Photo Friday: Family Events Edition

Good morning! I'm feeling much better after the self-imposed R &R of yesterday's recuperative laziness. I thought today for Photo Friday I would share with you some group shots from family events in the Doris and Ray archives. Each of these is maybe the size of a paperback book cover and professionally photographed by "Russell Ray Studios". I was puzzled as to why someone would go to all the trouble of hiring a professional photographer for a small, family event like the one I'm about to show you, until I realized the woman in the angelfood cake comb party pictures, one of Doris's many sisters, is "Mrs. Russell Ray". That's free professional photography, son! It's crazy how the dots connect themselves sometimes.

At any rate, let's take a look at the snaps, shall we?

These are Doris's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alex H. They were married in 1913, so I'm pretty sure this is their silver wedding anniversary party in 1963. There were invitations to this get together somewhere in the Doris and Ray archive, but I have gotten so bad about miscataloguing or at least poorly cataloguing things in that box that I am in truth a shame to the librarian profession. To assuage my guilt, look at the tiny Mrs. H's hat! Talk about a show stopper. Coupled with the white kid gloves, strand of pearls, and clip on earrings, this is definitely her best outfit for a big event in her life. Can you imagine getting married in 1913, and looking back on that date from fifty years distance? People hardly had cars in 1913, and here they are in 1963! It always amazes me to think of people  who were of an age to remember at the turn of the century, looking back on it from the midcentury with the kind of wonder astronauts must look back on Earth from the moon.

Here's a group shot from the event, with Doris fifth from the left and Ruth fourth from the left. I think the two women to their left may be additional sisters, but as said, I'm not up on the H family tree like I should be. What's interesting to me in this photo is the donning of hats on all ladies' present-- living in a practically hatless era, I wish I could find some kind of source book on what the etiquette was for wearing or not wearing hats as the occasion saw fit. Likewise for gloves, for that matter. Wouldn't you feel weird wearing a full on Easter bonnet for the duration of an evening's social event (assuming you're not me)? Two women in the photo are wearing the dreaded fox stoles that I've had ample opportunity to purchase and just can't bring myself to do so...DAD GUM it looks so vintage...and yet their little heads and feet bother me too badly to seal the deal. Ah, well.

The china cabinet, mirror, and table make me think that the event took place and this was taken at Doris and Ray's house...look at Doris's sweet little mom. "Ah! Candlesticks! Just what I wanted!"

Now, the next two photos came from another event, but were also taken by Russell Ray and also happened to be set at Doris and Ray's house. Look at the wall decoration of a harp in the background. This interior design detail was still there when I went to the estate sale that started all this Doris and Ray business for me...it's eerie to think about how little notice I took of the house at the time, and now I spend every Friday poring over photos for clues about what it was once like!

Things to point out about the above photo:

1. See Doris's folks in more casual attire on the couch?
2. That plaid, wide collared dress on the woman at far left is SO. GREAT.
3. See the girl to the Doris's mom's right, with Peter Pan haircut, strange white kitten heels, and crinoline showing? That same girl would turn out to be THE PRETTIEST collegiate deb and late sixties' bride you ever saw. I'll show you the pics from her wedding some Friday, for sure.
4. The girl sitting on the arm of the sofa to the right is my new style icon. The dress, the glasses, the thong sandals...what is not to love?
5. The kid at the far right (not Sonny, but looks a little like Sonny), is holding Doris and Ray's dog like a baby. Earnest expression +  terrier held as infant = the very best.

What did I tell you about the girl in the glasses? Here she is again, second from the left, and I'm still knocked out by her choice in spectacles. The lace dresses in this group shot, in general, are fabulous. See Ray's dangerously high waisted pants, and how much I want the brunette on the right's wide belted dress. I'm not sure who the older woman seated is, but I should be able to find out. If I ever get my act together!!

So, there you have it. Family get-togethers in formal portraiture! Did your grandparents ever have a silver anniversary party? Do you have any family photos of momentous enough occasions to have the photos professionally done? Which of the ladies' dresses in the above pictures do you like best? Tell, tell!

That's all for this week-- have to gather my gumption and hit a couple estate sales while the going is good! Have a great weekend, and I'll see you guys on Monday!

