I grew up near the California Veterans Home...

11 - 11


the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month......
In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words:
"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

I deal in military clothes. I love them because they are well-made clothing, and the colors are great.
I have lots of sailor pants, and army shirts and I just sold a Korean war era M 1951.
I have Navy pea coats, and a very heavy Air Force cold weather dress coat. I have a Swiss Army watch (hee hee), an Army-Air Force WWll Bulova Type A-11 watch...

Earlier this year I sold a 30s - 40s vintage A-2 Pilots Jacket, and a Air Force N-2B 70s jacket with a real fur around the hood. This is a tiny recounting of the military...I've known and loved..
Fleets In!!

WWll pea coat. The style and the quality doesn't change much over the years.  This one is 80s

When I get something, I almost always know exactly what I have, but sometimes I have to spend hours of research. Most military clothes have fantastic labels in them...they tell you what it is...how to use it and the year it was made.

M 1951 Field Pants

Every time I hold a piece of military clothes I think about it.....still, after all these years. I think why. I think well.....I'm putting it to good use. Recycling it to someone who wants good sturdy clothing.


Here's the 30s - 40s vintage A-2 Pilots Jacket that went to a fella that wanted one for a long long time and his wife bought it for his birthday. I spent hours and hours and hours on Pilots jacket research. I am now a near-expert! I know the diff between cowhide, goatskin, and horsehide, by sight and by smell, and by look, and I know why each was used.

Her pictures of him wearing it  (acameragirl.blogspot.com)

......I wonder what he feels...

*******************
WWll khaki pants. Fantastic!

1968 Vietnam 7 pocket jungle fatigues

Early WWll helmet.....the pot of fame!

and a Air Force N-2B...I'm still looking for one in my size....a 36 please!

Sailor pants with 13 anchor buttons

My favorite and mine all mine...WWll Navy WAVES jacket... when the ladies were needed ....they joined.

Do I think about this...Indeedy I do.
the recap of my Veterans post from earlier this year......

Real clothes, Real stuff......

One of the greatest pleasures of life is to wear fine clothes that feel good, wear well, look great on you and have that touch of quality.
This is but one reason I love vintage.
Utilitarian. Filson. this one is vintage.


Clothes and most of everything else used to be made of "real ingredients" as I like to exclaim....
I had a yell-fest the other day when I had to buy some dungaree buttons from the fabric store to repair a pair of jeans that had lost the waist button. This is the kind that's metal and is whacked in, instead of a buttonhole and a sewn button......
I don't have any vintage ones on hand...made in Taiwan in the 70s and 80s, and before that, in the US. The ones I bought were Made In China they were shit!
I whacked the first one and it broke!
The second one bent!
First I despise crap made in 3rd world countries because it is usually done by children and exploited workers. This issue is well-know now, so I won't bother with links here (just Google!)
and second, I only want to buy and use Honest to Goodness Good Stuff.
This Filson cruiser jacket will last a half-lifetime of use. And work well. And made in Seattle.



So...I buy a lot of utilitarian, military, fair-trade and local-grown and made, and commercial stuff...and vintage of course!

Military is always made for serious adventures.
Functional. A-2 with a fur edged hood.


Vintage Banana Republic......a fashion line that is excellent quality.




I love linen and silk. Where do they come from? It's hard being me...
Here's some super quality vintage I've just listed.......
a gorgeous full skirt vintage SPRING dress in an XL...




a knock out fabulous vintage Escada suit....so Amazing in the detail, the quality, and the style is classic, military-influenced and so steampunk!
and...so classy for some Old Lady Chic!



A charming turn of the century (last one) style blouse in a sheer soft polyester from the 70s that is 100 times better made than dreck made today...

Here's a gorgeous vintage 60s cocktail dress......the quality and workmanship, and the silk chiffon....fabulous !

and...from remnants of other projects, I made these romantic spats....



when I return next week from my teeny weeny vacay.....I'm starting in on spring coats, spring dresses, denim fables, more men's wear.....tote bags.....
and a line of ultra romantic needs for the steampunk woman......

Yeeks, I can't wait !

the garden...Spring is coming!

Shifted Into Neutral

Why am I in a cabin kind of mood? I need a vacation, that's why.
and that's why I made a cabin display in the shop......I want to sit in a cozy living room with a fireplace, I want to drink a boozy cinnamon hot tea, I want to have a stack of books sitting beside me.



I want to hear the chickadees sing, I want to hear a wooden rocker creak, and I want to bake some bran muffins......




I want to wear leather boots, I want to wrap myself in a warm wool blanket, I want to watch the evergreens sway in the breeze.

