More Inspiration from Toast

When flipping through catalogues or perusing the internet for wardrobe inspiration my finds usually fall into one of two categories. One, I see something like a dress or a shoe or a hat that I would like to buy and add to my own wardrobe or two, I see something that while I don't want to buy it, it leaves an impression or sparks an idea. The new Built By Wendy collection, as seen a couple of posts back, falls into the first category. I literally want to own each and every piece in that collection. Flipping through the online Toast catalogue, I found many things that fit into the second category. I don't really see any particular piece that I would buy, but the images capture an overall idea of a color pallet and mood that inspires me. I take away from these images the idea that it would be fun to have a sunny yellow coat to brighten a dreary winter day. I would like to try wearing cream colored textured tights with a grey and black outfit to lighten things up a bit. I'm looking forward to knotting a long scarf high on my neck to block out the wind. I like the idea of wearing brown and black pieces together. I'm going to be on the lookout for a woolly sweater vest to layer over a long sleeve tee.

Today at Sally Jane Vintage

Here's a peek at a few of the pieces that will be listed in the store today. Lots of cute dresses, rompers and shorts for those last hot days of summer. Be sure to hop on over and check it out.

This is the last week I'll be posting these summer looks so snatch them up while they're still around. Starting next week, it's all Fall, all the time! All summer long I've been collecting wool skirt, chunky sweaters, and warm dresses and storing them away like a little squirrel. I can't wait to unveil all the pieces I've found. Thanks again for stopping by!

What I'm Wearing

dress: vintage
shoes: vintage
purse: vintage
sunglasses: vintage

It seems like it was forever ago that I received a perfectly wrapped package from Effie containing this lovely 50's dress. Of course as soon as I opened the package the temperatures soared to 90 degrees and I didn't feel like wearing anything with sleeves. Now that the weather has taken a bit of a turn this dress is perfect for crisp, sunny afternoons.

Autumn Inspiration

I have a gargantuan load of work waiting for me in the next room that doesn't leave much time for blogging today. Instead I'm going to leave you with this collection of photos from the Fall Built By Wendy collection. I wish I could have each and every piece! The collection encompasses everything I love about dressing for fall: little corduroy jumpers, printed mini dresses, girly blouses layered under dresses, chic plaid shirts, tall boots and, oh, those lederhosen!

What I'm Wearing

jean: vintage
tank: H&M
suspenders: H&M
hat: vintage
shoes you can't see: my trusty Chucks

Sometimes I run across an item of clothing that regardless of its obvious ugliness captures my heart for some inexplicable reason. Case in point, these bleached-out, high waisted 70's Jordache jeans. Despite the fact that they give me what my boyfriend likes to jokingly refer to as "long-butt" and the fact that I feel a bit like a cross between Lou Doillon and Gallagher I've grown quite fond of them. I've gotten so accustomed to wearing skinny jeans that putting these on felt a bit like wearing bell-bottoms so I'll have to get used to them but I've already got plans to wear them with little cropped sweaters once the weather turns cooler.

Now on to the question I'm sure all of you will want to ask... What is that smeared all over your fingers? It's poke salad! Ever hear the song Poke Salad Annie? This is what Elvis is singing about. I'm sure anyone who grew up in the South knows about these. The berries have a dark pink juice that Native Americans used as a dye and cosmetic. I remember playing with the berries as a little girl, smearing them on my cheeks as make-up. It was once used as an ink as well. The Constitution of the United States was written in poke salad ink! They are also used as a folk remedy and people eat the leaves of the plant despite the fact that they are poisonous. I wouldn't recommend it!

Amelia Earhart

I ran across an article yesterday mentioning that Amy Adams will be playing Amelia Earhart in an upcoming film. Further research revealed that the character will be part of a Night at the Museum sequel, a movie I couldn't be any less interested in seeing. I was a bit disappointed because the thought of an Amelia Earhart biopic grabbed my interest. A little more research and I discovered that there is indeed a movie about the life of Earhart in the making; this one starring Hilary Swank. You can see a few sneak peek shots from the set of the movie here.

