Day 7: Laura Ingalls Wilder House

Sunday we traveled to The Laura Ingalls Wilder House on our way to Kansas City.
(Saturday we mostly hung around the hotel with my aunt and uncle from Ohio, and did some thrifting, so no pictures to show)

Unfortunately there were no photos allowed inside. Too bad because her whole house was amazing. My favorite part was the kitchen. 

...Although I may have taken slipped my shoe off for a moment and stepped barefoot on her beautiful linoleum floor...

...may have...

...we even got to hear her clock chime...

It was raining which made it extra special. The smell of warm summer rain on Laura's land was heavenly. 

We also visited her gravesite, where a little girl had left a love note for Almanzo. 

If you ever get a change to make it over there, do so, they have lots of her belongings on display in the museum, and the house Laura and Almanzo built together is a dream, preserved just how she lived in it. 

Dress-Handmade by me

Shoes-Minnetonka Moccasains

How to tie a 1940s turban

A while ago I came across this 1940s British Pathe video on tying turbans. I was hooked instantly. They seem to be seeing quite a revival right now, and with good reason: they're awesome.

I do them on days my hair is a mess, or just when it would seem to suit an outfit. I think they are great to sport poolside too! So take a look at the video clip if you have a chance, and the others that are related, they are really interesting! But here's my little interpretation :)

You will need all the things pictured above for this turban. You can always replace a pretty brooch or bunch of silk flowers for the hatpin though :)

If you have long hair, pin it up. 

Wrap the cotton headscarf around your head. This creates some volume, so the turban isn't flat, and acts as a gripping point between your hair and the silk scarves. 

Take the large silk scarf and fold it into a triangle. 

Place it on your head with the point at your back. Pin each side at your browline. 

Take the sides of the scarf and bring them right up, and tie once. The pins just placed at the side will act well to hold as you are folding. 

Tuck in the crown. 

Bring the tip of one of your floppy ears to the center, and use a bobby pin to hold in place. 

Same on the other side. 

Now take your small scarf and thread it through the knotted bit. 

Bring the ends to the center, just as with the other scarf. 

Pin the this scarf with the hatpin. 

Open up the loops. 

Fluff fluff fluff!

Tuck the back point under the first cotton scarf, it should hold well. 

Ta da! You are now effortlessly chic.

1947 Yearbook

Here's a few pictures from a 1947 southern California yearbook I picked up a while ago. Vintage yearbooks are great resources for hairstyling ideas, and the average girls fashion choices. I get a lot of inquiries about how to dress appropriately in vintage for school. Just because it's the past, doesn't mean people dressed in petticoats and feathered hats to study in. It seems every girl had a plaid skirt, collared blouse, and cardigan. And the socks! The pages are filled with cuffed white socks, with saddle shoes, canvas tennies, loafers, and even wedge sandals. The plaid jackets in the photo below seem to be early versions of a 49er, and I love how the boy cuffed his slacks up.
As far as carrying around school supplies and books, if you want to keep the look vintage, look for a canvas or leather messenger bag, or backpack of the same material if you have a lot of textbooks.
I know this post is right at the end of the school year, but there will be another, bigger one come fall! For now just gawk at the pretty hairstyles ;)

Pearson Airfield

Saturday afternoon I met with the Life in a Pink House gang and my mother and stepfather to see my cousin Ruth be a passenger in an itty bitty airplane. It was "Open Cockpit Day" at the Pearson Air Museum, where you could get into the cockpit of vintage airplanes, and even sign up to fly in one. It was a beyond perfect day for it, bright and sunny, but with clouds so pretty they looked unreal.

Fruit basket

I got this dress a while ago at Ladybirds General Store for nearly nothing since they sold it to me off the repair rack. It was in baaaaaad condition, it had been taken in with crooked stitching, had open seams, holes, the zipper was puckered, and worst of all had been "hemmed" (again, crookedly) with iron on hem tape. I can't tell you how much I hate that stuff. Most hems should be hand stitched, not machine, and most certainly not set with sticky iron on strips. After time the tape deteriorates, or just becomes sticky goo, and can ruin the fabric.

Do. Not. Use. Hem. Tape.

So I spent about a week restoring the poor little thing to it's original state, and it turned out quite nice! And when I picked up this fantastic cherry hat last week at Lodekka I knew just what to wear it with!

Dress-Ladybirds General Store

Hat-Lodekka

Shoes-Gift from Twila Jean

Lady of leisure

This is what I look like when I get up in the morning.

So not.

But either way, these last three photos do show my favorite dressing gowns. Dressing gowns are another lost aspect of polite society. Basically, you would get all your undergarments on, and put a dressing gown on over that. Then you would do your makeup, hair, read the morning paper, have a cup of tea, all the lovely little domestic things. I don't know exactly how long they've been around, but in the late 50s and 60s, they evolved into housedresses (or housecoats). Little loose cotton button ups, or zip ups, that you would wear either over your dress, or in place of a dress if you were between running errands or doing housework. For me, dressing gowns are like aprons, once you buy one, you just can't stop. They're just so darn pretty!

Many thanks to Lara Blair for the shoot, I'm so glad to have great pictures of my gowns and my living room!


And, just in case you're wondering, the picture in the blue frame is one of Amanda Atkins fabulous prints, the two little portraits are of Sam and I that I painted years ago, and the big abstract one is painted by my sister in law Caitlin :)