Coming soon....

Yes, I've been very slack at blogging for quite some time...but I do have a post in the works!  eShakti contacted me and asked me to do a review for one of their dresses! I just received the dress a couple days ago, and as soon as I do a photoshoot with my brother and do a write up about it, I will have the review up on my blog!

Birthday wish list

Well, y'all, sorry I haven't posted in such a long time.  However, I will have some exciting news to post about here soon!  I am going to be a vendor at Goodwill's SECOND RUNWAY event in Roanoke next week, so I will have to let you know how that goes.  And I've got a big order of fabric on it's way, so I will be sewing several 40's and 50's styled blouses for school!  I promise to take lots of pictures while I'm sewing, and of the finished blouses and outfits!

But, for the moment, since my 19th birthday is coming up in just 3 1/2 weeks (!!!!) I'm just going to post a boring list of what I want for my birthday.  Keep in mind, some are serious, some are totally "wants" not "needs", and others are absolutely ridiculous and thrown in for humor.  :)

• American Duchess shoes, size 7.5. 

They would look so cute with anything from slacks to jeans to modern skirts and dresses!  Besides, I wouldn't have to hide my feet any more when I wear my Colonial dresses....lets just say that Dansko clogs are not the most historically accurate shoes....  LOL.

• Brown riding boots such as these to pair with jeans and skirts (so for those mid-calf skirts, I don't have that awkward two or three inches of bare leg from the hem of the skirt to my shoes!  And I don't do leggings.....)

• Peep-toe shoes like these from Blowfish Shoes in black distressed linen.  I'd like a pair in white.  They look so cute with 50's dresses!

• A P-51 Mustang would be awesome!

as would a P-40 Kittyhawk

 

or the well-loved Piper Cub (same as missionary Nate Saint flew when he was killed in Ecuador) 

Or a F-14.  Or and A-380.  Yeah, it would be so special if I could take my first solo flight in one of these amazing planes.

• Dresses. I love dresses.  Like these from eShakti:

Or from ModCloth:

(I like blue, and retro style if you can't tell!!!)

• A computer (necessary for college!).  Just please, not an Apple or a Dell.  

• An all-expenses-paid vacation to Scotland and Ireland. Or Jamaica.  Or anywhere for that matter.

• Books!  And the time to read them!   There's so many books I want to read.  Maybe it's because I like history, or maybe it's because I enjoy learning, but I want to read so many of the classics.  I want to read everything from Jane Eyre to The Pilgrim's Progress to Mein Kampf.  And I want to read stories about flying.  

• New camera.  Mine died about a year ago, and since then I've relied on my brother to take pictures for me.  But my brother will not be around forever....and I need some way to not only take pictures of my skirts for my Etsy shop, but also to document my college experience!  

• Mexican Train dominoes!  If you haven't played this game, then you are missing out on a lot of fun!  I love playing this game with my church family.  We get so silly making fun of each other and threatening to never talk to each other again and telling the pastor's wife to be nice!  I've never laughed so hard as when playing Mexican Train!

• Vinyl chalkboard and chalk pens.  This would be so cute to put on my dorm room door to write notes to my roomie or to put schedule reminders to myself!

 

• A 50K scholarship would be really nice.  (LOL, don't we all wish for that!)

• Hats.  Have I ever mentioned that I do like to wear hats?  I think the 1940's pillbox, fedora, and newsboy hats are so cute, and I don't understand why more girls and women don't wear hats anymore!  Hats are cool.

• Customers for my business.

• Winter coat.  Mine's kinda looking threadbare.....but maybe I can mend it and replace some missing buttons to last this winter.

That's my birthday wish list, full of random stuff that I want, but probably don't need.

And of course, last but not least, my biggest birthday wish is for a wonderful birthday with my family, boyfriend, and roommate (who's birthday is the day before mine!  Eeeek!!!!!).  :)

Thought y'all might appreciate this photo....

And fabric makes me happy!  =)

P.S.  Please forgive me for the lack of posts lately......working two jobs and running a business doesn't leave much time for sewing for myself....or posting on the blog!

Custom skirt for my Spanish teacher

With the majority of the saris I purchase, I can sew two skirts from one sari - one long, and the other short.  This sari....

became this skirt for a friend....

and this skirt for my Spanish teacher....

I had to piece together the border and embroidery around the hem, and I didn't like how it looked at first.....but now, I love how it looks!  Oh, and that's my little sister modeling the skirt for me.  She's so pretty isn't she?

(She's only 14, so no emails from possible suitors, please.  LOL)

Needing fashion advice here!

So, Liberty University's School of Aviation has a dress code of slacks, pants, or khakis with a collared shirt that's tucked in.  I really don't want to wear boring polo shirts.  Blouses are a good idea since I can pair them with skirts as well.  But it's so hard to find blouses at Goodwill.  So, I kinda need some help here on finding cute, inexpensive blouses and outfit ideas.  If they're vintage-style, all the better!  Patterns are accepted too.  :)  Here's some ideas I had:

I really like the short sleeved version!

So simple and cute!  I like the plaid.

The bottom right one is especially cute.  I'm having a love affair with pintucks (although when I actually sew them, I might think differently!  LOL)

There's some ideas that I like.  Maybe I can find those patterns, or something like them that is not so expensive!

Williamsburg Photos

Sorry this post has been so long in coming.  Life has seriously been crazy.  But you can read more about that over an my new blog Born to Fly (I wanted to keep my sewing and historical fashion blogging separate from my random aviation and this-is-my-crazy-life posts.  LOL).  I promised y'all that I would post pictures of my trip to Williamsburg, so here they are!

On our way, we stopped at Shirley Plantation, and there was this vintage car club touring the place, so there were LOTS of old cars.  Of course, we just had to get a picture with one of them.

On the back porch steps!

I really wish I could have gotten pictures of the inside of the house.  Some of the ladies in the paintings has the most gorgeous outfits EVER.  I'm going to try to sketch them so that I can make them sometime.  

Berkeley Plantation.  Some of the scenes to the movie To Have and To Hold which is coming to theaters this fall (!!!!) were shot here.  

The roses were so pretty.

Before the organ concert at Bruton Parish Church.  I finished the drawstring dress in the car!  

Pretty-ness.

A glass armonica at Dean Shostak's Crystal Concert.

Yes, that is a glass violin!  It's absolutely amazing.

Inside the Wren Building at the College of William and Mary

Just sitting for a bit with good ol' Tommy J.  LOL

Inside the armory.  I just *had* to get my hands on one of those matchlocks!  

Run!  Redcoats!

Traitor!  Benedict Arnold gives a humiliating speech to the Williamsburg residents.

One of Mom's "look, it's a chicken!" photos.

Jamestowne Settlement

FYI, I made that dress.  Without a pattern.  From a sheet.  Turned out pretty well!

Lastly, glassblowing at the Jamestown Glasshouse.  Sorry for the lack of pictures from there, they all turned out pretty dark, as you can see.

On the way to Williamsburg, I was sewing like a maniac on my drawstring dress and a brown roundgown.  The latter is not finished yet, but I wore the former in Williamsburg all day.  I'm working on a post about the drawstring gown with close-up photos and constructions details. 

Now I'm off to get to working on a custom order here!  Bye!

Unveiling my shop

I've been so busy lately and working like crazy!  I just wanted to let y'all know that I finally have my shop up and running on Etsy, and also have a Facebook page!  Please stop by and check them out.

VirginiaBlossoms.etsy.com

www.facebook.com/VirginiaBlossoms

~Abigail