I wish I was a rich girl #6

After talking hat patterns I guess it's only natural with a hat post on hats you can actually buy. As always, the descriptions of the hats are from the sellers and may not be correct. Also, I have not bought anything from any of the sellers and have chosen hats solely after their look, not their price or condition.

Halo hat


Tilt hat. I think this hat Johanna has made looks quite similar.


Green felt hat


Tilted top hat


Purple picture hat


Straw hat


Wide brimmed hat


Spring hat


Navy felt hat


Red velveteen


Black felt hat with rope detail


Blue straw hat


Navy straw hat


Red felt hat


Brown felt hat


Polka dot and fur hat


Grey felted hat


Black picture hat


Navy halo hat

Hat patterns, part 2

Here are some rather nice hats from the 30's and 40's that are either knitted or in crochet. I’m a bad knitter and I have never been able to fathom crochet, but perhaps a hat would be a good project to start with. I really like that so many of these hats have a matching bag to go with them.

Vintage 1940s Crochet Pattern Clutch Purse & Fascinator Hat

Hat patterns, part 1

It may seem a bit daunting if you never tried it, but making a hat isn't very difficult. You don't have to work with hat stocks and steaming felt or straw- a hat can be sewn, knitted or in chrochet. And it isn't too difficult to find period patterns online. On Etsy you can find re-printed PDF-patterns for a few dollars. Printable patterns can be a bit of a hassle as you may need to cut and paste to get your pattern, but a hat is so small that you may not need to paste at all. Here are some of the 30's and 40's patterns that I like- there are more.

Pretty hat and posy made of leather

Lured 1947

I stumbled over this movie as I have a bit of a thing for George Sanders. I mean, what is not to love over suave bad boys with an English accent and a great fashion sense? He is so cynical and cool in All About Eve that you doesn’t realize until the very last scenes what a sinister character he really is. However, in Lured (also known as Personal Column) he seems to have been cast as first lover. The movie is a thriller- a serial killer lures young women through the personal columns and taunts the police with sending quotes of Baudelaire. Sandra (Lucille Ball) is a friend of the last victim that is drafted by the police to help with the investigation. While she answers various ads she encounters some more or less sinister people like a crazed fashion designer (Boris Karloff) and a butler that runs a white slavery rings. She also meets the playboy Robert Fleming (George Sanders) and his friend Julian (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). Sandra and Robert fall in love, but then evidence seems to point to Robert being the serial killer. Is that really true?

Thoughts on the spring/summer wardrobe

I have been mulling a bit over my spring/summer wardrobe. I spent yesterday cutting out the yellow and white sundress with a jacket, shorts and blouse. I love the fabric, yellow with tiny little umbrellas and I think it will look very nice and summery. Originally I had planned to use this pattern from NVL for the skirt, blouse and bolero:

Josephine Baker

I just re-read one of my childhood favourites, The Rainbow-children (1957). It’s a wonderful book and I think it’s rather odd that it isn’t a classic. The story is simple, the little hen Kot-Kot is black, when the other hens are white, and she has also lost an eye, which she hides with a piece of cloth. The other hens are very mean to her and don’t allow her inside the henhouse. Kot-Kot decides that she can’t be happy until she finds her missing eye and sets out in the world, asking everyone she meets to help her. Almost everyone is very kind to her, but not until she reach a wonderful castle and meets the rainbow-children, a group of siblings that comes from all over the world, does she realize that she doesn’t need to find her eye- if she accept who she is and that people loves her for that, she can be very happy anyway. She removes her cloth, stays at the castle and raises a brood of rainbow-coloured chickens.

A hat for every occasion

Alla kvinnors bok advices that hat style should be chosen according to hair and dress, but occasion should also be considered when choosing what to wear.

The boater or canotier is especially suitable for spring and summer. It can be worn simple or very elegant. If the latter, it can be decorated with a veil, flowers, or similar.

