I don’t mind sharing my favorite Virginia spots at all! My favorite spots are in the Northern part of the state: past Dulles Airport and out towards the Shenandoah Valley. Leesburg is a great town to wander around for antique shops: The Black Shutter is my favorite (and also houses “Suzy-q-tiques”, the clothing dealer who I have bought many things from–including my wedding dress!), but there are a few others that are worth checking out too. As I mentioned in another post, Lucketts also has three (that I can think of) antique shops along the main road, going towards Point of Rocks, MD. Purcellville, VA is another great spot: Really Great Finds is fantastic I hear, and there are some other spots around town as well. Lastly, more north, into Maryland, Brunswick has a few shops. Besides being home to my favorite place to get coffee and a dessert (Beans in the Belfry, there are a handful of antique shops with fantastic goodies!

I honestly do not do a lot of vintage garment shopping online (the fit can be so difficult for me; I prefer buying things that I can try on first), so I’m at a bit of a loss to recommend specific stores aside from Etsy or Ebay (or one of my lovely affiliates!). As for some great updo’s, I’d suggest checking out video tutorials from Aya or Ashley!

I have been interested in vintage style for most of my life; I grew up watching a lot of classic films, so the glamor and manner in which women always looked pulled together inspired me! My mom also had quite a few books on collecting antique clothing, and I’d spend hours looking through those and dreaming of wearing the gorgeous dresses. I didn’t know many people who wore vintage (or vintage inspired) garments on a day-to-day basis until I was in my late teens, when I started becoming a bit more interested in exploring the possibilities of wearing vintage inspired looks. It wasn’t until I was about 21 that I really started to strike out into vintage dressing and acquire a few pieces here and there to mix into my wardrobe. I began by mixing pieces from the 1910s to 1970s with my general look (at the time very bohemian/artsy), and as I got more comfortable with wearing unusual pieces, I started to hone in on what decades I liked best and accent my outfits with period-appropriate makeup and hair do’s. So I’d say I’ve been dressing in a vintage manner, in earnest, for the past 4 years.

Ah the wedding! It seems so long ago already… lol! I did a bunch of posts on my blog during the planning process, but if there are specific questions (I could probably write a whole post on all the nitty-gritty things. lol!), feel free to ask away!

I have been literally sewing for as long as I can remember! My mother sewed and so I learned at a young age by sewing scraps together into Barbie clothes. I taught myself many aspects of sewing (including rudimentary pattern drafting) through books, which are my biggest resources! As a teenager, I interned with a pattern designer/seamstress for a short time and signed up for a few, miscellaneous classes. Learning the art of sewing, for me, has been a very organic, self-directed method. Sometimes this has involved huge mistakes, spending weeks searching for solutions, or having projects completely fail. But I view these as learning experiences and part of the thrill of sewing! I’m actually working on a series of posts on sewing and my experiences right now, so hopefully those will be “blog ready” soon.

Alas, my love of vintage doesn’t really extend to sleepwear, despite my admiration of vintage pj’s and such! Usually it’s just men’s style button-up shirts. I really don’t like sleeping in pj’s, and I get tangled in nightgowns (I toss and turn a lot!). So shirts and tshirts my husband has bought me are the main sleepwear! So unglamorous… I know! hehe! I do occasionally pull out my vintage bed jackets though when it gets cold and I am reading before bed; I have some lovely ones from a blue knit one to some peachy-satin numbers! One thing I do need to add to my sleepwear is a nice, vintage style robe.

I honestly don’t feel like I get that much done on a daily-basis! lol. My days tend to be a bit scattered, due to working odd jobs from home. But my “typical” day goes something like this: wake up early and eat breakfast while doing some reading or checking my email. Work on blog stuff, reply to emails and catch up on my feed reader (as well as just general internet stuff) until about 8:30. I’ll usually work out around then, or do housework. I’m a morning person, so I try to also do any work-related things I need to do before about 2pm. I take a break and have afternoon tea (a necessity!) and catch up on web things. After that, I’ll finish any housework left to do, and then do my own projects until dinnertime. After dinner I try to keep my evenings free for my husband. Sometimes we watch movies together, or I’ll sew/knit/craft, or write blog posts. Just something quiet to wind down to!

That being said, my days usually don’t go this well! Some days, I get distracted early on by a project I’m working on. Other days I spend my time running errands because I only get to do that about once a week. Of course, there are the inevitable days where I feel like I’m spinning my wheels and getting nowhere. hehe!

I’ve found that dressing in a vintage manner does cause quite a stir! hehe! Thankfully, most of the feedback I have gotten has been positive, and most people seem to be delighted that there are people keeping the “glamor of the past” alive. I generally just say a polite thank you, or if a comment isn’t made directly to me (often times it’s someone commenting to another person as I walk by), I just smile to let them know I appreciate their comment! Sometimes people will ask specifically about why I dress the way I do, how I do my hair, what movie star inspires me the most, etc., and those are the ones I can gush a bit more about my love for vintage. hehe!

