vintage inspired

One Last Look at #MyVintageCover 2018

last look myvintagecover, theartyologist

Well, now that it is almost the end of September, it’s a perfect time for a round up featuring all the #myvintagecover contributions. . .  from August. . . this is so late it’s embarrassing 🙁 But better late than never- and I really couldn’t not share this years covers, because they were SO GOOD. We had 22 covers created by 15 participants (including myself) and several of the participants created more than one cover! Some of the images were “inspired by”, some of the women sewed garments specifically for the cover and others created an image so similar that you had to double check to see which was the original. The creativity of the photos was truly inspiring! I hope you enjoy taking a look at them!

tanithrowan

Tanith Rowan– the creator of the #myvintagecover challenge- did a superb job recreating this cover from 1958. This was the perfect cover for her to recreate as she is a milliner and the hats in her image are her own designs! Check out her Instagram for more lovely hats!

vintagerosegirl

I have been wanting someone to recreate this cover, but never expected than anyone would do it. When I saw that Eliza of @vintagerosegirl had chosen this cover I actually gasped out loud- because I thought her image was the original and had to do a double take!

Next up are these three fun covers from Margaret of @denisebrain_vintage. She put in such attention to detail and some serious photo editing skills! And, seriously, how cool is it that she actually had the same dress from that first cover!?!?!

Christine of @foggydayvintage chose three iconic images to recreate, and she did an amazing job on them! (How perfect is that first one based on Grace Kelly’s stunning gown?!?) Take a look back through her Instagram feed- she has several other recreations of images of Marilyn Monroe too!

Another fabulous image by @auntieestablishment this year! How did she get that pose so perfectly in place? And furthermore- how did she hold it long enough to get the photo?!?

This image by @feelingfamousstudios was inspired by vintage covers and really captures the feeling of old fashion magazines, with a touch of Old Hollywood Glamour, I think!

irreverantvintage

The veil! The yellow gloves! The fur! The brooch! The navy jacket! Kelsey of @irreverantvintagegirl did such a good job of getting all of the pieces together for this cover! I love how it turned out.

nooneknows_itsyou_missjackson

I love this fun cover by Hannah of @nooneknows_itsyou_missjackson and how the neckline of her top is the same as the original image.  Choosing a vintage Coca-Cola ad was such a good idea- and it’s even better because you can still get retro Coke bottles to finish it off perfectly!

missziggyshortcrust

A picture of a silent film star is a great idea! @missziggyshortcrust captured the feeling of this image of Australian silent film star Sylvia Breamer. Her felt hat, shaggy sweater, collared blouse, tie and film-style 20’s lipstick look great!

Lindsay of @odettenoir sewed these two lovely garments and took the opportunity to pose like the pattern illustrations. Not only was she able to take part in the #myvintagecover challenge, but she also has two lovely new garments to add to her wardrobe!

parlourduck

I love how Rhiannon of @parlour_duck got this pose so incredibly correct! Even the angle of the hat is spot on! Illustrated covers are always tricky to replicate because they aren’t true to life- but she definitely succeeded with this great recreation!

petersilieundco

Here is another cover featuring a garment made specifically for the cover challenge. @petersilieundco embroidered those circles onto the fabric in order to create this skirt! I love how it turned out!

I love the wit of Lydia’s “Vague” cover, and I can’t believe I never thought of that before! The model on the original cover really does look like she is vaguely confused. And, I love seeing another illustration come to life. Thanks @wereallyareromantic for two great covers!

selbstdiefrau

Bianca of selbstdiefrau blog submitted this cover via email. She took the opportunity to sew up a vintage pattern- and it looks like the perfect piece for summer!

And last, though you’ve already seen them here on the blog, I’ve included the two covers that I did, since it’s fun seeing them side by side like this!

Well, there’s another year of #myvintagecover come and gone! I loved seeing all of these cover recreations- and it’s so exciting to see our little challenge growing!  I am so glad we had so many wonderful participants, and some new participants this year. Thanks to everyone who joined in this year- I can’t wait until next August!

Dancing in The Street

If you follow me on instagram (@theartyologist) you will already have seen these pictures. . . but I wanted to post them here as well, because I figured that a hairstyle this different should be documented on the blog! Every August I seem to do something drastic with my hair- and this year it was a pixie cut. I’ve had a pixie cut before, and I loved it. I started growing it out right when I started this blog two and a half years ago, and after having a bob for a year, I was ready for a change.

