Vintage Pledge 2016 - a Bit of Leopard

Hello! Once I read about the Vintage Pledge for 2016 on Marie's blog here, I knew I couldn't not get involved. After all, I have more than I know what to do with:

Just a few then...

I decided to start with McCall's 9722, which is a TNT for me. I love the simplicity of the design - it's just one piece and a waistband - and the draping at the waist is flattering and comfortable.

My old leopard skirt was looking the worse for wear, and since I consider leopard a wardrobe basic it was important it was replaced. I spotted this lovely stretch fabric at Fabworks Online:

The skirt fabric is the top right; I went a bit leopard crazy and got the pink jersey for a t-shirt

And here it is:

Picture taking coincided with wash day and my hair being up in a beehive, so Mr Needles decided it would be apt to go full-kitchen sink drama and take some photos while I pegged out the laundry.

The skirt is very easy to make, as it's just a center back seam with a zip and a waistband. I strayed from the vintage path and put in an invisible zip, where normally I would hand pick the zip on a piece like this. But they're still such a novelty to me I want any excuse to use them!

I shortened the length to just past the knee, rather than the vintage mid-calf. The pattern calls for the back vent to be sewn closed, making it in essence a pleat, but I turned it into a lapped split instead. 

And the whole lot was lined with some deep purple poly from my stash:

And that's really it! This is sure to be just the first of many vintage patterns I make up this year. 

See you soon!

What Would Joan Do?

If you're at all interested in sewing or blogs, you can't have missed the many posts about the big meet up that happened in London a few weekes ago. Those of us who went have been on a needlework high of love and sisterhood, and some great friendships have formed - I'm looking at you Clare of Sew Dixie Lou, Janene Ooobop, Joanne Sew Little Time, Emma of My Oh Sew Vintage Life, Sew Busy Lizzy, and Hannah Sinbad and Sailor. Meanwhile, Mr Needles still can't quite understand what it's all about and thinks I've joined a crazy cult of sewers.

And you know what crazy sewers love? Joan Collins and Dolly Parton, of course. I mean, who doesn't love these ladies? They break all the rules of fashion:

Legs?

Or cleavage? Why not both!

They don't know the meaning of casual:

Dolly doing a spot of farming

THIS is how you wear denim!

 And too much is never enough:

I love how Dolly's hair struggles to fit in the shot.

Joan, just chillin' out at home

With this wealth of inspiration to work with, Clare at Sew Dixie Lou has launched a Dolly and Joan sew along. (Go read her post because its hilarious!) There aren't really any rules, other than no half measures allowed. There should be frills, sequins, fringing, satin, lame, beading, netting - hopefully all on the same outfit.

I've decided to start off with a Joan-inspired piece - a gold lame pencil skirt made with fabric left over from my wedding dress. (One thing I've realised is that this is going to be really easy for me - I seem to have a very Joan and Dolly based wardobe without even realising it!). I whipped this up on my day off, using McCalls 9722. Then I cracked out the blusher, put on my biggest earrings, and decided to try it out doing a bit of light housework:

Doing the washing:

Bringing some glamour to cleaning the bathroom:

Some light dusting:

Time for lunch:

I even did a spot of knitting:

It was like living a little bit of Joan's life for one day - if she did housework and lived in a one bedroom apartment.

So be warned, this is just the first in a series of shiny, sparkly, fringey Joan and Dolly inspired outfits.

See you soon!

McCalls 9722 Goes to the Jubilee

You may have heard that we've been celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee here in Britain, and because of this, I made another version of the McCall's 9722 especially for the Jubilee! (See its previous plain black incarnation here) I thought it was fitting to wear a skirt with a map of London on the Queen's special day, with fabric I purchased in Amsterdam (I know, it doesn't really make sense...)

Practicalty was the order of the day, so I wore:

Black beret - knitted by me

Marc by Marc Jacobs jacket - Sale purchase, about 10 years ago

Blouse - made by me (post to come)

Black brogues - Office Shoes, £50

Brown patent Roger Vivier bag - charity shop, about £5 

Here's a close up of the fabric:

I'm not a big Royalist, but who doesn't love an extra day off work, and an excuse to drink champagne in the street! And that's exactly what Mr Needles and I did on Sunday.

