It probably comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I'm raising Miss Mia and Baby Li, well, sort of vintage. We don't have a television and they don't play anything on the computer. They have original vintage fairy tale drawings from the 40s on the wall in their play area and dig in the sandbox with these amazing sand forms from the 50s (got 11 of them for 1 Euro on ebay. Now that was a find!) I recently bought Mia a Jadite child's pitcher and an elephant figurine from a 1930s circus. For her third birthday, I've already bought her a 1950s Bakelite Viewmaster with 10 reels (another great ebay find) that looks a lot like this one here:
I'm not doing any of this out of some sort of nostalgic concept or as a revolt against modern life, although I do think it's better for kids this age not to watch much television (though I certainly can understand the need to put them in front of a video for that much needed 20 minute break...) I just like old things better than new things. Until they are old enough to tell me to knock it off, this is what they'll get....
I realized today that I had somewhat of a vintage-inspired childhood myself: although most of my childhood was in the 80s, both my sister and I were heavily influenced by musicals from the 1940s to the 1960s. Gigi, Funny Girl, My Fair Lady, we loved them all. This love started one afternoon when we went to a screening of Bye Bye Birdie at the Naninni Library in Tucson, Arizona. From that day forward an obsession was born. Today I watched some video clips from the musical on YouTube. OMG, Retro!!! Check out this clip:
Amazingly, I still know all the words to every single song even though I haven't heard them in almost 30 years....The modern retro me loved this version of Dick Van Dyck's Put On A Happy Face from the show, here sung by Vikki Carr.
Having two babies back to back has not exactly been easy on my figure. The good news is, I tend to gain weight proportionately. The bad news is, pretty much everything about me these days is round. There are some women (aka bitches and hos) who loose all the weight and then some from breast feeding, but unfortunately I am not one of them. Still, I have lost twenty pounds since Lilly was born and have started doing yoga regularly. Hopefully this will help do the trick because it is simply not possible for me to diet. Eat more in moderation yes, but I'd rather be pleasantly plump than give up butter and ice cream forever.
But let's look on the bright side: I am now a size 14 which means I am just on the cusp of plus size. It's still possible to shop in normal shops, but there is simply a lot less in the way of great vintage clothes in my size (darn those petite women of the 40s, 50s and 60s!) If I were my normal size 10/12 I would be spending A LOT more money on the following items.
This 1950s wiggle dress is such a beautiful color and still classic enough to be easily worn in modern times. But the 28 inch waist is, for me, most certainly a problem. Available here at The Church of Vintage.
I'm a sucker for polka dots. This mini 1960s wool dress would look so cute over a pair of jeans. It is listed here as a size small/medium by Allen Company Inc.
Of all the decades of vintage fashion, I think the 40s are by far my favorite (and the 80s passionately hated, as anyone who reads this blog knows.) This suit is simple yet elegant but, at size extra small, something I will never ever be able to wear. Available here at Small Earth Vintage.
Words cannot even begin to describe how gorgeous this 1970s skirt is. Not only does it have a simple modern design, it is also made of a blend of virgin wool and silk and feels wonderful to the touch. Ironically, it is my "old" size, 10/12, but it will take at least a year of downward dog if not more before I am that size again. Somewhat reluctantly, I am offering it for sale here at my shop Schaufenster.
Last but not least is this lovely red number from the 1960s, wool which means wearable in winter (as well as alliteration....) With a 32 and a half inch waist, this dress is also about a size 12. Sigh. Available here at Capricious Traveler.
I've never really understood what it is Germans think will happen to you if you eat more than one warm meal a day. I don't think they believe that it will make you sick just that, somehow, it is very very bad. I'm not talking just older people; across the age spectrum I would say most Germans eat a "cold" breakfast (bread rolls with cheese, meat and jam), a "warm" lunch and a "cold" dinner (yep, more bread.) Even Jasper, who is by no means a "typical" German, usually can't handle eating a warm meal in the evening (though he does like a nice "American" breakfast of bacon and eggs on occasion.) As far as I know, Germans are one of the only nationalities who think about the temperature of their food in this way. If there is another (non-German speaking) country where they also do this, I would be curious to hear about it...
Anyway, if you are going to eat a boring "cold" breakfast (as you can see, even after ten years I haven't really adjusted...) you may as well do it with these amazing 60s vintage retro breakfast tablets I've posted in my shop Schaufenster. Besides their great kitschy flair, these breakfast tablets are unusual because they are shaped like the fruit they resemble (breakfasts tablets are usually rectangular.) Na, guten Appetit! ;)
For a long time I only really thought of Etsy as being a place for handmade goods, even though I sell some vintage items myself. Recently I've been discovering a lot of really great vintage shops with fair prices, so I thought I'd share a few of them here. Most of the shops specialize in housewares and home decor (there are of course also a lot of shops that sell vintage clothing and shoes, but personally I find the fit and feel of the fabric is too important to order something over the internet, especially when it can't be returned....) Ok, here goes:
Located in Detroit, Bright Wall Vintage has a lot of great mid-century pieces at nice prices.
Good Vintage has nice kitsch and home decor pieces and currently has a lot on sale.
Little Byrd Vintage is located in Portland, Oregon where my sister lived for six years. She's the one who told me about the friendly, good-hearted Spirit of the Pacific Northwest and this seller must have it because she is currently donating 20% of all profits to the Oregon Food Bank.
Located just a few hours north of Portland in Seattle, Lil Thrifty Girl has a lot of items on holiday special. She has cute stuff but for some reason only nine sales, so let's get her some business!
Another shop located in the Pacific Northwest is Modish Vintage. I love, love, love, love pretty much everything they have. Did I mention love?
