Red Riding Hood by my sister

Everyone her post is finally up!

My sister has come back to blog land going strong and here is a sneak peek at her new creation she recently completed for me!

Head over to her blog to see her detailed post about the new red riding hood creation!! She is over there in the rigth side bar! or you can go here --->http://diaryofaseamstress.blogspot.com/
Have a lovely day everyone!
In Christ,
Rebecca

Last Day of WIFD Day 7

Hello everyone!

Today unfortunately is the last day of WIFD! But I am now inspired to keep dreaming and making new combos for myself to wear in the coming days. Its great fun and I enjoy dressing in a feminine manner! In case you all don't know WIFD is Week in feminine dress, over at the sense and sensibility message forum all the ladies that are participating have to dress in dresses and skirts over even jeans and make their outfits feminine! In this day and age many ladies just throw something on not thinking to dress like the lady they are. So we are trying to bring back dressing like ladies!

Here is my outfit for today! I wore the same top I wore thursday, but with a grey long sleeve t shirt underneath for extra warmth. The shirt that is a purple wrap shirt is my favorite shirt I also wore thursday and it was only $7.00 at Ross. The grey shirt is from my dear friend Hannah and it was free! And the skirt was also free! So my outfit was only $7.00!! hehe! I love that price tag!My dear sister also did my hair american civil war style today, because we did a photo shoot outside with all the snow of myself in my civil war dress and coat, etc. Pictures from our photo shoot will be coming soon over at my sisters blog. There are some secret things that she has been working on for me for reenacting she wants to share! It was lots of fun taking photos in the snow!Here is a better picture of the whole outfit. My jean skirt is from New Creation Apparel, I have had it for about 2 years now and I love it! New creations website is on my favorite websites list on the right side bar on here! So check them out if you want beautiful modern ready made skirts! This skirt was actually free! The lady gave it to us for free because my sister, mother, and I bought 8 skirts from her at once when she was having a sale and she added this one for free because we bought so many of her skirts and were good customer's! Oh the perks of buying during a sale skirts for our family! :)

Have a great day everyone! I will post a preview of my sister's blog post and link to her blog later today! I am loving sitting here with my family and watching the snow come down outside!

In Christ,

Rebecca

WIFD Day 6

Hello everyone!

I can't believe that the week in Feminine Dress over at the Sense and Sensibility message forum is almost over! I have had so much fun thinking up new outfits with items I already have and wearing old ones I have not worn in a while. Here is my outfit for today! I decided to go more casual, but still feminine with this mini dress made by my sister. It was made from a vintage 80's pattern last year out of yellow linen. I love the bodice, but I can't wear this dress by itself while still being modest, so I wear my jeans with it and a top underneath. Its really cold here today so I wore a long sleeve top. Normally I would wear a short leave top underneath, but for warmth today its long sleeve. :)The jeans were free!! Believe it or not! My church has a cloths drive every year for the homeless and all the volunteers get to take any of the cloths that are left after the drive. So I found this pair that are origanally from Banana Republic and were in mint condition! I was happy! The sweater I added after realizing that I was freezing in just a long sleeve t shirt and the dress and jeans.It was from the sale bin at GoodWill and it was only $3.00 I believe and it is vintage with beaded flowers and it is 100% merion wool!! I was so happy to find this treasure 4 years ago! I also am wearing my pink slippers and wool socks. Sorry for the unstylish slippers! lol I forgot to cut them out of the pictures. But I am at home, so its ok right? A close up is below of the beading on the sweater.

The long sleeve purple top was also from the same cloths drive for free. I think the only thing I paid for in this outfit was the linen for the dress, which was not expensive, probably 5 or 6 dollars for it!

here is a close up of my lovely earrings that a good friend of mine made for me out of another pair of earrings that were too goddy for my taste. So she took them apart and came up with this pair as well as another pair. I wear them for civil war reenacting and for modern wear. I also wore this same pair yesterday with my other purple outfit.

I wore my pearl necklace that I got for my birthday last year from my parents and my white belt, which I got at the thrift store for $1.00!! So this outfit totals only about $7.00!!

Oh and I am not wearing shoes today, since I am at home, but I will go on a walk later and I will be wearing the same brown flats I wore on Day 3.

Have a blessed day everyone and I hope your weekend is lovely! We are supposed to get a snow storm this weekend! But we shall see what God does!

