The Church of Vintage: May 2010

Friday, May 28, 2010

Brought to you by the letter "P"

I have a bit of Children's Television Workshop on the brain, hazard of working around toddlers all day. The end results are PAISLEY, PAULINE(Trigere that is), PINK and of course PRETTY are representin' in the most recent of shop updates...PERFECT!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Vintage Angling

I've been very distracted for the last 3 weeks. I had a pretty great opportunity to buy 400 pieces of deadstock vintage from a high end boutique in Atlantic City that had closed it's doors thirty years ago and hadn't been touched since. It was stuff I had actually shopped from in the past and scored a never worn with tags 1950s Ceil Chapman gown out of. Four years later the owner was ready to get rid of what was left. So the last three weeks I've been a little on edge and unable to focus on anything else because it took 3 weeks to complete the deal, usually I like to wrap things up rather quickly in the case someone changes their mind and mainly to prevent getting hoodwinked by another buyer coming in and offering more. But THREE WEEKS! I've been an inveterate tool around here as result, hate vintage dawdling.

Above are some not so great shots of the racks before I cleared them out, three racks in total, 400 pieces. After sorting I brought home about 300 items. I'm pooped.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Then Pen is Mightier than the Sword

When it comes to vintage clothing the least amount of handling and "tinkering" is always better. We are selfish to think these pieces are ours and that we are the end of a vintage garments journey, for some vintage pieces unfortunately it is ,with a lot of vintage buyers too immature and caught up in the latest trend to even care . Some of the much older pieces I have have survived because of how well the original owners took care of them, like wearing underarm shields and undergarments and cleaning the pieces (ONLY when absolutely needed) before storing them away.

I'm a big fan of spot cleaning, if you are careful, like wear underarm shields and undergarments it is not necessary to wash your favorite 1950s frock EVERY single time after you wear it. And if there is a spot my absolute favorite tool in my vintage first aid kit is my Tide to go pen. Of course always test in a inconspicuous area of the garment before using, but other than that I have found that this "pen" has saved me from taking things to the cleaners on more than one occassion. Especially in the boonies where the cleaners are really expensive and do not have any real experience handling vintage textiles. I should buy stock in this product I use it so much.

Another thing you will find in my vintage first aid kit is the Clorox Bleach Pen. Love this one too, excellent for use on double knit polyester for brown or yellow stains that will not come out with a wash and doesn't degrade the material either because you are not submersing the garment in bleach. Because of the tip I have been able to draw only onto actual stains and avoid colored patterns. This pen is really the only bleach I have in the house, anything else like cottons or linens get more natural treatment like being layed out on the lawn during a sunny day and if it's really bad horse shampoo. And if that didn't work only then will I treat the spot with the bleach pen and then wash on delicate with normal detergent.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Weekend Delights

A few photos from the weekend, took the babes to the beach and actually managed to go yard saling for the first time this season. One sale in particlar was truelly unique in the fact that it had old stuff and the people were actually looking to just get rid of it and not biasely pricing things based on so called antiquity. If you think its valuable don't sell it at a yard sale!

Anyway everything in the photos cost a whopping $19! The horse toy, that was free, found on the side of the road during our adventure. Everything is for keeps except for the dress which will eventually make it's way into the store.