I Told You I Read...

Sooner or later, I'll get back to reading classic literature and stuff like that.  Books about clothes and sewing are still pretty fascinating to me right now.  I even like books about patterns.

I like patterns a lot.  I kinda hoard them. This book is full of illustrations of patterns available for the summer of 1932.  Gorgeous!

It's pretty inspiring, but I'm not sure these designs of slim-looking dresses would flatter an hourglass girl like myself.  Some of the patterns are noted as being adapted from designs by the likes of Chanel. Lanvin, Mainbocher, Louiseboulanger, Patou, and Schiaparelli.

Thanks to a generous giftcard to a bookstore, I perused the used books online and found this baby:

 The dust jacket is hurt, but the pages inside are beautiful and full of illustrations from Frederick's of Hollywood- mostly from the late 40s through the early 60s- right up my alley!  I collect these catalogs, but haven't acquired any in a couple of years.  Other people collect them too, and it's gotten expensive.

 I love the illustrations of all the glamourous dresses, swimsuits, foundations and lingerie.

And just so you're aware- here is a diagram of the benefits and features of a padded push-up bra.  Knowledge is power.

If You Can't Sleep...

...list some stuff on Etsy. Here's my shop.  I recently found the most awesome ties in a couple of little places around town.

Lots of them.  Really good ones.  Embroidered, skinny, atomic brocade- you name it, and it's probably in my tie stash.  I listed some tonight, and there's more to come.
This one's almost too awesome.

Looks unassuming.  Sure, it's nice.  Diamonds designs are cool.  The color is okay.  Everyone loves pretty ladies.

By the way, there's a pinup girl inside the tie when you flip it up and unfold it.  I'm not sure I can bear to sell this one, seeing as how I collect this sorta thing and have been coveting one ever since I knew they existed.  We'll see... stranger things have happened.  In the meantime, i'll be listing more ties in my Etsy shop.

Fiberglass-A-Go-Go

Lamps just ain't what they used to be.  I've developed a penchant for fiberglass.  I love texture, and plain fiberglass is great... then you factor in paint and glitter and all kinds of fun things.
I've searched far and wide over antique stores and the internet for a cool double-tiered lampshade to turn into a swag lamp.  This pretty thing was a birthday gift from a dear friend at Mileslove Studios.

It's lovely.  I can't wait to finish rearranging my house and decide on a final spot for it and plug that baby in.  Lonely lampshades can be turned into swag lamps like this, and if you're in Houston, the Heights Trading Post is a good place to seek help if you're electrically inept like I am.  I also found this:

 This thing was absolutely filthy when I found it.  It was way more discolored and had a thick layer of dust at the bottom.  It would turn on for a few seconds, sizzle, and then flicker out.  Scary.  So I had it rewired and I cleaned it thoroughly while it was disassembled.  The fiberglass on this one is super thick, so I was able to lift a lot of the staining out with multiple soakings in Oxy Clean.

Tadaaaa!

And this one, this was a serendipitous surprise.

I love fiberglass extramuch when it has crazy paint, and I love glitter in just about any context- this one has both.  And stars...stars! Love me some stars. There are a few cracks in the shade on this one, but I really couldn't care less.  It's still so awesome. 

And I almost forgot- just when my bamboo tray failed me, I found this beauty at tiny charity shop.  It's a full-size tray with sparkly gold knit fabric set in the fiberglass.  

I wonder where it came from- it's basically a cafeteria tray, but gold.  I'm now the proud owner of the swankiest cafeteria tray ever.

A Little American History

I found this gem in one of my favorite little charity stores a while back.

I quit breathing a little when I saw it.  I also can't find another one on the internet at the moment, either currently for sale or having sold recently.  John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy will be listed on my Etsy or eBay soon.

I like souvenir kitchen stuff, and I collect things from places I've been- but primarily just old things from before I existed.  This glass is a souvenir from Seawolf Park in Galveston.  The park is named for a lost submarine, and has the sub USS Cavalla and the Destroyer Escort USS Stewart, as well as the remains of the merchant ship SS Selma.

And of course, all history has fashion history.  World War II changed women's lives in many ways.  Rosie the Riveter was an encouraging visual representation of the many women who wrapped up their hair, rolled up their sleeves, and went to work for the war effort.  Still, ladies liked to be glamorous outside of their jobs.  Stockings, however were a rare luxury since nylon was rationed.  My grandmother used to tell me stories about going out with her friends at night, and how they would use their makeup pencils to draw lines up the backs of each other's legs to create the look of the stockings they weren't wearing.  Then there was Victory Lace:

 With everything focused on supporting the war effort, all things were for victory.  It wouldn't be very patriotic to use nylon for stockings when the military needed it for so many supplies.  Victory Lace was the alternative when one could afford stockings.

 The fishnet-look lace is all cotton, and the foot is rayon.  I have 2 pairs, and one of them may be on loan to the  National World War II Museum in the future.