Vintage & Other Nice Things

Between September and December, I bought authentic vintage pieces (from the 1950s-1960s). (*≧▽≦*)

Betty Barclay Pink Dress With Embroidery (river-gems on eBay)

I saw this dress while browsing vintage dresses on eBay and immediately fell in love with it.

The shipping was almost as much as the price of the dress which brought the total to an expensive amount. Moreover, I wasn't sure if the bodice would fit me since the bust was 36". (I try to pick my sewing patterns with a 30" bust and always thought that 32" is the biggest I'd go with.) Because the dress was costly and I wasn't even sure if it'd fit me, I tried to forget about it.

Three days later, I was still thinking about the dress. I decided to make a bid since I really, really liked it. The 36" bust was the only rub (the waist measured 24"), so I figured I could always go to a seamstress to alter the bodice only...

I thought that there would be more people bidding on the dress, but I ended up being the sole bidder. 🎉

When I got the dress, I noticed right away three differences from the seller's pictures:

• The colour looked more like a "flash" pink than the nice light pink in the pictures.
• The bust looked SO large. I knew it was 36", but I didn't expect it to look this large. I don't mean that people who wear 36"+ busts are "overweight"; I was questioning how the bust area would fit my body and my fears to "float" in the dress went up like 📈
• There was yellowing at the back of the neckline, under the armpits and some yellow spots here and there on the skirt. It wasn't as bad as my white dress, but it was still visible from the outside, except for the little yellow spots (I had to examine the dress meticulously to notice them).

Overall, I was a bit depressed and felt I had thrown all my money in the fire.

My mom washed the dress two times (after having sprayed Spray 'n Wash on the yellow spots) which made me hopeful. Once the dress dried following its first wash, I tried it on and was amazed by the fit. I expected it to fit so bad because of the bust, but my assumptions proved to be false. Granted, the dress doesn't fit like a 32" bust, but I don't float in it at all. Also, the yellowing and the stains had disappeared and the ones still holding on had become hardly noticeable.

Front

Back

This dress is exactly like the pretty pastel ones I see in vintage catalogues. 💖 It's just an incredible dress, probably one of the prettiest I'll ever own in all of my vintage pieces. I'm so happy I got it despite my insecurities about the bust.

Close-up on the embroidery and scallop sleeves

Even the bodice hem is scalloped ♡

Strangely, the colour of the dress varies depending on the lighting (so the eBay pictures were "real"). Under natural lighting, the dress is more of vibrant pink, and with the lights on, it's a very light fainted pink. When the dress is on, both colours look nice.

You can see that the hem has been lengthened. (The white arrow points to the original hem.)

Although knee-length is my preferred length, I initially didn't mind leaving the hem as such, but when I tried the dress with my new petticoat, it didn't look great. Thus I took the dress to a seamstress to switch back to the original hem. (In no way I was gonna apply my poor skills in making an invisible hem on this dress. The seamstress ended up using an invisible thread though [I didn't even know that existed].)

I briefly mentioned it before, but when I received the dress, I was disappointed and concerned. Don't know if I'm the only one, but I have this vision of the dress from the seller's pictures and it always looks gorgeous. It boosts my excitement and I can't wait to hold the dress in my hands. But when I see the dress in person for the first time, all I see is a frail-looking piece of clothing that looks nothing like the majestuous dress in the pictures. I know I shouldn't be surprised by the difference (the dress usually displays a petticoat in the pics and is captured under perfect lighting), but it's such a stark contrast that I can hardly help it. And I'm like, how the heck is this dress gonna look minimally nice on me? I'm pretty sure that my brain will get used to this cognitive dissonance with time.

On the side of the bodice, there was this small loose stitch, but my mom repaired it easily.

Here's a pic of a pretty pink donut to go with the pink embroidery dress:

My mom bought it for me back in October at Tim Hortons. It didn't have any special flavour, but it was good. The middle had rich icing or whipped cream? I was a bit confused as to why they put that there. I went to check on the internet and apparently, there's supposed to be a typa cupcake swirl in the middle of the donut. That explains the mysterious icing in the middle of my donut hole, though it didn't have the swirl. I don't know why.

