Thrift Finds and a Finished Summer Dress

Let me show you the dress first...

It is a tent dress from the stash of fabric I bought at Walmart for $1.00 a yard and from vintage Vogue pattern 7684. The dress was very easy to sew, two pattern pieces, facings and pockets.

Stash of fabric

Vogue pattern 7684 vintage 1970s

I am working on one more dress from this stash of fabric, to be posted soon. I ran out of seam binding, so the dress will have to wait until I go shopping.

• Here is a quick look at some thrifting I did a few weeks back, maybe its has been a few months now that I think of it, because I already have another bunch of loot for another time.

English plates, bowls and cup form Milton's est.1783, plastic salt and pepper toast, pink seahorse and seashell salt and pepper shakers, a Garfield cup, Santa cups, child's toy cup and saucer, green ceramic kitty 1970s yellow beaded necklace and a hat shaped pin cushion.

For the clothing I found this cool band style denim vest, a pretty blue nightie slip, and two 1950-60s full slips, a very nice black 60s mod mini dress, and orange plaid dress, the brown and black plaid is not vintage but love the mod vibe. 

Now, I just want to end with some photos of the park at Emigrant Lake, where I took the picture of me in the dress.

So, a little of this and a little of that and more to come. Would love to hear about you and connect, so drop a word or two in the comments, until then take care.

Anti Wrinkle Face Cream

You wouldn't believe how easy it is to make your own beauty products. I picked up this book in the library and had to buy a copy. I made this delicious anti-wrinkle face cream and really love the way it just soaks into my skin leaving it feeling soft and supple. I got the recipe from the The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Natural Beauty Products by Sally W. Trew and Zonella B. Gould, and the supplies from Lotion Crafter a great online supply source for making your own beauty products.

My Calvary

I bought the essence oil, tangerine, from our local grocery store. Several of our area grocery stores are of the kind that cater to health foods with lots of organic, natural foods and health products. If you have ever been to Ashland Oregon, you would understand.

Weighing out an ingredient.

Melting wax and getting temperature to a

180º F

For best emulsion mix at 110º F

~ TaDa ~

I have been using the lotion for several weeks now and am really impressed on how wrinkle free my skin looks,  it make my skin feel and look healthier, soft and supple. My skin is sensitive to harsher creams and I do not like oily or sticky substance on my face, that's why this is such a sweet deal.

Animal free testing, daughters freely tested. If you have ever tested out anything on your friends or family would love to hear about it.

A Few Finished Sewing Projects and More on the Way

I wanted to show off a couple of finished sewing projects I worked on last month starting with McCall's 9676 pattern from 1969 using vintage fabric from the late 70s.

I had a similar fabric in black with tropical floral print, but sold it in my Artfire studio.

And, a dress I completed from this stack of fabrics...

This dress was made from New Look pattern 6717. I ran the border print down the side. I love wearing this dress it is so comfortable. I also have the blue fabric cut out ready to sew and another dress in the planning stage and will post when those are finished.

And, along the line of making things, I made this necklace from florist wire. I started to do a tutorial on how it was made, but this is not the original design. and the tutorial went by the wayside. The only part I used that was the same is the purple florist wire. I thought I would have to make a peg beading board to wrap the wire, but this wire works best hand bending in large loops, and the original beads I was going to use were to small for the wire. I had recently found these large hole glass beads I picked up at the Goodwill, six for $0.50 perfect for large chain or wire. The loop-de-loops were created as the wire and beads were attached into a 'crazy' loop design fastened with jump rings where the wire touched to secure the design. It looks pretty cool and different, not something I would really wear, so I may just hang it in my window to catch the light, but it does lend itself for inspiration toward other designs. 

If you are on my blog reading list to the right, then know that I read your blog faithfully and sometimes leave a comment, if you have a blog I would love to visit, just leave a comment. Until next time happy fashion styling.

Finished Projects in Jewelry Design

I have completed a few jewelry designs this last month (May). It will be interesting, at least for me, to see what I accomplish in the jewelry making department for June. I have several styles in mind. I love working out patterns and designs, although that is probably the most time consuming, but once I have an idea worked out then connecting the pieces goes a bit more quickly. But, I must say making links with the beads does take a bit of time too.

This was the finished shell necklace. I had felt it needed something more for added dimension from it's beginnings below.

The necklace beginnings.

I bought these acrylic flower and leaf beads, from Crafter's Warehouse, as many as you can stuff into a small container for $3.99, and I stuffed them all. The issue I had with these was how to attach them in the layout I wanted, HOT GLUE! Other glues seemed to melt the acrylic and not hold. If in doubt, duck tape or hot glue is the trick ; ) Okay maybe not duck tape for jewelry, but for everything else.

What are these type of necklaces called, bib necklaces?

I also glued this daisy necklace. These buttons were $1.97 from Walmart. As I was planning out this design I cut the back of the button shanks off before I realized that I could use them to drape some beaded stems. So, I went a bought another set to finished the necklace the way I think it would look best.

First beaded necklace with button shanks removed.

This was the original layout, I had already removed the shanks but wanted a picture of what it may look like with the little stems. I went ahead and finished the necklace with out the shanks as you can see from above.

 Then, just recently I picked up these aqua blue plastic ovals for $.50 at JoAnn Fabrics and just felt the desire to make a long chain necklace. When motivation hits, it is best to just go for it, Nike said it first I know, Actually they said 'Just do it' I like go for it, maybe a cultural thing of the west. And, I liked the coral and amber colors with the aqua, so southwestern. I do have a few strands of real turquoise I'll be playing with fairly soon, although for some reason I am enjoying the plastics.

I had this design all laid out, and was working on the longer strand when I picked the whole project up and forgot how I was originally making the shorter strand, this finished piece is close to what the original would have looked like. And, creating all these links did take a bit of time.

These beads and buttons are for some future projects. When I was picking up more of the daisy buttons I saw these adorable planes, trains and automobile buttons and just knew they would make something cute, even for jewelry. I do love whimsy, kitsch and cute. The amber blown glass beads will be more Victorian or steam punk and the glass aqua beads and purple wire will be my first attempt at wire wrapping.

So share you beading creations, just post a link and I can link it to my Facebook page for the whole world so see, yeah go for it!