Victorian Robe

Have you ever noticed how modern house coats and bath robes are lumpy squares of fabric that don't emphasize a woman's shape?  Well, truth be told, I've filled out a little and really need some help to "create" a more feminine shape.  So since I can't find a ready made feminine robe, I decided to make one.  The closest thing to what I was looking for is this Simplicity Victorian Robe pattern. It took me forever to find it at a reasonable affordable price (which I finally did on eBay)

 The next step was to find just the right fabric - all NINE yards of it. Then of course there were the yards and yards of lace.  Putting it all together was fairly easy, but adding all that lace was a test in patience for me.  But I did finish it and it really didn't take as long as I thought it would.

 It's not even close to being authentic in design, but still, it gives me a much nicer shape than the square modern ones.

I wear it almost every night. It's not as heavy or cumbersome as you might think and it's a lot of fun to wear. I feel like a princes floating around the house.  Now I need the perfect PJ's to go with it.

Patricia :o)

Fun Finds

After 2 1/2 years of living in San Antonio, we're still finding our way around. We'd heard of a flea market north east of us called Bussey's Flea Market, but weren't too excited about visiting it because, so far, all the flea markets in our area sell cheap new things. But we read some reviews and decided to make a day of it. It's not the kind of flea market I'm used to from So. CA (Like the Rose Bowl in Pasadena), but it was SO MUCH better than I expected!

I fell in love with this vintage wedding dress! It's a size 7/8 so I'm not sure if it will fit M'lady (my dress form). AND it has to be cleaned some how. But I couldn't pass it up. It has metal snaps, hooks and zipper.

It's all layers upon layers of lace. I only found one or two tiny tears on the sleeves, and it is in otherwise wonderful shape. However, I do need to wash it...

I got it for so cheap, that I think I'm going to risk soaking it in a tub of Oxyclean and rinse with cool water, gently squeeze the water out by rolling it up in towels, and then line dry. It smells old and musty and I can't stand the thought of bringing into the house, so it's hanging in the garage by my car.

There's not a lot of adornment. Just lots of lace and a few sprinkles of sparkles.

At first I couldn't find any decent linens, affordable or otherwise. Then I hit the jack pot!! There was a wonderful older lady who had most of these linens priced a little high. They were marked, but I asked the price anyway. She knocked $3 to $5 dollars off of each. Suddenly, they were VERY affordable and in GREAT shape. I even have some of them up for sale already in my eBay store.

I also picked up this little cherub compote plant holder thingy for only $2.00! I thought it was vintage until I got him home and looked at the bottom. It had a store price tag for $5.95. I guess it doesn't matter. He's cute, he's affordable, and he'll be vintage someday, right?

I got this old plant stand for only $5.00!! I think the guy made a mistake. There was a smaller one that I heard his wife quote $10.00. It pays to ask, even if you think you know what the price is. I hope the husband didn't get in trouble...

Can you believe I got this fishing basket for $10.00??? It's pretty old from what I can tell. It has leather and canvas straps. I've seen these at antique stores for $95.00 and up. I was so happy to get this for my hubby. And look what was inside...

...these adorable hand crocheted and embroidered baby shoes! The guy selling the basket gave them to me for free. They didn't look like this when I got them, but it wasn't hard to soak them and air them dry. Too cute!

If you're interested in visiting Bussey's, their address is 18738 I.H. 35 N., Shertz, TX 78154 (210)651-6830. I wouldn't make a special trip out there, but definitely stop by if your in the area on a Saturday or Sunday.

Patricia :o)

Mad Hatter Tea Party - Part 1

It was my turn to host our monthly ladies social for our neighborhood. Every month, the hostess gets to pick a theme or activity. I chose to have a Mad Hatter Tea Party. (I didn't even realize that "Alice" was coming out this month but it was perfect timing!)

The only requirement for the ladies was to wear a hat. Any hat would do. I wanted to have a few extras on hand just in case some one forgot theirs.

So I brought out my vintage hat boxes, full of vintage hats. Of course I had to have an extra special one for me since I was going to be the Mad Hatter.
I thought this one was a little quirky, but it didn't look as "special" as I wanted.

I thought this one would be funny with all the little dingle balls on it. But, believe it or not, it wasn't as silly as I thought it would be. It was really cute on, but not "mad."

I started looking for a black, top hat at antique store, but the few that I found were $175 and up!! Then a friend and I found a beige hat in one of my favorite stores and it was only $35.00, and then the owner lowered it to $27.00 out the door. Wooo Hoo!

It's all custom/hand made. The photo isn't that great, but those are hand done stitches around the top there. The hat's a little beat up, but I think it just added to the "mad" look.

I didn't want to leave the band black as this looked a little manly to me. So I added a soft pink band and finished it in the back with vintage shabby pink roses.

I didn't remove the black band because I wanted to keep it original. I just hot glued the band to itself and pinned the roses on. It looks way cuter in person than in the sad photo (I was losing sun light fast).

And here are my hats, just before the party. Every one who came did wear a hat except for one gal who picked the blue hat. It's SO cute on! It reminds me of the hats the girls from Pride and Prejudice wore. More on the party on the next post.

