Podcast Episode 5: Christmas Besties

Well here it is folks!

The first ever BeespokeVintage

Christmas Podcast! 

This is the image on my family Santa Cookie tray.
It was the tray we used in my family growing up and
my mom bequeathed it to me so now my kids use it too

 I'm joined in this podcast by my small business bestie Beth Kuhar-Miller of One Sweet Thread and we're getting personal! Join us as we talk about our Christmas decorating traditions, favorite Christmas cookies, books, movies and memories from childhood and adulthood. Beth shares a childhood gift she always wanted and never got from Santa. We talk about when we first discovered Santa wasn't real (or is he . . . ?) And don't miss all the celebrities I accidentally (and repeatedly) diss - honestly, I am the WORST with remembering names.

You'll find out what Christmas books and movies we love! And which songs we hate and hope we never hear again. But you'll have to listen to the very end to hear which Christmas song I play to close out the podcast.

Beth and I hope you find some things to love and laugh about in this podcast and have a wonderful holiday, whatever traditions you celebrate!

With love!

Rebecca

Places/Things Referenced:

Easy Bake Oven

Barbie Dream House

My Baby Beth Doll

Terry's Chocolate Oranges

Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens

 

Storyland Christmas Tree Farm

 

Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort 

Christmas Books:

Rebecca - Mr. Willouby's Christmas Tree

Rebecca - The Sweet Smell of Christmas

Rebecca - Baking Day at Grandma's

Beth - Llama Llama Christmas

Christmas Movies

Rebecca - It's a Wonderful Life

Beth - White Christmas

Books We're Reading

Beth - James Herriod - All Things Bright and Beautiful

Rebecca - Nothing

Shows/Movies We're Watching:

Rebecca - Miss Scarlet and the Duke

Rebecca - Yellowstone - 1883

Rebecca - Yellowstone - 1923

Beth - HBO Max Ghosts - British Version

Christmas Songs We Hate

Beth - Wham - Last Christmas

Rebecca - Adam Sandler Hanukkah Song

Apologies to the Famous People I Accidentally Dissed

Harrison Ford

Adam Sandler

"Beth on Yellowstone" (Kelly Reilly)

Podcast Episode 4: Sewing Across Generations

My Grandmother Mickie working on a Baby Quilt

I have been working diligently on the November (now December) podcast: Sewing Across Generations and I think I am nearly ready to post it! This one was a tricky one because I interviewed my Mom since her mother (pictured throughout) sewed voraciously and was who taught me how to sew, and because then I became a seamstress. As you can probably imagine, interviewing your own mother can be a tricky endeavor . . . There are so many side stories and emotions and past experiences to navigate.

We ended up with an HOUR AND 45 MINUTES of audio! Whew! So what I've been working on these past several weeks is editing it down (got it down to 45 minutes and trying to create a beautiful encapsulation of my mother's memory of being a child of a sewist and then a mother of a sewist. I've also sprinkled in a few stories about sewing for my own children and the importance of having a shared skill and collective tradition like sewing to pass from generation to generation.

Here's the LINK to the podcast.

I hope you all really enjoy it! As always feel free to share it with others you think might enjoy it.

As a BONUS for Patreon members only, I will also be sharing the UNCUT podcast recording so you can get the extra stories and the funny interaction between me and my mom as we fall down rabbit holes and try to get back on track.

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Links to shows and books mentioned in the podcast:

• See How they Run
• A Private Affair
• Daylight by David Baldacci (the book I couldn't remember the title of)
• Miss Scarlet and the Duke by Masterpiece
• Life Force by Tony Robbins
• One Sweet Thread (Mid-Podcast Ad)

Bonus Photos:

MY GRANDMOTHER MICKIE IN SOME OF THE DRESSES SHE MADE

Grammy Mickie in High School 1940s   

Grampa Wilcid and Grammy Mickie 1940s

My Mom, Grammy Mickie, Uncle Bobby 1950s 

My Mom in the Red/Grey Checked Dress 6th Grade

My Mom in the Red/Grey Checked Dress 6th Grade
     

PATTERNS REFERENCED IN PODCAST

Butterick 9563 - Pattern used for Pink Gingham Dress

Butterick 9563 Back

Butterick 9130 - Pattern used for
Red and Grey Plaid Dress

Butterick 9130 Back

Mail Order Pattern of my GREAT-Grandmother's 1950s

OTHER PHOTOS

My mother and me (wearing a dress my grandmother made)

My First Civil War Dress - age 12

Me with all 3 kids - Civil War Living History, Sully Plantation, VA

With Vintage Friends WWII D-Day Event, Conneaut, OH
(One Sweet Thread, Me, Sarah, Liz, The Glambassador)

Recent Make of Eleanor Powell Dress

September Patreon Schedule and Important Updates!

