the little farm vintage

Farm Update - the Short and Sweet Version

 

I now have two Alpacas...apparently one of them is completely unimpressed with having his photo taken.  

They have arrived on the farm to guard the wee ruminants as well as to provide me with fibre that I'm not allergic to (as opposed to the fibre of one of the aforementioned wee ruminants...) Their names are Peanut (heretofore known as Peanut the Unimpressed) and Brownie. They came with the names along with the lovely, ready to be sheared coats.

I must now find someone to shear them, enrol in a spinning class (not the one my poor, neglected cardiovascular system wishes I was enrolling in, unfortunately,) find carding equipment, find a spinning wheel and learn how to skirt Alpaca fleece, not in that order.

Public Service Announcement: Alpaca ownership is a gateway to accumulating more crafting paraphenalia. Consider yourself warned.

 

Happy crafty hoarding!

xox Elle

Studio Busy-ness

 

It's been a productive couple of days in my wee studio, getting things all set up and ready to go. I finally made myself a dedicated photography space which makes me twelve kinds of happy.

 

 

Oh look, there's me...looking all happy...standing-in for myself to check my lighting. (You may recognize the dress from this post.)

 

 

I've been working on getting a few things ready for the relaunch of the shop. I managed to stumble into some items from the Victorian era through to the Twenties at an antique store...yes really. Three boxes worth...yes really. (I know, I'm still having trouble believing it.)I was on my way to a local pub with one of my closest friends for lunch and a pint and we decided to pop into a little antique store and there they were.

The moral of this story: always pop into hole-in-the-wall antique shops and Guinness is a vintage clothing girl's best friend. Anyhoo, this is a silk dress that I wish, wish, wish I fit into. Alas, I do not.

 

 

Here's a bit of a mystery for you. I posed the question on my Instagram already, but if any of you have any ideas I'd appreciate the insight. Included with those clothes was this Victorian era nightgown. It has a name and a number handwritten on the bottom of it. I'm wondering what would be the reason for this? Could the 88 be 1888? Any info would really be appreciated!

 

 

And finally, one of my latest creations. I'm really loving these collars and I think I'm going to have to make myself a couple of high necked, full skirted dresses to wear them with this spring!

 

Happy Saturday everyone!

xox Elle

Yes Please

Well, the arrival of two Alpacas (one of whom strongly resembles Bart Simpson) and some minor barnyard flooding due to a torrential downpour this weekend mean I still don't have any photos to show you of my completed Sew for Victory blouse. She will be finished tonight, mark my words, oh yes she will!

In the meantime I thought I would start a new little feature here on the blog. My "Yes Please" list will run the gamut from housewares to hats and everything in between. I hope you enjoy!

 

(Apparently I have a bit of a thing for pink...)

I would wear this blouse tucked into a light grey pencil skirt. Add a lightweight off white cardi and it would be the perfect summer/office with an airconditioner outfit. So darling!

Pink Blouse from 1932 Vintage

 

 

A pink Fifties clock radio! I'm so tempted to snap this up and decorate my bedroom around it. Pink, white and touches of gold. It would be so gorgeous!

Midcentury Pink Clock Radio from DragonflyGypsySoul

 

 

I don't know that I would actually use this for the techniques and recipes (although I do love to bake.) Instead I might just buy it to frame and hang in my kitchen. The cover is just that cute!

Wilton Cake Decorating Book from DreamLandEtsy

 

 

This is probably completely obvious but I would definitely be pairing these little beauties with the blouse above. Slightly whimsical, totally girly and all vintage. I'm in love!

Pink Fifties Rose Earrings from livinvintageshop

 

I won't be doing any shopping for a wee bit - the critters around my place have been eating up my Etsy funds...literally, but if you happen to snap any of these pieces up, please let me know so I can live vicariously through you!

 

Happy coveting!

xox Elle

 

A Quick "Hi" and Some Cute Hair

While there has be a whole lot of Forties focus on my blog lately, my absolutely favourite era for sewing patterns is the Fifties. While I adore the styles of the Thirties and Forties, my bust-to-waist-to-hip ratio places me firmly in the Fifties in terms of silhouettes that suit my bod.  With that in mind I present you with some lovely Fifties hair inspiration (how's that for an awkward segue? I was hoping you hadn't noticed...ummm...oh look...cute hair...)

 

I think there's definitely a ponytail with a ribbon in my future this weekend!

Happy hairstyling!

 

xox Elle

ps I have no idea where I found this illustration. If you know, please let me know and I'll pop a credit up here. Thanks!

