I hope all the mamas had nice Mother’s Day with their families!  I’m popping in to let you all know that I’ve re-opened my vintage shop.  Everything is priced for gals on a budget and each item is just really pretty.

Stop by and have a look if you get the chance!

Happy Monday.

Tropical prints: the perfect subject for the hot weather we’ve been having down here in L.A.  (I’m drinking iced decaf Kona coffee too–how appropriate!)  Another reason for this post: a couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon this delightful article about tropical prints on BurdaStyle and since then I’ve wanted to share some of my Hawaii-inspired dresses with you.

People seem to either love or hate these “kitschy” and bold floral designs.  You can already guess how I feel about them–I love ‘em!  Always have, actually.  Perhaps because they remind me of my Grandma or the ’40s.  Or old men in Hawaiian shirts (so cute!).

The above dress is made from this vintage pattern, Advance #9054:

Fitting this dress…ack.  The Princess seams are flattering but, if you’re not perfectly proportioned according to the pattern, trying to get the fit right in a pain in the bum.  (At least it was for me; this dress took far longer than I would have thought due to sizing and other issues!)  Overall though I’m happy with the resulting frock (me in Maui):

I found the cotton fabric at a store on a previous trip to Oahu.  I love the violet and turquoise color combination and the huge tropical flowers.

Somehow, I misunderstood the pattern and the tabs ended up on the wrong side of the bodice…since I didn’t have enough fabric to cut a new front piece I had to cut and move the tabs over to the other side–d’oh!

Oh well.  I like the buttons anyhow (vintage bakelite with mother of pearl).

I’ve also collected a few Hawaiian dresses over the years, inexpensive smocked tubes you can find at any ABC Store (love) or The International Market Place.

Oh look, my studio is a complete disaster!  I feel like such a bad housewife sometimes.  Anyway, the dress is cute and super comfy.  And I just adore the minty green so much.  This is a typical look for me during SoCal springs and summers complete with slip on open-toed shoes and vintage bag.

Here are some swatches of the other dresses I have, in the same style:

What do you think about tropical prints? Do you love them or hate them? (Or, even, feel rather “meh” about them?)

I’ve had this dress for almost a year, picked it up for $15 at the antique market.   It is almost a relief to have finally done my fixes on this dress; clothes are really moving from the to do rack to the closet!  I really love this dress, I feel really at home in it.

Here’s a look at the before:

A 1970s version of a 1930s dress.  You can’t see it in the photos but the little flowers are flocked which I love (not much flocking left but still counts for something).  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the style, only it needed some repairs here and there.  But for the most part I don’t like high necklines; I feel too closed up.  And the sleeves were shortened in a slapdash fashion by its previous tenant (Hmm, I sense a trend) so I had to do something about that.

This is what I did:

• Cut out and lowered the neckline; removed neck facing that was clearly visible under the sheer fabric.
• Added a pleated Petersham collar that I tacked down by hand. (The stitches seem very obvious to me even though I tried my best to not sew too tightly; I might redo it but it’s fine for now.)
• Cut the sleeves down, leaving a little bit of the previously gathered fabric which I hemmed creating little ruffles.
• Fixed some general wonkiness around the bust seam.
• Cut off the lace and ruffle at the hem and shortened the skirt.  I considered fixing and re-attaching the ruffle but decided I liked the simplicity of the plain hem.
• The ties were very much uneven so I shortened one. (I did not match the lengths exactly as I don’t see a problem with them being off just a little.)
• Fastened a little brooch to the neckline (from Seventh Muse).  I’ve fashioned other things like a yellow velvet bow and such which I can switch out at will!

I have to say I quite enjoy detailing all the repairs and alterations I do to my vintage finds and I hope you do too!  I think so, and I find your comments very kind and encouraging.  Thank you.

a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/2367242065/” title=”Marie Antoinette’s Muumuu by faeriefurballs, on Flickr”img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3247/2367242065_57af5a452c_o.jpg” alt=”Marie Antoinette’s Muumuu” height=”601″ width=”400″ //abr /br /Thank you everyone for your generous comments on the Peach Cobbler dress. Really, it makes me so happy to hear your thoughts and encouragement!br /br /I was experiencing some unstoppable dress-sewing momentum so I decided to start a new project. Something span style=”font-style: italic;”easy and fast/span. (I laugh and laugh.) So I dug through my box of vintage patterns and found this one:br /br /a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/2367242143/” title=”Latest Project by faeriefurballs, on Flickr”img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2081/2367242143_1dcb0e5a49_o.jpg” alt=”Latest Project” height=”600″ width=”400″ //abr /br /The sleeveless version is super cute and looks fairly simple. After going through my fabric stash, I decided on some pretty floral shirting that I have been hording for years. Amazingly, I found it in the clearance aisle of either Joann’s or Hancock fabrics. I bought what was left, about three yards. (The fabric, by the way, is where I’m getting the Marie Antoinette reference – doesn’t it look kinda 18th C.?)br /br /The dress started off easy and pleasant enough. Then I got to the point (see first photo) where I was beginning to feel like I was making a dress out of some old tablecloth or drapes. (And not in the good way.) Yea, and then I got the muumuu idea in my head…for a muumuu, it’s not bad though.br /br /The gathering around the yoke was so pretty but there was so much fabric! I have a terrible habit of just wanting to get things done so I kept telling myself: span style=”font-style: italic;”Oh, it’ll look better once I do [_______]. Um, maybe when I add the [_______] it’ll look right./span But — then I tried it on. (And I’m telling you, I was pretty much done with the thing!) Not having, err, a lot to fill out the top, I looked very much like I was donning a pretty potato sack.br /br /Ok, back to square 1. Ok, not that far back but I had to remove some (a lot) of the ease which meant picking out a lot of stitches, re-cutting the armhole facings…span style=”font-style: italic;”bleck!/spanbr /br /But you know, sometimes it’s better to go through the pain of reworking a project. The last thing I wanted was to finish it and then bury in the back of my closet.br /br /(Sorry once again for the grainy photo!)br /br /a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/2368076234/” title=”Wearing the Muumuu by faeriefurballs, on Flickr”img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2083/2368076234_b648443901_o.jpg” alt=”Wearing the Muumuu” height=”809″ width=”400″ //abr /br /I’m actually pretty happy with the results. In fact, I think I’ll make another now that I’ve got most of the kinks worked out. (And maybe figure out a new set-up to take pictures – this is why you don’t see me modeling stuff very often!)br /br /Oh, and one of the very best parts?br /br /a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/2367241945/” title=”Vintage Button by faeriefurballs, on Flickr”img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3235/2367241945_42c26732b8_o.jpg” alt=”Vintage Button” height=”383″ width=”400″ //abr /br /The vintage buttons from a href=”http://whiletheyplay.blogspot.com/” target=”_blank”Kalurah/a are just perfect for this dress! They look like Bachelor’s Buttons. I just love how the dress buttons at the top. br /br /I still have plenty of fabric left over; I’m thinking I could use them for some pretty doll clothes…