In Christ,

Rebecca

WIFD Day 5

My black bolero sweater is from the thrift store and I can't remember how much I paid. It was not a recent purchase, but I love it and it was a great price I am sure if I paid for it! The purple wrap shirt is my favorite shirt! I bought it last spring for only $7.00 at Ross and I just love it!

Upclose the shiny polyester beautiful floral I bought at Joann's. My sister made me this skirt for christmas, every year for christmas and my birthday she makes me something out of fabric I already have in my stash. All the hard work she puts into it is so worth it!! This was made from a McCall's pattern and I will have to look up which one later this week. I will tell you all tomorrow!

I am not sure how much I paid for the fabric, but it was a great deal with a coupon. I had my eye on this fabric for a while! My shoes were bought many years ago at DSW Shoe Wearhouse and I can't remember how much I paid. But they have been with me for a long time and are just great flats that go with everything!

Have a great day everyone and God bless! I must confess I am ready to change into my jean skirt and a different blouse and sweater, because I have much to do and I don't want to ruin this nice skirt and top! I usually only wear this outfit for special occasions and church! Today was a dressier day for me because of my choir class. I will still dress in a feminine way, just a little more casual!

In Christ,

Rebecca

WIFD Day 4

This morning my sister and I had to go to our chemistry class, so I put on this outfit in a hurry and added my cloche brown wool hat and I was out the door! I had my hair down, but I put it back partially when arriving home in time for lunch.

Here is my outfit for the rest of the day, I put my hair back so I can take a walk, clean the bathrooms, do laundry, and do other tasks with hair in my face.

The skirt is a grey wool and is a vintage find I am thinking either the 1950's or 1960's or even the 1980's, not sure what era. I think this skirt was $6.00, but well worth the extra expense for me because it has the high waste line which is great and it goes with most any top or sweater. It is from a thrift store in Purcellville, VA. We check this thrift store each time we go to my choir class out at PHC.

My socks are from k-mart of all places and were $2.00 I believe.

My white ruffle blouse is a puffy sleeve blouse, sorry I did not show it, but it cold here! It was $7.00 at the thrift store here in my home town. It is from Banana Republic and I got it used. I was pleasantly suprised to find it in my size and in white, which I think looks great with my skin tone.

My sweater is also thrifted from Thrifty sisters again out in Lovetsville, VA. My sister, mother, and I always check this thrift store when we go out there for my choir class at PHC. It was origanlly from my favorite store Ann Taylor Loft as well. I have lots of thrifted items from this brand name and love them!!

My hat is a cloche wool hat from kohl's I got after christmas for only $15.00. I love kohls when I am not at a thrift store! they have great stuff too!

A close up of my thrifted scarf that was only $1.00 from a thrift store in PA. My sister, mother, and I always stop when we see a thrift store when we vacation in PA once a year. Its so peaceful up there and different from living in the city!!

My brown suede flats were $30.00 from Off Broadway shoe wearhouse, but they were worth the extra money, because they go with just about every outfit I own!! And they are very cute and feminine!

These socks have a hole in them, but I love the color that goes with my sweater and scarf and they are just cute!

Today is the 4th day of week in feminine dress over at the Sense and Sensibility forum. I love participating in it because I come up with new ways to look a little fashion forward, more put together, and can just have fun being feminine with this challenge! here is my outfit for today.

Have a great day everyone! And I hope ladies you are encouraged to dress to please the Lord and look feminine!

In Christ,

Rebecca

WIFD Day 3

Sorry everyone I missed yesterday and Sunday, because we had company and I did not have time for posting. Sunday I wore my striped civil war day dress, because our friends came up from southern VA to get their wedding pictures done at a photography studio in Gettysburg, PA. So my sister and I dressed up along with them for their picture. We did not get our pictures done, but our family plans to in the future very soon! Yesterday I wore a different modern outfit from today that I will wear again this week. I also wore no shoes yesterday and sunday I wore my civil war boots. My sweater has embroidery detail in light blue!! I love the light blue flowers! I have a lot of blue so this sweater goes with many of my outfits I already had when I got it. Its very versitale actually! Here is the full outfit. This skirt I made right before my sister and I went to England in September for the Sense and Sensibility tour. It was quick skirt from the 1910 walking skirt pattern by Folkwear. My sister and I both of 2 skirts made from this pattern and we love them. Its similar to the beatrix skirt pattern from Sense and Sensibility patterns. I made the skirt out of a stretchy polyester that has a pin stripe I bought off the sale table at Joann.

