As you know, I do lots of hand washing to keep Circa full of vintage goodies – and this time of year when the sky clouds over and rain falls at least a little on most days, it becomes hard to keep up with demand. Lately we’ve been particularly short of dresses as dry cleaning has been the only way to keep up, and many fabrics are better when they’ve been laundered and dried in a sunny and breezy backyard.
My priority this week has been to catch up on my washing. Yesterday I spent the day at my circa 1942 green porcelain kitchen sink, hard at it. When the weather isn’t great it can take up to two days for them to dry so this morning (during a burst of sunlight) I snuck out there and took a few pics of what will soon be available in the shop. Note that they’ll look much better when they’ve been ironed and mended!
Bow ties – these are dried flat on a towel so that they don’t get peg marks on them.
Scarves – silks and acetates from the ’40s to the ’80s. Nice and colourful despite the cloudy day!
Edwardian chemise, Edwardian tea gown, nylon petticoats and 1930s wedding dress. Behind you can just see a brilliant yellow late ’30s ballgown.
You do SERIOUS line drying Nicole! Brava! It is just spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, and I’m only now greasing the axles on my laundry line operation.
Oooo… is that wedding gown sleeveless? How unusual for the 30s. It looks beautiful – would love to see some better shots of it.
Maggie: oh, yes I love doing laundry – on a good day I’ll fill the line three times but good weather is needed. Not so good at the moment.
Clare: the dress is beautiful and will be appearing in my book when it comes out in October. You can see another shot of it here. Unfortunately, every time I wash it, it shrinks…I really should follow my own advice and stick to dry cleaning old rayons.
That’s IT! I’m getting married again, in your 30’s wedding dress. it looks gorgeous! and those sunny scarves! I can’t wait to have a look. WIll you let us know when they’re in store?
Hi Pru!
The scarves will be in tomorrow – the dress won’t be available yet as I need to do some repairs – it’s beautiful though, and one of my favourites. Glad you like it too!
its great to have a behind the scenes peek into your work!
So wonderfully cheerful and vibrant! I wish I lived next door so I could admire your gorgeous washing line of vintage goodies all the time 🙂
Wishing you a splendid weekend,
♥ Jessica
Thanks Jessica! I love washing clothes – there’s something very soothing about it. It’s nice to be able to produce a wonderful washing line too, although I wonder what my neighbours think of it?