Sofa Rehab and Reveal

So, here's a follow up on the 1920s sofa that I had reupholstered.  Not *just* reupholstered but sort of put back together and refinished.  It needed quite a bit of work!

Keith at J&J Trim Shop in Dothan, AL reupholstered it for me.  I might add that he did a great job!  And at a very reasonable price I think.

I don't have the sofa staged yet due to not having time to reconfigure the furniture in the living room.  Our Christmas tree is sort of in the way too.  I'm giving y'all a sneek peek.  But I promise, after I get it set up the way I want it you'll see it!

As you may be able to see, it's sitting in the middle of our living room.  It's been here about a week now and I'm tired of it being in the middle of the room.  I'm just gonna have to wait until Christmas is over and I return home.  Please do check back though!

Mod Mori and More

I was lucky to find this 1970s mod, abstract print dress a month or so ago while on one of my monthly trips to Florida.  At first I just thought it to be a really great 70s dress with a Pucci vibe.  I came to find out that it was a bit more valuable than that.  It's by one of the most famous Japanese fashion designers of the 20th century, Hanae Mori.

It's still available for purchase right here:

Hanae Mori, who was born in Japan, married the son of a textile manufacturer, and studied fashion design. Mori became a costume designer for Japanese movie directors, including Akira Kurosawa. Mori was inspired by a chance meeting with Coco Chanel to undertake further design training. Mori first showed her collection in New York in 1965, and moved her design house to Paris in 1975. She became the only Asian designer admitted to the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.  Mori retired in 2004 after over 50 years of work in fashion, and her design house ceased to make haute couture.


I also found these other 2 similar dresses at the same time as the Hanae Mori one.  All of them coming from the same estate of a woman who lived just outside of Tallahassee.  She had not only great taste but high end taste!


One is this sweet mod 70s dress that was sold to a girl in Spain.

The next one was this highly collectible Paganne dress.

This one is still available right here:

Thanks for looking and Happy Holidays!

The Beauty of Burlap: A Sofa Update

Thursday's the Day!  The day I go and pick up my 1920s sofa that has been rehabbed/reupholstered.   If you check back in some of my later posts, it's a sofa I bought in a nearby town for $45.  It had been sitting in a rundown building for who knows how long.  Kinda scarey, uh?

Here's the before picture:

I know, it looks pretty shabby.  Before I took it to the upholsterer I tore off alot of the old fabric, pulled out a lot of nails.   What made the biggest difference was refinishing the wood.  When we stripped the wood, we saw the beauty of the grain and it turned out to be the most gorgeous mahogany wood.  Of course, Mr. D put that front foot back on too.

So, I settled on a burlap looking fabric.  A cotton/linen combination that I got at a really great price!  I think I paid around $ 175 for 12 yards of this high quality upholsterey fabric.

The sofa should end up looking something like this:

I've decided to go for a french laundry look with a combination of an ethnic look.  I've been loving the Ikat design lately.  So possibly some pillows made of a ticking and some ethnic looking pillows.  Oh, and by the way this sofa is going in my living room.

Here's some pillows made out of ticking fabric that I think are oh, so cute:

The walls will be painted a light grayish blue.  I've got this vision in my mind of how I want the living room to look.  From the colors to the type of furniture.  Now I've just got to put what's in my mind into my living room.  It's happening one slllooowww step at a time.

Check back in the next couple of days for the reveal!

A Shop Update: The Latest and Greatest!

Here are many of the items in my shop that were listed this week:

 1950s Alligator Skin Purse

 1950s Baby Blue Stole

 Late 60s Big Neck Bow Dress

 Vintage Izod Lacoste Cardigan

1970s Asian Jacket/Robe

1970s Sweater with the best turtleneck

Early 70s Semi Sheer Dress

1950s Wool Coat

1970s Falling Feathers Dress

1980s Sailor Sweater

There's lots more at www.sassysistervintage.etsy.com   Thanks for looking!

Update on Studio Space

First, I wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! I truly hope this is a time of year that brings you much happiness and joy, and also that you're able to spend it with the ones you love.

It's freezing outside, even in South Alabama today.  But I decided to go out and take some pics of how the "room" / studio space is coming along.  Mr. D (hubby) has been working his tushy off.  I'm so glad he knows how to do this stuff!  It sure saves us a lot of money.  *Refer to previous post to see the outside of this building that is behind our house.*

 Outside of wall but inside of building.

