Merry Boxing Day! *lol*

A little late to be posting my Merry Christmas to y'all, so Boxing Day will have to do! :)

There are terrific sales going on everywhere - even on-line - so sharpen the elbows, people, and get on out there! Chaaaaarrrrrge it!!

Now, I tend to do a fair amount of shopping over on a little site called etsy. It gives me the sense of purchasing items from smaller sellers (as opposed to big-box stores), and fills my little heart with joy. I have a few fave shops of my own that I'd like to share, if you don't mind (and I really hope my linking efforts work):

Adeline's Attic. If you're in need of authentic vintage from the 1910's right on up, this is the place to be. Jill is a knowledgeable and terrific seller, especially regarding the 1920's and 1930's fashions. Her prices may seem a little high to the average shopper, but they are very fair, and you know that you are buying the authentic item. She's a sweet gal to boot, and runs a blog called "Tea With the Vintage Baroness" - and just had a gorgeous haircut (so jealous! *LOL*). Oh, and she's got a second etsy shop which will also become a "bricks and mortar" place called "Moon River Mercantile" in Edmonton! Yay! Someone please purchase that lovely red checked dress at the Mercantile before I do...can't afford it, but it is WONDERFUL!

Another shop that I peruse is called "One More Cup of Tea" run by the lovely and talented Jennifer in Maryland, U.S.A. Plenty of vintage patterns to drool over, and this lady knows her stuff! :) She has got some incredible McCalls patterns posted for sale that I think are really interesting and unique - they are what I personally call "Action" drawings patterns, as the patterns feature some amazing artwork on the front of the sewing pattern "in action" (e.g. these lovely ladies travelling in their freshly made clothes from this pattern look like they're having a terrific time, non?) To me, these illustrated patterns are very unique and should be considered collectables - but they're at such a fabulous price that you should be sure to snap them up while you can! ;)

Now there's "Miss Betty's Attic". This seller is an absolute peach to deal with! Right now she has a whopping 75% off sale going on in her shop! Yes, you read that right, 75% off! She carries sewing patterns from many eras, and one secret I hope to find out eventually - they never have any sort of scent to them! How does she do it?? You know that sometimes you purchase a pattern that's been poorly stored (VERY rarely is it the sellers fault, they usually purchase these things from estate auctions and such) and can smell a little musty, or downright rangy, but any pattern I've ever purchased from this lady must be vacuum sealed in a baking soda environment (or something silly like that) because I've never picked up any kind of scent. In any case, if you're looking for a terrific pattern from almost any era (mainly the 1940's through to the 1980s or even 1990s), this is the place to shop. Did I neglect to mention the 75% off sale that's on right now?? *lol*


I have many other sellers I deal with, but I didn't want to bore the heck outta you by listing each and every one. I've found over time that many of the folks that sell on that site a really nice, and usually very knowledgeable - and if they don't know, they are honest enough to admit it. And that's something I can really appreciate. After all, both the site and the sellers there have a reputation to maintain, and if too many folks were not entirely honest in their dealings, word gets out fast. If you do decide to sign up (free) and shop there, be sure to read the feedback on the sellers. There are also many "clubs" at etsy (e.g. "The etsy Sellers Club" - no link, sorry) where you can learn a little more about pretty much anything, so feel free to look around while you're there.


Well, that was long-winded compared to my usual entries. I do have some pics of Toronto's ice-storm that we chipped our way out of (we were one of the really lucky ones that had power and managed to keep it through the whole thing). We had a terrific Christmas...well any Christmas with the family is terrific, right? Back to work on Friday, off for the weekend, then back for 1 & 1/2 days, off for New Year's Day, then back at it again. When working in an office environment it's always so confusing this time of year - I'm never sure when I'm working or not working, and when working, I sure do miss my nap-times! *LOL*

May you all have had the loveliest of Christmases!

TTFN

P.S. Sad, but always a favourite of mine - a final chance to say goodbye...

4, 5...Still alive...

Just a quick note to say that I'm still here, just super busy no that my co-worker has left the hive (office) for a while - eeek! *lol* So many promises to fulfill - while she make it, or fall flat on her face? Stay tuned to this page to find out...

:)

TTFN

Has it really been this long???

Wow, did time ever fly away on me!

Quick update - lotsa stuff happening at work (October is fiscal year end, any of you office types know what I mean *groan*)

Personal life is in a state of flux - so what's new about that? - but it's all good. Hell, any day I wake up and don't smell candles and flowers is a good day (think about it, you'll get the joke).