Black & White Dress (vvvintagethis on Etsy)

If I had to describe in one piece of clothing the style I strive for, it would be this black & white dress. I don't remember how I came to find it on Etsy, I think it was in the "You may also like section".

The picture doesn't do it justice sadly.

This dress incorporates all in one the preppy, vintage and cute styles, my absolute favourites. Preppy by the peter pan collar assorted with the white cuffs; vintage (and preppy) through the pleats and the checked pattern on the skirt; cute with the adorable matching bow at the collar.

The seller had mentioned three little defects that could be fixed by sewing: part of the zipper unstitched, part of a shoulder seam unstitched and the eye of the hook missing at the back. My mom kindly repaired all three.

One of the prettiest check patterns I've seen.

I also like the skirt fabric which is thicker than sole cotton. I'm not a fan of the fabric used for the bodice though. It feels like thin cotton-wool.

There's a sort of tulle petticoat underneath the skirt.

It gives it much texture and volume, though it's rougher on the skin.

The upper part of the petticoat is torn in half (notice the black seam stopping at some point).

I'll try to resew it, but if it doesn't work out, I'll just remove the whole thing.

As for the fit... I was disappointed by it. 😭 This is the piece that I love the most out of all my purchases, yet it's the one that fits me the least nice...

First, the bodice is a bit too short on my body and I'd say it's noticeable when I have the dress on. Plus it's a bit of an awkward feeling. I have hope that a belt may solve this issue. Then, the sleeves are too big for my arms. It's very loose.

Finally, this sleeve cuff in particular doesn't want to stay flat.

Despite my deception over the fit, I don't regret getting this dress at all (all thanks to it being everything I look for in a dress). It's not like it isn't wearable, I can wear it; only, it doesn't fit me as well. I do plan on fixing the issues, I think it's possible—except maybe the sleeves though...

If my alterations aren't enough, I intend on bringing the dress to a seamstress who can turn the skirt into an "independent" one with a zipper (a possible challenge would be to keep the pleats intact), while I'd make myself a similar top to wear with the skirt (the matching bow is detachable). This would become a two-piece set.

Another idea would be to attach the new bodice (made by me) to the skirt I would've unsewed beforehand. I'm not sure of anything yet, though. These are simply thoughts that have been brewing in my mind.

Love the vintage tags. Saddens me a bit to have to remove them,

though I will keep them probably to put in my journal.

I thought the tag was gone for good, but I managed to read it: Capwell's

I searched "Capwell's" but Google kept correcting it for Campbell's lol. I eventually managed to find the same logo on my tag with the keywords "capwells young junior", which gave me other relevant keywords to better my research. Apparently, Capwell's used to be a popular department store with branches located across California (source). I read some comments on the page left by former employees or shoppers and their fond memories make me want to see more pictures of the store at the time. It seemed like a really fun place to go shopping to. An article gives more info about the company's history.

While I was on IG's Explore page, I saw this post and I was shocked: My dress in a Simplicity vintage pattern!

source

It's pretty much the same design, except that my sleeves are 3/4 and there are little diamond patterns on my check skirt. This discovery got me quite animated, questions started to pop into my head. I'm aware that vintage patterns reflect the fashion trends of the era, but I didn't know that the designs could be so similar. Who was inspired by who? Were there a lot of industry-made pieces that could be self-made with a sewing pattern?

Also, I was glad to see this pattern because when I had received the dress, my mom had pointed out that it had belt loops, but the original belt was missing. She had suggested me to wear the dress with a faux patent leather belt in black, and the girl on the pattern cover has this exact same belt with her dress! What a coincidence, but my mom also has good taste.

Betty Lane White Dress With Lace (eserino82 on eBay)

The price of this dress was very affordable imo, at least, compared to my other dresses. I wasn't struck by its beauty at first sight, but I like its simple look and it was right in my size. The cotton fabric also made it a light dress to wear in the summer.

I was really impressed with the quality and the condition of the dress. I expected to see armpits stains and lots of yellowing at the collar, but there weren't any.

The dress had tiny stains on the skirt.

Again—very tiny

The most visible stain was probably this one on the skirt's lace trim.

Back of the dress

The dress fits nice. I don't have a lot to say about it. I'm surprinsingly more pleased than I thought with this purchase.

