Am I a vintage girl or not......

After last year's ranting about Alys Fowler and her vintage style, I have been having a long running debate with myself as to whether I am a vintage girl or not.

As I am not a person to consider that I have a great deal of personal style, not now my goth days are long behind me, and being as I am mostly clothed in items sent over from the UK bought at charity shops and car boots by my mum, I struggle to dress myself.  Literally some mornings.....I have been known to go to work in my PJs with a knee length baggy jumper thrown over the top - just admitting that makes me feel bad - unfortunately it is true.

Anyway, when watching this last year I developed a real yen for vintage clothing, but considered it to be something for the less clothing size challenged, and now that I have lost a bit of weight I am reconsidering my position on vintage.

But am I vintage girl or not?  How do you tell?

I couldn't wear it and ascribe ironic post modernistic tendancies to myself, because quite frankly most of my elderly neighbours are still wearing items lovingly handcrafted in the 70s.  So I would just fit right in.  From a distance in fact, bent over my hoe in the garden I would simply be another piece in the rural mosaic here.  And indistinguishable from my septegenarian best friend. 

Not sure if that is a good thing or not?

Alongside issues of size there is also the issue of cost, vintage clothing and fabric is at a premium, and loads of it has made its way from ebay to specialist on line retailers, putting it way out of my price bracket.

But today, at my favourite car boot of the year I found these little treasures:

2 hand made floral dresses with button through bodices, in simple A-line styles, 1 handmade pinafore dress with big white buttons and white edging details on the front pockets, and a hand crocheted white jumper.

I also picked up an orangey tweed jacket with faux fur cuffs and collar, but forgot to take a photo of that. 
As it is dry clean only, I have popped it outside to hang to air it out a bit, it looks like new and is not really dirty just musty.

Now I just have to try to find the courage to wear these things, but at 3 Euros for the dress and jumper and 5 Euros for the jacket, at least I am not out of pocket to the tune of a small fortune.

Week 12 - Circles

Week 12 of the 52 images for 2011 and I was positively overwhelmed with ideas, buttons and logs featured predominantly, but I could not find that image that really jumped out at me.

Then this shot happened - in fact I only took 2 variations of this photo, and ended up choosing the first one.

I love it.

We still use this phone because it does not require a power point, so come winter and power cuts we can communicate with the world.

A DIY project today

And a bit of history.

When we bought our house the main chimney breast in the kitchen had been backed in some rather fetching green linoleum stretched out between batons.

Of course we removed it as a matter of priority before installing the Rayburn into the chimney.

Because I am the one coat queen and have no patience whatsoever for decorating (you'd think a renovation project would be a baaaad thing for me to take on - and you'd be right), when I ripped the lino and its batons off, there were all these little wooden posts left sticking out of the wall.  They had obviously been concreted in place and really I should have cut them off with a saw flush against the wall, filled and plastered over them.

Instead I have stuck nails and hooks in them and am left with a random assortment of hanging things hanging up behind the Rayburn.

I call it kitchen kitsch, Brendan calls it clutter.

I like it - it stays!

Unfortunately it does seem to gather a lot of dust, a LOT of dust, particularly over winter with the fire going.

Today I gave it all a major clean, everything off, washed, dusted, wiped down, dried and now rehung.

In amongst all my lovely kitchenalia I have some vintage pieces, a moulinette, a chestnut pan, a potato ricer and a juice squeezer found at car boots here in France.

Anyway, when we ripped off the lino we discovered a niche in the wall, that, after asking the neighbours we discovered is for salt.  We had originally thought that these were proofing spaces for bread making, but they are acutally for keeping salt dry.  I  use the little convenient cubby hole for keeping the matches handy for lighting the fire, and also for a couple of candles for when the electric goes out in winter.

Today I cleaned it out, got a bit of plaster courtesy of my ever helpful hubby and set a piece of roof slate in there as a shelf.  The white gunk on it is the PVA glue I am using to seal it, not yet dry.

Wardrobe refashion frenzy - converting skirts to tops Part 2

Stained Skirt to Vest Top 

I managed to get a big red stain on this skirt - no idea how, it may have been red wine or it could just as easily have been cherry juices from my jam making or even beetroot juice, anyway the end result was one ruined skirt - and a hand made skirt in some lovely old retro fabric at that.  Well there was no way I was going to take that lying down, so out came the scissors and another refashion was born.

First I removed the waistband and put it to one side.  As this skirt is made from scraps and I don't have any more of the material around, every square inch is required.

For the armholes I copied the curve from another pattern onto some publicity paper.

I then pinned the skirt together from the removed waistband along the side seams to the approximate depth of the armholes, drew the curve onto the material and cut through the double thickness of the material.

Once the armholes had been cut out, I unpinned the material, opened it out and pinned a small hem to finish, this was then whizzed into place with straight stitches on the sewing machine.

As the neck line front and back was now a raw edge, and with no material to spare I used a couple of rectangles of contrasting cotton to create a neck piece into which I could tuck the raw edges and give a nice finish to make the top look like a top rather than a skirt with two holes cut in it.

