We didn’t have an American flag or a Texas flag at my work, but we oddly enough, had an Arkansas flag for me to carry for the holiday. Hooray for the Natural State!
My lucky blouse, given to me by my aunt when I was 15. She bought it in 1986.
Is that vintage yet? I feel weird saying that. Here’s some more photos of me wearing it through the years.

Now that it’s nearly 95F every day, I’ve started working on my 1920s bathing beauty inspiration board. In a hot place like Austin, it’s always wise to wear a bathing suit under your clothes at all times, because who knows when an impromptu pool dip at an unlocked apartment complex may be in order? Sometimes it’s just too hot to bother with rules!

This is my swimming costume from the 1950s. I traded a girl for it about seven years ago – I had one of those “Mary is my Home Girl” shirts and for some reason this girl really wanted it. I’d say I got the better part of the trade!
These four suits are from Drama Queen on etsy, who hand makes vintage inspired suits. I have my eye especially on the absinthe colored one!

• 1920s cloche hat – Avalon, PDX, Oregon
• 1930s repro bow blouse with kittens drinking out of tea cups – Jitterbuggin on etsy
• 1950s dress worn as skirt
• Obviously I can’t get enough of these striped stockings
• Brown/Black Tstraps from Target

I have a very small head (my mother always laughs at me) but it’s quite handy for fitting into tiny 1920s cloche hats, which are usually size 21 and smaller. The next time you’re at the beauty parlor, request for the back to be “stacked” and they’ll usually cut your hair shorter beginning at the occipital bone. Think Louise Brooks. It’s a very handy cut to have for making hats fit. There is your beauty tip for the day.

Most of my cloches are ill fitting at the moment because the back of my head is overgrown. I haven’t had my hair cut in a while because I haven’t any extra money – a ladies’ haircut in Austin is $50 in most places before tip! I feed myself on nearly $90 a month, so it doesn’t really make sense to spend food money on something that will grow back in 5 weeks. I can manage trimming the front and sides okay, but I can’t stack the back myself. I wish I could pay for just partial haircuts, because I would gladly pay $25 for just the back to be cut and the rest left alone. I have a special technique for cutting my hair that is probably not approved by most stylists. It involves dry cutting the ringlets and then twisting sections that I pincurl and thin them out.

Close up of kitten fabric! I borrowed this image from the Jitterbuggin Etsy shop. By the way, I own another blouse from this shop and I can’t say enough nice things about it. It’s all handmade in Portland, Oregon by the cutest girl, too!

• Necklace, two birds and a heart – New Orleans, 2003
• Hand holding boquet brooch – Magpie, PDX
• Navy Dress, Trashy Diva, by way of Buffalo Exchange, ATX
• Avocado Green shoes – Remix Vintage Shoes

This is a very New Orleans outfit. I got this necklace on my first trip there in 2003 when I visited to photograph graveyards and drink gin and tonics at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop in the evenings. When I’m in New Orleans, I always stop by Trashy Diva to see what kind of pretties are there that season. This dress originally had halter straps, but I began sewing it last night and I like the straps sewn strait to the back as it is now.

This is a very ticklish alligator that just arrived at work. He was born in China (although his sisters are indigenous to Louisiana) and he likes to swing and swat his tail. Bellewether and I walked to a photobooth on our lunch break with the alligator, but the machine was malfunctioning.
We took him on a walk through our grocery store and people petted him and asked about him as if he were a puppy. I don’t’ know why more grown-ups don’t carry large friends around – I made a lot of friends at the ice cream store because kids wanted to pet him.

Bellewether wears…

I had seen these overalls last month at Buffalo Exchange, and when I went back yesterday they were still there! They are from ReVamp Vintage in LA, which I have always ADORED but everything is too $$$ for my meager salary. These were only $28 (they retail for $150) and I knew someone who had to have them. I drug Bellewether over there on her lunch break and insisted that she buy them. Doesn’t she look fetching? We sang “It’s a Jolly Holiday with Mary!” while pricing Japanese erasers at work. We are moving in together next month into a 1940s house with a little shady porch that will be made into our own beauty parlor. There is also a detached garage so’s I can practice my tap dancing without disturbing anyone. Speaking of practicing, I need to get some tap dance practice records. Where do I find them? You know the ones I’m referring to? There is a recorded voice that says “falap ball change, falap ball change, turn shuffle step, buffalo, buffalo” over the music. I used to listen to them when I was very young.

Here’s a few little beauties to put some vintage yin to your 2010 yang this week:

Download the The Old Codger’s podcast on WFMU

“The Codger: Older than the first knock-knock joke”

Oh, Courtney T. Edison, how I love you! There are many podcasts that feature old timey favorites, but not all of them are manned by such a charming cantankerous charm. His whiskey coated voice, shuffly shoes, and rambly stories about transporting his 78s in his signature shopping cart make the in-between time of 78 records all the more sweet. His show on WFMU has been going on since 1991. I’m not sure how new the “newest” shows are. Sometimes his sweetheart, Blossom Moskowitz, will show up and help him DJ. It’s so sweet!