The blue long sleeve shirt is from target and I think it was $12.00. The sweater is thrifted from a thrift store my sister, mother, and I love called Thrifty Sisters that is near Patrick Henry College where I take my homeschool choir class. Its in Lovettsville, VA. So if you are in the area check them out! The sisters are so nice and give great deals on their clothing and other items! :) We bring in donations sometimes and they give us a lot of discounts for bringing in our treasures and coming out with new ones. :) I think the sweater was only $5.00 and is from Ann Taylor Loft!! I love that brand! My scarf was probably $1.00 from a thrift store in PA. Here is a better picture of my neck scarf. I was inspired by Hannah over at cultivating home to wear my neck scarf today. My boots I wore in the morning, as my sister, mother, and I went to our spanish class, which we take at a homeschool group.
My hair looked like this at the end of the day, I had it down most of the day, but I don't have pictures. It looked a lot like my hair is done in the pictures of my sister and I in my previous post learning to shoot.

Have a blessed day and I will hopefully get to post again for tomorrow. I will have to wear another pair of shoes!


In Christ,

Rebecca

My first time shooting a gun!

My sister above shooting for the first time! My dad is behind her wearing his new night cap that we gave him for christmas for civil war reenacting. :) He wears it outside a lot for modern wear obviously! I quite like it!

Here is myself shooting too.

My father, mother, sister, and I went to some friend's home for the day and we had a blast shooting real 22 rifles for the first time. Bethany(my sister) and I had never used a gun before and my dad wanted to teach us how. Here are some pictures from our adventure. The 22 rifles had no kick at all to them when you shoot, but they were very heavy! I could only do about 8 rounds and then I had to have a rest for my arms! :)

Well I thought I would share this fun experience with you all! I think my sister and I will be going to range with our dad more often!

In Christ,

Rebecca

My finished vintage inspired shirt dress!!!

Dear readers,
I am so excited to share my completed dress with all of you!!

I love the full skirt on this dress!

I am so excited to share with you my first ever completed dress that I have ever made in my life on my own! I did not go and ask Beth any questions about this dress or how to sew or cut it out. I cut it out on the correct grain!! hehehe! I will have to share with you my stories of my confusion when it comes to grain from when I was younger! lol I also was able to fix my problems with the collar looking right, I had to put it back on 3 different times to fix it! I also had problems with the darts in the bodice not looking right, which I fixed by redrawing the dart lines onto the bodice a few times. It was a challenge, but I thouroghly enjoyed every minute of it! I am so excited about my new creation.

I used Butterick 5315 as my pattern. I love this pattern, it was easy to understand and easy to sew up, probably I could sew this up in a matter of over a two day span now that I know all its quirks! :) It took me over a week of sewing and figuring out the pattern a few hours or so each day. I just love the way it turned out. I also got some inspiration from Anna, who made this up a while ago and I love it. I have had my pattern for a while, but did not have the perfect fabric until now. I used a rayon/polyester blend fabric from Joanne, which was only 3 dollars a yard on the sale table. I used 3 1/2 yards of this fabric. I also used some blue thread that was free from friends and 3 big brown buttons, which were also free from friends.

I had unfastened my belt by accident in this picture, but I love the way the skirt is so flowy! I love the 1950's full skirts. I will be posting more of what I wear on a regular basis and I will have to post some pictures of my 2 1950's circle skirt I wear often. My sister made them for me. I also wear this white belt with them and I got it for about $1.00 at the thrift store, it actually came with a linen jacket I posted here earlier. You can see the belt with the jacket on my post about my shirt dress.

Here is a better detail of the bodice, it hard to do one of yourself, I did all these on the self timer. I want you all to see the buttons and sleeve detail! I just love the puffy sleeves! I think I am a sucker for them! :)

I hope this inspires those young ladies out there that have not attempted a project that is above their comfort level in sewing! this was not a project I would have normally undertaken. But I have been trying to build on my sewing experience and it payed off! Now I have 3 other dress lengths of fabric that I have had for a while to make into more vintage inspired dresses. God bless you all and may you be inspired to sew to glorify the Lord in your wardrobes and homes!

In Christ,

Rebecca

Haiti aftershock early this morning

Everyone please keep praying for Haiti as they experienced a 6.1 aftershock of the previous earth quake this morning.

The family that I told you all about earlier is ok, but they are trying to get many people to the hospital and out of the country. here is their blog for details, lets pray that God moves in mysterious and amazing ways through this situation! http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/

Praying for Haiti and I hope you all have a blessed week!

In Christ,
Rebecca

My vintage sewing Sneak peek!

My new dress that is in progress! Its perwinkle blue and I love the way its turning out so far!

