Winners: Gift Certificate Giveaway

Wow -- many of you must have had plans over the weekend to have had only three entries for this quick little giveaway.  Well, I think all three entries win a gift certificate!  Ladies, please register for an account at Serendipity Vintage.com and I'll add your gift certificate balance right away.

Congratulations!

Surprise Giveaway! Win a Gift Certificate to Serendipity Vintage.com

As I have been puttering about the house on this fine Memorial Day weekend, lamenting that I didn't plan a weekend getaway to some exciting place, I realized that no small number of you must be at home for the long weekend as well.

Although I have a joint-giveaway planned with another bloggy friend coming up soon, I thought it might be fun to give away a couple of $5 gift certificates to SerendipityVintage.com for those of you stuck at home as I am on a holiday weekend.

Just leave a comment telling me about your plans (or lack of them) for this weekend at the end of this post.  One comment per reader.  I will select and announce two winners by random drawing on Tuesday, May 31st.  Contest ends at midnight Pacific Time on Memorial Day, May 30th.  Good luck!

Craft Update: Crocheted Lap Blanket

Just a quick post to say that I've finally finished the lap blanket for my grandmother!  It matches the shawl that I made eons ago.  It's a very, very simple design, just double crochets and a border of shells:
 

 

I have a giveaway in the works for you crafters out there...stay tuned!

Vintage Thingies Thursday: The Egg Divided

A friend just gave me this charming little pull-out recipe booklet from the April 8, 1938 Family Circle magazine, and I thought I'd share it with you (click on the images to enlarge):

Just a quick Vintage Thingies Thursday this week!

Royal Wedding SALE at SerendipityVintage.com!

We're having a Royal Wedding-inspired sale at SerendipityVintage.com on all wedding and evening wear vintage sewing patterns in honor of all upcoming bridal and evening events, royal or not!  All patterns in this section are 10% off until May 7, 2011.  Here are a few of the items in the shop:

Click here to see more Wedding and Evening dress patterns.  I will be adding more patterns to this section as the days go by, so check back often!

Vintage Thingies Thursday: Royal Wedding Edition

I have to admit that I tried not to get too caught up in the Royal Wedding hoopla over the past weeks but as the day draws near Kate and Will's wedding is consuming most of my attention. Naturally I have to post about along with nearly everyone else in the blogosphere.

Dear readers, are you going to watch the wedding live? I can't decide -- it starts at 3 a.m. Pacific Time!

I've been looking at my tiny collection of British royalty-related items, and have been perusing past royal wedding photos online.  I thumbed through my tiny collection of books about Charles, Di, and William:

I can't wait to see Kate's dress! Frankly, it's the only reason I'm considering getting up at 3 a.m. to watch because I'm dying to see it. I'm sure she will look as lovely as Diana did on her day:

Image from Trevor Hall's Born to Be King

In honor of the upcoming wedding I decided to adapt a recipe from the 1959 Better Homes & Garden's Holiday Cook Book in order to make my version of Royal Wedding Cookies, or a fancy dress hat worthy of being worn to a royal wedding.

The original recipe is for Easter Bonnet cookies. I spent hours experimenting with this recipe, including dyeing the coconut different shades with food coloring in order to see the effect. The cookie itself is a sugar cookie, and to make it look like a hat the crown is made by dipping a marshmallow in milk then rolling it in colored coconut:

To update this recipe to modern times, I decided that an all-white iced cookie with a feathery coconut crown and an extra mint sprig "feather" would look elegant. Even so, I would call this a vintage cookie FAIL. It was WAY too much work for a cookie that only somewhat resembles a hat:

I suppose that is why few, if any besides myself, have trotted out this recipe in 60 years.  If you'd like "construction" details, let me know.

Suzanne also has a nice Royal Wedding edition of Vintage Thingies Thursday up right now -- I encourage you to visit.

Enjoy the wedding!

Field Trip: FIDM Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition

Costumes for Anne Hathaway as the White Queen in Alice of Wonderland

Went on a fun field trip today to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising's 2010 Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition of actual costumes used in some of last year's biggest movies.  You can view the exhibits from past years by clicking here).

Some months ago I visited FIDM when they had costumes from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and I was delighted to see a few of the wonderful costumes were still on display for this exhibit.  I was very bad...photography is not allowed but I took a few photos (without the flash!) as the costumes for Alice and the White Queen were among my favorites:

Anne Hathaway's gown as the White Queen

Detail of the gown for the White Queen

Costumes for Mia Wasikowska as Alice

Detail of the costume for Alice

For those of you in the area, the exhibit will be up until the end of this month.   If you stop by, DON'T MISS a visit the FIDM scholarship store for incredibly cheap clothing and accessories --  designers and various clothing labels donate their fit samples and retail stores donate overstock clothes, jewelry, and accessories are to the store to benefit the students, yet the public is welcome.  This time of year there are beautiful wedding gowns that retail for $1,000 that are sold for as little as $200.  The store also offers a constantly updated selection of fabric on sale at only $1.00 a yard!  Yes, my stash grew by leaps and bounds today.

Have a wonderful weekend all...more later!

Madison Avenue Monday: Knit Your Own Thing This Spring

Knit those hot pants, I dare ya....!

Madison Avenue Monday: Breathlessly Feminine!

A "delicate" sweater that "turns every season into spring"....

From McCall's Needlework & Crafts, March/April 1984

And happy second day of Spring to you all!

Craft Update: Vogue 8642

Sorry for the long silence friends; it's been a crazy couple of weeks.  In spite of busyness I did complete the infamous purse, Vogue 8642, and not a moment too soon, eh?  It's been almost a year!  I think I should get the award for the slowest sewist ever.

Wish I had someone available to model my creations.  I stuffed the purse with paper and snapped a quick shot this afternoon, so it's a bit lopsided:

I modified the width of this purse -- by about an inch on each side --  it's not quite as wide or dramatic as the original pattern.  As cute as the purses Vogue 8642 turned out, I will probably never sew this pattern again.   I found the instructions confusing at times and so did my sewing instructor, and she has been sewing for at least 40 years!

I never would have been able to sew this on my own, and that is why I was only able to sew it during class time when I could get help from my instructor.  This is not a purse for a beginner/advanced beginner like me, so if you're not an experienced sewist be forewarned.

More to come soon....