Vintage Lilly Pulitzer Box Purse and Stationery

I wanted to share a recent Vintage Lilly purchase with you.  I found these little lovelies on Ebay.  I've decided that they are post-worthy for two reasons: 1. I've never seen the stationery and 2. The purse is in beyond remarkable condition.

Seriously, as a person who buys a lot of vintage, I'm just blown away by the condition of this purse.  It's hard to believe that it's more than fifty years old.  Obviously the person who originally purchased the purse, kept it wrapped (out of the light) and hidden in a closet somewhere and never used it.

I was really surprised because I bought the items in a 'lot' and the photos were a little fuzzy with no mention of condition.  The purse was placed towards the back of the photo in the listing, so I expected it to be in okay condition.

Just check out the photos:



Vintage Lilly Pulitzer Box Purse

Berries on top of purse- complete with seed beads

Inside of purse



Bow on front of purse







The Bee can still see!

Pristine

Bottom of Purse

Top

Lilly Pulitzer Vintage Box Purse

Okay, so that's the purse.  Here's the stationery.  I've never seen this print.  I'm pretty sure that it's a Zuzek pattern though. It's just about as 'Lilly' as it gets.



With the original bag and tissue paper

Original Lilly Tag

Loving the metal handle

That's all for now, hope you liked seeing these fun Vintage Lilly finds!

-Kristina

Vintage Lilly Pulitzer Fabric Prints

I've been trying to organize my vintage Lilly fabric. I work with it a lot so it's kind of a constant chore on my list of things-to-do.  It tends to fall towards the bottom because it's always a pretty long list (I blame procrastination Pinterest).

At the moment I have about 300 vintage prints in my collection (1959-84).  I'm always adding 'new' prints because I search endlessly for vintage Lilly fabric. Below are some favorites that I wanted to share with you. You might notice that eight out of the ten prints are by Suzie Zuzek, she was one talented artist.

The patterns below aren't in any specific order, they're just fun examples.







Lilly Pulitzer fabric





1.  Sara by Zuzek

5. Cirque by Zuzek



2. Thar' She Blows by Zuzek



3. Vintage Lilly True Sewn Patch by several designers

4. Elephants by Zuzek (I know, huh!)

6. Cats & Coons by Zuzek

7.  Mexicali Rose by Zuzek

 



8. H&S by Pell



9.  Sheila's Shells by Zuzek



10. Squash by Zuzek

How fun are they?!

Kristina

Amazing Hummingbird Feeders

My grandparents recently moved into a retirement community. I wanted to purchase a bird feeder for them as a move-in gift.  My first stop was Etsy. I stumbled on this seller (kristin from Birdartist) and thought her work was worthy of sharing.

Here's a portion of her profile on etsy, thought this was interesting as well:

"I've always loved science and art. It's only natural for me to blend the two together. I graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in Biology, but quickly found myself earning a living as an artist by producing identification signs for zoos. I've gone on to illustrate for scientists, and have published bird art in three major field guides.

There's also a practical side to my nature. I've worked as a zoo keeper for 3 years, and I have studied birds in the wild as a field assistant. I've hiked the woods, lakes, streams, and mountains of Pennsylvania, observing and videotaping birds for my artwork. In lean times, I've even turned to house painting and renovation work to earn extra money.

More recently, I've gotten into hummingbird gardening and have devised a way to make hummingbird feeders from polymer clay and mini glass liquor bottles. Quite a bit of thought and study has gone into making them safe, practical, and attractive to the birds. The flowers are highly realistic, and the birds have taken to them enthusiastically. "

Redbud on Clear Glass Bottle with Graceful Neck

When I initially saw her listings, I thought that she'd simply used real flowers in the feeders that she made from bottles.  It wasn't until I finally clicked on one of her listings that I realized that the flowers are made out of polymer clay.  They are incredibly realistic.  So much so in fact, that her first copyright application was denied because the folks at the copyright office thought that she was taking photos of real flowers as well.  She explained things to them and was later approved.  Just take a look at these clay flowers!

Reddish Orange Ipomoea on Clear Flask

Phlox divaricata on Simple Clear Bottle

Foxglove on Clear Flask

Red Four O'Cloch Hummingbird Feeder

Catalpa Flower on Larger Bottle (My favorite!)

