Everything I love about vintage Levis denim

I shoulda had Lynn Downey's job. I've been a fangirl of Levis since I was a wee girl. I knew right off that Levis were better than other jeans when I was kid. I spent my childhood climbing oak trees to chase swallowtail butterflies, walking along Hopper Creek all the way thru the culvert under Hwy 29, and hanging out at Yountville School to swing on the big metal rings.

When my Levis got too short, I'd cut them off to knee length.
The beautiful blue color, the particular fading and copper! I love copper. Other silly girls love gold. Not me. Copper.
and the orange or yellow stitches. Opposites on the color wheel for excellent artistic contrast, but not too much, just enough. 

this pair of vintage 501 Levis Big E jeans, has a lot of fading, damage and holes...... just how I love them!

 Lots of wear and fading, lots of worn-in holes, and a lot of patching going on.
it's what we did. no need to give up on a perfectly good pair of Levis.

here they are ... in our Etsy shop..

oops, the buttonhole got a little patch too!

and of course, a bit of embroidery....

hems are taken out, and Look! the beautiful blue color........

a true blue love affair....

well Levis are a San Francisco company, and our blue jeans were invented in San Francisco, and Jefferson Airplane, yup. San Francisco.

The Potted Garden of Eatin'

 

My garden this year was planted in pots, big big pots and a few smaller ones. I scored all of them at yard sales, and I shoulda bought more than I did. Well, next time I will. I bought organic vegetable starts because I got such a late start this year with traveling and moving in March and April, but I did plant some seeds.

In the big pots I stuffed my favorite heirloom tomato of all that I've grown in the last 45 years... the Cherokee Purple, and one Early Girl, and a mini tomato, Sweet Million. Damn, those little ones are so sweet and tasty.

I also planted 2 kinds of eating and grilling peppers, a tomatillo, a small zuke, and a Japanese eggplant.  Since mid-June we've been eating tomatoes and peppers, and now the tomatillo and eggplant are producing.
I planted some climbing purple tiger beans and red flowering beans. No I didn't plant everything I wanted but I did get a lot......
Also, marigolds, sunflowers, nasturtiums, alyssum, geranium, fennel, zinnas, morning glories, chartreuse potato vine, rosemary, lavender, lots of succulents, and  a few corns for fun.

Here's what we started with in the yard.......

We got rocks, cement and asphalt. We got a back fence. And empty space. So...we put up a cheapo pop-up, and a shed. So far so good! Then I planted all the pots with 1/2 good organic potting soil, and for substance, 1/2 of organic garden soil.

this was the garden in early July and then I decide to move all the pots around for less hot sun exposure. This ain't Washington! It gets HOT in California. Too much sun dries out the plants in the pots, even with careful morning watering and a mid-afternoon watering for the smaller pots if need be, when the temp hits 90. Which is almost everyday.

Here's a little tour of the yard. This is right before everything Took Off!!!

The patio under the pop-up, the shed, the backyard, a view from the street, the pallet steps and front yard pots of flowers, a vintage wood dresser for cooking outside (the Winnie gets hot....) and lots of flowers, and lots of good food from just a few pots this spring and summer.
In August, the fall crops will go in the new pots I intend to score at the yard sales around town.

pallet steps (love them!), lots of pots of succulents and sedums. A wood spool (so hippie) and a big pot of trailing nasturtium.

Looking under the awning towards the back yard, the patio with pots of flowers and climbing beans across the front.
To the right is the  shed where we make stuff. I hung a lace curtain in the doorway to help block the sun, but it doesn't keep the neighbor cats from coming in and taking a nap.

Inside the patio........ oh yes the Avocado made the transition just fine and is loving the shady warm patio. Hung up fabric and shades on the sides for sun protection and look.....a cat!

Looking to the backyard between the shed and patio and sunflowers!!

this here in the bottom of the pic is my Meyer Lemon. I am so excited because it's gonna bloom any second now, and then this winter Lemons! yummmmy.

The first Japanese eggplants in early July, and below a zuke with marigolds. I like to plant a lot of annuals that are very attractive to bees and boy are they!
I had 3 pretty bright green squash bugs come a visitin' and a eatin' so I had to squash them. They are hard to kill with chemicals, which I don't use anyway, so squash squash squash.

We're getting something from the garden everyday.... a few tomatoes, a few peppers. Next year I'll start everything I can from seed, and put in pumpkins and squash, and lots more corn too. But for the little effort and the few big pots, we're pretty darn happy.

