Vintage on the Web – January 2016

Vintage on the web

Well, it’s nearing the end of January and already one of my goals for this year is out of the window. I had vowed to myself that I would post on here more often, and it started well, but then as life started taking over last week the blog hasn’t had as much attention as I’d hoped. I had planned to get another post done before this one but unfortunately that’s the way life goes sometimes. Anyway, please enjoy my vintage on the web finds for the first month of 2016!

Anna Chocola Millinery

Anna Chocola Millinery

I came across Anna Chocola Millinery when trawling eBay for 1920s hats and after scrolling through thousands of cheap modern cloches I finally spotted this beautiful 1920s turban in black satin. It instantly made me think of Bea in The House of Elliot who loved her satin turbans and I have been swooning over it ever since.

Anna Chocola, from Brighton, UK, also offers a wide range of handmade vintage inspired hats ranging from the 1920s to the 1950s. Some are more authentic than others but there really are some beautiful pieces at reasonable prices for handmade millinery. I personally love the 1930s/40s velvet berets which all have a cute oversized bow at the side and the 1920s bridal bonnet is so adorable. For more information about Anna Chocola and to see more images of her wonderful creations just go to her website here.
Pattern for making women's dickies

Easy to Make Dickies from the Spool Cotton Company

I’ve been obsessed with Dickies for ages now as they were really popular during the 1930s. If you’ve never heard of them before, they’re are garments which just compromise of the front and back of a blouse or shirt, but no sides or sleeves and it is secured on by ties that hold the two pieces together. They were worn underneath jackets and cardigans when you didn’t want the bulkiness of a complete blouse.

Over the past couple of years I’ve come across a few original dickies but they’ve either not been to my liking or they were rather too delicate to wear. So, when I came across this fantastic original 1940s guide to make your own dickies on the Zips & Darts blog I knew I had to download it to try and make my own. The guide is free, so why not have a go yourself? They are probably one of the easiest things to make. (And I’ll show you mine once they’re done!)

Dinner parties

9 Wonderful Habits From The Past That Just Don’t Exist Anymore…We Ought To Bring Them Back!!

This post on Little Things was shared on one of the vintage groups I belong to on Facebook and it made me giggle. It covers pretty much everything us vintagey types either try and do in our lives or dream of doing all the time. I think my favourite is number 5 as I never go out the house unless I’m dressing up, even if I’ve got jeans on (which is very rare). I don’t own a pair of trainers, a onesie, a tracksuit or even a big sloppy jumper and I always dress up when travelling. And, yes, I do get weird looks!

1940s hairstyles pdf

Retrobelles – Downloadable 1930s, 1940s & 1950s vintage style guides

Retrobelles offers a small range of downloadable guides and magazines that are original from their particular era. They range from the 1920s up to the 1950s and cover topics such as beauty, hair styling and hat making, with the majority costing just $2.95 (approx. £2).

I purchased the How to Make 1920s, 1930s Flapper Hats guide which is basically an original millenary book from the 1920s aimed at home dressmakers and has a whopping 128 pages. It has some really great tips and information about different types of frames, suitable fabrics, trimmings and different hat styles. As trying to make hats is one of my sewing resolutions this year I thought it would be perfect. A little warning though, the process of actually buying is a little long winded and they will manually send you the PDF file via email, so it can take up to 12 hours to arrive in your inbox so don’t panic.

Embroidery for Beginners - Sew Delicious

Embroidery for Beginners

You may have noticed that I have a new badge in the left hand column of the blog from the Vintage Pledge which has been running for a couple of years now and when I spotted it last year I knew I wanted to take part this year. So, my pledge is to experiment more with my vintage patterns and tackle things that terrify me, and this includes embroidery.

Much like hat making, the idea of doing embroidery bewilders me. There are so many things to do with it that I have no idea about, so when I stumbled across Sew Delicious’ Embroidery for Beginners I just knew I had to bookmark it. Ros only goes into the basics here but there are lots of links on there to helpful guides on particular aspects once you’re ready to delve deeper. I think, perhaps, I’ll take her advice and start small and monogram something I make, maybe a pair of French knickers.

