Awesome Ebay Finds!

I'm always scouting for a great bargain whether that be through an awesome sale or someone selling an awesome dress on ebay for a great price!

Recently, I got super lucky on ebay and found two great dresses at a great price.

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress:

My first find was a Bernie Dexter Rocketship dress (also sold on Modcloth as the Space Mod-ity dress). I have long admired Bernie Dexter's dresses but had yet to buy any. When I saw this dress on ebay in my size going for only $40 I decided now was the time! Since I've never tried on any of Bernie Dexter's dresses I didn't know how the sizing would work out for me. I'm a pretty solid size large, unless it's a brand that runs small like Steady, so I decided more than likely this dress should fit. But then also, I wasn't sure how the sleeves would be. Usually sleeves on a cotton dress can be a bit of a pain since the cotton has little to no stretch. I was a little apprehensive.

When this dress came in the mail I saw that it was perfect! Perfect in every way! The design on it was so cute, the quality was great, no damages, no spots or stains, and the sizing was perfect! Even the sleeves fit perfect! It turns out Bernie Dexter knows what she's doing with designing dresses! I have to say, I am really impressed with the fit of the sleeves. The sleeves fit with lots of room for movement without looking like there's lots of room! No football player arms here! And no restricted movement/sausage casing arms either! Just perfect comfort and style!

This dress is a light blue fit and flair dress with sleeves and a full flared skirt. There are cute little rockets printed though out the dress: rockets with diagonal dark orange and salmon colored stripes, rockets with light yellow and dark yellow diagonal stripes, rockets with light blue and lighter blue diagonal stripes, turquoise rockets with light blue diamonds/harlequin patterns, and light blue rockets with yellow diamonds/harlequin print. So many rockets! And they are all lined up with each other making a striped pattern of rockets on the dress. The sleeves are cuffed in white with decorative button accents on each sleeve and the neckline has a slightly triangular collar in white which also is accented with a button. The triangular collar gives it a bit of a atomic 1950's sci-fi vibe, especially reverberated against the rockets print of the dress! The buttons on the sleeves and collar are white plastic buttons with a geometric texture though out its body and a hint of sparkle with a rhinestone center. The look is finished off with a thick white patent leather looking belt. This dress has a back zip and two small hidden pockets! It is made with 100% cotton for easy care and wear!

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Front View

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Front View

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Side View

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Back View

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Close Up Collar Detail

Bernie Dexter Rocketship Dress- Close Up Side Detail

Patent Leather Like Gabriella Rocha White Kitten Heels To Go Perfectly With the Patent Leather Type White Belt

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress in Warm Toned Cabana Stripes:

The Havana Nights dress in warm toned cabana stripes by Pinup Couture is probably one of my most surprising dress finds on ebay. I say surprising because it's one of those dresses I've seen online without too much thought about it and then saw it selling on ebay and thought it was cute enough to bid $48 on especially when it was new with tags still. But when I got it in the mail, it completely blew me away! This dress is a fit and flared v-neckline dress made out of a cotton/spandex blend... and that's where I was led astray. Thinking it was a mostly cotton dress I pictured it would be your regular run of the mill cotton dress, more or less light weight, with a decently flared skirt. This dress is anything but your regular run of the mill light weight cotton! This dress is super dense! The bodice is made of super thick cotton and is lined with a silky black material. The skirt is equally as thick and the weightiness of the material helps completely to keep the shape of the skirt.

The colors of this dress are orange, pink, purple, brown and yellow. The stripes are arranged in a chevron pattern at the bust, back, and in the skirt. The dress comes with a matching grommet belt that finishes off the look. This dress also comes with pockets! As impressed as I am with this dress, one thing I found odd was that there are no belt loops on the dress. It happens, but I wish it didn't.

I got this dress in my usual size large which fits a little tight in the waist but other than that, the fit is just fine for my 39"-31"-38, 5'3" frame.