Blessings,

Patricia :o)

M'Lady and her nightgowns

M’Lady is finished and is showing off some of her my favorite night gowns. I didn’t even know I had a nightgown collection until Deanna of Timeless Things asked me if I still collected vintage nightgowns. She pointed out that I have several at home and that I was always looking for them when we went shopping. Huh! I didn’t realize that!

Now that M’Lady is presentable, I can show some of them off.

I'm not sure if this is a robe or part of a wedding dress. All I know is that it's gorgeous! I found this at a Goodwill store for only $9.99!!

It's supper long and goes all the way down to my feet. I'm almost 5'8" so that's amazing to me (now if it would only go around my middle).

All the little beads and sequence are hand sewn.

This nightgown is pretty old. I think it is home made. It's also very long, which I LOVE. The seams are all done with a tiny French seam. The original pale taupe-yellow ribbon still runs through the eyelet lace at the collar.

This is another of my favorites. It's made of soft cotton. The detail on this one is beautiful!

It also had a taupe-yellow ribbon, but was in bad shape so I pulled it out. I'm looking for a vintage ribbon replacement.

Just check out the details. This nightgown looks small but is actually large enough to fit me. It's very comfortable, but I'm afraid to wear it.

I found this little nightie at the Salvation Army for $1.00! It's probably from the late 50's early 60's and is made of the softest pink nylon.

I'm pretty sure I won't be wearing this one for a very long time. It's a tiny 32 bust. It's very femine and delicate. I wish they still made them like this...

Patricia :o)

PS: Here's M'Lady all nice and clean.

M'Lady the Vintage Dress Form

Last summer my hubby and I were visiting our favorite little town just North of San Antonio, Boerne (sounds like brun-e). We stopped in a little antique shop and found this great dress form. It had been marked down, and marked down again to $175.00. I'd been looking for a dress form for years and could never find anything in a reasonable price range. Although the $175 seemed fair, I asked for more. I was thrilled when the dealer let me have her for $125!!!! (I know some of you have gotten way better deals, but I'm rarely that lucky LOL)

Unfortunately, my dress form was so stained and dirty, that she wasn't even invited into the home (except to take these photos). I removed her outer cover and found...

shredded paper!! I have to tell you I was shocked and disappointed. But I had to get her clean if she wanted to stay inside the house.

Here she is naked! I vacuumed her off really,really well and them steamed her all over. It was a lot harder than I had thought it would be, but I finally got her smelling almost good.

I obviously wasn't going to put that nasty paper back in so I wrapped her in thick batting. Meanwhile, the nasty, dirty cover was being soaked for a couple of days in a big tub of powder Tide, Oxyclean and what started out as very hot water. The fabric came out very clean with only one or two little ink marks on it.

I didn't put the cover in the dryer because I was afraid it would shrink. And I think it did anyway because it looks a little tight. I hand stitched the opening all the way up the back and it looks really good. This was the part I thought would be the hardest and it turned out to be the easiest. The really hard part was filling her bust! The first go-round she looked like Dolly Parton!! After a little reductive surgery, she looks pretty normal.

I've heard that every dress form should have a name and this one is named M'lady. When we first bought her, my hubby referred to her as "your lady" meaning my lady. He carried my lady on his shoulder. It was sooooo cute and funny looking. Then my lady had to stay in the garage, and I had to work on my lady to get her cleaned up. I kept thinking of her as "my lady" so the name stuck.

Now she's in my guest room wearing the prettiest lace robe. I'll share that with you on the next post. It's beautiful and I'm sure you'll love it!

Happy New Year!!

Patricia :o)

Thrift Shopping with Deanna

Last Thursday, I went shopping with my new blogging friend, Deanna from Timeless Things. (She was attacked by fire ants that same day and is in terrible itchy pain. Please say a prayer for her and stop by her blog to say hi if you get a chance.)

We only met once before, but after spending an hour or two with her, we feel like we've know each other for ever. She's a very sweet and lovely lady.

I forgot to take my camera with me, so I didn't get photos of us or the places we visited. I think we went to four different places, plus Chic Fillet where we had lunch. Anyway, I only have photos of what I found to show. Hopefully when she feels better, she'll post a few photos of her own. (She found a TON of cute things).

I found PINK! Two pink sweater tops and a vintage pink slip.
The beading at the top of this sweater is all hand sewn. Whew! I can't imagine the time that took!
This pretty pullover feels like it's made of cashmere and has hand embroidery and hand beading on the collar/yolk. How pretty is that!?

Here are some little trinkets I couldn't pass up: A wicker-like magazine basket that I'm going to line with pink rose cotton fabric and use as a waste basket in my sewing "room", some white rose scented drawer liner, old books, a vintage lipstick holder and a couple of little nick-knacks.

Then, we Deanna's help, I hit the jackpot of vintage Ferragamo shoes. But they're much too small for me, so I'm going to see if I can sell them. Oh, and I also found a vintage 1960's Vera scarf.

It was a blast shopping with Deanna. She is VERY knowledgeable and knows her collectibles. I can't wait to shop with her again!

Blessings,

Patricia :o)