Sewing and lifestyle blog of a wannabe "full-time vixen"

Category Archives: outfits

1940’s Glam Hair

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I took some photos of what my curls looked the day after…I think they’re still very lovely after being slept on! I don’t bother to put them back in curlers for the day after, mostly out of laziness, but also out of curiosity as to what the curls will look like.

This is what I wore to work on Friday. As you can see below, the blouse is see through so I wore it with a cardigan for modesty’s sake while at work.

I’m very happy with these curls! It was the first time I used sponge rollers and I absolutely love them for their ease of use and amount of curl I can attain. Pin curls are fun but a pain in the butt for me to do. Ever since I started experimenting with curling my hair vintage, I’ve realized I lean towards the 40s style of hair. It’s just so glamourous and elegant, especially with my hair getting longer like this. I also adore Victory Rolls although I haven’t done them in a while.

My next goals are to keep practicing how to style the curls, especially brushing them out and taming the frizz.

I also had another realization…curling my hair and taking photos like this is time consuming. To the point where sometimes I feel like I wasting my time! I realized that I only enjoy doing this once in a while and am not really the type of girl who will “do vintage” everyday like some other lovely ladies in the blogosphere. I am totally happy with just doing “vintage-esque” things with my hair and I also realized I prefer having straight hair (thank goodness it’s my natural hair type)! At least it’s getting longer and I’m really enjoying growing it out currently. Can’t wait to do things like braids and buns on top of my head.

I think I came across this realization after finishing reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin — “Just because something is fun for other people doesn’t mean it’s fun for me. (and vice versa)” I was inspired to try doing my hair in vintage style after seeing all these blogs of girls who do it around the world and all the tutorials on youtube. I’m happy that I’ve experimented with it and I’m happy to have found a method that I like and is easy for me to do. It might not be true, 100% authentic vintage but I am totally fine with that.

Stay tuned for more hair experiments. My co-worker Vicky went on trip to East Asia recently and came back with a funny Japanese hair curling product called “Goo Set”. I have to find some time to try this out and show everyone!

Outfit details:
cardigan, blouse – Urban Behaviour
belt – Forever 21
skirt – my grandmother!

For Science!

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If you’ve ever wondered what I actually did at my old job in the lab…well here’s a bonus blog post to show and tell! So today I went to visit my old workplace, the Psychobiological Determinants of Health Lab at UBC (University of British Columbia). The lab is sadly closing down at the end of June and moving to Chicago. My aim today was to bring peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for my former co-workers in exchange for taking silly photos! Silly photos of what? Of me with my hair curled and all done up in vintage style. My former co-worker (and close friend I still hang out with) Adam helped me take photos. Thanks also to my wetlab manager Gaye for letting me take photos.

You will notice that the lab is a very unglamourous place, not at all like CSI or in other TV shows or movies. This is just a wee little lab tucked away at the top of the Kenny Psychology building. We actually take up multiple floors in an inefficient way – our offices and labs are spread out so we have to go up and down quite a bit around the building. Yes, those floor tiles are missing in the background. They’ve been missing ever since I used to work there! Still haven’t been replaced.

This is one of two biosafety cabinets that I used to work in. The lab draws blood samples from the participants in our research projects…so someone’s got to deal with them! The cabinet is designed to protect me AND the blood or other things we work with. Everything has to be kept sterile. We achieve this by autoclaving everything and/or wiping everything down with a 75% mixture of ethanol and water. The lab always smells like vodka in the morning.

Gotta keep my pens in place!

Like I said, it’s sad to hear the lab is closing and moving. I worked here for about three years — started during the summer right after I graduated from high school. I managed to win a paid internship to work in a research laboratory! I’ll miss the ol’ place, and I still miss working with pipettes and centrifuges, doing assays on human blood like extracting DNA, RNA, or running ELISAs (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay).

It’s not the most glamourous looking lab or backdrop for a photoshoot…but I’m so glad I have this memento with me forever now. Maybe one day I’ll work in a lab again.

P.S. The dress was sewn by me and the shoes are from Ruche!

