When I made my vintage-inspired Plum Pants With Pointed Pockets in 2020, I didn’t have a great opportunity to get photos of them right away. I made do with photos taken in my yard, with my phone balanced on my lawn mower in lieu of a tripod!
Since then, I’ve worn them relatively often in warm months for ‘real’ life and historical events. I thought I would intentionally wear them for the GBVS Newport Weekend in 2022 because of their comfortable nature but also in order to get pictures of them in fabulous places that have far more glamour than my backyard!
The opportunity presented itself on the grounds of Rosecliff. The grand windows and patio with the lion statue were too much not to pass up!
Accordingly, there is a whole serious of photos showing off the wide legs of pants in the bright summer sunlight.
I can’t decide which pose is my favorite! I do like the ones where the points of the pockets are in the sun rather than the shade, such that you can see them. But some of the photos with the points in the shade have such great attitude!
The side of Rosecliff is beautiful as well, in terms of architectural details and gardens. It was also a lovely place to get photos.
And a closer view with the sun highlighting the pocket points.
Thanks for enjoying this summer-y photo shoot with me!
It’s 2023 now, so that alone is an indication that is post is belated. It will seem even more belated when I share that this event happened in Summer of 2022. Better late than never, though, and I am actually quite excited to share my adventures at this event hosted by the Greater Boston Vintage Society.
To start, a short post sharing some outfits and a brief overview of the weekend’s events. The next post I’ll devote to Newport mansion tour highlights.
The Newport Weekend is a recurring event that takes place in Newport, Rhode Island. In 2022, participants could choose to attend for a single day or stay overnight in the dorms at Salve Regina University. I chose to stay overnight, which allowed for a lengthier stay and therefore more adventures.
On Saturday, I wore my 1925 Blue Coral Dress, a tried and true favorite for hot summer days. Being made of opaque lightweight cotton that doesn’t show wrinkles, it’s an excellent choice for lounging, picnicking, dancing, and being swept about in the occasional breeze. With this dress I wore my Royal Vintage/American Duchess Ginger shoes and 1920s Wide Brim Hat. It’s been awhile since I wore any of these things and the hat, in particular. The large brim is dramatic and enjoyable!
These photos were taken inside and outside the Fairlawn Estate at Salve Regina, which was built in 1852-1853. You can read more about it at the Salve Regina Library site, here.
After various hijinks and shenanigans during the day, I changed into my 1950 Baroness Dress for the evening ball, which I accessorized with sparkly silver jewelry and my silver American Duchess Seabury shoes. I love the dramatic color and massive bow feature on this dress! It was fun to get it out of the closet and wear it again!
Sunday had a bit of picnicking as well as Newport mansion tours. It’s been years since I toured The Breakers, pictured below, so that was fun to do again. The immense expense of Newport ‘cottages’ is jaw dropping, every time. I also chose to visit some of the other mansions that I haven’t visited before. I’ll share photos of those in a separate post.
For now, here’s an outfit photo as though I’m ‘visiting’ The Breakers. I wore my 1930s vintage-inspired Plum Pants with Pointed Pockets, paired with a modern blouse and my Gingers, again. I’ll admit that it was a lot of walking for heels, even comfortable ones… but, they go so well with my outfit that I couldn’t resist!
And that was the weekend! It was fun to see old friends, meet new acquaintances, and make new memories with everyone. Plus, fabulous locations and historical clothes!
I recently attended a casual picnic with friends that we decided would be vintage-inspired in terms of dress code. I thought it would be a great opportunity to bring out my 1953 Dot Dress!
This dress has a story… being made in 2013 and worn for a few years, then retired in 2016 due to closet shrinkage, and altered in 2020 so I could wear it again. You can read all about these stages of the dress here, in a past blog post from when I altered the dress in 2020.
For this wearing, I chose to do my hair in a similar fashion to what I did in 2016, the last wearing of this dress before its hiatus in the closet. I enjoy the hair scarf with this dress for vintage looks.
I like this dress, so I’m pleased that my alterations mean I can wear it again! Not only for vintage things, but also in real life (without the big petticoat). The unusual color combination in the dots is fun to match with various cardigans… cinnamon/rust, pale peach, and plum… Turns out all the colors of the dots are food related!
The day of the picnic proved to be glorious… bright blue sky, skidding clouds, and a comfortable temperature. Our picnic featured catching up, an elegant game of croquet, and a round of ‘speed croquet’ in which everyone starts at the same time and no one takes turns!