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress- Front View

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress- Front View

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress- Side View

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress- Back View

Pinup Couture Havana Nights Dress- Close Up

Outfit of the Day- A Saturday Around Town In A Yellow Sundress

Hello Kittens!

Last Saturday was a pretty low key day with a low key shindig to end the night. Tim and I spent the day doing a few errands around town. We were having some friends over for margaritas and we had to pick up some stuff at the grocery store for that night's shindig, along with go to the cats' grocery store to pick up their favorite dinners. Along the way was a stop at the bookstore, DSW for a return, the Lego store (for Tim) and Forever 21 (for me). But as I like to do when I'm not working and whenever I leave the house on the weekends, I dressed up in a pretty dress and dressed it up even more with a bright hair flower! And so, without farther ado...


Outfit of the Day:

For today's outing of errands and that night's shindig with friends I wore a Stop Staring Yellow Dot Swing dress which I got from DaddyO's years ago. This dress, I'm pretty sure, was my very first vintage reproduction swing dress I've ever bought! I paired this with a yellow daisy hair flower which has a sparkly center which I got from Cats Like Us. I also paired this with a light weight floral and lace cardigan I got from Forever 21 and my trusty black flats.

Stop Staring Yellow Dot Swing Dress- Front View

Stop Staring Yellow Dot Swing Dress- Front View

Stop Staring Yellow Dot Swing Dress- Side View

Stop Staring Yellow Dot Swing Dress With Floral Cardigan- Front View

Stop Staring Yellow Dot Swing Dress With Floral Cardigan- Side View

Matching Your Dress To Your Teaware, Part 4

I mentioned in my last Matching Your Dress To Your Teaware post that Johnson Brother's Blue Willow was my first ever tea set. 

I found that it would be fitting to do a perfect pairing with this tea set next!

Blue Willow is the quintessential pattern of English teaware. According to Wikipedia this pattern was originally designed by Thomas Minton around 1790 and first became popular in England in the 18th century. This pattern has been used for over 200 years! Many companies have their own versions of this pattern though all will have similar and distinctive Asian motifs such as an elaborate geometric border, and use of birds in flight, houses, bridges, trees, and even boats amongst a Chinese landscape.

I remember reading somewhere (perhaps Tea Time Magazine, I think) that the use of this pattern dates back to when teas were heavily imported from China and it was in style to use this "Chinese" pattern though it was never a pattern ever actually used in China and in fact was a pattern designed by an Englishmen specifically for the English market at the time.

Johnson Brother's Blue Willow Tea Set

Johnson Brother's Blue Willow Teapot

 

Though I don't have a dress per se to pair with this intricate tea set, I can imagine a perfect paring for this tea set with a solid navy or dark blue dress and a statement necklace such as the beautiful Blue and White China Fabric Button Necklace from Wychbury Designs UK.

White China Fabric Button Necklace, Wychbury Designs UK, photo https://www.etsy.com/shop/WychburyDesignsUK

Johnson Brothers' Blue Willow Tea Set

photo https://www.etsy.com/shop/WychburyDesignsUK

White China Fabric Button Necklace, Wychbury Designs UK, photo https://www.etsy.com/shop/WychburyDesignsUK

White China Fabric Button Necklace, Wychbury Designs UK, photo https://www.etsy.com/shop/WychburyDesignsUK

This five button fabric necklace invokes a bygone time with its fabric button design and use of brass colored hardware seen throughout the necklace. The fabric buttons themselves mirror motifs typically used in the Blue Willow pattern: Asian houses, trees, bridges, and birds in flight, as well as is reminiscent of the Blue Willow pattern in its use of Asian floral designs. The colors of this necklace are various shades of blue and white which coordinate with the archetypical blue and white in the Blue Willow pattern.

With so much going on in the Blue Willow pattern, I think it's best to have one bold and beautiful statement piece to coordinate as a perfect pairing with this teaware and I think this necklace goes with it just so perfectly!

Second Dress Of The Year Made By Me!

