The BEST Day Ever!!

Part 1

Yesterday was the best day ever in quite a long time!!  You see, I finally got to meet in person a lady and fellow blogger whom I have been following for a while, Kristen Stoltzfus.  When I started thinking hard about making more vintage style dresses, I stumbled across her blog, Verity Vintage Studio and loved everything she made!  Not only are her dresses fabulous, but so is her hair and her hats and her purses and her gloves and her everything!!  I was so thrilled when she won the photo contest that Emily's Vintage Visions held last fall.  Her outfit was so deserving and inspirational!

We had been corresponding via email for several months, discussing patterns and vintage things, when last week (or the week before) she told me she would be in my neck of the woods and would I like to get together with her?  Oh my giddy aunt would I!!!  I offered to take her to my favorite antique store and suggested a place for lunch.

You know when you have been separated from a friend for a long time, and then you get back together and it seems like you were never apart?  Well, for me when we first met, it was exactly like that.  Her sweet smile and lovely disposition were so welcoming and we fell into conversation as if we had been doing so forever!

 Our first stop was lunch at Flatbread Pizza in Meridian.  I had my favorite, a giardini panini and tomato basil soup....heaven!!!  Kristen had a salad and flatbread...can't remember what it was and of course I forgot to take pictures of our food!  (We'll just have to remember that for next time...)

After lunch, it was off to the Antique World Mall.  I think Kristen liked it as much as I do!  We probably spent at least 2 hours looking at all the wonderful things that the building has nestled within its confines.  I was delighted when she spent quite a bit of time in two of my personal favorite booths!  Great minds and all....All too soon our time was over.  I had a wonderful time getting to know Kristen more and chatting about many things.  I cannot wait until she is in my neck of the woods again!!  There are more restaurants and antique stores to descend upon!

Being silly in one of the best booths at the store.  The dealer has wonderful vintage patterns and some very delightful vintage and antique sewing, baby and household items.  This time of year, the color scheme is in soft pastel colors...makes my antique heart pitter patter with joy!

A more serious image of us.  Next time I'll remember to have more pictures of us taken!  Kristen's outfit was fabulous with the sweet buttons and lovely flower brooch!  The color was beautiful and she looked totally vintage.  Her hair, of course, was perfection!

Can't wait until next time dear lady!!!

Part 2

After I got home from my fabulous afternoon with Kristen, my sweet Mama came over.  This past weekend she and my Daddy had been in Washington and Mom and been shopping at some antique stores.  She found some incredible things for me and gifted me with them!!  Huzzah for awesome shops and an awesome Mama!

One of the things she found for me was this incredible 1920s beaded bride's headpiece that resembles these...

Bellezza Storia Livejournal (scroll down until you come to the part about Kokoshnik  headpieces)

flickr

flickr

flickr

flickr

She had sent me a picture of it and I was like, "That's lovely!"  But when I saw it in person, I couldn't contain my excitement!  Huzzah!!  "Do you know what this is?!!!" I asked her!  I then set about finding photos of lovely 1920s brides wearing their "kokoshnik" headpieces!  It still has some very brittle waxed orange blossoms on the sides and two on the front.  The beading is not only on the front but it is fully beaded on the back as well. Crazy!

I would have loved to have seen this on the bride.  I can picture her wearing the fluff of tulle like the lady is sporting in this image from Fashion Era. 

You can really see the sweet orange blossoms here.  I so wish they were in better condition!

Close ups of the beading.  There are round pearlized beads and smaller iridescent seed beads.   

Mom also found this sweet heart of silk that I believe could have been a favor handed out at a wedding.  I have seen similar ones for sale on eBay and Etsy that were part of wedding decoration groups.  It's too thin to be a pin cushion, so Mom and I decided that a wedding favor it would be!

She was also on the look out for antique cake toppers and while this one is vintage and not very old, she said, "It looks like the one I had and you need one to get you started!"  Sound reasoning to me!  I love it and think it is sweet!

She also picked up this hat.  We have both decided it to be the most ridiculous hat as it is exceedingly small but the feathers are huge!!

