easily distracted by shiny things…
Posted in exhibitions, fabric, inspiration on Aug 12th, 2011
I managed to miss the Horrockses exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, so I was delighted to pick up a leaflet for Basildon Park and find out that I could see them a little closer to home. The dresses were beautifully displayed throughout the house, but the highlight for me was this lobster-print skirt [...]
Last weekend we drove down to Devon, to visit Paul’s family. We stopped at Paignton seafront, where we played a dancing game on the pier, took lots of photos underneath the pier, and chased a big crow who was trying to break open an enormous shellfish by dropping it on our car! I am full [...]
One of the joys of Facebook is that occasionally you receive a message from an old friend. In this case it was a plea from someone I went to school with – could I help him with his vintage Action Man collection? Of course! Shortly afterwards I received two tiny little jackets in the post. [...]
This is Simplicity 5310, a blouse from 1972. Skycarrots gave me the pattern a long time ago, and I’ve always liked the blouse, but my sewing machine hates making buttonholes. I’ve finally got around to making a version that doesn’t have buttons all the way up the front, and I’ll just put poppers on the collar [...]
Remember the dress I made for the Vintage Vogue competition? The deadline was today, so yesterday after work Paul and I rushed out to take some pictures. This is the one that I sent off to accompany my entry.
Posted in inspiration, sewing, shopping on Jul 29th, 2010
During the 1960s, the big pattern companies enlisted the help of the hottest young designers to bring the latest fashions to their catalogues. This is Butterick 5912, designed by Mary Quant, whose patterns were licensed by Butterick well into the 1970s. I have a sneaking suspicion that this design is about as old as me. [...]
I think this is going to be my entry to the Vintage Vogue competition. I’m not 100% certain whether it’s finished, or whether the seams go on the inside or the outside. I’m going to wear it and live with it for a bit before I decide. I also need to take lots of photos, which [...]
Posted in inspiration, shopping on Jul 19th, 2009
Over the years I’ve collected and been given quite a few vintage clothing patterns – most of them from the 1950s. Unfortunately most of them were too small for me to actually sew and wear, and although I have an abiding love of 1950s clothing, I’m really not a 1950s shape. It’s taken me a [...]
This is the second dress I’ve made for Diane, using recycled 1970s print bedding. (The first one is here.) This one’s a very pretty, girly design with plenty of hearts and flowers. It’s made from half of a duvet cover, and Diane’s kept the other half to turn into a quilt. If you’d like to [...]
This is Folkwear 117, the Croatian Shirt. I bought the pattern intending to make it in the dress length, but I didn’t have anything like enough of this cotton lawn, so I made a rather short shirt instead. I started this project about eight months ago, and then it was put to one side while [...]