Alterations: Mens WWII Pants

If you tend to wear vintage, you know that anything is fair game.  You've got to keep your options open and suddenly Grandma's old cat-eye glasses start to look do-able.  Your aunt's beret and scarf set, not too shabby.  Or your dad's old military clothes, not just for Halloween anymore!  Personally, I love my WWII military-issue pieces.  And here are a few easy tips to make the pants a bit more flattering for the female figure. 

Vintage Baby Bowtie Quilt: Part Three

Here it is!

 The quilt was finished! 

Beautiful!

BoPeep sewed her beautiful bowtie blocks together and added a border to balance it.  She machine quilted around each bowtie and the center embroidery.  Then it was delivered it to me to finish.

Some finishing touches included hemming the binding by hand

and embroidering a dedication label.

The back is just as stunning as the front.

We used a soft chambray for the binding and backing.

I added glittery wrapping....

Glitter makes everything grand!

...then sent it off to Lucy with love!

 Lucy and her quilt.

We'll never be Royals

But we can have fun playing dress-up and pretend! After all- life is too short not to wear your "fancy pants" once in awhile.

The second annual HVG new Year's Eve Bash was held at the Meade Mansion. This year's theme was the prohibition era which spanned 1919 to 1933. I love the 30's- it's my favorite era of fashion along with the 40's, but when it came time to plan my wardrobe for the party I decided upon a vintage 1920's "flapper" pattern in my collection. This pattern has always begged to be made, but the proper occasion has eluded me- until now.

The sac dress is not my favorite silhouette, so some swanky fabrics were in order. My favorite fabric store, Goodwill, came through again with 13 yards of cream lining and floral printed velvet. I also purchased some cream satin for the dress, but decided I liked the sheen on the lining better. This would later frustrate me, but it looked good, and that's all that matters, right?

Other preparations to be made were selecting stockings, the fancier the better since the hemlines were rising in the 20's, and my accessories! Superglue restoration was done to my minkies, along with a good eye cleaning. The leather was too brittle to sew up repairs.

Four whole minks complete the stole that I won at an estate sale.
 I also won a lifetime of eye rolls from Daddy-O!

With only days to go until the party I zipped up my dress with only a few snags (literally). The boxy design is fairly simple and straight forward, but with no instructions, you need to take your time and possibly rip some seams.

At the evening of the party the table was filled with various hors d' oeuvers, Mr. Shimstock was making some mean sidecars, and we popped a bottle of bubbly to start the evening.

Cheers!

I've been lounging on this chair all day!

For details on BoPeep's dress, check out the Willow Homestead.

Just us flapper girls!

BoPeep was fabulously dressed with her new party dress, and the guys even cleaned up nice.

It was a great evening to stay in and have a cold drink and snuggle with our beaus!

Royalty is just a state of mind- 

so think royal thoughts in the coming year!

Happy New Year to you & yours!

Wild Kat's Wardrobe
Pattern- Standard new Idea Designer Pattern circa 1920's
Fabric- Goodwill
Fur Mink stole- estate sale
Jewelry- estate sales
Feather Hair piece- Walmart
Nylons- Gal Stern etsy
Shoes- eBay
Gloves- Bo Peep's collection

Vintage Baby Bowtie Quilt: Part Two

While Wild Kat was working her magic with needle and floss on the center embroidery, I grabbed my stack of quilt books to find directions on how to assemble the classic bowtie block.  This block is a mainstay in the quilt world, hitting peak popularity in the 1930s and 40s.

c. 1930s source

c. 1930s source

c. 1930-40s source

c. 1960s source

Unfortunately none of my quilt books were useful so off to the internet I went.  I was annoyed, and honestly very surprised, to find that most quilters reproducing this block were not using the traditional method.  When Grandma was piecing her bowties, the center of the bow or the "knot" was typically constructed out of one piece of square fabric.  Today's quilters cheat and use "connector corners" instead.  This results in a pieced center knot. 

modern reproduction source

Connector corners are used in several quilt blocks today.  First the tiny triangles are pieced onto the white squares (in the corner, hence the name) and then the four squares are sewn together to form one bowtie.  I admit that this is much easier than the traditional method.  But being the historic-detail-OCD person that I am, I wanted a one piece center knot, dammit!

Unable to find adequate directions online, I sat down with some scrap fabric and started playing.  Soon I had a technique that resulted in slightly wonky bowties.

