National Wear Your Apron Day

Today is National Wear your Apron Day! It's held on the day after Mother's Day as a way to celebrate the funness (is that a word?) of wearing aprons. Wear your apron to work, to the store - wherever you go today. I love the format of aprons and how they can be so incredibly creative with not a whole lot of fabric, and a relatively simple design.

We just completed a major apron update on the website with almost 50 new aprons.
This is a sampling of some of the ones we've added. You can find all of them in our apron section.


Here's an amazing one that was too stained to sell, but I'm happy to keep it for my own...

There are lots of great vintage style handmade aprons out there. Here are a few that I love.



This one is the Juicy Fruit Reversible Apron from Head Bitch in Charge on Etsy.


This is the Turquoise Dreams - Gothic Rose Sassy and Chic Apron


and the Not So Plain Jane Sassy and Chic Half Apron
from Sassy Apron on Etsy.
I love the colors and patterns together.

Happy Apron Day!

Trenton Avenue Arts Festival

We're really excited to be a part of the Trenton Avenue Arts Fest again this year. It was so great last year, we got a double space. That means we can bring twice as much stuff! The event has over 120 vendors this year with a huge variety of artists, crafters, music, food and of course the Kensington Kinetic Scuplture Derby. Last year's derby was a 3 mile course pitting human powered bicycle sculptures against each other. Most people wear costumes, and the creations can get very elaborate. If you haven't been before, it's a great time!

The event is Saturday May 16th from Noon - 5 pm (sprinkle or shine, with a severe weather raindate for Sunday May 17th). It's on Trenton Ave between Norris and Frankford Ave in East Kensington on the edge of Fishtown. Trenton Ave is a very short walk from the Berks El stop.


Here's a photo of my space from last year.


And a photo of my friend Paul's bike from last year from the Kensington Kenetic Sculpture Derby website.
The photo was taken by Inna Spivakova

Orphelin is closing. Sniff sniff...

It is with great sadness I report to you that as of May 25th, 2009 Orphelin Vintage Boutique will be closing its doors. (Insert sobs here.)
Orphelin took over the old Funhouse space at 720 S 5th St
in Philadelphia just under a year ago, and has been a great place to find an eclectic mix of vintage clothing and housewares from numerous vendors and local artists. Tara has decided not to renew her lease in June. (Wipe away tears.)

But there is a bright side - at least temporarily... Most of the store is on sale for 20% off, and selected furniture pieces are as much as 50% off!



We have a LOT of stuff there including tons of dresses, tops, skirts, shoes, bags, pants, housewares, knickknacks and loads of art! May I suggest this giant black velvet unicorn painting measuring a whopping 27" x 40"?
(I need to give a shout out to my friend Sue of Giant Dwarf
for spying the unicorns for me - that's right, I currently have not one, but TWO of these babies.) But seriously, please come down and support Tara this last month, and score some great vintage goodies on sale. The shop will be open Thursday - Sunday from noon to 7 pm.

Spring Skirts - Sneak Peek

The other day I went on a buying trip in search of some Spring goodies and I found about 40 awesome skirts perfect for the sunshine days ahead. If you shop the site you may have noticed I have a thing for fun prints, and I'm happy to say I found some great ones. I took a photo of the whole rack (since the colors looks so pretty together) and I pulled out a few of my favorites.




One of my favorite labels is Vested Gentress. Their prints have a vaguely Lilly Pulitzer feel, only they're more quirky. The fabrics are hand screenprinted, and the colors are country club preppy. These are a few I found recently.


You may have noticed too that I have a thing for quirky appliques and animal prints. Not like leopard and zebra print (although I do love a nice leopard coat), but actual pictures of animals. I seem to find a lot of frogs. I've also recently come across an abundance of kissing animal skirts including camels, snails, turtles and whales.




This turtle skirt is amazing! It's made by Katasha's Unusuals which is another label I love to find. The prints are always really fun!

I'll be bringing all of these skirts (and more) to my sale at Art Star the first weekend in May.

Vintage T-shirt Update

We've just finished an admittedly long overdue t-shirt update on the site.
We added close to 70 new ones including funny tees, iron-ons, rock tees, tourist tees and more! Here are a few of our favorites. You can go here to see them all.

Trunk Show at Art Star

So, it's only a few weeks away and I'm knee deep in new vintage clothing for our "once in a while" Trunk Show at Art Star.
I went on a major buying trip yesterday and got loads of great Spring clothes to add to my already overflowing inventory of goodies. I'll post some photos once I get everything checked in and sorted. For now I wanted to let you know to mark your calendars for the event which will be Saturday May 2nd from 11-7, and Sunday May 3rd from 12-6.

I'll be taking over the back room and turing it into a 2 day vintage boutique. I'll have racks and racks of dresses, skirts, tops, aprons, jackets, blazers, western shirts, and more. There'll be stuff for the guys too, so don't think you need to stay home fellas! I'm also bringing shoes, jewelry, belt buckles, sunglasses, housewares, knickknacks, kitsch and whatever else I can fit in a few truckloads. Light refreshments will be provided.

Art Star is located at 623 N 2nd St in Philadelphia PA.
See you there!

What is going on...

... in this picture?! My hubby found this photo in the bottom of a box at the Flea Market the other day. It's a Polaroid in a specially made for Polaroids frame, and has "Nov '78" written on the back. It looks like the woman is standing there in her long johns with her pants around her ankles??? I'm going to have to be more thorough in my box digging from now on.