Siiiick

Source

Hi! Feeling under the weather, so I'm going to spend most of today watching Revenge on Hulu Plus (it's like Dynasty... I don't even like it but I can't stop watching!)  in a bed jacket, working on little felt handicrafts while drinking bullion. But don't worry! Hopefully with a tiny bit of convalescing I'll be right as the rain for Photo Friday tomorrow!

See you then!

Croquet Blues

Good morning!

Source

What is not to love about croquet? Colorful team indicators, low-impact physical activity, mallets...when I was a kid, my parents managed to have every yard sport set you could buy at Target available to us, and croquet was always one of the most pleasing-to-the-eye. I'm throwing a brunch for a couple friends on Sunday, and as the Tennessee weather has finally, finally, finally backed up from "unbearable" to "temperate", I thought, lawn recreation! This is a great idea!

I call my dad, beaming with self-pride over the nattiness of the whole affair, visions of cucumber watercress sandwiches and mimosas dancing through my head. The following conversation ensues:

1: Pappy, I need your croquet set.
2: The what?
1: The croquet set we used to have when we were little, you still have it right?
2: Croquet set...croquet set.... Yeeeeeah, we still have it-
1: Good, I'm coming over after work.
2: I don't know if I can get to it by then.
1: Where is it?
2: It's in the verrrrry back of the storage barn. It was like one of the first things we put in there. And that was so long ago that there's stuff all the way to the door! We'd have to take everything out and set it in the grass, I guess, and it's a long way back there...How much does a croquet set cost? Twenty bucks? Thirty bucks? Why don't you just run out and buy one and then you can have your own set?
1: The whole point of having saved it all these years is so someone can use it when they want to, right?
2: Yeah! Me! What if I decide to take up croquet in my old age?
1: Uggggh, I already invited people!

In typical Lisa-fashion, the idea had outpaced the execution of said idea by a light year. So I started to look online for croquet sets. The Blanche du Bois quote "Death is expensive, Miss Stella!" comes to mind, except substitute "death" for "croquet", with no less wounded haughtiness implied. I did find a set that was $20 on Walmart.com, but it was (naturally) out of stock. Prices range from around $40 all the way to $300 + dollars (I'm really curious as to how much better a croquet experience one may have on a three HUNDRED dollar set, but I guess I'll have to live with that). What is an impoverish civil servant to do?

Forty dollars? Do I look like Scrooge McDuck! I ain't got no swimming pool full of money from which to draw these funds, you guys!

Oh good! It's on sale!

So sad. So, so sad.

My options are:

1. Buy the Walmart set (To play probably one time?! I don't think so). Cost: $40 and a slice of pride. Upside: Croquet set acquired. Downside: $40 less to spend on sammies and mimosas.
2. Convince Pappy to excavate the already owned family set. Cost: $0, but high "all the trouble I'm going to" factor. Possible additional expenditure on sackful of Krystals' to pay back Dad for labor. Upside: No actual money spent on croquet set. Downside: Fighting our way deep in the spider den that is that storage unit; having to put all the stuff back.
3. Cross fingers, toes, etc that the Craigslist person who has a set listed for $20 calls Matthew. Cost: $20....for the good set plus a carrying case! DEAL! Upside: Croquet set also acquired! Downside: They might not call me back slash may have already sold the daddurn things.
4. Buy this adorable vintage croquet ball bracelet. Because it distracts me from the issue at hand!

Let's not dwell on the negative though. I mean, I really shouldn't worry about it so heavily-- a croquet set will somehow make itself available between now and Sunday. In the meantime, I need to worry about the actually important stuff, such as what food to serve and what to wear. This article had some helpful (SWANK) menu suggestions. And being into that Victorian through the mid-twenties' era right now, my head is swimming with light colored, lawn clothes. I need some white canvas shoes and I am doing this up, Hamptons style. Here's my party inspiration board:

Oh yes. It's gonna be a blast. That Spaldings Croquet Guide (published in 1910) from as well as a pocket guide (from 1878!!) are available on Internet Archive, here and here. I'll have to read up on my rules so I can remind everyone else of how to play the game on Sunday.

Do you play croquet? Had any neat shindigs or get togethers lately? Any counsel you can give to one throwing a small party outdoors and hoping to not have everything go to hell in a handbasket? Share, share!

