dolin bliss

Holy Hawaiian Dresses!

Here's a quick little post for your enjoyment...

Here is a sneak peak at the great vintage hawaiian print dresses that I scored at a thrift store today!  Six dresses!  That never happens.  Anyhow, keep an eye out on my Etsy store, because all but one of these babies will be going up for sale.  They will be perfect for spring picnics, drinks at your favorite tiki bar or summer poolside parties.  They will be going in within the next week.  A couple of them might get shortened, because they are a weird unflattering mid-calf length.  

Here is a fun link to check out when you have some time, Snippets.  It is an online magazine that is part of the crafty website Cut Out and Keep.  I haven't taken a lot of time to peruse the entire site, but I thought I would share, since I just stumbled upon it.  

Hello Again and a Refashioned Cashmere Sweater

OMG!  Has it been almost two months since I have posted?  Where has the time gone and what have I been up to?  Geez!  I don't have much of an excuse, but I have been concentrating a bit more on some freelance work.  

I have always wanted to be the one that keeps a journal religiously, and can look back years later at all my oh so interesting entries.  But I have never been good at it and the entries end up feeling way to self conscience and not at all interesting.  I guess that is kind of how I have started to feel about my blog.  Don't get me wrong, I love blogs!  But sometimes I feel like I don't have much to say and don't want to bore you.  I need to change my way of thinking about it all and just blog and create things to blog about.  So here goes!

On that note, I do have something to share, that was quick, easy and fun.  On a recent thrift store outing I found this great pink cashmere sweater for $5!  BUT, it was a tad to small, bummer!  I held onto it while I finished my shopping, not sure if I should put it back or buy it (I also was holding the exact same sweater in a pale turquoise, that I am kicking myself for putting back).  I decided to buy it and figure out what to do with it later.  I brought it home, washed it and set about figuring out what to do with it.  

Since it was a tad small, I thought, why not make it into a open loose cardigan.  So I carefully removed the ribbing at the neck.  Just so you know most sweaters (especially ones made from nicer fibers like merino wool, alpaca and cashmere) are fully fashioned.  Well, what the heck does that mean?  You ask.  A fully fashioned sweater means that all the pieces used to make it up are knit to shape (unlike, a tee shirt which is cut to the shape you want), then those pieces are linked together (which is like sewing them together).  Anyhow, this means you can carefully take apart most sweaters without the pieces coming unraveled.  Just a little tidbit for you to know.  Sorry for the tangent.  I removed the rib around the neck and cut a straight line up the center front.

Since I cut the center front of the sweater, I needed to finish off the edges somehow, otherwise the garment would start to unravel.  I had this vintage fabric with pink flowers, that went with the sweater.  So I cut a couple of bias strips to make binding, to finish off the front edges.  

Now what to do about the neck and closure of this cardigan... How about a great shawl collar that become the ties to close this puppy up.  

Here is a close-up of the shawl collar.  It is basically a wide bias band folded over, then I sandwiched the neckline of the sweater between the two layers of the shawl.

WOOHOO!  A great new cardigan to bring welcome Spring in.

Thrifting fun stuff and book reading

I have recently found some fun housewares at thrift stores and wanted to share them with you.  

- Matthew found this one for me and I snatch it up so quickly... A Le Creuset 8" covered skillet!  It was marked $9.99, but I had a coupon so it was only $5.  This is one thing I am keeping for myself.

- Two Monterey Jade mugs.  I just love the colors in these.  I am not sure what I am going to do with these, I really don't need them.

- A Franciscan vegetable split serving dish, in the Tulip Time pattern.  I will be putting this in my Etsy store later today.

- A DeForest of California wise old owl decorative plate.  

- And of course more Vera Neumann... two vinyl placemats which are so bright and cheery.  This to, will be in my store later today.

Now that I don't commute 3-4 hours a day, my reading has suffered.  I love to read, but it is hard to find time to do it.  I usually read every night in bed, but depending on how tired I am, I get at the most 30 minutes of reading done (but, lets be serious... most days it is about 10 minutes).  So now it takes me forever to finish a book and if the book totally doesn't capture my attention I don't usually finish it at all.  I was reading my friend Karens' blog and she mentioned a book that I have read before but it has been at least 15 years, "Talking Through my Hats" by Lilly Dache.  I remember loving that book and really wanting to read it, but I don't own a copy and when I looked it up on Amazon and Ebay it was a bit pricey for my budget right now.  I thought I would check my local library but thought there is no way they would have a obscure 1946 autobiography by a milliner.  I also wanted to see if they had any out of print needlepoint/embroidery books, so I gave it a shot.  Well, I hit the jackpot!  Not only did they have "Talking Through my Hats", a whole bunch of vintage needlepoint books, I also discovered "In my Fashion" by Bettina Ballard.  I checked out way too much stuff, but there were still tons of vintage sewing and tailoring books I need to look through.  I love my library!  It is a combination city and university library, so they and 3 floors of research books (which is where I found all this great stuff).  

