Sophistique Noir's Montly Theme Post - Vintage

 

OK, ok, ok, so I know I took waaay too many pics of my vintage stuff, but once I got going, I couldn't stop. So I apologize for all this junk, but I still blame Mrs. VictorianKitty for picking such a great monthly theme!

Yea Vintage!!!!!

One of my most favourite skirts. My old boss gave it to to me years ago, it is wool & still has it's 50's tags inside. I have a number of 50's wool poodle skirts, but only one giant pocket watch skirt!

 Two of the shelves in my dining room. I cannot fit another thing on them. Can you even see the 1870's Chang & Eng figurine, the Expo 86 bell, the 60's saccharine container & 50's swizzle sticks? I think I need to put a few more shelves & thin this mess out.

 OK, on to some of my vintage clothing. At the left is a mid-1920's orange silk and black lace dress. this fits, but it seems so fragile I am scared to wear it. In the middle is a wool 50's dress I bought at the Sally Ann for $1.50. The copper lace dress on the right is bias cut and I think it is from the late 1930's or early 1940's. Back when I was painfully thin, I wore it to a fancy dinner and people thought I was pregnant. Ever since then I've stayed away from bias!

 The mid 1920's dress on the left I think is made of rayon, not silk. The early 1930's dress in the middle IS silk and is totally fragile. The sort of 1940's dressing gown-ish dress on the right used to look so awesome on, until I ate too much Ben & Jerry's.  :( (not pictured - Victorian blouses, bright 60's mod dresses, 50's prom dresses, Edwardian summer whites, Victorian boots, flapper hats etc...)

 The wall by my tv is on the left. It features framed sheet music, postcards and prints from my editions of 1920's La Vie Pariesiennes. In the middle are are some of my tiny (mostly vintage) books. At the right are the bookcases and wall by my computer. On the bookcase are vintage shoes, hats & a posture brace. That's a framed photo of my grandmother in about 1925. My mother said my house was like Pee Wee's Playhouse meets the Haunted Mansion, so I like to think that - instead of it just being an utter schizo mess.

A few of my vintage dishes - I am very partial to pine & thistle. In glasses I am partial to Scotsmen, curling and bowling.

A little bit of my bathroom, I bought Elvis in a junk shop in Richmond, B.C. in about 1986. I have so many postcards, I like to rotate them in frames, currently I have big bum postcards up. At the right are my vintage clowns. I don't know why I did this to myself, as I am scared of clowns. The little ceramic fellow holds my tv watchin' glasses at night.

New Fabric - Again

New Fabric - Again - Sorry Mindless!

On the left is fabric from Michael Levine. It was ALWAYS by favourite fabric store when I lived in LA. Sometimes I have nightmares that I'm on Maple St, and they're closing in 5 minutes and I just can't get to the front door in time. From them I bought skeleton toile, osteology in black and some dia di los muertos fabric.

On the right is some Ghastlies fabric, Michael Miller Nevermore in black and some super silly pink elephant fabric. It reminds me of the Pink Elephant Car Wash in Seattle.

On the left is flocked wool from fabric.com. The picture was awful on their site, I could not tell what those ladies looked like. But thankfully they are all vintage-y and sweet! On the right is assorted fabric from Jo-Anns, some Halloween, some for 1940's blouses. The beige & black lace is from MOOD, by boss brought it back from NY for me!

 On the left are some just some black & grays I bought for trimming & accents. The one with the spider on it is beautiful & I wish I would have bought more! Max is helping me with fabrics in the middle photo. On the right are some Tula Pink fabrics, and although they are not really in my color scheme, I still like them. The one on the bottom is called "Sea Of Tears".

My Corset Collection

The black waist cincher on the left I wear all the time. I originally made it to wear with an 1880's bustle gown. The corset in the middle is Chinese brocade and is so tiny- 20" waist!  I can't believe this used to fit me! The corset on the right I made to wear to an exhibition of corsets at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Apparently I have 2 orange corsets. I'm not even really into orange but they were both made as part of a costume. The one on the left I hand beaded while watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs one year. It goes to a hot pink and orange can-can dancer outfit. The corset on the right is art of a 1900's-1910's black and orange Halloween costume. Every dot is sequined and the skirt has Beistle cats painted on it.

 

 

I could not get a good photo of the pink corset. In person it is not so shiny and is a lovely raspberry colour. It is an overbust corset with a drawstring at the top to make it secure.  The corset in the centre is a lovely gray/purple and also looks better in person. The corset on the right is my attempt at make a a more vintage looking corset.

 The corset on the left is from from around 1900. It is in rough shape, but I still think it is beautiful. Every seam has 4 channels of boning! The middle vinyl corset is the only commercial one, I think it's from Leg Avenue. Each corset has it's own color coded bag, and they all live in the box my hockey skates came in.

Junk Jewelry

When I get bored at work I start shopping online. Recently I've been buying junk jewelry off Ebay. Some of it has turned out to be pretty cute. I've worn the silver necklace with the many tiny skulls and the silver spider quite a few times.. and gotten compliments.

Design Your Own Tombstone

 A few Halloweens ago I found these online (but cannot remember where!)  In thinking I was going to use them as Halloween party invitations, I erased all the inscriptions on the tombstones. Sometimes I'll fill in a tombstone and attach it to an email to a friend, saying something like "CALL ME!". I'm sure you can think of a much better use for them, though!

Funeral Hearse

I went to the funeral of a firefighter at The Victory Memorial Park in White Rock. I did not know this person, but went with my mum to keep her company. I felt a bit creepy going, like Harold & Maude, because I really wanted to see a funeral with pomp & ceremony. My mum said he had a perverse sense of humor and wouldn't be offended at all... so I went & ogled. There were cops & firefighters lining the driveway, which was something I have never seen before. BUT, what was really interesting was the Victorian hearse in the back hall. It was made in Ontario in the 1870's and beautifully restored. My mum and I tried to be discreet taking photos, but someone always kept coming around the corner! If only I had worn my 1880's mourning gown!