I read blogs

I’m in a bit of a forties funk at the moment, as you may have noticed. Partly because I’m packing, there are going to be extensive renovation of the plumbing in our house and we can’t live at home for five weeks, starting on Monday. I’m not very happy about that. And partly because I started to read up on makeup history and got a bit submerged in the subject. I will try to pull myself together and write something interesting soon. Meanwhile I would like to point you to my friend Eva’s blog: Evas liv, med sömsmån. You may have seen her previous blog, Om stil, though it was only in Swedish. This one has both Swedish and English text.

Eva is a doctor in history with a special interest in fashion, both very old and not so old. She has a wonderful sense of style and I’m constantly in awe over her sewing productivity, especially considering all the other things in life she has to juggle with. She is also a very nice person and writes very well, so go and have a look!



(The name of the blog is a pun; liv in Swedish means both bodice and life, so the title can be read either as Eva’s bodice pattern with seam allowance, or Eva’s life.)

I read blogs

I read Garofit’s A Cat Among the Pigeons. I love her style and feel a bit envious the way she can wear the, for me so difficult, 30’s fashion. I especially like her knitted ensemble’s that her talented mother knits for her, like this one or this. She doesn’t post often, but her posts are always stunning!

I read blogs

I read Solanah at Vixen Vintage. She has an incredible style sense as well as a seemingly endless wardrobe. Reading her blog is truly inspirational, shock full of beautiful photographs as it is. There is also some tutorials- only today I got the tip on how fill a vintage with loose powder that you press.

I read blogs

I read Aimee and Harriett’s Bright Young Twins, The Lives of two best friends stuck in a time warp. They have an absolutely amazing sense of style and know how to take pictures of it too (I’m envious) There are many, many, posts I’d like to point you to, but I choose Tea Time!, because they review a book I really want, 'The Vintage Tea Party Book by Angel Adore.

Meanwhile there will a bit of a lull on this blog for two more weeks. After October 22, when the big masked ball has arrived and I have finished my costume, I will get back to a more interesting posting schedule. At the moment I spend every free moment stitching silk velvet and getting more and more convinced that I’m quite insane to choose such fiddly fabric for a very big 18th century gown…

I read blogs

I read What-I-Found, Vintage sewing and fashion ephemera with a few other finds from my travels. It’s a treasure chest, actually. Tina posts pictures, articles and parts of books over a variety of vintage subjects. There are a lot of posts I really like, but as I plan my 40’s bedroom, I found this post on 1943 home decorations particularly interesting.

I read blogs

I read Diary of A Vintage Girl . You probably do too, but if not, then I think you should go and have a look. Fleur look like she has stepped out from a glamorous Hollywood movie and indeed she work as a model, so there are a lot of eye candy to be found in her blog. She’s smart too and writes eloquent and thought provoking posts about dressing vintage, like this one. I first found her when I was looking for hair tutorials and then I got hooked.

Hairstyling how-to's

Would you like to make this 1946 hairdo? Well, look no further than under the cut to get the instructions. I do love this kind of instructions that show both how to set the pin-curls and how to brush the hair. It really shows how much different sets had an impact on the final hairstyle. I’m not sure how easy this is to do on yourself, but it’s still very interesting.

I read blogs

I read Debi’s My Happy Sewing Place. If you have the slightest interest in vintage patterns, then you have to read this blog. Debi is incredibly productive as well as talented and her blog is truly inspirational. She is also generous, as of this week she will have a weekly giveaway on vintage patterns that she has already made herself. How awesome is that? See this week’s entry here.

I won an award!

The Rules

1—Thank the person who gave you the award
2—Share 7 Random things about yourself
3—Tag several other blogs that you've discovered recently.


The Gratitude
Thank you to Formerly Modern. Check her out, she has some very nice outfit photos!

