shop giveaway! - closed

Thanks again to everyone who entered! I let the Little Miss pick a winner this morning. If you blogged about the giveaway your name was put in twice. And she chose...

Congrats Valerie!

Yes, you read it right - any dress of your choosing! With Easter just around the corner I thought it would be fun to giveaway a cute vintage dress for your cute little gal.

Here is what you gotta do:

1. Visit the shop and take a look at the dresses/pinafore section then come back and leave a comment telling which dress is your favorite (Please keep in mind that if the dress you mention is sold before the end of the giveaway you will not receive it and need to choose another).

2. Make sure to leave your email, or become a follower to find out if you won! Winner will be announced at the top of this post.

3. Boost your chance to win with extra entries for links - blog/twitter/facebook - just come back and let me know you shared the love.

4. Giveaway closes Saturday, March 6th and winner will be announced the following Monday morning.

Good luck!!!

weekend snapshot

a little girl and her hat.

the end.

i'm smitten

...by a knit stuffed animal. Did you see this Bobbi Bear on the Purl Bee? I am so smitten by him. Not sure why I've decided he's a boy, but I love how big and cuddly he looks and I think someone should make one for me.

I'll let the Little Miss cuddle with him too.

mrs. plaid

The Little Miss is not the only one wearing plaid around here. I found this dress at the thrift store and immediately loved the color (and the pockets!) and thought I could refashion it into a more wearable style. No offense if you like to wear ruffle-wings and sleeves big enough to store the contents of your purse in...


...but that's just not me. I couldn't decide between a toned down dress or a skirt. I went with the dress to see how it looks and this is the result - no more wings or purse-sleeves.


I still can't decide if its too "I'm wearing a picnic blanket." Maybe I just can't get the original out of my head. What do you think? Would it be better as a skirt?

new in the shop

I just added some of my favorite clothes ever to the shop! I am dying over the sun pocket on those overalls. You have to check them out. Thanks!

little miss plaid

The Little Miss got a bad cough and cold the end of last week. As much as I hate it when she is sick I can't help but enjoy the time I get to myself while she takes much longer naps than usual. Like 5 hour naps - I know, awesome, right? (don't think I am a bad mother). So I took advantage of my free time by putting this fabric I found at the thrift store to use. I know I saw a dress made out of a similar plaid somewhere in the vast internet that gave me the inspiration, but it is long lost to me now.

I used a pattern I already had for a simple, plain dress and tweaked it a bit to add in the pleats (see below), then I changed the direction of the grain of the fabric for the hem panel and sleeves. I love how it turned out although the neck is a little too small so she'll grow out of it sooner than I would like her too (for some reason I thought the pattern I was using was a size 2, but it was a size 1).

Fabric - $2 divided by 3 (because I could probably squeeze another two dresses out of the leftovers).
Zipper - already owned
Total Cost = $0.67

That's why I love thrifting.

How to tweak your pattern to add front pleats:
Tape pieces of paper together until you have a piece of paper big enough to trace the front piece of the pattern you are tweaking with room to spare along the fold line. Trace around the outer edges and bottom. Where the fold line is measure out about 2-3"* at the top neckline and 1 1/2"-2 1/2"* at the bottom hem. Then using a ruler connect the lines. Now you have your own pattern piece that you can use over and over again!


*These measurements worked well for my size 1 pattern for 3 box pleats. You'll have to adjust them for different sizes or depending on how many pleats you want to add and how big you want them. I just wanted to share with you the general idea of how to do it! Oh, and I would recommend ironing your pattern first, I know mine is all wrinkled in the picture.

thrifted goodies :: cameras

I found both of these cameras at the thrift store this week. I think I might be starting a vintage camera collection without consciously choosing too. I just love the way they look, I love the imperfect beautiful pictures they take, and I love imagining all the memories they may have captured over a lifetime of use.


I wasn't sure if the Polaroid worked, but it made a funny sound when I opened the top like the flash was powering up. I was playing around with it while the Little Miss was eating her lunch, opening up compartments and pushing buttons when - Click! Flash! - a picture came rolling out! I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or her. I had no idea there was still film inside.


I don't know much about this Kodak Brownie Starmite but I did find out it was made from 1960-63 and uses 127 mm film. So, if I can get my hands on some film we can see if it works (although I have a feeling this one wasn't used very much so it should be in working condition). I love the box.