I've got more midweek worrying to do-- I'll catch you guys tomorrow!

Hatmaking 101

Hats! Hats! Hats!

Good morning! Just a quick note about the flavor of the month at She Was Bird-- cloche hats!

This page from Everyday Fashions of the 1930's as Pictured in Sears Roebuck Catalog (THE. BEST. BOOK.) had me seeing stars about the bell shaped hats. I know my head is fundamentally bucket shaped and unsuited for this style, but it doesn't keep me from wanting to Norma Shearer it up!

Cloche hats date all the way back to 1908, though were most popular in the twenties' and early thirties'. In college, when this shape made a come back for ladies' winter headwear, LORD KNOWS I must have tried on a hundred different types, all too small for my unusually shaped skull. Picture college me, stalking around the accessories section of many a department store, fuming at the smaller-headed customers buying adorable red wool cloches to pair with their peacoats. I started thinking about it the other day and realized really, there isn't much to the actual construction of one of these hats. Would it be possible to make one on my very own for my egg head?

Show 'em how it's done, Norma! Inspirado!

After scouring the web for something that looked vaguely like a 1920's/30's era hat (as opposed to the millions of polka dotted, pastel, be-ribboned things that are out there in sorority colors for some reason unknown to God or man), I found this pattern, but it looked a little difficult for a novice-level sewer. What I ended up using was a pattern a book called Saturday Night Hats that's reproduced online via this website.I started out going "There is no way this is as easy as it says it is", expecting the finished product to look like a whole lotta hooey. HOWEVER! I don't think it turned out half bad!

The only materials I used:

• Regular felt wool from Joann's that I had sitting in a bag at the foot of my bed in my "craft box" (a cardboard box filled with glue gun sticks, sharpies, sequins, and old children's textbooks)-- 3 sheets
• A pair of scissors from my desk (gummed over with tape residue, making the whole "cutting" portion of the project far more difficult that it should have been)
• A stapler (some of us do not have pins on the handy, okay?)
• Needle and thread

Seriously, that is it. I cut out six felt panels according to a 128% enlargement of the pattern (photocopier works for this, I told you my head was unusually large so I went for an extra 8%), stapled them in place so they wouldn't scoot around while I was sewing, hand stitched the pieces together by seam, and then at the top where they came together. I made a little felt bow to place on one side, and voilà! Hat. I couldn't believe it didn't look like something a child had made, and actually appeared hat like when I plonked it down on my head. Wasn't able to take very good pictures of it this morning (due to excessive hangover death pallor and rush to get out the door resultant of this condition), but here's an idea:

I look hungover even in black and white. Where's my Hollywood makeup artist when I need them?

As said, part of my whole problem is the Cone-head like dimensions of my cranium, and yet I don't think it turned out too shabby! Imagine this same hat with a lace collar flapper dress (why, of course I have one of these selected in my wardrobe to be paired with this hat-- you can't start an accessories craft without a mental image of what it'll go with to keep you going when you have to re-stich a whole row because you pinned the material back to front!). And maybe some fake flowers patterned to one side, I haven't decided. Now, if I could only figure out how to make shoes...haha....

The idea of do-it-yourself millinery opens up a whole new world of headwear options for me! Here are some textbooks from Internet Archive about the millinery trade...click any cover to see the inside of the book. Which should I try? Which looks the most promising to you?

                         

 

Do you do any kind of craft it at home accessories? Do you wear hats with any regularity? Which of the early thirties' styles at the top of this post appeal to you the most?

That's all for today, see you guys tomorrow! Possibly with more hats! :)

Motorola (1958-ish)

Good morning!

When the name "Motorola" comes up, it's hard for me not to think of my dinosaur aged, circa 2005 Motorola Razr cell phone. That's right, folks-- I may be the last person on the planet to have a phone that can neither access the internet nor take halfway decent photos-on-the-go (I rely on Bab's iPhone for a good deal of the content you see on this blog). The high point in features, as far as I'm concerned, is a ringtone of the Rockford Files theme song, which almost makes up for any other shortcomings (thanks, Sus and Matt, for making me a to-specifications Rockford Files ringtone). However! In spite of its twenty-first century name, it seems the Motorola company has been around since the late twenties', and specialized in high fidelity stereo consoles, radios, and television sets in the mid 1950's. Who knew?

