This small sampling of found vintage photos from the 19th and 20th century depict women in fields and meadows, luxuriating among the flowers with dear friends or in solitude. We hope these photos inspire you to go and seek out a field of flowers this summer season, to pack a small picnic, and to gather stems of wildflowers to later press or craft into a summer crown for your hair.
Alas, we shall never know...
Here are some of my vintage finds from this past weekend!
The embroidered 1920s jacket above was a thrilling find and originally when I spied just a bit of it in a pile of textiles, I thought it might have been a pillowcase cover. Imagine my delight to discover I was mistaken!
I adore lace and when sourcing the modern vintage inspired clothing for the shop, I I try to choose lace details that are reminiscent of the exquisite lace found on vintage and antique garments. Of course, nothing quite compares to the original, but that is how the modern clothes featuring lace details are inspired by vintage... a subtle nod to a bygone era, not necessarily replicas of the past.
I usually find (and am forever in the lookout for) many botanical and flora prints during my vintage haunts and these botanical cards was a lucky find indeed! They're not entirely vintage as they are reproductions of antique botanical plates and prints. The back of them have a lot of plant knowledge and history so in a future journal post, I will share these in all their glory.
I was also super excited to find a never used box "Vogue Floral Clay" and it still works! It's a little bit dry, but with a bit of work between the fingers to warm it up, it still does the trick! Isn't the packaging just so cute??
I hope you enjoyed taking a peek at my vintage finds! It was a joy for me to go out this weekend as shops begin to reopen in Poland, (+48)355712125 to support local and small businesses.
]]>The 1940s was a huge historical turning point for women's fashion. Women began to take on jobs that men traditionally held due to World War II and their garments both had to be functional and still be presentable.
Perhaps this is the reason we are so drawn to this era for clothing. The women of the 1940s were spirited, resourceful, and still appeared feminine while honestly kicking major ass. These women are our mothers, our grandmothers, our sisters, our aunts, our friends. In our opinion, the 1940s was an amazing era where women's roles began massively shifting as quickly as the fashion was changing.
Vintage Inspired Style Notes from the 1940s
Scarves worn around your head (try this pretty vintage inspired floral scarf in the shop)
Short puff sleeve blouse
Below the knee length skirts and dresses (hemlines significantly shortened during this era due to wartime rationing)
Ruffle accents
Patch pockets
All over floral prints, usually larger scale than the 1930s
Peplums
A-line skirts (we have so many vintage inspired skirts in the shop!)
Lightweight fitted knit tops
To be honest, we're much more into these amazing farmer's market baskets at a Los Angeles Farmer's Market c. 1945 than we are about the clothes...
- F I N -
image credits: main photo / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
As She Was are posts where we share the numerous vintage photos we have come across to celebrate and pay homage to the memories, stories, and lives of the women in these vintage photos.
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I was surprised to actually see how many responses we received about feeling embarrassed or ashamed about the ages you all were when you received your first kiss. Some were embarrassed because you felt you were "too young" and others "too old"... That made me a bit sad because I truly wish anything related at all to love should not have wisps of shame tied around them. So a tender reminder to you dear friends, you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed about!
I was also pleasantly surprised how many of you were still waiting for your first kiss. Reading your responses made me think of one of my favorite watch over and over again movies, Never Been Kissed, with Drew Barrymore, which you need to rent right now if you've never seen it! It's so cheesy and cute and I love it so much.
]]>1.] Use WARM water for natural fabrics (such as cotton), not hot.
2.] Use COLD water for synthetic fabrics (such as polyester)
3.] Polyester (and poly blend) clothes look better if they are hung to dry. I don't really know why, they just do from my experience.
4.] Make sure the sink/tub is clean before you wash your clothes in it! (I know, this seems obvious...)
5.] COLD water will keep colors from bleeding (if the fabric is colorfast) and also a bit of vinegar. I've used vinegar when washing 1940s printed fabrics to keep colors from bleeding.
6.] Only wash one garment at a time. Even if the colors are similar. It's better to be safe than sorry.
7.] Dissolve detergent in warm/hot water first, THEN add to your rinse water. I once put detergent in when the (white antique) dress I was washing was already in the water and the dye from the detergent left blue spots on the dress. I then had to wash again and soak in bleach.
8.] Don't agitate the fabric too much (or at all if you can help it). Usually I sort of just pat and carefully "knead" (sorry, I can't think of a better way to describe it) the fabric. For dresses I will try to flatten it in the tub and gently "pat" the detergent in. If it's a sturdier fabric, I agitate the fabric just a bit.
9.] Rinse vintage garments in cool water. Make sure to rinse them well. You don't want any detergent residue! Most detergents have chemicals that are fairly harmful to vintage fibers, make sure you rinse well, do it twice!
10.] If in doubt LEAVE IT TO THE PROFESSIONALS. I am by no means a professional washer/restorer of vintage clothing, so the more delicate items I let air out on my clothesline instead of risking damaging it forever.
BONUS TIP!
Sometimes you can get away with throwing vintage clothing in the washing machine, after all they did have washing machines as far back as the late 1900s... Generally I only machine wash clothing from the 1960s and later.
]]>1.] Bild fire in back yard to heet kettle of rainwater.
2.] Set tubs so smoke won’t blow in eyes if wind is pert.
3.] Shave one hole cake lie soap in boilin water.
4.] Sort things, make three piles. 1 pile white. 1 pile cullord. 1 pile work britches and rags.
5.] To make starch stur flour in cold water to smooth then thin down with boilin water.
6.] Rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, then boil. Rub cullord but don’t boil — just rench and starch.
7.] Take white things out of kettle with broom stick handle then rench, blew and starch.
8.] Spred tee towels on grass.
9.] Hang old rags on fence.
10.] Pour rench water in flower bed.
11.] Scrub porch with hot soapy water.
12.] Turn tubs upside down.
13.] Go put on cleen dress, smooth hair with side combs, brew cup of tee — set and rest a spell and count your blessins.
Oh goodness, can you imagine if THIS was how we had to do laundry now?! Although as a vintage shop owner, many many of the vintage garments from my shop are hand washed by yours truly and sometimes a few soakings are required! I just can't imagine having to boil water in a kettle and using a broomstick to take out laundry!
note: this post was originally posted on my old blog here.
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