This month I had the great pleasure of welcoming blogger, vintage loving lady, sewer, and all around wonderfully nice person, Aimee Cook and her incredibly charming blog Inside Aimee's Victorian Armoire, as one of Chronically Vintage's newest sponsors.
Aimee's blog - a truly lovely blend of old and modern, creativity and inspiration - was new to me, so I wanted to get to know both it and Aimee herself better, while also sharing more about both with all of you here as well.
Hence today's fun post, in which I pose seven questions to Aimee that are designed specifically to quickly learn more about her and her beautiful blog.
This isn't a full length interview, just a quick, delightful way to get acquainted with one of my new favourite bloggers. I hope that you'll all enjoy learning more about Aimee, too!
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1. Your blog is a beautifully woven tapestry of many of your diverse interests, quite a few of which we both share in common. Can you please tell us more about the topics you cover and what they mean to you?
I focus on lifestyle topics: fashion, crafting, sewing, beauty, relationships, etc... just with a historical twist. An overview of an 1830's weekly cleaning schedule, how to plant a flower box from the 1920's, or learning the proper 1850's way to fold a gown for traveling, are just a sampling of the topics I focus on in my blog.
I have always loved reading books and articles written by women from the past and the way they viewed their life and interacted with the world around them. This connection, in its various forms, is what I love to share most with all my readers.
2. What are five things that you'd like first time visitors to know about you and/or your blog right off the bat?
That I'm passionate about life, both modern and historical, that I wish to share something beautiful each time I post, that womanhood is timeless and universal, that I have an odd sense of humor which may occasionally show up in my writing, and that I wish to inspire my readers to live creative and wonderful lives.
3. You're an avid sewer and historical fashion fan. How do you marry these two loves?
They truly go hand in hand. I have always loved historical clothing and in high school I decided that I wanted to make some of my own for fun. So I just started sewing and through a lot of time, effort, patience (which usually meant chucking the project across the room in frustration), and mistakes (again, I did a lot of throwing), I was able to develop a skill that allows me to create anything I find that may inspire me.
While I do not wear the clothing I make a lot, or attend events, I thoroughly enjoy the process and find such satisfaction in completing a gown in the same method that women would have done during that particular time period.
4. What would be your dream historical outfit from any era?
This is such a hard choice, as my tastes change all the time! Right now I am obsessed with anything 1920's or 1930's....including my recent project of an 1920's kimono. But my ultimate love would probably have to be the Regency era...I mean who doesn't love a little Jane Austen fashion!!
5. There is a deeply rooted sense of beauty and soul in your blog, which is definitely reflected in the fact that you enjoy sharing poetry there. Could you tell us more about why you involve poetry on a historical lifestyle blog?
I have always loved poetry ever since I was a little girl. The verbal imagery and emotion that poets can convey is a skill I have longed envied. Poetry used to be included in many women's magazines from the 18th and 19th century, which I just love, and therefore wish to share that same experience with my readers. Whether about the weather, love, relationships, or personal discovery, poetry is a beautiful way of expressing one's thoughts.
6. What are some of your favourite sources of inspiration when it comes to sewing and blogging alike?
For sewing it would have to be past gowns either through photographs, paintings, or descriptions in period books or magazines. I could spend hours just drooling over online exhibits or Pinterest boards getting ideas and drafting patterns. For blogging, anything and everything is inspiration. But the best place I have found to be inspired is in a public place, like a coffee shop, park, or my front porch. I find that by people watching and allowing the buzz of daily life to exist around me, I get a flood of ideas.
{Please click on the image to be taken to this lovely tutorial}
7. Can you share a bit about what you led to you start blogging, when you blog launched, and the direction you'd like to see it go in, in the future?
I am a completely self-taught sewer, so I started blogging three years ago to meet other sewers and historical fashion enthusiasts. It was simply an online diary of my sewing adventures. However, after a few years, I began to realize that parts of my life seemed empty and void. I began to explore my passions and allowed myself to go through a mini self-discovery/ mid-life crisis to see how it is I really wanted live my life. I began to voluntarily take myself out of the rat race I was running and began to climb a different direction. My blog then became my collection of topics and things that inspired me on this new journey. Sewing, crafting, and writing has taken me to a beautiful place in my life that brought with it a connection to the past: something that had always been there, but I kept close to my heart.
Now, I have discovered the gift of sharing. And my goal is to continue on this journey wherever it takes me....including a book that I hope to be completing before the end of year. But as for my blog specifically, I wish it to become a positive part of the internet where women can be inspired to live in a modern world with a touch of the past here and there.
{All images via Aimee and her blog, Inside Aimee's Victorian Armoire.}
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That is a fantastic approach to blogging and what one hopes to achieve, and I think Aimee is already off to a flying start there.
I'm delighted to have Aimee as a blog sponsor, and also to get to know her better. I'm a firm fan of her site and plan to follow it from her on out. I really admire her talents, her drive, and fantastic sewing skills - plus she's as super sweet person and pleasure to know, so how could one not eagerly look forward to her posts in their feed reader or inbox?
Thank you very much for everything, Aimee. I wish you and your delightful blog (and forthcoming book) nothing but the best and brightest and can't wait to see what you'll share there with us next!