That little velvet thing peeking out of the feathers?  Yaaaa...that's the size of the hat.

See how small?  I don't know if it was for a little girl or a large doll or if a lady just decided that this would be "the thing", but we find it fun!

Yesterday was such a fun day and I so didn't want it to end.  I am thrilled that I made a wonderful new friend and that we plan on getting together again.  Huzzah!  I am blessed that I have such an incredible Mama and that she thinks of me even when she is away.  Who do you have in your life who blesses you beyond measure?

Now if my allergies will leave me alone and not turn into a cold, I will be most pleased indeed!

Coming soon, pictures of the fencing outfit I finally completed....

Blessings to you my friends!

g

Victorian Orange Blossom Bridal Headpiece!!!

Good Wednesday to you all!  I hope you are doing well and happy!  I am hard at work working on the "Women in Sports" wardrobe for the fashion show that will have the same name.  The first installment is the Edwardian Fencing Outfit, which I will be blogging about when I get the jacket completed!  The Turkish bloomers are completed and they are super comfortable and adorably ridiculous!

But, I wanted to share with you my newest acquisition!  For one of my Victorian Underwear Education Programs, I am planning a "Dressing The Victorian Bride" program and have been slowly adding to my sweet antique and vintage Bridal/Wedding collection.  Today, in the mail, came my newest prize!!!!!  After assaulting the mail man because he was being too slow getting my package to me, I hunched my back to protect the package from the rain and felt not a little bit like Gollum as he hunched over the ring, whispering "My Precious, My Precious" to it.  Heavens, I must have been a sight!!  (Ok, so I didn't truly assault the mail man, but I was standing by the mail box jumping up and down, clapping my hands like a 3 year old as he drove up.  Yes, he does know that I am that special kind of crazy and still delivers my mail!!!  God love him!)

I ran inside and my children gathered around me to see what new and fabulous gem Mother had uncovered and it did not disappoint!  Out of the seriously fabulously packaged USPS box came this beauty!!!!!  

A Victorian Orange Blossom Wedding Headpiece.

I am not certain how old she is, but from the image pasted to the original box, I am guessing she could be quite old.

The images on eBay did NOT do her justice!  The long tendrils were very unceremoniously wrapped around the headpiece and sort of smashed.

I pulled the piece out of the box and began unwinding it and discovered that, yes indeed, those were tendrils, very similar to the ones in these fashion plates and photographs from the Victorian Era (One from the collection of one of my readers, Melinda Kovacs!!) 

Le Follet 1875 (From Melinda Kovacs)

The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine 1871 (From the Los Angeles Public Library)

Victoria of Baden's Wedding portrait 1881 (From Grand Ladies)

This photograph is from my collection.  It shows a lovely bride in a not-white bustle dress wearing an orange blossom headpiece with long tendrils on either side of her face!  Her husband has quite the fabulous boutonniere! Love it!!!

These blossoms and buds are so very interesting.  The other headpieces in my collection are waxed, but these are not.  The buds are an odd, super thin leather over cotton batting (yes, I sacrificed one of the small buds that fell off the piece....ACK!!!!) and the blossoms are a waxed or oiled fabric.  The tendrils are wired and wrapped in paper tape and the clusters are wired then wrapped with a thick thread...must have taken FOREVER to put them together!

The veiling is silk tulle that I purchased a while ago to make a lovely long veil to go with the dress I plan on making!

This side has a lovely cluster of blossoms, buds and leaves that the tendrils are attached to.

On this side are three interesting "swooping" sort of branches...but they are attached to the whole piece without looking added on, so... I am wondering if there weren't blossoms and leaves that got taken off?

View from the top....the left side is so very interesting!  

Another close up of the clusters...the leaves are also waxed or oiled... You can see here too the base of the piece that has been wrapped in heavy thread.

Pretty view from the back!

A small boutonniere came with the veil.  You can see really well here the way the buds were attached.  It looks and feels like brown wax was dripped at the base to resemble where the buds would have burst from the branches! 