Getting ready for Christmas *lol* Yeah, getting ready...

Toodles!

Some other things...

Good day!

First, on a sad note...goodbye.

On a happier note, Happy Birthday!!! I'm an admirer of this talented lady, as well as others like Adrian and Orry-Kelly I've watched many movies that these fantastic folks have done the costume designing for and almost always marvelled at how gorgeous and glamerous the movie stars looked. For a time, it seemed that if your costuming wasn't done by one of these people, your film just wasn't a film. Kind of like what I like to call the Henry Mancini Syndrome (my own term, BTW). If your movie wasn't scored by the great Henry Mancini, you might as well not bother making the movie! *lol*

Thanks to Wikipedia and Google for all of my links - loving Google's splashpage today, some great sketches of some of Ms. Head's designs.

Please forgive me if I'm gushing a little. I realise that there are so many other talented people out there in costume design land in those eras that I'm not mentioning at all, and I hope you can forgive me for that.

More information later on the quick trip to the Creativ Fest Friday night. I even managed to remember to take a pic - really, I have GOT to get into this blogging thing a little more. I'm still learning, so thank you for your patience with me so far... :)

Have a terrific day!

Creativ Fest this weekend!!

Rather looking forward to this, as I've never been to their "Fest" before. Here's a link. I'm thinking of trying to go tonight, as their "Starlight" passes sell for only $5 this Friday night - sounds like a fantastic price to me! :) Perhaps it'll be enough to give me that toe to the booty to get me going on my black pants that I need to sew up - seriously, I've been without black slacks for about a month now, I really miss having a pair of black slacks for work that'll match with almost everything... Shame on old procrastinating me! *lol*

Hoping to see if the Toronto sewing blogges are gonna be there - I admit I've been bad about keeping in touch - Kay, if you're out there do you think you could help me?

May you all have a splendiferous weekend, and enjoy those gin and Ribenas!


Mugsy

Linky linky...

The rather wonderful lady at Adventures in Dressmaking had an interesting post regarding Martha Stewart and her comments about bloggers. Interesting in a good way.

I certainly do not claim to be an expert - the only thing I'm an expert in is being me. I blog because I enjoy other people's blogs and want to give back in some small way. I also enjoy the friendships I have developed over time this way, as well as pearls of knowledge to add to my proverbial necklace of wisdom.

I admit to some disappointment in Ms. Stewart assuming that we're all brainless enough to believe everything we read on the internet as totally honest and totally correct - even the experts out there that blog either for a living or for the fun of it can make mistakes sometimes. After all, we're only human. And while I'm the first to admit that I decry the apparent 'dumbing down" of society in general, I firmly believe that people will read thinigs out there, take the information with a grain of salt, and form their own opinions - unlike Ms. Stewart, who seems to assume that most people are "dumber than a bag of hammers" (thanks to "Oh, Brother, Where art Thou?" for that particular bonne mot) and are quick to assume that everything everyone blogs about is totally correct and without reproach.


Huh, I disappear for a bit then come back here with a rant (of sorts). Sheesh.

Anywho, may you all have a great weekend cooking, sewing, reading, housecleaning (yuck!), or just generally getting up to shenanigans of all sorts ;)

TTFN

Karma's still hanging tough...

Add to Friday:

- Broke an already short nail off to the point it bled (just a tiny bit).
- Sprained my elbow and ankle getting off of the commuter train going home.

Is it any wonder I had a couple of drinks Friday night? Vodka and Ribena mix nicely - too nicely, actually *lol*


Oh well. Today should have been better, but:

- Would have been at work on time but for the slowly creeping public transit this morning. It was so crowded that we were packed in like sardines...bad traffic plus rainy weather meant that everybody and their brother took TTC in to downtown this morning. Sheesh.

- Someone cleaned off their desk before going on vacation. Cleaned it off late Friday. Which meant there was a lot for me to deal with this Monday morning. Thank you very much.

- Somone else is cleaning off their desk as well to try and keep organised. Why couldn't this come to me bit by bit, instead of a deluge?


Thank goodness I'm still in a good mood. Hell, if I didn't keep laughing about all this sillyness, I'd cry - or get really grumpy. This guy usually makes me laugh out loud (and yep, I have all of the original books, but I'm hoping to own all of the "new" ones, too...someday...)