One of the highlights of Gatsby On The Isles for me last year was running around in my new 1928 green dress and having adventures. That includes playing tennis as well as a lengthy walk and clamber on the rocky back side of the island (photos of tennis are in the Gatsby On The Isles blog post linked above).
This post is going to focus on the rocky ramble part of the adventure. The goal was to document our new clothes (that shouldn’t be surprising!), but it was also just a stunning area to explore and enjoy.
There are many great photos! There are also photos of us taking photos, which is a great behind-the-scenes look, too!
We found this pool high up on the rocks and I found the very angular features of these rocks to be so interesting. As a dabbler in geology, I wonder what process and types of rocks made such angular features.
The pool was a neat place for photos. And photos of the photographer!
I love a good shoe shot. I mentioned this in an earlier post as well, but my American Duchess shoes held up admirably to all of my clambering about on rocks and playing tennis!
Next is one of my favorite silly photos, followed by a more subdued photo in the same location.
To finish things off, here are a few more photos that capture the rock expanse we were exploring as well as all our group in both photographer and sitter action. Thanks for enjoying the adventure with me!
It was super exciting to be able to attend Gatsby On The Isles again last year! There haven’t been many multi-day historical adventures of late, so that made this one extra needed and appreciated!
I’ve loved wearing my 1930s Beach Pajamas to this event over multiple years. They are super comfy and don’t show wrinkles (great for long car and boat rides!). I opted for them again this year but wanted to change them up to create a new outfit. After a look through my closet I decided to try wearing my 1922 silk blouse tucked into the pants for a new take on these old favorites.
I added a decorative head scarf for a bit of a jaunty flair and finished off the bottom of the outfit with my American Duchess Ginger shoes. The scarf is one I’ve had for over 20 years. I used to wear it in the belt loops of my jeans as a decorative belt, I think… I haven’t used it for anything in probably 10 years or so, but I held on to it, thinking that the dusty pink color and gold sheen would be useful for something someday… and it was! I like how it blends the bold color of the pants with the bright white of the blouse.
I might have been slightly distracted from drinking my tea at the clifftop gazebo by the opportunity to take photos (or be in them)… Some with a stereoscope!
Croquet the following morning was also well documented.
The weekend included other opportunities for fun photos, as well. The evening dance had a masquerade theme, for which I turned my 1926 Silver Robe De Style into a star-themed fancy dress outfit. There’s a whole post about the fancy dress inspiration that you can read here.
We also ‘played’ tennis! Or at least, we batted a ball around a bit.
I had no trouble running around in my heels. It was quite fun, actually! I felt very sporty in my Gingers and new 1928 dress!
In addition to playing tennis, we also wandered around the rocky back side of the island in pursuit of stunning photo settings.
We achieved great photos, some alone and some in groups. These are just a few of them… There are are so many fun ones that I’m going to do another post just to share rocky background photos!
My shoes had no trouble on the rocks! I did tread carefully, for safety and so I didn’t bang up my shoes unnecessarily, but I enjoyed proving to myself (as I have before) that one can clamber even in fabulous historical shoes.
It was so nice to have a getaway! And see people! And wear historical clothing!
The theme recommendation for the evening soiree at Gatsby On The Isles earlier this year was a masquerade. I took that to heart and decided to adapt an existing dress in my closet to make it fancy dress. (It turns out that the majority of people who attended didn’t adhere to the guidelines, so I was a bit out of place, but I enjoyed my fancy dress regardless!)
My requirements for this outfit were: to use a dress as a base that was already in my closet, to not cost much, to not take much time, and to have the elements of fancy dress be easily reversible.
I looked through my 20th Century Fancy Dress Pinterest board and settled on the image below as my inspiration. (Unfortunately, I can’t find a source for the image that isn’t Pinterest. If anyone has information, please share.)
I thought the idea of stars would work well with my 1926 Silver Lace Robe de Style. I briefly considered creating the stars myself and then I remembered that I didn’t want this too take too much time and I started researching purchasable stars. I wanted something nice looking but not costly, remember, and I also wanted to stay away from glitter–the shedding! Ugh! While considering various metallic and cardboard style stars I realized that: 1- those may not travel well (I didn’t want bent stars!) and 2- they probably wouldn’t be comfortable to wear. So I started researching felt stars!
