The table is set (thank you mummy and grand mum), and guests are soon to arrive.
Tomorrow will bring quiet, V and I will putter around the house make plans to visit friends in the City and in Westchester.
May your evening and day be Merry and Bright.
Warmly,
E
I awoke to my little dogie snuggling against me, the aroma of coffee brewing, soft Christmas music in the living room, blurry eyed I walked into the kitchen, gave V a kiss and he handed me the most delicious French Press cup of coffee evah. We sat in the living room watching the birds and talked about the days plans, the mall, a stop at a friends house before they leave for Key West, lunch with my sister, it seems like everything is moving at double speed.
Happy Holidays everyone, hope you are enjoying this festive time of year with loved ones, meaningful friends and family. For me this time of year involves a lot of cooking and baking, entertaining, gathering the children around for treats, games and songs, during quiet time there is reflection.
Throughout this loving season I hope we here in the United States and perhaps around the world, we can find some sort of peace in thinking about the devastating events which occurred last Friday in Connecticut. Today during the moment of silence there was a void inside of me one that will never leave. Pray for the children.
There are two types of vintage ladies, the first is a lady who dresses occasionally in vintage clothing, the other is a lady who immerses her life in the vintage mode, their home is filled with vintage furniture, their clothing (wardrobe) is vintage and every part of their life is geared toward a certain era. Elisa is the latter, her entire life is immersed in the vintage mode as evident in the photos and her story below.
I have known Elisa via LiveJournal for years and admire her work. Pleas visit her vintage site, and as an added bonus check out her 18th costume recreation blog as well.
PostScript: Elisa's Feature will run from August 25th to October 1st 2012.
Do you remember the first time you looked at a piece of art and felt something. Watching made you think and feel in a new way, you made a connection and forever after that piece of art holds a very special meaning for you. I remember and it was a lithography called "Fågelförsäljaren" (The Bird Seller) by Axel Olson. He was a member of "Halmstadsgruppen", a group of artist that were cubists in the 20's and introduced surrealism in Sweden in the 30's. "Fågelförsäljaren" is from the 50's and I remember very clearly how gripping I found the picture when I was just a few years old. I wondered about the people and why the birds were caged and I was more than halfway convinced that it was possible to step into the picture for real. It then hung on the living room wall of my grandparent's and I when they passed away my Mum gave the picture to me.
My grandparents, especially my grandmother were always a very big part of my life and the lithography isn't the only thing I have that has once belonged to them. The bureau that now stands in our hallway, is about a hundred years old and was originally part of the furniture in a room at a boarding house that my grandmother's aunts ran. My grandmother spent many happy summers in just that room and when the aunts ceased to rent rooms, the furniture was given to her. There was also a small desk, four chairs and a small cupboard meant for the washing basin to complete the set. The cupboard was given away long before I was born, but the rest of the furniture was given to me on my 16th birthday. They were much cherished by my teenage me as I felt it gave my room a very romantic feeling. What I didn't mind then, but regret today, is that the bureau, desk and one of the chairs had been painted white. The original colour are a pale green with gold details and though I don't want to touch the chairs that are still green, I'm very tempted to try to transform the rest into something more closely to their former glory.
The phonograph, of a brand called Radiola, was bought new by my grandparents in 1955 and back then it was the very latest and most high tech of audio equipment they could find. As I child I always wanted to hear my Mum's kiddy records, finding it completely fascinating how you could stack records so they played one after another without any need for you to change them. After a move when I was six the phonograph broke and stood quiet and forgotten in a corner until I was around 20 and my grandmother casually mentioned that they had put it up for sale. I think it was rather rude of me, but I was taken a bit aback by the decision I blurted out that I wanted it. And my generous grandparents gave it to me at once, blatantly telling a number of hopeful buyers that they had already sold it. Still broken it stood silent, but ardently polished, in my room, until I got a friend who had a special interest for old technology. He restored it for me and it is now in working condition.
The last picture is perhaps more about the general feel of our living room than a particular thing . It's a large room that has a whole upper floor to itself in our -54 apartment. The bookshelf is the newest you can find in our whole home, as we had it built especially for the room. Even if the ceiling is 4 meter in the middle of the room it slopes down to 180 cm and a custom fit shelf was the best conclusion. It runs the whole 8 meter of the room and I promise you, it is completely crammed with books. The sofa is actually not from my grandparents but something my husband found for just about nothing in an antique store. The style is 18th century, the actual date of its making, well that is probably the 1940's. It's more comfortable than it may look. The lamp, on the other hand, is not only from my grandparents, but made by my grandfather in 1942. The original lamp shade is gone though and the current one is just until we find a proper substitute. The dogs are not vintage at all, they are just five years old and just about impossible to not to get into a picture taken in our home.