The recurrent detailing on the dress is four pintucks with a lace trim.

The bottom skirt has one of these while the bodice has multiple of them on the front.

Damaged tags are one of my pet peeves, but I thought I'd be dumb

to let go a pretty and fairly priced vintage dress only because of the tag condition.

The back seam of the skirt.

Makes me feel a little better about my similar lack of accuracy when making dresses. :-)

The dress had a kind of petticoat underneath, but I didn't find it added a lot more to the dress.

Moreover, it ripped off in the washing machine (see pic below). I thus decided to remove it.

Gingham Blue & White Dress (BulletBraBoutique on Etsy)

So... a few hours after purchasing the above dress on eBay, this one magically popped on my Etsy home page. I was like ᕙ(è_é")ᕗ !! For weeks there was nothing I liked and then boom, right in my size.

Besides looking gorgeous, this dress had lots of details: gingham piping at the neckline, sleeves and waist, two rickrack trims on the front bodice and one trim all around the skirt's lower part. And the skirt looks full and voluminous. The narrow pleats make it look amazing with a petticoat underneath.

I told myself that I'd probably be able to make a similar dress (not without a lot of suffering, though) to convince me that it wasn't worth buying it. I knew I was lying to myself and a couple of minutes later I bought it anyway.

Another picture that doesn't flatter the dress... (idk why but it was tough to take

good pictures of the clothes in this post, despite the natural lighting)

The collar and the sleeves have piping, how wonderful is that?!

Even the waist has piping

Rickrack trim on the skirt

Back of the dress

This dress fits like a glove. I think it's the first vintage dress that fits me so nicely. As mentioned, the dress looks even more stunning with a petticoat. I don't know if the seller is the one who replaced it, but the zipper at the back is a brand new one and works really well.

*sigh* I don't know why I tend to notice the stains on the secondhand clothes I buy only much later after receiving them... yup, I spotted the following stains quite easily once I took pictures of the dress in natural sunlight.

I know the stains don't look visible but... I believe it's cuz of the white shapes

surrounding them (for emphasis). They're much more apparent because of their brightness.

Skirt hem

Not the end of the world, but bleh, anyway.

The seller gave me this (brand new) pink measuring tape with my purchase and I love it. Mine didn't work well anymore.

On one side: inches only

On the other side: inches on top and centimetres on the bottom

I like that one side shows both the centimetres and the inches, it makes conversions so much easier and faster. However, I would've preferred to have the centimetres on top instead of the inches, since the inches are already taking up the other side. But this measurement tape was a freebie, so I'm very happy.

Beige Handbag (ElekonChicBoutique on Etsy)

Like my jacket, this was also an impulse purchase. As a fan of scallop, I fell in love with this handbag right away. I bought it only a few days after getting my black one, but I didn't mind since both are different colours.

The seller had named it "Authentic vintage real leather 1950s handbag, shoulder bag, Kelly bag, Made in England, leather purse". Therefore, I thought that the material was real leather. When I received the bag, I sensed it wasn't real leather and my father confirmed it was most probably vinyl. 

I felt disappointed at that moment; not because I had bought the handbag based on the assumption that it was real leather (I bought it first and foremost because of its scallop frame), but because I may have paid more than I should have had. (>_<)" I checked back on the listing and the word "vinyl" is completely absent from the description. It's even written twice "Material: real leather".

The inside is real leather though.

That gold scallop frame is so pretty.

I was so excited to have a pic with the handbag that I uploaded it on IG

back in October. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And yes, the shoes are the ones shown in this haul.

This haul is abundant. Shit, I always need stuff. ;_;

- - -

We've come to the end of my haul, just in time before the New Year. I didn't think I'd be able to, I procrastinated on writing this blog post these past days. I kinda rushed finishing it towards the end...

To tell the truth, I haven't worn most of these pieces for extended periods of time. With work, school and the pandemic (= work from home and staying at my parent's house), I haven't been to a lot of places this fall. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to wearing all of these lovely pieces and pair them with the nice stuff I already have. ♡

I'm becoming very well furnished now, in terms of clothing and accessories... I'd be happy to find cute hats like a beret or a cute pillbox hat, but I'm not looking for them actively.

Happy New Year!