I've been wanting to create something visual to help me share my plans for the month on Patreon and after scrolling around and picking the brains and ideas of other great Patreon users, this is what I've come up with.  I hope you like it and that it makes sense!

Next month I hope to be able to add the schedule for the Zoom Calls and Podcast releases at the beginning of the month as well but I'll be honest last month was a doozy and I just haven't gotten to the point of being able to look that far ahead into September yet.  I'm getting there though, I promise!

So important things to note:

First . . . I AM GOING TO START A PODCAST!  Okay, it may be the end of the month before I get anything out but I really am going to do this!  I've gone ahead and purchased my mic and I've got my list of topics and guest speakers lined up and I'm super excited!  I hope you are too!  And please feel free to send me podcast ideas any time and through any platform.  Send me ideas here or via email, IG, chat, whatever works - I love hearing from you all!

Second . . . I'm trying out grading patterns! Well I am not going to be grading the patterns because it's not a working skill I have (or something I really like to do).  But I've partnered with someone (I'll release who it is next month if it all works out well) who is going to grade our monthly patterns so that you will be able to pick from Bust sizes 32" to 54"!!!  Yes you read that correctly!  I'm so super excited about this because I know it is really difficult to find larger sized patterns for some of you out there and I just want to be able to make that possible.

Now having said that it comes with caveats.  It's EXPENSIVE - I'm not going to talk money here but let's just say it's A LOT - and it's going to take some time.  We are doing a test run with last month's pattern to see how it goes (I'm positive it will be great) but if the cost becomes too prohibitive or the time, then I may have to scale the patterns back to once every two months . . . I hope you all will understand and be pleased that while it will be one less pattern per month you'll have a lot more choice in the sizing!  I think this will be a win-win for everyone and I'll keep you posted as we go along if anything changes.

That's it for now . . . 

My family and I are off to the beach for the Labor Day weekend for some well-deserved rest and relaxation and I'll be back at it next week.

Happy September everyone!

All my love,

Rebecca 

 

Want to become a Patron?  It's super easy - click HERE 

 

 

Welcome to our Newest Patrons!

 

Everyone please extend a warm welcome to our newest Pattern Patron members, Ms. Daniella Janda and Ms. Diana Shepard 

I am so excited for both to be joining our growing community and get in to the pattern fun and upcoming zoom discussions with us!

As a reminder I'm still working on the podcasts and the Zoom meetings (which I'm super excited about!) so keep sending me topics you might like to have me cover. You all are driving the train (small though it may be at the moment) so throw ideas at me!

Love you all!

Rebecca

Example Calendar for Patreon Content

 

In the meantime . . . if you're feeling generous and want to take a gander over at my Patreon Site I'm shamelessly promoting it this month as I'm having a "Re-Launch" September 1st with some fun giveaways and merch (more info to come through the month of August).  You are more than welcome to sign up at any point between now and the grand Re-Launch and you'll still benefit from all the fun goodies, but if you want to wait, be sure to put the date on your calendar because you WON'T WANT TO MISS IT!

In a nutshell, my Patreon Site will help fund a HUGE art installation project I'm starting this year called The 10Dresses Project that will be an on-going history-fashion-fabric-art project with a different theme each year.  The inaugural project is 10Dresses:Africa and is going to BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF!  I can't give away all the details here - but become a Benefactor and you'll get in on the low down.  Trust me it's gonna be awesome.  The exhibit will open in NC (Raleigh/Durham area) but I hope to take in on the road for a few months around the country too.

It's a HUGE undertaking and one that a small-business owning, military wife, mamma of four is not gonna fund on her own.

