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Tag Archives: Vintage Accessories

Gatsby Lawn Party Day 2

Posted on July 26, 2016 by lepetitchapeau
Gatsby Lawn Party Day 2

The lovely grounds of Spadina House Museum

Day 2 was another beautiful day of hot sunny weather and cool breezes. I wore what turned out to be my favorite  dress of the summer so far. It was another Pinterest image turned into a pattern from a 1 Hour Dress Book published in the 1920s. I didn’t take any construction pictures as time was getting short. I used a yarn dyed cotton in a rust plaid and a solid rust coloured cotton for the ties.

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I almost made a critical error when translating the measurements from imperial to metric. (On a side note, the US has been officially metric for more than 2 decades. Start using it please)

This is a very comfortable dress and Sara wants to make one for herself before the summer ends.

 

Her dress started out as one pattern and was modified a great deal. We also made it out of a knit since we didn’t have time to be picky about the fabric.

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It turned out great and just in time. I think she wants to  make it again in a silk and make a few more adjustments.

christmas shoot 15 (27 of 33)

1928 Reproduction Turban , Le Petit Chapeau

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Maybe next year we will have the right shoes to fit our needs of standing all day and new specs that are more in keeping with the 20’s.

Cheers

Meaghan & Sara

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A Gatsby Weekend Day 1

Posted on July 15, 2016 by lepetitchapeau

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Spadina House Museum

Recently Sara and I were sponsors of Spadina House Museum Gatsby Lawn Party. We donated several prizes for the costume party and set up a mini shop loaded with flapper era hats for Ladies and Gents.

It was a beautiful and rather hot weekend but the grounds are so lovely and the lawn party goers were dedicated to their costumes that it made the heat bearable.

We decided we need to have 1920s dresses and hats (of course) which wasn’t required but encouraged and I’m glad we did. All the volunteers and the musicians were costumed in wool! (Brave souls) This ment we needed to hunt Pinterest for ideas or patterns of which we found and needed to draw from the photos as well as alter to fit our measurements. Originally I wanted to use a pattern I had for about 20 years. It was an early 20s design that was designed with a 1990s fit. That will work, I thought. No. What a mess. The fitting that I did before inserting the zipper showed that there was no saving it and the fit and the printed measurements were essentially a lie. Oh well.

I also had a 1980s dropped waist dress pattern that I cut out of a lovely pumpkin coloured cotton gauze. I cut it to a smaller fit than the 80s look which was a 10 inch ease! I also moved the gathers of the waist to the side front and side back to be more in keeping with the 1920s. I then added a fabric rose and ribbons both up and down the side of the dress at the hip. this was copied from a photo of a 1920s day dress I found.

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I was also wearing a reproduction cotton slip underneath which had panniers on the hips made of gathers to puff the hip out farther. It is in keeping with he style but not seen as often. It was an unusual silhouette which I’m still not accustomed to. The hat is a new design made for the show which we are going to start making for customers soon.

Sara’s dress was much more work and made from a polyester chiffon in a green and white print with a touch of black. I wasn’t sure about it but she knew it would be wonderful.

Her drawing of the photo was very neat and made from a hebrew language page from a 1920s ladies magazine. The pattern was large pieces so the floor was the only place to lay it out. She cut it into a front and back to fit the fabric and then very carefully cut out the fabric. Chiffon is very shifty so it was hard to keep it on grain. The hems were all rolled and hand sewed which took her many hours. The end result was beautiful. I think I want to make one!

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The hat was another one of the new Garden Party Hats and we found shoes were a problem. It was hot and we were on grass so slender heels were impractical so we wore what was best for working instead of the shoes which looked most appropriate.

The first day was great and we really enjoyed the gardens and music.

Day 2 clothing coming soon.

Cheers

Meaghan and Sara

 

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Welcome to our World Video

Posted on April 28, 2015 by lepetitchapeau

We made a video! Woo! Ok. It’s not a master piece but it’s still pretty neat so click the link and have a look and like us or comment. We plan on making more fun little videos and we hope you subscribe to our channel.

 

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I Heart Hats February 2014

Posted on January 25, 2014 by lepetitchapeau

That’s right. It’s that time of year again! We’ll have french hot chocolate for your enjoyment and the ever popular “orphaned hats” pram with lonely lovely hats waiting for you to take them home. There might even be cookies.

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We hope to see you there!
Meaghan and Sara.

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What a difference 6 years makes.

Posted on December 1, 2012 by lepetitchapeau

I opened my studio shop 6 years ago on Canadian thanksgiving weekend. I remember the 4 months of renovating the space from an old garage to what it was as well as Chris and I working full-time on other projects. I took some pictures on that first day.

Opening day shop shot

The opening day fall 2006

Original pink in the studio on opening day

The brick wall with half the hat display there is now and no furniture. Opening day 2006

The window display. I had so much room around it that day!

