The gift of spring...a goofy title for a outfit post

I have a new favourite dress. Wait till you see the print!!

Yup, it actually has wrapped gifts all over it, with different initials on the tags. So now the title of this post makes more sense eh?

And it it has orange highlights. Orange is good

You may or may not know by now that when we are taking photos, I just goof around pretending to be a proper model. Posing is quite fun when you goof. 

We were thrilled to see that our local park did the same wiggly line of daffodils that they had last year. 

I'd do that too if I was a gardener at a park

Shona x

The info bit:

Dress, vintage bought at the jukebox show

Bolero, knitted by my mum-in-law

Shoes, second hand Rocket dog. Needed a good clean after walking in the damp grass!

Hair flower, made by me

Glasses, vintage by Dead men's Spex

jewellery bits and bobs - all vintage from various stalls

Don't forget to enter our best ever giveaway if you haven't already done so, the competition ends midnight BST Sunday http://intheheyday.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/its-competition-time-our-biggest-prize.html

Daffodils and Dresses

A couple of weekends ago Wolf and I headed off to our local park for a quick walk. The blossoms were all in full regalia and we were thrilled to see that someone clever had planted a swirling scroll of Daffodils around one corner of it. These ones were out quite late compared to others but the combination of Daffs and Blossoms was a very happy one!

Thank you clever gardener person, you really made my day.

My outfit that day was a dress I had bought dead stock. It didn't have a label on it, but it did have a paper size tag sewn in the collar, so it was evident it had never been washed until it got to me! It fits me so well that people think I made it for myself. (Thank you little old lady who was a mad shopper but didn't wear everything)

Teamed with a hair flower pinned on as decoration for a bit of flippant-ness

and little square earrings that are a change from my usual flowery earlobes.

Cute buttons

Later the same night I struggled to sleep, so was flipping through my Sears catalog books for inspiration in the wee early hours... and what did I find?

Yes, that is MY dress on the bottom right! Whooo hooo!! Now if I ever have unlimited time and money I want to travel the US piecing together the whole catalog. Oh yes!

I hope you are finding some reasons to feel happy today wherever you are.

Shona xx

I fell off the treadmill

Hello again!!

I am sorry I have neglected you all for so long. I fell off the treadmill!  Nothing bad happened, no catastrophe to blame my slackness on. Not even anything exciting to whisk me away from you all.... nope...nothing but I the fact that I have been worn out, feeling poorly, not sleeping well, having appointments about my dodgy knees and completely full up from just keeping up. So without really intending to I fell off from Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and even REAL people for nearly 6 whole weeks! I haven't even done any sewing, or turned out my summer wardrobe, or watched the rest of the Mad Men series one (I am far behind!). I have barely called my mother. In fact, March? What March? I think I missed it.

What I have been doing is looking after myself, which is a very valuable thing to do. I had to get to 38 before I learnt how. Yet even when things feel at a standstill, life does slowly tick over, so this is a wee update:

I have nearly completed a 6 week beginners course at Burlesque Baby. 

So THAT is how you walk!? Who knew?  And I can tell you, it is a walk that will get you noticed and possibly (hopefully) given free things. I am thinking: Lamborghini, diamonds and champagne, though I will think myself lucky if I get a cuppa tea and a bus ride. Now, I am not planning on becoming a burlesque star, and not even sure I will get my puppies out even in the next block of classes, but my inner Dolly Parton is loving it. As the song goes..."well, hello, Dolly... It's so nice to have you back where you belong". A bit of strutting about goes a long way.

That delectable gymnast above is my teacher, the lovely and gorgeous Ruby Deshabille (pic shamelessly nicked from her facebook page). Ruby, when do we get that stockings off trick in class? (hmmm, on second thoughts, I might not survive the process, having suffocated myself with my own boobs. Maybe not then.)

I've been working away on various projects, one of which started to bear fruit yesterday on a photo shoot with Gordon Ayres. He is REALLY good. Here is a wee taster, including a neighbourhood cat, though it doesn't give nought away yet (heh heh). The model here is the lovely Gemma from Bake do and Mend. 

The rest of everything has been varied...knitting a 30s twinset, off to a masked ball, admiring the daffodils, lapping up Boardwalk Empire and trolling the Hammersmith vintage fair. Even just getting down to work with the doors open and the birds a-larking in the trees has been fab. With spring finally here I have got some bounce back, just like Dolly here.

Yeah HA!

Button Botox

Probably like most sewers, I have a back log of projects that need doing that takes up considerable mountainous space in my sewing room (and back of wardrobe, under bed, and behind doors... separating it out is part of a cunning plan to hide how much I hoard).

I got cracking yesterday, a sunny spring afternoon on a button-a-thon and wanted to show you how much difference a button makes.

I am rather in awe of my own button collection, I seem to always have just the right button in there for the project at hand, and it rarely fails me. I think it is a bit magical really, as I just buy on a whim and a fancy when pretty buttons find me at charity shops and the like. This sunny afternoon was no exception!

First up, here are the "before" photos of my three vintage items in need of a facelift:

A recent acquisition, lovely navy with polka dot 40s dress. Bought from Panama Hattie (no website sorry, you have to see her out and about, which you can do at the Crich Tramway 40s weekends). The fabric is great (though see-through as Polly, my dolly, pointed out), and it will be super cool even with a slip for summer. I am not normally a lace collar type of girl but this one was just right. The buttons though, were rather solid and too white for the collar, and the top button showed through the lace collar as a big white blob. You will see further below how I dealt with that!

A sweet 50s blouse, purchased at the recent Brighton Jukebox show from a lovely Dutch guy whose name I didn't get (he also had lovely linen garments and homewares that I wish I had scooped). It was obviously well loved and cared for but sporting two types of gorgeous buttons. Too distracting for me. (gosh, I thought I wasn't so much into lace collars, but that is two items in a month! I better watch out or it might become a bit of a 'thing' with me)

And finally a 50s/60s dress and jacket, bought from Home Sweet Homestyle at Hep Cats Holiday. The Jacket was nearly going to be left at the back of the cupboard, being terribly boxy for me in a typical 60s style, but I gave it a try to see if I couldn't liven it up, starting with my magic button box! (I have now taken it in with some darts and will show you in another post). The buttons it is sporting here are not the original, as they are a half inch out of placement, and they may have faded. At any rate, it was not helping the jacket step out of the doldrums and into wearable land.

So this is what the Button box turned out:

Some fabulous 40s buttons with little holes around the outside, creating an inverse polka dot of about the same size.  They are a off white and not as chunky as the original.

Under the collar I planted an plain navy button, to do away with that solid blob that distracted from the lace work right in the centre of things.  It will never be seen, and that is just the point of making it a background button.

As for the 50s blouse I opted for plain plain plain, it is a actually a modern button which I was thankful to find three of, with a slight pearly lustre just right for being stylishly subtle and to look vintage-esque enough.

And finally - the most amazing match, a 50s/60s button in a pearlised blue that does just the right amount of matching and lifting the jacket. I doubt I could have found a better combination of colour, style and decade anywhere!

So there we have it, a case of Button Botox bringing new life to old garments. I am really looking forward to giving these all an outing and I will show you how they look in action then.

I will leave you with a selection of spring inspired buttons I found during my fossick.  The plate, amazingly is Royal Albert "Blossom Time", how fitting!

Shona x