How to Shop and Find Vintage Clothes

This is a handy guide for you learn how to quickly spot vintage garments. Victoria is an expert guide and will walk us through 4 easy ways to find our needles in a hay stack.

Clue #1: Shape or silhouette
The shape is the first main clue. Does the garment have a nipped in waist and a big skirt? It could be from the 50s. Does it have boxy shoulders and a bold print? It could be from the 80s.

Clue #2: Closures
If the garment has a metal zipper chances are it's a gem. If it's a side metal zipper, it could be from the 60s or earlier. The 70s saw zippers move to the center back of garments. The only thing that's tricky is if the garment has had it's zipper replaced.

Clue #3: Clothing label
If the garment has a label, then you can sleuth out clues from that as well. Does the garment have a label made of woven fabric? Does it say who designed? Then you could have a garment that is from the 60s and earlier. Does the tag have washing instructions? Then it could be from the late 60s/70s on.

Clue #4: Print and colors
The print of the garment can really help you figure out when a garment was made. If the print is tiny and repeats it's probably from the 40s. In the 50s patterns get bigger and there is an ethnic influence. If you are really into finding vintage prints, do a little research so you can spot cool prints.

I hope you enjoyed this episode!

Let me know if you make this project over on the Break + Remake FB group!

I'm on IG as @BreaknRemake

Let me know if there are any upcycled craft projects you want me to try out, comment below!

Hand Painted Sundae Cups with Rachel from The Crafted Life

Painting sundae cups is super easy! They would make a super fun wedding gift, or add delight to an enchanted tea party. Enamel paint is available at most craft stores, or see if your friends have some. You don't need much paint. Now that I have some, I think I'll see if my friends want to come over to decorate some glass for themselves.


Rachel from The Crafted Life is our super gracious co-host today! She is one of the first people I talked to about Break + Remake outside of my friend group. She was super supportive and helped me see how super do-able my idea was. Thank you so much for being the fairy godmother of Break + Remake Rachel! I realize now how nervous I was during the filming, poor Rachel did get to talk hardly at all. I promise if you are on the show again Rachel, I'll let you talk for reals!

Materials:
Paint palette: I used the paper that comes inside of hosiery as our quick portable palette
Paint brushes: the kind you would use for acrylic paint
Sundae cups: These were thrifted from 2 different stores, I also got champagne flutes to try too!
Enamel paint: It was a little tricky to find made in the USA paint, but I did!
Rubbing alcohol: Use this to remove finger prints, oils, and goo before painting cups
Rag: for the alcohol

Let me know if you make this project over on the Break + Remake FB group!

I'm on IG as @BreaknRemake

Let me know if there are any upcycled craft projects you want me to try out, comment below!

Long Beach Vintage Flea + HAUL + shopping tips

My lady friends and I took at shopping day at the Long Beach Vintage Market in Long Beach CA. It was so hot that day. This particular vintage flea is great for clothes, shoes, and furniture, especially mid century modern, shabby chic, and industrial.

I'm always on the look out for spice racks, sewing notions and cool textiles. When you have an idea of what you are looking for the flea becomes less overwhelming. It's what I call the Magical Unicorn. Focus on one or two items. And definitely go with buddies, ask what each other's Magical Unicorn is and help each other find it. Take food/hydration breaks, every 2 hours. This may seem like what my sister calls Baby Stuff, but shopping out of doors in the hot sun is Srs Bzns. I forgot my parasol, and burned my legs. Even with 70 SPF. (I'm better suited to the in-of-doors than the out-of-doors) I was running late and forgot to grab sunscreen, but a kind person let me have some on the way to the entrance. I think her name was Susan.

Recap:
-Know your Magical Unicorn
-Know your friends' Magical Unicorn
-Stay fed and hydrated
-Wear sunscreen and bring a parasol if you are shopping outside

My shopping buddies included Eloisa from Liberita Collective and Megan the costume designer and lover of all things Scottie Dog. (And and camera shy Noriko, who was the sometimes cam-op) Thank you ladies for a fun shopping day!