Pom Pom Fringe, Wooden Spools and Knitting Needles...

Just a little hint of the many crazy things that are on my mind and don't make a whole lot of sense all together.  Well, I guess they do all have the crafting thing in common.  Oh yeah crafting, what is that?  So sorry it has been a bit uninspiring around these parts lately.  I am in a crafting slump and don't know what to do with myself to get out of it.  I have quite a few projects that I do want to finish, but when it comes time to pick them up and work on them, I just don't get that far.  Ugh, it is driving me crazy!  I know that my new Etsy shop has been taking up a lot of my time, but not all of it. 

-How my brain feels!  I recently found a big ol' bag of pom pom fringe at a thrift store for only $2.  This is only half of it.

I also need to figure out the direction I want to take this here blog.  I don't want it just to be all about my new store (which it has been lately), but I do want to share things that are exciting to me (my store included).  To let you in on the big picture... This is all stemming from my sort of indecision on what direction I want to focus my creative energy on, which was the original focus of this blog.  I tend to dabble in all sorts of crafty stuff, but never for too long, 'cause I get bored.  But I feel like if I want to get serious about where this creative energy will take me and hopefully be able to make a living on it, I need to get serious with something.  I am just blathering on now and sorry if it is boring.  I am sure there will be a bit more of this "sortin' my stuff out", in the coming weeks or months, but I will try and keep it to a minimum.

A few images of me playing around with my camera in my studio (read between the lines here... PROCRASTINATING!):

-Some of the many wooden thread spools I have collected over the years.  What to do with them all?  Any ideas?

- I love my vintage Bauer Pot that holds my mixed collection of old and new knitting needles.  My dad gave me this pot, he called me one day saying he thought I would like this pot he found...  Yes, I said that "he found".  Someone had thrown this beauty in the trash.   

- Oh pretty pom pom rainbow!  Fooling around with my bag o' pom pom fringe.  

Here is a new site/blog I just discovered Colette Patterns.  I have been reading her other blog for a while now and found out through there, that she is starting her own pattern company.  I can't wait to see what she will have to offer.  She has great personal style, so I am sure her patterns will reflect that.

Some recent thrifting finds

Not a whole lot of crafting going on, but I have found some fun things recently while thrifting.  

I had not heard of this girl detective series before and the book title "The Clue in the Patchwork Quilt" was what caught my eye.  So I bought both of them and looked up Margaret Sutton when I got home and was pleasantly surprised with my finds.  The fabric the books are on was also found at the same store, it is two drapery panels that are in great condition.  I will probably take them apart and use the fabric for something else.  

Such a fun book, I only found Volume 3 of four and will have to look out for the others.

I love this find... this is the inside cover of "The Complete Book of Home Modernizing", published in 1953.  There are so many great pictures and drawings in this book, I have just leafed through it and took a couple of pictures of what this treasure has to offer.

Jealous of these modern interiors!

And I have to leave you with two pictures of our dogs on Halloween.  I know, you are probably sick of dog pictures already, but I couldn't help myself.

The hats didn't last long on either of the dogs, we were hoping they would wear them for the tricker treaters, but no go.  

A quick weekend trip...

to the 104 temp of Modesto, CA!  Not my first choice of a weekend trip, but we had a wedding reception to go to.  One of Matthews ex-co-workers got married in August in Buffalo, New York.  Her family is from Modesto, so they had a wedding reception out here this past weekend.  It was a nice evening and a pretty early night.  So the next day we decided to hit the Modesto thrift stores!  There were some treasures to be had, here are some of them:

This is a gem, it is a paper craft book for kids, published in 1944.  I love the illustrations inside.  Take a look at the inside cover:

I found a great covered pyrex divided casserole dish.  I am not sure if I am going to keep this one, but is sure is cute:

Then what thrift store trip would be complete without some vintage linens:

A fun set of 4 orange flower print napkins, that I will be selling and a fabulous turquoise/green sheet.

And this unopened orange/gold Vera sheet.  

I also found a ton of vintage patterns that I need to go through and decide which ones I am going to keep and sell the rest.  I have way to many vintage patterns but I can't seem to stop buying them.  So I have decided that I need to weed through the entire collection and sell the ones I don't love or have repeats of.  

We had a wonderful day together.

Some recent vintage finds...

As I am sure you already know or can guess, I have a thing for vintage fabrics and linens.  Oh, who am I fooling, I have a big time thing for almost anything vintage.  