Well on tuesday after I came home from an early spanish class, I decided to start myself a new vintage inspired dress! I am using Butterick 5315 and I love it so far! I have had this pattern for about 1 year and have just needed the perfect fabric to make it up! I was inspired when a good friend of mine borrowed my pattern and made it up. Her's turned out lovely and then I saw what Anna over at Pleasant View Schoolhouse did with her pattern and I just had to start making mine. I have been doing it since tuesday on and off, since I still have school and many other things on my plate. I really want to finish it today for Sunday worship, but I am not sure if I will be able to as we have company coming over. It is a vintage inspired pattern, if reminds me of the 1950's, which is one of my favorite era's of dresses for modern wear!!

Here is Anna's dress.- http://pleasantviewschoolhouse.blogspot.com/2009/10/brown-linen-shirtwaist-butterick-5315.html

Isn't is so pretty!?Mine is also a solid color and guess what color that may be? If you know me well, its definately blue!! Here is a photo of the bodice in progress. I will post pictures of it finished whenever that may be. I hope to finish it this coming week, if not today. It still needs buttons and button holes and the skirt to be pleated in and hemmed. I am so excited about this proejct!

Oh and by the way, the dress form is my sister's, she has had Robin(the dress form) for many years and is so kind to let me use it. As I am a new seamstress and I have not being sewing for myself but, about 2 years. I had known how to sew, but not very well. I am trying to get to where I can sew for myself without help. This whole project so far has gone well, I was able to fix problems I had on my own! Hopefully by the time I Lord willing am married I will be able to sew without Beth's help! I think I might just need my own dress form someday! I have my own machine, but not my own serger or dress form. Beth and I received our serger for christmas. So when one of us gets married Lord willing we will have to get another serger! :)

In Christ,

Rebecca

I was going to just post about the sweater dress.....

And then I thought of all these things I could do with the sweater dress! So here are a whole bunch of outfits with this versitale peice! Also I posted some of the main clothing items I use and every feminine gal needs in her wardrobe, like a good pair of casual shoes, dress shoes, boots, and a coat and gloves. This is outfit number 1! Here is the sweater dress! Its merino wool and is a very warm dress for the winter and fall!

With a cloche hat or maybe another type of hat it adds even more interest and style to the outfit.

Details of the imfamous brown sweater dress! I bought this dress at the thrift store for only $10.00 back in October! It felt so blessed, as whenever I go into the thrift store I say Lord help me to buy only what I will use and need. I wanted to find a brown dress and a jacket that day, as well as a pair of brown dressy shoes. I found all 3 of these things! I felt so blessed. The jean jacket at the bottom, the brown heels too at the bottom of this post were those 2 other items I was blessed with! I now have a wardrobe of things that all can be mixed and matched better.

I love it even by itself, some sweater dresses look shapeless and boring alone, but I love it with my pearls and flats!

Now I am going to show you some combos I have come up with, just using the sweater dress as the base for the outfits.

I love just wearing a plain cardigan like my pink one I received for free from a friend with this dress! It looks great with my cloche as well.

denim jacket details.

Denim jacket embroidery details.

One of my favorite ensembles of them all, I love this denim jacket from Kohls, I don't remember how much it was, but it was after christmas probably 6 years ago I bought it.

Thrifted plaid jacket, I love the fit and its quite warm, its merino wool!!

Thrifted wool plaid jacket, it has a blue stripe in the plaid and brown in the plaid. So it goes great with my favorite blue scarf, also thrifted, my thrifted dress, brown cloche, and my brown flats.

Linen jacket, heels, and shirt dress is a simple and pretty look. I love the belted look, I use the belt from this jacket with many other dresses I own, as well as with shirts and skirts. Its a very versital accessory.

This is something I would wear to church or out and about, I love this shawl that I purchased from a friend for only $14.00, the fitted jacket is linen and was only $12.00 I think from the thrift store. It is an H&M jacket, I love their stuff! The cloche is from Kohls of course for only $15.00 as I posted earlier in December.

You can see my purple necklace in this photo. It was a gift for Christmas from my aunt and uncle and their family. I love purple!

This outfit above is the one I am wearing today, as I am just at home, blogging, sewing, doing chores, studying the Great Awakening, Our Countries birth, chemistry, piano and voice and spanish. I am just wearing the dress along with the purple necklace and my hair pinned up a little. I don't need a jacket or a sweater or stockings. I would wear a jacket or sweater along with stockings if I was out of the house.

