Beaded Bag and other stuff

Hey lovelies!

Wanna see some recent purchases? These are from the Hammersmith Vintage Fair last Sunday?

Oh, Ok then...

First up, I fell head over heels with this stunning beaded bag. I have never fallen in love with one of this type until I saw this one. It has something to do with the large scale roses I think. It will make a perfectly handy evening bag as it is big enough to include phone, purse and patch-up-make-up and it can hang from one's wrist without being bothersome. Others of this type are more petite, but sometimes you just need to take more stuff.

If this has got you inspired, I happen to know that Penny Dreadful is frantically listing a history lesson worth of beaded bags in her shop right now.

And then we have a gorgeous glass belt buckle with daisies on, circa 1930s. I have a feeling this could inspire a complete outfit, plus hat. Ohh! Hang on... No wait... I already have the perfect hat for this!

Surprise Surprise!

We also have MORE buttons on a card (a girl can never have enough buttons) and a 80s orange, gold and white broach. I intend to pretend it is 30s deco and I can just see it on a smart summer jacket lapel.

If that wasn't enough, I also found a reverse carved ring!! It only fits my pinky finger, but I like it there. 

Now, sneak preview shop information alert... That leopard print fabric that I have used as a backing is the fabric that I'm using in a new Mary dress. It is looking lush girls...stay tuned for more!

Shona x

Ric Rac Club sillyness

Last weekend some of us bounded over to the Ric Rac club held by the Vintage Mafia, and in honour of Naomi's new book. Fiona, Charlotte and I went together, and here are some silly "before" shots.

All of us actually made our outfits. Handy chicks eh? You can see progress of Charlotte's Valentine inspired one on her blog. Why we are all pulling cheesy grins or mildly amused faces I can't remember!

It was so much fun to get ready with a bunch of girls - I haven't done that in years (getting ready with Husband is not the same thing AT ALL). We had some other friends of mine over at the same time, who helped with stocking arranging and photo taking (Thanks Julie and Lynelle!)

The always necessary "Charlie's Angels" shot when there are 3 girls to photograph.

And attention to the fabulous shoes please!

The "after" shots would have been sillier, but it was too dark for my small handy camera that I took along. More will be bandied about I am sure, but in the meantime I just have to share a pic that the fabulous Hanson Leatherby got of Mr Wolf and I dancing...

I love this! I've bought the original and plan to blow it up and find a suitable spot for it. You can see more of his pics, and the fabulous outfits here. 

Shona x

The Fitzrovia Radio Hour

Hi there everyone
This week has flown by, so I'm just popping in to tell you of some great happenings. For Valentines day Mr Heyday and I took ourselves off to see The Fitzrovia Radio Hour, and we loved it so much I just had to let you know so you have a chance to book in as it is a limited run.

Pic stolen from The Abassadors Theatre site

It is romp through the radio stories of the 1940s when they used all sorts of implements to make the sound effects, except for, of course, this time you get to watch them. It is wonderful to watch and listen to see what makes the sounds of doors shutting, whisky pouring, letter writing, sloppy kisses and a giant mytical sea creature destroying a boat.

The characters play more than one part and you'll be on the edge of your seat trying to keep up with who is doing what. You'll get what I mean if you watch this clip of them performing at the Edinburgh festival:

They are performing in London on the 21 & 28 Feb and the 6th March and I really recommend it if you are up for something remarkably different. You can see availability and book here.

Also happening in London this weekend is the Ric Rac club. Check out Fleur's blog for details, it is bound to be massive, with far too many lovely people to meet and catch up with. I'm yet to finish sorting my outfit, but no doubt there will be pics next week!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend

Shona x

Style me Vintage!

 My pre-ordered copy of Style-me-Vintage turned up last week

 It is a lovely coffee table book, both for regular vintage lovers and for those new to the scene. The styling tips are excellent, the foundation information sound and the book itself is gorgeous - Perfect!

 The author, Naomi, of Vintage Secret really does know her stuff and it is evident that she put her all into putting this book together. Here she is looking gorgeous in her introduction.

 And Eeeeee! Here's Heyday trousers (this colour sadly sold out by the way) and a Olivia blouse on Fleur in the 40s section. I was thrilled to see this, as actually I didn't realise my business was going to be included. It is one heck of a compliment. Thank you Naomi!!

A teaser of the most stunning evening gown. 

Retro chick has also given a lovely review, as has Jeni, so you could go and check them out. 

There is a launch party coming up on the 18th Feb at their  Ric Rac club too. It is promising to be huge, with lots of the London vintage scene turning up to support Naomi, so do get your tickets before they sell out. 

What am I gonna wear?

Shona x

Too late for Christmas

I promised you more pictures of that sneaky hose in the back of the shoot, and here they are. I've been wearing this outfit quite a bit recently and while I had a hubby who was bored enough to take photos I thought we would show it to you

This lovely 2 piece knitted number has been a fave since it arrived, like the snow, too late for Christmas. It has a very slight A-line skirt which is just a bit easier on the thigh and tummy than a straight one.