Anyways, that’s basically all I have to say about these photos, except that this is the sort of outfit I would love to wear swing dancing (these are actually the shoes I used to wear dancing) I used to love going swing dancing on Saturday nights, but as there is no group where I live now, I must make do with breaking out in a few steps in the middle of the street 😉

Vintage Covers: Tampico, Harper’s Bazar

Melodrama in Mexico: Follow along as an American power broker conquers the jungles of Mexico and might also be involved in seducing someone else’s wife, in this Jazz Age tale of Big Business. 

That is all I could find out about this novel Tampico, by Joseph Hergesheimer, and it all sounds quite tedious. The novel was also apparently made into the movie “The Woman I Stole“. Considering that no one has ever heard of this film either, I am going to guess it wasn’t a blockbuster hit.

Terrible sounding story aside, it made for a great cover to replicate for #myvintagecover! My friend Chantelle was visiting for a few days, and we decided that we wanted to make a cover together. Finding a magazine cover that had two people in it, proved more difficult than we thought it would be, though. After diving into the depths of google, we eventually found this 1920’s cover art by Erte, and decided that it wouldn’t be “too” difficult.

Why we decided to wear fur and wool hats on the hottest day of the year (it actually was the hottest day we’ve had all summer!) who knows- but after the debacle involving a forgotten camera (it was sitting at home on the desk), a hot and grumpy person (oh- that would be me) and a background that required being completely photoshopped in the end- it actually turned out rather well. Part way through photo editing, I realized that this was not going to be a simple crop and splice sort of editing job, and it took quite a while to get the pictures lined up, the background edited and the colours correct, but I’m glad I persevered, as it is definitely one of the most fun covers I’ve ever done!

There’s still a week left of August- do you think you’ll be joining in with the challenge? There are some pretty great covers over on Instagram- make sure to go and check out the hashtag!

Creating A Well Loved Wardrobe

Creating a Well Loved Wardrobe, the artyologist

If you follow me on Instagram, you will know that these photos are from a couple of weeks ago because. . .  I’ve since cut my hair! I was going to post these before that happened, but time just got away from me. (I took at little holiday last week, when a friend came to visit and everything else kind of got thrown out the window, but it was a much needed break!) I still wanted to post these photos though, because as you know by now, I never seem to post “on time” lately anyways.

I rediscovered this peach skirt in my wardrobe a couple of weeks ago and have worn it several times since then. By “rediscover” I mean that when I moved into my new apartment last month, I decided that it was time to finally start “curating my closet”, and during that process I discovered this skirt again.

I’ve talked about my desire to curate my closet before, but I have never actually got around to doing it, so when I moved I decided it was time for a fresh start. There are actually a couple of things that I did to streamline my closet.

Creating A Well Loved Wardrobe, shoes and bag , the artyologist

The first is that rather than going through my wardrobe all in one go, deciding whether each item was something to keep or get rid of, I am trying another method I’ve heard about. Because I actually do like all of things in my wardrobe, I don’t need to sort through, and pare down my closet because I have things I don’t like; I need to sort it because I’m not actually wearing some of them! So, when I moved into my new closet space, I turned all of my hangers around backwards. As I have been putting clothes back in my closet after wearing them, I’ve put the hangers in the correct way, which makes it easy to see which pieces I’ve actually worn. I’m going to be doing this until September, which is when I will be switching to a Fall wardrobe anyways. Of course, I’ve been taking into account seasonal items! (“I haven’t worn this down-filled parka all summer!”)

It’s looking a bit messy right now, with the hangers going all directions (only another month to go!), but it is definitely making it easy to see which pieces aren’t getting worn. As I’m doing this experiment, I am trying to determine why I wear some things, and pass over others. And, when I am getting dressed, I look at the items I haven’t worn first and decide whether I can wear them instead of the same three things I always turn to. If I wear something and I decide I don’t really like it for some reason, then I know that it is time to pass it on!

Well Loved Wardrobe, the artyologist

Another way I have made my closet a bit more streamlined, is by moving all of my Fall/Winter garments out my closet and packing them away in a suitcase. I used to have quite a large closet, and so I stored all of my clothes in there. The problem I had was that when I went to get dressed, it looked like I had twice as many clothes, but I actually couldn’t wear half of them, because they were out of season. I also moved all of my old clothes out of the closet and put them in a separate drawer. (By “old” I mean, worn t-shirts/pants which are perfect for painting or doing chores in, but not for wearing in public!) Having all of these extra clothes in the closet was making it difficult to get dressed for work, because it looked like I had so much to choose from, but actually a lot of the pieces were unwearable. By moving them to a separate area, I can easily see what I have to wear.