Also, Motorola made ads in that phase of their company's history that look like a direct lift from some movie about cosmopolitan, bohemian, artist living in the 1950's. I want! To live! In any! Of these houses!

What do we look at first? In the above illustation, a honey-blonde woman in pink capris and a goldenrod turtleneck sits on a mixed-rock step leading to her sunken living room. She examines a new canvas that her husband, man-with-back-to-the-viewer, has just finished. Scattered on the floor seem to be other, smaller pieces, but there's little to wonder about with regard to their subject as LOOK AT THE WALL MURAL OF SOUTHWESTERN INDIAN ART. Wow! Eight feet tall and eight feet wide! Skylights cast shadows across the design, which to me at first looks like something you would see etched on the hilt of a Klingon war blade or something. Couldn't we be a little more pedestrian and do an eagle, or a wolf, or something that doesn't look like terror? See the bamboo shades that are rolled up all along the windows that also serve as exterior walls, the two low slung, Eames-y couches (can you spot the one hiding in the far background?), and the cowhide side table (or ottoman) that appears to be a cousin to Le Corbusier's cowhide sling chair. Oh, and there happens to be a Motorola console record player under the mural. HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO NOTICE THIS ITEM WITH ALL THE OTHER ITEMS? Shouldn't it be more of a focal point in the advertisement?

The next ad does a little better on focusing the reader's attention towards the product....but not much. I'm more concerned about how the people in the illustration might live in one of the book covers for Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. Yes, trees turn orange in fall, but not that orange. On first glance, I liked the full-sized parrot in a cage, the bar cart, the molded plastic egg chairs, and the lagoon/lily pad pong going on in the foreground of the illustration. It was then that I realized the man is sitting on the only carpeting in the room, which happens to be a WITH-HEAD polar bear rug. Poor polar bear. My grandma used to have a full-sized brown bear rug like this in one of the rooms of her disused farm house out in Hartsville, TN...did I tell you about that before? When we would go up there to pick blackberries, I remember inching towards the room to see if I could look at it without getting scared. Guess what? Not so much. Like the fox stoles and little chinchilla pieces with the heads still attached, I just can't get behind it! Too creepy. Now, if you wanted to offer me a full on, eight foot high, taxidermied polar bear, that is a different story. Something about it missing its skeleton is weird (-er than my baseline comfort zone of weird!) to me.

More bayou action here...see how the house is perched in a ledge-like, all-glass way towards the pool and the shade of the overhanging foliage. The blue-green-gray palette of this illustration reminds me of some southern Gothic plantation, but then juxtaposed against this happy, dancing couple inside the house! I just don't know what to think. Again, the stereo itself is minute in scale compared to the rest of the picture. Maybe that's why they discontinued these ads in the early 60's! Out of the three houses, this one one I would like to live in the least for fear of the marauding, cannibal hill people or whatever the southern version of a Wendingo is, hiding just over that misty cobalt background.

Some simpler interiors (much more my speed!) in the closeups of some of these ads:

Mr. Como himself (not really...no, really...not really) demonstrates the practicality of the build in, detachable speaker winds. I like his wall unit, the orange and yellow color scheme, and the general cut of his jib.  Below, a tv is revealed behind wood panels! Ah, convenience furniture. It's a tv/record player  when you want it and sideboard when you don't.

Last but not least, here's a photo from the competition, RCA Victor, and as cute a living room as ever I have seen. Pink! Blue! Gray! You never looked so good! The Isabella Rossellini gal in the capris is so chic yet casual!

Which crazy fever dream Motorola advertisement home would you like to live in? Do you have any vintage Motorola items (say, more vintage than my phone?) in your house? Do tell, do tell.

See you guys tomorrow!

Photo Friday: Viva Las Vegas Edition

Good morning!

As you remember from previous entries, one thing Doris and Ray were good at were taking photos of themselves on vacation. I LOVE. TO SEE THESE PEOPLE. ON VACATION. This set of snaps come from an October 1966 trip to Las Vegas with the improbably named Lou McHugh (the skinny gal holding a golf club in the photo on the upper right) and her husband Bill. Doesn't everything look just as blue and green as you would imagine it would be for a resort in the middle of a desert! I was rewarded for my bravery in carefully removing these photos from their album pages by Doris's red-ink captioning of almost all these pictures! Granted, most of them just said the place and the date and the people in the photo, but that is way more than I usually have to work with!

