Blue hat, red sweater

In the bottom of a box filled with hat supplies I inherited from my grandmother I found a blue hat. At first glance it looked a complete wreck, badly smashed up and very dusty, which is no wonder as it has probably been there for 50 years or more. On closer examination I found that it was in pretty good shape, despite it looks, so I decided to try to renovate it.

"Exotic" beauties

The good old days weren’t always so good. Making a bid for fame when your ethnicity wasn’t white meant less screen time, stereotypical portrayals and losing roles to white actresses. Lena Horne lost to Ava Gardner in Show Boat in 1951 and Anna may Wong to Luise Rainer in The Good Earth in 1937. And some, like Merle Oberon, hushed down their heritage to ensure a better career. This post are for these beautiful and talented women. I hope you don’t mind if I reach back a little- some pictures are from the 1920’s and 30’s.

Sewing tricks and planning and some patterns

I have been lamenting my lack of sewing time- I have felt that I never have time to sew. Working full time, having a family to take care of, having to do household chores. Woe is me as I had a terrific pity party. Then I sobered up a little as I probably have as time as anybody else, I’m not exactly alone working and keeping house. So, no reasons to feel sorry for myself, but there was still the fact that I don’t manage to sew as much as I like. And as a letter in the mail, Debi guest blogged about the very subject at Tilly and the Buttons. It really gave me food for thought and one thing I realized is that I put my sewing time way back on my to-do lists.

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.

New shoes

I just got two pair of shoes I ordered from Dance Store, to be able to cross off black walking shoes and white canvas shoes from my list. I have never ordered from them before, but only heard good things and I’m very pleased with my shoes. If you ordered, read the sizing tips for the shoe you are interested in. I have a European size 41 which is usually 9 ½ in USA. However, the canvas shoes I ordered in size 10 as that was recommended and I find that both my shoes fit perfectly. Another thing to bear in mind is that dance shoes needs to be re-soled if you are going to wear them outside the ball room.

Meet Lipton

He is a five-year old Shetland Sheepdog who, as of Friday, will bes our dog. We already know him very well as we have dog-sat him when his owner’s have been on vacation. Now a developed asthma makes it impossible to keep him and we were asked if we could consider taking Lipton in. We have been thinking of getting a dog for some time, so it was very easy to say yes. Lipton is a lovely, well-behaved dog and it will be so much fun to have him. He also gets along well with the cats. Mats love and adore him (he was raised by a dog) and the others treat him with indifference. In Page’s case indifference as long as he keeps away for the cat food. And it will be so beneficial for me to have to walk a dog every day.

To tie it all to the 40’s, here are some nice pictures with dog from the period.

Trousers

Trousers in the 1940’s were by no means a staple in a woman’s wardrobe, though due to the war, they became a bit more common, due to practicality. We are still decades from where we are today and many women never wore trousers at all. My Mum once told me that her grandmother who was born in the 1880’s and lived to be almost 80, never owned pair trousers in her whole life. Trousers, with few exceptions, belonged to sportswear and for casual occasions. For the whole of the four years my wardrobe plans span, there are only two pair of trousers planned, the first one being part of an ensemble consisting of trousers, jacket and a skirt in brown gabardine.