I think my fascination with Earhart can be traced back to a 4th Grade book report. We had to pick a biography to write a report about and I picked Earhart. One read and I was hooked. At the time it had nothing to do with her brave fashion choices (check out the pants!) but I fell in love with her adventurous spirit and her steps in pioneering the public's perception of what women are capable of. While those are still reasons that I consider her a personal hero, her fashion choices are not be be ignored. It was considered quite daring for a woman to wear pants in those days. I can definitely see her influence when looking at other fashion icons such as Katherine Hepburn. Her bomber jacket is a timeless classic and would easily mix right into a modern day ensemble. In her day, she even helped design a line of clothing marketed for "the woman who lives actively". Wouldn't it be wonderful if some of those pieces still survive today?

What I'm Wearing

skirt: vintage
sweater: vintage
purse: vintage
shoes: vintage
hair clip: made by me

This cream cable knit sweater is my favorite find from my vintage shopping trip this week. I actually found it among some little girl's clothes but I'm not really convinced that's where it belonged. It super soft and snuggly (is that a word?) and the perfect piece to transition from hot summer days to cooler autumn temperatures. I'll be wearing it with high waisted skirt like this one but I think I'd also like to try it layered over a long sleeve shirt with skinny jeans and boots.

Tomorrow at Sally Jane Vintage

I usually wait until Thursday morning to show you the new pieces going up in the store but my brain is a little blog-tired at the moment so I'm going to cheat a bit and give you an early sneak peek. This is about half of what you'll see in the store. You'll have to wait to see the rest! :) Only two more weeks of summer stock so make sure you grab it while you can.

Put a Feather in Your Hair

A few weeks ago as I was digging through baskets of antique sewing supplies at a flea market, I came across a big bag of vintage feathers. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with them at the time so I put them away and nearly forgot about them. As my thoughts turned to planning my autumn wardrobe, I remembered that bag of feathers and pulled them out. It seems that over the summer I became quite addicted to wearing a flower in my hair. Rarely did I leave the house with one and it even came to be that I felt quite unfinished without one. I think that the feathers will become my must have accessory for autumn.

So far I've fashioned one headband and two haircombs using the feathers and some of the vintage buttons I collected in Baltimore. I'm saving some in hopes of finding a vintage hat, maybe a nice velvet one, to decorate.

What I'm Wearing

photos by Tom b.

romper: vintage
shoes: vintage
bag: vintage
flower comb: made by me

Over the weekend my boyfriend and I accompanied his mother to an art fair in Mt. Gretna, a woodsy little cabin community built in the early 1900's. I was wearing this little romper (can you see that it has little birds on it?!) and my favorite woven flats because the afternoon temperatures have been fairly warm despite my best attempts to conjure autumn weather. Luckily I brought a sweater along because the thick canopy of trees kept the temperatures wonderfully cool all day.

Street Styles

Recently, on one of my What I'm Wearing posts, The Clothes Horse astutely commented that I seem to be dressing more "sweet" as of late. I couldn't agree more. It seems that my summer attire leaned towards florals and pastels, lady-like skirts and lacy blouses. Not to mention the flower that seems to be perpetually clipped in my hair.

Right now the Pennsylvania weather is giving us a big tease of autumn with temperatures twenty degrees cooler than only a couple of weeks ago. This has me scouring street style site for more inspiration for autumn looks. While my summer wardrobe was girly and sweet it seems that I'm leaning back towards a darker palette and edgier style for autumn. Here are the photos that I currently have pinned to my inspiration board.

• First is this lovely girl from Hel-Looks. I love the simple black dress played up with a couple of quirky, colorful accessories. I'm shamelessly stealing her idea for that belt and working on a DIY version of it for myself. I'll let you know how it goes.
• On most girls the combination of motorcycle jacket, military cap, cowboy boots and beaded ethnic earrings would be a fashion disaster, but somehow on the coolest girl in the world it just works.
• I love this all black look from Super.Fantastic.Picture.Time because it's really not as simple as it first appears. The addition of the textured tights is what puts it over the top for me. I'm pining for this pair. The fact that's she's standing in front of the Lyell store, one of my most favorite lines, doesn't hurt either!
• Lastly we have the darling Louise, the entire internet's fashion muse. This looks is the perfect mix of sweet, girly ruffles and tough leather boots with the ripped up tights giving it just the right amount of attitude.

