I was reorganizing a few book shelves today when I got distracted and started flipping through some of my old books and magazines. I spotted some of these fabulous 1950s pin curl sets. Although many of these old styles require a special cut (and epic skills) to get it just right, they're great for inspiration and learning old school styling techniques. Click each image for a larger view.

                  

               

                                                                          

                      

 See the rest of my vintage hair scans and tutorials on my Vintage Beauty Tutorials Page

I've had some questions lately about where to find reasonably priced vintage maternity clothes. When I was pregnant with Rhys, I wasn't sure how I'd wear vintage with a growing belly but it worked out surprisingly well. The key to saving was, I didn't have to buy a lot of things that I wouldn't wear again once the baby was born. I built my regular vintage wardrobe instead of stocking up on specialty maternity clothes. Shop at thrift stores for things you won't wear much after the baby comes like maternity pants and save your money for things you'll wear all the time (or for the new baby)!  Here's some thrifty tips and ideas of what to buy for your bump that you can wear long after baby comes.

Vintage maternity clothing is cute in theory but vintage skirts and pants often entailed a big hole that the belly stuck through with an unflattering tent-like top to hide the belly and the rest of the expectant mother's body. When I was pregnant with my two, I was thankful that today's maternity clothes are as comfortable and flattering as they are! If you want to try a 1950s style maternity top, you can sew your own pleated tunic from a men's top or over sized ladies top. Button it up all the way, add a peter pan collar and pair it with a stretchy pencil skirt. Get my tutorial for a super fast stretch maternity pencil skirt.

Cardigans
You can't have too many cardigans when you're a mother-to-be. The stretch accommodates a growing belly and chest and anything that buttons up the front is good if you plan on nursing. Let's also face the fact that babies spit up, spill things and drool at the most inconvenient times so if you have a cardigan handy, you can cover it up until you can get a change of clothes. I always kept a cardigan handy towards the end of the pregnancy too, in case of leaky milk problems. Cardigans and jackets are something I wear all the time. They're cute with a little pin up dress or capri pants and they pull an outfit together for work or school.

a simple dress with an elastic waist band and a red cardigan

1. Starburst cropped cardigan

2.  Dream of the crop cardigan (comes in 6 colors)

3. floral keyhole cardigan



 Full Skirts
 I wore loads of pleated or full skirts when I was pregnant with my little ones. Just pull the waist band up over your belly and the fullness of the fabric leaves plenty of room for your bump. Order a size up and you could move the button as your belly grows for a more adjustable waist band.  I never wore maternity blouses. Instead, I paired my skirts with my usual vintage tops, as long as they made room for my chest. Knit tops are a good way to go also.  If you sew, you can whip up a quick pleated skirt in an afternoon with a few yards of fabric and basic sewing skills. Check out this tutorial from Flashback Summer.



1.Hell Bunny green skirt

2. Navy high waist swing skirt

3.Pin Up Girl Clothing Jenny Skirts


Look for dresses with an elastic waist band, pleated skirt, flowing fabric with a little stretch, zip, wrap or button front. These are some of my dresses that I wore when I was pregnant. The top left was sewn using a 1940s robe pattern, I just shortened it and wore it as a wrap dress. The only actual vintage maternity dress is on the bottom right, a gift from my best friend.  Check thrift stores, ebay and etsy for vintage dresses. For larger sizes and fabrics with a little give, look at early-mid 60s styles with a full skirt. I love nylon 60s dresses, especially the Shelton Stroller label, which often zips up the front. For a great selection of swing dresses and fit and flare dresses, check out Unique Vintage. They always have sales too so make sure to sign up for the email newsletter. When you're looking for a dress to hike up over your belly, make sure it's long enough to your liking or if it's a little short for your comfort, try some capri-length maternity leggings in cute colors.



