It's hot.

When your air conditioning breaks in the summer it sucks. When your A.C. breaks in Georgia it really sucks. 

Let me tell you how my day went. My parents were visiting from New York this weekend. It was about 10pm or so. We were all sitting around chatting and generally enjoying our last evening together before they headed down to Mississippi to visit my Grandmother Bixler. 

As we're talking I hear something dripping. Thinking it was a facet that had been left on I went in search of the sound. As I walked up the stairs to the second story the sound became louder and louder. At the top of the stairs I noticed that our light fixture was leaking. What ensued next was a frantic search for buckets and towels. With that disaster under control my Father and Fiancé braved the attic to see what was amiss. 

The air conditioning unit's condensation overflow drip pan was overflowing with water. The men folk probably removed about three gallons (at least!) of liquid which we poured down the bathtub drain. Fun times. 

No one ever warns you about certain parts of homeownership. Certainly no one ever warned us that our attic might flood in the middle of a drought. Go figure. So we're without A.C. until Thursday when the HVAC people are coming to dismantle, clean, and flush out our A.C. unit's condensation drainage system. 

The whole incident got me thinking though. How did the folks in the the first half of the 20th century keep cool down here in the south? They certainly must have had some way or you wouldn't be able to live here year round. So I did a little research and found some neat things; specially designed houses, massive attic fans, hallways and of course vintage electric fans! 

Wouldn't you rather have one of these lying around your home instead of those ugly white plastic things we all have? 

Vintage Eskimo Fan - $24.95

Vintage GE Table Top Fan - $9.99. Display only, not functional. 

Now finding vintage fans for under $25 takes a bit of searching. There is a very large contingent of vintage fan collectors out there that you're going to need to compete with. Still, there are a lot of vintage fans out there and you're bound to find one that fits within your budget. 

1920's "Jack-Frost" Art Deco Desk Fan - Ebay Currently $5.00

Vintage Brown Art Deco Westinghouse Fan - Ebay Currently $9.95

I also picked up a few things while investigating vintage fans. As with all vintage appliances check to see if the fan actually works. If the listing says something like "great condition" or "looks like new!" but does not expressly mention that the fan works properly it's a good idea to contact the seller. Most likely the fan doesn't work or rattles and shakes so much that it's virtually unusable. A good seller will give you the lowdown on your fan.

What do you do to cool off in the summer heat? Would you buy a vintage fan? Do you collect vintage fans? Let me know!

Small set back, but I'll live.

One small set back with dress production. I miss read my pattern and am making something that is WAY too big for me. One size up? More like 3. I'm a 32 bust, this thing is a 38. How did I interpret 38 as a 32? Don't ask...

But I wiped that egg off my face and went off to find another pattern. Luckily the world is full of vintage dresses, so fear not. I hopped on ebay and found these!!! I won them for a ridiculously low price... but wow! Gosh, I love every pattern in this lot! I don't have a large picture of all of these because I only just won the patterns today and they have not been shipped yet, but some of the pictures I was able to pull from the vintage pattern wiki and some of them are from the ebay page.

Butterick 8367 Magic to Make party/day dress. This will definitely need a crinoline, but I've been meaning to pick one up anyways. I think the sleeveless view C is my favorite here. It's more to my taste, but the puff sleeves on A & B are also super super cute even if they are a little young for me. The envelope on this one is way torn up, but the seller assures me all the pieces are intact.



Butterick 8078. The soft shirt dress. Mine has a 34 bust. This would be great in a lightweight cotton for spring, or jersey anyone? Have I mentioned that I love jersey? View B is a definite must make for me. Love the collar and those great sleeves. The sleeves sold this one for me. A is a little bit crazy with the fabric pattern, but the longer sleeves are nice too.



Advance 6260. This one is going to be way too big for me. Bust 44, so a definite resale or trade. If anyone is interested in it, it's a super cute shirt waist dress. Gosh, just look at those scalloped sleeves. Wish it was a little smaller, but I'm too lazy to re-draft this one in my size.



Simplicity 1260. Published in 1955. This picture is from the wiki. My pattern is size 14 and bust is a 32, which is totally spot on my size! I'll be making a muslin of this in case I need to make this a little more boob friendly. And it's obviously worth it to make a muslin in this. I mean, look at how happy these girls are to be wearing this dress? It's like euphoria in an envelope. I love the removable dicky and the great bodice shaping. I bought this whole set for this one pattern, so I'm definitely going to have this dress one way or another!



Simplicity 1553. Mine's a 34 bust. This is my first night gown pattern and it is so so cute. I swear my Aunt Donna had this exact night gown. I've even got a picture from Christmas morning 1973 to prove it. Wish I had a pajama party to wear something like this to. Satin would be so nice, or sweet lace. Silk would be nice too, just not in my budget. I actually think these are pretty sexy and I've seen similar styles in Belk. Plus it comes with a panty pattern. Awesome! Always wanted to make my own panties.



Butterick 6109. Mine's a 32 bust and again a perfect fit for me! In the auction I actually thought this woman was wearing gingham. She's actually got a cute polka dot pattern. I don't normally try to match fabrics to pattern envelopes, but this sweet red fabric is fantastic and I'm now officaly on a mission to find something similiar. Definitely prefer the scoop neck to the collared neck design here.



And finally Butterick 7461. A lovely robe to go with my new night gown perhaps? It says it's quick and easy. Which should mean easy pattern editing if necessary. I think the little construction diagram in the lower left corner is pretty cute. I love how fitted this robe is. Totally unlike today's robes. I'm totally dreaming of terrycloth or chenille here. Something about a fitted bathrobe seems nice, but depending on how the pattern works out I'll probably end up going with wool. I like the short robe better than the long, so I'll probably end up with that one.



Overall very excited about my purchases. I've got another bid on some more of this lady's patterns so if that works out for me I'll be posting about those as well. I can't wait until these arrive so I can get sew sew sewing.