Several months ago, you may remember me talking about my second dress of the year project, a red seersucker dress with red piping.

Well, after purchasing the material about a year ago and the notions about 5 months ago, I finally got around to actually making it! Once I actually got working on it, it only took about 3 days to make... something like 18-20 hours. Since this is the first sewing project I ever made with piping, I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Also, I'm proud of myself for going the extra step and putting in a liner at the bodice... even if I didn't follow the instructions and added it as an after thought so that the lining ended up coming out a little funky.

(Check out the first dress of the year made by me here.) 

I'm still a newbie at making clothes and up until this year have only sewed clothes for Halloween costumes. The instructions on the sewing patterns still make no sense to me sometimes, but I'm hoping with every project, I will learn a little more each time. This time I learned what exactly grainline means. ;) Also, I learned, I may be able to go down a size in my sewing patterns. I had to take this dress in quite a bit after sewing it, and even still, I can tell it fits a little big. My next project, which I've already started on, is a size down from this pattern so I guess I will see if that hypothesis is true.

For this dress I used Butterick pattern B5603 and followed dress pattern B.

Butterick B5603 In Red Seersucker- Front View

Butterick B5603 In Red Seersucker- Front View

Butterick B5603 In Red Seersucker- Side View

Butterick B5603 In Red Seersucker- Back View

Butterick B5603 In Red Seersucker- Close Up of Ties

Butterick B5603 In Red Seersucker- Front View

Butterick B5603

My goal is to make four dresses this year. With my third dress project already underway, I think I'm going to make it!

 

Outfit Of The Day- Saturday At The Fremont Festival Of The Arts

Saturday I spend the day with my ladies at the Fremont Festival of the Arts, A.K.A. Fremont Arts and Wine Festival.

I usually leave the festival with all kinds of goodies but, being slightly bummed at some unexpected and pricey car repairs I had to take care of just a few days previous, I wasn't much in a buying mood. I did however leave the festival with a venetian style cat mask, some cookies to share with my hubbie and a mini bundt cake just for me.

My friends tell me this is creepy.
I like the face it makes with your teeth.

Outfit of the Day:

For today's outing I wore my Trashy Diva Norma Jean dress (purchased slightly damaged from Trashy Diva on ebay) with a straw hat by Kathy Jeanne (purchased from Modcloth). I paired this with my trusty black flats from the Gap Outlet for pure comfort! Lots of walking going on this day.

Trashy Diva Norma Jean Dress with Kathy Jeanne Cherry Hat- Front View

Trashy Diva Norma Jean Dress with Kathy Jeanne Cherry Hat- Front View

Trashy Diva Norma Jean Dress with Kathy Jeanne Cherry Hat- Side View

Trashy Diva Norma Jean Dress with Kathy Jeanne Cherry Hat- Close Up

Trashy Diva Norma Jean Dress with Kathy Jeanne Cherry Hat- Close Up

Trashy Diva Norma Jean Dress with Kathy Jeanne Cherry Hat- Close Up

3 Dresses For My 33rd B-day!

Not one, not two, but three dresses for my thirty-third b-day!

I do like to treat myself on my birthday. ;)

I know a lot of people who dislike birthdays and really hate the thought of getting another year older. I, myself, LOVE birthdays! A couple of years ago I started my own personal tradition of buying myself a birthday present. I find that taking part in some grand indulgence(s) makes birthdays all the more fun!

Because this year was a twin double digit year (3 and 3) I decided to follow suit with three dresses to make it a triple three!

With larger price tag purchases I find myself  usually being more prudent in deciding to buy a dress or not. I will take my time eying the dress and deciding if it's really a dress I want to lay down lots of money for. Therefore, I usually buy older season's dresses when they come from companies like Trashy Diva, Tatyana (formally Bettie Page Clothing), and Stop Staring (unless I find a super awesome sale, or I fall completely in love with a dress at first sight).