To start, I pinned the contrast material to the necklines, right sides to right sides.  The skirt material has some horizontal pattern lines so I just used one of those as the base line to follow.

Once pinned in place I basted the raw edges together.

Then with the use of the hot iron, I folded in the raw edges at the sides then tucked under to create a hem across the front and back to create a block of contrast material that I could then topstitch in place, but not until I had the straps in place.

To create the straps, I unpicked the old waistband, then refolded the raw edges in, fixed in place with the hot iron, and ran a line of topstitching down the length.

I then pushed the end of the straps into the sides of the contrast material at the back, then put on the top to find the right length for the straps.

I marked the correct length with a pin, and evened them up once I had removed the top, so that both straps were an identical length.

Here's the clever bit - remember that pin, don't remove it, just reposition it so that both straps are at the correct equal length, snip the remainder of the strap away leaving a tail just a couple of centimetre long, then feed the tail into the contrast border until you hit the pin, then secure the tail inside the border with a pin until time to stitch.  Neat and easy, much easier than trying to measure the straps once they are looped from front to back.

With the straps in place, I topstitched all the way around the contrast material in straight stitch, reversing over the places where the straps feed into the front and back corners.

Now with the main body of the top finished I just had to do something about the stain on the front.  Using the bits of armhole I had cut out, I fashioned a pocket, with a top band from the same contrast material.  I stitched the band, right sides together at the top of the pocket, then folded a hem in much the same way as for the necklines.

I just zig-zag stitched around the raw edge of the pocket, then pinned it in position, and folded the raw edge in, then top stitched the pocket into place.

Not a very good photo I know, but it is the finished article, ready to wear.

Alterations - How to spend a couple of hours on a hot Sunday morning

Following yesterday's denim cut off start, I am continuing the theme of alterations.

My lovely generous mummy sent me some charity shop bargains again, and for a change they actually fit, in fact they fit so well that I have one cropped pair of trousers that don't need anything doing to them!

But there are some minor alterations to be made to the two shirts she sent, one simply because the buttons gape a bit and it just needs a stitch to hold everything in and decent, and the other shirt has a small hole and way too much tight elastic around the arms so I am going to remove the elastic and get rid of the puff sleeves.

In the meantime Thea is sorting out her wardrobe and has a pile of requests of her own, one dress to be altered to a t-shirt, another pair of trousers to make into shorts, this time with turn ups rather than a frayed edge.

So coffee and a biscuit then off to the studio.


Edited:-

OK it is now Sunday night, and the alterations plan went well as long as it lasted, then things took an embellishment twist.

I started off by cutting and hemming a pair of jogging bottoms for me to wear for work, then moved on to the stitch for my gaping buttons, but by the time I had shortened Thea's dress to a t-shirt I was bored.

Which meant that by the time I got to the brown shirt that just needed a small hole fixing and some elastic removing I couldn't just stop there, out came the ribbon and lace basket and I found this bit of pom-pom trim, which was just long enough to attach to the sleeves, then I added a couple of wooden beads to the neckline ties.  Another original for the summer.


This morning we started the day with a quick visit to a local small car boot; there was not much there to be honest but at least we left the house and had a change of scenery for a couple of hours.  Whilst there about the only bargain that I found was this piece of vintage 70s floral fabric, only a small remnant but enough there to make up another bag.  And while the weather was way too hot for gardening (36°C in the shade today) I stayed in my studio and got another bag sewn up.

My plan for this week while Thea has a free day is to get another little photoshoot sorted for the collection of bags I now have ready for listing on Etsy.

Productive Day in the studio - new bag design on vintage fabrics.

The lovely weather is continuing - not - lovely for ducks perhaps. With the grey skies looming overhead with the threat of yet more heavy rain I decided to shut myself away with my stereo and my sewing machine in my studio.

I designed another easy bag on my very useful plastic coated publicity material, lit the fire and started cutting away.

I finished sewing up the bag I started the other day, finished it with some wooden beads,

 then used the same vintage 70s cotton to make up another bag in my new design with some hand crocheted flowers to add a bit of detailing, then had a go at another nautical themed bag in the same design.

 Very pleased with the way these have turned out, and also how my new design works, only two pieces, a round bottom, then a single cut of material to form the tube body of the bag, then this pattern piece is folded in half and creates the template for the handle.

Very productive day.

New bags and embellishments

It has not just been busy here the last couple of days it has been absolutely manic.

I think every one of our neighbours has been round with something that needs fixing, we have some friends over from the UK on holiday too and are trying to spend some time with them, as well as trying to get as much done as we can in the garden and house in between showers.

On the basis that we all have to draw a breath every now and again and take some zen time, I managed to find a couple of hours yesterday in my studio to draw up a new bag design and get the first prototype sewn up.  It took a bit longer than expected because of having to think everything through before committing my scissors to the cloth - what's that old adage, measure twice, cut once.

If I thought yesterday was busy today was relentless.  The current fix-it list for Brendan is: Polo, Clio, John Deere, seized tractor water pump, a dead VW 4x4, leaky tap, a broken rotavator,  and a non-running Renault tractor - this is all because he is off to the UK for a few days himself next week so of course everyone wants things done before he goes!  Oh well, looks like painting the bathroom will be a project for me then.