Anyhow, I have found a few treasures recently while browsing the thrift stores:

Here are some fun and funky treats... I am thinking of using the second one from the top for some pillows in the living room, the turquoise color is close to the color I painted one of the walls.  

On to the vintage linens, I found all of these in one store and I could have bought more.  What a score! I am still not sure what I am going to use my growing vintage linen collection for, but I do I know an inspired idea will come to me sometime.  

The past couple of weeks I have been busy with some freelance work that I am really enjoying.  I have been doing the technical editing for a new sewing book.  This work is just right up my alley!  I have to read the instructions make sure they are clear to people with a range of sewing skills, from beginner to expert.  While comparing the instructions to the sample projects and the patterns.  AND the best part about this is that I get to do it all from home!  I am almost done with this project and would like to continue doing work like this. Let's hope they like my work.

Thrifting finds...

I have been so busy with work and home stuff that I haven't had a lot of time for much else.  I am looking forward to my big life change of leaving my corporate job and focusing my time on fixing up the house and planning our wedding (after the wedding I will focus on my own crafty business).  The countdown is on, only two more full weeks of this work left!  I did manage to squeeze in some thrifting in the last couple of weeks and here are some of my more interesting finds:

I saw a needlepoint bag like this on Tricia Royal's blog, bits and bobbins, a long time ago and fell in love with it.  Then I found my own for only $2.99!

I love vintage sheets and bedding... the bright colors and fun patterns make me smile.  I don't know what I am going to do with my growing collection, but I am adding a fitted sheet and pillow case that I recently picked up.

OOOHH!  My favorite find in the past couple of weeks is this "Brown Terra" patterned Pyrex casserole.  I am very happy to add this to my vintage Pyrex collection.

Rediscovered treasure!

I put an old box in storage and quickly forgot about it.  Ever happen to you?

Recently I decided to stop paying for a storage unit, so I needed to clean it out and move all my stuff to our house.  In some stolen spare moments I have been going through what was in my storage unit to get rid of some and to organize the rest.  I stumbled upon an old dirty beat up box and couldn't for the life of me remember what was inside and why I would save such a beat up box.  Then I opened it...

What is this pile of fabric scraps?!?!  Can you guess?

Yes, they are cut-out pieces for a quilt top from vintage fabrics dating from the 1930's to 1940's.  I found this treasure hidden away is a dirty old box at a flea market a few years ago and had big plans for making these pieces into a quilt.  Well, as you can see those big plans haven't quite happened yet.  The cut out pieces I bought are only the center square and the "star points" of the block (does anyone know the name of this block?).  Luckily there were a few finished blocks, so I knew what they should look like.  I will have to take one of the finished blocks apart to make the patterns for the white pieces.  I bought white fabric to finish cutting out these pieces and just need to actually do it.  It will be a big project, once I am able to get to it, but I wanted to post some images of the vintage fabric eye candy.

For some quilting inspiration check out Moonstitches Flickr images of the Tokyo International Quilt Festival.  Some really amazing stuff.  One of my favorites is this beauty.

Quick Little Vintage Tidbit...

I recently found this vintage pattern beauty, on one of my thrifting outings:

I love love love the styling of the A version!  The tie at the front waist and the tucks at the curved shoulder seam, these type of details you don't see on many modern designs. I want to make it in something soft and drapey.  I still need to actually check to see if the pattern has all it's pieces.  There have been many a times that I picked up some fabulous pattern and to find out later it is missing pieces.  Not really a big problem for me, since I am a pattern maker.  But it can be frustrating, if it is  important piece/s that go missing. 

One the home renovating front... the biggest issues I have with our house is living/dining room that was redone in the late 60's or early 70's.  It has all the ugliness of home decorating from that time period:

-faux wood paneling in a light beige/off white combo

-gold shag carpeting

-matching gold drapes with sheers and antiqued gold curtain rods

-and the topper, A FREAKING POPCORN CEILING!

While doing a little preliminary research on where to start with this room remodel we came upon this forum.  Just gotta love a forum out there uniting all the popcorn ceiling haters.  I learned a lot, but it has also brought up more questions.  I am pretty sure (based on the time period the popcorn was put up), that we have the type with asbestos, so the question is to test or not to test it.  If we test it and it comes back positive for asbestos then we only have to options, have it removed by asbestos abatement folks (very spendy) or remove it our selves (there are very detailed instructions and a lot of safety stuff to deal with).  We haven't decided what we are going to do yet, but I am leaning towards doing it ourselves, with the proper equipment and disposal, it could all be done in a few days. 

I will post some pictures of our oh so dated living room soon.