The Seven Random Facts
1. I have a BA in the Swedish equivalent of English and I read constantly and usually more than one book at the same time.
2. I work with public relations for a small train company. I had never planned to work with trains, but sort of slipped in on that career and found I liked it.
3. When I don’t bury myself in the 1940’s you will probably find me in the 18th century instead.
4. I love shoes. I culled drastically last year but still own more than 40 pairs.
5. I have no formal training when it comes to sewing- I have learned by trial and error, but I have some pattern construction under the belt.
6. I’m a night owl.
7. I’m a cat’s person, but despite having five cats I’m not really a crazy cat lady. It was just that I had two cats and my darling had three and you can do the math… And as I have refrained from showering you with cat pictures until now, I will now take the opportunity to show some:

I read blogs

I read Susan´s Diary-Vintage Style Meets Heavy Music. It’s a small blog, but very cute and I really think it ought to interest more people. The focus is on the 40’s and 50’s and there are a lot of vintage photos. My favourite posts is the one where a number of Gil Elvgren's pin-ups are compared to the photos of the real models.

I read blogs

I read Casey’s Elegant Musings . Odds are that you do as well, but if not, then you have something nice to check out. I have been following her for years, since the time she made historical clothes at LiveJournal and I have always been impressed by her ability to do beauty whatever she do, seemingly without effort. She is beautiful as well and very kind and helpful. There are always something interesting to read in her blog, among other things she do lovely tutorials, they are very informative and easy to follow. It was almost impossible for me to pick a favourite post, but as I know many struggles with pin-curls, here are a post about that. . Especially helpful if you have thick hair as pin-curls seem to behave very differently depending on your hair quality.

If anyone wonders which blog a spotlight then I can tell you that I spin my bloglist through a random generator and use that order. I will need to re-do that now and then as I add new blogs. I’ll try to do one every week, so sooner or later I should go through them all.

I read blogs

I read Sew Retro. It’s not a private blog, but a blog for anyone who likes to sew retro and vintage clothes. You don’t have to have a blog on your own to post there, so if you sew and want a place to show off, but not a blog, then Sew Retro is a great place. You do need a Blogger account, but you know that you can have that even if you don’t blog, right? Being a compilation blog, so to speak, I won’t point you to any particular post. Just go there and browse. I have found a number of great blogs through it!

(Talk about repetitive use of the word blog…)

I read blogs

I had a little Easter break, so this post that was planned for Friday, comes today. I hope you don’t mind. Kafferepet is a blog in Swedish, but all posts have a short summary in English, so please, take a look. Miriam is 20 years old and tries to live like she lived during the Golden Era. She looks lovely and there are lots of great photos to look at, even if you don’t understand the language. I’m very partial to her posts about Stockholm, the vintage way, like this post.

I read blogs

I read Charlotte’s Tuppence Ha'penny Vintage. It is a lovely blog where you can read just about anything vintage. Gorgeous clothes on the very pretty Charlotte, for example. Lots of nice pictures period. It was not easy to pick a favourite post, but as I recently talked about the difficulties in finding the right shoes, I will point to Guide to vintage style shoes, Part 1 and Part 2. I can only applaud all the time and effort in not only finding gorgous period pictures of shoes, but also where you can find their modern twins!

I read blogs

I read blogs. You read blogs. Well, at least you read this, don’t you? I read them for inspiration, to learn something or getting another point of view. The problem is finding them. Most of the blogs I read I know about because their writers have found me. Someone put my blog on their reading list, I go and look and find something new. Then I find blogs because someone talks about them and I get curious. Or I google for something and find an interesting blog that way. I blithely assume that you too like to find new blogs, so I thought that I every now and then, would highlight a blog I read and like. Hopefully you will find a new favourite that way. Also, I know how happy I get when my blog is mentioned elsewhere, so I hope I can make someone else happy that way.

The first blog I would like to highlight is Lina Sofia’s Spiffing Sporadics of a Vintage Girl . Lina Sofia is a fellow Swede, relocated to Britain and she writes about a number of vintage related topics, with a focus on the forties and fifties. Apart from being pretty and stylish, she also has a knack of finding truly inspirational pictures. One of my favourite posts is this one; Colour me 40’! , on popular colour and colour combinations.

There is only one thing weird with this blog- the amazing fact that not more people read it!