Here are Doris and Ray outside of their hotel. I love seeing fountains in just about any setting-- water conservation concerns aside, they just look nice! Ray's pose here is particularly "dad-like" to me.

Here, "Myron Cohen" (could these names get better?) looks a lot like Emperor Ming from Flash Gordon, and a small pupster makes a guest appearance. At right, Lou McHugh (which is my new stage name...I know I had one earlier, but I obviously have more than one act to support with weird names, so this is my OTHER stage name) has a laugh with Ray. Two thoughts: are those mimosas? Some kind of tropical, beachside drink? And how cute is Ray in his swashbuckler-y, unbuttoned to the navel striped shirt?

Caesars Palace! The place had only opened in August of that year, so Doris and Ray are seeing the famous Las Vegas hotel and casino at its very infancy. There's a great history of the building at this website, including this little nugget about opening day:

On August 5, 1966, the 14-story, 700 room Caesars Palace opened with each guest being welcomed by the official greeter, a blond 40-20-37 Cleopatra. The opening included the stage production of "Rome Swings" with Andy Williams, and Phil Richards playing the Caesar character. 

Who knew Cleopatra was so pneumatic?

LOOK. AT THEM POSING. WITH THE ROMAN FIGURES. Ray is holding that woman statue's hand, and Doris is looking off into the future with the Centaurian. As usual, Doris's clothes are beautiful. The teal with her blonde hair! Both of them had such style.

At left, possibly my favorite photo of the bunch. Doris labeled this one "Ray October 1966 Caesars Palace Las Vegas Tango, anyone?" You guys crack me up. Do you see his tango stance?!

I initially thought this was Ray and a child or teenager in baseball togs. Turns out (thanks, Doris, for captioning!), this is Bill McHugh in what he considered to be golf attire. Which looks a lot like Casey at the Bat to me, but there you go. Red socks? Check. Red ball cap? Check. All white ensemble plus white sneaks? Sure! Why not! Also: get a load of how shooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrt Ray's shorts are. If you thought the striped shirt was jaunty, these manly hot pants take it over the edge.

As always, it wouldn't a Doris and Ray post without a sweet picture of one or the both of them looking at the other with an adoring gaze. Here they are all dressed up to paint the town, in what looks like a hotel room. Dig those teal curtains! They're almost the same color as Doris's blouse earlier. This ensemble makes me want to grab one of my stoles and my tiny silver purse and sweep-up my hair like Doris for a night at a casino. Granted, I might look a little overdressed in Tunica, but maybe I would be mistaken for a high roller!

Last but not least, this souvenir program from the Stardust Hotel was included to make the folks back home jealous. I love the colors on the first woman's ensemble, and the strategic placement of the top hat on the second one. Just wow.

Have you ever been to any of these casinos in Las Vegas? Are there still remnants of vintage Vegas in that city of sin? I've never been there, but maybe in my decadent middle age I'll get to go like Doris and Ray!

Have a great weekend-- I'll see you next week!

Van Raalte Stockings (1950)

Good morning!

I was flipping through Life the other day and came across an ad that would have knocked my socks off, if I was indeed wearing socks. I should have been wearing, according to this advertisement, flex-toe Van Raalte Dark Accent stockings. Just see! How glamorous! A heel can look!

"Add spice to your short-skirted life!" says the byline. YES! A THOUSAND TIMES, YES!

Heartstruck by the combination of leopard print scarf, red skirt, rhinestone bracelet, OH MY GOODNESS WILL YOU LOOK AT THE HEELS WITH THE STOCKINGS. See the little velvet ties? The black and white fish scale pattern of the heels? I could actually die at how adorable this is. Van Raalte made ladies' gloves, stockings, and underthings in the 1950's. While seamed stockings can look a little Andrews Sisters at times (not that that's a bad thing, just a very V-for-Victory costume-y thing), every example of their products I saw in further issues of Life was fresh as paint sixty years later and screaming for a comeback. Ladies! Take heed!