Sequel to pin curls

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I’m always curious to see how my curls turn out the day after. After a night of sleeping with a handkerchief on, this is what they looked like.

The curls near the front fell but the ones in the back were still bouncy. I usually just throw on a headband the day after like I did here. Headbands are so handy! There was a kind of 60’s feel to my hair yesterday. Too bad I don’t really have any 60’s inspired clothing or outfits to go with it. I shall have to rectify this in the near future.

My outfit was a cardigan from Forever 21 and purple pinstripe jeans from True Value Vintage here in Vancouver. The brand is “Wax Jeans” but I don’t know if the company is defunct or not as I got the jeans way back in high school. A google search just comes up with “wax coated jeans” which are not relevant.

They are so awesome!

Shoes are from Aldo and I bought them just a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been looking for a pair of affordable shoes in this style for years. (Remember, I am on a student’s budget :P) It’s not a very common style to find in modern shoe stores but nowadays there are more and more vintage inspired styles showing up which is a definite plus for any vintage enthusiast on a budget. Or those who just want a dash of vintage in their wardrobe.

Surprise! Pin Curls!

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I pin curled my hair last night for the first time in a while. I wasn’t sure how they’d turn out with the bob I had been growing out for some time now. I wasn’t purposefully growing it out…just haven’t had time to get a hair cut! But I thought that I’d give it a pin curl first and see how they turn out before deciding if I need to see a hairstylist.

I really like them! I thought they looked pretty good.
This is a shirt that I reconstructed a loooong time ago from a boring plaid shirt I got at the thrift store. I made it accidentally a little too small and then I hit a small growth spurt just after high school where my shoulders, chest and bust got a little wider. So it’s even smaller now! But I just wear it open and I had a co-worker think I purposefully did that to get a “baby doll” effect. It has a lace yoke and puff sleeves (instead of boring long sleeves). The cuffs on the puff sleeves are also made of lace, mostly because I ran out of plaid shirt to use!
I included this photo because I look so different…so serious!

This is what I wore to work today. I wear black skinny jeans pretty much every day and also black shoes. They’re black leather Vans that are super comfortable and perfect for a day of shelving books. I’d like to make some work appropriate dresses and skirts that won’t show people my under-a-roos when I bend over to shelve something on the bottom shelf.

It was interesting going about my day in pin curls today….I don’t think I’ve ever really worn them to work at the lab or library. Men were either more polite or more leery. Women were somewhat more polite but not that much.

Anyways, I’d like to get some hot sticks and/or hot rollers and keep experimenting. I’d also like to try to find a way of doing my hair that is easy enough for daily wear but still has that vintage appeal.

Finally, an update!

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Hello again! I really apologize for having not updated this for so long, it’s been months. This is because Mr Vixen’s camera broke and I didn’t really have enough money for a new one. I bought a new camera a week or two ago and these are the first batch of photos since the new purchase.



These photos were taken before my first shift at Two of Hearts, a little shop here in Vancouver on Main St. The clothing and accessories sold at this store are almost all (save a few items) made locally and the two owners of the store also design the clothing and run a studio in Vancouver. They are a very little store right now and just opened up in 2008. The recession has been hard on them though but I am glad for them to be here! I am only working there during the weekends until Dec 21 because they are going to be a bit busy with a show they are participating in.

But back to my outfit, the jacket in the photo is something I sewed in high school as my final assignment one year. I am very proud of it, I got 100% on it! I will take better photos of it later when I have more time and show all the little details, like top stitching and the beautiful purple lining.

The little heart medal I’m pinning on the jacket is from Modcloth, it opens up and is a locket. Very military cute!


This dress is my new favourite dress! It was a splurge from an online store called Ruche. The necklace is also from the same store. You can’t see it well but here is a picture from the store:


And now for the shoes! I saw them first on Ruche but they didn’t have my size to begin with so I bought them from Amazon.com and had my friend help me get them to Canada (they would only ship to a US address.)


Product photo here:


They are quite amazing! I love these shoes! I am developing quite the shoe collection so more shoes to be seen in the future!

Alright, that is all for now. I think I will manage to get a new post up next weekend after all my schooling is done. I should be doing readings right now but……..yea.

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