Paisley for Brains*

I feel like I've been neglecting the "vintage clothing" aspect of this vintage clothing blog for the last few weeks--- and since I'll probably be blabbing about Halloween costumes next week, I'm tapping out this quickie to let you know that I decided to go through my very precious, very personal, paisley shirt collection --- and chose a few to dispense into the shop inventory.

These hard-to-find colorful cotton shirts from the 60s are a huge favorite of mine, so consider this a major store event.





*   "Paisley for Brains" is the name of a Musty Chiffon Show, and may be copyrighted. I don't know, but I'm sure Musty would loan me the phrase with her blessing...

The Carribano 502

Did I ever tell you how my shop used to be a reggae bar?
Yup. 

There was DJ booth, a mirrored barback, and a secret speakeasy-like lounge & kitchen in the basement, complete with posters of Jamaica hanging on the walls.

Where I sit behind the counter in my heap of projects is right where the dance floor used to be.

Around 2000 this neighborhood was so bad with drugs and crime the owners basically abandoned their business to save their sanity. A bullet hole on the Diamond Street side of the building remains as a reminder of Hudson's "Good Ol' Days".

When Alan bought the building in 2001, there were layers of bad panelling and linoleum, and a dropped ceiling. It all got peeled back to the original walls and floors.

Here are some before and after pictures of my shop.  Looking west:




And looking east:

(I am really good at filling up space with stuff.)

My wallet turns 30 this week!

Purchased new in Woodstock, NY, October 1978 

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).

Rachel gets her own blog entry!

This is Rachel.

Rachel wins the shopper-of-the-month award.

She got a special little discount today because 

a) She bought three dresses, including the salmon pink poet-sleeved number above and the tomato red sweater-dress mini below:

b) She has a 22 and a half inch waist , making her the only person within a 100 mile radius to fit into the tulip dress everybody's been drooling over:

and 

c) She's the only customer who has ever admitted to reading this blog  (Somehow she found the blog before she found the store--but, hey-- whatever!).

Thank You, Rachel! 

Gallery of dubious trend ideas

Remember a couple months ago when I mentioned starting a Paris garter trend? ...

From Five and Diamond Vintage

Yeah, never happened.

Today, as it rained outside I managed to piss away at least an hour dredging up lame fashion trend ideas out of my iphoto library.

 Some more original than others, none worth persuing.  Play along with me anyway... 

1) Corset as outer garment:
(seen it, been there, done that)

2) Sleeves removed but cuffs saved and worn:
(I just loved the big mother-of pearl buttons)

3) Dog collars
(mine has a local dog-shaped tag, from 1911, a fantastic charm)

4) Similarly, cat collars, but worn on the ankle:
(the little bell keeps the birdies safe from harm)

5) Vintage sweater clasps worn between the lapels of an old scoop-neck vest:
(This one I think is quite viable actually)

And ...last but not least---
6) Hair Nets!:



My first attempt was very Donald Trump!

Back to School

Back to School Window, 2005:
(Sure wish I could find more crazy pants-)


Back to School, 2008:

Alan has done a beautiful job building wooden shop windows from scratch, replacing the old metal one on the Diamond Street side, and the one that was boarded up on the Fifth Street side.