estate sale finds

some of tomorrow's goodies came from the estate sale i went to on friday. the house belonged to a pack rat who seems to have lived many, many years by herself. most of the rooms had been decorated completely in purple - the exact same shade as these awesome t-strap heels i found there. i think it may have been her favorite color. she had also turned one whole bedroom into a closet (a woman after my own heart, indeed) filled with racks and racks of crochet-covered hangers holding mostly awful pastel 60s polyester. the clothes were actually pretty cute - girlfriend had bangin' taste up until about 1982 it looks like. i just can't buy you guys all that synthetic stuff. so here's about half the stuff i smuggled out of there - of course, i had to keep some too. the tank top is so adorable - a poly blend knit henley with tiny little whales all over! i would live in those two dresses, but i'm going to let you do it instead.
the other thing you should know about our stylish benefactor: she spilled a lot. these three knits have slight stains on the fronts of them - but the prints make up for it by being so adorable and also distracting the eye from the stain! swell!

i'm hoping to start listing this stuff in the shop tomorrow. next up...the rest of the update!

the trip

a few months back, one of my girlfriends told me about this amazing vacation her mom takes every year. girlie's mommy and auntie pack up their sewing machines and head off for a resort vacation for a couple weeks to catch up with each other and their sewing projects. it's brilliant! so we booked a week at my grandma's house in tempe, arizona -- the closest we can afford to a resort -- complete with sparkling pool, fridge full of goodies, and a girl's night out with my grandma, her girlfriends, and bowls full of beer. yum!
some highlights from the week (clockwise from top left):

-- the gigantic stack of vintage fabric i've been hoarding since we started planning this trip. i also brought a stack of vintage patterns, but only managed to eke out one botched camisole from the seventies. the envelope was missing the pieces for the yoke so i winged it -- and it came out two sizes too big for the bottom. and, yes, i did fail pattern-making in college. i also hemmed made wearable two vintage dresses, and totally reconstructed a HUGE yellow mumu that is now one of my favorite sundresses!
-- the beautiful bougainvillea that has been gorgeously framing the garage since way before i was born.
-- possibly my favorite part about my grandma's oh-so-vintage house: the awesome floor tiles in my bedroom.
-- one of many quilts made by the long-gone ladies of my family. they're so old and delicate, it almost feels wrong actually using one on the bed!
-- the ruined cornbread i tried to make for our vegetarian tamale pie, right before it got thrown away for being bread soup instead of bread batter. i've been working on my homemade cornbread recipe at home, but foolishly bought the box stuff instead. there were three different recipes on the box and i think i followed them all. that's bad.
-- the wonderfully retro dark wood paneling that still remains in grandma's living room. she and my grandpa moved into this house in 1960. i love that so much of the decor has remained. there are also wrought-iron globe lamps, avocado green tile in the kitchen, and actual 1960's metal-umbrella-topped picnic tables from a fast food joint out in the backyard.

of course, we had to sample the local flavor in thrift shops.
the first day we went out unprepared, hoping to run into a cute little coffeehouse with free wifi from which to plan our journey. somehow, we went every way but the right way, and couldn't even find ourselves a starbucks! we stopped at a walgreens while i called for backup (my mom) to google for us, but when we tried to head out, my car wouldn't start! we're so lucky we got stuck at the drug store instead of in the middle of the desert -- we had plenty to eat and drink and read while we waited for the tow truck for over an hour. it was actually pretty fun!
the second day, with rhonda the honda up and running again, we checked more than ten thrift stores off of our prepared list. below are some of the finds (some of the others are staying with me) and these should be in the shop by the weekend.


this is the first vacation i've ever taken where i actually missed my job. i had planned on working while we were there, but when it came down to it, i felt like i was ignoring my friend and my grandma too much. i didn't realize before how much time i actually spend on all this -- it's fun, so it doesn't ever feel like work! i think it was wednesday night that i decided to just give it a rest, and it was almost uncomfortable not blogging, listing items, or vintage hunting! it's so cool to realize how much i love this.