 Inside room.

 Mr D. working.

Supplies......

Hopefully, next time you see pics of this project it will be a project that is done.  But we'll see!

The Makings of a Studio

Our family of 4 lives in an 1800 sq. ft. house that seems to be slowly closing in on us.  We need space! A couple of months ago we decided to get busy and have someone remodel the 1600 sq. ft. building behind our house.  They did the outside, we've got to do the inside.  It's sort of a garage, workshop, storage building .............. you know one of those kind of buildings.

Here it is.  Mr. Thomas (husband) is painting the trim white.  We've still got to put garage doors on, hang a set of shutters on the window, and some landscaping.  Then....... our next step is to build a separate insulated room inside for my vintage clothing studio.  I'm so excited!

Here's some of the supplies for the soon to be studio.  You can't see all the insulation behind the sheets of wood.  I'm estimating the studio to be about 600 sq. ft. with clothing racks around the perimeter of the room and a table in the middle of the room for wrapping packages.  Does it sound cool?!

No more of me bringing my vintage findings into the house and sitting them on the kitchen table, but instead taking them directly to this new much needed room I've been dreaming about for years!

My Dream Room

Every time I look at this picture I'm inspired......

From the amazing furniture to those gorgeous vintage dresses, every time I take a peek I'm in love.

A Sneak Peek of What's Coming for the Week

This will be the first, I hope, of a preview of whats to come for each week.  I'm trying to plan better and keep myself more organized and this seems like a good way to do it.

This is not everything, as I can think of several things right now that aren't in it, but a portion of it.  It includes from left to right: a long length black 1950s coat with fur collar, a cropped length vintage evening jacket with fur collar, a blue strappy 1950s full skirt dress with bolero jacket, a 1920s silk flapper dress (from 1980s but reworked to look 20s, it's very high quality too) , an early 70s graphic dress, Etienne Aigner Satchel/Bag, patchwork leather 70s boots, (on top of armoire) a large leather 1950s briefcase, fabulous framed and matted owl pictures, 1960s color block purse, and on floor a vintage letter D, and shabby chic wooden jewelry box (already in shop).

These items will be listed through out the week.  I will come back and create a link to my shop for each item as it's listed.

But remember, this isn't everything.  So check www.sassysistervintage.etsy.com often!

The Mullet......and I don't mean the fish kind....

I was thinking the other day about that unique hair style.  The one they call a mullet.  You know, "business in the front and party in the back"?  Where did it come from and when did it come into style?  So, I looked it up:

.....The mullet is a hairstyle that is short at the front and sides, and long in the back. Often ridiculed as a lowbrow and unappealing hairstyle, the mullet began to appear in popular media in the 1960s and 1970s but did not become generally well-known until the early 1980s. It continued to be popular until the mid-1990s....

.....The modern mullet began to appear in the late 1960s, with Welsh pop singer Tom Jones sporting one. Glam rock artist David Bowie wore a proto-mullet in the early 1970s. Florence Henderson featured a mullet in the opening sequence of the television sitcom The Brady Bunch (1972–3 season).......

She's still totally cute though!

1980s Michael Bolton

In Canada and the USA the mullet is particularly associated with blue collar men (or women), fans of country and ice hockey players.

Business in the front and partay in the back fo sho!!!

Did you know?

That the mullet has been banned in Iran?

This information from Wikipedia:

"In July 2010, the Islamic regime of Iran issued grooming guidelines to men supplementing the existing modesty stipulations to women. Among the new regulations is a ban of the mullet hairstyle. The ban on mullets is one of the measures that Iran has deployed to "confront the cultural assault by the West." The regime aims to promote a set of new Islamic hairstyles that were unveiled at the Hijab and Chastity Festival of 2010."

he's still a cutie with those adorable dimples!

I'm proud to say that I never sported the mullet haircut, even in the 80s when they were at their height!  Did you ever have one?

Thanks for looking!

SassySisterVintage in Paris

......a piece of vintage clothing from SassySisterVintage that is.