"Footnotes make the headlines!" YOU HAD ME AT HELLO!

Here, you can see the same Dark Accent stockings in Navy and Brown. Or "Seaspray" and "Sunset" as the colors are reported for ordering purposes. I still like the black best, but it's good to have options. Imagine these in today's times in green or red or pink. I'm telling you, we need to get on the ball with this.

One hallmark of these 1950 Van Raalte ads, aside from the pining feeling I have for each and every item advertised, is the soft pastel color palette. The one above takes advantage of the blues in a map of the world to offset the coral of the model's top, lipstick, and nailpolish. When your key product is essentially flesh colored, it's not a bad idea to make the ads as colorful as possible.

See what I mean about the colors? Besides how unbelievably slim these fifties' girls are (did they proto-Photoshop the one on the right? Or is she the girl for whom they made all those 20'' waist, vintage silk party dresses on Etsy I would have to have my skeleton removed to fit into?), I love the presence of the Siamese kitten (with the poodle, definitely the style pet of the decade), and the shoes on each of the girls, especially the ones at center. Backless, pastel, AND possessed of a frou-frou flower decoration at peep-toe? Again, Van Raalte, I'm so glad we're of a similar mind here.

Here's a come-hither gal if ever I saw one! I never know how to work with brown in an outfit (see: the incredible dearth of brown vintage things I own outside of purses and stoles) so it's neat to see the oatmeal-and-mica colored hat goes well with both an indigo dress and pink gloves/flower combo. What color do you think her shoes are? I've been buying a lot of gloves lately-- and it's funny because I have the weirdest hands! My fingers look long, but are actually pretty short...it's my wide palm, and the range between thumb and pinky, that make most of the length. Taking this into account, even though I have pretty "big" hands (I'm six feet tall! You should see my feet!), if the gloves are nylon or a forgiving cloth, and I can squeeze my palms in, I can fit my normal-size fingers into the daddurn things. Trouble is, where do you wear gloves? When not wanting to give the aforementioned impression of having just been to a costume party? Maybe this weekend I'll throw sartorial caution to the wind and do BOTH gloves and hat. It's the world that's wrong, not me! :)

Last but not least, a quadtych of a slip-wearing blonde. Again, so willowy. Do they make these in normal sizes? Still, I love her ash colored hair and upturned profile. Which slip do you like best?

Just can't stand how badly you want a Van Raalte underthing? Here are some VR lingerie items up for bid on ebay. You can take one home of your very own!

What are your thoughts on the "am I too vintage today" struggle of retro-wearin' mamas? Would you/do you do a hat and glove combo, and just let your Jackie Kennedy flag fly? Are you on the heels-and-exposed-back-stockings bandwagon with me, or do you need more convincing in the barelegged world we live in to show a nylon-ed toe through a pair of heels? Let's talk!

That's all for today. See ya tomorrow for Photo Friday!

Singer Sewing Centers (1951)

Good morning!

Look at all these beautiful 1950-1951 fashions! Did I poach these full-color photographs from a Sears and Roebuck catalog? A high-fashion copy of midcentury Vanity Fair? Nope! Actually, each of these ladies is modeling a McCall's sewing pattern! And all the patterns, fabric, sewing notions...seems like everything but the permanant wave, lipstick, and sling-backs can be made courtesy of Singer Sewing Centers. What a place it would have been!

Considering how few people in my age group sew these days (excluding all you fabulous retro seamstresses out there...you know I'm jealous!), the only places I could think of to buy rick-rack and thimbles are big-box craft retailers (Jo-Ann's, Hobby Lobby, etc) or an ever-shrinking section at the back of old Walmarts (where most of the inventory has to do with doing your wedding on a shoestring). Imagine what a solely-devoted-to-sewing superstore, maybe conveniently located in the town square in central Anywhere, U.S.A., must have been like in 1950!



Remember how all the girls in Sonny's birthday party photo looked like they were plucked from a Happy Days costuming session? Well, how I Love Lucy is the polka dot dress on the right? Some stereotypes of fifties' dress are actually authentic! Whodathunkit?