now it's time to play catch-up!

p.s. make sure you read the post below! the big huge sale ends june 30th at midnight!

skunked again

have i mentioned how frustrating it is to be mere minutes behind a fellow vintage finder and to know that they just got everything that you would have picked had you just been there a little sooner?
when i got to the wall of dresses at my favorite secret shopping spot yesterday, i spotted a girl dressed head to toe in great vintage style working her way down the rack with an arm full of goodies. shopping today, i was just in time to see a team of vintage shoppers going through their full shopping cart of perfect 40s, 50s, and 70s pieces. i sped out of of that shopping center hoping to beat them to the next shop (which actually ended up working out quite well for me).
i read something the other day written in response to a complaint about the number of pickers out there that basically says, 'chill out - there's plenty to go around.' i'm trying to keep that in mind, remembering all the great scores i've made, while also vowing to start my days a little earlier so that i will be the one with the shopping cart full of lovely next time.
in the meantime, i'm starting to think that maybe i should just make my own vintage clothes. if i use vintage patterns, fabrics, and notions, i can have an unlimited supply of 50s blouses, 70s sundresses, and mod mini dresses.
here's what i wish i had found this morning, and if i can get my act together, what i could make for myself!

pattern from little yellow cottage

pattern from girl geek goodness

i want those shoes too! pattern here

pattern from my new favorite pattern shop zip zap kap

dress already sold by ramona west, but dying to be duplicated!

handmade dress at becky drolan, yum

san francisco vintage

on wednesday, i went down to san francisco to drop clothes off at ver unica, the beautiful shop in hayes valley with the best, most gorgeous gowns, day dresses and shoes. i wish the racks in there were actually the racks in my fantasy walk-in closet. there i spotted a couple of vintage found items from last month's drop, and there are now a few more lovelies for your buying pleasure. go, go, go.
while i was in town, i had to go back to haight street where last week, i found a new favorite vintage shop, static, just a couple blocks down from the mecca that is wasteland. the first time i was at static, i fell in love with this dress, a pretty pretty 50's day dress with a tribal print and my beloved v neckline in the front and the back.

this shop is way fun - great music playing, lime green walls, and tons and tons of shoes (have you noticed how i love me some shoes?) the selection is awesome too because they have a couple different buyers with different tastes so you're bound to find something you have to have.



and, after meeting with leann, who also sells around the corner at the other shop, you can also find a ton of vintage found here at ridiculously great prices!

tell me more great vintage shops to go to! even having lived in san francisco for a while, i still don't know them all!

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!

what day is it?

time seems to have escaped me this week -- three nights in la, good eats in some santa monica and westwood restaurants, and trips to a handful of thrift shops, but no pictures to show for it. i have a hard time documenting my trips because i get wrapped up in the moment - which is something i really need to work on since i am supposed to be sharing my adventures here! the travelogue might be kinda boring....but here's some highlights.

we stayed in the creepiest holiday inn i've ever seen. i think it's the most i've ever paid for such a terrible place to stay. security glass on the windows, no lounge area inside or out, and they locked the front doors from 6pm! i'm glad that it was 'secure,' but it didn't really give me any warm fuzzies about the place. the room ended up being pretty comfortable - and it did have hbo - so we spent the first night in, recuperating from the drive and watching the new grey gardens. oh my god, it is magnificent. i konked out after about a half an hour of the movie, but in that time i fell in love with the young big edie's coats and hair, and little edie's hooded evening gown. for a while, i thought hoods belonged on everything. i think it might be time for more of that.

the vintage shops i had scouted out were spread out along sunset blvd and in silver lake and echo park, but the hassle of traffic just getting from santa monica to westwood (where we visited my uncle) was enough to scare me out of trying to get all the way across town. lame, i know, but better for my psyche.