Check it out.  Ask me Questions.  Talk it up.  Spread the word.  Seriously.  This is gonna be great and your are going to LOVE to be a part of the first edition of The 10Dresses Project.

I love you all to pieces!

Rebecca
 

Ahhhh Choooo!

I have some great posts coming - just have been under the weather lately.  

Stay tuned . . . I promise some really cool things are coming. 

The Oranges Outfit - Simplicity 4689

This is one of those patterns that the moment I saw it I just knew I wanted to own it and to make it.  It's a rare pattern to be sure.  I just did another search for it and it doesn't show up anywhere that I can find.  Simplicity are some of my favorite 1940s patterns (believe it or not my favorite pattern companies change throughout the eras - I'll have to write a blog post about that some day), and this pattern is no exception.  Sometimes I fall in love with the pattern cover art more than the pattern itself, but this one is charming for both the style and the artwork.  I love a tailored look and when you get an interchangeable two (or three or four) piece wardrobe out of it, then you can't go wrong!

As luck would have it, shortly after I purchased this pattern, I happened upon matching fabric for both the orange checked jerkin and skirt ensemble and for the orange print blouse!  I also found a great deep green cotton for the skirt but later decided to go with a more kelly green as it matched the green in the orange print blouse better.  

So I purchased all the fabric, cut it out . . . then it sat in my bin of "To Dos" for two whole years!!!  I know all of you out there can relate to things just getting in the way of projects and I am no different.  Life and work and starting a business and . . . well you get the idea.  It took me a while to get back around to this one.  But with DDay Ohio coming up I figured it was a good time to finish it up.  

So I got started on it and of course had some changes of ideas along the way.  Initially I thought I'd want to do the 3/4 length sleeve but decided that length just doesn't really suit me.  So, chop-chop, I cut the sleeves down and just gathered them up into a short sleeved version (I didn't sue the pattern design at this point because I'd already created the sleeve and didn't have any of the fabric remaining.)

The second big change was the skirt.  It just seemed a bit "off" for me to have just the skirt.  So I played around with the idea of adding straps and making it into a jumper (also very popular in the 1940s).  I took some quick snapshots and sent to friends to get opinions. . . Most of my friends were against the jumper idea (I think they're just not "jumper" people but I really am so I kept going back to the jumper).  For SURE the yellow rickrack was a hard NO from everyone! hahaha

Tucked in Blouse with Belt Option

More Options . . .

Okay so moving on, since the original pattern didn't have straps I was making that up as I went along.  I don't know what my problem is with straps but I can never quite get them right when I am trying to do them for myself. It took some trial and error on the shape I wanted and if I wanted to add a little brace along the back . . . you'll see the final results in the last photos.  I had to enlist my kids' help to get them exactly right but we got there eventually!

Trying out Strap Options

Okay so now for some hard truths - I'm pretty sure most people did NOT like the kelly green and other bright colors of this outfit.  It is pretty in your face - I'll admit it.  I think you'd have to be feeling pretty peppy (or need to feel pretty peppy) in order to wear this.  I even stared at it for a few days and thought "Yah . . . I don't think I can really pull this off.  Maybe I'll just leave this at home this year."  But in the end, once I had it finished I REALLY, REALLY loved it!  And after all, I was making this for ME, not anyone else so really I'm the only one who has to like it, right?  (Well that's what I'm telling myself at any rate.)

I still need to finish the Orange Check skirt and jerkin but worry not - that will be coming later.  It's just too dang hot for a jerkin at DDay anyway!

So . . . here are the final pictures or the Orange Poplin Blouse and the Kelly Green Jumper!  You can see them on my Instagram page as well as my finished projects on my website.

 

         

 

 

Oh and I almost forgot!  I made a matching hat!  It was the first time making this hat and I made it in a hurry so I have a lot of little things I learned along the way that I would put in place making any in the future but it was a fun pattern and pretty straight forward.  The pattern, Simplicity #4777 was a gift from Vintage Pattern Lending Library (Thank you Deirdre!)

 

 

As always I welcome all your feedback and comments and questions!  Hit me up and let me know your thoughts!

Rebecca

Just for fun . . . here are two shoe options - shoes by Bettie Page:  I'm thinking yellow.  What do you think?