best friends

Rhi introduced me to New Zealand photographer Sara Orme when she posted an editorial shot by her last month, and I fell for her style. Orme is innate at shooting refreshingly natural images, so familiar, candid, and almost childlike.

All photos taken by Sara Orme - check out Sara's work here.

every wallflower in bloom

Earlier this month, I was blessed to model in my friend Carmen's Closet Case Vintage spring lookbook. It was a colorful day filled with new friends, crazy weather, and of course some of the loveliest clothes I've ever seen in person - Victorian era eyelet lace dresses, sock hop style angora sweaters, even an adorable set of blue and white striped boy's pajamas from the 1930s. It was like playing dress-up for a day.

One of my favorite pieces from the lookbook had to be this 1930s taffeta gown with sweetheart neckline.. I can just imagine Jeanne Crain twirling around in it, State Fair style. Be sure to look up Natalie Prass, as well - my friend and fellow AA coworker (and speaking of American Apparel - I've been running into all kinds of cool ladies lately! check out Emma and her adorable blog).

spring pastures

Photos by Neil!

1950s Crochet Lace Dress - Ms. Tips Vintage

Suede and Leather Wedge Sandals - Kork Ease from UO

Vintage Millinery Rose Hair Pins - yard sale

I opted for a simple outfit this Easter, a vanilla lace dress from the 1950s and nude colored platform sandals. This dress from Ms. Tips Vintage is fast becoming a favorite of mine, one of those rare finds in life - a dress actually fits (there is only one other dress in my closet that has the same claim to my affections, and for the same reason). Even my wedding dress didn't fit like this, despite a million alterations.

Creams, whites, beiges - these are my favorite colors to wear this spring, and I'm always looking for new ways to incorporate them into outfits.

We celebrated Easter this year with a low-key weekend - time with Rhi and Drew and my parents, church in the morning, then a day of sitting around smelling supper cooking. My dad is usually in charge of holiday menus with my mom and Neil helping out, and this year was no exception. We had a traditional meal with ham, potatoes, rolls, and bluefish stuffed with peanuts and raisins. I love being grown up and having a friendship with my parents. It just shows how much all relationships evolve, even and especially with the ones closest to you. Have you had the same experiences as you grow older?

Eating leftover cheesecake and watching James Bond movies with Neil. We're anticipating some major storms tonight, so I'm trying to talk Neil into pulling our mattress into the living room and having a campout (our bed sits right underneath a window, which isn't the best place to be during a thunderstorm). Hope you're staying safe and dry tonight!

shop update! crochet collars and denim dresses

Shop update! Vintage crochet lace collar, 1950s lace blouse, summery denim dress, and more - all headed to the shop.

We just got home from my parent's house tonight, so we're settling back in and I'm working on Easter photos. My sister just posted great photos of her Easter outfit, which makes me miss her and Drew already. More soon!

sewing saturday.. a completed baby's floral jumper

Sewing Saturday! This week, I'm sharing continued progress of a little girl's floral jumper (now finished) I made for my friend's recent arrival.

Beginning where I left off last time, I had the bodice of the jumper all ready to sew the yoke and shoulder straps to. I cut out two facing pieces for the yoke pieces, trimmed the facing pieces, and steam ironed the facing onto the yoke. The two yoke pieces with facing were then ready to sew onto the top of the jumper, right sides together, at the seam allowance on the top edge.

I then prepped the shoulder straps. I pressed them in half lengthwise and sewed them along the edges, keeping one specific notched edge open to turn the shoulder straps inside out. I pressed them flat, then attached them to the back yoke piece at matching places on each end.

Before finishing the yoke, I sewed the double fold bias tape to the armpit area (this was actually something I should have done much earlier, but I missed the step).

Then, it was time to use the remaining two yoke pieces to sew to the yokes with facing that were already sewn to the jumper. I pressed one edge's seam allowance inward then matched the yoke pieces, right sides together, and sewed them at their edges, turning them inward so right sides were facing out. I topstitched the yoke shut.

After sewing two buttons to the shoulder straps and button holes to the front yoke, the jumper was finished!

And that's all for this project!

Since I sewed the jumper with a medium weight floral cotton, the jumper has a great stiff flare to the skirt. While it's not perfect, I'm happy with how it turned out, especially since it's my first attempt at sewing baby clothes. I have a few 1940s patterns for other children's clothing that I'm excited to try in the future. I gave the jumper to my friend Ash and her baby Jocelyn just this past week.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! We're taking it easy tonight after a lazy day of church and lots of food with my parents and Rhi and Drew. Neil and I took photos outside with my Easter dress, which I'll share soon.. but first, a shop update tomorrow. Happy Sunday, all!

david hamilton

These photos have surely been reblogged since Starr of A Thought Is The Blossom scanned and shared them earlier in the month, but I had to follow suit simply because they're that awesome.

