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A few years ago I stumbled across three of the most incredible ensembles: a wool wedding suit from the mid 1910's, a 1920's/30's lace evening gown, and a 1940's wedding dress. Out here in Alberta, we don't find that much vintage clothing from these eras, and especially not for the price that I got them at! Originally I was just going to bring home one, but they were all not being properly taken care of (such as the silk skirt of the wedding dress being Safety Pinned to the hanger...). It was nearly painful to see these stunning pieces of history stuck in a place that had no idea how to take care of them, so I took them home and started researching how to take care of delicate, old clothing. The longer that I have them, the more glad I am that I picked them up. Even if I never was able to wear them or show them to another soul, they have been able to give me a world of information about how clothing was drafted and made in these eras. This wool wedding suit no longer has a lining (whatever is left of it is shredded on the inside), but the rest of it is in fantastic condition! This suit has some of the most gorgeous details on it, and the classic silhouette of a World War One women's suit. I obviously am not doing it justice, since I don't have the proper undergarments on, but I couldn't help but get photos before I put together the proper underpinnings. This next ensemble is my favourite out of the whole lot. The 1920's and 30's have always been one of my favourite eras clothing-wise, and it is extremely rare to find here. Alberta was devastated by the Great Depression, so any clothing from that era was mostly worn completely through. This soft pink evening dress came in three pieces: a silk low-back slip to go underneath, the lace dress, and a matching lace bolero. The bolero is so beautiful with the dress, but it is so delicate that I decided not to put any stress on it. This dress has a side closure of snaps, and a much fuller skirt than you can see here. It moves like a dream! I was thrilled when it fit me so perfectly for photos. The last piece that I managed to grab - the 1940's wedding dress - is in the best condition out of them all. The lace has no tearing or holes in it at all, and the silk skirt is perfect. It also came with a wedding veil, which was in worse condition so I didn't take it out of the box. Have you ever found any wondrous vintage finds that you just couldn't leave behind?
~K
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I realized quite a while ago that while I have posted multiple photos of this dress on my instagram and made a video for it, I never actually posted all of the photos that we got in Banff! Since I have time on my hands now, I thought that this was a perfect time to catch up. This dress was made from a beautiful quilting cotton with hints of gold in it, and I used a Patterns by Gertie sewing pattern for it, with a few adjustments for fit. The wave dress is one of my favourite dresses that I have made myself, and one of the ones that I wear the most. It is from the same pattern that I made my Su Li-zhen dress with, and I love how comfortable it is in cotton. I loved the photo shoot a little bit less... not because of how it turned out (Banff is one of my favourite places to go, and I love the mountains in the background of these images), but because of how cold it was! This is obviously not the first time that I've worn a dress for warm weather during Canadian winters for pictures, but this one you can really tell thanks to the 'arms very close to my body at all times' pose that I used. We go these photos at the same time as my Green Rococo era dress, just earlier in the day. Funnily enough, that last time that I was in Banff was just before everything happened with the pandemic, so it has been very nice going through these old images! ~K
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