I Made A Happy Birthday

My daughter requested a Victorian Sponge with fresh cream and strawberries for her birthday. I was happy to oblige!

Paris Cafe Pom Pom Frock

As an antidote to the cold weather, pour yourself a cocktail and view the Paris Cafe Pom Pom frock I made in the summer. I used my trusty New Look 6375 as this is a dress I go dancing in and this pattern really rocks when it comes to jiitterbug. By the time the night is done and the band have gone you can wring out any dancing frock I've worn .. it gets that hot.

The pom pom trim is an echo of a wonderful full circle skirt I had in the 80's that had 3 tiers of much larger pom poms - I've obviously mellowed with age.

The frock is decorously draped over my recently acquired vintage Ercol chair bought from Yesterday Furniture, run by the wonderful Gabrielle Sharp who sources fabulous pieces internationally and has storage here in East London.
So comfy for curling up on with coffee/book/Mad Men on the box.

I Made Stollen

Stollen is a traditional German Christmas cake, more of a bread really packed full of dried fruit and marzipan. It's my favourite Xmas treat although mince pies come a close second. I made this one to take to our annual family pilgrimage to the Log Cabin.

Quite frankly it weighed a ton, light and fluffy it was not. The dough refused to rise before baking and I was worried the thing might be inedible.

Once the loaf was out of the oven and dusted with icing sugar, I decided it was an homage to David Lynch - er, for all those who are familiar with the Eraserhead baby..

It was a pretty dense loaf - but I have to say, lightly buttered and with a mug of steaming coffee (damn fine) it tasted wonderful! It is served here on my latest crockery find - a 30's spotty plate I picked up from a boot fair last month ... and I got two tureens to match, all for a couple of quid.

I Made A Start on Christmas Shopping

Ah November! The month when I flounce out of the High Street declaring that everyone will get a thrifted or homemade gift for Christmas. I don’t always come up with the goods but at least I made gift tags last year from thrifted playing cards.

Vintage Fairs are a great place to go for Christmas goodies and with quite a few in London it’s useful to have a mental list of what you’re shopping for and how much cash you’re willing take - larger fairs will accept cards, smaller outfits can be cash only.

I was optimistic as I headed for the fair that was the precursor to the Inaugural Vintage Throwback Night at Bloomsbury Lanes in West London. The 1^st class retro bowling venue had opened its doors to vintage vendors from 12pm til 5pm to get everyone warmed up before a spectacular line up of retro music, talks and burlesque in the evening.

Entrance to the Vintage Fair was only a quid and a stamped hand guaranteed a discount to the club night later. This was good; sometimes parting with upwards of a fiver on the door can leave a bitter taste if I come away empty-handed. A good shopping experience means plenty of stock and a great atmosphere - happily the Bloomsbury Lanes had both.

There’s nothing like shopping for timeless stuff in a retro environment - the bowling lanes under the Tavistock Hotel tell of times gone by with retro graphics on the wall, a fully functioning diner and great music. The lanes were open and the rumble and scatter of pins being bowled over was a cool backdrop.

The place was dark and labyrinthine with stalls crammed shoulder to shoulder, but the traffic flowed once I got into the belly of the place. The Lipstick and Curls girls were there if you needed a pampering, I saw one guy having his ducktail seen too and another shopper came away with a head full of fabulous curls pinned into place. Sustenance is essential - I need to punctuate my rummaging with constant coffee top ups so thankfully there were cupcakes a plenty and very reasonably priced rolls and wraps if you didn’t fancy the full on burger and chips experience at the diner.

I’d come to this Fair with my vintage loving daughter and we both have different agendas, to her vintage speaks of gaudy 80’s knits, altered skirts and ankle boots whereas I am most definitely a 50’s throwback with a 40’s vibe. It is so much harder to find good quality mid century clothes at vintage fairs these days that aren’t out of my price range - a different tale to the early 80’s when I stuffed my wardrobe with full skirted frocks Doris Day would have died for at only a few quid.

The stalls had a reasonable variety of clothes and accessories. The Fair was just the right size - a huge fair makes the whole experience a bit of a chore, too small and I come away frustrated. The ladies toilets were decent enough size for try ons and vendors were happy for you to examine clothes nearer mirrors with more natural light .. a good co-operative vibe with reasonable prices, excellent food and bowling to boot made the afternoon extremely enjoyable.

My daughter bought the most, I bagged some smaller pieces of jewellery as gifts. Naturally the worst thing about buying vintage as gifts for others is all the stuff that I want for myself…

Honestly - I did need a pair of winter boots. So rather than pay over the odds for overrated slippers I nabbed a bargain with a pair of 80’s does 40’s fur trimmed black leather ankle boots - so tacky they’re cute and only £15!

Ever wondered what to do with all those fabulous postcard flyers that vintage vendors hand out at these events? Watch this space.

I Made Birthday Bling!

I had been inspired earlier in the year by my attempts at wire wrapped jewellery making at the Make Lounge. A relatively swift and darn good way of creating personalised jewellery one offs.

My sister was celebrating her birthday down at the log cabin we rent every year in order to get three families and friends together in one venue - sort of Twin Peaks meets Butlins. I decided to make her a birthday bracelet and enlisted the help of Flib to point me in the direction of bead shops in London.

Warning - buying beads and Swarovski bling can become dangerously addictive. However I now have quite a nice stash and will make some more pieces for Christmas.

Of course, once in the jewellery making zone - I thought I'd add a cocktail ring for good measure.

Biggest sister provided the Birthday Cakes - a whole stack of these lovely beauties!

Sis loved the present and my youngest daughter Ruby asked for something special for her birthday a few weeks later.

Yesss! I get to go bead shopping again!

Ruby specified she certainly wanted a Swarovski heart, but any colour scheme would do. I had chosen my sister's beads with a certain turquoise leather bag she owns in mind .. this has to be the best bit about making stuff for other people - just what would they like?

Here's Ruby's bracelet, with the obligatory Ruby red heart.


And the birthday cake I made to an aged old recipe, cooked in my heart tin - delish!

I Finally Made My Swing Dress!

This little number was a long time in the making. The pleated shoulder parts of the bodice were quite tricky to put together from the instructions given in the pattern - I did do a trial version in calico and managed to get things working, but it took a lot of unpicking and re-sewing.

Also I didn't buy enough gingham fabric to make sleeves so my first attempt was a sleeveless version which frankly just looked unfinished. After mulling this over and with a dance event to attend the next day, I improvised cute little capped sleeves in what fabric I did have left, but this left me looking like some sort of space cadet - the effect wasn't working! I folded the thing up and placed it on the WIP pile where it languished for a few months. I wore something else to the dance event..

The unfinished dress kept calling to me so I eventually bought more gingham fabric and put the sleeves in, along with some pretty hefty shoulder pads as suggested in the pattern - it all came together quite nicely in the end. 

The button embellishments were spares I had from an old M&S jacket from the stash.

The skirt does have a lovely swing to it and I took the frock out on its inaugural dance outing to see the Puppini Sisters in an open air concert during the summer - divine!

I Made A 40's Tie Bag

Oh I love this pony fabric so much, I wish I had more of it - but having only half a meter or so I decided to make up a 40's tie bag I from free pattern I found online.

The bag is really quite roomy, it can take purse, compact, lipstick, phone and bottle of water - all a girl needs for a night of dancing.