Spoonflower.com: Print Your Own Fabric

Perhaps some of you are already in the know, but if you're not, be informed that Spoonflower.com is an up and coming site where (get this!) you can design your own fabric.  Some of you might not get too excited about that, but this fabric obsessed lady is loving this site.  Here's the thing, if you're not artistically inclined but you have an old photo or drawing that you'd like to incorporate into a fabric design- you can use the mirror tool on the site and end up with something amazing because the software takes the image and makes it into a kaleidoscope effect and the results are just cool. Here's an example:

Via Spoonflower

You can make both private and public designs.  I've seen people selling their own fabric designs on etsy and wondered how they were printing it- I'm thinking that some of them are going this route.

You can buy the public designs (I have a few in the mail on the way here now).  The prices are really reasonable, starting at $18/yard.  Another thing, some very talented sorority ladies have discovered the site and they've created some prints that (dare I say) rival Lilly's sorority patterns.  Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but they're beautiful.

 Rather than talk about it, I'll just post a few samples and let you head over there yourself if you want to take a look and maybe make some fabric!

From Spoonflower

From Spoonflower

From Spoonflower

From Spoonflower

From Spoonflower

From Spoonflower (Mirror tool design)

~Kristina

Lilly Pulitzer fabric Hair Bows

I just added a number of new bows to the etsy shop in a style that I've been working on for a little while now.   I played around with sewn fabric bows for a while and they always seemed to be a little too floppy, so now I've changed the construction and I'm oh-so-happy with the results. So fun! These are perfect party favors.  I've added a 'grab bag' listing to the shop for ten bows for that reason.

I can make these with any pattern seen in the shop of course.  I'll be adding more over the next few days.  Here's a peek at a few that I've already placed in the shop.

Run for the Roses Print found here

Braz. Ave. Bow found here

Grab Bag Listing found here

Kissue Hair Bow found here

Heavy Browsing: The Worst of Online Fashion

Funny websites are a must for me.  They break up my day and I love them for it. Here's one that I recently heard about on Pinterest.  It's called: Heavy Browsing.  The two women who created the site post photos of ridiculous clothing articles and accessories that they've found online.  Here's how they explain it on their homepage:

"Silk blouse enthusiasts Alison and Divya have been trolling the Internet for discounted designer items for years. The only thing they love more than online shopping is passing judgment, so naturally they have joined their two favorite pastimes to create Heavy Browsing. For every chic pencil skirt in an online clearance section there is an ill-fitting bodysuit on the next page just begging to be mocked. Alison and Divya love both of those items, just for completely different reasons."

Works for me.  Here are a few of my favorite selections from the site:

Marc Jacobs $395 via Yoox

From Yoox $98

$59 from Oak

And then there was this purse....Oh no, I like it!

Be forewarned, while the captions that the two women add are a huge part of what make the site funny, they can be colorful with their choice of words.  I'm guessing that you can handle it.

-kristina

Lilly Pulitzer Fabric Lamp Shade

I made this lamp shade the other day with a wire waste basket (found at the dollar store) and various Lilly fabric strips (some vintage prints, others are newer).  It's for our twin daughters' room.  I have to admit, I just love the way it turned out.  Here's a tutorial, if you'd like to make one yourself!

Lamp Shade made with Fabric and Dollar Store Trash Basket

What you'll need:
One wire waste basket (I found mine at the dollar store)
Aprox 1.5 yards of fabric in what ever colors your heart desires
One Lamp that has a screw top shade holder.

-I cut strips of fabric about 1.5" wide.  The length doesn't really matter, but you probably want them to be at least 36" or so, so there's enough to work with.

-Start at the "bottom" of the basket (which becomes the top of the lamp shade).  Tie a knot in the end of the fabric strip so it doesn't slip though and make sure that the knot is on the inside of the basket ( I know, kind of a given.)

-Weave the fabric strips in rows.  I skipped a hole or 'diamond' on every weave that showed on the outer potion of the basket (this allows more fabric to show and less wire).

-Now just weave and weave and then weave some more.  I worked on this in spurts, I added a strip or two when I had a few minutes.  All said, it took about 2-3 hours to weave.

-Once the entire basket was done, I glued the tails of fabric on the inside so they would be secure and made certain that they were very short.  I didn't want any fabric to get near the bulb.

That's it!!

You can see in the photos that the colors really glow when the light is on. Love that!