Projects

Friday, June 09, 2017

Goody's Two Shoes


Sometimes I purchase accessories without a plan for wearing them. At first glance, yellow, orange, and green shoes seemed impractical, but I knew they'd get worn more than a sensible pair, Eventually. The trouble with buying out-of-season items is forgetting them when the appropriate time rolls around. Knowing I have a tendency to "lose" my items, this pair have been sitting beneath my piano bench since December. I didn't forget about them! There's a method to the madness.

 The garden is coming along. Our weather finally warmed, and the tomato plants are responding. The peas are finishing up, and the purple sprouting broccoli should be ready shortly. The tall green plants at the rear of the photo are Yukon Gold potatoes growing in our deep bag bed. I didn't think they would work-shows how much I know!

Here's how I wore the dress in August of 2015.
 I forgot to unpack this dress last year, so I kept it under the piano all winter...just kidding! I did unpack it well ahead of the season though, just to have it ready. 
 Outfit Particulars:

Vintage Tanner of North Carolina dress-defunct costume shop
Belt-came with a dress
Ferragamo shoes-Goodwill
Handbag-Jenerations (in the abandoned mall)
Fragrance-Courreges 2020 (meh)

There's something so endearing about a doll that signs, "I love you" with one hand whilst forming her other fingers into the shape of a gun. We've all felt that.  I brought her home because she sat in the 1/2 price room at Hand-Me-Ups for so long I felt sorry for her.
Retro food! I hadn't seen a tin of Veg-All since I was a child, so of course I had to see if it was as bad as I remembered. Turns out, it wasn't bad at all. Maybe it was a mood thing, but I rather enjoyed it. I wouldn't want a steady diet of tinned veg, but times being what they are, I'll consider buying some more when I stock the fallout shelter. I don't really have a fallout shelter. I live so close to Stratcom if WWIII breaks out, our city is going to get it first (sometimes it feels like we live with a giant bulls eye over Omaha on the map) so why bother? Still, if the end of civilisation is at hand, a few tins of Veg-All would make a convenient meal. You don't want to spend nuclear Armageddon peeling and chopping vegetables.
 Mmmm, tastes like apocalypse. And sodium. Lots and lots of sodium. Ignore the burnt burners on the hob-they're getting replaced.

Here's a peek at another dress headed to the Vintage Hospital. The last owner sewed the sleeves up under the shoulders, but appears to have left the fabric intact. It looks like a bunched-up mess now, but I think I can fix it. The skirt also has a wildly unevenly sewn hem with a good five inches of fabric in the hem. I don't think it was done too long ago and it likely won't leave a line. At least the fabric is all there, but I still can't understand what in the world happened here.
The fabric is nice enough to justify doing the restoration work. I'll feature more of the vintage, "Patients" as they recover (or less optimistically, die).
This dress is a frequent patient in the critical ward of the vintage hospital. It was originally sewn together with that awful clear, plastic thread. Bit by bit I've re-sewn it, but a seam I overlooked unraveled yesterday. I'll keep fixing it, and I think I'll restore the hem a few inches lower and see how it looks-there's plenty of the border print tucked up in the hem. 
This week's pie was blueberry. I tried out a new crust recipe that seems to be the best so far. All shortening, egg, and a tablespoon of vinegar are the features and yes, it makes a very flaky crust. Personally, I still prefer a butter crust, but flakiness is so prized in the fair judging, I think this will be the way to go. After a few days the bottom crust is still firm, so sogginess isn't an issue. I used tapioca as a thickener instead of flour or cornstarch, and that proved to be a good decision. 
 I'll leave you with Danny's handiwork arranging the stacks of magazines in the dentist's waiting room. I have no idea where he gets that sense of humour from. 

















15 comments:

  1. Wow, those shoes! They're incredible and so perfect with your lovely dress! I have the most impractical shoes ... I once paid not a small amount of money for a pair of jelly shoes with a snow globe in the heel. I wore them once, they leaked and then the water evaporated. They now live in the bottom of the wardrobe, mocking my extravagance.

    I really love the material of the pink dress and the colour goes so well with the greens of your accessories. I can't imagine why the someone would have done what they did to it ... much like why someone would have added the nasty polyester collar to the beautiful fifties dress I mentioned to you before. The mind boggles.