Well, tough luck on that...at least for awhile...;-)

So, I found a Cynthia Steffe corset dress...in black.

and a leather briefcase banged up just the way I like it.





some crumpled vanilla wrapping paper, many copies of The Stranger Genius issue...
a very vintage Irish hotel laundry basket



my wood Nordstrom hanger, old wood yardsticks, leather brouges, fringe moccasins and a leather tote bag.





Some of these will be listed on etsy in the next few days.....
And some wool camp blankets, and an Indian print blanket. Some safari dresses and linen.
What got me going was this man-selection I'm sure.

These are up at etsy right now!
30s - 40s A-2 leather jacket...



Red and Black plaid Woolrich vintage jacket.



Red Wing leather vintage work boots.



Air Force N 2B vintage hooded jacket with real fur.

Dystopia Style

I don't go to many parties much,and Mark really doesn't but we are quite excited about Jada's Salvation party on January 30.

Some inspirations:


No really.........before the Bible and uh, Noah and his ark.......




As I was outside on Thursday afternoon, burning holes in my camo pants, soon to be skirt......of course anyone who walked by was darn curious about what I was doing.
Picute this: a lady (me) sitting in the driveway in front of my shop burning her laid-out pants, lighting wooden matches and holding the flame to folds of fabric.

I simply explained I was working on my costume...I was doing an art project...
Ron said: "hot pants!" Which honestly, I hadn't thought of! Others said "Burning Man Pants"..."Burning pants not bras"......I have some funny neighbors !

While I'm sure folks don't see this sort of activity everyday, I like to think that I'm doing my part to Keep It Weird.
Mark was watching me, and asking why I didn't use his propane torch. I explained that I wanted to use a flame-making device that I was familiar with, since I didn't know how quickly the fabric might flame up. Standing off to the side was a young man, tossing a football between his left hand and his right. He was nervous, as he watched me make holes, & pat out the small fires.



He finally asked me what I was doing. I explained. He told me that seeing camo pants being burned was very upsetting to him, since he was recently discharged from the military and he had buddies that died in the muck, in the war.

I was surprised that my art project, my afternoon fun, had caused such a strong reaction. I told the man that I understood his feelings..that seeing camo being burned would have an emotional effect on him.

We chatted some more about camo, burning, why was I using camo.
I said that I'm making a costume for an Apocalypse-theme party here on Broadway on Saturday night.
My thinking, I told him, was that after the war or devastation that might happen to plunge us into a post-apocalyptic world....that there would be lots of camo and military clothes around, and if I was to make clothes, which is what I do with my real life, I might use what is most plentiful and just keep on creating. And since I'm going to a party, I was going to make a party dress. Post-Apocalyptic Finery from bits of whatever is left ..........



I think he thought I was nuts and disprespectful to the military.
He told me so. (that last part, anyway)
I've heard this line of thinking many many times before. I am, after all, a flower child that grew up in the SF Bay Area, and was a war protester. I also spent my childhood growing up next to the Veterans Home in Yountville. I know veterans. I know the cost of war.


I told him I wasn't disrespecting the military. I don't know if he believed me. I do know he was quite emotional about watching me.
It struck me that ......here was a young man who had received military training. He is capable of many brave acts. And, I saw that he was somewhat afraid, apprehensive at least, to talk to a tiny middle-age woman who was sitting on the concrete burning her camo pants.

Mark asked him what he does in the office next to us. He replied "We help people refinance their mortgage rates down."
Well,neighbor, that's a good thing, I told him. Helping people stay in their homes.

Here's what I didn't tell him, because he had used up all his bravery and now just wanted to get back to his office, with the amazing view of the Tideflats and Tacoma industriousness, and the Cascades........

I know from decades of living with America's military presence all around me that I know exactly how to love the veteran, the soldier, the men and women who think they are protecting me from the Bad People. I love the military people, but I hate war.
I think the best way to show respect to those who pay the ultimate price, who sign up to give the ultimate if asked to do so.... is to work for a world that has a smaller chance of creating wars.

To oppose war is to honor the military. I would love for the world to train soldiers, for Generals, and Admirals and Presidents and Captains of Industry, on whose behalf we fight war, to look at young, oh so very very young men right straight in the eye, and tell them that our most fondest wish is to equip them with what they need in battle and to work harder to make sure they never really have to use it.



I also learned that cotton camo pants require about 6 seconds of direct flame before catching fire, and one or 2 pats will extinguish a 3 inch high flame. This information made me feel better for the soldiers who had to wear these pants in the year they were made, 2001.