Waiting for the Florida lottery

Today I'm waiting for the winners of the Florida millionaire raffle. I bought a ticket while on vacation and the winners are supposed to be online after 3pm. Today I would be happy with one of the $500.00 prizes. I have been passing the time by taking pictures for my two Etsy shops, vintagestyle101 and blackcatboutique and listing them. No big plans for New Year's Eve, unless I win a million! It's a beautiful day here in N Carolina but kind of cold. Tomorrow is the big sale at my favorite thrift store so I will be getting up early to look for bargains. The pictures are of the items I'm listing.

Back from vacation

I'm back from my Christmas vacation to the Florida Keys. We stayed in a little cottage on Little Torch Key on the water and had a great time. Just about everyday we rode the motorcycle into Kemy West for lunch, evenings were spent relaxing at the cottage. I'm always looking for new yarn shops and found one in Key West, the only one in the keys. It's call Knit Wits and had beautiful yarns. I liked the way they displayed different yarn types by color. I bought a cotton yarn from Indonesia in green, purple and black. It has purple stone chips and purple seed beads running through it. I made a crocheted choker from it and will have it in my Etsy shop as soon as I find a great stone or button for the closure. I also bought a coordinating yarn that I found on sale. I actually got a lot of knitting and crocheting done. I started 2 vests, almost done now, finished a scarf, and made 2 chokers. I made the second choker from yarn I took along. After staring at the blue green water for so long I decided to make something in those colors. As soon as I find the perfect closure for that one I will be posting in my shop also.

Yesterday I went to my favorite thrift store to check out before the big New Year Day sale. I found a few items I decided to purchase in case they weren't there on Thursday. One item is a cute little dauschond pewter pin by the Swedish designer R. Tennesmer. Another piece of jewelry I bought was a pair of earrings by the French designer Philippe Ferrandis. I love the colors, turquoise, gold and orange. They are kind of heavy to wear though. I bought them because I thought they would make a nice brooch but I kind of hate to take apart. I will see if they sell as earring before I take apart. I also bought a couple of vintage needlework books and a bag of ribbon. I can't wait to go back on Thursday! It's a mad house though and you have to get there early.

Well, today I decided to visit one of my favorite thrift stores. They are having a big sale on Monday and I decided to scope it out. This is a big store, I can spend hours here. I ended up buying some items, I couldn't wait for the sale. I found this great vintage party dress, lots of lace, sequins and ruffles. It is from a store called Montaldo's and is fabulous. I will be adding it to my shop, vintagestyle101.etsy.com, as soon as I get some better pictures. Then I checked out the books and found these great vintage craft books from the 70's. They are from Time-Life and are called the art of sewing. But they have a lot more than just sewing. The covers are beautiful too. Great coffee table books or an addition to your sewing room. After I look through them, I will probably list them on my site also. At check out I found this great pair of vintage eyeglasses. The frames were made in France and have the prettiest rhinestones around the lens. Too cool! When I got home my new felting machine that I just ordered on Tuesday was sitting on my steps. I can't wait to try it. I have it set up and looking for something to practice on. Tonight I have some sewing to finish, a fabric choker and a velvet vest that I stamped.

Projects I'm working on.

Here are three projects I'm working on. One is a vintage cotton slip that I dyed in Kool Aid and now I'm adding vintage lace, ribbon, and trim to the front and hem. The other is a plaid scarf that I'm embellishing with vintage lace, ribbon and fringe. The other is a little girl's dress that I have added vintage ruffle trim and new ribbon to the sleeves to create a cuff and to the hemline. I have more colors and styles in this dress and will be adding different embellishments to them. All of these will be for sale when I finish.

Fall Forecast

Since I buy vintage and also knit, crochet and sew, I like to watch what the designers are showing on the runway. Of course, a lot of it is for show, but you can pick up trends. Designers seem to be looking to the past, 50's thru the 80's, with an emphasis on tone, texture and color. Unlike antiques where mixing different periods or eras is ok, when dressing stick to one decade at a time.
Here are some of the top looks to watch for:
1. Lace, on just about everything, including handbags
2. Plaid, don't wear too much, better on top
3. Ruffles, again, wear in moderation. Around the neck, on the sleeves, just not everywhere at once.
4. Purple, one of my favorite colors
5. Menswear, think vests, pinstripes, cuff links

Here are some other trends:

1. Big necklaces and lots of bracelets
2. Feathers on headbands, belts, scarves and trims.
3. Fringe on boots and bags, just don't wear both at the same time.
4. Any size belt, skinny, wide, chain, leather, you name belts are hot.
5. Patent leather in bags, shoes, and belts,

Hope this helps. Check out my shops for reasonable priced items to add to you fall wardrobe.
I have a great red patent leather belt, a faux animal print jacket, purple scarves, menswear vests, cuff links, lots of lace, big necklaces, and belts.

10 must-have items according to Nina Garcia

Nina Garcia's (Project Runway) new book is called "The One Hundred:A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own". The Charlotte Observer listed the top 10:

1. Animal print
2. Cashmere
3. Evening gown
4. Investment bag
5. Jeans
6. Knee boots
7. Little black dress
8. Stilettos
9. Trench coat
10. Wide-leg trousers

I agree with several of these, but the evening gown and stilettos are something I never wear. Some of these items can be found in my shop, vintagestyle101.etsy.com, check it out!

Vintage sewing patterns

A dress shop in town was closing so I decided to stop in. I knew she had some mannequins for sale and I have been wanting one for ages. What I didn't know is that at one time, early 1970's, she also had a fabric store and sold patterns. I got to looking and found and found a pile of new, uncut patterns from the late 60's early 70's. Well, I ended up buying all 1,300 of them! These are great if you are in to vintage. I'm posting some of the pictures here. This is a good way to see what was "in" then, just in case you didn't live through it. I have started listing them for sale on my web site.
I hope to publish more pattern pictures and information about vintage fashion and current fashion.