Gramophone Kit, From Make Zine

Evidently, you can record sounds on old cds, or any smooth surfaces that can have a groove cut into them. I haven’t been able to find any demonstration videos of them but I think they are very interesting to look at. I think if I was a Science teacher I would definitely get this when I taught about sound waves and vibration.

Stemming from my love for mice and their antics with phonographs, here is a Phonograph and Dancing Mice Crochet Pattern from Etsy. This is so ridiculously cute that I can barely stand it! I so want this to be put on a tilt hat or a birthday cake or even as a wedding topper!

• Navy beret that I sewed pearls on. I got the idea from Karin of http://www.blog.lilyofthevalley.se when she did the same!
• Orange paper flowers
• Pearl/Glass earrings – made by my sister
• Vintage navy jacket – Austin clothing swap
• Green belt – Decades Vintage, PDX
• 1930s flame colored dress – ebay
• Remix vintage shoes

I bought this dress on ebay with the original intention of cutting out the pattern and using the shape as a projection screen as part of my MFA thesis. It’s difficult to capture on film, but this fabric is absolutely luminous and glossy – it burns with so many colors! However, the projection idea proved too obtuse, and luckily, was scrapped. The dress remained, quiet, in my closet.
The first strange thing I noticed about this dress was that the piping around the pockets and sleeves is the sweetest color of periwinkle. But, I’ve never ever even thought to pair periwinkle with orange, but I think it looks quite lovely. I also like how the breast pockets look like folded envelopes! One thing I wish I could change about the dress is the length. It has a full zipper, like that of a house dress, fancy as though this fabric may be. It was probably a glorified dressing gown. We just got these paper flowers in at my work. I had a fun time today moving them from my hair to my blazer and back again. I got them in almost every color so brace yourselves to see some in the next few posts.
My remix shoes are still pleasing me with every time I wear them! These got a little beat up in the back when I rode on my bicycle.
Now my favorite! The sleeves! These are the kind of poofy sleeves I draw on all of my cartoon girls:

I think in this image I was literally chanting “Puffy sleeve! Puffy sleeve!” in a muppet voice.

The first time I wore the dress, Halloween, 2007:
I was posing as a living mannequin inside and outside of Decades Vintage Clothing in downtown Portland. I started out in the window, but I am too tall for most people walking by to notice. When people made eye contact with me, I winked at them! When I posed outside, two men pulled on my fingers to see if I was real. I held a dish of candy and whispered Enjoy when people took a piece. One woman yelled the loudest I’ve ever heard in real life. Her friends laughed at her. Two business men tipped me.

• Dangly Damask earrings – Urbn
• Pink Faux Fur Stole and matching Muff – made by me – and available now on etsy! (see below)
• Black sweater with embroidery and single button
• 1950s party dress
• Black stockings
• Pink stockings
• Black pointed shoes

30F degree weather can only last so long in Texas, so I know that I’ve got to wear all of my accessories while I still can!
A year ago today my house caught fire. When the fire fighters let us inside after they put out the flames, I grabbed my toothbrush, my parent’s engagement photo, my laptop, and my outfit for Gadjo Disko that I’ve been working on for the past two weeks. I went out dancing that night because… why not? I was homeless, possessionless and dressed like a muppet making love to Mae West:
Me and Devon stop at my work to borrow makeup because mine was all ruined…
With kinderwhore comes a new look: that of drowned doll

These two little darlin’s are up on etsy right now. I hand sewed them with my own little fists and boy! I snapped on those little fox eyes and nose m’self!

• Avocado ribbon as headband
• Purple knit sweater with little silver rose buttons – Buffalo Exchange, Eugene, OR
• Faux orchid – craft store
• 1950s floofy dress worn as skirt
• Black knit socks
• Avocado Greta shoes – remixvintage

I like these shoes, but I am nervous about color families and whatnot. I’ve been wearing them with very basic palates like blacks and navy, but I also want to wear a jeweled colors with them so they really pop.

• 1930s angular beret – Alexandra’s Vintage, PDX
• 1950s? Cotton Dress with leaves and rooster print – Buffalo Exchange, Austin, Texas
• Yellow hair facinatior I’ve worn as a brooch – www.etsy.com/shop/giantdwarf
• Yellow ribbon as belt – I think this was tied around something I got from etsy!
• Black patterned stockings
• Yellow road stripe heels

I look pretty wholesome and sweet, save for the black, pointed nails!
It’s so very windy outside today! All of my wind chimes woke me up this morning!
I love these garters! I bought them from an etsy store that only had one thing for sale, EVER, and it was this pair! They are hand-painted little flapper girl faces. She’s perfect: reddish hair, blue eyes and red lips! I’ve emailed the company several times to see if they were going to make more but I’ve never gotten a reply. Etsy is like that sometimes!
There was a band playing at my house until 3 am so I’m a bit tired. It was difficult to sleep.

Have a nice Sunday, everyone! I hope it’s sunny where you are.