Vintage Look- 40's Red Bow Dress and my "bowling shoes"

I am so glad that I rescued this 1940's era dress; it was a near miss for the old dear. I got her for under ten dollars because the person selling her listed the dress as a "cutter or pattern dress". That means that it is only good for salvaging bits of fabric from, or for cutting up and using as a pattern to make other dresses. Can you imagine cutting this up for scrap?

 I made certain that the fabric was not fragile (some old cloth can be pulled apart in your hands) and that it didn't have any holes or tears. What was so bad about it? The seller said it was terribly worn and faded. I took a chance. She was right- this dress had been worn like crazy. And there are spots where the blue pattern has faded to almost nonexistence. But look at that red trim and perfect belt!Red dye is one of the most resistant to fading. The bright cherry red just matches my new shoes...

 I found these on eBay. Every so often I get a wild hare and decide to pull up Women's Vintage Shoes Size 10. On that day these shoes leapt out at me. Well, they definitely do leap out at you , don't they? But the price was a real leaper also. $5.99. They only had two pair left and so they were at a sell-out price. Add six dollars shipping to that and they were all mine! ( I know, better me than you, right ;)

Look at the picture below. See the color of the pockets? A sort of mid-blue. Right beside it is not a trick of the light, the pattern is almost faded away. And at the top, bright and clear as when some lovely person hand sewed it. See how she wove the red fabric through the pockets and up at the neckline? The women of the prior generations had amazing sewing skills that I envy. I am so glad all her hard work didn't go in a scrap bag.

 And lastly, the shoes: clown shoes, bowling shoes, 50's oxfords, whatever you call them, you have to admit they are perky. Yes, they are a lot of other thing too, but we are Ladies here and don't say all the things that we are thinking. 

Moma and Pop decided to go to Lincoln for some flea marketing the day after I got these. I told them that I needed to stay home and clean. Moma very shrewdly asked if I hadn't cleaned the day before. Well, yes. "And you'll clean tomorrow, won't you?" Well, yes. It's not like cleaning ever stops. "Exactly," she said, "Today let's go play!" How can you argue with that? Well, I'm so glad I didn't! We ate at a diner with amazing food and had the most luscious cherry fried pies for dessert. Mom and I looked at each other and said, "Lard crust!" So good. 

Then we went to an antique store where the dear lady is 82 and has no plans of stopping. She looked at me and said she liked my outfit and that my shoes looked like what she wore in the 50's. We also went down the road to Prairie Grove. I ended up with three aprons, a hanky, and an adorable little fascinator hat- the whole caboodle for under twenty dollars. Did I need them? Yes! Will I use them? Yes! Will you be seeing them soon...only if you ask nicely ;)

And guess what, Dear Reader? The shoes are so comfy that I wore them all day without my feet hurting or any blisters. But I haven't worn them around the Hubby yet. If you hear raucous hooting and chortling some day soon, you'll know he's seen them!