Recent Vintage Finds

I had a different post planned for today. A post where I was going to share a little impromptu DIY Rit dye project I cooked up for myself this afternoon. But... things didn't go so well. More on that later. For now, I thought I'd show you a few things that have found their way into my closet over the past couple of weeks. First is this super yellow 60s shift dress. A couple of years ago I wouldn't have dared wear this color, but now I quite like it. I wore it out to our town's First Friday festivities last week and got lots of compliments on it! I also snagged this pretty floral print cotton skirt. I want to wear it with a simple white tank top and sandals since the print is kind of loud.

I've been looking for a pair of 30s cut-out detailed oxfords for ages but that's not the kind of thing you come across very often. Instead I found these very 30s inspired brown suede heels that will do the trick. I think they date back to the 60s but that's fine since I have a thing for 30s fashions that have been filtered through a 60s aesthetic - think Faye Dunaway's Bonnie Parker. I also managed to add yet another vintage Coach bag to my ever growing collection. I think this brings my total to five. I'm not usually one to lean towards name brands but there's something about the simplicity of the Coach bags that I love.

And that brings us back to the Rit dye disaster. I found a pretty 40s era blouse this morning and was so excited until I noticed it was plagued with some sort of bleached out spot disease. I knew by looking at it a good soaking wasn't going to be the answer but thought perhaps some dye would do the trick. All of the tags in the blouse had long since faded to nothing so I wasn't sure of the fabric content but I figured I'd give it a go anyway since it was unwearable in its current condition. Well, the dye took to the fabric like magic, turning it a nice cocoa brown. I followed all the directions, dutifully standing by the sink for a full thirty minutes, stirring the dye with one hand and eating potato chips with the other. I was so thrilled to see it there in the sink, imagining all the ways I was going to wear it. Where's the disaster you're wondering? It's now hanging in my window air drying - a teeny tiny doll sized version of the blouse you see here. It shrank a good three inches in every direction! Oopsy daisy. Later I'll try to see if there's any way to salvage it, but right now I can't even bear to look at the pitiful little thing.

Ending things on a more, ahem, positive note there's a pretty collection of 60s cotton floral sundresses now hanging on my to-be-sold rack. I found four of them this morning, all handmade from the same pattern. Someone really loved that pattern! I'll be updating the shop on Friday so look for them then. Well, at least three of them. One may have to take a detour through my closet, I'm just not sure which one!

P. S. Rebecca over at The Clothes Horse asked me to plan an imaginary party and she just posted about it on her blog. Be sure to check it out when you get a second. Isn't her blog the best?!