From Switzerland's Countryside to.... the Kentucky Derby!

Picture: Karen Morris Millinery

As some of you may know, I have a weak spot for many things, and one of this spots is all about hats! In my shop on Etsy I have some high quality millinery materials available, mostly raffia braids that are produced in a manufactory nearby to where I'm living.

Straw hats used to be part of the traditional costumes that were worn by many people in the 19th century. There were different types, depending from the region, the social status of a person (and how rich they were, of course), the occupation, and if it was a holiday or just a working day... As a historian (yes, that's me, no joke) I can assure you that in those time by the type of costume a person was wearing you could tell pretty everything about her or his status.

A girl from the Wehntal, my "valley," in her costume with a typical straw hat with dried and artificial flowers, and the clothes were mainly made of linen and wool, or later cotton.

Another girl's costume from here, but for higher holidays (it was called "Sonntags-Tracht", which means "sunday's costume", and it was usually made of finer and more expensive fabrics such as silk for the apron and the black bonnet).

Switzerland was an agricultural country, it is still in some small parts, but straw was an affordable material and perfect for hats. Later, straw was replaced by raffia, which had different qualities and became very common for sunhats in the mid-century.

In some regions of my country there was a proper "hat industry" that produced the typical hats for a certain region. But as the rural occupation vanished, so did the costumes. And the hat makers.

My maternal grandmother and my mom as a child still wore costumes for special occasions, as they lived in the Bernese Oberland, a region that is still very rural and traditional.

To please my international reader's appetite for Swiss clichés: Sunday's costume, Canton Bern. The costume for adults was the same. The jewelry on the female's corset was made of filigree silver flowers. There were materials like velvet and silk, and the bonnet was made of velvet and horsehair lace.

But my paternal grandmother wouldn't even have thought about it, as she thought herself to be a modern (as modern as one could be back in the 40s and 50s) woman with "no dirts on her hands". And as fashion changed, and as traditions and farming vanished, hat makers and the whole millinery industry vanished as well. There are only a few manufacturers left, and even if there are still people wearing costumes and the appropriate hats, it's a very small percentage.

Sunday costume from the Canton Aargau, with a typical straw hat.

Women's costume from the Wehntal, Zurich, my region. It looks pretty much the same as a dirndl, a fitted bodice, a fuller skirt, an apron.

Hats were also worn this way. This is a beautiful example for a very thin straw trim used on this traditional accessory.

And in the nearby Black Forest (Germany), straw hats are bases for the amazing red pompons for this still very common costume.

But there is this manufactory left, and they produce the most beautiful materials, crinol (horsehair) and braided raffia and straw in amazing colours. I was very happy I found them, and as I planned to make some hats for my vintage outfits, I ordered some of those wonderful braids. However, I never came around to realise those plans, and so I put the braids in my shop. Especially, as I had to order the whole skein. What else can you do with so much yardage of raffia braid if you only need a 4 or 5 yards?

A nice customer who was attending a millinery course ordered some of the braids and made her first attempts with this wonderful material.

But the most amazing thing happened when a talented hat artist from the USA bought pretty much of my raffia braids. I asked her if she could show me one of the finished pieces once she used the braids, but I was not too hopeful, as I know too well how easily one can forget to get back to the seller. (Argh, I promised so many vintage fabric sellers to show them the pictures of my finished dresses...) I was hoping to get a link to her homepage, but the lady - Karen Morris - was so nice and wrote me such a kind message, including the pictures of her hat creation with "my" raffia braid.

Picture: Karen Morris Millinery

Picture: Karen Morris Millinery

The hat was a custom order for a lady who needed a hat for the Kentucky derby, and I feel very excited about the idea that something that came from my place will be at that special event. I grew up near the racecourse, and as a child I used to climb over the fences to see the horses. I hope the customer will feel as gorgeous as the hat looks like, it's an amazing piece of millinery art. I am happy I could contribute a tiny part to it. And I LOVE the red and pink combination!

Here are the links to Karen's Facebook page. I used her pictures with her friendly permission, thanks.

Pattern and Fabric Acquisitions

In Switzerland, spring has arrived with huge steps. Usually, we can expect our first roses to bloom at the end of May, but when I check the plants in our garden, I think we will have roses already in April. Nonetheless, my appetite for sewing is not very much "spring-like"... Even though I have lost 9 kilos (each child gave me some extra-pounds I never got rid of...), I still am rather undecided if I should wear bright colours or not.

However, when it comes to buying fabric for vintage sewing projects, we can't be too picky. I have unfortunately not such lucky hand for exceptional finds like Beccie from Sew Retro Rose (check out her blog, she IS talented and inspiring!), but I was very happy I found this lovely vintage fabric on ebay some days ago. (For once an extremely helpful seller that showed the fabric draped on a model, so you could see not only the dimensions of the print, but also how a finishes garment could look like. I wish all sellers would be so thoughtful.)

