A New Era

It's time for more vintage enthusiasm, dancing, sewing, thrifting, surface pattern designing (pictured: Bubblegum Calico), European adventures, and *wait for it* my first home, built new to my design specifications! Keep an eye on my Instagram @creativelygraceful for all the exciting, inspiring things! As always...Make Everything Beautiful!

Shiny & Bright

My favourite part of Christmas decorating is the pure cheer of retro Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments!

Looker

I was recently talking with a dance friend, swooning about how another dance friend just gave her a dress, and then the following weekend I had the same blissfully benevolent fashion experience. Check out this new-to-me Stop Staring dress. It fits perfectly, is a very flattering cut, the fabric has a nice stretch to it, and its circle skirt is light and twirly. It could pass for 1940s or '50s. I am so excited to wear it!

Deco Pendant

I found this stunning Art Deco light fixture at a Tin Barn Market Flea for a mere $20. Swoon! I'm going to have it to rewire it, but oh even in the meantime using it with a battery tea light would be just fine. Look at those glam '20s details! I tell ya, this is going to be a dangerously Deco decade of thrifting finds for me!

On the Fringe

Here on the exhilarating brink of the '20s I am in full flapper outfit planning mode. I am browsing these stunning inspirational images on Pinterest and collecting any bits of fringe and glam textiles I can find. Charleston-friendly couture coming soon!

Pumpkin Satin

I have finally come across some pumpkin-hued satin in my second-hand perusing! The texture and colour are dreamy. My plan is to turn this scrap into a spaghetti strap shirt with a ruffle neckline. 

Silky

I am so in love with this silver-backed iridescent rust and violet patterned silk shawl. It looks like it could belong to her. Vibes of layered oriental rugs, leather ottomans, precious treasures, and starry nights...

Pumpkin Spice Blazer

Latest find! Rust velvet blazer for mere cents at the local thrift! To make this even sweeter, it's Marjorie Hamilton, vintage Canadian made. I'm drooling over the fact that I get to wear this!

Grey Goddess

Here's a detail shot of my latest sewing success! I'm wearing it to a wedding this weekend. This is one of those projects where I really wish I had remembered to take a before photo. This dress started as a voluminously large skirt from the local thrift (less than $1) that I chopped up and concocted, using every last scrap. As per my impulsively creative norm, I busted straight in to trial-and-error sewing, though that error was seemingly non-existent as this project was the most delightfully smooth, seam ripper-less sewing endeavour I have ever experienced. I just kept stitching along, chunk by chunk, and everything worked. The fabric was a dream to sew--it is the softest, flowiest, rayon-like cotton. I love the subtle sheen of the pattern over it. Creating that quilted bust panel, the puff sleeves, and the satin-meets-silk convertible sash were the highlights. In my mind I was imagining '30s/'40s glam meets Classical statue, and voilà, that's how it's sewn up.

Marble Rolling Pin

Marble rolling pin acquired from the local thrift for $1!

Vogue 1922

Sneak peak! I found this dress and plan to alter it into flapper frock inspired by this June 1922 Vogue cover.  

Now is the Time

"The item you see today and will dream about tonight will be bought by someone today who saw it yesterday and dreamed about it last night."
That is what the chalkboard said outside of Prince Edward County's Frugal & Company as I rushed in for a whirlwind 5 minute browse last summer. Darting my eyes around, I didn't have much time to think, and I am not one for an impulse buy--oh look a spectacular sunburst Syroco clock frame, $18, no clock, good condition otherwise, gold with brown tips, would prefer all gold, but how neat, time to go...oh no why did I leave it there?! When I got home I ruefully went on an Etsy and Ebay rampage to learn more about the funky mid-century Canadian made-item I passed up. I resigned myself to keep my eyes peeled and knew it would come back in to my life some day, some time, eventually. Well, surprise surprise, exactly a year later, it made its return. It was patiently waiting for me in my local antique mall. I wasn't looking. It is in pristine original condition. It actually has a clock. The clock works. The time came for it to come in to my life, and better than I had originally hoped. Oh how circular life is. It makes me laugh with thankfulness how God works like that--even in a whim of a thrift hunt! 

Thriftmaster

Ok people...I have found my dream truck model while strolling through a recent vintage car show. How perfect would it be for me to drive a '40s/'50s "Thriftmaster" around to haul chairs on antiquing jaunts?! The name is too good. I love their iconic chunky shape. Plus, mine, of course, would be some sort of cheery aqua hue. 

Liberty Scarf

Loving the pattern and flowy hand of this Liberty scarf! Also the blue and orange contrast is so cheery. I dug it out of a scarf pile at the local thrift store and was not surprised to see the name. That iconic illustrative style!

Strawberry Pin

A freshly picked pin straight from the ripe fields of the local thrift store...on William Morris' Strawberry Thief, naturally. 

Strawberry Mug

I recently found this cheery mug at the local thrift store for $2. More strawberry kitchen goodness!

Strawberry Shirts Forever

As per June tradition, the strawberries outside are flowering and I'm working on various strawberry themed creative projects. Here's a dress from Joe Fresh I found at a thrift store, shown partially deconstructed. I already own it in blue, so I decided to turn this pink version into a shirt. It will likely be a peplum crop top with puffy sleeves. I wish I knew the name of the surface pattern designer, as it is the fabric I love. It's like a fusion of my Strawberry Blonde and Splashy in Watermelon! Thank you, anonymous creative!

All that Jazz

I have been on the hunt to find or make a neon sign that says "jazz" but have not yet found what I have in mind. So in the meantime I have decorated a shirt to suffice. I found this cropped navy sweatshirt at the local thrift store. It originally had large white bell sleeves sewn under the sleeve ruffle. It was a cute design, but it looked absolutely dorky on me, and wouldn't be practical for working or dancing anyway, so I cut them out. I knew this navy was going to be the perfect background to have text stand out on, so I just needed to find some embellishment materials in the form of ribbon. In my stash I dug out some vintage poppy red lace bias and gold rickrack, both in their original packages. First I trimmed the sleeves with the lace, mainly to keep the raw edges of the knit from rolling, and to give the ruffle a highlight of the poppy red. Then I wrote with ribbon and sewed it on and voilà! As improvised and vibrant as the music itself. Off to spend the weekend dancing to vintage jazz!

Minxy Vintage

I found this book (or it found me), rather appropriately, at the local thrift store along with some clothes to repurpose. I highly recommend! It was exciting for me because there were so many moments of "Wow, this lady crawled inside my brain!" in terms of fashion philosophy and winging it to produce some sartorial statements. Here's a particularly well-expressed tidbit of fashion philosophy I have to share: "I can attest to the importance of finding clothes you can integrate into your existing style. I'm not about stridently holding up the ideals of other eras--the modern world is grand. It's precisely the mix of old and new that I love...And who wants to be, or slavishly replicate, a woman in the pre-feminist 1940s? Certainly not me...Long live our love for cherry-picking the best bits from the past, and making them new again: reinvention, rather than nostalgia. Whatever you do, just make sure you own it. Individuality is a quality to be admired."--Kelly Doust, intriguing point.

To Mother With Love

I'm celebrating with flowers and photography and tea and my favourite female today!