I decided on these felt stars. They were a good size, I liked the color, and they weren’t supposed to be too stiff. Not being stiff would be more comfortable to wear and also easier to sew through! I’d considered making garlands of the stars but I figured they would get tangled, so instead I opted to sew the stars directly onto the lace.
I started by placing the stars in a line diagonally across the top of the dress. The goal was to capture the feeling of my inspiration but didn’t feel the need to add as many stars as the drawing has, so I stopped with the one line. I liked the stars hanging from the hem, so I did those next–one star per each dip in the pattern of the lace.
After that I didn’t have many stars left! I used a scrap of metallic knit fabric to make a veil and put a star on each corner. The veil is a square, with one corner turned under, gathered, and stitched to a hair comb.
I also used some black felt scraps to cut a few stars by hand to accent the star at the waist. I thought this might tie in the metallic knit veil and also draw attention to the grey stars on the grey dress!
I added some sparkly shoe clips, pearl bracelets, and sparkly stars for my hair (reused from my 1885 Night Sky Fancy Dress) and the outfit was complete! It pays off to reuse themes for fancy dress, I guess!
I was inspired to make a dress! That seems like quite an accomplishment these days as I’ve been so busy with other things that I haven’t made much for myself this year.
It was summer, you see, and I knew that Gatsby On The Isles was coming up. (I’ve attended in the past, check out the past posts from 2019, 2018, and 2016.)
I have plenty of dresses (and let’s be honest, not many of them have been worn in the last two years or so), but I also had fabric that was waiting to be turned into a dress… So it didn’t take too much self-convincing to decide that the fabric ought to be turned into a dress, right now!
My first idea was to create something like the dress on the bottom right (#2346) in next image, but after making a mockup I realized that I didn’t have enough yardage of my proposed fabric.
Needlework Magazine, March, 1925
I’d bought the fabric thinking I’d make a rather simple 1920s dress, but the dress I’d been pursuing wasn’t quite that–and the length was longer than I had yardage for. So it was back to Pinterest to find another idea. I settled on using the green dress below, another one I’d been eyeing for years, as my inspiration.
My bodice pattern was adapted from my 1925 Blue Coral Dress, to get the general size, in combination with my late 18th century shift, to get the cut on sleeves. The skirt is just a tube made from what was leftover after that. I wanted to get two full widths of 45″ but didn’t have enough, so the skirt is one full width and two additional sections.
I wanted to match the pattern perfectly at the seams, but that ate up too many inches of my circumference so I settled on not matching them–and frankly, you can’t tell! I spent a lot of time making perfect pleats (the print on the fabric makes that pretty easy, actually), but of course they smoothed out as soon as I wore the dress. Oh well!
The dress qualifies for the Historical Sew Monthly Challenge #2
The Roaring 20s: Make something from the 20s (any century) or that somehow incorporates a number in the 20s..
Just the facts:
Fabric/Materials: 2 yds green cotton and 1 yd of teal cotton.
Pattern: Created by me.
Year: 1928.
Notions: Thread.
How historically accurate is it?: 95%. The pattern and construction methods are quite good. The fabrics are a bit stiffer than those that I think would have been used 90 years ago.
Hours to complete: Perhaps 12? I didn’t keep track.
First worn: August 2021.
Total cost: Approximately $9.
This dress is mostly machine sewn. The goal was to entirely machine sew the dress, including attaching and top stitching the trim, but then as I was reaching the end of the sewing process I realized there were a few things that would look nicer with a bit of hand sewing.
Why is this Egyptomaina inspired?
Well, ancient Egypt was all the rage in Europe and America in the 1920s, particularly after Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in 1922. Egyptian motifs were used in Art Deco design elements for furnishings, jewelry, and clothing. So, while not exactly Egyptian… the colors and patterns in my fabrics remind me of Egyptian things: the Nile river, lapis lazuli, the Egyptian lotus flower, and the tops of many ancient Egyptian columns, for example.
Obelisks were often erected in pairs at the entrances to ancient Egyptian temples, so given the Egyptian association of my dress, I wanted to try and get a photo of my dress with the obelisk on the island. The photo is not quite just me and the obelisk, but it will do. (The problem is that the obelisk is so tall that if you’re close to it you can’t tell what it is… but being far enough away to get the full height means that other elements make their way into the photo, too!)