1. Peach High Society swing dress

2. 1940s grey plaid swing dress

3. Hell Bunny burgundy crepe 1950s dress



 Pair stretch capri pants with a cardigan, tee or tunic with cute little flats and a hair scarf for an adorable modern pin up look. If you're in a larger size now than you usually are, don't buy new pants, check out the thrift stores. Some of my favorite capris are cheap ones from Dollar General or Walmart or $10 or less per pair. I like them so much, I buy a few new pairs every 6 months or so.Since you can find simple stretch pants everywhere, I thought I'd share some shops that sell adorable retro tee shirts.

Favorite Pants and Tees



1. Atomic Swag

2. Clumsy Kate

3. Mischief Made


See more of my vintage maternity outfits here and if you'll be nursing, check out "Vintage Style for Nursing Mamas"  This post contains links to my affiliates. Thank you for supporting them and Va-Voom Vintage! 

I'm a sucker for vintage booklets on fashion, beauty, etiquette and anything strange. I have several on periods in the 1940s, which I will absolutely be sharing here too because they're just too weird to not!

Today I thought you'd all get a kick out of this 1941 Charm Chart booklet, which was supposed to go along with a home economics course book called "Clothes with Character" by Hazel Thompson Craig and Ola Day Rush. You can read Clothes with Character for free on the Hathi Trust Digital Library, just click the "full view" button at the bottom of the entry. The book is available for download as a PDF as well.





This booklet has a lot of fun little illustrations, guides to seeing which colors suit you, a chart detailing what clothes you have in your closet, how to arrange your hair to conceal problem areas and things that were great concern to ladies back then. From what I gather by the pencil marks, this book belonged to a curly haired girl named Loretta who enjoyed cooking, dancing, movies, reading and described herself with Coquette personality type. I've digitally removed Loretta's marks so you can do an at-home study of this fashion course and make your own marks in the Charm Chart.

                                   Download The 21 page 1941 Charm Chart for free from Dropbox

It snowed a bit in St Louis this week but before it did, I got outside for one more sunny day. I can't wait for spring to get here so Rhys and I can walk to the antique shops and a new used book store that opened down the street a few months ago. I can wear open toe shoes and paper thin dresses again!

In the mean time, I can enjoy winter favorites like plaid skirts, wool jackets and layers.  I wore my new favorite plaid circle skirt and red 50s blouse from Vivien of Holloway, which must have been made to wear together. This perfect circle skirt has me rummaging through my fabric stash, hoping I have enough to sew some more for my spring wardrobe.



The raglan blouse is also a perfect spring and summer staple. It comes in 17 colors/prints with classic 50s styling that can be worn with pants or a skirt. These types of blouses were worn by housewives and Hollywood starlets alike in the 1950s and 60s. All ladies need those dependable pieces that you can throw on and look effortlessly chic.

















 Outfit provided for review courtesy of Vivien of Holloway. All opinions are mine. Please view my full disclosure policy

I've been obsessed with pink for a long time but lately, with my orangey-red hair, it's all I want to wear too. I sewed a pink gingham skirt two days ago, made from a bed sheet, only to find some more pink gingham fabric in my stash along with some vintage sheer pink fabric for a blouse. I can't get enough! Here's some favorites in pink from The Oblong Box Shop and stay tuned to see my pretty new pink skirt!










The Oblong Box Shop is a sponsor of Va-Voom Vintage. Thank you for supporting them and my blog! Please view my full disclosure policy

I know a lot of us are on a tight budget for our vintage wardrobe but there's so many great deals to be found so I thought I'd start sharing some of my budget finds by challenging myself to share a vintage inspired outfit for $100 or less with some tips on how to find great prices on clothes and accessories on your own.

Today I thought I'd do two from Doll Me Up. Doll Me Up is a great resource for affordable vintage inspired clothes and accessories with lots of separates, dresses and accessories for well under $50. If you sign up for the newsletter, you'll get 5% off your first order and there's always a well stocked sale section and plus size selection.  The shoes are from Tidestore, which has daily deep discounts on clothes and accessories. Tidestore's size range is kind of limited but they have some really cute stuff.