Image source:

http://www.berkeleybreathed.com/index.html

Oh, greeeeaaat, I can't post a picture in my blog while here at work, meanwhile others can spend most of their day on facebook...where is the justice in that? *lol* I too should be able to fritter my day away on the internet... *lmao*

You know it's gonna be a bad day when...

Left late for work this morning.

Stepped out the door and it started to rain (thankfully had my umbrella).

Grabbed the wrong bus (but it still got me to where I needed to go).

Stood there on the train platform staring at an ex that got off the train that I was getting on. Bastard didn't say a word or even deign to look right at me. Heart is hurting...

Had to stand on the second train (really hating that stretch between Eglinton station and Davisville station - makes you lose your balance far too often). Tote bags and large knapsacks need to be banned!

Got to work late.

Lots of overnight stuff backed up, and got the morning packages for my boss in the wrong order, as well as missing printouts. However, I was only trained on the basics, so not my fault. Still felt foolish.

Literally whacked myself in the eye, dead centre, with my mascara wand.

Sitting here wearing lipstick that should be a kind of teracotta red - is currently bright fuschia pink.


I had better post some pics on this blog before I try and do some real harm to myself this weekend, right? *lmao* Wow, I'm really hoping I used up all my bad karma points this morning, I'd like to finish the day on a good note if that's possible.

May you all have a terrific weekend! *big smile, waving frantically*

TTFN

EDIT:
Karma ain't through with me yet. Just "overwhelmed" my maxipad...and at the front, too. Thank god I had made a purchase and requested a bag so I could carry it in front of me to hide the blood stain on the front of my jeans!! Shit y'all, I'm now tempted to just go home, have a wee drink, pull the covers over my head and tell the world to go fuck itself. What say you? *lmao*

Bad Mugsy! *lol*

I forgot to post that I was going to be on vacation last week, as well as off-line for most of it - hell, when I take time off, I take time off! ;)

Went away for a day to Niagara Falls (and took some pics), did a little around the house, donated more items (and bought a book there, I really need to stop shopping when I drop things off for donation), and general goofing off. I'll update y'all on the gory details later when I get some pics sorted out and such.

TTFN! :)

Link to a book review...

Thanks to the lovely and talented Oona Balloona, a review of what looks like a fabulous book (coming out in October, State-side, at least) on draping for sewing. Like I really needed a reason to add more things I want to the ever-growing list! *lol*

As far as books I like regarding sewing:

Collette Sewing Handbook


A great book for beginners or intermediate sewists in my opinion, especially the chapter called "A Thoughtful Plan" - I mean, how many beginners really think out projects to this kind of detail she describes? Certainly not me...

Also, I own a vintage sewing book called "Simplicity Sewing Book"

from 1937. Honestly, I buy far too much from the sellers on Etsy! There's lots of tips, tricks and techniques in many vintage sewing books that are easily put into practice these days. And with my love of vintage fashions...well, that goes without saying.

Have a terrific day, everyone! I'm going to try and post some outfit pics fairly soon - and no, sadly no progress on those two projects I posted earlier. Just far too busy with life lately.

TTFN

American Duchess shoe giveaway!!

Ermagerd! American Duchess is hosting a giveaway for their "1930's Claremont Oxfords"! Aren't these shoes just delicious? Fingers crossed for any of you that enter - but I must admit, I'm really hoping I can win these beauties for myself *LOL*

Good luck to everyone! :)

Sewing projects on the go - aka my first attempt to post pics...

OK, I'm going to try and post a few pics of some projects I have in my mind to complete:

First up, A lovely 1940's dress that was a gift from the lovely and talented Adeline's Attic The poor thing was in rather rough shape in some areas, but I fell in love with the colour and style - and it was great fun wearing it at the Hamilton Plane Museum for the New Year's celebration and dance!



Not the best pic





The poor neckline!

