Perma Pleats and Lilac Time...in 1954

For years, I've asked for a bouquet of lilacs for Mother's Day....and perfect behavior. Lilacs are always in bloom for Mother's Day in early May...so that Mother's request was easy to fulfill...and everywhere I have ever lived, has had a lilac bush. Lilacs grow like weeds...once they are planted and watered through the hot season, they will grow on their own for decades. You have probably seen a lilac blooming in a yard where the house has been torn down....years later, after the fashion of the times has passed by...the lilac remains faithful and constant, permanent and beautiful.


This is one reason I love them...oh the fragrance. I have a milk glass bowl of lilacs in the living room...and they are scenting this very post!

Permanence and beauty.....this is probably why I'm also KooKoo for perma-pleats!

They are made by laying a piece of fabric on a mold of corrugated metal and placing another corrugated piece on top, and pressing with heat, and sometimes adding a chemical to hold the pleats.... They can be crushed and wrinkled and they pop right back! Faithful, constant, crushed and wrinkled.
 This has got to be the story of my life.



Look...Perma Pleats!

from the Pittsburgh Press, May 9, 1954, via Google Images



Perma pleats....

Butter yellow chiffon dress has a perma pleated skirt, a fitted waist and bodice, and a wide belt with a big bow accented with a circle of sparkly rhinestones.

Fun and happy sleeveless cocktail dress is a great choice for all those fancy parties and weddings in the spring and the summer.

Perma pleats with lots of sparkly beading....
Ivory lace is sewn with multitudes of sparkling glass beads with little looped fringes. The dropped waist is easy to wear, and the pleated chiffon skirt is perma pleated.

Fun and happy sleeveless cocktail dress is a great choice for a non-traditional bride, and for all those fancy parties and weddings in the spring and the summer.

 

Stripes ! perma pleats in a skirt...is so fancy ...a soft sheer fabric, it has permanent pleats in a lightweight fabric. It's so right...goth, circus, traditional, classic Black and White stripe skirt.

Pair it with a print, as sweater, a corset, a jacket, a lace blouse....on and on....this corset is long gone, and not included with the skirt....

This dress is available right here on my blog....clicky Here to check out this gorgeous 60s olive green perma-pleat party dress!
Green Martini olive dress is ready to live the 60s party life ! Sexy chiffon mini, with millions of tiny pleats, it has a flippy fun full skirt with a frilly ruffled hem.

 In my etsy shop, you can take a look at this  vintage slip with perma-pleats on the cups and at the hem..Pertty!

These are all sold...but sure are cute!

Hey Guys!

Here's some cool vintage stuff for the guys.
A 50s smoking jacket or robe, and a few pairs of vintage boxer shorts, awesome Tshirts....so take a look at funkomavintage men's vintage offerings.......this week we got a pair of 60s vintage paisley shirts....one is a cowboy H Bar C, so it's pretty understandable why a cowboy dude would be so bold as to want to wear paisley. It was the 60s.


Hang On !! Here we go !!




Gray satin jacquard smoking jacket robe has a black satin shawl collar......so classic...If you're gonna hang around the mid-century pad, dad, this is what to wear. 

vintage boxer shorts

vintage T shirts.....

Shirts ! H Bar C ! Bowing shirt ! a wool button down ! a paisley button down !

Here's 2 button down shirts....they're classic button down shirts. Button down = The collar buttons down to the shirt at the corners (and sometimes at the center back). It does not mean, that the shirt buttons down the front....that would be a shirt that buttons down the front, or a buttons up....but it is not a "button down". 'k?

1970s vintage Pioneer Fringe Vest !!

Cathrineholm Pretty and a diy

Cathrineholm, a company near Halden in Norway,  started producing ironwork designs and farm equipment beginning in 1907. After the times changed, the company started to make kitchen items and housewares in lovely bright happy colors in vitreous enamel on metal. This pretty oval pattern is called Lotus, and  was designed by Grete Prytz Kittelsen who was known as the Queen of Scandinavian Design, because she was so influential in the Scandinavian design movement of the post-World War II era, from the 40s thru the 60s.