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  2. Those are some gorgeous Ferragamos! I'd buy them just to look at them but they are perfect with that dress!
    I had an aunt that Veg-all and Rotel tomatoes without even heating them.
    Love that pink & black maxi. Who would hide that lovely border.
    I don't know why you think you're too short to wear certain styles, Goody. You look perfectly proportioned in all the photos I've seen!

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  3. I'd have bought those shoes in an instant, they're gorgeous, and so is that dress you combined them with. I had a good laugh at the Veg-All thing. We have something similar here in Belgium. Lots of sodium indeed! I have come across a couple of crazy repairs over the years, but I've never seen a dress with the sleeves sewn up under the shoulders, which is very weird. But the fabric's lovely, so I can't wait to see how it looks after it had it's operation! xxx

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  4. OMG! You are a lucky devil to own those beautiful shoes!! I would have kept them under the piano bench too. Goodness, Ferragamo!! Nice find!!

    I can't decide which one of your dresses I like more. There is nothing like a sleeveless maxi for coolish summer nights.

    Mr. Tiny pompom hat!!!!!

    Happy thrifting ;)

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  5. @Melanie
    Please tell me the snow globe shoes weren't Irregular Choice. I just bought a pair of the squirrel heels, and I'm hoping they don't fall apart after one wear. Novelty shoes are dangerous territory.

    @Bibi
    I draw the line at cold, tinned tomatoes. Baked beans, yes-but not tomatoes.

    @Ann
    Perhaps the last owner wore it as a costume? That's the only reason I can see for doing such a strange, temporary repair.

    @Thrifty Parka
    Eventually I will need to stop using the space beneath the piano as a staging area for incoming vintage-Danny is starting piano lessons in September.

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    Replies
    1. You're safe, mine were by Patrick Cox.

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  6. What beautiful shoes and they go so well with that marvellous dress. The bag is lovely, too. You look gorgeous.

    The print on the second dress is lovely and I hope you are able to 'cure' it.

    I don't know about you but I try to wear only two lengths - knee length or ankle length; anything else makes me look even shorter so I totally agree with you about dropping the hem on the third dress. I love the print on it.

    Danny is a hoot!

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  7. @Veronica
    Yes-I've figured out what lengths work and I'm always a bit upset with myself when I deviate from them-because I know better.

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  8. Whew! Thank you. I'll also be wary of any Patrick Cox shoes.

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  9. That first dress is bloody gorgeous and the shoes are perfect! I just buy what i like, too. I never have a clue what anything's going to go with and often wonder if I was temporarily insane when I get back and look at all the stuff I've bought.
    Those tinned veg make me want to wretch, they remind me of the hideous school dinners I had to endure as one of the handful of vegetarians in the 1970s.
    I'm often puzzled by strange alterations. It gives me hope that I'm not the worst sewer in the world! xxx

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  10. I'm with Vix on the tinned veg: we did indeed consume it with weird meatloaf in the elementary school cafeteria.

    Please add the Ferragamos to my portion of the Special Bequests of your Will (what happened to the Old Gothic Olde Englishe font?), together with the parasol. The parasol would go nicely with my sunblock, coolie suits, and straw hats this sunny season.

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  11. @Vix
    I thought it was all nut loaf in the 70's (I didn't go vegetarian until '83). I have an old Vegetarian Society cookbook and some of those recipes sound...bad!

    You are a great sewer.

    @Beth
    How weird could meatloaf be? I mean, I've heard jokes about, "Mystery Meat." I think we were lucky having decent cafeteria food though I'm not sure I could stomach tinned fruit cocktail with or without condensed milk.

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  12. Oh, what a lovely post! I agree with Ms Maizoon, you appear to be perfectly proportioned. I love ALL your dresses, and am particularly impressed by that lime-green belt with the pastel outfit, spot-on. That last dress does look like it'd be worth lengthening indeed. Other people's alterations are odd, aren't they? Love your shoes too, but of course.

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  13. @Radostin
    Sometimes I wonder if the vintage items were given to younger siblings or children and they tried to give them a punk-once over? So many things look like they were roughly chopped with a pair of manicure scissors (I've done that too, but not to good vintage).

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  14. Maxitastic! That maxi is great. The shoes are ace - I can't believe Ferragamos ended up in Goodwill.

    Like Vix, I have awful memories of tinned mixed veg at school. I got into terrible trouble once because I refused point-blank to eat it. Apparently it was my own fault as I could have eaten it with the potato to make it more palatable. Nothing was making that sh!t palatable!

    Danny is an Agent of Mayhem. I approve.

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