luckily, we were staying in a bad enough part of town that there were thrift stores abound. by the way, 'thrift' has a different meaning there. la 'trash' comes to the stores in huge yves saint laurent bags, and antique furniture is delivered all day long like beat-up baseball caps would be here. even though i couldn't afford most of the finds in those thrift stores, i would love to spend more time digging for designer treasure.

on a vintage-related note, we got to eat at a couple of institution restaurants that don't seem to have changed much since the 60s. i think our waitress at dolores restaurant (a super cute all-hours diner) has probably worked there since 1975. and it looks like the only thing that's changed about the beanery in santa monica is the addition of about twenty-five lcd screen televisions. i could have spent at least an hour in the 'powder room' looking at the magazine ads they've pasted to the walls for the last 40 years.

i'm going to spend this weekend recovering from my little vacation, and on monday get back to work. there's a little surprise i'm working on and lots more vintage finds to share.

shot down

the plan for today was to go to san francisco and scout out some new vintage shops.
bad news is, as i pulled up to each and every one of them, i found that they are closed on tuesdays. i guess it would have been a good idea to check on that before driving all the way there.
the good news is, i found this, the sweetest of the sweet summer dresses, at wasteland on haight. i forgot how affordable their prices are! this is made of a beautiful cotton and in really good condition and it was only $22.

now i just need two garden parties to go to so i can show this baby off -- two because i have a gorgeous sunshine yellow, braided trim, 60s wiggle dress that's been waiting patiently in the closet for warm weather and an important event.
maybe i can convince my friends to throw weddings this summer. but probably, i'll just wear these dresses grocery shopping and be the prettiest one in the produce section.

UPDATE: i actually did wear this dress to the grocery store, and it was lovely.

hey 'frisco!

i just got home from dropping these few little goodies off at ver unica in san francisco.

lovely 70s leather spring sandals. brazilian on the left. cherokees on the right!!

a terrible photo of three gorgeous nipped-waist party dresses

ver unica is a beautiful little shop run by a sweet-as-pie husband-wife team. there's a rack in the back of the store of museum-worthy pieces most of us should be lucky enough to touch, let alone wear. the jewels case is stocked almost exclusively with 'signature pieces' -- if you wanna stand out, you got it. they have another store around the corner, encore vintage, filled with shoes, shoes, and more shoes. my weakness.
if you're in sf, go there now. otherwise, put ver unica on your list of san francisco landmarks to site-see, you know, right after the golden gate, but before anything else.

other highlights of the trip:

• the view of the city on a cloudless blue sky backdrop as spyed from the secret attic in my friends katie and allan's place
• the monstrous veggie burritos we took home from taqueria cancun in the mission
• the bald guy with the 415 tattoo on the back of his neck i spotted in hayes valley this morning

p.s. san franciscans hate the name 'frisco.' beware.

in the valley of grass

today my love and i drove into the foothills to visit grass valley, mainly out of boredom but also because he'd never been there before. we headed to the downtown part which is a lot like most downtowns with tourist traps, restaurants, historical sites, and....antique shops!!!
we browsed through the clocksmith where i met karla of polka dot rose, a woman who knows her vintage 'stuff' and runs a beautiful blog featuring all the pretty vintage you can take.

the polka dot rose corner in the clocksmith. don't you wish that was your bedroom?

i took pictures of the things in the shop that would totally be in my home if i had found them at a thrift store instead. unfortunately for them, i'm cheap.

at another shop, i found this marianne faithfull album which reminded me that i need to check out her music.

but first, and maybe foremost, i need to find more pictures of her because they're beautiful and i plan on ripping off her style.

this one's by robert mapplethorpe ( i love). i must replicate that blouse/jumper combo.

*marianne pics stolen off flickr

after another hour spent picking goodies from my most favorite kind of book shop -- the co-op kind with tons of the most interesting and random tomes -- we split a pizza at frank's. it's obviously the best place in town because after we placed our order we watched the place fill up and heard the wait time grow from 30 minutes to 2 and 1/2 hours before it was even five o'clock. it was a damn good pineapple and mushroom pizza.
and that concludes today's adventure.