A Weekend Excursion and Lookey What I've Found!

    I just love getting in the automobile and driving away for the day (or even weekend)out of the blue. with my little boys. Nothing planned, just pick a direction and motor off from Salt Lake City. This time it was south and this part of Utah is so gorgeous as well, I just love it. 
    We usually visit ghost towns and really small towns. This time around we found a couple of towns that were once the largest cities in Utah but are now so small there isn't even a chain store (what a lovely thought, sincerely, I love that).
     We spied a great museum in a small town called Fairview and stopped to have a look. Honestly I wasn't expecting much but this museum was quite swell!

     There were many things the boys loved about it and so many things that I certainly did, such as these lovely gowns...

Look at the detail! I like very much that they had photographs of those who wore these.

This permanent wave machine pictured below! How I wish hairdressers still had these!

And a pretty amazing collection of "Antique" and "Vintage" Sewing Machines! Again, the Detail!

And Last, but of course not least....

           

                         

 This is a sloper from the past. The New Perfect Tailoring system, and although I've seen these for sale online and have not been able to afford one just yet, this museum gave me a chance to finally see one in person. I was so pleased. It was used by a local dressmaker in the 1890s and there are sleeves and backs etc. that were used to make many designs in clothing fashion that were desired. 

Here is short film on this museum and if you ever find yourself in Utah stop by!

Here's a few snaps of just how gorgeous this area is!

1930s Dress Finished My Adrienne Dore

     I've positively adored Dore for quite some time. She's an Idaho gal (which is Utah's sister state), which is swell and she was really a good actress. I saw her for the first time in "The Wild Party" with Clara Bow years ago and around the same time, "The Famous Furguson Case" with Joan Blondell. Adrienne Dore wore a swell frock in that picture and I just loved it. I saw this film again last week and I figured it was about time I had that ensemble. 

  So here it is....

    And this is Adriennes...

         I tell you...it was so bright outside! I was squinting horribly.

It was impossible to find a photograph of her in this costume so I had to finally just put on the film again and take a picture of the screen. 

  Anyhow, I went through my fabric trove and found some great georgette which has been knocking around for years that would be perfect for it (I've been trying my darnedest to use what I have instead of buying more). Then I had to draft a pattern of it by memory because I didn't have a photograph but I remembered her floral print frock was under her dark jacket and the clown-style frilled collar came up and over it. It was simple, just drafted a six gored skirt with a top that buttoned up the front and a larger under collar over large collar. 

   I used some lovely lambs wool knit for the jacket and sewed Hong Kong seams nicely because I didn't want to line it. I did put tailored pockets in it that were of the same georgette as the dress. I thought it would be clever'n'cute. It's a seamstress/tailoress no-no but I like it. I'm a designer and I can do what I want.

      I just love big collars and collars that are quite unique, don't you? 

   Here is the dress alone...

I've been trying to incorporate more black into my wardrobe because I don't have a lot of it where clothing comes in but I do have a lot of black accessories I'm dying to use. I think for fall I'm going to make a black dress, at long last, and I need a new nice black hat (as you can see)!

     

My favourite aspect of the frock was the jet-looking buttons and green and yellow georgette. This was made completely on my 1918 Bessy Love handcrank (115 Singer) of course! My Khafra (127 Singer 1923 treadle) is busy with another floral affair! 

    See ya soon!

Birthday Wishes For Verree Teasdale and George Brent

     Here's to two of my favourites upon the silver screen on their birthday! 

    Verree Teasdale has always been dear to me and I've always looked to her for fashion hints and speech lessons. Her style was impeccably feminine and elegant. Never dowdy and never in bad taste even adorned in some of Orry-Kelly's more off-the-wall designs. 

     Verree was married to Adolphe Menjou, who at the time was a sex symbol. They were married quite some time until his death in '63. I loved him as an actor, in fact, both of them as actors and especially when they were starred in roles together. 

   And here's to the birthday boy, George Brent!

 

       I've always had a pash for George. He's so desirable and tall and dark and handsome. I swoon when he speaks.

     He's starred in films with many of the loveliest women of all of Hollywood. Some of my favourite pictures are the ones with him and Kay Francis. 

   I always watch films of actors and actresses on their birthdays. Seeing as there aren't enough hours in the day for me to watch a film of Verree's as well as George's I made a compromise and watched them both in one of my favourite pictures, Desirable 1934. It's a film I quite relate to. Jean Muir plays a plain and lanky young lady and blossoms. I won't give the storyline away if you haven't seen it (and you must!) but how lovely a thought to be kissed by George Brent! 

   Happy birthday wishes to both of you, whole heartedly!