On Beauty

Casey from Casey's Elegant Musings posted a great piece on beauty throughout history today. The post included some videos that I found very fascinating, that outline a bit of the history of women and their cosmetics.
I have to say that I enjoy my morning makeup session as much as the next girl, but I had never thought about how trends had changed over the last 100 years and how cosmetics were affected by wars, liberation, the vote, and many other things. I highly recommend checking out Casey's fascinating post.

The only makeup I wore before I was 20 was a bit of concealer to cover up the random blemish and eye shadow on special occasions. Then I was engaged and my darling mother-in-law to-be introduced me to bare minerals and from then on I was hooked. Now I can barely step out of doors without my face perfectly powdered into submission. Why is that? I was perfectly confident in my appearance until I started using makeup, and now, without it, that confidence is greatly diminished. I'm sure that's just what cosmetic companies depend on. Makeup has become a sort of armor, and without it some of us hesitate to go out in public.

Well, I won't think about that today. I'll think about that tomorrow.
Instead of dwelling on my own insecurities, I'm going to deflect, and show you some beauty advertisements from my own collection that I thought you might enjoy.
France, 1950's:

 Always sure to be in style: with one of the new colors of Gemey powder.

Pattern of the Day

This lovely little pattern for a vestee, purse, and hat all encrusted in sequins just makes me swoon.

It's McCall 1293 and is well worth the having. I would love to try sewing sequins soon, as sort of the icing on the cake of my sewing skills.

There's a copy here on etsy that is in sad shape and has only the vestee and transfers, but I would snap it up in a heartbeat for just the vestee.

Happy Tuesday. I'm off to restock the fridge after a whole week of EVERYTHING being closed here in Norway for Easter. We were surviving on soup near the end so I'll have to plan better next year.

And the winner is...

Well, I would say that my very first giveaway could be deemed a success. I loved reading all of your comments, and some of you even pointed out item's in Erika's Shop that I hadn't seen (and immediately started wanting.
There was some gorgeous vintage polka dot fabric that sold before I could get my hot little hands on it, but I still have my eye on the adorable Women's pajama pattern from the 1940s:

But enough about what I want. I know what you want. You want to know who won the lovely prize package offered by the very generous Erik with a K:

And the winner is... Sara E.K.! Congratulations, Sara! Your comment was number 60, chosen by the random number generator:

Thanks to all of you who entered! I've found that I like hosting giveaways as much as I like shopping and sewing put together, so there will be many more to come.
A special thanks to Erika for offering such a great prize package, and for being such a snazzy vintage girl.

Free.............!

I love the weekend. You know what I love almost as much as the weekend? Giveaways. Free stuff. They just make me smile. So my very first giveaway sponsored by the lovely ErikawithaK ends tonight and I'll be announcing the winner on Sunday, instead of Saturday. Why? To give people all of Saturday to enter, and because I live in Norway, 7 hours or so ahead of many of you, and that would cut it short.

On another note, here are some other great giveaway's that I've scouted out for you to look at, and perhaps win.

Handmade Jane is offering a free pattern by Collete Patterns to one lucky winner over at her beautiful blog.

And Sew Darn Tired is offering a great giveaway package including a pair of vintage sunglasses and a great sewing pattern in honor of her Blogiversary.

(Source)

And it's not a giveaway, but it's certainly a great discount. FinickyFinds is offering 20% off in her shop just for today to celebrate two years of selling on etsy. Just use the coupon code TWOYEARS20 at checkout.
I did, and I got the most adorable pattern. I'm going to use it in an attempt to make my own cami knickers of sorts.

 

Happy weekend, and good luck on the giveaways!

Thursday Treats

I just thought I'd share a bit of the newest jewel in my collection, from the December 1950 Modes et Travaux Magazine.

I've been busy working on a custom dress for a client (Yay, I have clients now!) so most of my creative juices have gone towards making that project perfect. That, and before the fabric arrived to work on the aforementioned, I was putting the finishing touches on my overalls from Anne Adams 4536. More to come on that later when I can wrangle my photographer (husband) to lend his assistance.

Most of this magazine is about chistmas gifts, perfume, and sewing and knitting projects. In French. Heaven.

Wish list:

I have been pattern shopping. Yeah, what's new, right? Well, I've mostly been 'window shopping', looking at patterns that I love but can't justify the cost of. Patterns that I would treat myself to on say, my birthday, or Christmas, or a Tuesday.

Among my favorites is McCall 6337, a lovely 1940's blouse pattern that I would love to add to my collection, and closet.

This one is for sale here and no, I won't hold it against you if you buy it. Much.
Next on the list is the lovely Simplicity 2787 from the 1930's. Swoon.

My Very First Giveaway!

My dear lovely readers, for the next week you have the chance to win a lovely prize package very generously offered by an Etsy friend of mine, and a fellow "born in the wrong era" girl,  ErikawithaK.

A Couple of questions I asked Erika showed me that she and I have a lot more in common than I thought!

Me: How did you get started sewing?

Erika: "I started sewing in high school but really got into it in college at Salisbury University in Maryland when I worked as a Costumer's Assistant for our theatre department. That's where I really learned how to construct clothing and anything that I do know about tailoring, fitting, and pattern alterations. Since then I have also taken up with quilting and embroidery."

Me: *Sigh* That's my dream job. How did you get started selling vintage on Etsy?

Erika: I wanted to start an Etsy shop to supplement my low wage income working at a bookstore. I chose vintage because I didn't think I had the stamina to open a handmade shop, at least not yet, and also because I LOVE going to thrift shops, yard sales and auctions and have been doing it all my life. I can remember being a really little kid and how hard it was to resist the urge to throw my hand up and bid! Something, I definitely failed at a few times... Anyway, I have always found way more cool stuff then I had room for or could ever possibly sew up and so I wanted to share the treasures I found with other people.

Me: I too spent most of my childhood trailing behind my mom at thrift shops, garage and estate sales, antique stores and flea markets. Vintage is in my blood. And that's exactly why I started selling on Etsy too. My stash got to big, and I started to feel like a hoarder (only the good stuff, of course!)

Erika is clearly just the sort of kindred sewer and vintage enthusiast we can all relate too. And by all, I mean me.

And she's offering this lovely gift package to one lucky reader:

The giveaway includes a lovely vintage pattern, a vintage edition of Work Basket Magazine from 1960, some great retro fabric, and some cute buttons to top it all off.
The pattern is really cool.  It's called a "Scoop Neck Skimmer" and it's printed by McCall's for mail order.  It's a size 10-12, Bust 31-32 and is uncut and in factory folds. (Don't you just love being the first person to use a pattern?)

To enter the giveaway, simply click on this link to Erika's shop, and tell me which item you like best (she has some of the BEST patterns from many different decades.
For an extra entry, you can become a follower of this blog, if you aren't already. (Just leave another comment to let me know.)
I'll announce the winner (who will be drawn by a random number generator) on Saturday the 23rd.
Good luck!