Getting Ready

Personal Style: Measuring

I like to wear vintage clothes, especially dresses. In addition to combing local thrift stores, I scout for new looks online. Sellers often tell you the bust, waist and hip measurements in the listing, but they will give you more if you ask. Do you know your measurements? If not, keep reading :)

1. Bust:: Measure over the fullest part of the bust and then straight across the back.

2. Chest:: Measure around the body, directly under the arms and across top of the breasts.

3. Diaphragm:: Measure around the body, halfway between the bust and the waist.

4. Waist:: Measure the thinnest part of your torso.

5. High Hip:: Measure 2" to 4" below your waist over top of hip bones.

6. Full Hip:: Measure at the fullest part of your hips. Measure from waist to full hip to establish "hipline" which is usually 7" to 9" from waist.

7. Back Neck to Waist:: Measure from prominent neck bone down center back to waist.

8. Back Width:: Measure across back from arm crease to arm crease.

9. Front Neck to Waist:: Measure from hollow between neck bones to center front waistline.

10. Bust Point:: To establish position of bust point (this would be useful if you were making a dress with darts), measure from prominent back neck bone and over shoulder to bust point, and from bust point to center front waist. Record both measurements.

11. Shoulder:: Measure from base of neck to shoulder bone (hinge). (tip: Etsy sellers often list shoulder length by measure from top of sleeve to top of sleeve with the garment flat. You might want to just measure a garment that fits you correctly this way to get the measurement for online shopping.)

 12. Arm Length:: Measure from shoulder bone to elbow and on to wrist with arm slightly bent.

13. Arm Circumference:: Measure around fullest part of arm, often about an inch below the armpit.

14. Wrist Circumference:: Measure around wrist at bone.

15. Neck Circumference:: Measure fullest part of neck.

(tip: A lot of sellers measure the garments flat, so you have to double whatever they put for the waist, bust, hips.)

I recommend you keep a record of all of these measurements near your computer because many etsy sellers will not accept a return based on a bad fit. Having this resource makes online shopping so much easier.

For more tips on buying online check out Leigh Ann's series on Freckled Nest and this guide from Red Velvet.

Coming Soon: Personal Style 101

I'm so excited to share this with you finally! For the new year, I will be doing a series of posts about developing personal style. We will delve into topics like how to wear color, what shapes work best for your specific body type, how to enhance your wardrobe with the perfect accessories, tips for online shopping and so many more. There will be a number of guest bloggers and plenty of pretty things to look at. :)

I hope that you will enjoy this as much as I do! I'd love for you to send me pictures of how you have used the elements I post about and share your own tips, too!

Charm: The Career Girl's Guide to Business and Personal Success

I had this book when I was a teenager and I spent countless hours with it. Somewhere in all the upheaval of college and moving and marriage, it got gone. Finally, last week, I looked it up online and ordered another copy. (Life is so much easier now that we have the internet. As a teen, I chanced upon it at the Salvation Army or similar thrift store. Back when I spent more time in the book section than the clothes.)

This is a book that teaches a young lady how to be charming: how to do your hair and make-up, how to develop your personal style, how to be pleasant company and have a pleasing voice, how to find and keep a good job, how to charm a man into giving you his name. And it is a treasure trove of vintage graphics/pictures/illustrations.

That last image is in the section that tells you all about how to deal with The Office Wolf and the many varieties of office wolves there are. You will also learn how to deal with old people and which girdle works best for you, how to behave at a party and how to wear a wig.

This book would make a great gift to any young lady in your life, especially one who has a heart for vintage or who is career oriented. (Or who you feel needs a good nudge some inspiration.)

James' Collection of Glasses

James and I have similar taste. We can go out matching if we want to-- right down to our glasses.

Style Obsession: Young Girls of Rochefort

Lately, I have only wanted to watch French movies from the 1960s featuring pretty girls. Preferably pretty girls wearing pretty colors. We've seen a few now thanks to netflix, but by far the very best is Young Girls of Rochefort. Catherine Deneuve and her real-life sister Francoise Dorleac star as twins. This movie is lots of fun to watch! There's singing, dancing, comedy and love. 

I have also been listening to French Pop music on Pandora...

(Try Francoise Hardy radio! *le swoon*)

Need

I think I need to go ahead and decide on a swimsuit for this year so James can start saving up for it...

anthropologie