I Made A Christmas Cake

Yummy Yum Yum! Happy Holidays everyone!

I Made A trip To Chelsea

I went to Frock Me! for a second time.
This is such a wonderful antiques fare for all you Vintage Clothes lovers! The prices are reasonable, the stock is varied and good quality - the venue is fab, with tea and cakes served to the strains of a wind up gramaphone... bliss.

There was even a Swing Night with live band the day I went, but I couldn't justify hanging around Chelsea all day and night, so sadly I didn't bring my dancing shoes this time around. Next time - definitely!

But I did come away with this darling little number! 40's wool jacket, just what I have been looking for and a great fit. All I need now is some white ice skating boots and a muff..
I'm going to put shoulder pads in everything and cinch my waist - it's such a lovely feeling, class!





The frocks were nice enough - but the brooches, jewels and buttons were fabby.
Look what I found - cute eh?



And these to add to another jacket I got from the 'High St' the other week.


And finally, the sunglasses I'm wearing in these pics were in fact my mothers, genuine retro item.

I Made Another Swishy skirt

Oh this pattern is soooo good.
The plaid fabric was very cheap from my local haberdashers, I've enough to make a matching jacket - hmm, bit too Malcolm McLaren?
Like the new wedgy shoes? I can only wear them to occasions where I get a lift and then stand still for the duration - because actually walking in them is a killer.

Fanfare Please!

Behold - the ruffled cardy that has taken me the best part of a year to complete.
To be fair, I only knit on rare occasions - I cannot multi task in the knitting department, I cannot for example watch telly, read a book and knit at the same time like my mother used to, so anything knitted is going to take an age.

The ruffles are wrong wrong. The ruffles look very nice, but they knitted up wrong in some parts giving me a bobbled moss stitch ruffle instead of a smooth st st ruffle. Can you tell? No. Well, there you go! But I probably wouldn't wear it to my knitting group..

I Made A Scarf

Almost a knitted halterneck bra really! - Knitting in chunky wool really speeds the process up doesn't it?
The green cardy has been fully cast off! *FANFARE* and I'm sewing it together (slowly) this week. Started on a nice red cravat in soft cotton yarn, just as well the weather is turning..

More Things To Make And Do

Phew. I've finally sorted through my new vintage pattern stash. There are quite a few patterns that I feel I could handle making up and would actually wear. I'll post these on the blog soon. Quite a few ballgowns and structurally incredibly complex outfits amidst the easier ones too.
These patterns are well loved, I'm sure Roman's mother must have been the best dressed woman in town - did she have a lot of functions to attend I wonder or did she wear that Vogue petal scalloped ball gown to go down the shops?

I did find a lovely little pattern for a bed jacket - I've always wanted a bed jacket, this may be my first make as Autumn is definitely in the air. Of course my youngest found a pattern she fell in love with. We've recently watched Hairspary (original and remake both) and she so wants a 50's frock with a petticoat. I'm going to be busy .. which brings me to this little lot...



The cowgirl fabric has always been a favourite (got a pair of oven gloves in the same stuff) - I had a fixation on all things cowboy when I was studying textiles at college, just can't seem to shake it off! I'll make another swishy skirt in this to wear to rock 'n' roll shin digs around Christmas. I've seen the Jive Aces two years running at New Year - great foot stomping stuff!



The Fan Fabric is divine and it'll be a dress to wear with some great 40's shoes (Garbo by Red or Dead my current fave) and a fluffy Bolero.



My knitting is coming along. Remember back in the days, I started knitting a green cardy with miles of ruffles? Well, I'll happily be casting off the last ruffle this weekend! Ye - Ha! Watch this space.
Knitting takes practice and I've been hob nobbing with (comparatively) expert knitters recently who produce the most beautiful things. In a fit of knitterly excitement I joined a knit - a - long to make this. Unfortunately, I haven't had the balls (ha ha) to start yet. I simply can't decide what type of yarn to get. Woolshops are few and far between around here. I did buy this though in order to run up a little scarf in the meantime.



It's very soft and chunky - shouldn't take long to make and hopefully, if it's any good, my knitting confidence will grow and grow along with the scarf...

Thank You Roman and Eva

When people know you like vintage stuff, you can find all sorts of goodies winging their way to you. Look what the wonderful Eva deposited in my front room last night!


Roman and Eva's Mum had a haberdashers/dress shop in days gone by and judging from the box of patterns that ended up in my grateful arms, she was an avid dress maker too.




The Perivale Sewing Silks storage box still contained some bobbins and had been turned over to the storage of buttons.. my youngest has already swiped the best for her button collection.



Christmas came early for me with all these wonderful dress patterns! I only wish my sewing skills could do some of them justice. There are a lot of size 16's which translates to a size 12/14 nowadays if the measurements are anything to go by. Many of the envelopes are torn and it's by no means certain that the patterns are complete. But what the hey!
Just look at the pictures! Retro Heaven!




Thank you family Stefanski.

I Made More Pants

I loved this pattern so much, so easy to wear - I made another pair. I wore them to the annual 'Swing Night' in the local park, great to dance in!





I worked hard at matching those checks ...

We had fab summer hols - with snatches of warm weather in the garden. My youngest customised one of her tops with a retro cherry motif..




She celebrated the end of the hols with her friend by making a sweetie hedgehog. So kitsch! So Yummy!

I Made A Swishy Skirt

Now this pattern is simply the bees knees. If you need run up a new outfit for an event that's a couple of hours away - the swishy skirt is just the ticket - Burda 8677. It's essentially 2 pieces cut on the bias so that it falls and swishes beautifully, and is lined for that added umph. Sitting on the hips with no waist band, it's also very very flattering gals...
With cotton fabric from the stash, I completed the skirt over two mornings.



Did I also mention that it's great to 'Hoop' in, too?

I Made A Trip To Barcelona

I've spent the last week soaking up sun, sea and culture, falling into cafes for coffee, chocolate and churros.
I took myself off to a local flea market one morning trying to avoid the midday heat. Amongst the power tools, flip flops and bric a brac I found a ton of vintage mags. My daughter persuaded me that perhaps one or two was enough of a souvenir. Left alone I could have filled a suitcase.I haggled for these two French beauties from 1938 and paid 2 euros, not bad for someone with no Spanish/Catalan what so ever. (Mad woman on phone with dried flower corsage, I could relate to..)



Inside were some wonderful tips (in French) on how to arrange your workspace so that bobbins and needles don't attack you in the night.



Along with some chi chi fashion..



And for all you knitters out there..


Of course I saw Miros, Paella and Gaudis.





Wonderful, wonderful city - right down to the Flamenco aprons!