the super cool vintage club

one of the reasons buying vintage is so much better than buying things new and mass-produced is that vintage things are always unique and one-of-a-kind. it is highly unlikely that you will see someone else wearing the same vintage dress as you walking down the street - not so much if you're wearing a dress from the gap, or wherever it is that people are shopping now.
but every once in a while, i do find a twin to some bit of vintage i have (probably because my whole life revolves around vintage and i see a lot of vintage everything every day).
because this is such a rare phenomenon, i think that instead of being bummed that my unique vintage item is not as unique as i thought it was, i feel more of a connection to that other piece and its owner. it's pretty cool to think that we both were lucky enough to find this awesome dress or whatever, and had the brilliant style (pat on the back) enough to pick it out from among the rest.

this 1970's owl teapot is for sale at dear golden vintage right now. i have a matching coffee mug! i imagine that they are from the same set and there is a very interesting story of the journey they took to get separated by 2000 miles. i wonder where the other mug ended up.

little byrd vintage made this adorable clutch out of curtain fabric. i have one curtain of the same design. was this the other?

missa found these old bed linens at a thrift store. those fern-and-butterfly-printed vera sheets in the top right corner are also storage-covering curtains in my bedroom! i wish i had the rest of those sheets too. and that plant covered backyard.

this is my favorite throw pillow, thrifted a few months ago. i was just studying the design the other day, wondering if i could figure out how to do it, and last week in san francisco, i saw a girl wearing this exact pattern, hand-embroidered on a sweater she had bought at anthropologie. someone there must have this same pillow!

speaking of rollercoasters

a day in the life of a stay-at-home etsy seller.

i started my day with early morning coffee at a local independent where if you hang out long enough, at least 10 people you know will wander in. when the thrift stores were finally open, i left my friends with all my day's tasks planned out thinking 'i love my life.' i even said it. out loud. my 'going to work' consists of chatting with buddies, then driving around with the windows down, singing my favorite songs, and hunting for goodies all over the place. it's so fun, it's really not fair.
but it's not all lattes and joni mitchell. today i was out shopping for hours and did not buy one piece of clothing. there were some things i liked, but they all ended up having stains or holes in them. after leaving the fifth or sixth store empty-handed, it gets pretty depressing. finally, at the last store, i scored a bunch of sewing stuff, which will come in perfect for a sewing adventure i have planned with one of my girlfriends (more on that later).

i loaded my new sewing basket with fabric remnants, three yards of eyelet lace, and all the vintage metal zippers i will ever need. oh, and a hooters tank top. i guess i did buy something to wear.

i got home in time for a nice lunch/whirlwind-internet-session before i had to start the photoshoot for this afternoon. it's always fun playing dress-up. but something generally goes wrong (as in, i'm usually not quite prepared), turning what should be a two hour shoot into a four hour one. it can definitely be frustrating. i wanted to give up about halfway through the shoot today, but no one else is going to do this stuff, so i plugged along. that moment where i have to be my own boss-lady is the toughest, but it's kind of exciting that i'm getting better at motivating myself.
and now, everything's done for the day (except for tearing down all the photo equipment - ugh) and i get to sit on my porch surrounded by trees while everyone else is stuck in traffic getting home from their jobs. it's all okay again.

next week's update

the hunt was a little unyielding this week, so i added a couple of things from my closet too. good thing it's stuffed to the gills - there'll always be something to add to the shop!

emma domb

this morning i went to list that gorgeous bubble gum pink 60s sheath dress from last week's sneeky peeky, and when i ran the label name through vintage fashion guild, i was surprised to learn that emma domb was a very important designer from the thirties to the seventies, and her gorgeous dresses are now rare and collectible. i love when i find treasures without even knowing it!
i wonder if this designer is especially coveted right now because one of her gowns was worn in the sex and the city movie...

pic from assorted notion's post on emma domb

...or if it's just because they are absolutely stunning and made with such high quality.




these emma domb dresses were all sold on vintageous. check it out for some ridiculously pretty vintage couture gowns. here's another one, not by emma domb, but drool-inducing nonetheless.

insta-stalker

i am smitten.
i found this adorable top from redemption vintage on etsy, 'heart'ed it, and then i kept seeing it listed in everybody else's favorites page. not only is the sweater super cute, the picture is just so great too -- love her bangs, her pose, and those perfect little shorts.