View of the "C" clasp pin back.  The mechanism very closely resembles some of the very old (early bustle/NFE era) brooches in my collection.

Now comes the super cool part!!  I know, the head piece is awesome, but the box...THE BOX!!!!  I have never seen any bridal head piece with a box like this.  Most of the ones I have seen come in a flat box that has a paper lace insert, but this one...well, just take a look!!!

The lid has this lovely early bustle fashion plate pasted to it with silver bouillon trim that has patina'd (Patinad? Changed color) over time. 

The measurements are 10.5" deep, 7" wide, and 4" tall.  So quite a nice big size!  It is made of wood and very thick cardstock/paper, covered with a ribbed paper.

Inside is a card stock "holder" with a cotton ribbon at the top that I assume was used to tie the headpiece to the holder.

You can see here all the holes that, I would assume, were where a good sized thread was sewn around to keep the headpiece and tendrils secured to the box.  I would also think that the holes at the lower right were for the boutonniere. Who knows?

At the top, I am thinking a piece of glass or something similar was added so you could see into the box.  Maybe?

The only writing on the box.  Wish I knew who the maker was!

Headpiece and boutonniere in the box!

Here are the other two orange blossom headpieces in my collection...

This one came to me by way of a gift from a lovely friend named Melodye Kamplain.  It looks like it may have come from the late Edwardian era to the 1920s.  The blossoms are waxed petals and the buds are waxed dipped cotton batting.

This one has tendrils as well, but they are very much shorter.

The tendrils are made of fabric wrapped around wire and tipped with orange blossom buds.

You can see a good view of the base of the headpiece that is wrapped with thread...so cannot imagine doing this!

Headpiece might be from the 1930s/1940s?  This next piece I won in another eBay auction about 7 years ago.  It is not as lovely as the first two, but still makes me very happy as I am sure it crowned the head of a happy bride!

The flowers are made of wax, but the buds are a bead like material.

Sadly, the right side arch of the piece is missing quite a few blossoms.  The shape of this piece reminds me of the heart shaped hats of the 1940s.  Perfect for a wedding!

This too is wrapped in a thick thread.

Lastly in my orange blossom collection are these sweet clusters I found in an antique store in Port Townsend last March.  They have a few blossoms and a plethora of buds.  I may use them on the bodice of my dress when I get it made for decoration.  You never know!

I also used some clusters of orange blossoms to decorate my Elizabeth Bennet Wedding Bonnet.

Thank you for sharing my newest find with me!  Needless to say, I am very happy with her.  Oh!!  And I almost forgot the best part of the whole transaction....After nervously keeping an eye on the auction for 5 days, I won her for a whopping $19.99.  That's right.  Nineteen dollars and ninety-nine cents!!!!!  It was mis-labeled and in a very weird place, so I can only assume that's why no one else bid.  But I am soooooo NOT complaining!!

If you want to read a little about Orange Blossom wedding headpieces, go here.

I also have a Pinterest page Tiaras: Orange Blossom

I hope you all have a most wonderful rest of your week!

Blessings!

g

My "Allwin Collapsible Go-Cart"

Hello everyone!  I am still around, although sometimes just barely!  Working on the musical has definitely taken a huge chunk of time out of my antique and vintage sewing, but opening night is this coming Thursday!!  Huzzah!!  I have almost made it!  All the major pieces are completed and just minor things are needing to be attended to now!  I wish all my readers could be in the audience to watch these most talented ladies and gentlemen as the take the stage!  My heart just fills with delight as I watch them perform.  Don't fret, I will be doing a blog post about the musical when it is over!  I was able to find all of the dresses for the ladies in the music and drama wardrobe rooms and they were ALL vintage!!!  Some were late 30s but most were early 40s, so are working perfectly for the timeline that the director was aiming for!!  Laaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Yesterday after rehearsal and before I made it home to crash, I had to go to my favorite antique store, Something Special Antiques at Tolleth House to purchase hat pins to secure the hats to the ladies' heads for the musical.  As I walked up to the store I noticed this most divine baby carriage/pram/buggy/stroller.  My eyes popped out of my sockets and I immediately started to covet.  Bad I know.  I walked in and the first words out of my mouth to Gwen, the proprietress, were "I WANT THAT BABY CARRIAGE!!!"  She, in her usual way just laughed.  After acquiring my pins, I walked out the door and Gwen followed me and told me, "You know, this buggy collapses."