Creating A Well Loved Wardrobe, vintage skirt, the artyologist

By doing this closet experiment, I decided to try this peach skirt again, since I’ve tried wearing it before unsuccessfully. I sewed it last summer, but never really liked it. I felt frumpy in it for some reason- the gathered waistband perhaps? Maybe I was just in a bad mood? Maybe I was pairing it with the wrong top? I don’t know what it was, but I’ve tried wearing it again this summer, and I love it! I’ve worn it several different times- once with my black Hell Bunny blouse, once with a black drapey rayon top, and once, here, with this sleeveless ruffled cream top. I’ve even worn it with both heels and flats, and I like it both ways, so I guess this time around, the skirt is a keeper! And seriously- the pattern is little people dancing, so what’s not to love about that? I guess it’s a good thing I am sorting through my closet, or I wouldn’t have come across this outfit combination.

Have you ever had a piece of clothing that you didn’t like, and then tried it again with success? And have you tried this method of wardrobe organizing/curating?

hydrangea-side-view, the artyologist

Well Loved Wardrobe, the artyologist

stonecrop, the artyologist

peach hat detail, the artyologist

Well Loved Wardrobe, peach skirt, the artyologist

Well Loved Wardrobe, hat and purse, the artyologist

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which was Actually in A Garden)

ladies-tea-outfit, the artyologist

Well, it’s been a while since I last sat down and typed up a blog post, but as this one is very long overdue . . . here goes!

My mom and sister and I have hosted quite a few tea parties through the years- from birthday parties, to girls youth events and now the Garden Tea is an event we hold every year at my family’s acreage. (I’ve talked about it here on the blog.)

This year the Tea was on May 26th, and the day of the party dawned cloudy, and around mid-morning it started raining. This was hardly a surprise as in previous years it has also rained, forcing the event indoors. However, as you might have guessed by the long-winded title of this post, by 3:00, when the party was to begin, the weather had cleared up, the sun was out with a gentle breeze (just enough to keep the bugs at bay!) and we were able to go outside! We really couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather for the party.

I took a few photographs of the decor, but the pictures didn’t turn out as well as the ones I took last year. Since almost everything was the same as last year, (including the lilac bouquets and chocolate squares) you can just refer to this post to see pictures of what the party decoration and food was like.

ladies-tea-outfit, garden party dress, the artyologist

ladies garden tea dress, the artyologist

But, really, the “most” important part of any Tea Party is, of course, the attire, so instead of focusing on the decor, here is what I wore. This is the Garden Party dress I referred to in my blog post from last year. I have wanted to wear it before, but it just didn’t work out since the party was indoors. This year, however, with the party being out of doors, I could move well enough with this giant skirt without knocking people’s teacups over!

I made this dress about 5 years ago, or so.  I don’t recall there being any special reason to make it- I just loved the fabric. The dress, which I always refer to as “The Garden Party” dress, is a pattern hack of Vogue 2962 and a regular bodice top and sleeve. This dress is just so much. There are about 4 metres of fabric in the skirt alone. It’s definitely not the sort of dress one wears on a daily basis- it’s just a tad fancier. Like if you were going to meet the Queen. Or something like that.

But, since meeting the Queen isn’t in the near future, a Ladies Garden Tea (which was actually held in a garden for once) will have to do! It was a lot of fun flouncing around in this dress. Although, I must admit that I actually didn’t wear this straw hat during the party, as the breeze kept knocking it off my head, and so I had to give up and go bareheaded.

ladies-tea-outfit, vintage style, the artyologist

Well, this is definitely not the best post I have ever written. I am a bit out of practice. . . but at least a picture is worth a thousand words and this is a rather picture heavy post. Thanks also to my lovely sister, who despite the fact that we are both out of practice of blogging, after a month hiatus, took these photos for me!

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying your summer so far. (It might not technically be summer yet, but as we’ve had 34 degree weather lately. . . it’s summer!)

ladies-tea-outfit-2, the artyologist

Truth: I hate the smell of mountain ash. I was just doing this for the sake of photo. 

white-flowers, mountain ash, the artyologist

ladies-tea-outfit-4, the artyologist

mountain ash, the artyologist

Vogue 2962 pattern hack, the artyologist

hat-and-shoes, 1950's style, the artyologist

twirling, vogue 2962 pattern hack, the artyologist