My Vintage Baby

top 3 images courtesy of Olive Juice

Annabel

Child's 40s Scottie dog sweater via amywren

Delicate embroidered dress via giggleboss

                                                             Simple lined dress via babytogs 

1940s Gabardine "Stork Dater" Maternity top, via thechurchofvintage

I find it very difficult to buy clothing for my children.  I am very particular about dressing my children like children. I try not to be too anal about it always allowing room for whimsy and expression, I mean I have been known to put them in garrish prints and cookie monster slippers, it is childhood afterall.... BUT a lot of what is out there lack simple design, classic lines and quality.  There is nothing cute or amusing about seeing a tiny infant in an outfit that has lines that were meant for an adult body and you can see how forced and rigid it is, we dress our children as some might dress a trained monkey.  I prefer simple linen and cotton dresses, muted prints, smocking and embroidery.  For babies I favor turn of the century to the 20s gowns,delicate shirts and bonnets, and as they get older and start walking I love 1940s and 50s smocked cotton dresses to match up with mini cardis and cowichans. 

Above I have some lovely modern pieces with classic appeal from Olive Juice , these are some of my favorite pieces(that swimsut KILLS me!).  Also a picture of my little Annabel modelling her very pretty 1960s sundress from last summer and some Etsy picks, including an outstanding 1940s gabardine maternity, you can never start dressing baby too soon!  It's amazing how quickly my children are dressing better than me.

Vintage Hell

This is what my store looks like right now.  This is what I will be working on today no matter how claustrophobic and stressed out it makes me.  I am currently revamping and restructuring the shop in preparation for the Spring/Summer season.  I'm trying to free up more space so I can bring in different items and to just have more space...space is good:)  So that involved pulling almost everything out of the stock room to sort it(and developing an anxiety induced rash).

 You see my father is a minimalist who married my pack-rat hoarding mother, needless to say they are divorced now and I am the abomination that was the end product of their unnatural union.  I like to collect, I was born this way,  BUT I can't stand to accumulate(born this way too), so you can maybe understand the conflict I deal with daily having a shop as stocking it, having "STUFF" is a key element to it. So not only am I an abomination to the natural order of things, I am a contradiction as well.

I am a firm believer that personal enviroments are a reflection of ones mental state and the effects an enviroment can have on ones overall state of well being.  If your house is clutterd your brain will be too.  If you are constantly stressed/tense, struggling with cognitive issues or are depressed, take a look around, maybe you need to clean yo' damn house;P you might just feel better.  If anything the act of organizng/cleaning/purging can be cathartic.

I've procrastinated enough, now it's time to follow my own suggestions and get it done.

Goodbye Manhattan

We travelled a long road together, but now upon a divide we must go our separate ways. 

So I stamped out my sentimental attachment to the Manhattan dress long enough to get it into the shop only to go to bed soon after and wake up the next morning to find it sold....in my sleepy wake a "GASP!"  followed by a "NOOOOoo!" emitted out of every orifice of my body!  No really, it felt like there was an echo in the room, if I hadn't known better it felt as if God had spoken at the exact same time and was feeling my pain.

 Somehow I thought it would stick around for awhile still or even better no one would want it, (YAY!)...it was what I needed to tell myself to get it listed.  It's actually a bit of reverse psychology I employ rather often when I work. On a positive note it did sell to a great fellow seller on Etsy with impeccable taste and appreciation and the dress is actually gong back to the exact city from where I found it.