I'm so full. I've had a giant lunch at work and then dinner with my father and his girlfriend at Danny's Inn.

Best birthday gift of all. A new transmission, paid for by my father. <3 I'm not so stress that I have to pay it now, and gives me a little more flexibility with shopping.

Tomorrow starts my vacation.

The Agenda:

• Thrift shopping in SoHo.
• Locate a Sephora and Barnes and Noble to use my gift cards.
• Hit a dance club.
• Get my hair done.

Worse news. My car needs a transmission, and living in place that takes 30 minute drive to get anywhere with no public transportation, I had to get it fixed. With a paycheck that is getting less and less every week I'm looking for things to sell. The stuff that's valuable I can't exactly bear to part with. I just can't. I wish I could find a job more than minimum wage. Then got the shock of my life last week that I don't qualify for work study. I'm so stressed trying to figure out how to save money for Purchase when I'll probably have to put every one of my paychecks for the summer into my car.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I began my dress today. I altered Vogue pattern 8115 since it had a very similar shape to the Marchesa dress. I had no time to drape and doing so on an expandable dressform is an awful pain. A professional dressform is still on my wishlist. I decided to go without all the busy-ness of the Marchesa skirt. I found the one element of the dress I like the most was the belted bust and bow. I also decided to go with black since it's more nightime friendly. Now to say I'll add more the skirt, well I don't know. Usually these types of projects organically evolve with time. I might be finished and say it needs more oomph!



( +++ )

Oh, dear. I feel that I've gone a little in the deep end again. I just see something I feel that I absolutely have to have, the deep need, and I just push the credit card in front of me. I don't feel any joy until the guilt wears off, but again, I just have to have it!

As many of you know, I always make a dress for my birthday. I already bought a dress, this red flamenco dress from Lord and Taylor. It was a impulse buy. I loved it at the time, but now I find it really find it like...a red flamenco dress. I really didn't want to add another project on my list. However, when I saw this beautiful dress at the Bergdorf Goodman and my mind went "gimme, gimme!". Since I have little work hours these days, I thought I would have time before my birthday, and it's not like I have five grand in the bank for a Marchesa dress. Anyway, I love a challenge, even if it ends up a mess in the end.

The Dress:

Um, literally. The septic broke and my bathtub is filled with shit.

Eww.

Ah, I know why I quit my job months ago. It's all the people screaming at you. It's not fun being a CSR, people want to take your frustrations out on you despite not having any power to remedy the situation. I cope by visualizing that paycheck coming to me every week.

Good news is I got into Purchase for Arts Management. I'll be leaving in August. Another exciting thing is I'll have easy access to the city, which means the possibility of taking a class at FIT in the evenings. I really want to learn better sewing skills, sometimes I feel I do above mediocre. I think I could truly excel given more experience and a broader education. I've been really lucky so far to have some really great teachers and friendly advice from other seamstresses.

Also, I received my final grades. Don't want to talk about them! Yuck. Did rather poor this term.

Now that I have my job back I feel excited that I'll start getting a paycheck again. I really missed getting paid and being able to afford my antique addiction. I got this postcard a while ago. It's one of my more expensive cards, but I had to have it once I saw that it was Singer 66 treadle, my 66 treadle. So it was a done deal once I saw it. It was even more exciting for it to be used with a stamp. I think my fellow seamstresses will love this. Click for better resolution.

[24] - Anne of Avonlea

Preview:
( +++ )

Drove all the way to the Natural History Museum to finish my course work for my Prehistoric Life class. Well, guess who forgot their objective sheet? Me!

Absolute nightmare. Now I have to go down next week to complete it. Going down to the city exhausts me sometimes.

I've fallen in love with postcards. I think they are the perfect ephemera to collect when you want that snapshot of time. Not only are the pictorial fronts great, but especially in Edwardian and Teens have a great art nouveau design on the back. A positive about postcards is that they are really inexpensive. I found some for 2 dollars, a lot of 5 for 10, etc. I squeal with excitement when I find that there writing and a stamp. It's almost I'm privy into someone's private conversation a hundred years ago (well, not really private as it is a postcard.) Click to see a bigger resolution.



Here is my first one. I date it from 1912-1915 from the clothes. Sadly, no writing on the back. The back is a bit plain, just with address lines and a  boarder. I'm really ticked that the scanner keeps cutting the boarder, in which it reads "Goodbye to Bachelorhood!". I find it funny how their satire is much to do with the loss of freedom when it comes to courtship and marriage, just as it is today as seen in the comical wedding toppers of brides dragging the grooms. However, I think this is done rather tastefully in a romantic scene as the bachelor could care less about his freedom and more about the woman in front of him.
This one is my favorite for many reasons. Dated 1915. One, the picture is a hand-tinted photograph, but with character since the sender crossed out "I" and replaced it with "you". It has a pretty art nouveau back AND there is a personal message to a man named "Chester" from "Yours Truly, E.O.". I look at the back of the card and just wonder what happened to beautiful script such as that? Back then Spencerian was the mainly taught style of cursive, but as people threw away ink for typewriters, perfect script became secondary to typing skills. The postcard itself was never sent since it retains no evidence of a stamp and the E.O. commenting about leaving the next day. The comments are neutral, talking about the weather and wishing Chester well. I always wonder what was the relationship between E.O. and Chester since its so vague to tell. One day I will to stumble upon love letters or a hopelessly romantic postcard message!

I found the corset. The one you had in a past life. I've love all styles, but period between the dramatic S-bend and the long lines during the War are my favorite. laracorsets would love this, it might be a good thing she's in on holiday this week living it up 15th century style...but on second thought, she might just cry not knowing of this auction. If I had the courage to put more on my credit card, I would bidnap it immediately!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Edwardian-1912-Hour-Glass-Figure-Corset_W0QQitemZ190295980439QQihZ009QQcategoryZ48865QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Last week I had the pleasure to finally meetlaracorsets, I was so thrilled to meet her and work with her. I had such a wonderful time helping her with her holiday project and drooling over her fantastic view of Manhattan. I got to see some of her goodies and was amazed at her droolworthy fabric stash. Thanks for a great Sunday!