Just click and enlarge to read!
Saturday 29 January 2011
Friday 28 January 2011
Gladys Horton and The Marvelous Marvelettes
We've lost yet another legend, lovelies. Many of you may not have heard, Gladys Horton has passed away. As sad as it made me, I'm so thankful for the tunes she sang to us while she was here.
The first time I heard her voice, I was about eight or nine years old. I carefully placed the spacer in the 45, put it on the turntable and it began spinning. Once the needle touched the vinyl and Gladys pleaded, "Wai-ai-ai-ait Mr. Postman", I knew I had found a friend for life. I still have that well-worn and well-loved record that had already been well worn and well loved by my mother as a teenager, long before it reached my little hands...
I hope one day I'll have a daughter and she will have the same reaction to that sweet voice that I did. I'll teach her the Mashed Potato, as my mother did me....because, as DeeDee Sharp tells us, "it's the most, man, the day they did it to Please Mr. Postman."
Thursday 27 January 2011
Sew Ready For Spring, 1963
Hi ho, my dears! It's been snowing again and quite frankly, it's beginning to cease being pretty. I don't know about you lot, but I'm very ready for spring to hurry it's little way along. It isn't that I don't like winter. I love it. It's nice to be inside all cozy while powdered sugar falls outside the windows. It's lovely to bundle up and make use of all those capes, stoles, and coats. Things that during warmer months just sit, neglected and forgotten, at the back of the closet.
As lovely as winter can be, my mind is racing towards spring. This article from 1963 has brightened my mood a bit:
This past Saturday, I had a DAR meeting. As I was already out and about I decided to make it a thrifting day. I didn't really have the best of luck as far as quantity goes, but I did find a few nice things...and only spent $11.
Here are a couple of fabrics I found for a dollar a yard. Lovely late '60's-early '70s polyesters. Not really springy, but nice.
I also found a cute plaid wool mini skirt from the same period as well as a cutsie blue and white checkered button up, that is just too Twiggy for words! I'll post these up soon!
I began taking up a maxi skirt I bought earlier....well, I've measured and cut the excess anyway. I'll most likely get to the actual hem this weekend. Here's the remnant, which in going from a maxi to a mini gives me a good amount of extra fabric. It's a gorg print of flowers and leaves that I adore! I may use it for cuffs or a collar on a dress or maybe another skirt in the future or something...
So long for today, bumblebees!
xx
DollyBird
Wednesday 26 January 2011
Happy Aussie Day!!!
In honour of Australia Day, I thought I'd share some of my fave Aussie bands from the '60s. There's a little bit of mod, a little bit of garage, and a little bit of freakbeat...all mixed in with more than a little bit of The Easybeats...I LOVE THEM!
Oh, I've also thrown in a little number by the Valentines at the end because seeing Bon Scott swaying to Build Me Up Buttercup is priceless and a must see....'Hey, hey, hey!!!'
Oh, I've also thrown in a little number by the Valentines at the end because seeing Bon Scott swaying to Build Me Up Buttercup is priceless and a must see....'Hey, hey, hey!!!'
Tuesday 25 January 2011
The London Muddy Waters Sessions
If it hadn't been for Muddy Waters, we may never have had The Rolling Stones. No really, my darlings, they might have ended up being called 'Mickey's Bits' or 'Keef and the....well, I don't know whats'. Anyway, the British blues sound of the 1960's may never have happened without the great man's influence.
In the early '70s, he flew to London to record with a gaggle of British blues/rock icons.
Sunday 23 January 2011
What's Goin On--24-30 January 2011
Last full week of the month! Here's the London scene so far:
28 January:
JUKEBOX JAM
The Alley Cat (formerly Peter Parkers)
4 Denmark St
London WC2H 8LP
Cooking up the musical Gumbo with a carefully spiced selection of greasy Crescent City Rhythms are regular DJ's LIAM LARGE, MICHAEL JEMMESON and SNAKESTER, this time joined by special guest IAIN PITCHFORD of the perfectly formed weekly R&B listen and dance session THE STAG-O-LEE.
