Black Friday Sale!

There will be a Black Friday Sale at my Etsy shop, Things Found Vintage (Hooray!)

I sell mostly vintage sewing patterns, some clothing, and miscellaneous - I'll be adding some more stuff and PDF's for the sale too. I hope to add an e-book version of It's Fun to Make a Hat - a great 40's millinery guide with lots of illustrations, which includes two hat patterns in it!

The sale starts at 12 am Pacific Time. Use the discount code BLOGGYFRIDAY to get 15% off. Make sure to use this one, as the one posted on my shop's page is only for 10% off.

Happy Holidays everyone!

PS: I hope to debut my yellow dress on Thanksgiving. I'm crossing my fingers. Once it is done there will be an outfit post! (Double Hooray!)

A New Setup

On Friday my new computer arrived! It's hard to make out anything but the computer in the picture but maybe you can see a hint of superexcitedohmanican'tbelieveihaveanewcomputer in my face! I haven't had a new computer in maybe seven years (thank you financial aid!) so this is a huge change for me. I have some plans for some pdf's in my Etsy store and Right now 'It's Fun to Make a Hat' is staring me in the face just asking me to scan it. This also means some inspirational scans from all the old sewing pattern books I have from the 20s through 40s!

And first official picture of me on the blog! I went out for the day with my Mom yesterday and I'm wearing my first snood. I wish I had gotten a better shot of it but it was black and camera phones, no matter how good, only make it look like lumpy, gravy-like hair on the back of your head. I decided to be ambitious too and (while completely ignoring the beautiful plaid skirt that needs lining still) whipped up a knee length, high-waisted slim skirt out of some black cotton jersey to wear for the day.

I haven't got any action shots of going out, probably because after tasting a couple wines and cider options at the Farmers' Market, I was thoroughly buzzed(!) We did stop by a vintage shop later in the day and I snapped a two inspiration shots in the dark fitting room. Here was a gorgeous 60s Oscar de la Renta tailored top with peplum.

If I had a bit more money, it might be in my closet right now, but I have stuck it in my inspiration folder, hoping to recreate it at some point. And then there was a seafoam green sailor style dress with a drop waist. It was so cute, but the seams looked as though they might give within the first wearing (and had a price issue too.)

Alright, that's that for now!

Introducing Myself

The easiest way is to start with a name and a purpose right? I'm Nancy and I'm starting this blog, like many, as a motivator and a way to track progress (even if it's just documentation of me running in circles.)

Here we go:

• Learn to (make time to?!) sew all these vintage patterns I seem to be hoarding - I could really use a wardrobe that expresses my style more
• Really boost my combat sports training.
• Find some balance between the two

So I'll mostly be posting about vintage sewing or MMA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts.) That seems simple enough for a start.

Here's a little more background if you want it:

I currently have two jobs - both are off and on. Most the time I hang sheetrock and do drywall finishwork - the type of work that gives a girl Rosie style biceps! For my other job, I try to work toward making an (even just okay) living off of selling vintage things on Etsy. It's mostly patterns right now, but I'm hoarding dresses too, haha...Is there a pattern here?

Most of my time outside of working is spent training combat sports. I train Muay Thai, Submission Wrestling, and Jiu-Jitsu. I started about a year and a half ago but a lot of time has been recovering from newcomer injuries and, then there's been switching gyms three times, which hasn't really made for the most ideal training situation. So on the list is getting more training time in.

My sewing experience basically boils down to punk using floss to fix everything and a little sloppy skirt-making years back. I have a really big interest in 1930s and 40s style and started collecting sewing patterns midway through the year. I have a habit of getting pretty excited about the patterns and what they could become and then just being a combination of lazy and tired after practice and/or work and now school too (did I mention I just started going full time a week ago?) No more! I think posting my progress and projects will help get me on the right track with these projects.

Intro out of the way and on to the more interesting stuff...