Also, just as a side note, I have the absolute worst timing with Trashy Diva. Last year, when I finally decided to take the plunge on their Annette French Quarter print dress, the day after I bought the dress they ended up having a 20% off sale! Ugh! Then, this year, when I finally decided to buy their Apple Pie Gingham dress (armed with a coupon code this time), the day after making my purchase they announced on Facebook that every order that day was going to come with a free goodie bag of fun things. Missed it by one day again! Also, as luck would have it, the two Trashy Diva dresses I bought this year both ended up going into their sale section and got an extra 50% off their sale price (the sale is still currently going on so check it out here if you haven't already!). I was not fortunate enough to get this great price on the two dresses though. But then again, I am just happy that I got these two dresses that where long on my wishlist in my correct size! ...once these two dresses went into Trashy Diva's sale section, my size had already been sold out.

And without further ado, here are my three birthday dress reviews!



Trashy Diva's Apple Pie Gingham Dress:

My first dress up for review is the Trashy Diva Apple Pie Gingham dress. I purchased this dress from Cats Like Us. I initially purchased it from Trashy Diva in a size 12 after seeing their size 8 and 10 were sold out. I had a coupon code for 15%. Usually I would have waited for a larger discount but the other two sizes selling out made me nervous so I decided if I wanted it, I'd better get it now. It is an older style dress so I knew once this is gone there is little to no chance this one will be restocked. I was dismayed when I saw that the size 12 was way too big! It was way too big in the bust and way too big in the waist.... I thought about how I could alter it and tuck in the sides and maybe even the bust darts myself to get a better fit but thought it still would not look right. I had two other options: 1- return this dress and get a smaller size from Cats Like Us. If I did this I would lose out on the shipping cost to me and shipping cost back to them and I would have to pay full price for the dress rather than have the 15% discount from TD... My other option was 2- send this dress in for professional alterations... because this dress is fully lined in the bust I figured it would be a good $35+ for the alterations and even then it might not look right. Also I figured the alterations cost would probably be about the same price, if not possibly more, as returning the larger size to TD and getting the smaller size from Cats Like Us... besides, I do like to purchase from the cats at CLU so I decided on option 1... I would have initially ordered the dress from CLU but I was thinking the size 10 would be too small. Too bad I didn't go that route to begin with.

Because of Cats Like Us' free shipping and their slightly smaller price tag for this dress, I ended up paying the same amount for this dress through them as I paid through TD with the 15% discount, though I was still out all the shipping I paid for the purchase and return from Trashy Diva. Anyway, to my complete surprise, I got the size 10 in and what do you know... slightly too small! I am still so surprised how a size 12 could be sooooo completely too big yet a tiny bit down to a size 10 could be too tight! It's a good thing I did end up purchasing the too big size from TD first because the too big was way too big and the too small was only slightly too tight though still wearable. If I would have first purchased the slightly too small one from CLU I would have sent it back thinking the size 12 would fit better and getting completely frustrated with all these dresses being shipped all over the place when I would have later found the size 12 to be way too big and the 10 being a better fit.

The moral of this story... Trashy Diva needs to open a store closer to me so I can go into the store and try things on before buying ;)

The Trashy Diva Apple Pie gingham dress is very similar to their new Apple Tart dress though with gingham instead of seersucker. Also, there is the obvious difference that rather than being gingham print throughout the body of the dress, as the seersucker is for the Apple Tart dress, the Apple Pie dress is a black dress with contrasting black and white gingham at the bust and on the pockets of the dress. Like the Apple Tart dress, this dress features a sweetheart neckline with a ruffled bust which I feel is the signature element to these two dresses. This dress is fitted at the waist and though the skirt of the dress is said to be a-line, it feels very full and has a good amount to body and flare even without a crinoline underneath. This dress is made with a light weight cotton.

