Today I have a lovely interview and review of my new ebook, Kitschmas Crafting with Va-Voom Vintage over at Akram's Ideas! Pop over to get a peek into my months long craft-a-thon and what's coming next!





Also save 30% off Kitschmas Crafting with Va-Voom Vintage and everything in my etsy shop with code WACKYTURKEY now through Tuesday!

I've been away from the blog this week, frantically sewing more tiny clothes for my little Olivia's Christmas present. I'm making the entire 1959 wardrobe! I honestly think that this has been more fun for me than it will ever be for her!  You can see the first set of vintage Barbie clothes that I made, along with some Q & A here

tiny Barbie boudoir slippers embellished with curls of pipe cleaner!

I love a handmade Christmas. We did it last year too and the kids still play with the things we made for them. This weekend, Pj and I took up the whole dining room, cutting and sewing and gluing. He made some really awesome minecraft toys for Rhys and I made this little raccoon doll with some outfits for Olivia. She asked for a friend for her Foxy doll that I made last year.



This week, I finished accessories for Barbie and packaged the outfits in clear bags with backing board and stitched each article to a paper print out of the original catalog illustrations.



I still have about 6 outfits and some accessories to finish but it's coming along really well! See the whole collection on Instagram with #vavoomvintagebarbies

Here are 12 free vintage crochet snood patterns to try!  The basic ones like the Perky Snood and Sweet Sue are pretty easy if you're already familiar with crochet. If you're not, crochet is easy to learn and there are loads of wonderful tutorials for each stitch on you tube.

I love to curl up on the couch with a Netflix marathon and ball of yarn. These patterns call for vintage yarns, many of which are no longer made but any sport weight modern yarn should be a good start with a 5mm hook (a size up or down is okay, snoods are pretty forgiving!)

If you don't crochet, check out my shop, Tinsel Town Accessories for handmade snoods in every color of the rainbow!


Nothing beats a handmade snood! When I first became interested in vintage fashion, I found a shop at my local mall that sold snoods in every color imaginable for about $3. I was so excited, I bought the whole rainbow. They weren't the worst thing.

They did the job of holding my hair back but I never realized how slinky and flat they looked until I compared them to a handmade snood. The cheap store bought ones required about a million pins to keep them from sliding off and since they were made of a weird nylon cord, they looked so flat and saggy in the back, instead of perky and full.

Whether you invest money to buy one or time to make one, I think they're well worth it for a great snood!



Read this week's posts all about snoods

1940s Snood Inspiration
How to put on a snood
4 ways to wear a snood hair styling tutorials

             


If you have a little time, check out the other fantastic free vintage patterns posted on these websites!


1. Crochet snood with a bow via The Wartime Woman

2. Perky Snood 1942 via Victory Vintage Blog 

3. 1945 Loop the Loop Snood

4. 1945 Two Color Snood

5. Beaded Snood via free vintage crochet

6. petal snood via free vintage crochet

7. Crochet Beret with attached snood from Donna's Crochet Designs

8. Sweet Sue Snood posted below

9. knitted snood from Subversive Femme

10. Bow Snood via free Vintage Crochet

11. headband snoods via free vintage crochet

12. zebra stripe snood via Zilredloh

Well, my internet has been down for a few days so I got behind on snood week but we're back with some hair tutorials today and tips on wearing snoods!



Since snood week is being stretched out a little longer, I've extended my snood sale through Friday. Shop 1940s snoods at Tinsel Town Accessories


How to Do Victory Rolls and Bumper Bangs

I thought I'd start with a classic- victory rolls and bumper bangs. It's good for the cheesecake pin up photo shoot or 1940s movie starlet.

You will need a teasing brush  ( I use this one) and a hair rat. There's a tutorial for making your own hair rat here. Use the tail of the comb to separate the top section of your hair, including bangs, if you have them. The part should be circular.



 Wrap the end of your hair around the rat very tight and roll up snugly, making sure that the outer edges are being rolled just as snug as the center. When you reach your forehead, bend the rat into a U shape and pin in an X at both sides, trying to hide the pins, if possible but if you can't, no worries, they'll be covered up anyway!


 Use your finger tips to spread the hair from the middle of the rat out towards the edges, covering the rat and spreading all of the hair evenly. If it looks messed up, unroll it and try again. I usually have to do it two or three times to get it looking nice.

Section off the hair from the top of the bangs section, in front of your ear. This will be your first roll.



My big trick for victory rolls that are easy to roll and stay put is dry shampoo. You can use the stuff in the can or the sprinkle-on powder kind. Spray it in at the root, work in with your fingers for a minute and back comb with your teasing brush.

If your hair is really slippery like mine, you can back comb all the way down to the ends and the hair will practically roll itself!


 Wrap the ends around your fingers and roll it down to your scalp. If you get rolls that you can see through (happens to the best of us!), give a little pull to the back of the roll to close the gap. Easy fix!



For rolls with invisible pins, insert the pins into the side of the roll where the arrows are, instead of in the front and back. I recently started doing this and I love the tidy finish it gives. Also, if your rolls have flyaways like mine, smooth them out with some pomade or smoothing cream. All of the vintage girls swear by Suavecita pomade, although I haven't tried it yet myself. Next finish with the snood.



Most of the time, my snoods stay put without pins but when there's not a lot of head to grip on to due to all of these rolls, I'll stick a pin in at the top and maybe one on each side. If it feels like its slipping, an extra pin never hurts. See my tutorial for how to put on a snood for my easy, quick trick.



