Estate Sale Loot: Max Factor Make-up Kit for Students

I bought this two weeks ago at an estate sale near Skokie and forgot to take pictures of it with the rest of my loot. It is deserving of its own post because I think it is cool and interesting. I saw it on top of a dresser and decided to buy it after opening it up; it was unique and since I always read /r/makeupaddicts on Reddit, I thought I would buy it for the low, low price of three dollars.

 I did some lazy internet "research" and it seems that these date from the 30s to the 50/60s. There are male and female sets, and I have a male. It look like the main difference was that the female one had mascara and another blusher. Older versions of the male one included a fake mustache and nose putty! I guess this would be closer to the newer end, but nothing is dated.  A few have sold on etsy and I saw another incomplete one on ebay that sold for $95!

 It is supposed to have some eyeliner pencils and a big powder puff, as well, but those are missing.

The cold cream has been used up completely, but there is still a small, flat powder puff and a lot of face powder in a light skin tone.

 There are four cream liners in yellow, black, brown and blue. The brown and blue are very dried out, but the others are fine. There is also Moist Rouge, which is a cream blush. I swatched all of these using q-tips onto printer paper, as I was kind of skeeved out at the thought of putting 60+ year old, used make-up on my skin. Shocking, I know.

 There is a nearly untouched powder blush, which has its puff and you can even still read the Max Factor stamp on the top of the rouge. It has a nice black and gold metal tin.

 There are four grease paints in various skin tones, but it seems it was sold with five. It seems the box comes with directions (now missing) on how to make yourself up into various characters like "straight", elderly, "Hindoo", Chinese and Spanish, which seem a little random. Mine is missing the instructions, though.

 Here is it all laid out together.

 I repacked it incorrectly. All the liners go in the center rectangle. The top left would have been the pencils and the top right would have been a big powder puff, if it had them still.

I thought this was a cool find and wanted to share it with you! What do you think?

Vintage Hand-Painted Circle Skirt

I wore this today to go buy some quilting cotton (more on that tomorrow) and I realized I have never blogged about it. I bought it at a vintage shop in Austin, TX in 2006 on a road trip my senior year of college. 

 It is a painted Mexican (style) circle skirt with a vaquero on the front and a church and some cacti on the back. It ties on both sides at the waist; I think maybe the ties are meant to wrap around the waist, but the skirt is big on me, so I just tie them tight until it won't fall off.

 It is a heavy, soft cotton and the narrow hem on the skirt is impeccable. My hems never look that good! Looking at the pictures, I really think that church dome looks kinda like something else.... cannot unsee...

Looking at vintage circle skirts on ebay, I think I got a good deal. Some of those prices are crazy!! I was a broke college student at the time, so I know I paid less than $50 for it. This is one of those finds that I will keep forever!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway by tomorrow if you want to win some vintage bust 36 patterns!

Anna's Baby Outfit- Simplicity 6072

I bought these on a whim last time I was at Target, they are so tiny and cute and really cheap! Look at the cute feet!

 Regardless of how cheap children's clothes can be, I had promised Anna, and myself, that I would make something for the baby. I chose Simplicity 6072 from my stash after I learned that she was having a boy (the vast majority of my patterns are for girls). It's size newborn and I made the onesie, the bonnet and the little coat.

 The fabric is also from a different estate sale, it was a crib mattress cover. It has tiny stuffed bunnies pretending to be Indians, I think, and shooting bows and arrows.

Here is the bonnet and the little coat. It buttons down the front and the bonnets ties with bias tape. The ties also match the binding on the inside collar and the binding on the onesie's sleeves. 

 Here's the adorable onesie:

 It buttons on the back yoke to fit a giant baby head inside and at the crotch, as well. I just used white buttons from a jar that I acquired somewhere.

 The whole outfit:

 I thought I was being all prompt and not procrastinating like usual when I started this last week. However, it turns out Anna had her baby a bit early this weekend, so little Grayson has already entered the world!! Yay, congrats to Anna!

It was fun to make and pretty easy. The elastic casings for the legs made absolutely no sense they way they wanted it, so I made facings and put the elastic in them. It should be super cute when he's big enough to fit in it! Also, that counts as three items of my 52 for the year... hee hee.

Congrats to Anna and Chris!

Finally, some sewing loot!

After several weeks of wasting time at terrible estate sales, last weekend we finally found two good ones. One had a bunch of buttons, so I spent some time sorting through them. I bought the ones below to sell on Etsy probably:

 These I am going to keep for sure:

 There were also four Anne Adams patterns in a bust 32 that I snatched up. Maybe no one else noticed them because they don't have fancy envelopes?

 I like the waist panels on the left and the right could be very pretty.

 The left is very similar to the pattern Diana gave me a few weeks ago and the right could be a cute tunic style top. I also bought a pair of scissors and a creepy, framed print titled "Sad Clown." All of this was seven dollars.

A a second sale, I bought this rag rug, a tweed glasses case and two white wigs. You never know when you might need to dress up like an elderly person, right? This was half off, so it was four dollars.

Yay to reasonable prices and sewing loot!

Vintage dress copy, with artistic license

I bought this dress on ebay in 2005 or 2006. It fit fairly well but it had a few rust stains, some permanent discoloration under the armpits and places where the bodice and lining were fraying apart. My plan originally was to take it apart and reline it, hopefully making it look nice again. As I took it apart, which was very simple as the thread pretty much disintegrated if you tugged on it, the fabric tore in several places as well. This is yet another reason I don't like actual vintage clothing. 