New at Sally Jane Vintage

Hello ladies! It's that time again. This week I've restocked this store with more high waists, ditsy florals, super minis and a few hints of autumn. Here's your sneak peek at everything coming up today. Be sure to stop in and check it out. Thanks so much as always!

(If you see something you like, you can click on the picture to see it a bit bigger.)

What I'm Wearing

photos by Tom b.

blouse: vintage
skirt: vintage
shoes: vintage
necklace: vintage

At what point does something that is vintage become an antique? Are the words simply synonyms? There's a little antique store here that is filled with knick-knacks, old patterns, books and memorabilia. I love to go in and just browse around despite the fact that the lady that runs the place is a bit on the strange side (or maybe that's just part of its charm). A few weeks ago I was wandering through the aisles when the owner asked if I knew she had a back room full of clothes. Ummm, no! I did not know that! Making my way into the backroom I realized that she has a collection of turn of the century gowns, blouses and capes, 30's suits with little puff sleeves and shelves full of vintage hats (still in their hat boxes!). It was a bit like being in someone's attic that hadn't been cleaned out in 100 years. I don't think many people shop back there so she was more than happy to have me poking around. I ended up finding this little lacy blouse. I asked her what decade she thought it is from and she said the late 1880's or 1890's! It's in marvelous shape with only one little snag in the fabric. It's hard for me to believe it's over 100 years old. I'm sure I'll only be pulling it out for very special occasions.

My Tattoo

Lately I've gotten quite a few question regarding my tattoo so I thought I'd dedicate a post to answer them for you. I got the tattoo a little over two years ago when I was living in LA. I was missing my southern home and the changing of the seasons so I wanted to get something that would remind me of both. The inspiration for the design came from botanical field drawings such as the ones below. I picked dogwoods because they remind me of spring in the south and are always in bloom on my birthday (the tattoo was a birthday gift from my boyfriend).




As far as general advice on getting a tattoo, here's what I would recommend:

1. Find a great artist. Remember that this is permanent so you want to get the best quality tattoo as possible. If that means traveling to a bigger city or waiting for an appointment, it's worth it. Think of it as a piece of art and be willing to splurge a bit. I went to Clay Decker at True Tattoo in Hollywood and had a great experience.
2. Live with the idea for a while. I drew the sketch for my tattoo at least six months before I actually had the work done. Again, this is permanent so you want to make sure you're not going to get tired of the design. If you think of an idea for a tattoo and six months later you're still happy with it then go for it. I changed my mind a couple of times before I settled on this design so I'm glad I waited it out.
3. As far as pain goes, I didn't find it to be too bad. As I understand, it greatly depends on where on the body you're getting the tattoo and the upper arm is not too sensitive. It's more like a nagging pain as if someone is scratching you too hard.

Here are a few old photos I dug up of me getting the work done back in 2006.

The first photo is the completed outline with just the leaves filled in. The next photo looks a lot grosser than it really is. That's just the pink ink smeared all over my arm as he fills in the petals. Then you see the almost completed tattoo with only the highlights left to fill in (as well as a rare glimpse of my natural hair color!). The last photo was taken about two weeks after the tattoo was completed when it was just healed.

photos taken by Tom b.

Playing Dress Up

I had a bit of cabin fever yesterday and decided to get out of the house. Around here there's no place much to go on a Sunday afternoon except the mall so off to the mall I went. I'm generally not a fan of mall shopping but there's always the possibility of taking pictures in the dressing room at H&M and having coffee cake and hot chocolate at Starbucks so it's really not the worst way to spend an afternoon. After pining over the photo stills from The Edge of Love, I had my eye out for 40's inspired florals, chunky knit sweaters and woolly tights. Here's what H&M had to offer:

