New Skirt and New Look!

I decided that I needed to do something about the (poor) quality of my pictures. After studying many vintage advertisements and pattern envelopes, I came to the conclusion that the main issue with my photos is that they look too pose-y. In most, if not all, of the images I saw, the models were not looking at the camera, and almost never were they smiling. They were usually holding books or golf clubs or looking at something in the distance; in other words, the photos had the look of stylized candid shots. Or more accurately, candid shots in which the models seemed to be saying, "Oh, you just captured a perfect image of my outfit, but I was so busy looking at this tennis racket that I didn't even notice." Ha ha! My favorites featured interesting camera angles and stark contrast of shadows and light. Here are some examples:



When I started this blog, my main goal with the pictures was to simply get an image of my outfits. But as I have looked at more and more vintage pictures, and also at other bloggers' lovely images, I have wanted to not only show the clothes, but also to show them in a visually pleasing way . To that end, I decided that I needed a different photographer. My husband has the ability to take good-quality pictures, but he doesn't have the patience to do so while watching a 22 month-old at the same time. He also doesn't see the need for anything other than a good, plain, serviceable, picture...he's an engineer; what else can I say? :) So, I asked my sister to come over and take some pictures. She was a drama major...perfect! Unfortunately, the battery in the camera was dead when she arrived, so we used my camera phone. Poor planning on my part, with the result that the quality of the pictures may not have improved much (that's why the tweed looks funny and the lighting is bad)! Still, I think that it's an improvement, at least. Let me know what you think; about the outfit and the photos!

Here are our attempts to capture my latest project: a green flannel and tweed skirt:



I didn't make the blouse, but I altered it. I cut a strip off the bottom to make some covered buttons, and I added three buttonholes at the top. Three! Everything is so low-cut nowadays...

I made the skirt using this pattern:


The pattern is very interesting; the back and sides are made in one piece, so that there is no side seam below the hip. It is supposed to close with snaps, but I hate sewing snaps, so I added buttons (fabric-covered, of course!) instead.



It looks great with the cape that I made for this outfit, too:



I even have enough tweed left to make a blazer, but I'm too excited about summer clothes right now, so that will have to be first on the list for fall! I also played around with editing the pictures for the first time, and I think that this one is my favorite:



In this one, the model seems to be saying, "Oh, you just captured a perfect image of my outfit, but I was so busy looking at this baby that I didn't even notice." Hee hee