Snippets of my Sewing Room

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm in the midst of a full house orgainization project. While some may choose to start such a project in the kitchen or the closet, I chose to start mine in my sewing room. I have projects scattered all over the house, so my reasoning was that if I had somewhere for those projects to live while I wasn't working on them, my home would be tidier. I'll let you know how that goes. Currently this is the only room that doesn't look like a bomb hit it. It's pretty, smells all lovely and girly and is organized. I'm tempeted to grab a blanket and start sleeping on the floor...

 

 

I have all of my trim organized by colour in these wonderful boxes from Michaels. They're usually on sale for only a few dollars each and they come in lovely patterns and colours and have a handy little metal taggy thingy for labeling the contents. I love them. 

 

 

My button collection has always been a nightmare. If I had just been content to sit and ogle their sparkly loveliness, keeping them in one container would have worked perfectly. My vintage buttons are used for projects though so I needed a way to quickly see what I had available to me. I organized them in one of these handy dandy small bits storage cases. Each drawer has different coloured buttons in it. Labels will be attached soon, but as you can see, it's easy to tell which colour is in each drawer. My buttons on cards are stored in one of the boxes I mentioned above but I'm thinking of organzing them into an inexpensive photo album so I can easily see what I have. I'll store this beside the cabinet.

 

 

My pin board is home to a few different collections. I keep my vintage belt buckles here so I can see them for inspiration when I'm making something that requires a belt. I have some random pretty things hanging there too. Old button cards with floral motifs on them that I love, vintage thread that is well past being useful but that I like the look of and a little laminated card from my Dad that reads "In the midst of chaos lies creativity." He knows me well...

 

 

I have a number of sewing related things on the board as well, including some needle books, a random scallop template and a chart of embroidery stitches that I  found in a vintage pattern envelope. (I once found a WWII soldier's discharge card which, after doing my best Inspector Clouseau impression, I managed to return to one of his family members. Cool things can be found in vintage pattern envelopes...keep your eyes open!)

 

 

Cool things can also be found in thrift stores. I picked up these Frances Hook prints for a dollar each a while back and I love them. There are a few on Etsy right now if you're a fan of her work. I just love the 60's big eyed innocence and...well...kittens!

Well, that's it. I hope you've enjoyed the peek into my little oasis and I hope that it may have given you a few ideas for creating your own island of creative calm.

Happy organizing...or sparkly button gazing, whichever your preference may be.

xox Elle

 

Steady as She Goes, a Deadline Extension and a Couple of Ruminants

Just a wee post updating you on my Sew for Victory 2.0 project.

The muslin came together really well and fit almost perfectly with only my usual Erect (or short) Back Adjustment to be done. (I think I'll do a post on this adjustment at some point because there's very little information out there on the Interwebs about it and I can't be the only one who stands up really straight...)

It's an interesting pattern. The front piece is cut in one layer on the bias and both back pieces are cut on the grain. It's one of the earlier printed patterns (late 40's,) which makes things easier but as you can see in the photo above, the instructions leave something to be desired. I especially like the random arrows pointing all over the place to the illustrations. Nothing like a vintage pattern to make you think you're losing your marbles...anyway, if I ever get it finished (ack!) I'm sure it will be lovely.  Thankfully Rochelle let me know last night that she has extended the sewalong deadline to May 5th, so my frantic Pinot Noir-fueled sewing evening ended with a deep breath and an early bedtime.

I don't have any photos of the blouse in progress for you (I tried, but they just looked kind of meh) so instead I will leave you with photos of the two newest recruits to my minion ranks.  

 

Meet Bogie the lamb and Baby Bacall the goat.

 

They're a couple of orphans who were rescued from auction in mid-March and ended up in the cab of my pickup truck after I stopped at my local feed store for some hay for the horses and ran into a rather confused woman who had them in her mini-van.

 

 

Here they are seconds after I said "sure, they can come home with me" and seconds before I thought "what the hell have I just done?" Scruffy, one week old and wearing sweaters made of work socks. How could I not take them?

Although their arrival was totally unplanned, they're absolutely amazing, endlessly entertaing and welcome additions to my little farm.  They're pretty high-maintenance for minions-in-training though.  I have to bottle feed them twice a day and I've ended up recruiting two wonderful Alpacas to watch over them.  There are too many coyotes in my neck of the woods to leave them in the pasture alone. I'll now have wool and Alpaca fibre at my disposal once I find someone to shear them and somewhere to process the fibre. This may all land me squarely in the poorhouse, but for now my rose coloured glasses world view is chalking it up to a win.  I'll keep you posted!

 Happy ruminating (hee hee...couldn't resist. Although I recognize that I probably should have.)

xox Elle