In Cry-Baby’s world, it’s all about Squares vs. Drapes and my favorite Drape is the blonde haired bad girl named Wanda. Her ruby lip pout, tight wiggle dresses, and sassy attitude gets my vote for the perfect portrayal of a 1950s female outcast. We always root for the under dog, or in this case, a gal who is a Cry-Baby girl that lives by, «our bazooms are our weapons!».

We have to give some fashion credit to a few of Allison’s looks when transforms from a Square to a Drape or as Cry-Baby names her a «Scrape»: half Square half Drape. Though her poodle skirts and ponytails are cute, she rocks those red lips just as good as Wanda. Allison you know you’re just a bad girl under all those Square clothing! *Wink*.

Regardless of whether you’re rooting for the Squares or the Drapes, there is no doubt that Cry-Baby is full of retro fashion eye candy. If you haven’t had a chance to see this cult classic, you should! (Source: catslikeus.com)

What do you get when John Waters makes a musical that is based in 1954? You get an amazing movie that is full of quirky 50s nostalgia, a (very hot!) Jonny Depp aka Cry-Baby Walker and a whole lot of vintage-inspired fashions. Not only is the movie cast amazing, the dialog and the one-liners have me watching this flick again and again. But this blog isn’t a movie review blog–it’s a dedication to my love for Traci Lords character aka Wanda Woodward and the inspiration we find from her retro 1950s wardrobe!

I love quotes. To me, quotes are not just snippets of someone’s writing or speech. They are almost scriptural in nature. For instance, when things are going a certain way I think of the saying, «life is ten percent what happens and ninety percent how I react.» That is a quote that I read or heard years ago that has now become a principle of mine.

Quotes in my opinion allow for self analysis. When one hears a new truth it opens them up to a new reality. That is why we all love memes. Self-analysis allows for one, as we use to say back in the day to «check yourself».

Because of social media people are now aware of the importance of «self-care» which is a term that has been borrowed from the world of mental health. I believe as we move forward in this new world old quotes will help guides us. (Source: recently-retro.com)

You may remember me mentioning a while ago in my Sewing & Crocheting Plans post that I wanted to crochet a pair of sandals. Or you may have even seen them in progress in my latest Vintage Crochet Projects Podcast. Either way, I’m happy to report that they’re now all finished and thoroughly wearable. Yay!

The pattern I used was a Weldon’s pattern from the late 1930s or early 1940s. I purchased it as a PDF from Vintage Ali Patterns on Etsy and thankfully it was just a scan of the original leaflet and not a re-typed version as you sometimes get. The reason I say ‘thankfully’ is because the pattern doesn’t say which size thread to use, but rather has images of the thread that you lie your thread on top of for comparison.

Therefore the pattern must be printed out exactly the same size as the original leaflet, otherwise you’d end up using completely the wrong size thread. I chose to do the striped version of the pattern and used a DMC Petra size 5 crochet thread in navy and white, which was pretty much spot on for size. (Source: http://vintagegal.co.uk/)

And here they are! I’m almost happy with them, but if I was going to make them again I would leave off the first white stripe over the toes to leave it more open. I also wouldn’t make the main part quite as wide. It flaps a little bit at the front and doesn’t look at delicate as the ones in the original pattern. What I’m going to do to combat this on these ones is sew down the very end of the main section to the sole. Currently it’s left open as per the instructions, but it doesn’t really do anything helpful. Therefore, by closing it up it will stretch the fabric a little bit and be less flappy over the toes.