9pm-3am
Entry is £4 before 10 PM / with flyer and £6 after (or otherwise)
****Dolly says: "I got lost once while looking for this club back when it was Peter Parkers...."
The Good Foot
Madame Jojo's
8-10 Brewer Street
London, United Kingdom
Madame Jojo's is proud to bring together two of the UK's most acclaimed DJs, Snowboy and Healer Selecta, for a Friday night residency, The Good Foot. Featuring original and authentic Sixties and Seventies Deep Funk, Soul, Rare Groove, Boogaloo, Mambo and R&B, this is an incomparable feel-good blend of floor-shaking black music from its most legendary eras.
Special Guest This Friday ADRIAN GIBSON
10pm-3am
Tickets: http://www.gigantic.com/gigantic/event_gce_23919a.html
***Dolly says: "I love Madam Jojo's....looks like you're walking into a Bordello in New Orleans circa 1922."
29 January:
MOUSETRAP 'Fuzz For Freaks' Allnighter
Orleans
259 Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park
London, United Kingdom
Guest DJ's Coffin Joe (Horrors), Thomas Thellman (Paisley Club) & Nigel Lees (Top Sounds) join Resident Dr Robert for a all- night orgy of thee finest Psychedelic, Garage and Freakbeat 45's known to man!
10pm-6am
£8 before midnight/£10 after
****Dolly say: "Rob's the best and so are the club nights he's associated with. That said, trying to get a bus from that part of London at 6am isn't a promising thought. I remember a couple of mates and I waited for the 73 once for two hours....."
28 January:
JUKEBOX JAM
The Alley Cat (formerly Peter Parkers)
4 Denmark St
London WC2H 8LP
Cooking up the musical Gumbo with a carefully spiced selection of greasy Crescent City Rhythms are regular DJ's LIAM LARGE, MICHAEL JEMMESON and SNAKESTER, this time joined by special guest IAIN PITCHFORD of the perfectly formed weekly R&B listen and dance session THE STAG-O-LEE.
9pm-3am
Entry is £4 before 10 PM / with flyer and £6 after (or otherwise)
****Dolly says: "I got lost once while looking for this club back when it was Peter Parkers...."
The Good Foot
Madame Jojo's
8-10 Brewer Street
London, United Kingdom
Madame Jojo's is proud to bring together two of the UK's most acclaimed DJs, Snowboy and Healer Selecta, for a Friday night residency, The Good Foot. Featuring original and authentic Sixties and Seventies Deep Funk, Soul, Rare Groove, Boogaloo, Mambo and R&B, this is an incomparable feel-good blend of floor-shaking black music from its most legendary eras.
Special Guest This Friday ADRIAN GIBSON
10pm-3am
Tickets: http://www.gigantic.com/gigantic/event_gce_23919a.html
***Dolly says: "I love Madam Jojo's....looks like you're walking into a Bordello in New Orleans circa 1922."
29 January:
MOUSETRAP 'Fuzz For Freaks' Allnighter
Orleans
259 Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park
London, United Kingdom
Guest DJ's Coffin Joe (Horrors), Thomas Thellman (Paisley Club) & Nigel Lees (Top Sounds) join Resident Dr Robert for a all- night orgy of thee finest Psychedelic, Garage and Freakbeat 45's known to man!
10pm-6am
£8 before midnight/£10 after
****Dolly say: "Rob's the best and so are the club nights he's associated with. That said, trying to get a bus from that part of London at 6am isn't a promising thought. I remember a couple of mates and I waited for the 73 once for two hours....."
Joe Bonomo's Ten Beauty Commandments
Ooooops!!! Last night I accidentally deleted yesterday's post. It was late and quite frankly I couldn't bring my self to have a do over! So I'm posting twice today, sweet peas!
John Bonomo was a body builder who eventually went on to become an silent film actor, stuntman, and eventually a published personal trainer. He began producing motivational health and beauty manuals with names like Beautify Your Figure(1939), Good Healthkeeping, and Your Figure Beautiful.
The mini manual I have is called, Figure Ritual: for beautiful bust contour!
I know, hilarious!
It's a guide to a six week course that is meant to help women make their bodies more proportional....at least that's what Joe says in the introduction...
John Bonomo was a body builder who eventually went on to become an silent film actor, stuntman, and eventually a published personal trainer. He began producing motivational health and beauty manuals with names like Beautify Your Figure(1939), Good Healthkeeping, and Your Figure Beautiful.
The mini manual I have is called, Figure Ritual: for beautiful bust contour!
I know, hilarious!
It's a guide to a six week course that is meant to help women make their bodies more proportional....at least that's what Joe says in the introduction...