When it arrived last Saturday, I was positively surprised. I have been disappointed before when I bought vintage fabrics, but this one is really amazing. It's a rayon fabric from the 1940s in a silvery grey, imitating the structure of shantung silk.

It's rather wide for a vintage fabric, measuring 41 inches, and I have 3.5 yards of it. This would enable me to make a late 1940s dress with a fuller skirt, so this pattern came to my mind. I have a weak spot for asymmetrical dresses, and I think the pattern would pair lovely with the fabric. I love the loosely rendered flowers, the shimmering texture and the discreet grey colour. The fabric has a wonderful drape. I will have to check if it it's suitable for this pattern, but it will be definitely that kind of dress style for this fabric.

And I bought 3 vintage Scottie dog cabochons! I just love Scotties, if I could I probably would have such a dog. Whenever I find vintage jewelry or supplies featuring this cute guy, I can't resist. So I didn't  mind buying the whole lot of them. I will make a brooch for myself and sell the others in my shop. They are in mint condition, just as if they were made yesterday, and probably were produced in occupied Japan. Did I ever mention that I am fascinated by Japanese stuff? I love Kanzashi flowers, Japanese fabrics, gardens, etc. (No, I don't like sushi. I'm not particularly fond of fish, and I don't eat raw meat, so why on earth should I eat raw fish?)

This topic leads me to my next purchase and a possible project.

I bought this wonderful Japanese inspired cotton fabric with a lovely koi carp print, and when I bought it I knew it will be a 1940s dress. And I found a wonderful pattern for it! I'm not yet decided if I should chose the version with short or with long sleeves. But no matter which, I think the koi carps will look great with such a dress!

The only question is: which project should I make first?

The Happy Housewife

No, this is most probably NOT how it will look like some years from now, on a distant Christmas, with my two perfectly educated kids assisting their perfect mother to serve a perfect meal...

I am a modern housewife. Means: I am not don't want to be perfect.

I love my kids. They're the world to me. I love my husband. He's so understanding and patient. (Oh yes, he really has to be patient with me, I admit.)
I make a lot of extra things for my family. We have a garden that makes a terrible lot of work for me. But it's for the benefit if all. My kids can play outside, they can yell and run, be happy, be kids.
From early summer to late autumn I produce syrups, chutneys and marmalades made from seasonal fruits, mostly from our garden. Elderflowers and -berries, rhubarb, strawberries, black currant, pumpkins, apples, prunes, onions... Perfect as gifts for Christmas.
If there is a special event, I sometimes work day and night to create special outfits, to make last-minute homemade gifts for newborns and other children.

But I'm not perfect. When it comes to housework, I'm a rather desperate case. I like to cook, but I don't stand up at 5 a.m. to prepare home-made pasta like my mother-in-law does.

That's probably me. I don't like to clean, but I do, as I prefer to live in a clean place.
But we will never live in a place as shiny as this one pictured here:

And that's how the kitchen is looking when my husband prepared a meal. But I wouldn't look as amused as the lady in the drawing.

Tidying up is the most difficult thing for me to do, as I am a rather chaotic creative person.

Looking at 1950s illustrations of perfect housewives doing a perfect job for their perfect families in perfect little homes in a perfect way, always with a perfect smile and looking - just perfect, makes me feel - not so perfect. But human and just like any average woman, not like a domestic goddess.

But still I LOVE such illustrations, as they show a variety of clothing from those times, especially lots of aprons. I didn't like aprons when I was younger, but I think vintage aprons are so adorable!

Yes, I love my husband for doing the hoovering (I hate hoovering! makes my backbone ache...) and for his understanding. Sometimes he comes home, and the dinner is not yet finished, but our daughter's new dress is. Oh yes, I am a very happy housewife!

A Night at the Oscars - Dresses worn by the Best Actresses 1929 - 1961

I didn't watch the Oscars... I used to when I was younger and had no children and a job in an office that allowed me to recover during work... I have too little sleep anyway currently, but when I saw this wonderful graph showing the dresses of the wonderful actresses that have won an Academy Awards since 1929, I was curious to find out how the gowns looked like on the photos, and how the ladies were styled...

Source

Douglas Fairbanks presenting the very first Oscar to Janet Gaynor in 1929. Quite simple outfit.

Mary Pickford 1930.

Marie Dressler 1931. I guess back then the award was a rather solemn event, without much publicity.

Helen Hayes 1932.

The top graph is not absolutely correct. In 1935, despite receiving an Academy Award nomination for her performance, Claudette Colbert decided not to attend the ceremony (feeling confident that she would not win) and instead planned to take a cross-country railroad trip. When she was unexpectedly named the winner, studio chief Harry Cohn sent someone to "drag her off" the train (which fortunately had not yet left the station) and take her to the ceremony. Colbert arrived wearing a two-piece traveling suit. The Oscar was given by lovely Shirley Temple.