I belive I had 6 cocktail hats when I opened. Now it’s half my stock!

This is just as you walk in the door in the fall of 2009. It still seems so open and the original pink is still on the wall.

The location of my shop is on a mews which, since the building I’m in is on a hill, runs behind the buildings on the historical main street of Barrie ON. Canada. The city has made enormous changes to the area and several other galleries and studios have opened up since I moved in. So many changes that the city declared it the “art hub” of the city. I don’t know about that but I’ll take the free advertising.

Since I am at the back in what used to be a garage I have a large green wooden garage door I pull down when I’m not open for security reasons. The fall of 2009, I think, found this door, at 60 years old, finally broken and that meant ripping down a large portion of the fancy carpentry I created to have an exterior wall inside a garage door. That is when the paint changed to deep hot pink. I might go back to this vintage pink some day.

This is what the shop/studio looked like in July of this past year. Soooo full of such great things. I love it.

Changes in the studio have come slowly much like the changes in my designs and fabric choices. Sometimes a good thing shouldn’t be tampered with too much. The front of the shop looks essentially the same. different urns and a new sign based on the old one. I was speaking with my carpenter in residence and asked how he felt about making me a square bay window and getting a blacksmith to make a security gate instead of a garage door so people can look into the window when we are closed. He grunted knowing now that the snow is flying he’s off the hook until the warm weather.

Cheers

Meaghan

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I grew up with a “Santa from Santa Fe”

Posted on November 27, 2012 by lepetitchapeau

I love a strange Christmas song. Not a heavy metal version of something or that Beastie Boys thing, I mean something from the swing era. I grew up with a Santa Fe Santa. I accidentally sent it off to the charity shop with a bunch of other cassette tapes I no longer wanted and now I think that song is lost forever. I have heard it outside of growing up only once while listening to a jazz Christmas station. It isn’t the only weird little song I like but when I hear it I always smile. The words are as follows:
Corus:

Santa from Santa Fe
Swingin’ his merry way
Singin’ on Christmas day
jingle li jingle li jingle lingle lay

Verse:
Got a peppermint pony
and a bundle of toys
with his chocolate pup
he’s roundin’ up
all the good little girls and boys.

There are other verses but that all I can think of. I’ve tried searching this but am having no luck. It’s three women that sing it but it’s not anyone I recognize. If anyone out there has heard this song, can lead me to it or knows where to look I’d love to know. It really isn’t Christmas until I hear it.

(I suppose I can make Sara crazy by singing the only verse I remember until she begs me to stop.) As an aside, I’m Canadian and I’ve never been to Santa Fe so although for all you southern states folks it doesn’t seem weird you’ll have to trust me when I say it’s a bit strange here.

Here’s hoping for a Santa Fe Christmas to start the season!

Meaghan

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Like A Glove

Posted on November 18, 2012 by lepetitchapeau

It would seem that there is nothing in this world that irritates me more than when I put something on and it doesn’t fit properly. So I expect to have to make alterations to most pieces of clothing that I buy and most of the time I do have to. I understand that this lack of ‘fit’ is due to trend and mass production. There is one thing however that I expect to still fit like a glove, and that would be a glove.

Every new pair of gloves that I pull onto my hands leaves a lot to be desired, most fingers are too short, nine times out of ten all different sizes and nothing fits right. Thus I do not own a single new glove. Inevitably I fall back to my vintage collection. I love the way they fit, the way they feel and the way they make my hands look. I am not dressed to leave my house in the mornings without a pair on even in the summer. The only downside to vintage gloves is how difficult it is to find a leather pair that are larger than a 6 3/4 and in good enough condition to wear.

Out of this frustration I decided that my only course of action was to teach myself to make gloves the right way with proper fitting. This way at very least I could have a leather pair that fit like a glove should. I started with lace gauntlets, something simple I thought, with no fingers. It took some work to draft a successful pattern and then teach my fingers how to hold the fabric. With great pleasure I now make them for the shop.

As it turns out, they are incredibly difficult to photograph. It’s no surprise that Meaghan managed to find a way to make them look good.

There are far more colours than just these three and they are all available at the shop in two sizes. We will be listing them on our etsy site shortly.

Cheers,
Sara.

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Race Day is Coming!

Posted on June 19, 2012 by lepetitchapeau

The Queen’s Plate race is just around the corner and we have been making like crazy. This year will be the fourth that we have been invited to sell our lovely hats at the Woodbine Race Track. On that note we will be on City T.V.’s Breakfast Television tomorrow morning between 7:00 and 9:00 at Woodbine to talk hats and horses with the lovely morning show host.
As always with preparing for the race our little shop/studio is bursting at the seams with hats, vintage accessories for men and women, as well as our writing nook and vintage picnic baskets.
The race is taking place this Sunday, June 24th. The weather should be lovely, and we hope to see you there.

Cheers
Meaghan and Sara

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