Tiger Specs

Tiger Specs

For those of you who follow my Instagram account you would’ve recently seen a photo of me with a pair of 1920s/30s style glasses on. I just need glasses for reading and when I went shopping a couple of weeks ago with my mum she got me to try on a few in Boots and Superdrug. Of course, I hated them all as they were all really modern frames, so I vowed to find some I really liked online.

After Googling ‘vintage style reading glasses’ I was immediately presented with Tiger Specs and once I’d clicked on their link I was offered a really good choice of styles, some modern and some vintage looking. It actually took me quite a while to decide which one to go for! In the end I fell in love with the Orton ones above but I was quite tempted with the Hatton too, I just worried they wouldn’t suit me. Once I placed my order I sat back and waited for them to arrive and boy were they fast! I’d highly recommend them to anyone who is after a pair of reading glasses of any style.

How To Make A 1940’s Felt Flower Corsage Brooch

How To Make A 1940’s Felt Flower Corsage Brooch

I’ve recently started following the lovely Bonita’s blog Lavender & Twill after she commented on one of my posts (thank you Bonita!). As a lover of both vintage and all things creative she really is a lady after my own heart and after having a good browse through her previous posts I came across this fabulous one about making your own 1940s felt flower corsage.

Now, this is something I’ve wanted to do ever since I saw Lucy at 1940s Style For You’s cute versions on her Instagram account and Bonita makes it look so easy to do. I can just imagine this corsage on the side of a hat or embellishing the lapel of a coat, so all I have to do now is decide what colours I want to do, buy the felt and get on with it.

Cate

Just a vintage gal suffering from the Golden Age syndrome. A lover of all things old, especially the 1930s, seamstress, crocheter, maker of hats and enjoys rummaging at flea markets.

11 Comments

  1. Oooo some topping ideas here for the winter evenings! I have to admit that even though I can’t properly ‘sew’, as in make a garment from scratch, I have odd skills from childhood including being able to embroider proficiently, and make lace. Yup, but don’t ask me to sew in a straight line on a machine!! I really love the hat link, oh wow there’s some nice stuff! Your roundups are always really excellent, thank you xx

    • I can’t believe you an embroider and make lace(!) but can’t sew on a sewing machine. That’s so funny! xx

  2. I think I do an awful lot of those nine things. Especially dressing up for travelling. I usually get off the plane, ditch my things at the hotel and head straight out, so there’s no way I’m going to dress like a slob!

    Beware, embroidery is addictive 🙂

    • Ah, I’m glad it’s not just me. Some people really do look awful when they travel, wearing the sloppiest clothes they can find just because they think they will be more comfortable. x

      • And the thing is, with modern fibres it’s possible to be fairly smart *and* comfortable. A jersey dress or viscose trousers will be fine through a flight. Ditto a smart knit. There’s no real excuse for slovenliness.

  3. Oh gosh! I’m so honoured you included the link to the 1940’s felt flower corsage tutorial {try saying that one five times fast eh? 😉 } ~ especially to be included in such a great round up. Thank you! ❤

    xox,
    bonita of Lavender & Twill

    • You’re very welcome my dear. I really want to make some of these and you do make it look so easy. xx

  4. Terrific links. I really like how much of your own thoughts/perspective on each you share with us, sweet lady. It adds a lovely additional depth to each link.

    That fondue photo made me smile. I love a good fondue or raclette and so do my folks, so the tradition has remained alive in our family (albeit once in a blue moon). Just talking about it puts me in the mood for right now. 🙂

    Wishing you a splendid weekend,
    ♥ Jessica

    • Would you believe I’ve never had fondue! I’d love to try it though as it was so huge here in the 1970s. Maybe one day I’ll stumble across a fondue set and treat myself. xx

  5. Embroidery is on my craft list for this year. I can do the basics but have never attempted anything very interesting. I have a number of old pattern transfers and would love to try some out. Interesting to see the dickies, I have some knitting patterns for similar blouse fronts somewhere.

    • With embroidery its all the number of threads to use and things like that that terrify me. I think it’s going to be a lot of trial and error before I get it right. I’d love to see any progress you make with it. The dickies are under way but I came to a stumbling block because the neckline is teeny tiny, so I’m having to decide what to do with these. xx

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