Dirndl Dress: Vintage/Similar; Pocket Knife Necklace: Snash Jewelry; Belt: Vintage/Similar; Shoes: J Crew.
Sorry about the title of this post, guys; I just can't resist a good pun! And that one wasn't even good! Good job, Becca. Sheesh.
Anyway! It was a lovely weekend. Friday I had an awesome night hanging out with Elle. We went and saw Monsters University, which was SO great! I'm a sucker for a good Pixar movie, and this one had us both laughing just about the whole time. After movie time we went out for dinner and a couple of drinks and had a grand old time!
Saturday I checked out a new cafe near my house with my friend, Sarah, and then we went and got some ice cream (PB&J!) and walked around looking at some cute shops. And then Sunday morning I went to breakfast with Michele, and then we popped into the farmers market afterward to do our weekly purchasing of gorgeous, gorgeous produce. I also spent a lot of time over the weekend doing some cooking, cleaning, and working on some projects, like sprucing up the ol' blog a little.
It was a great weekend that had a perfect combination of relaxing, socializing, and getting things done! My brain has been swimming in thoughts lately, so it was nice to have a calm weekend to get a lot done and get some of those thoughts out of my head. Sometimes that internal to-do list is intense!
In other news, can we please talk about this vintage dirndl I'm wearing? It was a pretty exciting find! I was out vintage shopping with my lovely cousin last weekend (check out her amazing calligraphy over at Imagine Joy!), and had remarked that I was excited that they had a few things that would potentially fit me. This is always exciting because I wear a modern size 12, and since ladies used to be substantially tinier it can be tough to find cute vintage pieces. Fortunately for me, one of the ladies working at the store overheard this and totally sympathized and related! She told me that they just got a few things in that were my size and she'd go grab them for me!
One of the things she brought over was this vintage dirndl. I'm so glad she overheard me talking and grabbed it for me because it fits like a glove and has amazing details, like the tiniest little pin-tucks I've ever laid eyes on. It makes an amazing summer dress, but since it's a sturdy cotton, I think I'll also get some good wear out of this in the winter with some tights and a good cardigan.
Did you guys do anything fun over the weekend?
Til next time!
-Becca
Dress: Vintage Fixer-Upper; Necklace: Anthropologie; Belt: Vintage; Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens.
Boy oh boy, it sure got hot all of a sudden! I love summer, but I could really do without these days where it stays in the high 80s until 11pm. One of the things I love about the place I live is that it gets lots of light, but when the high temperatures hit, the combination of southern, western, and eastern exposure means that my place just bakes all day! Fortunately for me, my parents live just a few miles away in a cute little AIR CONDITIONED house, so I got whisked away to spend an afternoon baking cupcakes (more on that later this week!) in a nice air conditioned kitchen.
Now that I'm back in my hot, hot home, I've got fans blaring, popsicles in the freezer, aloe vera in the fridge (extra cold!), and a cool washcloth draped over my neck.
Do you have any favorite ways to beat the heat?
Til next time!
-Becca
Dress: Vintage/Etsy; Belt: Anthropologie/Similar; Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens; Hair pins: DIY.
This weekend I had a lovely outing with Katie, of Katie Marie V, that included some shopping for stamping supplies (more on that later this week!), eating ice cream, getting interviewed and photographed for an online magazine (!!!), frolicking through a beautiful park in Wallingford, and having a photo shoot, obvs.
Since it was such a lovely warm day, I was really in the mood to wear some vintage (which seems to be the trend lately...), so I wore one of my favorite dresses, this vintage brown gingham number. Now, by some miracle of the internet, you too could own this dress! Seriously, check out this Etsy listing for THE EXACT SAME DRESS! Sometimes the world is super cool.
Til next time!
-Becca
Dress: Vintage/Similar; Belt: Anthropologie/Similar; Shoes: J Crew
As I mentioned in my wishlist post last week, I'm kind of in love with the sunny combination of yellow and white right now. I found this dress on the sale rack at a vintage store about a year ago for a measly $7. I obviously brought it home. For the longest time, though, there's been something about it that, well, needs something.
This weekend I decided to try my hand at fixing it up. First I thought I would shorten it and make it a v-neck, but after pinning that out, I decided against it. I was enjoying the longer length, and felt like it just needed something at the neckline, so I added a knit pointelle peter pan collar.
You can see the before and after above! What do you guys think, collar or no collar? I kind of love it both ways.
Regardless, check back later in the week because I'll be showing you how to pattern out a peter pan collar for any plain neckline you want to add one to!
Til next time!
-Becca
Cardigan: ModCloth; Dress: Vintage/Similar; Belt: Anthropologie/Similar; Tights: Nordstrom; Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens
Tonight my friend Katie, of the blog Katie Marie V, and I went and checked out a party at Hilliard's in Ballard that was thrown as part of the Warby Parker Class Trip (more on that later!). First, we obviously had to have an outfit photo shoot! It was a bit of a chilly day, but I still wanted to wear something cute, so I wore lots of blues and tried to keep things springy.