Bette Davis 1936.

Austrian-born Luise Rainer 1937.

And 1938 Luise Rainer again. Very elegant and simply dress in a typical late 1930s style.

Luise Rinser, born 1910, is still living. She is the oldest still living Academy Award winner and was the first actress to win the Oscar consecutively.

Bette Davis 1939. The feathers forming the neckline of the dress are wonderful, dramatic and  breezy the same. Pictured with Spencer Tracy. 

Vivien Leigh, amazingly beautiful as ever, wore this lovely flowered dress in 1940:

To my surprise, it had cut-outs above the waist. And it was probably red, not grey as pictured in the scheme on top!

Ginger Rogers 1941: Swoon, I would have appreciated a kiss by Jimmy Stewart as well...

Joan Fontaine 1942.

Ah, a kiss by super-duper Mr. Cooper himself...

And she is wearing some kind of snood or fascinator, something that looks very much like a Spanish or Mexican mantilla. Quite fashionable those days.

Greer Garson 1943. Simple two-piece suit adorned with lacy ruffles.

Jennifer Jones 1944.

Wearing fur was not yet a gut issue...

Ingrid Bergmann 1945.

By this picture you can say she was rather tall. I guess she was, compared to other actresses, a rather impressive person.

I love her hair. (Here she is talking to Jennifer Jones. Look at the lovely fascinator hat!)

Wonderful photo - I think she was a very kind and natural person.

1946 winner Joan Crawford did not attend to the awards, due to sickness (as she said). But still she knew how to have her scene. Gorgeous robe and nightgown, perfect hairstyle. I wish I looked like this when I'm sick.

War was over, and the dresses became more elegant and fuller.

Olivia de Havilland 1947 (she was Joan Fontaine's sister and would win a second Oscar in 1950). I would die to find a fabric like this with flowers only on one part of the material. Are these printed, painted or embroidered?

Loretta Young 1948. What a gorgeous dress! The colour is outstanding, and the whole styling of Loretta is just glamorous...

There even was a matching bolero. Well, there usually must have been, but this one really looks great! Look at the coral flower detail - bold, but amazing

Jane Wyman 1949. Wonderful plain evening dress.

1950, there's Olivia de Havilland again.

And again Jimmy Stewart. (Life is not fair.)

Shirley Boothe 1953. I love that printed sheer fabric, even if there is no colour photograph of it.

Sometimes I wish there was a collection of all those dresses, so we vintage addicts could go to see them...

1954: Unforgettable Audrey Hepburn. What an outstandingly lovely person, inside and outside.

This was one of the few dresses in those times of an Oscar winning actress we know the designer of. The cream lace short dress was made by Audrey's favourite designer and friend Hubert Givenchy, and didn't she look amazing in this rather simple yet special little dress? But then, she always did, and I have to stop myself from getting too talkative about this subject... 

But to be honest: even all those "unknown" makers of the previous dresses had so much style and talent. Compared to some dresses that can be seen today...

Grace Kelly 1955.

Kissed by charming Marlon Brando. Swoon...

Silly woman. Why didn't she kiss Mr. Holden?

 1958 Joanne Woodward. 

With Oscar and Paul Newman.

With Paul Newman.

And agin with Paul Newman. Some girls have all the luck...

Susan Hayward 1959. Simple yet elegant. Black is a classic that never goes out of fashion.

French actress Simone Signoret 1960. I like the swiss dotted tulle covering the whole dress and forming the shoulder "straps". A rather simple outfit, only little jewelry, but she looked so beautiful.

Elizabeth Taylor 1961. I like the dress, even though yellow is not my favourite color, but the hairstyle is definitely not my taste.

Does anybody know why Katherine Hepburn, one of the most remarkable women and actresses of the past century, never attended to any of the awards, even though she won 4 times? What a pity. I admire her style, and I'm sure she would have looked gorgeous.

You may wonder why I limit my choice only until the early 1960s... Well, to be homiest, I don't like the fashion that followed too much. There always nice designs from the 60s and later, but I definitely prefer the earlier decades. 

Just to show you why...

Diane Keaton, 1978. Wonderful actress, still today I love her, but - this "dress" is, well, a good example of what I do NOT like about the 70s...

Or Sissy Spacek 1981 (pictured with young Robert de Niro). Never in my life would I wear such a thing. 

Geraldine Page 1986. Was she wearing draperies?

I know, it's unfair to make such comments about those outfits today, as it must have been fashionable back then, but growing up in the 70s and 80s, I still have to shake my head when I look how we were dressed. 

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