobwebs covering some of the items, not to mention a pair of bargain hunters who had found that the paneling in the attic was removable and there were yet more, albeit musty and somewhat water damaged, estate goods to be had behind them. "Get my phone out of the car! We can use it for a light!" a disembodied voice shouted from the darkness. While I can be as junk-crazed as anybody on one of these occasions, the feeding frenzy seemed weirdly unwarranted, as the items they brought out looked, well, a little less than worth the effort. Not to mention they were running up and down the stairs in a very, very confined space with no regard for the other sale goer's (read: MY) shopping comfort and safety.

In spite of the lousy circumstances, I hunched myself into one corner over a wheeled clothing rack, out of the packrats' respective ways, and found a few items that were both vintage size 12's and relatively free of signs of spider habitation, past or present. YES. Three pieces of clothes (a polka dotted maxi dress, a black, fitted sheath, and this skirt, all dutifully hand laundered and hung to dry): $1. Total. YESSSSSSSS. Last worn to Christmas day at my family's house and Matthew's mother's house, and then recycled to wear to Alex Norris's art show (wait a minute, one of my favorite people is doing an art show in a vintage clothing store? Um, don't throw me in the briar patch?). I love how trim the lines are.



Last but not least, this dress came from the vintage rack of the East Nashville location of Southern Thrift-- love that store for bric-a-brac (great records, ceramics, board games, handbags), but the clothing selection can be dicey. The aforementioned section is sparsely feathered, and many of the clothes bearing the label "vintage" are more mid 90's school teacher than 60's housewife (I know, technically those jumpers are vintage...they're just not the vintage I'm looking for). Ditto on stained 70's plus size business casual pant suits, faded, oversized Mickey Mouse t-shirts, etc, etc. Their pricing staff might not be the arbiters of style you and I aspire to be, but I've found tenacity DEFINITELY pays off in matters of skimpily stocked clothing racks. LO! Behold! This dress boasts Persian rug style mod flowers in textured polyester, using a palette of browns, beiges, and whites. If the fit weren't enough to make me flip my lid (it looked small on the hanger, but suits me to a tee), how about the fact that the skirt is hemmed in a two-inch wide band of yarn fringe? I feel like a really great lamp in this dress. Wore this to Matthew's birthday dinner at his mom's house (I'm noticing that I spend a lot of quality fashion time at Deb's house!).

So! I hope the snow isn't too deadly wherever you are, reader-- we'll pull out of this nasty weather sooner or later. This highstepper looks forward to bigger and better, warmer and wilder things in the days to come.

Pressed Flower Collages (and other ideas) (1971)

Who would have thought! The wonderful world of pressed flower collage!

A large portion of a day in the life of a librarian assistant is consumed with book traffic-- from the time a book is requested until the time it reaches the patron, I would say it manages to pass through at least ten different people's hands. When this number came across my desk, I was instantly suckered in by the Eugene Pallette-like owl on the cover, and the pin-neat author pictured on the back of the jacket. Is not her hair perfectly done? Is not her outfit stylish, yet demure? I took a cursory flip through the pages, saw some really weird and wonderful stuff, and decided to place a hold on it so that the next person to read it would be M-E. And O-M-G did I get a kick out of it.




The flower above is like "Hurray! Hurray for my creation! I am a lithe, daisyheaded ball of optimism!" ("A Daisy's Stretch at Dawn", clematis and daisy). To the right, "Cosmos in Collage", mostly comprised of Cosmos flowers and a few other goodies. I love that while the medium reminds me of needlepoint, it must be so much more fresh looking, more vibrant than its threaded counterpart in real life. I was going to say how neat it would be to find this in a thrift store, but after the experience I had with an ancient display of butterfly mountings, I'm just not sure. I can never understand why the employees don't take better care of fragile donations-- the aforementioned butterfly display was priced seven dollars, but due to some shakeup in transit, was comprised of a number of mangled, destroyed specimens, half hanging, half twisted...ugh! Nightmare fuel. As if butterfly mountings weren't morbid enough. Still, maybe one of these beauties could survive the trip from donation bin to shelf intact, and go out to pasture in my panelled room of kitsch paintings and doo-dads...