First was the Wilton Way Diamond Jubilee Street party, in Hackney:

 We drank Prosecco flavoured with Kir:

Mr Needles, getting his fancy-schmancy drunk on

 We ate Jubilee-themed salted caramel cupcakes:

 There were lovely window displays to admire:

And everyone was out in their finery:

Bikers can celebrate the Jubilee too!

 One of my favourite scenes of the day - Coins Junkyard Snack Bar, run by Mike from Hot Breath Karaoke. It was an ingenious deep fat fryer rigged up on a shopping trolley, with added karaoke! Deep fried pickle anyone?

Then it was on to Chatsworth Rd in Clapton, to partake of their Jubilee festivities. More bunting, etc, but this time with added Pearly Kings, Queens, and Princes:

By now, the traditional British drizzle was getting to us, so we ducked into Cakey Muto for a fantastic gruyere and cashew pie, and hot coffee:

But 2 street parties wasn't enough for us, and even though it had been drizzling and raining pretty much non-stop, we were determined to make our way towards the Thames and see if we could catch a glimpse of Queenie on her barge.

It was pretty crowded:

After trudging across Waterloo Bridge in the rain, we made it to the Plaza in front of the National Theatre, just in time to watch a band doing Beatles and Kinks covers in the pouring rain. Even though the heavens were unleashing what seemed like a month's worth of rain on us, everyone was jumping around and singing along :

Then it was time for beer and drying out in the Royal Festival Hall:

And we never saw the Queen on her boat, though I did see an orchestra on a barge!

That was our Jubilee, in all of its soggy glory!

Take A Stroll Around My Hoard of Patterns...

Pattern tower!

 Ahh...my patterns...where would I be without them?

I've been collecting sewing patterns steadily since the mid 80's, and now have just under 200, the majority of them from the 1950's and 60's. Almost all of them were found in charity shops and junk shops, mostly in the 1990's, before anyone had any real interest in them; as a result, I paid pennies for most of them. 

They are my pride and joy - if I had to rescue one thing if my house was on fire, after Mr Needles, I'd try to carry out as many of these as could manage! They provide so much inspiration, and have taught me so much about cut and fit; and I LOVE a good diagram. They also represent something deeper - they give what I feel is a true representation of what the masses wore, rather than the high fashion, luxury representations we see in costume history books and museum collections. This was the main reason I became so obsessed with amassing them. As part of my degree, I studied Fashion History, and got mightily fed up with looking at the clothes of the wealthy. It seemed to me that we were being peddled a false idea of what our ancestors wore, as the only fashions documented were those of the privileged, and the only pieces that survived were those that were worn little.

But hey - enough seriousness! Lets look at some of my favourites - 

I'm pretty sure this was the first one I bought, from a charity shop in Cambridge:

This was the first 'vintage' dress I ever made, in about 1987; I made the one on the right, minus the collar, out of some plain black cotton.

These are some of my oldest ones, from the 1930's:

As you can imagine, there aren't many around from wartime, but I do like this one, with its special instructions for coupons, etc.:

'Professional dressmakers are reminded that they must comply with the making of civilian clothing (restrictions) orders'

Here's one I've always wanted to make, from the more conservative part of the 1960's:

And then representing the 'Swinging' part of the 60's is this Blackmore Le Roy pattern:

Is that Jean Shrimpton with a small furry creature resting on her head? -

I rarely buy anything from the 80's, but I have one or two. If I threaten to make this one, make sure I get barred from Blogger:

Penguins and Martians! I love this collection of boys' and mens' fancy dress outfits:

And I wonder if there was much call for a Kimono Pattern Service:

Every now and then you come across a promotional insert, like this one for a measuring device/instrument of torture:

Finally, here's one I bought recently from Jaycotts - it's actually new! I'm thinking of making this one sometime soon -

That was a tour around my just a few of my patterns - hope you enjoyed it!