it's that 1920s magic

Magic in a dress if ever there were such a thing. I mean, really. Pale pink silk chiffon paired with coral velvet and the most glorious rhinestone "buckle" I've ever laid eyes on. It's been distilled to be sure, but you never know, it could weasel it's way into the shop at some point. For now, I'm under it's spell...

for The Distillery

What's better than a 1920s fancy beaded dress? Well, to me it's anything from the 1920s that has a bohemian/folk embroidery element. Also I am pretty powerless against black floral motifs. That's a one two punch whereas this dress is concerned so you can imagine how much glee filled my little heart when it became mine. I am pretty sure I squealed a little. What's more it's a dress that will become part of The Distillery that I can actually wear without the trepidation that I might ruin it, it's a sturdy dress & a perfect fit. I'm smitten.

sometimes a girl gets lucky

Sometimes a girl bids on a dress on eBay and is certain she'll never win it, so she just puts the dress and the bidding completely out of her mind. One evening she is at the stove making a stir-fry and she gets an email alert that informs her she is in fact, a very lucky girl & she has won the bid on a pristine 1950s Christian Dior dress. The stir-fry somehow tastes better than ever, birds are singing over her shoulders and she pours a little tumbler of Redbreast whiskey in celebration. Fast forward to several days later when this girl is just spending a lazy-ish snow day at home and the mailman delivers this Christian Dior dress and the blasted thing fits perfectly. Sometimes a girl gets really, really lucky. 

I'll be wearing this dress very soon & then promptly add to The Distillery to mingle amongst the other stars. She's all mine.

1920s show & tell

Recently I went out to lunch with a friend and afterward he and I stopped into a little antique shop I like to frequent. Lucky thing that we did because a real gem was awaiting me, I don't usually find a whole lot at this particular shop but that day I found this coat. 1920s golden silk velvet with nude silk crepe lining, ruffled collar, wide cuffs and the most elaborate frog closures I have ever seen. I am happy to say the coat is now part of The Distillery but is also something I will wear (likely more than once), I can totally see it paired with modern clothing as well as a 1920s dress. 

she knows me so well...

The sweetest girl in the world, Duff (of Jean Jean Vintage) knows the path to my heart. For two years in a row now she has given me a gorgeous silk beaded 1920s dress for Christmas to add to the Dear Golden Distillery (of course I told her I hope this becomes a tradition...). This year I when I opened the package I had to set it down and take a deep breath because of the color alone. This delectable frock will now live among it's contemporaries, tucked away in archival paper. Well, okay, I might wear it - but just once!

i've fallen and i don't want to get up

How can you not fall in love with this dress? 1920s pale pink silk with silver beading and pink shoulder ribbon detail. The hem! Add to The Distillery or sell...this decision will take some deep contemplation to say the least. 

1920s beaded dress

It isn't often I mend, soak, rinse, dry & wear a dress all in the same day. But yesterday, when this dress 1920s silk beaded dress arrived I just couldn't wait to "deal with it". I mended some of the beading, then it straight to the soak for a long while, then laid dry before hanging dry and since it was extra hot outside the drying time was minimal so it was ready to put on in just about one hour.

Now, I do realize that this style of dress isn't very flattering on me, 1920s dresses tend to accentuate all the wrong aspects of my body & I appear to have gained about 10 pounds, but really, it's exactly what women in the 1920s who were wearing these dresses looked like - a bit frumpy. There, I said it. If I were super tall and super thin I am sure this dress would look miles better, nevermind that I spent the entire day stain-removing and cleaning various vintage dresses (in the 87 degree heat) so my hair looks pretty lackluster. But that isn't going to stop me from wearing this dress, it's like a work of art!

•♡• unspeakably pretty

I spent some time this past Sunday, along with my mother, repairing and restoring some utterly breathtaking 1920s silk dresses. One of my favorite things to do is restore delicate 1920s dresses, the only problem is once they are finished I have a pretty hard time selling them. I expect I'll keep one of these...just not sure which one yet...

from start to finish

This past Saturday, just outside of Chicago, I spent a blissful day in the freezing cold attic of a house built in the 1860s surrounded by racks and racks of vintage clothing from the 1800s on through to the 1960s. The collection of a woman named Nancy Allen who lectured on the role of women in American politics. While she lectured she hosted a fashion show exhibiting the types of garments women were wearing during certain decades. Through the years Nancy became well-known in her town and people would donate vintage pieces to her to be used in these fashion shows. Needless to say the collection was mindblowing, I cried when I entered the attic. Much of the collection is Edwardian and 1920s handmade lace, which I don't even mind saying, is the stuff that literally starts my waterworks a' goin'. The attic is no place for these types of garments and they have suffered. Yesterday I began the effort of restoring one of these dresses, and it goes a little something like this...

A lukewarm soak of Palmolive & a small amount of bleach. Is it scary soaking an almost 100 year old dress in some bleach, you bet, but the dress had many stains and was ecru when it should be very pale ivory. Beware though, too much bleach can actually make the garment MORE yellow. The more dangerous issue is dealing with lace this old when it is wet. I took a lot of time and extreme care when rinsing the dress, needless to say. But honestly I love doing it, I feel like I am caring for a kitten or something, like the dress has a "life", as silly as it may sound.

Still not completely dry and pretty rigid from the washing. Not a pleasant thing to imagine wearing...

Dry & gingerly steamed the dress still has a few areas of stain/discoloration 

but is miles better, utterly beautiful & ready to wear! Voila!

freshly distilled

1920s ivory silk and silver leaf beaded dress (removable sleeves!)

1920s creamy silk ruffled tunic

1920s sheer soft cotton embroidered dress

1930s pale pink lace dress

A while back when I spoke of starting a portion of the shop called The Distillery I fully intended to sell off 1920s dresses and other very special dresses that I have found for the shop along the way. But it is now that I have to admit to you (it's taken time for me to admit to myself!) that The Distillery is most likely going to be a little area of my closet/the shop that only grows and never depletes. There is something about the 1920s dresses, that although I do not wear them, that just woo me, to a point that I just have to take them out now and then and look at them, never able to sell them. You don't want to hear this, I know. Are you mad at me? Maybe...but there ARE some 1920s that I AM willing to sell and those do make it into the shop and will continue to do so. 

Also, though The Distillery started out as just 1920s dresses, there has been an addition of a 1930s dress, a dress that is a marvel to me as it it feel like it was never worn and has no flaws at all (last photo). When I got it I almost could not believe my eyes. I love it when that happens. 

So here are the most recent additions to The Distillery. I think I might even wear each one of these, at least once. :)

the distillery

Since not all vintage is created equal, I've been knocking the idea around of creating a special shop or at least special category in the shop for the real vintage gems, the dresses you just won't see much more of in the future; the dresses that literally make you (at least me) cry. Although I don't wear 1920s dresses, I do however, collect them. I am sure at some point I will wear one of them, but I am a late 1930s, early 1940s girl at heart and when it's time to gussy up it's the garments of that era I usually pull out of my closet. But there's something about 1920s dresses that really woo me, they are like art to me and thusly I collect them as an art collect would amass art pieces. Named The Distillery, the dresses I have collected have a special place in my closet where they all mingle together. While the ones below are in my personal collection, I have other 1920s dresses that will show up in the shop near the holidays, but they seem to warrant more than just a listing in the shop, hence The Distillery, where all the goodness of a dress is distilled into one lovely and historical garment...coming soon!

 ♥ These two are my favorites ♥