This post contains links to my sponsors and affiliates. Thank you for supporting them and Va-Voom Vintage. See my full disclosure page here

One of the things I love about Olivia being in school is having time with just my little Rhys. We love to go on walks to the river and throw rocks in the water or play games at home. Lately, he's been helping me cook and he's quite a little gourmet!

This week, we went on a walk. He loves to stop and collect little rocks and look at all of the pretty old buildings. We found an old well that I must have walked past a million times and never noticed!






While we're taking blog pictures, he hops along the sidewalk and finds an empty bench to climb on but he also likes to jump into pictures and say "I want to see me now!" and he looks at the screen.



On our walk, I wore a 1950s skirt that I found at a thrift store a while back, too small but easy to fix since it was a gathered skirt. My closet has a sad lack of skirts so I'm spending the next few weeks using the fabric in my stash to make a few more. I also wore my cheeky new Wolf Bait tee from Mischief Made and a stack of red bakelite. I feel like my bakelite hasn't been getting much love lately, but I promised to start wearing it more.

My neighborhood is, without a doubt, one of the coolest areas in the entire state of Missouri. It was the state's first capital, site of the beginning of the Lewis and Clark expedition and is currently a beautiful historic site on the Missouri river. Main street is where it's at! There's old buildings, which house little gift shops, specialty shops and restaurants and a few bed and breakfasts. In the summer, there are horse drawn carriages, festivals on weekends and live music, food trucks and Shakespeare plays in the park by the river. There's always a photo opportunity. It's only a few blocks from my doorstep, which sits on the sleepy, non-touristy side of the Historic district but we don't venture down to Main Street as often as we really should. I hope to remedy that situation this year, starting today. With all of the cute doors, old brick and beautiful scenery, it is a fashion blogger's dream. Why hang around my silly porch when this is just a few minutes away?



Pj was home from work so the boys and I went for a little walk this morning, before Olivia got home from school. The air was a bit chilly from the morning rain but the sun came out long enough for our walk. The shops hadn't opened yet and the area was quiet so we had the beautiful cobblestones all to ourselves, for the most part.



I wore a little navy 70s skirt, my favorite 40s rayon jacket and a new blouse from Wearing History. This is the new Smooth Sailing blouse from her popular Smooth Sailing sewing pattern pack in adorable arrow print. The plus size version of this blouse is a little different from the sewing pattern. It was drafted specifically for plus sized figures and has a bust dart for perfect plus size fit, which the misses size doesn't have.  Lauren has such an eye for detail so it also has vintage old store stock buttons in cherry red. This blouse goes up to a 2x (46-48 inch bust) but I was worried about button-gap so I almost went one size up. Lauren suggested going with the 1x since it has quite a bit of built in ease and I have a 44 inch bust and I'm glad I went with her advice because it fits perfectly!




The 1940s jacket was pulled from the bottom of a dark, dusty warehouse in St Louis but after a nice bath and a few small repairs, it was good as new!

If the weather is decent, we'll definitely go back to Main Street this weekend and maybe head over to the sweet shop for some treats! Do you have any special spots close to home?

My fellow bloggers, do you ever take outfit pictures and forget about them for like 4 weeks? That's what happened here. I took these pics of my adorable new tee from Mischief Made around Christmas time and here they are, finally being posted! It seems like Christmas took an extraordinarily long time to recover from this year so here's to unfinished projects being wrapped up!

I ordered two of these tees from the Mischief Made black Friday sale and they are so cute and comfortable. I love having things like this that I can throw on with jeans or a skirt and I'm ready to go. The tees themselves fit beautifully and I love a feminine scoop neck. I have a 44 inch bust so I ordered the 3x and it's perfect!  I love the long lashes and puppy dog eyes on this hen. Chickens in love always make me think of Rock-a-Doodle. Did anyone else watch that as a kid? It's still a favorite for me!

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