There are all kinds of wacky excercises.....
Tips on things like improving your posture:
How to select a bra:
And my favourite, The Ten Beauty Commandments:
The booklet is too cute and the pictures are so glamourous and so '50s!!
Friday 21 January 2011
My Own Personal Time Capsule
As today is a random post day, I thought I'd share something that I and my family did this past summer. My family used to run a general store. In fact, when my grandparents closed up shop in 1989, it had been in my family for 76 years. This summer, prior to selling the building, we had to clear it out. Of course going through the accumulations of over 100 years (the store had actually been in operation since 1892) is an exciting task for any vintage and antique lover. This, however, would be something even better.
You see, this particular store was one of those with an upper floor that had an extra storage room and also a room where the family had a bed in case of bad weather and kitchen and table where meals could be eaten. By 1953, my grandfather had taken over the store from his father and decided to begin some renovations. One of these included taking out the big staircase that led to the upper floor in order to make more selling space.
My 6 year old father left for school that morning after eating breakfast at the upstairs table. When he returned, the staircase was gone and the hole sealed completely. My grandfather had always said that there were still things up there and my dad knew that there must be as they didn't have time to carry things down and do all that work in the time it took him to get home from school.
So last July, my dad, my mom, and I, along with a couple of our friends climbed to the top of the roof, unsealed and unboarded the back upstairs window...the only entrance left after 1953. What we stepped into was a REAL time capsule.
Here is my dad standing at the window about to step into the rooms that neither he nor anyone else had been in for 57 years.
The room whose window we came in through had been the storage room...and it was full of stuff. Old boxes full of old papers. Ledgers from the 1890's to the early 1950's. Old advertising materials. Racks and merchandise holders.
There was 60+ years of dust on everything, but having been kept dry and protected, many of the items looked almost brand new once the dust was brushed away.
The front room was the best though. As we walked through the doorway, you could see the bed...completely made. My great grand-uncle and grandfather's coats were still hanging on a hook with the hunting licenses still pinned on from the late '40s as though they had been hung there moments before we walked in.
Of course, mice had gotten to lots of things...and, as is their habit, they went for the fabric first. I was able to save a few aprons for remnants as well as a couple of scarves probably from the around the '30s. I also found an old dress, probably my great grandmother's or her sister in law's from the late '30s-early '40s which was in good enough condition that I can at least trace a pattern from it. I've decided to make a copy of it once I find similar fabric.
I can't describe what it was like to walk into a room that no one else had seen for over a half a century. Especially as the last people to walk there were my dad's family, all of whom are gone now except for him.
We worked through the day, lowering things bucket after bucket out the window. We even used ropes to bring the bed and a massive bread display down. A couple of weeks later, we went back with some extra help and got the old display cases out.
We had a huge antique auction and everything went....except for a few boxes that we left in the rooms for whoever goes up there next, maybe 50 years from now.
You see, this particular store was one of those with an upper floor that had an extra storage room and also a room where the family had a bed in case of bad weather and kitchen and table where meals could be eaten. By 1953, my grandfather had taken over the store from his father and decided to begin some renovations. One of these included taking out the big staircase that led to the upper floor in order to make more selling space.
My 6 year old father left for school that morning after eating breakfast at the upstairs table. When he returned, the staircase was gone and the hole sealed completely. My grandfather had always said that there were still things up there and my dad knew that there must be as they didn't have time to carry things down and do all that work in the time it took him to get home from school.
So last July, my dad, my mom, and I, along with a couple of our friends climbed to the top of the roof, unsealed and unboarded the back upstairs window...the only entrance left after 1953. What we stepped into was a REAL time capsule.
Here is my dad standing at the window about to step into the rooms that neither he nor anyone else had been in for 57 years.
The room whose window we came in through had been the storage room...and it was full of stuff. Old boxes full of old papers. Ledgers from the 1890's to the early 1950's. Old advertising materials. Racks and merchandise holders.
There was 60+ years of dust on everything, but having been kept dry and protected, many of the items looked almost brand new once the dust was brushed away.
The front room was the best though. As we walked through the doorway, you could see the bed...completely made. My great grand-uncle and grandfather's coats were still hanging on a hook with the hunting licenses still pinned on from the late '40s as though they had been hung there moments before we walked in.