I have to admit, I have. Although the majority of people that know what I have chosen to do respect it. I think the lovely thing about being a woman in the modern age is that we do have so many options open to use as far as what we do as adults! Women can choose to pursue careers, stay at home, or higher education–the possibilities are endless!

You might want to start by checking out this list of common vintage knitting abbreviations and what they mean (it’s a list I refer to a lot!). I would highly suggest also checking out Knitting Help for general stitch instructions. The fantastic thing about that website is not only does the lady who runs it have a wide array of stitch references available, but also videos on how to do the stitches, which would be fantastic for cross-language knitting help, I would imagine. Otherwise, I don’t know of any good sites that translate knitting patterns per-se–perhaps someone else knows of something?

Most of the vintage patterns I knit with on a regular basis are from booklet reprints available from Iva Rose. I also search the internet for any websites that might have free patterns available (because I always love free!); a few of my favorites: FreeVintageKnitting.com and Vintage Purls. Try searching “free vintage knitting patterns” on Google; it’s amazing how many resources are out there!

Yarn substitution can be the tricky part, and something I haven’t fully mastered yet. I always start out by Googling the yarn name and brand; sometimes there is a forum post or webpage that has some basic information on the yarn that can help. A good website is Wise Needle, which sometimes has yarns recorded that are matches for those I’m seeking information on. If that fails, then determining the weight of the yarn by the gauge listed on the pattern is the next step. I’m slowly learning to familiarize myself with what weight yarn is knitted on certain needles, and results in a certain gauge (I spent a lot of time browsing around Knit Picks and figuring matches of their yarn to whatever pattern I’m working on, based on needle size and gauge). It’s still hit or miss for me–especially in the area of ordering enough yarn for a project! My best suggestion, especially if you’re new to vintage knitting, is to visit your local yarn shop–the people that work there are usually very experienced knitters and can offer some great pointers if you’re stuck!

As for fiber content, I tend to stick with mostly natural fibers, and some blends. Websites like KnitPicks help make my knitting addiction and love of natural fibers affordable!

At the moment, I don’t have a “regular” job in the traditional sense of the word. It’s a decision my husband and I made prior to getting married, plus we have some transportation issues that prevent me from commuting to a job. So for now, I do odd jobs as they come my way! But in the past I’ve done things from graphic and website design, selling vintage clothing, to making handcraft items for sale on Etsy. I’m planning on reopening my Etsy shop early in 2010 and striking out in that area again! I also like to think of my blogging as my part time job (I probably spend about the equivalent of working a part time job doing this each week. The difference is that I love this a lot more than any job I’ve held! lol!), and that has opened up several doors as well for me.

It depends on the hairstyle! hehe! Some days, if I have some “playtime”, I will spend 30+ minutes on my hair for a more complicated ‘do. But on most days, my hair is either simply clipped back in the front (the back section left down), or I do one of my “lazy 40s” looks (such as this one, which take me no time. The ones that tend to take the longest are those that require Victory rolls. If I pincurl my hair the night before, that takes me another 45 minutes or so (I have really long hair, so it results in lots of pincurls). I have a few videos on my YouTube channel, which I have sadly let languish for several months! I have plans to start recording style tips and tutorials soon though!

I maintain and shape my brows the old fashioned way: with a pair of angle tip tweezers! (The idea of waxing/threading is kind of like pedicures for me… I know I’ll get addicted to having someone do my brows and can’t afford to! lol.) I aim for a fairly natural, “fat” curve that is able to go 40s (a gentle and long, but slightly angled shape) or 50s (a highly arched shape and somewhat thicker). My natural brows aren’t very long, so I use a little kit from E.L.F. to fill in and extend the length at the outer edge a bit. I also use a different brush for the powder application: an angled liner brush for a precise, thin extension line.

As for shaping the brows, I use inspiration from \movie stars of the period. Most often though, my daily look is closest to Lauren Bacall’s brows (circa mid 40s).

Aw, thank you! Truth be told, I don’t always fit things in! Sometimes I have to drop things, put projects off, or step away from this blog for a period because I have too much on my plate. (A failing of mine is that I tend to underestimate the time it’ll take me to do something, and say yes to everything.) But I think a large part of it has to do with the Brown family genes. I’m not kidding! My dad almost never relaxes in the traditional sense of the word; even on the weekends and holidays he’s working on household projects, writing or studying books. I get the “need” to be constantly active from him (and my granddad… there is a trend here!). Even in the evenings when I’m watching television with my husband, I usually have some sort of handwork to keep me occupied. Plus, we don’t have children yet, so I have a lot of “me time” available for projects.