To the left, "Miss Gaillardia Ash", the second of Miss MacDowall's "collage cartoons". What really drew me to the book in the first place was the idea of these cartoons, little people paintings made of flowers. Like hand painting tea cups, flower pressing always seemed to me such a dainty, serious, lady-like way to occupy one's time, but seeing these showed me it can really be out there and whimsical too, depending on the crafter. See Miss Ash's umbrella and handbag. Love it.

To the right, "Be My Doll, Mop-Top", Miss MacDowall's interpretation of a "hippie" couple (reinforcing the fact of the book's 1971 copyright date) is done in Clematis tangutica. Note what the author refers to as the boyfriend's "'flower power' medallion" (nestled atop his leafy ribcage)... I didn't see it until she pointed it out!

"Three Little Maids From School" (nice G & S nod there), "Rabbits", and "Two Little Fish" make up the grouping to the left, while the right hand image is succinctly titled 'The Gossips". I think the "Maids" composition might be my favorite in the book. Something about the facelessness of girls and the weird, psychedelicness of them having flowers for heads. I just like it. The fish picutre is more conventionally attractive, but if I had to choose, in a thrift store situation, I could go for the "Maids" picture in a big way.

Last but not least, a simple matchbox decoration. This is more the type pressed flower arrangements we're used to seeing, and the author provides several other uses for your newfound pressed flower talent-- making greeting cards, decorative panels (see the very first images at the top of this post). The text of the book is very specific as to how to work with these designs yourself, and if you're the crafty sort, you should buy the 2001 reprint of her book at amazon.com. Just a little harmless endorsement from your tiny handwork impaired blogger. :) I know a lot of the vintage bloggers out there are pretty great with a sewing machine... do any of you guys do pressed flowers? Collect them? Let me know if you see any of these designs floating around the second hand stores when you're out and about-- they're really too great a treasure to miss.

Weekend Finds (1)

Slim pickin's, as said before, with regard to thrift stores in this after-Christmas, but I still managed to rustle up a few finds at not one but TWO Goodwills last weekend. As soon as I walked in the door at the Hendersonville GW, these little mugs said, "Please, please take us home. Four of us match! And the fifth of us is blue! No reason! We all have different patterns! You need us!" Forty nine cents each, with my student discount, that's even less than forty nine cents each. BAM.



Above, just in time for my New Year's party, I found an intact fleur-de-lis patterned chip and dip, which touched my little francophone heart. I love the gilt and brown and silver and white color palette. I love the fact that it was only $5.99. I love that, when I took it to the register to check out, the employee went into raptures about how she'd only seen two of them in her ten year career at that store. It gave me a brief moment of in-line celebrity, as the people behind me put away their "Is she really using a gift card AND a student ID? AND she bought all breakables so they're going to have to wrap them for entirely too long?" looks and uptraded them for a brief flicker of admiration at the practicality and stylish whimsy of my purchase. Or so I would like to think. I was very happy lugging this guy out to the car.

Wooden bowls! Something I needed! Shaped like a pineapple and a bean! YES, sir.

I'm not sure how this works because I haven't listened to it yet, but this appears to be a Magic Party record. However, if Edgar Bergen could achieve blockbuster success with a radio show about his ventriloquism, maybe "Sanford the Great" will make good on his claim that his record contains "a tickling treat of tricks". Cover alone, I wanted this, but the record inside is in great shape. Listening party, coming up.

Last but not least, Babu spotted with his eagle-eye the above large tumbler sized glass, which, as you can see, is labeled "Texas Jigger". Because in Texas, the shots, like everything else, come BIG. The fact that it was novelty barware with a kind of cute premise was enough to make me buy it, but when I saw the labeling to one side of the glass, I was caught hook line and sinker. Yankees need not apply. Tenderfoots, ditto. Cowgirls, cowpokes....you miiiiight be able to handle half a shot. ASTRONAUTS?! Then Texans. I busted a little tiny, very delicate gut at this item.

There's a Native American motif/psychedelic maxi-dress I picked up as well, but I'm saving it for an art show we're going to Thursday and the ensuing outfit post. Have you guys been having any luck in these picked over, post holiday shopping days? Lemme know what you found!!