 So instead, I saved the pieces and waited and waited for this Lisette fabric to go off of sale, so I could use a coupon. It never happened, so I just bought it a few weeks ago. I bought two yards. How did I think that was enough to make a circle skirt?

 Anyways, I was too stingy/lazy to go buy more fabric, so I reduced the skirt by half. Oh plus I started this in July (lol) so when I went to actually make it, I realized I had thrown away the front bodice! What! So I had to guesstimate, which is always a FAIL waiting to happen. It turned out huge, so there a center seam. I also added two tucks at the neckline at the very end, because it was so baggy and awful looking.

 You really can't see the details, the bodice has no darts; instead it makes a triangle at the center waist and there are two side pieces that fill in the triangle. The fabric has white swirls on it.

 I made a belt too, as I already has this pearly belt buckle.

 I reused the zipper from the original dress. Oh I also used part of the original's skirt to line T-Rex's Napoleon costume.

It's not exactly the same, but I am pretty happy with it. Now I just need to wait for Spring to wear it....

Working at the restaurant has made me in way better shape- my arms and legs are stronger, my stomach is flatter, but... sniff... my bobs are smaller. So sad.

Also, since some of you also love the Walking Dead, which character do you hate? It seems like everyone hates at least one. For example, Andrew HATES Andrea so much. I absolutely despise Lori. She is so STUPID and weak and annoying and prissy. Really, it's a zombie apocalypse and you're not going to teach your son how to shoot a gun properly? OMG...... ahhhhhh. I wnat her to get really pregnant and then get feasted on by zombies. lol. Ok, share your thoughts....

Vintage lace dress rehab

I bought this dress in 2006 or 2007 from a vintage shop on Magazine St in New Orleans that was going out of business. It was cheap because the lace was falling apart. I wanted to do a genius "before/after" post for you, but I failed! I know I took pictures in it before I repaired the lace, but I can't find them in the ten billion folders of pictures on my computer. 

Before, it had a sheer, skin-color net overlay up to the neck that buttoned in the back. The lace was extremely tattered, especially around the armpits and sides. 

Last winter (?) sometime I spent hours patching up the lace with hand sewing and Fray-chek. 

Then, I tried it on and realized that while the waist and hips fit, the chest was desperately and pitifully loose. Then I added it to the pile of shame and ignored it for a year. 

 I finally dug it out. I needed to take in the boobs quite a bit. No, a lot. A ton. Like 2 inch pinches on each side. At least 4 inches total. Who was this lady with her real hourglass figure? Damn her!

This required taking out the side zip and putting it back in. Done.

 It has this interesting drape on one side of the back only. The dress is probably rayon. It is handmade, I think. All the seams are pinked inside and there are no tags.

This could also be called "having fun with the self-timer on my new camera" time. I really don't know where I would wear this dress.... oh well. One less unfinished project in the dresser.

Here's a close-up of the detail:

One down, three more projects to share!

The last batch of vintage ads!

These are the last of those ads I got in June, I think. I gave the vast majority away to a girl from Freecycle before we left New Orleans, but I kept these to take pictures of. 

I love the girls face: Oh pig, you don't even KNOW!

Just because I like Ritz crackers

This because that would be an awesome doll for a kid, and because I think that should be Andrew's Halloween costume. LOLZ!

This is precious. I hope T-Rex doesn't bite off my future children's faces. He is so afraid of small children.  Dachshunds can live to be 15 or even 20, and he is only 5!

Wow, what an amazing "pocket camera"! Which I took a picture of using the miniature camera inside my phone. Ha. Also, the dude's hair!!!

For the original release of Cinderella, "a love story with music"

Oh, Pepsi! You so fun!

I really like these Lifesavers ads, in case you haven't noticed. 

Now, I cook with a ton of butter, but that seems a bit much!

Still working on my dress, which I am adding front darts at the waist to improve the fit and I need to re-hem it. It is the frumpiest bottom of my kneecap length right now. And then pockets, and I'm done! Woot!

Mom-Made Blouse!

My mommy made me this blouse from a vintage pattern. It is really cute with brown and white polka dots. She gave it to me to add the buttonholes, since her machine makes it a pain. So after sewing club today, I came home and watched Netflix (1st season of a hilarious HBO show "Hung") and made the button holes (6) and sewed on the buttons.

Isn't it cute?
I bought these buttons for it at Jo-Ann. They are a similar shade of brown, don't let the flash on the camera fool you. They also remind me of the Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings.

See?

(image from mamapop.com)

On an aside, sewing club was fun. It was four girls from my honor's class and one very enthusiastic girl from my 7th period class. They are all wonderful. At this point, they all know how to use the Necchi and sew a straight seam, and to pin correctly. One girl finished her pajama shorts, two finished their headbands, and two are almost finished with headbands. Yay! Next time, we are going to make a pattern for a messenger bag!

Thanks, mom for the cute blouse! I'll try to get some in-person pictures soon!

Vintage Wrapping Paper Part II

Here are the rest of the wrapping paper pictures. This is the one I wrapped Anna and Chris' gift in. It is too cute!!!

I think this one is my overall favorite.
This is more of a sea-green color.
More cute babies.
Even cuter babies!
The rest are the same paper- tiny baby cave people being adorable.

I hope you enjoyed these! Mom really lucked out when she found them!

T-Rex caught some kind of bug at the kennel and the vet is closed today, so I have been babying him (more than usual) and finishing my garden. I do have quite a few projects to wrap up, though.