Of course, mice had gotten to lots of things...and, as is their habit, they went for the fabric first. I was able to save a few aprons for remnants as well as a couple of scarves probably from the around the '30s. I also found an old dress, probably my great grandmother's or her sister in law's from the late '30s-early '40s which was in good enough condition that I can at least trace a pattern from it. I've decided to make a copy of it once I find similar fabric.
I can't describe what it was like to walk into a room that no one else had seen for over a half a century. Especially as the last people to walk there were my dad's family, all of whom are gone now except for him.
We worked through the day, lowering things bucket after bucket out the window. We even used ropes to bring the bed and a massive bread display down. A couple of weeks later, we went back with some extra help and got the old display cases out.
We had a huge antique auction and everything went....except for a few boxes that we left in the rooms for whoever goes up there next, maybe 50 years from now.
Thursday 20 January 2011
Thank You!!!!
So in the past couple of days, I'm honoured to say, I've gotten two blog award nominations from two darlings who both have fantastic blogs!
From http://thebuttonboxx.blogspot.com/. She has a fashion blog that I adore! Always has examples of great trends to watch as well as info on where to buy....and for those of us who are more Scottish than others, where to get something similar for cheapzies!!
From http://paigeythevintagedame.blogspot.com/. Again, I'm a huge fan of her blog! It makes me feel she is a kindred spirit. She is a fellow vintage apron collector and loves to dress up! Her posts always make me smile!
So apparently, I'm supposed to...
A)Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
Done.
B)Share 7 things about yourself:
1. I have every episode of The Patty Duke Show on VHS that I recorded off television when I was around 9 years old.
2. I've recently discovered that I look remarkably like my great-grandmother.
3. In London, I interned both with Issa, doing handwork and pattern cutting, and with ASOS.com, as a styling assistant and in production.
4. I can't stand Eric Clapton, especially that horrid Tears In Heaven Song. I know, I know!! I've been told numerous times that it's not only sacreligious, but also totally unlike me.
5. I lost my best friend in the world, my dog Nigel, 2 years ago last Saturday...and I miss him more every single day.
6. My first word was 'bird' because of the songbird mobile that my mom made and hung above my crib...and I've been obsessed with them ever since.
7.I make the most amazing tabbouleh in the free world. :)
C)Award 10 recently discovered great bloggers.
1. http://aspiredlevant.blogspot.com/ She puts together some of the cutest outfits, mostly thrifted!
2. http://laviecestyeye.blogspot.com/ I love her clothes...and she makes the cutest little collars!
3. http://wearinghistory.blogspot.com/ Always informative! Never a dull blog here!
4. http://www.beatle-girls.com/ All about Beatle WAGs...and other girls associated with them over the years. Great photos, many of which I've never seen...and I'm a HUGE Beatle freak!
5. http://what-i-found.blogspot.com/ Great little pieces of vintage sewing, crafting and fashion ephemera.
6. http://beautyisathingofthepast.blogspot.com/ Nifty little vintage beauty and hair tips and guides.
7. http://bobbypinblog.blogspot.com/ Vintage hair blog, packed with great info.
8. http://garage60s.blogspot.com/ Smashing 60's music blog.
9. http://70s-child.blogspot.com/ Little snippets of 70's pop culture. Brilliant.
10.http://neo-edwardian-hipster.blogspot.com/ A blog dedicated to The Persuaders television show. Sounds random, I know, but it's a fantastic look at vintage men's fashion!
D)Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award
K!
Wednesday 19 January 2011
Stockings!
I've been looking for ages for some white knit look tights. You know the type don't you cupcakes? Those scrumptious ones that all the mod girls seemed to have in the mid 1960's? Well, it's bloody hard to find white tights at all, let alone the pretty knit ones...unless of course you're 4 years old. So imagine my delight when I found this article with the directions for making them! It's from 'Golden Hands' magazine, which makes me think of Napoleon Dynamite and the Happy Hands Club every time! It was a weekly sewing and craft magazine that was printed in 1966 and again in 1972 in London. This particular issue is part 44. I love that the London street on the cover looks exactly like my old street in Camden...good old St. Martin's Close! I can't wait to try and make these...even though I swore I'd never knit or crochet ever again after having to design and knit an entire dress for my textiles class a year and a half ago! Once I do, I will of course let you know how they came out!
And if they end up not turning out well, I found some great ones on Topshop.com for $24. Golly, I may just order them anyway!
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