Happy Christmas 2023!

  I want to send you and those you love the best of holiday wishes! May you enjoy health, happiness, and the beauty of the season today. I insisted on having my little fur baby share the spotlight with me in my picture, so you can know he wishes you good treats and a cozy bed. Merry Christmas!

Happy Easter – Happy Spring 2023!

     I don’t have a full project post to share…I just wanted to give a quick little holiday greeting.  I hope you find a special beauty, peace, and happiness in this Eastertide and enjoy some great memories and relaxing moments.  My favorite part of this time of season is seeing the new growth everywhere, but especially the native Spring wildflowers pop up like little beacons of cheer.  The fact that we have recurring cold snaps helps keep the awakening of the Summer’s biting and stinging bugs at bay – which is such a blessing!

The holiday also always gives me a good reason to sew something special, too, and this year I made a vintage suit that has been on my “to-do” backburner for many years…so I am excited!  This sewing project has now given me a classic piece which epitomizes French couture that is also sort-of related to the upcoming MET Gala theme.  If this is enough of a hint for you to figure it out, let me know your guess!  Before I get around to posting that (which will hopefully be soon), I would appreciate anyone going over to see this Easter outfit I sewed back in 2014 – a “Fancy Feedsack” printed silk 1935 dress, complete with a matching slip.  Please give this past post some love since I just recently refreshed the old post with brand new photos (such as the one at right) that are much more appealing than the former ones.  I love being able to show how I still wear and enjoy my past me-made items.  Being vintage, do they ever really go out of style, after all?!

     Before I wrap this quick post up, I’ll say it once again – Happy Easter to all of you!

Life Happens!

I never intended to leave my blog silent for the last half off August.  I meant on sharing two new outfits here by now since my last post was on August 16.  However, that was also the day my son started a new year of school…which brings a whole dizzying round of pick-up times, meetings with the teacher, parent “homework”, and sports activities that need attending.  Then, I also had to start planning and preparing for a trip with my family (plus my dad and our dog) to my cousin’s wedding (a 5 hour trip one way).

Now that that event is in the past, I apparently brought back more than good memories with me.  I tested positive for the dreaded Covid virus soon after I got home, and have been struggling this week to get over the worst of the immediate ill effects.  Tamed down as it may be by now, Covid is indeed a very miserable thing to catch.  It has brought me to my limits.  I am by no means over the virus yet but I feel extremely blessed to not have needed to go to the hospital.   

So – stay healthy out there for yourself and please have patience for me while I am doing the best I can to juggle life and my own personal interests – like this blog!  I have a new post in the works, but I cannot say how soon it will be published.  I need to work on my primary goal of getting my health in line, something I already have been secretly struggling with even before Covid.  Until that next post, here is a little overview of the wedding weekend!

I wore one of my me-made outfits to the wedding – the “Princess in Purple” formal two-piece set posted here.  I couldn’t been happier since this was the first time I ever wore it out anywhere after making it back in 2016, and was the perfect special occasion.  The long length to my skirt kept the bugs off my legs (as it was an outdoor wedding) but was comfortable and swishy for dancing.  The magenta lace top paired well with the overall colors of the wedding, too.  Everyone thought it was a dress, yet it was an un-stuffy formal look that suited the theme of the event.  Enjoy the pictures of our photo booth fun through the night!

Our son wore a vintage 1960s or 1970s era suit and vest for the evening.  This had been given to us by a fellow vintage loving acquaintance who was looking to de-stash back when our son had just been born.  It has taken us over a decade of waiting for this suit jacket and matching vest to finally fit our little guy…who is not so small anymore!  I love how the vest is reversible in a hounds tooth plaid to match with the piping to the jacket’s inner lining.  The details to the suit are so pristine and finely crafted, something sadly not to be seen on modern children’s dress clothes, which are generally made much too cheaply.  However, vintage children’s clothes are like vintage men’s clothes…hard to find in good wearable condition.  Thus, this suit was a real diamond in the rough that happily survived our son’s night of partying to be presentable for another day.

