Snood and Earrings Competition - Winner!

It's time to announce the winner of my first competition. I'll refresh your memory regarding the prizes:

A snood crocheted by me:

and a pair of earrings, made out of buttons, again by me:

As it is coming up to Easter, I thought it was appropriate to use my glass chicken for the prize draw. Here it is with the entries:

And the winner is......

La Sophia!

Brilliant! I'm sure she'll be able to incorporate it into one of her fabulous outfits. Sophia, send me your address, and I'll make sure your goodies get to you as soon as possible... And for those who didn't win, I'm sure this will be the first of many giveaways, so check back for more. In the meantime, have a look at Sophia's blog, and her creative way with a thrifstore find.

Take care!

From Lumpy to Lovely

My home is in disarray because Mr Needles and I have decided to re-decorate, as we want to sell up someday soon, and as a neat freak/control freak, I find it a bit hard to cope with everything being all over the place (where did all of these shoes come from?), so I need stuff to take my mind off of it. 

Admit it, it's a bit lumpy.....

 I bought this jumper last year from a thrift store in a Miami suburb. I can't remember the price - maybe about $5 - and even though I wasn't quite sure about it at the time, I thought how bad could it be ...... because it has HUGE SILVER SEQUIN BOWS ON THE SHOULDERS !!!!!! -

Brilliant bows!

 Judging by the label (below) and the feel of the fabric (pure, luxurious acrylic!) it looks like it's from the 80', maybe late 70's:

 But when I tried it on, it's just a big shapeless thing with these big sequin lumps on the shoulder. Not one to be put off, I decided it would be much better as a little cardigan. I've noticed how vintage knitwear from the 50's and 60's is often faced with grosgrain ribbon along the buttonholes and buttonband.

With this in mind, I went off to Ridley Rd market for 3 m of black ribbon (total : £1.98) and then set about making it much less lumpy!

First, I found the centre front and ran some tacking stitches along this line. I also undid a few of the sequins at the neck and secured them with pins, to be re-stitched later:

Close up of un-stitched seqins

Next, I pinned a length of ribbon each side of the centre front tacking, on the wrong side of the jumper:

This was stitched in place, then the jumper was cut along the tacking stitches.Then I folded the ribbon around to the front, and stitched it back down:

I tried it on at this stage; the length is still a bit too long, and unflattering. I pinned ribbon about 4" from the bottom edge, and did the same as the front.

And voila!

Now it's more like a little jacket. As I'm a bit lazy, and I'm not that keen on the buttonholes my machine makes, I decided to just fasten it with a little crystal button at the neck.

I took these photos a little while after finding out that Amy Winhouse had passed away. Such a shame. Shooting stars shine brightest.

Vintage Knitter Swap Partner Gifts

Best parcel ever!

The other Friday, I got home from a hard day at work to find the most brilliant parcel waiting for me. It was covered in stickers of all my most favourite things, even a picture of 'Meet Me in St Louis', one if my favourite movies:

 It could only be one thing - my swap partner parcel fom Liza at The Vintage Knitter! And it did not disappoint! 

All of the gifts were beautifully wrapped, stacked up in a little pile; one even had some lilac ric-rac trim (I love ric-rac; I should use it more...):

I greedily tore them open, to find these lovely things:

 All the best-est things in the world - 2 Stitchcrafts from the 1940's, a great coral nail varnish from Barry M, , a beautiful 1930's purse, a book full of great sewing diagrams (I love a good diagram!), and best of all, a great swallows necklace, made by Liza's own fair hand. Be sure you check out her work at Buttoned Up Betsy - her prices are so reasonable, it would be a shame not to.

Great Barry M varnish

  I've worn the necklace quite a bit, it goes with everything:

 I'm 3/4 of the way through my parcel for Liza, but the bar has been set so high, I don't know if I can meet these levels of wonderful-ness. It will be winging its way to you soon!

Beautiful Buttons Dress - Complete (At Last)

 
This dress would have been completed a long time ago, if only I hadn't been slowed down by belt buckle problems. I just couldn't find one I liked. I wasn't asking for much - 1" wide, black plastic, it didn't have to be particularly special, as long as it had a metal pin so it stayed buckled. Could I find it? It was like trying to find rocking horse poo. 

 I settled on the one you see above, though I think it's a bit big. I can always change it later......

Here are some highlights from making it - 

No zip! I've never made a dress with a placket at the front, but I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. And it shows the buttons off beautifully:

Close up of button placket

I reinforced the split at the back with a little arrowhead. I should use these more......

Close up of Arrowhead being worked

Over the years, I've become fussy about the inside of everything I make. I find it hard to just 'run something up'; I can't leave the insides alone! I try to line everything; on skirts I usually bind the hems; on dresses I also bind the waist seam; and I use French seams wherever possible, just so it's neat and tidy on the inside. (Maybe I'm a bit OCD......) The result is this:

Skirt lining with bound waist seam

Bound hem, catch stitched to dress

Lining at back split, hand sewn to seam allowances

Though I'm happy with the way it looks, and it feels lovely to wear, it means that a dress which was meant to be something I could just 'throw on' is now a bit too special. Don't get me wrong - I'll wear it as much as I want - but I need to stop being so meticulous because it's slowing my output down!

Here are some close-ups of the belt:

I've never made one before, so really I just made it up as I went along. A stiff interfacing gave it some substance, then after it was stitched and turned right side out, I bound the holes for the pin with buttonhole stitch.

Finally, the dress has shoulderpads, which I thought was bit unusual for a dress of the 1950's. Wasn't the New Look all about round, natural shoulders, a departure from the square shouldered 1940's? I toyed with leaving them out, but decided to follow the pattern faithfully, so put some lightweight, rounded ones in. I didn't think they'd work, but they actually create a nice line. 

Shoulder pad (it was really hard to photograph)

I planned to wear it tomorrow to the Stitch Crawl, but rain is predicted, so I'm in 2 minds about attending. If I do, pictures will follow!

 It's not my car - I can't even drive!
 

Beautiful Buttons

Aren't they fabulous! Every time I visit Dalston Mill Fabrics, I look longingly at these buttons, and finally I've resolved to make something based around them. I've had this pattern for a while, and I think these buttons will be perfect for it:

I know it's summer, but I really fancy a chic black dress with some texture or pattern in the fabric. I think this fits the bill: a cotton-mix swirly, brocad-ey lightweight fabric. And I've chosen a turquoise fabric for a lining, just for a bit of fun!

I'm off to get started......

Normal Service is Resumed

Sorry I've been away from blog-land, but there's been some rubbish to deal with at work that's been getting me down, but it's all sorted now, so you'll be seeing more of me!

The car blouse is done at long last. After my dilemmas about what to wear it with, and my complete rejection of Mr Needles' suggestion of purple, here I am wearing it with an old purple pencil skirt I made years ago, and it looks fine.

Caught off guard with a grumpy face.

The blouse was pretty straight forward to make; the only thing I altered were the sleeves, which I shortened, as the original had 3/4 sleeves which looked a bit too business-like for this fabric.

Button closure at back of neck

I also added a little car button at the back of the neck; the pattern recomended a boring old hook and eye, but I'm a sucker for cute buttons. I also added one at the left side, under the zip closure.

Button closure at hem

Hope you're enjoying the lovely weather, and see you soon!