then i checked out her blog - a kind of love - how cute is that? that's where i found out that this etsy gal also has the knack for finding home design pictures that send my heart aflutter.



then she has to go and have precious little outfits posted. girl-crush initiated. go there now.

bad blogger

i can't believe it's been so many days since i've posted anything....they went by way too fast. let me catch you up on what you've missed, and then i'll get back to the really good stuff - this should be a very busy and very vintage-y week.

friday:
i woke up ridiculously early to be first in at one of the most-hopeful-for-vintage-finds estate sales i've seen listed in awhile. the sale started at 7 am, and i was there, in line, behind about 8 people, at 6:50. most of the people ahead of me were men - in fact, i think all of them were, except for....the lady that beat me to the vintage clothes rack, even though i made a straight bee-line for it. i watched as she torpedoed through the rack, too timid polite to cram myself in there with her and shop over her. when she was through, her arms were full of gorgeous vintage fabrics in all the best colors, and after a quick skim through what was left, it was obvious that she had gotten everything.
i asked her if i could at least see what she'd picked (half the fun of the hunt is just seeing all the interesting designs -- there's always something unique that i've never seen a sister of before). the biggest burn was that, as she showed off each piece, she would say, 'i think this is vintage,' 'what do you think about this one?' she didn't even know what she had!!! either that, or she knew exactly what she had and was checking to see how much i know and what kind of competition i'm going to be for her. i don't know which scenario is worse.

that yellow dress is not as shiny/crepe-y as it looks in this terrible pic. it was the most perfect butter yellow day dress that would have lived on in my closet for eternity. there was also another yellow sundress that would have looked fabulous on one of you dear readers. and, yes, that is her devil arm in the picture.
i did manage to snake one dress out from under her - it was being displayed separately - another yellow summer dress, older and more unique than anything else that she got. ha. ha. unfortunately, this one is so old and delicate, one of the shoulder straps has already fallen out of its seam. not sure yet what to do with it....maybe it can be an art piece?


you live and you learn....now i know to get to those estate sales extra early, and i'm probably going to take a partner with me next time to block the closet while i'm going through it first. it's brutal, this vintage finding.

i went thrifting later in the day to make up for my bummer of a morning, and found some amazing boots! (the thrifting gods were making it up to me, i think.) they're both size 7 1/2, and must have belonged to the same lady. lucky for y'all, they're too small for me, or i'd be keeping them! i think i'll list them in the shop next week. it may be a bit late for boots, but if i save them for the fall, it will give me too much time to figure out a way to cram my feet into them!

the red ones are etienne angier!

saturday:
my man and i went to the dixon may fair, a small town event that actually still looks like an old-timey carnival. i've been wanting to go for years, and lured by the call of free all-you-can-ride wristbands from a friend, we finally went.

1975 midway pic stolen from flickr

i kind of tricked my guy into going by mentioning the ride passes, and when we got there, i told him how i don't go on most carnival rides. i have actually turned green before on the one that spins you while it tosses you while the arms go up and down - that was the last ride i had been on until saturday. all i had wanted to do was the ferris wheel, but he conned me into trying a few other rides....most were good except for 'the cyclone' which ended up being basically the same as the one that i hate but slower. it was just too much like these terrifying dreams i have where i'm connected to a string but flying higher and higher and higher. ugh. turns out, i didn't even like the ferris wheel! it was a smaller one than i've ever been on before which means the upswing is pretty fast. am i the only girl in the world who's ever been terrified on a freakin' ferris wheel? probably.
as a joke, my guy finally suggested we just go on the merry-go-round, nice and safe and fear-free. that was definitely my favorite ride of the night!

new sneaky peeky

next week's shop update will have the coolest rompers, gorgeous party dresses from the 40s to the 80s, and a bunch of perfect lightweight cotton summer dresses. but i can't list these lovelies until i've finished listing the stuff from last week, including a ton of drool-worthy shoes in all sizes. that's next on the agenda.
click here for the shop.

what better way to wait

while i am waiting for my steamer to heat up so i can prepare for the photoshoot today, and waiting for the postman to deliver my new shoes so i can wear them in the photoshoot today, i thought i would share some of the amazing photographs i just found.
i probably should have saved them and used them in separate posts with relevant words to go with them, but they are just so pretty, i think they speak for themselves.















all photos taken from the 50s to the 70s by richard avedon and frank horvat. did you notice some familiar faces? there's verushka, twiggy, and audrey hepburn in there!