  

*** Warning!  If you are a quilter, please take a deep breath before viewing the next photo.  Hometown Victory Girls is not responsible should you blast coffee onto your keyboard when you witness the atrocity of my piecing.  ***

I know that somewhere, right now, my mother is denying that she knows me.  But in my defense, let me say that this is by far is my worst block.  Honestly.  I wanted to show this one to impress upon you my complete lack of training as a child.  No, not really (just kidding, Mom).  But as all good quilters know, many sins of the sewing machine can be fixed with a rotary cutter.  And once in awhile, it's okay to loosen up your standards just a bit (or a lotta bit).

After a quick trim, I had a nice squared block that measured 6 1/2".

After repeating this process sixteen more times, I had enough blocks to coordinate with Wild Kat's embroidery.  I used all my scraps.  We wanted a two-color quilt, so the rule applies, red is red.  I used vintage 1940s florals, 1950s ginghams and cherries, a bit of Kansas Troubles, and a few Depression reproductions.  When the blocks are all side by side, they blend beautifully.  But I'm going to leave you hanging there.  Check in next time for the big reveal!

Vintage Baby Bowtie Quilt: Part One

Last year we were delighted to hear  the news that our very own Peachie was expecting! So around the holidays Bo Peep and I started planning. We worked our way through adorable baby quilt ideas on Pinterest, animals in hot rods, and vintage quilt blocks. Deciding upon color, size, and design requires a bit of thought. Eliminating some choices, such as color, no pink as requested by the Mommy-to-be, helped the process. Our "theme" would be child ( as opposed to baby) and hotrods, since this is a large part of the parents-to-be lifestyle.

 Materials on hand also factor in the design. Digging through our fabric stashes revealed reds and soon we were envisioning a monochromatic quilt with a beautiful redwork centerpiece. 

Division of labor would be a little tricky since Bo Peep and I live some distance apart. We decided embroidery would be my department while Bo Peep manned the quilt blocks.

So I set to work.....

Inspired by a 40's children's record, I sketched up a design and transferred it.

I choose pearlized cotton floss in a classic red.
 This floss is not divided and there for is more substantial for a design of a larger size.
 

Satin stitches of varying widths create interest and depth.

Redwork dates from 1880's to the 1920's. Red was used (and sometimes blue) on muslin as it was available in a sturdy cotton. Other colors were only available in silks. No DMC floss in those days!

The centerpiece was finished! Time to send it off to Bo Peep.....

Montgomery Ward 1934

Ladies, need some suggestions to pass along to the Mister for Christmas?  Take a look through the Montgomery Ward & Co. from 1934.

Just one pair of shoes, and I'd be thrilled!

Converting Clips to Posts

We're so excited to bring you a post from our new HVG candidate, Marilyn Mercury.  Recently she wielded her glue gun to do a bit of updating to a fabulous piece of vintage jewelry.  This is an easy How-To for anyone who hates those biting clip earrings. 



On the 4th of July, Mr. Mercury and I were looking for something to do that, of course, needed to involve driving our 1965 Mercury Comet. After looking through craigslist, I found a flea market in Northfield, MN, about an hour from where we live.  This drive is one of the prettiest routes you can take, traveling through gorgeous farm country.  We try to go there at least once during the summer. It was a beautiful summer day, which was most appreciated because summer took so long to get here this year.  Here in Minnesota, we still had snow in May!! 

Marilyn enjoying the Summer sun on her flea market trip.

When we got there I was a bit disappointed that it was such a small flea market, but I did find a few treasures, one of them being these amazing atomic-looking earrings! Now at first glance, most vintage earrings seem unlikely to be worn because they're usually clip-ons.  I have often passed them by before, but these just intrigued me.  I just had to try and make them work!! 

So off to Joanne Fabrics jewelry-making department I went. This is something I've never attempted before.  I was overwhelmed at the selection of tiny metal pieces for making necklaces, bracelets and earrings!!

I picked out some silver metal posts and backs. I already had at home some Gorilla glue and a hot glue gun. I figured one of those would work for adhering the posts to the backs of the earrings after I pried the clip portion off with a pliers.  


I ended up using a drip of Gorilla Glue to secure the base of the post.  After letting that dry, I then surrounded the base with hot glue. 

clip removed and post glued in place

I'm not sure it will hold for the long haul because these earrings are very heavy!! But I can't wait to wear these babies out! I think they'd look best with the very outfit I found them in, but now I'll have to wait til next summer! 

For now I will model them in my recent thrift store find, a beautifully beaded cardigan.  It only needed new buttons and a few tiny holes stitched up! Can't beat a deal like that! $4.50 for the cardigan and $3.00 for new buttons!

We think Marilyn looks smashing in her new cardigan and earrings!  Finding vintage pieces is not only an adventure, but restyling them to fit your needs can be so rewarding (not to mention economical).  Thank you for sharing your project with us, Marilyn.  Now I'm off to find my hot glue gun...