I did sew a new garment for the trip, but we didn’t find the time to do the side trip we hoped so I will have to find another place for proper pictures.  I did still wear my new dress without the pressure of a proper photo shoot, so all I have is a sneak preview (the first picture in this post).  It is a historically bent vintage dress using a special Cranston Print Works material, the (formerly) oldest textile plant in the United States.  Stay tuned! 

At least I did get to see one of the original stands for Dairy Queen (an American dessert chain), still kept looking as it did when it opened in 1952, with the neon light of a little soft serve cone being an original sign.  It was not a planned visit, just something we happily stumbled upon before we left town, and luckily I was wearing my me-made 1950’s dress for that day (see its old original post here)!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little life update, and find it relieving to know I have not forgotten my blog!  As always, I am grateful for having such fantastic followers and devoted readers of my little space on the internet.  I appreciate each and every comment.  Thank you!

Kelly’s “Pandemic Princess” Collection

Last year of 2020 we were all challenged, tested, and pushed to find our personal courage, kindness, bravery, compassion, perseverance, and joy of life.  It was a crazy year which would have been wild enough even if it was in the pages of a fairytale book.  Some of my home isolation’s survival practices included sewing myself some wearable fantasy dresses inspired by all the classic Disney princesses.  They were something which helped to transport me to a happy place both in the wearing and making of them.  They also gave my sewing a purpose to my limited free time when everything seemed worthless to make except face masks and pajamas.  I’m pleased to announce my “Pandemic Princess” blog series collection!

That bit of fantasy which we love in our childhood movies, those films which provide contented dreams of castles in the sky and happy endings, can become buried in our consciousness as we get older to the point of becoming a mere nostalgia.  Yet, this year forced me to think outside of the box and rediscover simple, basic, everyday means of fun, play, and creating pleasant memories to counteract all of the disappointing, gloomy happenings around us.  It is funny how the necessity of becoming wrapped up in the drudgery of “adulting” too often can sap the sense of innocent exuberance from one’s life.  So, I thought, why leave the giddy appeal of the classic Disney animated princess movies to just the younger set?  My sewing capabilities give me the ability to interpret all that I loved about those fantastical ladies of royalty into my life today, so why not act on such a revitalizing idea when I am stuck at home, sewing too much necessary and overly basic items?!

I can now swish around in elegance, content in my happy place.  Each princess outfit is so wonderful, like wearing a dose of dopamine, especially with all the crowns I have to match, too (definitely worth it).  I started this whole idea off with a “Beauty and the Beast” inspired dress in the late summer of 2019 as a gift to myself for my birthday, matching by happenstance with a dozen red roses I received as a present.  Continuing on the series took me the course of March 2020 up until now (beginning of 2021) accomplish.  There are a “baker’s dozen” (13) to this series, so you see why one or two princess projects a month would take me so long!  The planning and details to each has been so energizing and satisfying to see finalized!  

These are not costumes but outfits I intend to wear just the same as the rest of my wardrobe…only with an extra bit of energizing inspiration behind them.  I primarily worked off of my existing fabric and notions stash on hand for some pandemic practicality.  Some outfits, more than others, are very floofy and for “special occasions” that we no longer have in the current times – so these are for swishing around in a park, picking up food at a drive-through service, or other such events I choose to turn into something fancy.  Other outfits are more casual but super sneaky, and have their princess inspiration low-key. 

To interpret them for today according to my vintage tastes, I looked at making these princess dresses through a specific understandings.  First of all, let’s face it…many of the leading ladies’ stories are problematic, and have issues.  I’ll be the first to admit it, now that I am giving them an overview as an adult.  No wonder children are the whole-hearted, unquestioning, adoring crowd of such films!  Yet, growing up associating myself with and relating to Belle and Jasmine and Ariel, this fresh awareness of mine does not detract from my long-standing fascination for these fairytale ladies.  To reconcile the fashion, the characterizations, and means of interpretations that each Disney princess film has all together, I almost exclusively looked at them in relation to the year that their movies were released.  Each Disney animated film was very much a product of its times. 