No, I have no idea what happened to that poor neckline...it looks like something was perhaps violently removed, maybe an attached collar of some sort with more soutach on it? In any case, I'm hoping to use some bias binding or tape to at least cover up all around the nackline (just happened to find the perfect match in colour, turns out the dress is considered "plum" coloured, how lucky was that??), as well as doing some very careful patching in a couple of tinay areas (moth nibbles?). It fits rather well, and the only other thing I may do is neaten up the shoulder pads (or try to duplicate them exactly, they really need refreshing / neatening up)

Another project currently being procrastinated:

An ordinary light purple cardigan (mauve?) purchased during the Tilley Endurables warehouse sale a few years back (told you I was procrastinating *lol*):

Great face for radio

Rather plain-jane, yes? I've already swapped out the buttons for some purple pearly-looking beauties, and I have an embroidery pattern designed that I want to add - just some simple lazy-daisy flowers and a dragonfly somewheres around them. I want to try and "fit" the sweater a little better to me, and was even thinking of cropping it a little (a la 1930's style, but not too high. Have a muffin-top I'd like to keep under cover, thank you very much ;) ) I'm thinking of keeping the embroidery up around the shoulder / bust area to keep the focus up there and not down by the hips - why the heck to almost all sweater designers put all of the fancy-pants designs and such down by the fucking hips?? Or does the Boomer generation (and 70's children like myself) not matter anymore? Frankly I take my purchasing power, such as it is, to where it's appreciated - or at least where I can buy decent and classic items that are designed for someone that actually eats.


Bah! Enough of my bitching! Think I'll grab a martini and contemplate getting off my duff and getting sewing. More projects and dreams (and perhaps ranting) later...

TTFN

Help Colette Patterns win the Martha Stewart American Made contest :)

I am a fan of Colette Patterns, and would like to see these terrific folks win Martha Stewrt's contest. You need to register to vote, and the winners are announced September 24th 2013. For some strange reason, you can vote 6 times a day - so get in there, take a look around at all of the companies that have been nominated and choose who you'd like to vote for (of course my personal preference is Colette *lol*)!


On another note - sorry folks, no pictures yet...but as soon as I can thrash around and find some (a couple of completed projects, plus a couple of projects in the works), I'll be sure to post them A.S.A.P. My blog has gotten rather boring with no pictures posted yet.

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Back again!

Thank you to Kay for my very first comment - makes me feel all warm and squishy...oh, wait, that's just been the effect of the humid weather lately! *lol*

Been pondering what to write next...a little more about myself, I guess. Ugh, so self-centered *winks*

Hmmm, let's see... After high school I tried a brief stint in college. Unfortunately I found out after the first year that I made a bad future-career choice, and dropped out. Since then I've been bouncing around trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. But as I refuse to grow up completely, that could be a problematic issue!

Right now the job I have is a means to an end (read: make money), but I've been plagued by thoughts of possibly going back to school. As this would be a total change in career, I've been quite hesitant - it's the fact that it would be a total money and time drain that I'm not sure I'm ready for right now. I live at home (which is a terrific money-saver, even though I pay rent) with my ever-suffering parents *lol* - for which I feel extremely fortunate that I even had that opportunity and option. I'm stuck in a bit of a conundrum, though - save money for a place of my own, or go back to school for a career I'm not totally sure I want to challenge myself with for the rest of my working life? Throw in the fact that I'm over 40, and perhaps you can see the pickle I'm in. More research and pondering is needed...

What else to bore you with?

I'm single, and happy - bet you don't hear that very often, eh? *lol* The dating scene is just... Well, let's just leave it at that, shall we? Hell, it'll happen when it happens, I'm certainly not worried about it.

Ok, I think that's enough for now. I'm thinking this might be a weekly posting thing, or perhaps more often if anything of note comes up. Really can't say for sure, but I do know that I do not want to be posting daily - just far too much effort for me to say anything of any sort of use that often. Oh, sorry, didn't you know? I'm an average, lazy-assed caucasian North American, I'm supposed to be lazy! *lmao* But if I can say this : I totally agree with the late, great, George Carlin. Calling myself "Caucasian" really does sound like a shoe style, doesn't it??

First post to say Hello!

Well, hello there! While this is not my first blog, this is my first public blog. Posting may be sporadic until I can get into a proper schedule, so for now I'll try and let y'all get to know me a little. I'm a little shy, so no real names just yet ;)

I live and work in the great metropolis of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I'm 40+, I have Celiac disease, and have a serious crush on almost all things vintage, especially fashions from the 1920's to the early 1940's. I like cooking, reading, writing, knitting, crocheting, and general learning, and my goal is to become a pretty good "sewista" (my term for a person who's great at sewing) - at least good enough that I can sew most of my own wardrobe. Goodness knows I certainly have enough patterns! :D

That's about all for now. Oh, one caveat about reading this blog - I do curse (and I say more than just "poopy!"). I can sometimes put a sailor to shame. I'm just as human as the next person, so I thought you all should be warned about this ahead of time... *lol*