first beach trip of the season

So I have been working myself like a sweat shop for the past two weeks creating some suit dresses from the 60's to wear to my new job and today we decided to enjoy the holiday weekend and the hot weather by heading up to Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, MA (no pregnancy pacts were made.)

Not only was I able to wear my new 1930's Jantzen wool bathing suit but my vintage loving friend Miss De was able to put on her beautiful 1950's number and join us!



In case you are curious, yes the suit was itchy.

Champaign in the afternoon

I love this town.

All grown up

So, I had my interview and was offered the job. I took the weekend to think it over and on Monday accepted the position. I am excited an nervous to start something new but I have a new wardrobe to look forward to creating. The position is corporate so no more swing dresses to the office for me, it's all suits in appropriate shades of bland. Luckily I have a large collection of 1960's women's suit patterns just jumping off my shelf waiting to be used. My first addition is from Advance #6802 and I spent yesterday altering the pattern as it is a size too large. Here is the muslin mockup. Today I start on the black wool suiting fabric then run off to Vidal Sassoon to offer my time as a hair model. Crossing my fingers on this one!

An Interview My Way

Unfortunately, or fortunately for me I was laid of of my job of four and a half years. Save your tears, it's better to get a life boat than to go down with the Titanic. Well, after one day of resume submissions I get a call in response to one and an interview is set up for Thursday the 10th. After spending half a second at Marshall's looking for an office appropriate suit I gave up and instead spent $35 on a few yards of wool suiting and pulled out one of my patterns from the 60's.



After two days of frantic sewing and creating my very first blazer I can only hope this will be my good luck charm to new employment.

M.I.A

So many apologies for the lack of posts, I am currently sorting out some personal and professional issues but I have a post pending about the opening party for the new Cafe Society in Jamaica Plain, Boston. What a hoot!

I also have a new video in the works demonstrating a 1920's "easy" up-do. So stay patient and return again for some new vintage goodies!

Vintage Pin-Up Eye Make-up

I love dressing up my eyes, and my favorite fun wearable style is the nautical pin-up. It compliments victory rolls and swing dresses and can also be worn with jeans *wink*.

I like to do my "nautical" eyes in a subtle way, so the bright blue catches attention without looking clownish. I have laid out step-by-step instructions after the page break to show how easy this look is.

1940's Floral Swing Dress

Dress: Make by me, Pattern from Sense and Sensibility as a downloadable PDF
Shoes: Guess
Hair clip: Hot pink double flower from Bad Seeds

You may recognize this little number from my previous post, I also used this pattern to make a red version.



This was my first attempt at Sense and Sensibility's 1940's swing dress pattern and it took forever. Half of me wanted to burn the pattern and the other half wanted to struggle through. I can't say the instructions were terribly easy to understand in regards to the bodice/yolk portion. After staring at it on the dummy for weeks angrily I mustered up my google-fu and found some directions from other people who have completed the dress and voila, it all came together just in time for my once a year romantic holiday with my honey to Newport, RI where we attended a rousing polo match.

We picnicked on a three wolf blanket and William donned his "Nantucket Red" slacks for the occasion.

For charity!

I can't get enough of signing up for things and this weekend was no different. Our friends bought and opened a bar in the neighborhood named Lizzy's, it's a great place for cheap eats and to meet the locals. Lizzy's regularly has events to bring together the local folk and this past weekend was no different. They hosted a double event to raise funds for the East End House, they raffled prizes and served hot dogs that were donated by Pearl Meats.

My boyfriend refused to participate in the Mano a Mano Wet T-shirt competition but I stepped up to the plate, literally, and entered the Woman vs. Food portion of the night.

My strategy?


Fork, knife, cocktail and a napkin.

In the end I ate two dogs AND saved my lipstick.