Where do you guys like to get
your vintage or thrifting on?

If you like this vid, or know someone who would enjoy it pass it along!

Check out Break + Remake's Sustainable Craft Group.

Thank you so much for watching!

Mostly Organic White Chocolate Orange Body Butter

Yum! In this episode I'll show you how to make body butter. It's easier than I thought. The only tricky thing is being patient while amazon delivers the harder to find items.

The amazing food blog Hot for Food shared this recipe, and it looked simple. All it calls for is coconut oil, shea and cocoa butters, vitamin E, and orange essential oil (it's usually abbreviated to EO, and that's what I use in the episode).

Orange is what the recipe calls for, however I think you can use anything that smells good with chocolate. The shea has an earthy smell that is eliminated with the cocoa butter and EO.

I kept the little pots my other body butters came in, just gave them a quick wash before refilling them. And I have enough supplies to make this same recipe for the next year.

Upcycled Dog Toy

*With a little help from Jenelle Montilone and her book The Upcycled T-shirt.




Ok cute overload. Stewie, my furry nephew, is my cohost for this episode. We take a look at Jenelle Montilone's book The Upcycled T-shirt. Jenelle does a great job on exploring multiple projects using t-shirts. Which are readily available everywhere and make a source of upcycling fodder. For more projects focused on sustainability and to sign up for her newsletter go here!

Materials:
One cute dog
Old t-shirt or other raggedy clothes
Fabric cutting tools- I used a rollie-cutter and scissors
Cutting mat - for the rollie-cutter
Clear grid ruler
The book: The Upcycled T-shirt

I used my old pajama pants that had holes. In fact when I held them up I could see perfectly through them. Whoops. Jenelle's book and a viewer request had me making a fun toy for Stewie. He's a total show dog, he was so mellow during the shoot and played to the camera. Such a sweet boy.

And for those of you who know about Zelda, my cat, don't worry I'll make her the cat toy from The Upcycled T-shirt. She's just not as cooperative and would never hold still for the camera like Stewie.


Do you have any sustinable or eco-crafts you want me to try? Let me know in the Break + Remake Facebook group or on Break + Remake's IG. In fact, head over to IG right now (if you are reading this between Sunday April 3rd and Monday April 11th of 2016).

Music composed for Break + Remake by Janet Overfield

Brown Sugar and Honey Scrub

How do you get your face buffed up and fresh for spring? Use this delightful honey and brown sugar scrub. Honey is great because it has antibacterial and healing qualities, and brown sugar has a nice grit. Both together smell like sunshine and cookies. If you have sensitive skin only put a little brown sugar, so there is less grit rubbing on you. Mix this up then jump straight into the shower to use.

When I used this I massaged it gently onto my face and my arms. Then I realized my terrible mistake. The water for the shower wasn't on yet. A-whoops. The scrub moves better with a little water mixed in. I bet it would work great on feet as well, but most of the time my feet get forgotten. Poor little work horses. 

Let me know any other home beauty tips that you use on the Facebook group page or in the comments below. Follow me on instagram and like the show on Facebook.

Thanks for watching!

Embroidered Power Cuff

Hi everyone! We are in for a real treat today because the wonderfully talented Lisa from The Makery Craft Co is here as a guest host. If you haven't heard of The Makery and live in the Greater Los Angeles area swing by and take a class.

Making this Embroidered Power cuff is a cute way to make your intentions tangible and cute. Especially now that the adrenaline of our resolutions is now 3 months behind us. What I like about this project is you can make it as simple or as detailed as you like. If you don't want to embroider you can always write the intention with marker or paint.


Materials
Scrap fabric
Buttons
Pins
Chalk pencil
Embroidery floss
Scissors
Cord elastic
Permanent Markers

Optional Fun things:
Paint, paint brushes

Let me see what you make! Show me on the Facebook group, or tag me on instagram!