There are lots of additional photos from tromping around looking for good photo opportunities for this dress, so you’ll be seeing more of it and my accompanying adventures in more posts soon!
Some of my friends decided to make 1930s quidditch uniforms for the Holyhead Harpies team (these are all Harry Potter references, in case that sentence makes no sense to you!). I didn’t have the time to join them in that particular endeavor, but I did have a 1933 dress in my closet in the team colors (green and gold) and we decided it would be fun for me to tag along on the quidditch adventure. One could call me team manager, or a fan, or… take your pick!
My role might depend on which photo you’re looking at… I brought along a wand and my time turner and made sure to run the team through their drills!
Our initial photos were fun, but the backgrounds weren’t great, so we decided to do an autumnal outdoor photo shoot, which we combined with regular photos of my dress, too. The non-Holyhead Harpy photos of the dress can be seen here in a previous post.
You can’t really see the detail of the pennant in the last photo (but look at that gorgeous tree!), so below is a closer photo. One of my friends had great fun making the felt pennants!
We had fun taking action shots, too!
Who says quidditch brooms aren’t real?
Quidditch champions!
Sometimes a bit of silly is good for you. Certainly it brings smiles! To read more about the idea to make 1930s quidditch uniforms, check out this post about it on Plaid Petticoats.
It’s autumn! I think this is my favorite season. Chilly air mixed with sunshine… The return of wool sweaters and skirts… Crisp apples and fresh cider… Yum!
I thought I’d set the season by sharing a few photos from an autumn photo shoot that haven’t made it onto the blog yet. They are so wonderfully autumnal that I’ve been saving them until the perfect time of year!
The story behind the photo shoot is that back in 2017 I made a bias cut 1933 dress. It is green with a small windowpane woven in gold and features gold taffeta accents as well as a gold tilt hat remade from a vintage velour cloche-shaped hat. Construction details and the original photo shoot were blogged about here.
At the time I made the dress I had no particular plans for it, but I’m pleased to say that I have put it to use a few times in the last few years. Most recently, I wore it on this gorgeous autumn day in order to get updated photos of it and to join friends as we photographed them in 1930s-style Holyhead Harpy quidditch uniforms (this is a reference to Harry Potter… more on that in a future post!).
I loved the idea of the gold accents in harmony with the changing leaves, though I think it’s possible the leaves mostly stole the show!
It was such a beautiful day! With or without leaves the trees looked striking against the brilliant blue sky.
In addition to getting photos, we had a picnic followed by a lovely walk as we took in the trees, sunshine, and fresh air. Autumn is only just starting so there’s plenty of time to get some more of that, too!
I’ve picked up a few patterned cotton fabrics over the last few months at my local discount fabric store. (Everything in the store is $3 per yard. Crazy!) I enjoy all of them and want to document their new status here. Hopefully, I can link back to this post when I eventually make garments out of them… This is encouragement to not let them languish in the stash for too long!
First, there is this light blue-ish grey cotton print. The mixture of colors and style of the printing reminds me of fabrics from the 1830s and 1840s. In fact, I used this very fabric to make an 1830s dress for a friend (you saw it in my posts last fall about apple picking). After seeing how wonderfully that dress turned out I decided I needed one of my own. And so… my stash has gained 7 yards of this.
I justify it by the price and the fact that I have very specific plans already. In the spirit of trying out different 1830s sleeve shapes, I want to make a dress from 1836 that has sleeves that are fitted around the upper arms but full around the elbow and down to the wrists.
Second, there is this purple mosaic looking fabric that has an Art Deco vibe. This one doesn’t have a specific plan, but I couldn’t pass up the colors, so I got 1 yard.
The mosaic Art Deco fabric came in four colorways: the purple above, as well as pink, orange, and… lime green! The lime green reminds me of palm fronds and Egyptomania styles.
On its own it’s a bit bright, but I also came across a teal fabric with gold metallic squares on it that I liked but couldn’t think of a use for… until I put it next to the lime green fabric. It helps bring out the blues in the pattern which tones down the lime green a bit. I’m thinking of a short sleeved 1920s summer dress like this using the teal as trim on the lime green.
I’m hoping to get around to the 1830s dress sooner rather than later, but the 1920s dress is lower on the priority list. Unless (maybe) this year brings the ability to reconvene and have 1920s summer events… and then maybe this dress will shoot up the to do list ladder! Ahhh, dreaming!
The Quintessential Clothes Pen 