My handbags

A lot of people have been posting the contents of their vintage handbag. Here is what I have:

The handbag is in patent leather that I found on Ebay. The seller said it was from the 1970's, but it's such a classic handbag. It had never been used, when I opened it, it still smelled new. I use it a lot as it is big enough for a book.



A bit morbidly this handbag still contained the program from a dear friends funeral from last summer- clearly I don't clean out my handbags too often. A mirror that came with the bag, a comb and lipsticks. I notoriously forget my lipsticks in the bags, which is why this one contained three. Keys and wallet. A perfume sample from BPAL. A book, this one is an old favourite that I often re-read when I don't have anything else, Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones.

A few new perfumes

Some time ago I bought some perfume samples from Yesterday’s perfume, but for some reason I haven’t got around to review them. Here are a few of them.

Arpege by Lanvin (1927)

Top notes: Bergamot, neroli, aldehydes, peach.
Heart notes: Rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, ylang-ylang.
Base notes: Sandalwood, ambrein, vetiver, musk.

Lost in stars- Kurt Weill

I'm a little boring at the moment, I know. I got a cold that took it, for me, predictable course, and developed into bronchitis. I'm not a very happy girl at the moment. So I hope you will excuse a new music post in such a short time- I have spent a lot of time on Youtube lately.

If Andrew Sisters makes me happy, Kurt Weill's music is a bit more complex for me. I found it a bit here and there- it took me a while to realise that a couple of songs I had hear here and there actually had the same composer. The very first was a version of Surabaya Johnny, with a then very popular Swedish rock band, Imperiet.



Back then I was very attracted by the sense of longing and desperation that was conveyed and that I think that you can still here, even disregarding the rather 80's sound.

Fraulein Frauke presents La Belle Paris

It's time again on March 10 and this time Fraulein Frauke is themed La Belle Paris, giving us the choice if we want the "La Belle Epoque" or the roaring twenties. For some odd reason Fraulein Frauke always seem to take place the weekends I work, but I will take a tired Sunday again and go- it's worth it. I have always had a lot of fun, the atmosphere is great and the entertainment splendid.


I'm so, so tempted to make a new dress for it. I think I will have a go at it, but have a back-up plan as I know that deadlines isn't good for me. I could, of course, make a 20's frock quite easily, but my figure isn't really suited for that silhouette and I will probably just feel frumpy. La Belle Epoque on the other hand... I have been looking as pictures of Anna Held, Ziegfield's common-in-law wife and star and would love to make something along those lines.

Take a bath for beauty

It had been a while since I conveyed some of the beauty tips from Vivan Huber's Skönhet, so I dived into i again and feeling a bit chilly due to the winter weather I lost myself in the chapter about baths. We only have a shower and I miss my baths terribly, especially in the wintertime.

A bath should, the book says, if possible not be taken in the mornings- a shower is so much better to revive the spirits. If you really must, then make sure the bath is quick and the water lukewarm. A hot bath in the mornings before you go out may give you a cold. However, taking a bath in the evenings is very good for you as it helps not only against tiredness, but also nervosity, insomnia and headache. To promote the healthy effects even more, consider to add one the following suggestions;

The Andrew Sisters

I have talked about Puppini Sisters that uses The Andrew Sisters as inspiration and I’ve talked about
Brox Sisters who came before, so I think it’s about time to actually post about The Andrew Sisters.

Whoops- Happy Birthday!

I was completely sure that I started this blog in February 2011, but I was wrong. This blog first birthday has come and gone, on January 29. I would still like to take the opportunity to say thank you to my readers! I started this blog to keep a handy way to keep track on my wardrobe building, but it quickly evolved into a blog of whatever 1940’s I find interesting. Even with a few detours into other decades. I have had so much fun and I have learned so much! I hope you have too! I know this is still a rather small blog, but truly, it has grown more than I ever thought and it makes me very happy that so many of you find my blog interesting!