My friend Shannon is a talented seamstress and tailor who owns Krampus Cuties hair ties. (Cats Like Us sells a lot of them and you can see exclusive designs here). She chooses really fun prints for her hair adornments, including cats and horror!

When Shannon started making The Shining carpet design hair ties (bottom most pictured above) I knew I needed a dress in that print, and it really lends itself to a 1960s dress design! I just so happen to have a collection of vintage sewing patterns. I always thought I would learn to sew.

But even though my mom tried to teach me and I took sewing classes, I have zero percent sewing skills. I asked Shannon — if I gave her the pattern — if she could make me a dress out of The Shining print? She said, „Yes!“. (I made the buttons. At least I’m good for something. (Source: catslikeus.com)

So now I have this amazing reproduction 1960s dress and matching hair tie made of The Shining print rug. What’s the best way to show it off? A photo shoot of course! I asked Destiny, my friend and neighbor from Sweet Heart Pin Up, if she could help me. If you ever want a full pinup experience she is the person to see! She made me feel like a queen on a throne while she applied my makeup. It was so relaxing. I just told her I wanted it to be heavy 1960s makeup and boy did she deliver! Eyelashes here, eyelashes there, eyelashes everywhere!

In Cry-Baby’s world, it’s all about Squares vs. Drapes and my favorite Drape is the blonde haired bad girl named Wanda. Her ruby lip pout, tight wiggle dresses, and sassy attitude gets my vote for the perfect portrayal of a 1950s female outcast. We always root for the under dog, or in this case, a gal who is a Cry-Baby girl that lives by, „our bazooms are our weapons!“.

We have to give some fashion credit to a few of Allison’s looks when transforms from a Square to a Drape or as Cry-Baby names her a „Scrape“: half Square half Drape. Though her poodle skirts and ponytails are cute, she rocks those red lips just as good as Wanda. Allison you know you’re just a bad girl under all those Square clothing! *Wink*.

Regardless of whether you’re rooting for the Squares or the Drapes, there is no doubt that Cry-Baby is full of retro fashion eye candy. If you haven’t had a chance to see this cult classic, you should! (Source: catslikeus.com)

What do you get when John Waters makes a musical that is based in 1954? You get an amazing movie that is full of quirky 50s nostalgia, a (very hot!) Jonny Depp aka Cry-Baby Walker and a whole lot of vintage-inspired fashions. Not only is the movie cast amazing, the dialog and the one-liners have me watching this flick again and again. But this blog isn’t a movie review blog–it’s a dedication to my love for Traci Lords character aka Wanda Woodward and the inspiration we find from her retro 1950s wardrobe!

„Vintage“ when talking about clothing, is old clothing made older than 20-30 years ago. So, right now, anything older than 1999 is considered vintage when talking about clothing. Makes you feel old, right?! „Retro“ usually means new clothes in vintage style.

Up until last year we only sold retro (new) clothing in the store. This is going to sound crazy, but it came to me in a dream. We were out of town for Andrew’s grandmother’s funeral and I was having a hard time sleeping and when I woke up ~ for the first time since opening Cats Like Us ~ I seriously considered carrying vintage. Maybe she told me to!

Another thing to think about is that ~ in a way ~ wearing vintage clothing is recycling. Watching all the clothes that end up in a landfill is discouraging, not to mention how some workers are treated where new clothing is made. We wanted to help, even if it’s just in a small part to help with the environment. (Source: catslikeus.com)

I love quotes. To me, quotes are not just snippets of someone’s writing or speech. They are almost scriptural in nature. For instance, when things are going a certain way I think of the saying, „life is ten percent what happens and ninety percent how I react.“ That is a quote that I read or heard years ago that has now become a principle of mine.

Quotes in my opinion allow for self analysis. When one hears a new truth it opens them up to a new reality. That is why we all love memes. Self-analysis allows for one, as we use to say back in the day to „check yourself“.

Because of social media people are now aware of the importance of „self-care“ which is a term that has been borrowed from the world of mental health. I believe as we move forward in this new world old quotes will help guides us. (Source: recently-retro.com)

Yesterday, after two very snowy weeks of early March, I felt the first tender rays of springtime warmth dance upon my skin. I took Annie out back and together we played amongst them, both entranced by a sensation that we had very nearly forgotten.

It was a moment of simple, untainted pleasure of that sort we all long for in our lives and it reminded me a great deal of the powerful feelings of warmhearted compassion that myself, Tony and Annie have been incredibly blessed to receive from scores of wonderful people – including many in the vintage community – over the past five months since the fire.

From that horrific day onward, there has been a part of me that had suspected this post would eventually happen. Perhaps many of you saw it coming as well. (Source: chronicallyvintage.com)

What occurred to us on that fateful, (ironically) rainy October night changed us forever. In one fell swoop, it rewrote our lives and tore into the fabric of who we were at our very cores. Though some pieces have been mended, others that remained (now) strengthened, and some are lost forever, we are not the same people we were before the fire. I highly doubt most folks would be, if they went through something similar. Hardship and challenges make you and shape you.

You may remember me mentioning a while ago in my Sewing & Crocheting Plans post that I wanted to crochet a pair of sandals. Or you may have even seen them in progress in my latest Vintage Crochet Projects Podcast. Either way, I’m happy to report that they’re now all finished and thoroughly wearable. Yay!

The pattern I used was a Weldon’s pattern from the late 1930s or early 1940s. I purchased it as a PDF from Vintage Ali Patterns on Etsy and thankfully it was just a scan of the original leaflet and not a re-typed version as you sometimes get. The reason I say ‘thankfully’ is because the pattern doesn’t say which size thread to use, but rather has images of the thread that you lie your thread on top of for comparison.

Therefore the pattern must be printed out exactly the same size as the original leaflet, otherwise you’d end up using completely the wrong size thread. I chose to do the striped version of the pattern and used a DMC Petra size 5 crochet thread in navy and white, which was pretty much spot on for size. (Source: http://vintagegal.co.uk/)

And here they are! I’m almost happy with them, but if I was going to make them again I would leave off the first white stripe over the toes to leave it more open. I also wouldn’t make the main part quite as wide. It flaps a little bit at the front and doesn’t look at delicate as the ones in the original pattern. What I’m going to do to combat this on these ones is sew down the very end of the main section to the sole. Currently it’s left open as per the instructions, but it doesn’t really do anything helpful. Therefore, by closing it up it will stretch the fabric a little bit and be less flappy over the toes.

Well hello! I’m so sorry it’s been so long since my last post – I think, in fact, this has been my longest ever absence from the blog. Life has been very hectic over the last six weeks or so, and unfortunately, something had to give. Things are still a bit crazy but I’m hoping it will all calm done by the beginning of October and I should be back to my regular schedule again.

Keep your fingers crossed! And, whilst the chaos and lack of posts continues, you can always keep up-to-date with my shenanigans over on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Anyway, to keep you up-to-date with my crocheting, I’ve managed to put together a new episode of the vintage crochet projects podcast.

I haven’t actually achieved a massive amount since my last one but I have overcome an enormous yarn-shaped hurdle that has challenged me for years. If you’re interested to find out what that is, please have a watch. And as always, I really appreciate the support! (Source:http://vintagegal.co.uk/)

A special mention goes to my lovely friend Kitty, from Kitty Lou Vintage, who knitted the stunning 1930s jumper I’m wearing in this video. The pattern is available for free on The Vintage Pattern Files website. It was knitted using Cascade 220 Fingering in colour 8393 Navy and the buttons are vintage. And apologies if the video is a little dark, especially towards the end, it got very stormy outside and I lost the light!