Vintage Frock Send Off

It's been a year since I started Kon-Maring my possessions.  (see this post on Kon-Mari)

I had been decluttering my house in general the year even before this. We have had 2 massive yard sales in the last 2 years along with having many things, more high dollar, listed on Craigslist.

With Kon-Mari Tiding you must approach your belongings by category, not location, and keep items that spark joy.  I also incorporated some lessons I learned from reading another book by Brooks Palmer called "Clutter Busting", which focuses on letting go of items that may have negative memories attached to them..."baggage".  I have gotten rid of things I have had for decades that I  kept just because there was nothing wrong with them and they had just always been there. One item I sold surprisingly, was my vintage violin (category: Sentimental Items).  I bought it when I was in high school with my meager part time pay check.  Time, money, and focusing on school all contributed to my not taking lessons.  I also thought I could figure it out myself! ha! I never considered ever getting rid of it though.  It was a part of my history.  I decided to let it go though because it wasn't sparking joy for me sitting in a case and not being played by someone with the skills.  It also had some negativity attached to it since I bought it through a girl that turned out to not be my friend.  So I sold it for 50 bucks on craigslist and have no regrets.  I have been selling a lot of stuff for cheap over the past year.  The point is to let it go...but if I can get a nickel, I will!!

Kon Mari, as I have mentioned before, is done by category starting with 'Clothes' first and ending with 'Sentimental Items'.  My vintage dresses were a part of Sentimental Items for sure!

Today I present a selection of vintage dresses that I decided I could relinquish into the world with a little farewell send off.  

First is this adorable 1950s Squaw dress.  I bought it on ebay about 20 years ago.  Great colors, but I never wore it much.

It still fit me even but I have another squaw dress that I absolutely love and kept.

It does have a great classic color combination!

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This 1960s dress is so housewife and I do really like it.  But I decided to send it on since the boob area can not ahem, accommodate the space my girls need now.  I wore this dress a lot during my early 20s and swing dancing years when I was pre-PB and an itty bitty A cup. 

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Oh. This dress. A gorgeous classic 1940 beauty. I spent waaay too much money on it.

Can't you see some gal with a magnolia in her victory rolled hair sporting this baby.

I decided to let this dress go because it's such a small size that I don't think I will ever be again.  Also it's a very delicate material and I would be scared to wear it/ tear it or spill something on it.  Too high maintenance for me.

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I bought this dress over 20 years ago to wear to the Shakespeare Festival.

Where else would I wear it?  That's why I let it go.

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This 1950s dress I bought when I was in high school at a vintage clothing shop for 5 bucks.  Back then I spent any bit of extra money I had on vintage clothes.  

This dress is beautiful and even fits me but I decided to let it go.  It was another one of those that I couldn't think of where I would wear it.  I don't get invited to snazzy cocktail parties or anything.

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This 1960 dress was a major staple during my early 20s and the dance floor.  It also has a 20 inch waist and that's not happening again, so I let it go.

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This is the one dress I almost held back.  I love the color and style.  It's a dress that could be worn places without having to hold a martini in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  It's beautiful yet understated.  It doesn't beg for attention but warrants it nonetheless.

But I decided to let it go because of the narrow waistline and delicate fabric.

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I bought this Esprit dress on ebay about 18 years ago.  I think it may be from the 1970s but it has all the classic 1950s features: blk/why polka dot, full skirt, sundress styling with those little pin up deals on the upper bust area.  It also still has it's original belt and ELASTIC!

This dress still fit me, with help from that elastic but I decided to let it go.  It had a bit of past negativity to it (again associated with a friend that turned out it be a back stabbing....well, you know).
Also my wardrobe is pretty much all blk/wht polka dots.  I am certainly not lacking in that department.

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This is an interesting little number that I bought from that same vintage shop I frequented during high school.  Now that I am looking at it, I bought 75 percent of the clothes I am letting go of from there.  The store is still open but it is now a year round costume rental shop, not much vintage anymore.  I sold the polka dot dress above to that shop as a matter of fact.

But back to this dress.  I bought it for swing dancing 18 years ago and probably wore it a few times.  I let it go because it's too fancy for me now and I am not a fan of ass hugging dresses.  No need for me to accentuate that region!

It has some great all over embroidery though and I do love black and pink together.

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This 1960s dress was bought from a local vintage shop that isn't around anymore.  I love the print.  The fabric is very satiny.

And it came with a matching coat!

I let this one go because the coat was faded on the shoulders (it was like that even when I bought it) and it's too small for me and it's too fancy.

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These vintage Maverick dungarees were a purchase I made 20 years ago when I used to sell on ebay.  I had bought them to sell at that time because they were to big for me, which, now they are too small.  I let them go also because I didn't like the roughness of the fabric.

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I live in Florida.  That's why I sold this massive Lord and Taylor coat.

Now for the shocker...I sold all of these pieces for 10 bucks each.  I needed to get these things moved on and didn't want to fuss around with ebay.  Like I mentioned before, the Esprit dress was sold to a costume shop, a gal I like from the library bought the massive Hagrid coat, and the rest was bought by one girl who I assume has plans on selling them on ebay.  More power to you sister!

I did save back a small stack of clothes that are super nice and I want more than 10 bucks for which I plan on selling in the future.  And of course I saved a huge stack of joy sparking clothes also, even if they didn't fit!

Here's a little history nugget for you, the reason I wanted to play the violin.  

I loved Camper Van Beethoven in high school (and now too!)
I used to listen to this cassette tape back then and would try scratching out some tunes playing along with it on my violin.
During my Kon-Mari tiding marathon, when I did my cassette tapes (yes, I still have and kept some) my CVB stayed!

At some point in the future I plan on doing some posts featuring my Joy Sparking vintage clothes that I kept!