My doggie has a well-used Cathrineholm metal and enamel bowl to eat his little dog food out of....awesome !



Grete was the nifty designer of this oh so loved pattern, and much much more. Very much of the modern art and design that became that Mid Century Modern we love love love, originated in Europe. Grete was born in Oslo, Norway in 1917, and died at age 93 in Oslo in September 2010.
But.....This pattern is still wildly popular!


This Coffee/Tea pot is listed by Lara111

Clicky to see lots of Cathrineholm prettiness listed on Etsy.

I think you should make these!

pic from How About Orange crafty blog.

All you need is brightly colored paper, glue, rubber bands, x-acto knife or tiny scissors, and  little clear votive glass candle holders, or any small glass tumblers big enough to hold a small candle.
This craft idea is from the How About Orange blog, which is always full of sweet amazing crafty goodness. Clicky here and she will show you how she did this.
Practice, practice ! You can print off a picture of the lotus pattern in black ink, or using scrap paper, try drawing the pointy ovals by hand, if you feel confident.
First wrap scrap paper around the glass for sizing it correctly. Trace the Cathrineholm designs on scrap paper. Best to try it with scrap !
Then, lay the scrap paper on the pretty color paper to cut it to the right size, overlapping a bit in the circumference. Then trace the designs after you space them smartly, & cut out with an x-acto knife or tiny scissors.
Wrap it around your votive and glue sparingly with Aleens or Elmers paper glue. Hold it in place with rubber bands until the glue dries.

Pot in the garden

not that kind....the clay pots..the things that you put your plants in. Let's take a look around my garden in February after a snowy winter.... oooo, not cool, man.

I buy my pots at yard sales, and very seldom at retail, and I always will pay a premium for an Italian made pot. Why....because after 50+ plus years of gardening, I know that a cheap pot, ie, Mexico-made, will crumble and crack in the freeze-dry-sun-freeze cycle of a year outside. I'm lazy, I admit. And I'm a Californian...so I think things that live outside, should live outside all damn year long.........god knows I used to!! (damn you Washington, you suck).

Can you tell which pot is made in Italy, and which pot is made in Mexico??

OK, but what's going on with the clay pots?
If clay has too much "temper" or too little it won't be strong when exposed to temperature extremes. Posts from Mexico, like almost everything from Mexico is cheaply made.

Pots made in Italy, like most things made in Italy, are very well made. If you are gonna invest in good outdoor pots, please ask the vendor or garden store, where and how they are made, and, are they really outside pots? Can they live outside all year long? Must they be emptied in the fall and placed in a freeze-free storage zone?

this one says ITALY...it survived quite nicely!

DEROMA

What's "temper"? It's crushed gravel or sand, or other rock-type material that's added to clay in specific proportions, to be sure that the clay will stick together when exposed to harsh extremes.
Too little temper  or too much, will cause a pot to crack during the drying process, and certainly during firing and outdoor use. A cheapskate manufacture will skimp to save a few pennies per pot to increase profits. If you buy Mexican pots or now, cheap Chinese pots ...just be prepared to use them inside only, or empty and store them come fall. Outside uses require a quality pot. In the garden!

What's that sticky stuff in my boots?

Now is the time to learn what to ask of an online seller.
If you buy vintage boots, pay special attention to the lining condition. Often the glue that was used in the 60s - 80s to attach the nylon, polyester or acetate knit to the inside can get sticky, flaky and break down. It's toxic. Sadly, toss those boots in the garbage. Period. Don't buy them....don't wear them....don't sell them.
If a vintage clothing seller tells you "Oh, you can just wear socks to protect your feet!", I say, run! No reputable vintage clothing seller would pass off severely damaged merchandise. The only possible time to offer goods that are very damaged, is in the case of very rare examples of fine vintage designer clothing or antiques than can and should be saved for museum or educational purposes, and then, price accordingly.