Rolls and a Scarf or When My Rolls Don't Match and I Can't Keep my Arms Above my Head for Another Second


After 6 years of practicing victory rolls, there are still days when my hair won't do anything and my patience is thin. Mostly, this happens when I have somewhere important to go and my hair has to look good and vintagey so here's a quick solution.



Oh, my arms hurt so bad from trying to roll, they feel like they're going to fall off! I'm giving up on trying anymore and I just shove all of that hair for my non-matching roll into the snood. Yay! Next, grab a small vintage handkerchief and a hat pin. If you don't have these, an oversized hair flower would be very pretty


I folded my handkerchief with the corners in so it forms a big pouf. Pin that pouf (or hair flower) into place right where the roll would have gone. When pinning something to your hair with a hat pin, you'll want to put your fingers under the hankie so you can feel the point just as it comes through, so you don't stab yourself in the head.

 slide the pin under some of your hair and then poke it right through to the other side of the hankie.  It's pretty and no one will ever know that it was a second choice!

A Quartet of Rolls
This style is one of my favorites because it looks so elaborate but it's pretty easy to do, especially on second day hair. It's a great style for the holidays. Once you master a basic victory roll, this style comes together really quickly.


 Part hair to one side. On the side with less hair, section off the hair from the part to in front of your ear. Add your dry shampoo and back comb before rolling the ends around your fingers. Roll the section down to the scalp and pin in place.



 On the other side, section off the bangs and keep them separate from the other section. Take this section and split it into two pieces, a top and bottom.



  Dry shampoo and back comb the top section, then roll it down, away from the part.


 Dry shampoo, back comb and roll the bottom section up, towards the part. Pin these two rolls so they meet right next to each other. Prep your bangs for rolling with more dry shampoo and back combing.


 Roll your bangs into a small stand-up pin curl. If your bangs are very long, they can be rolled into another large roll. If you have very short bangs that will not be rolled into submission, you can leave them down. I keep mine at nose length to chin-length. Next, add your pretty snood! See the tutorial for how to put on a snood.



 If it feels like it may slip, add a pin at the top and possibly one on each side

Snoods with Hats

I love to wear hats but I don't always have time to mess with the back of my hair and on some days, it won't take a curl so I pull it up in a snood and style the front however I like and put a hat on it. You can wear lots of different hat styles with snoods. Here, I picked three.

This little clam shell type is my favorite to wear with rolls because it really accentuates the height


Big straw hats are a favorite too because there's so many ways to wear them. You can put them right on top, at dramatic angle to one side or tilted back to add height to your hair


This small flat felt hat has a big feather that sticks out and a veil. It looks like it should be worn close to the forehead but feel free to break rules and wear it how you like. I don't usually wear veils over my face so I tilted it back so the feather sticks up and the veil drapes over my rolls.


I hope that you all enjoyed these tutorials! Tomorrow, I'll share a quick and easy way to make a snood with a vintage scarf. Check out my shop for my handmade 1940s snoods, on sale this week!

 I've had a lot of questions about how to wear snoods. Even at craft shows, ladies ask "How do you put this thing on?!" So today I'll show you how to put them on and how to fill them out if your hair is shorter.

I wear snoods constantly! They're beautiful for fancy events and very practical for housework days or gardening. They keep hair out of the way without pulling it all into a tight ponytail and I love how a handmade snood really stays put. I bought some cheap slinky snoods for $3 each when I first got into vintage and they're fine to start with but they really don't compare to a hand crochet or knit snood.



No pin curls or hot rollers are needed when you have a quick hair fix like this! 


To put a snood on, I usually style the front of my hair first, but you definitely don't have to. If I'm in a rush, I'll throw a snood on and pull out a little hair in the front and roll or pin it on my way out the door.  I put my hands inside the snood and pull the elastic out. Then, pull it over the top of my head, with my thumbs holding it open:





Now my big trick- I flip my fingers through the holes in the snood


and scoop my hair into the net




Pull all of the hair through


stick your fingers through the holes and move your hair around, as needed, evening it out.



If your hair is too short or thin to fill a snood out, you can add a rat to match your hair color. Just stick it under your hair so it doesn't show through.

You can also grab the top of the snood and pin the excess up, which can be left as-is or covered with a bow or hair flower.


Stay Tuned Tomorrow for 4 Ways to Wear a Snood

This week on Va-Voom Vintage, we're talking about my favorite accessory, the snood! A snood is a knitted or crocheted net that you can slip over your hair for the quickest, easiest vintage hairstyle ever. They work on all different lengths and hair types. As a busy mom, they're my go-to.  Hair snoods go all the way back to medieval Europe, where they were beaded and embellished by upper class stylish ladies. Civil War era women depended on snoods to keep their extremely long hair up as well. During WWII, when women went to work, scarves and snoods were necessary to keep their hair from getting caught up in machines and to keep it out of their way while they worked. Today, vintage girls rely on snoods for a quick, easy and authentic hairstyle. There's a ton of ways to wear them, accessorize them and they're easy to find.
 To celebrate snood week, all snoods in my etsy shop, Wacky Tuna are $15 now till next Tuesday!





Today I want to share some snood inspiration from the 1940s. Tomorrow,  we'll talk about how to put a snood on, along with some tips on how to wear them