This past May I was visiting Buffalo, NY and happened upon a fabulous estate sale packed with some really great vintage clothing. I was one of the first people into the estate and was packing the vintage clothing high! One lady asked me why I was taking all of the clothing without trying it on first. Uh, none of your business lady ;-) I'm just kidding, I didn't say that. Just told her I collected vintage clothing.

Karia, who has been a regular customer of mine sent me a picture of her in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, at least that's what it looks like to me. She's wearing one of the dresses that I bought at the estate sale. One of my favorite dresses ever I might add. And she looks awesome in it!

And here's some of the newer items in the shop:

Early 70s abstract naked trees top 

1960s Cocktail Dress

1960s Beaded and Woven Purse

A really great 1950s Fitted Suit by Butte Knit

An early 70s dress with the best Asian inspired fabric

A late 60s yellow drop waist dress

Have a great week and thanks for looking!

L'Aiglon Dresses

L'Aiglon dresses have always been some of my favorite vintage dresses.  At times I've been able to spot one without looking at the tag.  Currently I have two in my shop.

Both of them can be found right here.

Here's one I had in my shop earlier this year that my mom found for me while visiting my sister in Illinois.  She fought for this one and some more at an auction (she did good!):

Here's a history:


L’Aiglon was founded in 1919 in Philadelphia as part of Biberman Brothers, Inc. The company’s original label read “Biberman Make” but changed in 1919 to “L’Aiglon”. On those early labels you will find “Biberman Make” in small letters. Biberman Make dresses were “wash dresses”, or washable. “Tubable” was the word of the era. Biberman also made bathrobes and uniforms for maids and nurses.

Its founder, Joseph Biberman, committed suicide in 1933 as a result of financial difficulties during the Great Depression. The company, however, survived, and continued to make inexpensive but stylish and attractive dresses for women and juniors. During the 1950s, L’Aiglon dresses were used as costumes on the soap opera, The Edge of Night. The company produced dresses until about 1968.


~~~~I would *Love* to find a piece with the "Biberman Make" tag!~~~~


To date your L'Aiglon dress look to the Vintage Fashion Guild that lists the various L'Aiglon tags by decade.

Sofa Revival

I decided to check out craiglist last week just because you never know what you're gonna find. Posted in the garage sale section was this amazing sofa from the 1920s. It was sitting inside an old brick building that was previously a train depot station. It's now on schedule to be torn down. And, it was only several miles from my house so I thought that it wouldn't hurt to go down and take a look at it.

So, I'm really not into stuffy old grandma antiques and I have visions of funk-i-fying this gem. I've been drooling over several sofas on Anthropologie.com but they're well out of my price range.

My plans are to paint this sofa a glossy black and cover it in gray linen fabric.  Many people may think it's  crazy to paint the wood, however, I believe this gives it a more modern appeal that I'm looking for.  I've chose a neutral fabric because I don't want anything too trendy and it's gotta match a lot of different stuff.  I haven't decided if my mother and I are going to upholster it or if I'm going to find someone.

Okay, here's the best part.  I got this couch for $45!  It's structurally in fine shape (including the springs that are still strong).  The only issue being one leg needs to be put back on.   I had to keep the sofa at the train depot for several days before picking it up and someone offered him $500 for it!  Okay, so I'm glad I went and got it before he changed his mind and gave me my money back!  I know he's kicking his self.

I will give updates on the progress of this project so check back soon!

Vintage 1950s Wedding Dress

Here's  a wedding dress (from 1952 to be exact) that is in my Etsy shop at www.sassysistervintage.etsy.com.  The number of pictures I can show of the dress is limited in my shop so I'm going to post some more right here.

The bust area of the dress is just a tad too small for the manni so I was unable to zip it all the way up.

The dress comes with this beautiful little lacey bolero jacket.

It also comes with these finger-less gloves and matching veil.

On the very bottom layer of netting (there's 3 layers) and at the bottom of the skirt there are some random holes.  The holes cannot be seen because the other 2 layers of netting are on top of it.  However, so that there is no worry about the holes, trimming several inches off of this netting should take care of this issue, and like I mentioned, you won't be able to notice that it's shorter because it's the last layer.  I believe that I may go ahead and do this so that everyone can see how it will look (still just as beautiful) and feel confident about purchasing the dress.

If you have any questions at all about this lovely dress, please send me an email in my Etsy shop at www.sassysistervintage.etsy.com.  Thanks for looking!