Thus, for some examples, my version of a Tiana inspired dress will be a 1930s call-back style from the 2000’s era.  My Aurora outfit will be a 1959 classic with princess-inspired details, and my Snow White interpretation will come from a 1937 pattern.  All of these and more are tied to their movies’ release date.  I have made just a few exceptions to this ‘rule’.  Generally, though, each outfits’ origins are as unique as the princesses themselves.  Sometimes I looked at the cultural origins of the story to understand the story and the fashions, as I did for the movie “Tangled”.  Sometimes I connected the personality of a heroine to another similar character of the time, such as I did for the “sort-of princess” Megara.  I better see why Jasmine was portrayed as a spunky, rebellious teen when I think of the cultural trends and the pop icons of circa 1992, and so I wove in this outlook.  

For each interpretation, I went with my gut, remembered what I connect to for each character, and chose an outfit what would seem natural, so as to have the maximum chance of being worn.  Again, these are not costumes!  The last thing I wanted to do was take all my time on many Halloween-only outfits that I want to wear any other day of the year but can’t, realistically.  Also, I know that if I do not listen to my particular tastes, my personal style, and cater to my individual body type, I run a high chance of ending up with a project I hate.  My wardrobe items can only stay if they hit my happy place.  These princess inspired pieces find that bright spot at a higher level than most. I have also found a new and special appreciation for 90’s fashion along the way to realizing how (deep down) the fashion preferences of my childhood haven’t really changed over the years. 

I am so in love with each and every one of the items this self-appointed mission of mine happened to produce to the point that I am honestly freaking out over sharing them because each project is so special to me.  Thus, please realize this series is a very important part of me rediscovering my childhood dreams.  It also showcases an important part of some of what pulled me through this past tough year.  So, I am asking anyone who views my outfits, and loves them just as much as I do, please respect my creativity to come up with this in the first place, and my time and passion to even make, photograph, and write about them at all.  Please do not copy me by mimicking the design and fabric combinations to these outfits I have done.

If I have inspired you and you want in on the fun of it all, I ask for proper credit, which is only the right thing to do in the first place.  In today’s world where our social world is full of other people’s ideas and creativity, imitation might be said to be flattery – but consider that it also can be stealing.  It also harms one’s own uniqueness.  Someone else’s true inspiration or perfect style is undoubtly going to be different than mine, as it should be, so don’t take the risk of hurting someone else by ignoring yourself.  As Herman Melville said, “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”

Yet, I know I am not the only one who naturally has reached out to the princess ideal for an uplifting of spirits in 2020.  The viral “it” dress of the year was Lirika Matoshi’s $490 “Strawberry dress”, as reported by the New York Post, Vogue, the New York Times, Glamour, NBC, and L’Officiel (and seen on the backs of celebrities such as Tess Holiday, who donned it at the ‘20 Grammy’s, or Harry Styles).  It is a frothy confection that combines a dreamy sequined tulle fit for a princess with the popular cottage core trend.  Then, Lirika Matoshi followed up on that success late in 2020 with their own princess collection in collaboration with Disney inspired by Cinderella.  Disney bounding doesn’t have to revolve around whether or not one is capable of actually showing up at a theme park.  It relies on the ability to dream, and the appreciation of a bit of fantasy as well as the sense of a happy escape which provides a safe place.  This dreadful year brought on a need for such an ability that children have down to an art in the best of times!

At 5 years old, already winning awards for the princess outfits my mom made for me!

Just like us, each one of the princesses in Disney’s classic animated movies were challenged, tested, and pushed to find their personal courage, kindness, bravery, compassion, perseverance, and joy of life.  I can commiserate with the elation of freedom from isolation when watching Anna from “Frozen” or Rapuzel from “Tangled”.  I can marvel at the kindness and long-suffering of Cinderella, the positivity of Tiana, the hopefulness of Aurora.  I can understand the cynicism of Megara, the struggles of Elsa, the determination of Ariel.  Are you ready for some crown wearing?  Are you prepared for a grown-up girl who is seriously not done with her make-believe dress up time?