I'm obsessed with this dress, with its gingham print, cute collar, and adorable bow tie. I love the way it looks with this navy blue cardigan from ModCloth, but it also looks adorable with no sweater at all, especially since I fixed up the ripped sleeves earlier in the week (and the belt. see how on this post!). I'm so glad I picked it up on a thrifting trip a couple of weeks ago.
I've also been living in these Swedish Hasbeens recently and love that they look just as cute with tights as they do without. With the exception of rainy days, I think I'll be wearing them all year round.
Katie and I had a lovely time at the party. Check back Thursday for some peeks at the evening!
Til next time!
-Becca
P.S: Thanks to Katie for always taking the best pictures of me!
Picture this: you're out and about, minding your own business, when all of a sudden you hear a rip or a tear, a pop as your button flies off, or notice a loose thread, try to pull it, and the whole damn hem comes undone. We've all had it happen. The fact is, clothes wear out. But the good news is that a lot of the things that happen to our clothes are very fixable!
Today I'm going to share a couple of quick fixes!
First up: Broken belts.
So as you can see here, my beloved white, woven belt literally split in half on me. And it obviously didn't happen at a convenient time. It happened yesterday in the middle of the work day with an outfit that, quite frankly, looks pretty crummy without a belt. Oy vey! Until I could get myself to a needle and thread (why don't I just carry them in my bag? I have no idea.) I tried to make do with paper clips, binder clips, rubber bands, and then staples. No such luck. I had to abandon ship and just figure it out when I got home.
Now, this problem will likely not befall a belt without stitching, but if you ever have this happen to you, here's what to do!
Gather up a sturdy needle with a sharp point, scissors, and matching thread (you don't need a bobbin, I just grabbed the first cream colored thread I could find!).
Thread up your needle so you've double the thread, and knot the two ends together a couple of times so you've got a sturdy knot.
Insert your needle in such a way that you can hide the knot. For me, that meant inserting the needle between the two layers of leather on this square piece and through one of the existing stitch holes.
Then, overlap the two pieces of the belt with the broken edges to the inside. Push the needle up through the top piece, pull the thread all the way through, and back down through the bottom piece, preferably through one of the existing needle holes, and pull the thread all the way through. You're taking a basic stitch here.
Once the needle comes out through the other side, take your next stitch into one of the existing needle holes, and pull through the other side. Continue with this basic stitch until you reach the end of the stitching area, basically attaching one piece of the belt to the other.
When you've gotten everything attached, knot the end a few times to keep secure and you're done!
Here's the finished product! As you can see, the inside doesn't look amazing, but with the exception of the staple holes from my silly attempt to fix my belt with office supplies, the outside looks good as new.
Onward!
Next up, we're talking ripped sleeves. God, there's nothing much worse than wearing a cute, sleeved vintage dress and reaching for something when all of a sudden you hear a rip! Obviously, in a panic, you run to the mirror to see what happened, and inevitably freak out because vintage clothes don't have overlocked seams, so you see a flat edge, and a then a ripped looking edge and think the fabric ripped, which is a total pain to fix. Well, before you freak out, take a closer look because chances are, the thread, ya know, thin cotton thread that's over 50 years old, has just gotten brittle and popped.
See? Phew! Guess what! This is super easy to take care of. Here's what you do:
Get yourself to a sewing machine (you can certainly hand stitch if you don't have one), and grab a spool of thread and matching bobbin thread.
What you will do is turn the dress inside out and match up the edges of the sleeve. You'll want to begin sewing at the underarm, so line up the seam line with the needle with the sleeve portion facing up and the bulk of the fabric to the left of the machine (standard practice!). Begin stitching (be sure to backstitch at the beginning), following the seam line.
Unless you had a really unfortunate event where the whole damn sleeve popped off, you'll likely encounter stitching that's still in tact as you're sewing. Since we already know the thread is brittle, just sew over the old stitching to reinforce it.
Once you've made it the whole way around and are back at the underarm, backstitch, cut your thread, and you're done!
See? Good as new!
Well, I hope these quick tips can help you save some of your favorite clothes! I'll be sure to post some more quick fixes in the future, especially since I've got a blind hem that needs fixing and some patching to do. I've also got a couple of vintage pieces that need alterations or some serious re-styling, so stay tuned!
Til next time!
-Becca
1. Dress: Adored Vintage; 2. Shoes: Seychelles/ModCloth; Cardigan: ModCloth: 4. Belt: Target; Necklace: Chicwish
This week I've worn a piece of vintage clothing every single day. I love vintage clothing and would venture to say that I feel most like myself when I'm wearing vintage, particularly if I'm on a nice walk listening to The Clash on my headphones! I'm definitely dreaming of vintage clothing this week.
Now, for practicality's sake, I don't often wear vintage from head to toe. I love pairing something like this dreamy printed dress with a light but cozy cardigan like this one from ModCloth. Throw in some cute, but practical flats like these ones from Seychelles, a bold piece of jewelry, and a cute little belt and you've got yourself an outfit!
Til next time!
-Becca