Even if you ignore for the moment, that the glue/fabric breakdown is toxic because of chemicals and/or minute particles breathed in to your lungs, just ask yourself....Why do you want to buy or sell something that is clearly damaged? Stickiness, flakiness and ooey-gooey isn't in the original condition when new...and it is damage that is in an entirely different class than a few minor scuffs or heel taps that can be replaced.


What's in the glue that is used in boots, and by the way, used to bond nylon knit to fabrics? (you see this in 60s acrylic plaids and tweeds, mostly).
Well, here's a list of what industrial glues can contain: volatile solvents like toluol,  hexane,  trichlorethylene,  acetone, toluene,  ethyl acetate,  methyl ethyl ketone,  trichlorochthane, isopropanol, methyl isobutyl ketone,  methyl cellosolve acetate, cyclohexanone, or other solvents,  or a combination which might be releasing toxic vapors.

It's a case of Buyer Beware, so ask a seller some questions before you hit that Buy button. So sad, but I'm still seeing sellers on etsy, ebay and around the interwebs that Should Know Better, but still have rotten boots for sale...without proper disclosure.

I see this sticky breakdown all the time with the brands Connie, Cobbies and Joyce.
This can happen with any brand that uses glues... but those 2-3 brands seem to be the most prone. Not every pair of Joyce, Cobbies or Connie, of course, and I have a pair of sticky-lined Zodiac tall cowboy boots with feathers that I'm gonna deconstruct and clean-up and install eyelets, so I can save them. ...with a dust mask on, and lots of hand-washing. I think a very good wipe-down with some kind of painter-type stuff like Goof Off will remove the sticky glue after I pull the lining off....

I love vintage...boots. Thank you Some Lady for shopping at Nordstrom or JCPenney's in the 70s and 80s and spending big bucks to buy boots, and thanks for getting bored or allowing your feet to grow, and deciding to sell them to Me !

The heel caps may be worn out and they can be replaced at a real cobbler shop, for around 15.00 a pair. Call around to ask about quality of the replacement caps and price. Ask them about a return policy too. I've had some replaced that fell apart the very same day I retrieved them from the cobbler....boy I was a mad little elf ! They got a piece of my mind, but none of my return business.

My faves to find and sell are either unlined, or lined and from Italy. Yugoslavia, Canada, and Brazil make a good boot, and like I said, there are plenty of other brands that do hold up over time.
Most boots made in the US are quality....most vintage cowboy boots are great....as are Tony Lama, Frye, Dingo, Dexter, 9West, Zodiac (most of the time), Aigner,....oooh there is nothing like a silky leather lined pair of Italian boots.

(an 2009 archive post, updated for your vintage pleasure)

Is It Hot in Here?

archived from 2007...

  Come 2025 there will be more than 1 billion postmenopausal women on the planet, according to Newsweek journalist Barbara Kantrowitz, co-author of a new book Is It Hot in Here? Or is It Me?
So.....about 1/6th of the world's population will be cranky, resistant to your demands for more, and living in stretch pants.......
Mmm, Welcome To My World......

New places Old vintage

I rearranged a bunch of stuff.....and I have a nice new photo spot...It. has. barnwood. I hope you like me better because I sure do. Moved the lights around it wow, such a difference. Spring cleaning! I needed a change...and now I'm very happy....the pictures are so much better and clearer too.
Lots more work to do...reorganizing my whole work space too...
After ---

BEFORE---

The other reason for moving/cleaning and organizing....is so Mark and I can revamp small furniture and get going on all the projects we THOUGHT we'd be able to do when we moved our shop to downtown Tacoma. ....but, fighting construction woes, building breakdowns, flooding, electricity blowing up, thieves, and general building-sharing fuckery, meant that I was continuously preoccupied with putting out fires instead of..... making things, and staying super-organized, which makes me happy!!!
2 things I learned from that 3 loooooooong years in Downtown Tacoma.
1. I'll NEVER open a shop in Tacoma, ever again.
2. I'll never share a space in a building EVER again.
So, it's good to learn lessons as one goes along....But why are the best lessons always so damn expensive???
oy vey.

random shots....still more organizing to come ...because....I'm going to increase my listings...and so organizing is very important or I will go crazy ...