I wear lots of jewelry to add to my outfits, here are some of the earrings I wear most often. I love my fake diamond studs I received for christmas, along with my silver CW reenacting earrings, I wear them for modern wear as well. I also wear the red rose ones from the dollar store with lots of outfits that have red in them. The blue butterflies go with many of my outfits, because I wear lots of light blue as well.

My basic necklaces are my cross which my dad bought for me when we visited the Vatican in Rome, Italy. I wear it most often, its my favorite! I also wear the gold locket sometimes, the heart necklace I also love!

I wear the pearl necklace and bracelet a lot! It goes with so much and is a nice vintage and feminine look! I also wear these 2 combs in my hair quite a bit for reenacting and modern wear. I love how they look! I will post pictures of how I wear them sometime too. I also wear the other two necklaces with lots of my outfits. You can get away with one good pair of earrings and a necklace, because it always looks fresh with different outfits.

My two necklaces and two earrings I wear most would be the pearls and my cross, along with my studs and my civil war earrings, these are the two sets I wear togeather the most! Just one necklace and a pair of earrings, or just earrings or just a necklace I think is just enough, its simple and pretty! :)

Every lady needs a pair of good boots to wear all the time in the cold weather months, this is my pair, which I purchased at the thrift store for only $12.00 I believe, they were pretty much in mint condition! I was so excited and blessed. I love brown and wear it more, so finding brown boots that were not too masculine or ugly was really nice!

Now these pair of lovely brown!! shoes I found at the local thrift store for only $8.00!! I love them and I wear them for church, going to my Patrick Henry choir classes, and other nicer occasions. I love the vintage feel of them! I had been looking for some 1940's style shoes and I was so suprised to find these in my size! The Lord provides for everything. I needed a nice shoe for church and there it was!

Now these jean flats are so comfortable! I did not find them at the thrift store, but they were only $30.00 at Off Broadway Shoe Wearhouse. Its more expensive, but I will use these for a long time. I still have a black pair of flats I have had for about 5 years!! they are so comfy as well!

These brown flats are one of my pairs of shoes I go to the most, they go also with everything and they are brown!! As I am a summer color palete, I love to wear brown over black. So I was just so excited to find these! Also from Off Broadway Shoe warehouse, for about $35.00 I believe.

And every girl needs a versitale coat and jacket for fall and winter! Here are my solutions.

Now every girl needs a fall/winter coat that goes with everything, my solution, a denim shirt dress! I found this dress at the thrift store for only $10.00 this past fall and I wear it as a jacket/coat when its not so chilly. I wore it more in the fall. Its a great fall coat!

My solution for snow and really cold weather and still looking feminine and not frumpy- My civil war reenacting coat!! I wear this coat all the time! It goes with just about every outfit, I wear it mostly with longer skirts, because with shorter skirts or my sweater dress it looks weird. But I wear longer skirts in the winter most everyday anyway! So its the perfect solution! As you can see I have shorter sleeves on it, so I wear sweaters underneath usually, then you can see what color my outfit is, which is neat. I was lazy and just put it on over my t-shirt today for the pictures.

I don't know about you all, but my hands are always cold when I am not at home. My solution pretty gloves.

One winter and fall accesory I love are my gloves! This grey pair is a wool and acrylic blend and is quite warm. I got them for christmas 2 years ago, I believe they are from J.C. Pennys.

This pair of gloves are vintage and I was just appaled when I saw them at the thrift store for only $2.00!!! I could have screamed and leaped for joy! They had a whole bin of vintage gloves, I also got a pair that I would not be suprised might have been for a wedding, for the bride to wear. They have cream embroidery on them and are suede cream color. I will have to post about them sometime. I use them for civil war reenacting mostly, but I may wear them with the new vintage shirt dress I am sewing up right now.

I hope you enjoyed this post and it will help any of you who have a hard time picking items that are versital, but are still feminine and you will actually use and love. Also I hope it will encourage you all to be frugal and try and find those sales and thrift store finds. It really helps if you are like me and are a single gal who does not have a lot of money. Even you mom's out there probably can benefit emmensly from thrifting and gettings those sales! Its also just fun, I love the hunt!

I have decided that at least once a week I will do a post about a thrifted outfit I have for a few weeks. I have a lot of items also that I have purchased through thrift stores. I love sharing different outfits that I have come up with, its hard these days sometimes to find things that you like, are modest and feminine, and are not too pricey! So I will try and post about ways I have been frugal in buying modest, feminine clothing.

In Christ,

Rebecca