Though I don't (yet) own any, there is something about the eerie milky greenness of Jadite that I love. Luckily for me, there is the shop in Allentown, Pennsylvania Jadite Kate. The shop prices are a little bit high and if you want something very basic like a teacup or a serving bowl you might find it cheaper in another shop. But the pieces she does have are truly unique and well worth the price. Plus, the shop is just so darn pretty. I can't get enough of it!
So there have been rumors circling around out there that I finally threw in the towel, packed my bags and moved Jasper and the girls and my good self over to Des Moines. Although the experience I had here in Berlin on the bus today (in a nutshell, rude people who were not at all helpful, rude busdriver, the usual smell, ya da ya da ya da, aka same old same old in this wicked city!) did make Des Moines sound attractive, the rumors are, nevertheless completely unfounded.
What I've really been doing is expanding my etsy shop Schaufenster a lot, even adding new sections like The Dollhouse Gallery Series and jewelry (dismantling my second shop after all because one is truly enough)
I've also lined up a lot of vintage goodies with more to come (let's just say my new, or rather old but re-kindled obsession is bakelite, bakelite, bakelite....)
Oh what fun it is to list on a cold November day. ;)
Maybe it was the dollhouse my father made for my sister and I when we were quite young, a house he made, interestingly enough, in the traditional German Fachwerk style. Maybe it is because of the heart-felt longing I had as a child to find the little people (gnomes, fairies, brownies and so forth.) Whatever the reason, I have always had a soft spot for everything dollhouse sized.
Imagine how pleased I was when I found this vintage 1960s dollhouse furniture recently, a sideboard and a highboard. Since I don't really have a use for dollhouse furniture right now (but when I'm an old lady, I'm so going hog wild!) I'm offering it for sale at my etsy shop. Then again, in some ways that's exactly what my shop is about: a sort of rescue center for kitsch and vintage treasures that I find amazing but have no use for myself. I keep a roof over their head and keep them safe until I'm able to find a new home for them.
As of November 1st, this furniture will be available for "adoption" here. If you also have a love of the little, check out the truly amazing dollhouse food for sale at Suskita, a shop based in Finland.
Since I'm going a little bit crazy here in Babyland as mentioned in my previous post, I am desperate for new ways to entertain myself. One of the ways I've found is a four letter word (not the only one I'm saying these days in my darkest, burnt out mama moments, though I DO mutter them to protect young ears... ;) ): namely, ebay. I have quite a long history with ebay here in Germany (never did get to use it in the U.S., though my brother had a side business there for a while selling stuff from The North Face he had bought at the local retail outlet...). I bought pretty much all of my furniture there for my last apartment- great, vintage stuff at amazing prices. A good portion of the furniture Jasper and I bought together is also from there. Still, the site has gone down. Too many power sellers selling too much cheap Asian junk. The days when it was nothing more than a virtual garage sale are long gone.... Still there is some fun to be had with it. I like to go to the antiques/vintage section and browse through the hundred or so categories they have there. Although I personally don't NEED anything, I've been buying various things for my etsy shop Schaufenster to add to the vintage section. Yes, the name Schaufenster (German for shop window) is why this blog is called Schaufensterbabe. I originally started the blog as a promotional tool for my shop, but seriously, who wants to write (or read) about some new piece of crap I've made? The blog soon started to become personal, a sort of public journal if you will....
Anyway, it's been a lot of fun seeing what I end up with. The whole trick to ebay, of course, is to bidfor what you want in the last minute so as not to drive the price up. I am the master of this (it is a bit like warfare, but you have to be careful that you don't go above your own limit and end up spending too much, or at least more than you wanted...) but since I am not buying for myself I just put in the bid for how much I want to pay and then wait to see what happens. I get some pretty funny e-mails: You've just been overbid on the vintage raw wood marionette head of lucifer; Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of five original bra advertisements from 1965! The photographs scattered throughout this post are some examples of recent finds, with more yet to come. Not bad as a distraction from the woes of 24 hour double motherhood, I must say!
So I went on a huge Melitta collecting kick around five years ago. Melitta a German coffee wares company that has been around since the 1930s. Thanks to legions of meticulous German grandmas, you can still find a lot of old pieces here in mint condition. I scoured the flea markets and ebay for great pieces in unusual colors.
I still love the pieces I have, but I find I don't use them. For our wedding, my husband got a great full set of Hutschenreuter Apart from the 1960s. I have a rare light pink Melitta coffee filter from the 1950s, but these days I really drink espresso. On a whim, I decided to put them up for sale in my shop Schaufenster. Now all there is to do is wait and see what happens...
A lot of people must have them. Those pictures you find somewhere on the internet that you save on your computer. You don't really know why you do it. You're not going to use them for anything and don't really look at them that often. But they are pictures that you liked. Pictures you found funny. Pictures that moved you. Here are some of mine. What are yours?
It probably comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I'm raising Miss Mia and Baby Li, well, sort of vintage. We don't have a television and they don't play anything on the computer. They have original vintage fairy tale drawings from the 40s on the wall in their play area and dig in the sandbox with these amazing sand forms from the 50s (got 11 of them for 1 Euro on ebay. Now that was a find!) I recently bought Mia a Jadite child's pitcher and an elephant figurine from a 1930s circus. For her third birthday, I've already bought her a 1950s Bakelite Viewmaster with 10 reels (another great ebay find) that looks a lot like this one here:
f this out of some sort of nostalgic concept or as a revolt against modern life, although I do think it's better for kids this age not to watch much television (though I certainly can understand the need to put them in front of a video for that much needed 20 minute break...) I just like old things better than new things. Until they are old enough to tell me to knock it off, this is what they'll get....