• First I tried on this chunky knit cardigan. I like the shape and how the sleeves are not quite full length. It looked better buttoned up than left open. The biggest drawback is the cheap plasticy buttons that H&M tends to slap on all their clothes. An easy fix though with a trip to the fabric store to buy some nicer vintagey buttons.
• Next I tried out this little short sleeve cardigan. Of course, being black it's practically impossible to photograph. It buttons up the front (again icky buttons) and has some nice cable knit detailing down the sides but it was just a little too flimsy for my tastes.
• I've been so addicted to skinny jeans that it felt quite strange to have these wide legs flapping about. I instantly felt a bit like Alix from The Cherry Blossom Girl when I put these on which is, of course, a good thing. The only thing about these is, even with the modest heel I was wearing, I felt they were a bit too short for me and I'm not tall by any means. On the up side, I did check the hem and there's about two inches of extra fabric if one felt inclined to lengthen them a bit.
• Then on to this cute floral number. This was my favorite try-on of the day. I've seen several other floral tea dresses in H&M lately but none of them have had a color pallet that I've been particularly fond of. I like the bright, cheery bouquets on the black background here. Again, being black, you can't see all of the lovely details like the pin-tucking around the hem or the little covered buttons on the chest.

The Egde of Love

I recently realized that since moving from Los Angeles to Pennsylvania I haven't cracked open a single fashion magazine. The job I had in LA was fashion oriented and I was spoiled in that we had a subscription to every fashion magazine under the sun. Every month I would collect a huge stack of mags from around the world on my desk. Now, I don't have a single subscription (they're so expensive!) and I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I don't miss it at all. Rather than rely on the glossies for inspiration I've been more than happy to turn to fellow bloggers, street style sites, old movies and online magazines for all of my fashion fixes. My latest fixation has fallen upon the movie The Edge of Love. I haven't yet seen it and I rarely get out to the theater to see movies like this but I may have to make an exception this time. Costume designer April Ferry had this to say about the wardrobe...

"My inspiration for the clothes for The Edge of Love came from many sources. The most important one was John Maybury,the director. Dresses and Wellies were his idea and that really defines the most important look of the film. Of course, I studied all the books on Dylan Thomas's life and looked at all the available pictures of him and his associates. There is wonderful research of that era in London. I immersed myself in as much as I could collect. I also made a wedding suit for Vera (Kiera) that was influenced by the real suit that was saved from the real woman."

I love the use of floral with chunky knit and boots. What a great way to transition your summer wardrobe right into autumn. If you go to the movie's official site they even have a "Get The Look" section with links to items they recommend. Unfortunately the links don't seem to be working properly at this time. Perhaps they'll remedy that soon. I can tell you the links were supposed to lead to a UK based store called Oasis. I hadn't heard of it before so I have no idea about the quality of their pieces. I browsed around a bit on the site and I did find several things that caught my eye. Like this and this and this and these. Any UK ladies out there have any clue?

What I'm Wearing

photos by Tom b.

dress: Topshop
shoes: vintage
purse: vintage
sunglasses: vintage Rayban
flower clips: H&M
bracelets: vintage
necklace: Jennifer Meyer

I'm not quite sure how this dress has not made it onto the blog yet this summer. It's really been my go-to dress everytime I'm not sure what to wear or it's too hot outside to think. It's that perfect mix of fashion and function - light airy cotton that barely seems to touch your skin. I know it's just a tease but there's a slight crispness to the air here today that hints of autumn. Suddenly I'm not so sure I'm ready for it as I need to wear dresses like this just a few more times before I give in to the cold.

New at Sally Jane Vintage

Here's your super sneak peek at just some of the vintage finds that will be listed in the store today. Summer's still going strong despite all of my autumn wishes so the store is being packed with floral jumpers and dresses, lots of high waisted skirt and shorts and oxford flats and sandals. Be sure to stop in and check it out. Thanks!

What I'm Wearing

photos by Tom b.

top: vintage
shorts: vintage
shoes: vintage
umbrella: vintage
sunglasses: vintage
bag: vintage

When I was out shopping for the store last week I ran across this pair of high waisted 60's vintage leisure shorts. Then another pair, then another. I think I ended up with a pair in nearly every color of the rainbow and then some. I love running across finds that like where it's pretty obvious one little old lady was cleaning out her closet. I picked a couple of pairs for myself and the rest will be going up for sale in the store. I sewed these smaller to fit me so there's actually a nice variety of sizes available.

