Weekend Dress Up // Embroidery + Coral to go Antiquing

Happy new week!

 

I hope your week is off to a blessed start, friends,

and that your weekend was wonderful, as well!

 

There are some weekends you spend that just fill you with joy

in the little things and moments and you end it feeling like

you spent it so joyfully.  This weekend was like that for me.

 

I spent one day this weekend on a daytrip to a small town

with the loveliest historic downtown where I got to go to my

favorite antique store ever- which I have some photos to

share to follow this post☺

 

 

Today, I am sharing something from that day, but not quite yet

the town or antiques...

I am for now sharing my modest outfit that I wore that day!

 

Dressing prettily and modestly is so important to me, and as

I wrote recently, I am excited to start sharing more clothing

and style inspiration in ways that might inspire other girls and

ladies in any way when it comes to dressing modestly

and with femininity.  

 

 

I love going out on the weekends with my family

or for a shopping or antiquing with my mama, and with that

comes the chance to get a little more dressed-up

-or as I grew up saying, "gussied up"-

than on the regular week.

In Spring, I most love dressing up with outfits that include

modest, beautiful blouses and pops of bright colors!

 

My favorite outfit this weekend as I went antiquing was

vintage style jeans + embroidered blouse with this fun

pompom trim + pops of CORAL.  I LOVE coral.

 

 

Blouse: South Main

Bag:  thrifted

Tassel necklace: Walmart

Lip color: E.l.f. cosmetics

Charm bracelet: gift

 

 

This is one of my favorite charm bracelets because it

was a gift from my parents. It also mixes gold and silver so beautifully.

The necklace is one I just picked up last week and loved it,

especially for the price- I love how it mixed the sea green beads

with the coral tassel and even gold charms to add to it.

 

 

This blouse is a new piece of my wardrobe and

this was my first time wearing it.  I know it will get some good

use this summer because the fabric was so cool and lovely. 

(I noticed this photo has a white line across my blouse

and I'm not sure why as I know it isn't my waistband- I think

maybe it is the sun playing off the fabric?)

 

 

It was a lovely day and it adds even more fun to a day

to get a little dressed up to go "out on the town" and have lunch,

take a walk through a historic town, or do some shopping or antiquing.

We had a great time and it was a wonderful day.

 

I'll be posting soon about some of the goodies I picked up-

vintage delights were spread galore through the

antique mall and I got to take a few things home with me (smiles).

 

 

And...

a preview of some of the beauty I was privileged to capture

that day while walking through the old town.

 

 

 

 

What was the best part of your weekend?

 

Is there a certain color or style you are loving wearing for your

spring style?

 

 

 

 

Have a wonderful day!

 

Blessings,

 

J

Into the Sewing Room

How was your weekend, friends?

I hope it was lovely and blessed.

I'm very excited today to be sharing with you photos of our

sewing/craft room.  It is my favorite place to be in the house

because all my favorite things and all things lovely 

surround me in this room and make me smile so.

It is also my favorite place because of the delicious warmth

 that the light from the biggest window

in the house brings in... whether on sunny days or the coziest

rainy, cold days at the desk as I stare outside contentedly.

Welcome inside!

Our sewing machine is situated on the corner of the desk

and just beside it is our box of a menagerie of buttons (don't you

just love that word- menagerie?  It sounds so old-fashioned

and lovely), which is really a vintage-y jewelry box with frame with a 

photo inside of outfitted dress forms that has such an antiquated, 

lovely feel for a sewing room.

Ahh, the heavenly window through which I love looking out at the birds

in spring or the leaves and rain falling in autumn.  Dreamy afternoons.

And in the window hangs a lovely little purple glass

bird feeder that I hang inside for decor,

something my grandmother gave me some years ago.

Our cork board is a place for inspirations, current sewing project

instructions, lovely items, vintage photos, bows made for

wreaths and other projects, and things that make us smile...

like the Anne of Green Gables postcard and the sweetest

pink, crocheted bunny a wonderful friend so lovingly sent!

I love it.

Below is our shelf with dear vintage items...

delicate ladies' gloves, antique store finds, and

my mama's own pearls.

And in the other corner of our desk is my 1960s 

typewriter.  I cherish it, not only because it is vintage or because

it is one of my favorite colors, but because it belonged to

a dear elderly lady that my mom worked for who

passed away when I was younger.  She was a wonderful lady

and I'm honored to own her old typewriter.

Next to the typewriter, upon a small, gold edged copy of

Sense and Sensibility, rests this little tin I love that we thrifted.

The ladylike girl in her beautiful hat adds loveliness, along

with a ruby bee brooch beside it.

Working to increase my seamstress skills, I love collecting sewing

books- most of all vintage books, catalogs, and the like- and although this

is a modern pattern book, I was so excited to find it!

The craft store sometimes sells old pattern books from McCalls or

Simplicity and this one, which includes the "Retro" patterns collection

is one I had to take home with me recently.

These are some recent patterns we picked up, as well.