The photos, images of the talented and controversial David Hamilton with his models, were originally published in a 1970 issue of Show Magazine. At the time, Hamilton lived in the south of France in an 800 year old home, where he invited his models to live with him for several weeks to capture candid, comfortable images. The shoot published in Show featured two young Swedish models in dreamy fields with off the shoulder blouses and airy dresses, as well as Hamilton himself behind the lens in a monochromatic Isabelline button up and trousers (an outfit I'd gladly wear today).

Thanks to Starr for scanning and sharing! Sewing Saturday tomorrow with a completed girl's jumper.

galena, illinois

White Floral Mesh Jumper - American Apparel

Vintage Accordion Pleats Skirt, Purse - Thrifted

Kork Ease Suede Wedges - Urban Outfitters

We're back! After 24 hours of total driving and five days of touring northern Illinois, visiting friends and relatives from Galena to Chicago, we're ready to call Nashville home again. And it feels so good to be home. Do you ever feel like you need a vacation from a vacation when you're home again?

After a good long drive, our first stop on the trip was to Galena in northwestern Illinois to visit my grandparents for a couple of nights. I have so many memories in that little historic town, from listening to my grandpa's stories about growing up during World War II to walking downtown to visit the Kandy Kitchen.

Every time we visit, my grandpa tells us about the days when he could buy an ice cream cone for a nickel, memories of listening to the news of Pearl Harbor's bombing over the radio, the year of the great flood when he lost his father at a painfully young age. I spent my preteen years visiting Galena's local library and grabbing the latest Redwall book. Every summer, my parents would let me bring a friend to Galena to visit, introducing them to this magical town I had fallen in love with when I was little, where there was a story and a mystery behind every old stone church or brick storehouse. And in a full-circle sort of way, this was my first visit to Galena with Neil, who loves it now like I do.

I meant to take more photos of Galena, but the weather was so horrible that this is all we could manage. While we were there, the temperature was near freezing and when it wasn't raining, it was snowing.. fortunately, the Kandy Kitchen entrance was covered and we grabbed a couple of outfit photos.

Being home means settling back into 70 degree weather and blooming trees and life with our little terrier again, and it couldn't feel better. And I've missed writing! What have your days been like this past week?

a dance for one

Australian fashion label Lover has done it again. This bewitching video featuring their spring 2011 collection is everything a fashion film should be - understated and elegant, leaving you wanting more. Ever since watching The Red Shoes and Black Swan, I've been fascinated by ballet, so it's wonderful when designers feature dance in their collections (one of my favorites being Alexandra Grecco's adorable fall 2010 video).

It's good bye for now! Neil and I are leaving in the morning for Illinois, where we'll be until Tuesday.. first stop, visiting my grandparents in Galena, then to meet up with friends from my hometown for a day, and finally a stop in Joliet (and maybe a quick trip to Chicago) to attend the wedding of some friends from college. Can't wait. See you all next week!

white light

Loving these hues right now - nudes, whites, creams. I found some pieces recently that have me excited for the trip to Illinois Neil and I are about to take.. namely, Kork-Ease sandals, pretty floral clip-on earrings and pins made with vintage millinery flowers (found at a yard sale last weekend), and a pretty silk Evan Picone blouse I thrifted earlier this month. The blouse has a 1940s shape circa the 1970s, and it reminds me of the Madewell one Alexa Chung designed last fall that I couldn't afford.

But my favorite recent buy has to be this 1950s crochet lace sundress, found at the lovely Ms. Tips' Vintage. The vanilla-y lace is absolutely beautiful, so ornate and lovingly worn. The dress is for a college friend's wedding coming up this weekend.. and probably for several more weddings after that.

So many things to do before we leave on Thursday morning! Today, Neil and I visited Nashville's downtown library for the first time and picked up a good number of audiobooks for the trip. Including The Historian (one of my favorites!) and James Joyce (Portrait of the Artist), plus a little bit of David Sedaris for when fiction gets old. I even got away with picking up a nerdy book on conspiracy theories. We'll be spending about 22 hours in the car over five days, so it's good to be prepared.

PS.. so happy to be have my image in American Apparel's Best Of Seen & Submitted last week, and also to share with you guys that my sister Rhiannon is in Lucky Magazine this month! The older I get, the more proud I get of my two sisters.