Earlier, while he sat cruising on the internet for a cheap car stereo for another one of our neighbours I ran away to my studio so I could get the trimmings onto the finished bags, one denim bag done, two cotton bags with embroidery and crochet flowers done, one cotton bag with felt flowers finished, now I just need Thea to model them so I can get them listed on Etsy.

Photos to follow when I can get the computer tower to work - I guess my Dutch is still not up to scratch on Microsoft gobbledegook!

Edited: Wednesday - as you can see I managed to get a couple of photos up.

For sale in my shop today......

I finished this cute little cushion this morning too, ready for sale in my etsy shop here.

This was made by cutting two circles of material, one from a vintage tablecloth and one from an old skirt, then I measured the diameter of the circles and cut a band of 10 centimetres width to create a band between the two circles to give the cushion more depth.

The band was then pinned to the two circles, right sides together for the top and bottom, then I machine stitched the top circle and then the bottom circle, leaving a gap in the band where it overlaps to create a small 'hole'to allow me to add the stuffing.


Firstly the cushion itself had to be turned the right way out, by being pulled through the small gap in the banding.

The stuffing was some polyester kapock, and the cushion was then finished with a handful of vintage buttons from my button drawer in some matching blue and green tones.

Wednesday morning in my studio for a quickie.....

Before shooting off to work this morning I had a couple of hours to myself so I got out the materials and the patterns for the bags that I want to make in the next couple of days and started to snip away.

 This bag will be made from a pair of old black trousers, a shirt in abstract greys and blacks, and the lining from a skirt.  Here are all the layers when I had finished cutting. 

 While I was in the studio I finished off the top that I made the other day with some little belt loops in cotton ready for the satin ribbon that will tie around the waist to finish it off - watch out for the appearing in my shop in the next couple of days - when I can get my model to stand still for long enough to put it on so I can photograph it.

The first photo you see today is a selection of the treasures in my bargain buy of the car boot at the weekend.  A bag of miscallaneous sewing items for one euro.  In there were some nylon threads, some cottons, some wools, some hook and eyes, some mohair sewing thread, some elastic, some ribbon, some bias trim and of course some buttons.

Not that I am button obsessed you know - after all - doesn't everyone have a kitchen drawer packed to the gills with buttons?

Boudoir cushions

I have no money to buy magazines but every now and again a magazine falls into my hands.

My ultimate favourites are home and garden style magazines. I know I can't afford the things in them, but sometimes they can be inspirational. I only wish I had the flair to copy what I see.

Anyway - some time ago a couple of these magazines fell into my hands ( I call them my porn mags - because I dribble and drool over them ).

Inside I found some cute boudoir cushion ideas in all sorts of fabrics, styles and sizes, so thought I would have a go at making some myself.

This one, available for sale in my Etsy shop here, is a small round cushion made from some recycled creamy linen from a shirt and some goldy beige satin trousers, that has been stuffed with some polyester kapok and finished with a simple tweed flower design and some vintage buttons.

I started this little cushion this morning, then finished it when I got back from the doctors (not a bad wait this time, just over an hour - wish appointment systems existed at our local quacks).

It was very easy to do, taking an old linen shirt, some old satin trousers (don't ask -  the fashion police have already been on my case about them) and a dinner plate.  Mark out two circles of material, then cut leaving about a centimetre of material for hemming, nip little triangles out of the hem to allow it fold in on itself more easily making sure not to cross over the line that marks the actual cushion. 

I then decorated the linen side of the cushion with some wool, some tweed leftovers and some vintage buttons, then baste right side to right side together with pins and machine sew on a small straight stitch all the way around save for a small gap of about 3 cms for stuffing, following the original line you marked around the dinner plate. 

Turn the cushion back through the hole and stuff with polyester kapok, real kapok or material scraps - what ever you have around, then sew the hole up in a matching thread making the stitches as small as you can.

Foraging bags

What do you get when you cross a conference attendee's gift bag with an old tweed skirt - well a foraging bag of course.

A lifetime ago I used to attend conferences for work and these bags were being given out as you signed in full of bits of promotional blurb and pens. At the end of the conference I managed to scrounge enough bags to outfit my daughter's Brownie pack as well as her gym club, not to mention the hundreds of pencils the conference hosts donated to her school too.

Full of sewing enthusiasm after the other day's successful bag efforts, I set up my studio this morning, and got this tweed skirt unpicked and ironed flat ready to be sewn up into something new and exciting. As it was unlined and I did not have anything suitable to put with it, I took these cotton conference bags out of storage and thought I would jazz them up and turn them into foraging bags inspired by my friend's foraging basket search at the flea market last weekend.

The tweed was simply cut into panels as allowed for by the skirt pattern they came from, then sewn to the cotton bags, creating folds and tucks for useful pockets - notebooks and pens, maps, books, paints and brushes, gloves or a water bottle and some cake. I used long strips of tweed on the handles finished with a bow, some vintage buttons at the base of the straps then added some vintage lace motifs.

These will be photographed in full for listing on Etsy shortly.