Step back in time...

Well of late, pretty much all of my spare seconds have been spent preparing for a 1940s murder mystery which happened last night. I have been waiting for an excuse for ages to wop out my home made rollers and make up a '40s outfit and I finally had a reason!


I duly slept in my rollers, with my super glamourous blue old-lady-hairnet on, in order to have a bevy of beautiful curls to brush out for the event. I sewed up a dress and got some smashing seamed tights! Although I didn't guess the murderer I had so much fun. Now I just need to find another opportunity to go retro again!

Clickety Click!

I have been busy! Honest! Not just lazy!

I spent last weekend down in windy Dorset, jumping around on rocks and eating lots and lots of very nice cakes. I've been hankering for some new mittens for a while and now the weather is starting to turn chilly here, I thought a weekend away may be the perfect chance to start them off!

Unfortunately despite turning the house upside down I was unable to track down a set of 4 needles! Luckily the charity shops of Bridport came to the rescue! 4 sets of needles later (ranging in price from £1 to 10p a set!) I got a matching set the right size! Then it was just a case of making a test mitten before going for it with some lovely wool I picked up in Oxfam a couple of weeks back.

I thought 'how hard can it be? Its just the same but with extra needles!'. No. It is not. They are slippery and clunky and get in the way! Anyway, the knit one purl one wasn't going so well, and
so I am now attempting... a tube!!!


Currently its more of a ring... but it will grow! And once the tube is sufficiently tubular, hopefully I can move on to things with thumbs!!!

This week I have been mostly...

Bathing.

After another half move, I am now spliting my life between Hampshire and London, which means a fair amount of train travel and quite a lot of stressful limbo. To soothe my aches and stresses, I have taken to the bath.

I used to live in a house with a beautiful roll top bath and no shower (shock!). I thought it would be a massive inconvenience, but I actually quite enjoyed my nightly bath. It gave me quarter of an hour each day to just RELAX. It's quite amazing how much good it does my sanity to sit in some hot water for a half hour or so.

One day I hope to have a bathroom with contents as sweeeeet as this...

I already have the mirror... I'm on my way.

Working 9 till 5

I recently started a new job (after a year of student life between my last job and this) and so suddenly became in need of some super snappy office clothes. Sadly, new work doesn't pay immediately, so I needed something fast and cheap.

I trawled my BWOF (or Burdastyle as I believe it will soon be called) back copies and wrote down a list of about 2o pieces that would be suitable. I decided that my most pressing need was for skirts, and so I selected one that claimed to be only 1 and a half blobs of difficulty and was made up of only 3 pieces (speedy tracing and chopping... hurrah).

This was hastily followed by a quick hello to my local fabricland (fabric, lining and zip came to about £6 total... score!). A few muck ups (I didn't notice that the waistband measurements did not include seam allowance!) and pleats later, and tadaaah!

Burda Mag 04/09 113

It has plenty of give to allow for the copious amounts of office bending I do (OK that sounds dodgy - I mean I have to pick up lots of files from low shelves) and the ''kiss'' pleats make it a bit more interesting. I tried my hand at flat felled seams for the lining, and they worked a treat! I made no alterations to fit or style, and it was quick and easy to make.

All in all, pretty damn good!

You shall go to the ball

After several long weeks there has, all of a sudden, come a rush of activity in work, home and sewing. My poor machine has been languishing in my lengthy absence, and together we're getting all revved up about some new projects on the horizon! More to follow soon, but in the mean time, I've finally managed to get some photos together of my graduation ball dress!

After the pallava of making the damn thing fit, I realised that the only thing missing, was a wopping great big bow. So I added one, and felt much better about the whole situation.

Just to recap the changes made from the original BWOF 12/08 pattern were :
- Cutting the skirt off at the knee
- Raising the waist by about an inch
- Adding waist darts
- Adding a bust dart on the shoulder strap side
- Raising the shoulder
- Adding a big bow

If I was making it again, I think I'd just use the lining pattern for the bodice and not bother with the shoulder pleats included in the original pattern. They can't really be seen on the photos because they came out pretty badly and had to be covered by the big bow. I think if I'd done them properly they would have looked good, but it really wasn't very clear at all, and some how I managed to ruck them all up. They looked fine when they were flat, but when I put it on they looked pretty bad.

Generally this pattern was not a good fit for me, but I think after all the tweaking the dress came out looking pretty good, so I was happy in the end and had an awesome time at the ball. And both the dress and I made it into the survivors photo!

Good reads

I swung by the shops the other day and managed to pick up a bevvy of good reads! (Look how fantastic they look!!)


I only went in for a copy of Burda Mag and came out with the Chap as well (which technically was a prezzie for my dad, but I couldn't resist reading it a bit first). Then I came upon these 40s copies of Womans Weekly when looking for port glasses! One of them has an awesome pattern for some mittens (something I have been looking for for a while) and each copy has a lovely little insight into the meaning of a name!

I also picked up this dainty little dress pattern.

I loved the wopping pleats coming up from the sides (even if the 4 pattern ladies do have an air of Sex and the City about them!). However it is COMPLETELY the wrong size. Its way too big and petite!! But, I hope this will lead on to my first forray into pattern grading which is a little bit exciting!

The Graduate!

Again massive absenteeism. I really will try to get better, but my excuse is that I've been on holiday in Devon, and I couldn't even get phone signal there let alone internet!

It was a lovely holiday, the weather was hot and sunshiney and we ate so much delicious food that I think I'd probably brake the scales if I went anywhere near them!! I got a real treat though on the last day, when we went to a local market, and I picked up a nice haul of vintage buttons. There was a big box with lots of little bags of buttons in each labled 50p a bag, so after a good rummage I managed to get a few bags of gooduns. (Apologies for the poor photos - it has now started to throw it down and all the light has vanished!)

Along the purpley/navy colour theme were these. Despite some of them being 'the same', through fading, they are mostly slightly different colours, which I feel adds to their appeal. I think the fans are just lovely, and I managed to pick up a whole bag of those so I was very pleased.

I also couldn't help giggling at (and therefore purchasing) these little yellow phones. I know they are meant for children, but I see them cheering up a much more somber jumper or t-shirt. Probably something navy (as I am a navy addict).

There were tons of unusual shops in Devon. Lots of second hand and vintage shops as well, which is quite rare. Infact, in most places we went to it was much easier to get hold of second hand things than new! There was a wonderful vintage shop in Totnes, which was so crammed full that you could barely see what was in it. There was a little room at the back with lots of wedding dresses hung on the walls and a mirror in the centre, it was crazy but beautiful. Sadly as I am still without job, I was a bit low on funds to be buying the things I liked (which was plenty!), but I will return when wealthier!!

In other news, Graduation went off hitch free and there are posts to follow of Graduation Dresses 1&2, when I can get some decent pics together!