What I'm Wearing

dress: vintage
shoes: vintage
bag: vintage
sunglasses: vintage
flower clips: H&M

Friday's Contest Winner

First of all I want to say thank you again for helping me celebrate the one year anniversary of Sally Jane Vintage. I was overwhelmed by the positive response and I truly wish you could all win. It was so much fun to sit down and read all of your thoughts on what you are looking forward to about autumn. It has always been my favorite season and I can see that it's many of yours as well. There's something so nostalgic about the leaves changing color, the air growing crisp and the temperatures dropping. I just love it! Like many of you, I'm looking forward to warm apple cider (from our local Amish market, yum!), woolly tights, chunky knit sweaters, skinny jeans tucked into boots, high-waisted wool skirts, crunching leaves on the sidewalk, dressing up for Halloween, pea coats and wearing vintage gloves and hats.

So, now for the winner... The lovely Kater of the blog "All This Happiness". Here's what she had to say about looking forward to autumn...

"I live in the Northeast, and it's so crunchy and crisp in the fall that I couldn't possibly imagine myself anywhere else! It is so hard to pick just one thing, autumn is exhilarating! Apple orchards are one of the best, especially with apple-cider donuts all warm and crunchy and crumbly.For clothing, it's just the delight in layering without winter coats. Tweed things, cardigans, sullen makeup, and Halloween!"

Thanks again to Kater and all of you who commented! Hopefully we can do some more contests in the future. I had a lot of fun and I hope you did as well. Kater - I'm looking forward to shopping for you this week. I can't wait to hear from you! :)

Friday's Contest

Picture yourself here!

I have the distinct feeling that I'm not the only one that's been bitten by the autumn fashion bug. With autumn/winter catalogues filling our mail boxes, stores already beginning to stock up on sweaters and tights and magazines featuring lots of layers in their editorials it's hard not look forward to some cooler weather. I'm already making a list of pieces that I'm looking forward to wearing. I think I'm especially excited this year because after three years of living in Los Angeles where autumn and winter consist of a couple of days of rain and the temperature dipping below 60 degrees I'll actually get to enjoy leaves changing colors and crisp, cold days.

For today's contest, I'd love to hear what you all are looking forward to about autumn. Don't worry, there are no right or wrong answers here. The winner will be chosen randomly from all the comments that are left so everyone has the same chance of winning. What's the prize you ask? Me as your personal shopper! Now that I know what you're looking forward to for autumn you can tell me all about your personal style and your sizes. Next week when I go out to do my vintage shopping for the store I'll keep an eye out for things that I think you'll like, wrap them all up for you and send them your way. Simple as that! I'll pick the winner on Monday so you've got until then to leave your comment.

Thanks again for helping me celebrate the one year anniversary of Sally Jane Vintage!

Fall Inspiration

It's that time of year when the temperatures are the hottest, the sun is the highest and the humidity is the worst. The Fall/Winter catalogues that have begun arriving in my mailbox are a complete tease. I'm flipping through page after page of chunky knits, woolly tights and pretty tweed skirts all the while sitting in my apartment in front of a fan, trying not to melt. When I was out vintage shopping this week for the store I even bought two wool plaid skirts that I plan on shortening. I just tucked them away in the bottom of my to-sew-pile because I'll start sweating if I even look at them.

So, as I'm thinking about Fall fashion and sewing I began doing a little online browsing and ran across my new favorite time waster: The Vintage Pattern Lending Library. Sewing has always been an exercise in frustration for me. I can sew a hem or take in a seam or two but every time I start to sew something from scratch, those pattern pieces laid out before me become an insurmountable task. If there's ever a reason to gather myself and try again it's the wonderful collection of vintage patterns available from the VPLL. I've been watching a lot of old Myrna Loy movies on TCM so I'm a bit partial to this collection of 1930's patterns but they have designs dating from the 1840's to the 1950's.