I hope you have enjoyed this little peek into my home. The bed jacket I wear is from the 40's and was a birthday gift from my husband so I can lounge around in style. Very thoughtful of him, don't you think?
Morning everyone, I'm sitting here having my coffee working on the update for the next installment of Exceptional Vintage Ladies and just want to mention my appreciation in receiving so many wonderful emails and message on FaceBook, this is is very meaningful to me,especially knowing the work of the ladies shown here does not go unnoticed.
Though your private messages are wonderful, I encourage you to please leave messages here on this blog for the Vintage Lady or me. We will be sure to answer any question you may have.
Ok, back to work and please be here at 1pm for the update.
E
Hello everyone, happy Friday to you!
Autumn is upon us and in the New York area that means Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show will take place October 12th and 13th 2012. This show excites me because so many vintage vender's from all over the United States are located in one space, the Metropolitan Pavilion on 18th Street in New York.
A few years ago I did attend the show/sale and had an amazing experience and came home with lots of goodies. If you find yourself in this area I encourage you to attend. Fantastic buys, wonderful clothing, and great venders.
E
Frazzled.
Hello Friends, major hiccup here on my blog and the time it took to fix the issues preventing me to access my account. Now, deep breath and exhale am looking forward to showcasing the next Exceptional Vintage Lady for the month of August/September, she is a person I have known from Live Journal for a long time, her sense of vintage style sprinkled with her European flair make for a wonderful mix.
The update will take place this Saturday August 25th at 1pm eastern standard time.
Thank you so much for your patience and emails of support.
Kindly,
E
Good Morning Everyone!
Wow it has been a busy and hectic month of July, travel, work home life you know how it goes one moment of down time then life bursts at the seams. Well, I'm happy to see you here in looking at my stats this has been a busy little hive over the past three weeks and I hope you enjoyed the Eva Dress guest blog post, we are gearing up for another lovely lady to spotlight in August.
There is a housekeeping issue I have to address here in regard to my "Collared" series, these tutorials will be on hold for the time being, lots of readers are away on vacation and don't have the time or materials to work on projects, the badge will remain on the side bar but with new dates.
With that I will leave you with a few photos I have taken lately.
My friend Rayann owns a vintage shop right out of her home in Saugerties New York if your in the area take a look, for sure you will find something to fall in love with.
You can find Rayann on Facebook.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Eva Dress, July's Exceptional Vintage Lady.
I first read about Eva Dress in an issue of Threads Magazine some years ago and have been a fan ever since. When she began to blog I was over the moon being able to read about her sewing process, and pattern development with the occasional glimpse into her life. Her intelligent, creative and elegant aesthetic is a grand contribution to the on line Vintage community.
I am so pleased she agreed to be the first in this six month series spotlighting Exceptional Vintage Ladies.
Without further adieu I present to you Eva Dress.
Photo Credit Cynthia DeGrand
Photo Credit Cynthia DeGrand
Sewing and architecture are two threads that have continuously run all through my life. As a very young girl, I spent much time in my bedroom draping scraps of fabric upon my dolls and I also spent much time re-arranging the furnishings in the room. It wasn’t until I was much older when I came to realize those two activities in which I engaged so much were about creating space. I specifically regard clothing as the most intimate and primary space we inhabit and then (edifice) architecture to be the secondary space, although I recognized very important relationships between the two.
As I grew, my sewing interest went the way of vintage largely because my dad’s parents had a great deal to do with my up-bringing. They were young parents who raised two babies into young boys during The Great Depression, so my grandparents’ values and convictions were instilled since they were such a big part of my life in formative years. On that account, I embraced all that I perceived to be ‘old fashioned’, especially clothing.
For the longest time, I’ve had an affection for technical aspects, so my father having been a builder taking me to jobsites, architecture really appealed as I became fascinated with joinery and connectivity aspects in construction. By the time I was 17, I was set on going through architecture school, yet I never let sewing go the wayside. I sewed my formal high school dresses and I even emulated a frock that I spotted on my grandmother in a photo of her from the early ‘20’s.
When I first happened upon vintage patterns in the late 90’s, I instantly realized that they offered a much larger range of technical possibilities than those of their contemporary counterparts. I was an intern at a large international architecture firm at the time and as I started sewing 30’s dresses to wear to work. Architects all through the place would stand up to look at what I was wearing everyday and they were taken with the loads of details in what I wore and readily made remarks about them.
What was a personal hobby loaded with technical opportunities in making my own ‘vintage clothes’ piqued the interest of a particular viewer of my web site upon which I demonstrated my personal work vintage patterns. She asked if I would sell her the copy of an un-copyright protected pattern (to which I answered affirmatively).
I graduated with a Bachelor degree in Architecture and I worked in the field until the world economy changed. This was just when my career path was starting to swing toward my ‘other architecture’-that of of a pattern maker, fascinated by the architecture of vintage clothing.
Photo Credit Cynthia DeGrand