Buying a Vintage Wedding Gown

There are many places to find an expensive vintage wedding gown such as: thrifts shops, yard sales, consignment shops, antique stores, and even on E-bay. Shopping on E-bay will require you to look at the seller’s feedback. Make a list of questions, and offer to speak to the seller by phone.

When inspecting the gown, look carefully to see what damage, if any, has occurred over the years. Some things are very easy to repair. These might include: missing beads and buttons, broken zippers, open seams and loose hems. Fabric deterioration is much harder to repair. Dry rot in fabric or lace, or badly torn lace (especially on the bodice), might come apart during the course of a normal wedding day’s events.

Small, inconspicuous stains could be covered with well-placed appliqués that match the gown’s color and fabric. Minor hem dirt usually cannot be detected unless you lift up the edge of the gown. Visible underarm stains are virtually impossible to repair.

Be very careful before sending your vintage gown to the dry cleaners. Pearls can disintegrate or become discolored, beads and sequins fall off or become loose. Many dry cleaners will steam or press your gown at half the cost.

If you know an excellent seamstress, you can have a vintage looking gown made. You will have fun looking for vintage fabrics (silks, brocades, chiffons, satins, taffetas and velvets). Vintage lace, buttons, bows and appliqués will be needed to add glamour to your gown.

There are several companies online that sell discontinued vintage sewing patterns. They range from $5.00 to $100.00, depending on the age, condition and availability of the pattern. This is a “hit or miss” way of looking at patterns, and it might be time consuming to find a style that you like in your own size. These sites usually show a picture of the pattern, the pattern number, the date it was made available, the size, and also whether instructions are included. They will tell you if the pattern is in mint condition, or has been cut. These are the same things you will want to ask the seller if you are shopping for vintage patterns on E-bay.

You can match your vintage wedding gown with an authentic headpiece, shoes, gloves and antique jewelry. And don’t forget a Victorian bridal bouquet. It consisted of loosely arranged blossoms, with slender streamers of white silk ribbon and greenery cascading halfway to the floor.
Kathleen Terrana is the owner of Beautiful Bridal specializing in discount tiaras, veils and bridal jewelry.

Vintage Dolls: Do You Own Any Of These?

Vintage dolls might just be the next hot trend in collecting. There are many reasons that they could be a smart place to invest your collecting dollars. However, even beyond the potential resale value, they are beautiful to look at and nice to have around.

Another positive aspect of collecting vintage dolls is that they have a really interesting and unique historical value. Different types of dolls, whether mass marketed or rare dolls, were made at different periods in history. Getting an antique doll can encourage you and/or your children to look into the background of the doll and learn about what was going on in history at the time it was made.

Antique dolls are also a great monetary investment. Their prices vary depending upon rarity, age, and condition. They increase in value and have done so for years. Buying an older doll is a good way of decorating a home and building oneself a small nest egg for the retirement age when one is prepared to sell them off.

There are many places that offer good deals on vintage dolls. Among the most popular places to purchase them is through the internet, where there are many retailers that offer them for sale, as well as a variety of auction sites where people place them for bid. One of the best things about purchasing dolls through the internet is that you can do price comparison and research about a specific doll's value in the current market all at one time.

Some great places to find some of these older dolls include flea markets and antique fairs. These work well because not only can you physically inspect the dolls for quality, but also you might be able to bargain with the seller and purchase the doll a bit cheaper. However, if you aren't very educated about the dolls prior to attending one of these functions you might not know a great value when you see it.

Wherever you buy your dolls from, be sure to keep them in good condition. Keep all of their original clothes and accessories on them to ensure they maintain their maximum value. Keeping them out of damp places and direct sunlight is also an important step to take toward ensuring they maintain their luster.

Discover the amazing world of vintage dolls at The Vintage Doll Shoppe. We're the net's one-stop for vintage doll collecting. Browse a huge selection of rare dolls for sale including Bisque, composition, celluloid, china, tin/metal, wooden, and other antique dolls. We share our latest interesting finds in The Doll House, our blog devoted to vintage dolls. While visiting, enjoy our collection of videos showcasing antique doll collections, restoration tip videos, vintage commercials, and much more!

Vintage Halloween Decor - Have Fun Collecting Antique Halloween Decorations

Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year and when it comes to decorations, only Christmas can compete with the many types of decorations available for Halloween. And since I’m also a vintage lover at heart, most of the items I find to collect tend to be either vintage or antique Halloween collectibles. Since so many early Halloween decorations were actually handmade, I find them much more interesting than their contemporary mass produced counterparts.

Vintage Halloween postcards are some of my favorites because I move fairly often and postcards are a nice and easy to transport collectible. I also like to send them to friends as well, especially those I know will hang onto them! There are many types of vintage Halloween decorations available though and as with any collection, in order to avoid it getting out of hand, it usually makes some sense to decide what you’d like to collect.

If you find yourself drawn to antique Halloween items in particular, you’ll have a lot of collecting niches to consider -- including die-cuts, papier-mache, lanterns and vintage candy pails -- the pre-cursor to the “trick or treat“ bag. The most popular Halloween decorations are American or German made. All of the early German made Halloween items were actually made and exported to the American market during the post-war period after World War I when Halloween was increasing in popularity as a holiday in the US.

Other Halloween collectibles that are highly sought after currently are hard plastic items, mostly toys, but also cake picks, candy holders, plastic pumpkins and Jack O’Lanterns. For years, most of the plastic collectibles were easy and cheap to purchase, but now they are so hugely popular that you’ll see these plastic Vintage Halloween collectibles go for big prices in Ebay auctions. So if you’re looking to get into collecting, but need to mind the budget, you may consider a different Halloween collection focus or just be very selective about your hard plastic toys.

One area that I find a fun place to focus attention is on some of the vintage German Halloween decorations. Most of them were made by homemakers so each addition to your collection will be completely unique, unlike the hard plastic Halloween toys. One of the popular themes in Germany at the time was the creation of vegetable people, so you can look for various German made Halloween decorations featuring them to pull together a well-themed collection.

You can find collectibles for all of the holidays, including vintage Halloween decorations and vintage Christmas decorations at Emma's holiday website: http://www.retroholiday.com/