(World stops spinning.  Insect buzzing, birds chirping, dogs barking...all goes silent.  Everything goes into slow motion.  I think my heart stopped beating for a very slight second.......)

WHAT???  I mean, I'm sorry....what did you just say?  

Ok.  I have been on the look out for some time for a lovely, sweet, baby buggy to use in one of my fashion shows.  I am wanting to do a show that has an expecting lady (so I can make a maternity wrap) and then a mother and her baby.  All the prams/buggies I had been finding were the lovely wicker ones that are HUGE!  Well, my house is full to bursting at the seams from all my "hobby" things, so was having a hard time justifying bringing a big buggy home.  But a super fabulous, thing-I-had-never-even-heard-of-or-didn't-even-know-it-existed, COLLAPSIBLE one?  Oh heck ya!!!

Sooooooooo, guess what came home with me?

Yup.

And here she is!!!

The Allwin Go-Cart!!  Manufactured in the early 1900s.

All folded up.  I honestly didn't know that those Edwardians were that inventive!!  I had a collapsible stroller for my boys when they were babies/toddlers, but in my naivete assumed they were a newer invention! 

I should have taken measurements, but I totally forgot to and I'm in bed so I'm not going to run back down and take them....I will guess that when folded flat, it's about 10" thick...

The wheels fold under it!!!  How totally cool!  I get this stupid grin on my face every time I set it up or take it down!!!

To set it up, the handle needs to be pulled back to it's locked position.  As the handle goes back, the wheels open up. (For scale, I can easily place my hands on the handle without having to bend over or reach down.)

After the handle is back and the wheel are out, the canopy frame can be moved into position.

The sides go up next.

Bracket on side panel....this slips over a bold end.

Bracket and bolt end...

All joined together!

The back support goes back and the foot spot goes forward.  

Here is how the front fits into the sides...the metal attached to the front pieces slips into a groove of a piece that is attached to the side pieces!

The fabric on mine that covers the depressed space at the front for older toddlers' feet has shrunk so the snaps that are attached don't reach the snaps on the front part...

Depressed space for older children's feet.

The front piece of the fabric has snaps that would have snapped to the other side of the snap that was attached to the front piece.

Ta-Da!!!!

The seat portion of the pram is lightly padded.  I am assuming the back part was padded as well.

The manufacturer's plaque. 

I decided for fun to put a baby in the Go-Cart!  Greg's Grandma Faye got her for Christmas in 1924!  She is a beautiful dolly and Grandma took very good care of her!  I found the Christening dress at my other favorite Antique Store, Antique World Mall a few months back.  The bonnet I got in Indiana about 17 years ago!  Everything is a bit big on Dolly, but I don't think she cares...

Sweet Dolly!  She is a really good size...actually like a small baby!

Here the Go-Cart has the back laid flat so baby can sleep.

Nap time!!

I remembered seeing this image in a book I have, "Hulton Deutsch Collection, 150 years of Photo Journalism, Volume 1".  The nanny is carrying a folding stroller!!!  Holy awesomeness Batman!!!

 I did a lot of research online concerning my new acquisition and sadly only came up with a few references to this particular Go-Cart.

Spokane Daily Chronicle, July 1, 1908

Spokane Daily Chronicle June 21, 1909

The Iron Age, Volume 79

Here is my Pinterest board on the subject:

Allwin Collapsible Go Cart

I am so very thrilled with the newest find!  I asked my husband to help me restore it to its original beauty.  I don't plan on selling it, so it doesn't need to remain in the condition it is in now.  I want it to be happy and shiny once again!!

I am thinking also of filming myself setting it up and breaking it down.  It is truly a very fascinating process to behold!

Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday my friends!!

Blessings!

g