Whoever did this ad campaign was stuck with the unenviable task of making the operation of sewing machines look glamorous. It's easy to carry off an air of sophistication and mystery in the finished product of a Vogue pattern dress; it's a little harder to look soignée with your finger stuck in bobbin-setting part as you try not to run a hole through your living flesh. Or when you have to take out the stitches in a crooked seam AGAIN. Yet! I think they were somewhat successful in conveying that take-charge-it's-not-even-that-difficult attitude that makes people like me want to buy a sewing machine. And that's something! I get intimidated thinking about threading a needle. Yet the promise of being able to make my own tailor-made, red and white candy striped playsuit SINGS OUT TO ME from this ad.

One thing you can count on when you buy a Singer Sewing Machine-- your living room curtains are going to look awesome. Can you see the wishful thinking put into this set decoration detail? Any kind of curtains you want! You can make those, like, practically first thing! The two top sewing machines I like the best-- especially the one on the right, which looks kind of like a dresser or side table you would see in Jean Harlow's bedroom. Just to the right of her polar bear rug. Side note: I wish I had a bedroom like Jean Harlow.

One thing I thought was pretty neat about the buying-a-Singer process is the promise, with each sewing machine sold, of eight lessons at the Singer Sewing Center from a bonafide professional seamstress. I love how the model meant to be that seamstress in the pictures below looks like a chic, efficient, capable woman in that fifties', Barbara Stanwyck mold. Look how intensive the one-on-one work being done here is! It inspires confidence as to the thoroughness of the course-- but speaking personally, it might take more than eight lessons to make a dressmaker outta this gal.

How am I going to get to this so-called Singer Sewing Center class, you ask? What if my town doesn't boast a location? Well, if they have them in Jackson, MS, Fremont, NB, and Billings, MT, I'm pretty sure they'll have one within Oldsmobile driving distance of  your 1951 hamlet. I love how the storefronts aren't uniform--  back when revamping an old, solid building made way more sense to people than tearing one down to make sure all the locations were cookie-cutter alike (I'm still mad at you, any-name-brand-drugstore-in-America), these locations feature the distinctive first initial in the front window and the brand name in letters. Isn't that more than enough to distinguish the store as being what it is?

Look at the above store in the lower right hand corner (confusing enough?)-- the one in Minneapolis. Here's the "think pink" interior of the same place!! Do you love it?

Classes in progress at the store. There's Barbara Stanwyck's sister again!

And if you weren't convinced by all the niceties thus far presented to you, think of the savings! I really like the "spend money to save money" angle of these ad bylines. 

Did your mother or grandmother sew? Did she have a Singer in a place-of-pride in your house growing up? If you sew, what do you like or dislike about the shift from sewing-only stores (like Hancock's) to everything-craft-plus-home-decor-plus-sewing stores?

That's all she wrote for today...see you guys tomorrow!

Weekend Finds (Louisville!)

Good morning!

I hope everybody had a great weekend. Mine was predictably hectic, but we had a great time right at the top of Kentucky. Wanna see the loot? And a mostly-obsucred-by-stuff preview of my new thirties' couch? Here we go:

Observation #1: EVERYTHING. IS SO CHEAP. IN KENTUCKY. Everything vintage, anyway! It seemed like I had but to turn around and another chalkware piggy bank would be staring me dead in the face with a one digit price tag. ONE DIGIT. The two most expensive things in the picture above were less than $15. Usually I go on vacation completely blind, hoping to find a couple things worth stopping for by sheer happenstance. THIS time, I took my favorite blogging girls' advice, and hit every hot junkin' spot in town. Thank you Rae, Eartha, and especially Jamie for all the hot tips!

Observation #2: Peddler's Marts are AWESOME. Along Dixie Highway and the further-away-from-town section of Bardstown Road, I went to four different "marts" that were essentially former department store or grocery store locations (to the point that one actually still had all the specific-to-Kroger, mile long neon signs saying "delicatessen" and "fresh produce", from the early 90's! Time warp) where sellers set up booths in the air conditioned convenience of an indoor setting, and you pretty much shop 'til you drop. There's bundles of socks, and Christmas figurines, and discount groceries, but there's also the here and there vintage wonder. The most frustrating part, as I think Rae mentioned on her several trips to Louisville, was my inability to bring any furniture home! I saw couch after couch after couch in mint condition, gold brocade, red vinyl, checkerboard.. you name it, for less that a hundred smackers. Next time I go, I'm coming back with a U-Haul. Mark my words.