The Clothes Off My Back (4)

Back to the blog, people!! It's hard to believe we're already four days into 2011. The holiday season has put a kibosh on estate sale and thrift store hunting (as, well, who wants to have an estate sale on a holiday, and getting out to the thrift stores in last minute Christmas traffic is a H-A-S-S-L-E), so I was forced back into the depths of my costume closet for some creative seasonal outfits. I have also learned, over the course of the last two days, that taking even semi-decent outfit photos with a self-timer is well nigh impossible. How do you people do it?! I managed to improvise with a stack of old National Geographics and a TV dinner table balanced on top of my coffee table, but I now know to ask for a tripod of some kind for my birthday. Or to stop being so vain. Whichever comes first. But please, if you have any photo tips, pass them along to a pitiful first time blogger who would very much appreciate them.

In the pictures above I'm wearing a forest green cocktail dress I've had since high school, that came to me from the half price Goodwill when it had just opened up at its old location behind the Dollar General at Farmer's Market. Miss that place. Made of feather light chiffon, I think this "Miss Lili's of Dallas" creation ended up being something like seventy five cents? No tears, no stains, no nothin'. It's far and away the best dress I've found in terms of quality at a Goodwill... when I first pulled it off the rack, it seemed short and squat, but when I put it on, the pretty draping at the front, the nipped waist, and the elbow length sleeves were love at first bite. I remember specifically wearing this in the eleventh grade, possibly making me the most overdressed person to ever sit in sixth period Chemistry. This year, the dress made a much more occasion-appropriate appearance at the Corner Bar Christmas Party.

The red dress (left) is recently from Goodwill, $7.99, from the Sears Fashion Place line, some time in the mid 70's. I added my black belt to balance out the tights and cover an elastic waist (one of my least favorite features on many otherwise great dresses...to wear this beltless wouldn't be half as much fun) and I really love the vibrant sort of color to which the material lends itself. Also, the dress's skirt is extreeeeeemely swishy... just walking around in it is kind of fun. Also, cowl neck. I've never owned a cowl neck top or dress and this year I've come up with like three. It's like they multiply in your closet.

This sweater (right) came as a skirt and sweater set, with a a skirt of the same material, from the Western Avenue DAV in Knoxville (best...store...ever...). I think it was less than five dollars for the pair. The skirt I've never worn, and have actually lost track of, but the top is a favorite of mine (in spite of the slightly poufy, 80's sleeves), due to the wow factor of the glitter encrusted bow. I've seen similar motifs on newer shirts, but there's something about the fact that they're actually pieces of glitter somehow permanently affixed to the front that put THIS top heads and shoulders above others of its kind. It always reminds me of something someone (yet thinner than me) would have worn on the television show Solid Gold. I wore it on the last day of work before Christmas break, with a pair of gold poinsetta and pearl earrings from an estate sale (couldn't find them for the pic, but $2 for a pin and earring set) and a bag of homemade cookie for my coworkers, pre-divided into tiny ziplock bags and affixed with gift labels reading "Happy Holidays, From Lisa". Yes, I am that ridiculous about holidays. If there's a reason to be seasonal, then by God I'm going to be seasonal.

Last but not least, through the magic of photo editing, I present a photo of your host and hostess from New Years Eve at my house. Yes, we're both standing in front of the Fleetwood Mac poster...I think it's my new favorite back drop. I'm wearing a Ruby Rox dress with a crinolined skirt that also comes from the back of the closet and high school homecoming circa 2002. The earrings, though, are new...a present from Bab and Pangea, the body is made up of an anchoring large rhinestone, two strings of smaller rhinestones, and a huge black stone at the bottom. Bab's wearing a yellow gingham, mid 60's collared shirt (new with tags at Goodwill! $2.50!), a woefully wilted bowtie (it looked better or worse, depending on which part of the evening), a black blazer and cummerbund (Salvation Army, $2 and 25 cents, respectively). Doesn't he look like a doll. And very kind to let his fiancee dress him, to boot!

Above, just for kicks, our New Year's spread... amongst the peanuts, the Zodiac sign chip and dip, the canteloupe, the antipasto platter and palm tree candlesticks, a T-Rex and a rhino vie for dominance...!! I thought of these at the last minute as the table looked so bare without the Christmas tree! Don't ask me why I happen to have oversized figurines of rexes and rhinos scattered about the house, but hey, why not. Halfway through the party, I thought what a good idea it would have been to have added little paper saddles to the two of them, labeling one as "2010" and the other as "2011", but there's always next year. :)

Happy New Year, everbody! Let's make 2011 a keeper.