Trashy Diva Apple Pie Gingham Dress- Front View

Trashy Diva Apple Pie Gingham Dress- Front View

Trashy Diva Apple Pie Gingham Dress- Side View

Trashy Diva Apple Pie Gingham Dress- Back View

Trashy Diva Apple Pie Gingham Dress- Close Up

Trashy Diva's Alison Dress in Hawaiian Charm:

The Trashy Diva Alison Dress in Hawaiian Charm is the second dress I got for my 33rd birthday. Like the Trashy Diva Apple Pie dress, this dress is one I've been eying for quite some time. What really drew me to this dress is the fabulous colors! I love the beautiful blue color with the darker maroon and green which is contrasted by the hints of yellow and lit up by the white! Also, I love the tropical flowers on this dress. This dress is made of a light weight rayon. It has a cross-over v-neckline in both the front and back, gathered shoulders, giving the shoulders and underbust identical ruching, a fitted top-stiched waist, and a nicely full and flared skirt. I read on reviews that this dress fit tight around the ribs so I picked out a size 12. The size 12 was very tight! Usually a 12 in Trashy Diva will fit slightly loose on me but this was a tight 12. This is another dress that went into the sale section at Trashy Diva but was already out of my size. Blue Velvet Vintage, which was my backup plan, also sold out. I was so glad to find this dress at Retro Glam and even got lucky to see they had a coupon code on their Facebook page out that day for 20% off! Even though it was shipping from Canada I found that shipping was not bad and their customer service was exceptional!

Also, for those Trashy Diva lovers out there... I noticed that the Alison dress and the Ashley dress are very similar at first glance... (the Ashley in Crepe Myrtle is another TD I've been eying) so I asked the ladies at TD what the main differences were between the two. Here is what they said:

The Alison has a taller fitted waist section and there's a crossover front and back, where the Ashley just has a crossover front. The sleeves on the Ashley are also slightly longer/puffier. Additionally, the Alison Dress is a little more forgiving in terms of fit. It's a more modern, 50's fit, and the Ashley is more of a 40's style. Hope that helps!

Trashy Diva Alison Dress In Hawaiian Charm- Front View

Trashy Diva Alison Dress In Hawaiian Charm- Front View

Trashy Diva Alison Dress In Hawaiian Charm- Side View

Trashy Diva Alison Dress In Hawaiian Charm- Back View

My favorite part.... These Chelsea Crew Shoes are perfect with this dress... completely unplanned too!

Trashy Diva Alison Dress In Hawaiian Charm With Chelsea Crew Madison Pumps In Red

Tatyana's Alika Circle Dress in Green:

The Alika dress by Tatyana (formally Bettie Page Clothing) is the third dress I got for my 33rd birthday! I've been swooning over this dress since it first came out years ago. At first I had my eye set on the red version but after I got the red version I started thinking maybe I would like the green better. Both are beautiful. I do find though that the red version just has more of a formal feeling to it. Somehow it just feels more dressed up, while the green one I feel has more of a option to wear it dressed up or dressed down. This dress is made of a nice stretch bengaline. The silhouette of this dress is a perfect fit and flair shape with sleeves. What makes this dress really stand out is the bold solid colors, in this case green, with a lattice style thick netting at the top which adorns both the neckline and the sleeves. The fitted waist has a bow and the full circle skirt ensures itself to be twirl ready! The fullness of the material makes it look great as is even without a crinoline. The material furthermore, has a good amount of stretch to it giving it a very comfortable feel and a great fit! This dress may be last on the list but it's definitely by no means a last pick! ;) I got really lucky with this dress and snagged it at a great price from Pinup Darling during a sale!

Tatyana Alika Dress In Green- Front View

Tatyana Alika Dress In Green- Front View

Tatyana Alika Dress In Green- Side View

Tatyana Alika Dress In Green- Back View

Tatyana Alika Dress In Green- Close Up

Tatyana Alika Dress In Green with Chelsea Crew Malibu T-straps

And so those are three presents I bought myself this year for my birthday. Birthdays are the best! For reference on sizing, my measurements are 39"-31"-38", 5'3".

Another year older, but also another year of life, another year of memories, and another year full of experiences! Looking forward to every day I get.