Here's a dressmaker's mannequin I found at the Dixie Highway Goodwill. Even though Jamie warned us it was a really gross/overpriced location, we stopped there out of thoroughness and found lots of stained ugly 90's clothes, plates-that-should-have-been-a-dollar-marked-five, and one nineties' camcorder that was actually priced at $100 (I don't know if it was worth that when it was new!). As I was walking out, among the golf clubs, was this mannequin, with the pole-base retracted so that it was only three or four feet high. First thought: the fabric on it matched my arm chair! Second thought: if that camcorder was a hundred bucks, how much would a mint condition sixties' dress form cost? Answer: THIRTEEN DOLLARS. $12.99, folks. Ain't that a lot of love.

Know what else was $12.99? This harlequin/matador lamp base:

I've wanted one of these since FOREVER, and have never seen one, even in bad condition, under forty bucks. Needs to be rewired and is missing a lampshade, but for twelve dollars, I had to take the plunge. How great will this look with one of those old fiberglass shades? The jackalope decorative whiskey bottle was at Tickled Pink for $4, and the yellow tiki guy was a quarter at an outdoor flea market. I CANNOT STOP BUYING DECORATIVE CERAMICS. 

Everywhere I went, I kept finding plates! The three above I think are safe to eat from, and match the other green, Curiosity Shop patterned dishes I use everyday, so these will be good for fill-ins. I think the two on the left, from below, are actually from when each of those presidents were in office. There was an LBJ one like the Eisenhower plate on the left, but I forgot to go back and get it, so our house will have to be a Kennedy-and-before era in terms of presidential memorabilia. I think each of these were two dollars.

I love "how to draw" books! One of these days I might just figure it out! Each of these reminds me so much of old Tex Avery Warner Bros. cartoons. Also shown, a Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook (second edition-- expect a standalone post soon!) and a little twenties' picture of an African American three or four year old with the most serious face.

An embroidered sixties' shirt, which I'm wearing today, for a dollar, a mink hat for two (?!?!), and a pearl-embellished star shaped birdcage hat for I think five. I love mink hats like this because they're practically the same color as my hair and always look like some cool extension of such when I'm wearing them. Which will be next-time-I-go-out. I've got my eye on you, minkness!

This WWII bomber crew was TOO. FREAKIN. COOL. TO. NOT. BUY. Even if the glass was cracked! I really think it's a contemporary-to-the-time photographic print, rather than say a picture copied from a book and framed. When I take the glass out, I'll have to tell you if there's anything written on the back ($8).

And rounding up the end of our tour of the bounteous goods Kentucky had to offer, some random odds and ends, including a fifties' tablecloth (American Association for the Blind thrift store, $2), an entire bag of pearl sweater buttons ($4...to be used in decorating a purse or maybe making a necklace? We'll see!), a gold mesh 80's belt to be worn à la thirties' Joan Crawford in an Adrian gown ($2), a copy of the George Segal movie Loving (which actually, again, needs its own post, I think $5) and a sweater with a Jolly Roger skull and crossbones on it (another Goodwill, $1.50).

We had a great time in Louisville! Made all the better by the never-ending patience and cooperation of my bab, who did awesome u-turns every time I pointed us in the wrong direction without complaint. Can't help loving the man!

Thanks, Bab!

Here's a picture of me, the happy birthday girl, on the day we got back, shortly before Matthew's band did a show at Exit/In. I ended up wearing a more Karl Lagerfeld- inspired version of this outfit with a black straw pillbox, tiny black velvet purse, and a bolero-tie at the closed neck of this same shirt, but I also like how well the oranges went together in this first draft of that outfit. And I forgot to take a picture of the second because I was in a hurry. Le sigh. 

                 

I'd love to tell you more, but I gotta get back to work! What did you guys drag home from the estate sale kills this weekend? Do you have any particular places in Kentucky that are MONDO vintage-lover's heaven? I can't wait to go back myself (if just to get another Hot Brown from the Brown Hotel...the most awesome non-shopping related part of my trip for sure!).

See you guys tomorrow!