I am especially excited to make these three.  I love the gingham

wrap blouse because it has a fifties feel to it that I can see paired up

with some cute pedal pushers or capris for summer.

A gingham bow around a mason jar and rose design drawers from

an old keepsake chest make up our more officious items like

pens and pencils and sewing scissors and more.

My grandpa's old stapler that he used in college also finds

its place on our desk, something I have loved having to get to use

all through school.  I never got to meet him, but I think the fact

that I got to use some of his things and still do would make him smile.

I took this photo on a recent evening when I think the light

could have been a bit brighter.

A few hats that were able to be hung hang above

the window for added vintage feel and my pink ball gown

that I brought home a couple of years ago simply for

the sheer beauty of the fabric hangs to the side upon an

old satin hanger.

Above the closet just to the right of our desk we have hung

a springy wreath that used to hang on our front door.

It's since been replaced by new creations, but we loved the colors

and cheer of it so we decided to hang it in our craft room!

It is hard to believe that it used to be the brightest robin egg

turquoise-like blue.  The sun faded it quite a bit.

This room also doubles as my library and where I keep many

keepsakes and belongings, some displayed and some tucked

away, like my graduation wear and souvenirs from this winter.

I also keep jewelry here and love having my

favorite pieces and treasured bracelets and necklaces displayed

 that were given to me or are vintage finds.

I am in love with his gorgeous brooch that was a gift this year.

It is so elegant and beautiful.

Our collection of both vintage and new patterns

has grown so much and we have had to look for new places

to put them in a small space.  The two places that the majority of our

patterns are include one of my favorite vintage pieces, this

lovely picnic basket...

...and another basket which I feel could be either

another picnic basket or a fish basket.

This little dog always seems to find her way upon to a cushion

or chair to fall asleep cozily next to us when we're creating and

spending time here... and sometimes she just watches curiously.

I love having her there.

.           .            .

It has been so fun adding to our sewing/craft room

with new vintage delights and reminders of nostalgia, sewing,

and just creating altogether.

This room is such a joy to be in and when we aren't creating,

it is a heavenly place to be to work on any project, spend time reading

or thumbing through a magazine for craft, sewing, or style inspiration,

or writing, journaling, or penning a letter to someone.

It is a place I could spend all day, every day.

Where are you most inspired to create?

Do you have a room where you craft or create, or a sewing room

you enjoy spending time in?

Wishing y'all a lovely week!

Blessings!

-J

Sunday Best ...and thoughts on blogging!

Happy April, dear friends☺

I hope you are having a wonderful Spring and start to this

new month so far! 

 Do you love April as much as I do...

everything blooming, the birds fluttering about more than

ever, the perfect temperatures.  With the humidity of

being so far South that comes in summer, if I haven't mentioned

so before, early spring is heaven because it is breezy and 

not humid.  I'm so thankful for that.

What a pleasure it was over this weekend to visit dear blogging

friends and enjoy encouragement and beautiful posts!

What a joy.

Lately, I've been finding inspiration that has transcended

into my thoughts about the way I want my own blog to be...

as I've thought a lot about it, I realized that my aspirations in

my faith and in living for God as well as for the joys of

the things that take up my time are the most

influential parts of what inspire me to blog.

This may not be a significant change, but it may be...

I decided I want the direction of my writing, photographs, and things I

share to be about the things that fall into being

fun and joyful and that have the potential to inspire 

others in some way...

Faith, sewing, creating overall, travel and culture aspects

of Southern life I love, vintage delights, photography, and 

something I have especially been thinking about:

sharing my style in regards to dressing with class and modesty.

To be able to share ways that I love to try to achieve this

is something close to my heart... most of all because

finding or sewing modest clothes and expressing my style

with a love for that is something I would love to inspire

others through.  Girls and ladies young and older,

sharing the beauty of ladylike femininity that is

a gift.

So, I hope to share more posts about that, and with the hope

that I will be able to include some sewing because it is something

I love so much and want to get better at.

These are just some thoughts on my blog and my

most prominent inspirations that make my heart dream about

writing as I think about my blog.

For a start...

This is- next to the dresses I own and cherish

 that my great-grandmother

sewed with her hands- my favorite vintage dress. 

A pale, loveliest

blue shade with delicate flower details across the bodice.

This was, on a recent Sunday, my "Sunday best".

How lovely it feels to find vintage pieces you love...

you can feel the quality that they were made with back then,

the sturdy but feminine and delicate wear of the fabric.

I picked this up on a trip to the antique mall that is inside an

old general store style shop in the old downtown of a

town a couple away from us. 

I matched it with pearls (of course☺) and my initial

pin.  My favorite accessory that I am collecting as of late is

a brooch.  

This "J" is not a vintage pin like I love to find most, such treasures.

But I thought it most lovely.

I think my favorite kind of outfit- especially on Sundays for

church- is one that makes me feel ladylike and like I

stepped out of a classier era when everyone dressed

this way.

.       .       .

Blessings!

Wishing you a wonderful week!

What is your favorite accessory right now to

complete your Sunday best, or any outfit?