The brooches are both from Acorn and Will and I couldn't resist wearing one of each colour with my outfit - its quite fun that way don't you think? They are so cheap you can afford to let your whims rule you!

The shoes are a fab find from my sister-in-law. She's good to me! 

Have a good Friday

Shona x

Snow! Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!

So gang, on Saturday night it snowed.

I like it when it snows, especially if I don't HAVE to go places.

We decided to make good use of it and have a little photoshoot in the back yard, just hubby and me, as you do. 

This is the new 40s coat that I am working on. It isn't quite ready to go commercial yet, as the shoulders need some more tweaking. So I am rather nervously showing it to you... eck! 

Even though it looks double breasted, there are only two buttons that do up at the waist.  You can also wear the collar undone for a open front, wide collar look.

When I get posing I often channel one of the gorgeous girls that model for me. I think today it is Kitten von Mew inspired.

As you can see the back is really full, nipping in snugly at the waist.

Please excuse the pesky hose in the background and the fact my collar is caught up. Those are the things I normally look for when I am on a shoot and NOT being the model. I was clearly too distracted by the snow... and by standing right.

The hose will make some more annoying guest appearances in another post too.

And this pose can only be attributed to me, age 6.

Do tell me what you think of the coat. 

Shona x

Hat fixings

We seem to be on "Hat week" in the blogging world, which is kinda neat that we are all thinking along the same lines. Here it is too cold to do much else than stay in doors and make hat repairs in the evening. I had never heard the term "brass monkeys" before moving to the UK and now I use it all the time.

Aren't those feathers lush - the hat is part of my Christmas pressie, but I'll show you pics of it when I'm all glammed up. Right now I promised I would fill you in on hat fixings to round off my last post. 

Wearing a hat is all about feeling confident in it...and confidence comes best with comfort, which includes not worrying about it becoming askew.

We are back to the inside of the same hat as before - sorry!

So to hold hats on, I use a combination of tools:
Elastic: A length of hat elastic (fine and round) that is secured on both sides of the hat. This goes behind your ears and under the back of your hair, not under your chin. (chin ribbons are reserved for bonnets and chinese style sunhats.)
You want the elastic to be the same colour or darker than your hair for the best hideability. You can buy specially made elastic with prongs at both ends on ebay, or plain hat elastic by the roll does just as well, which you then just knot at both ends to fasten it. Haberdashery shops normally have it in black or white only. I am better off with black as white shows up too much.

Half a comb: for more stability on hats without much brim I often attach a comb at the front of the hat. You only want a little one, so that it doesn't muss your hair up too much, so I snap one in half and hand sew it upside down (so that it is right way up when the hat is also right way up) to the ribbon. You need to go over and over with the needle and cotton a few times to make it secure, as on the green hat above. This makes an amazing difference to the hat stay-on-a-bility when combined with the elastic, as the hat can't fall back because of the comb, and it can't fall forward because of the elastic. Sorted!
(By the way - not all chemists or even all Boots have them in the UK, I had to go to four before I found mine - what's that all about? I thought they were still staple hair tools?)

Hat pin: Hat pins are a lovely way to add a bit more interest to a hat and some security. To find out more I'm going to send you over to Solanah who has a lovely post about how to wear them here, and here about how to decorate them. I've never decorated one before so I might have to try that. I agree with her wholeheartedly about anchoring your hair down first with bobby pins, because besides holding the hat down, it also stops the hat being able to move and drag your hairstyle with it.

Let me know how you get on with your hat fixings, or if you have techniques of your own to share!

Shona x

Orienteering - not the sporty kind

As predicted on my post "Hat Hair" I am now fixated on small "New Look" style hats. Soooo predictable me!
The fancy ones are sometimes called a cocktail hat or "Juliet Cap" and these often have wire on the inside so you can manipulate them to clamp onto your head. They are surprisingly easy to wear because they don't get in the way. They look like this:

Now that I am hunting for them on esty and ebay, I see an extraordinary number of them displayed the wrong way around, which makes it hard for shopping! So I thought I might share some basics of hat orienteering.

If any hat has a label on it, then that will go at the back. So for this one, that means that the plainer, flat pleated velvet bit is actually on the front. This makes sense as 50s ladies often had shorter cropped hair dos with lots of lovely height or curls at the front and a Juliet cap would be worn at the crown (towards the back, not the front) of the head to show the hair off. Quite often, but not always, this will mean that the decoration - a bow, feather, or a cluster of flowers, might be at the back of the head or the side, as it would be seen more easily there.

If there is no label, then the grosgrain ribbon that runs around the inside is the best clue. Where it joins or overlaps is the back of the hat. I have only met very few hats with no ribbon at all, in which case, you can experiment and will probably find that it is molded in such away to accomodate the lumpy crown part of your head. When I say lumpy, you know what I mean eh?

There is a bit of chat about hats going on right now so you can also pop over and read about hat pins with Solanah, and more hat hair style ideas with Charlotte. I have a second post (this was getting too long) about keeping them on coming right up too.

Shona x