Vintage Hair and Beauty

This weekend I had a great treat. I went to the Festival of Vintage in York. It was amazing; so much to see and do. My main treat was a vintage makeover. There was a Vintage Beauty Parlour run by lovely Bethany so I booked in to have the works. Just for fun.

At the parlour:

And the reveal:

These two charming gents were presenting a display an the Home Guard and agreed to pose with me, very kindly.

Bethany worked a miracle on my hair. She used tongs, pins and about a tone of hairspray. Her colleague did the make-up. She told me for a '50s look you need "red lips, strong blush and liquid-eyeliner winged out." You can follow Bethany on Facebook as well (links on her website).

I will be putting more pics from the Festival very soon x

Tense?

My newest knitting project is a cardigan. Sort of newest, it has been at the front of the queue for months. The yarn was bought ages ago. I think I have had stagefright ever since. You see, the yarn is Rowan and so costs a blimmin fortune. Now I have conquered short rows I have no excuse.

I have knitted the tension square:

I must be serious because I wouldn't usually bother. However as I have only made dolls' clothes, baby clothes and scarves in the last 20 years I though I'd better try to get it right before I spend months knitting the thing.

The tension is right, so I'm off! I don't think it will be ready for MMM '12, somehow. I still haven't signed up.....

Cake

Retro shoes

Lucky old me! I am the proud owner of these gorgeous sandals that arrived in the post today. They are gorgeous, really well made and I am thrilled with them.

I got them from http://www.rocketoriginals.co.uk/ where they are not cheap but oh so worth it. I have been looking for some vintage style shoes for a while, I cannot buy them second hand because I have quite large feet. I found this website and have been thinking about buying them for a while. The shoes are a copy of a late 40s early 50s pair.

I felt a bit guilty paying so much. But they are exactly what I wanted. Last year I bought a pair of cheap sandals and every time I wore them I begrudged the money I had spent and felt a bit dissatisfied with them. Finally I have started to come around to the idea that it is better to buy something really nice and enjoy every second.

It's just as well that these bags are out of stock or I would have had to get one of those as well!

Truffle

Here I am on sewweekly. I am so pleased to have a post up. As promised, here is the inside of my dress:

Even better, I hemmed the dress using vintage hemming tape:

 This tape was sent to me as part of a sewweekly swap last year, I was so pleased to get to use it. The hand sewing took a couple of hours in front of the tv and was worth all the hassle, the dress came out really well.

Lesson learnt: take your time and have an end result to be proud of!

Helmet, anyone?

I found the cutest little helmet pattern on http://www.ravelry.com/ and it is free! (Just look for aviatrix helmet - I can't link, you have to go on your ravelry account). I wanted a pattern to try out a new technique: short rows. I found a really clear tutorial and have finished one helmet in a couple of evenings:

Modelled by Baby Annabell (the hat is the newborn size) aided by one of our cats, Ozzy. Note: the dummy is the model's own. I like this technique, I have managed to shape a hat on straight needles. I have a cardigan to make using this technique for some shaping but wanted to try it out first on something small. The pattern so great I am on my second one which is the first of my Christmas gift making! Yes, I know.

I have also finished a little cardi which actually is for baby Annabell:

I am using up wool and ran out so I had to make short sleeves. It is springtime though so I hope dolly won't get too cold. Tee hee!

I'm in the moodboard for dancin'

This is my moodboard for the Colette Spring/Summer 2012 Color Palette Challenge. I had lots of fun collecting ideas on http://www.pinterest.com/ and making the board using http://www.beeclip.com/ - all very easy!

The valleys are low...but the mountains are high

Two steps forward, one step back. I have now put the 22 inch invisible zip into my Colette Truffle FOUR times. Four. Yes. Twice today.

#1 I managed to put the teeth in the wrong way but notice before I have done too much. OK, quick unpick about 8 inches. Not too bad.

#2 Get the zip in OK on both sides but the waist seam doesn't quite match - it's just out. I sew up the seam anyway THEN decide I really ought to try again. Out it all comes.

#3 Get the zip in great. I take my time and even baste it in to try to get the waist seam to match. It's still a little out but I decide I can live with that. I sew the facing in and finish the seam, Then zip it all up to admire the finished article. That's when I notice - the shoulder strap is twisted. See pic above. My heart sinks. Swear a bit. Make a cup of tea. Rip it all out.

#4 I think it's right this time! The middle vertical seam is the zip. The horizontal seam is the waist. I am very proud.

Should I have left it alone after the second time? This time last year I would have been thrilled just to get the zip in let alone have anything line up. Am I getting too fussy? What do you do when you mess up?

Happy Easter

Yum!

Passing on skills

Looking after a friend's kids today. Turned out to be loads of fun and we passed a couple of hours knitting. I had a good student !

A vintage touch

I got this from the last sewweekly pattern swap. Just the thing for my truffle dress !

First you gotta speed it up, then you gotta slow it down....

If last year was all about meeting deadlines and challenges then this year is all about getting it right and taking my time. So I have made a not-wearable muslin (my sewing teacher calls it a toile - no idea why not a muslin) out of an old sheet to try to get the fit right before I make the dress. So far I have spent about 8 hours on this project - anyone recognise the pattern???? The dress is nearly finished.... I have added quite a bit to the length and done some "full bust" type adjusting to stop the inevitable gaping. Fingers crossed!

Other recent crafting, I took the idea seen here to make some magnetic dolls to put in my little girl's party bags after her 4th birthday. Sadly I couldn't find tins so I made little bags to keep them together for the fridge.

Finally, this isn't crafting but my girl looks like such a sweet vintage bathing beauty I have to share:

See you soon xxx