Newest stuff at the shop for mid summer 2014

Vintage Brooks Brothers shirts. Amazing! we love the classics.....  here's a rare Brooks Brothers shirt. Zephyr Oxford. It's a lightweight  cotton shirt, otherwise just like all the other vintage 60s BB shirts. so we'll call this a ZOCBD.

this is a classic 60s mens vintage Oxford cotton buttondown shirt.
It's a Zephyr cotton, a lightweight cotton cloth. The shirt has a pocket, and long sleeves. It also has gussets on the hem sides. Neat!



This blue stripe oxford, OCBD, it's a blend of 40% poly, 60% cotton, a crisp oxford cloth. The shirt has a pocket, and long sleeves. The hem is curved. 6 button front. Made in USA.
The fabric is an oxford cloth, Brooksweave, in a blend, rather than all cotton.

Pretty dress, in a shiny slick Silk print in big blooming roses with a draped neckline.  Excellent size too:   It fits like , a modern size 8 (about), A medium .
bust - 40" , waist - 28" ,hips - 42",back waist - 16.5",Length - 42"

clicky for all the pretty cool summer styles at funkomavintage.......

and some classic fantastic summer Pool Party dresses!!
  Both of these are 60s classics, by Alice. A name you can trust for your summer Tiki party wear.

60s Asian patchwork, this Pake Mu caftan has geometric and pastoral designs on a simple shape. By Alice Polynesian Fashions, it's a tropical Hawaiian classic, made of glossy cotton sateen.  *clicky*

This lovely Alice dress has big bright blossoms in the classic Hawaiian dress style of a fitted front and gathered back, the Watteau pleat.  *clicky*

It's a tiki garden with hot and bright colors with shades of blue.
By Alice, an Hawaiian dress maker, this is a great size, and it has an adjustable waist tab with elastic and hooks and eyes to pull the front waist in, while allowing the back gathers to release.

Shorts, cut-offs, are a gotta have 'em for summer fun, eh??






clicky here for shorts shorts shorts! 

 

A very lacy dress or 2 or 3

I love to sew things. It all begins with the fabric, or with the 2 lace dresses I just made and listed.... it begins with vintage Quaker Lace tablecloths.
A beach wedding, even indoors! for a non-traditional bride, these 2 dresses have a bohemian vibe.

when I was in High School in Napa, I made dresses (and tops and skirts and bags and hats...) just like these for a "head shop" that was a few blocks from Napa High.

Back in the day, us hippies and flower children and those who wanted to be like us, shopped for cool threads, incense, black light posters, hippie bead necklaces and so on...... at Head shops.
We made our own stuff, and we made our own economy.

Both of these lace dresses, are for a medium to large size gal. I figured that tall skinny girls will have a million dresses to choose from.... I wanted to make something bohemian with a vintage flair..... so I drew on my years of design, and the kinds of dresses I used to make.
These are new vintage!
I was very inspired to use the lace patterns to show off the intricate patterns.

Not only for a wedding.... these are lovely to wear to any special event, to the beach, the cabin and to all those summer festivals.
I show them with pearls, or with more bohemian accessories, and you can wear them with moccasins, cowboy boots or sandals.....

It has vintage lace collars and the view from the back is as enchanting as the front (very important for a wedding)


This one is Tea Length, about calf length with amazing full sleeves! They are split from the drop shoulder seam, and then are gathered at the wrist with a band and satin ribbons to tie in a bow or to let the tails fly.  clicky here.

When you plan your wedding, I hope you'll avoid the “wedding industry complex”. No you don't have to buy millions of pounds of commercial food, buy expensive invites and all the $$$$, that wedding planners want you to spend on stuff you don't really need or want.
If you love flea markets, estate sales, and borrowing cute decor and details for your wedding decor, then you can have a gorgeous wedding..... a wedding that makes you happy. And you can and should do a beautiful wedding without going into debt.

Your friends and family will be so happy to help you create the lovely day you want, and buying from artistic and talented people and small and tiny business, and even making stuff yourself, will make your day that much more memorable and much more cheap! and you will be thankful you saved money and put it in a savings account.

This longer dress is 20s in style, very Gatsby era with it dropped waist effect and lots of lavish lace. It has a higher neckline and a vintage zipper on the back, concealed with a satin ribbon decorated with vintage shell buttons.
It has bell sleeves and can be worn with its wrap sash of lace or not....... and of course, you can wear it styled very bohemian with leather and long necklaces. clicky here.

The back neckline has a concealed vintage metal zipper covered with a satin ribbon and tiny shell buttons.....  vintage, of course!