lost art of the hemmed patch

This ca 1930 undershirt doesn't look like much in this picture: but it's made of extremely fine knit silk and has gusseted/ reinforced armholes. All in all, rather precious in its simplicity/antiquity, and,
I had a couple of people drooling over it already --but I didn't want to sell it until I could mend a bunch of small holes it had along the bottom hem.
Blogger wouldn't let me upload more than 5 pics, so you'll have to click on this composite to get the gist of it. The hemmed patch is basically a reverse applique, that is finished off so no raw edges are exposed. Tidy and loving, for a special garment you're not ready to throw in the rag bin.

Very recession chic.
Before: After:

Painless Velcro Removal

Have I ever mentioned that I provide a variety of minor clothing repair services?

January is a perfect time of year to go through your closets and drawers and take inventory of all the things you don't really wear anymore because they need a little help.

Maybe it's a broken zipper, 

a fallen hem,  open seam,

a missing button/hook/clasp,

a little moth hole...?

Keep in mind I've got thousands of buttons and notions and am pretty handy with a needle and thread.  

Things not to bring me include wedding dress or suit alterations, shot-out linings, invisible zippers, and anything involving velcro installation.

Making it work

Remember a few weeks ago when I got into the attic of that big mansion with all the really old clothes?
Well there was a garbage pile in the middle of the attic floor, where they had thrown all the tattered "beyond repair" mouse eaten clothes that they figured I wouldn't want. 

I put a clause in my $$ offer that allowed me to rummage through the garbage pile and take whatever I wanted from it.
One of the (many bagfuls of) items I found was this adorable telephone print shirtwaist dress from the 50's-60s.  
This is the after picture:


The dress had about 6 -7 bad mousechew holes in, including this big one on the back.  It was a mess.

But the print was so cute, tiny old-style telephones everywhere
I was determined to save it, even if it meant turning it into a $12 apron.

But the good news was that there was a 3 inch deep hem in the dress; plenty to steal and use for patch repair, and re-hem without shortening the dress.

 Here's the back of the dress after all the repairs, and ta-daa, there's even enough hem fabric leftover to make a matching belt. ( Or patch it a dozen more times in another 50-60 years).

Wiggle Room

Oh... Check out this cute little wiggle dress I picked up on Monday.

It has a matching double-breasted bolero.

I have spent the last 5 days trying every imaginable magic potion in Ye Olde Workshoppe to get an odd stain off the left ass cheek. The repeated treatments (of paint stripper!) are working and it should be in the window by next week.

more trash into treasure

Princess Mitzy, the Five and Diamond shop cat,
became very attached to the snowman costume last week.
Yesterday I had to choose between making a bed for her, or having her return to sleeping and shedding all over the merchandise again, once I put Frosty back into storage.




Meanwhile, back at home, I have a pile of non-biodegradable items always hanging in limbo, waiting for a second life; an old polyfill mattress cover, and some corrugated plastic political lawn signs (I'd been feeling especially pissy about what to do with these, and wondering how many were already in the landfill...).



Long story short, the princess was pleased.

When life gives you schmattas

The five and diamond label ( a rubber stamp on silk ribbon), gets put on every original created-on-premises piece.



When I find a garment that has a great print, but is otherwise pretty hideous style-wise, or has "issues" (as we like to call irreparable damage in the vintage clothing biz), I turn it into something else; usually a halter top or an apron. Sometimes I get more ambitious....Sometimes.

Here's a schmatta I turned into a halter top:



An XXL housedress

Whose skirt I turned into a bikini, from a vintage pattern:


Here's a $10 sequined evening gown, it's issue being that it was gag-me powder blue:

I turned it into a prize-winning halloween costume:

A Stained Mammy tablecloth from the 40s became a halter top:This was more ambitious than it looks, as it is lined, made from a 60 year old pattern, and I was trying to place a mammy on each mammary.




oh yes and PS I almost forgot to mention: I am the upstate NY expert on vintage clothing. :)