A Rare Occurrence

This kind of outfit doesn't happen very often these days. I'm not wearing anything I made or anything vintage. Well, I guess the shoes are vintage. They're from the '70s. Is that considered vintage these days? 

Striped top: Op shopped
Cardigan: Op shopped
Belt: Op shopped
Dress worn as skirt: Op shopped and given to me by Tua, my nephew's grandma
Shoes: Etsy
Ring: Evie Kemp

  

I wore this to register my car because my life is just that exciting. I also cut my hair, and by that I mean, I literally cut my own hair. I haven't been to a hairdresser in over a year. I think I made it a bit short but it'll grow pretty quickly and I have a large collection of hats, so it's not a big deal.

Lavender Menace

I had grand plans about posting more often while I was on holidays but an unexpected family thing came up, so I've been without the internet for the past week and a bit, and haven't posted in ages.

Two weeks ago I went to 'A Life in Frocks', a vintage fashion show which had clothes from the 1950s, '60s and '70s. The ticket said "dress-up optional" (as if I needed any encouragement), so I decided to make a hat to wear.

I made a pillbox base from buckram and covered it in purple cotton fabric. I pulled apart a couple of bunches of fake flowers, and glued the leaves, and then the flowers on. The bits in the middle of the flowers are purple beads. It took me ages to do all the gluing. I know that gluing is a huge millinery no-no, but I'm not a milliner so I don't care.   

The veiling (from Hat Shadows on etsy), is gathered by hand and then stitched onto the flowers at the front, back and sides. I added elastic to hold it on my head and used some bobby pins to make it extra secure when I wore it. 

To the fashion show I wore:
Dress: Dashfield Vintage
Coat: op shopped
Shoes: Golden Ponies
Tights: Columbine
Amethyst ring (which you cant really see): Evie Kemp
Hat: Self-made

The show was really good and there were some fabulous clothes that I wouldn't have minded taking home.

How do you pose in a cape?

I bought this cape at the op shop the other day. I liked the colour but it was really long and I already have a long cape. Since it doesn't have a lining I just cut the bottom off just below the last button. I think it's handmade because there's no tag. The person who made it lined up the stripes pretty well so it was easy to hem. I just folded along one of the lines.

 Weirdly enough, I bought this cape at the same place I found my long cape. There were a couple of other capes for sale there the other day too. It must be some kind of cape hot spot.

It's kind of hard to take photos wearing a cape. I can't do my usual hands on hips pose for obvious reasons and the slits make your arms hang forward so all the photos look awkward. Well, more so than usual anyway. In real life I liked it better with the belt but looking at these photos, I think I like it better without.

A Marguerite Gown

Remember when I did that post about the New Zealand labels on some of my vintage clothing? Well, this is one of the dresses that was made/sold in the city where I live.  

I've only worn this dress once before because the hem had come down, and I needed to mend it. It took me about 5 minutes to do, but I left it sitting in my mending pile for months. For some reason it's hard for me to get motivated to do mending. I would rather sew a whole new dress than mend one. It's ridiculous because once I actually make myself do it, it usually takes no time at all.

I love the pleating detail down the front. I also love that the stitching isn't straight. As someone who sews it's nice to see non-handmade vintage clothes with wonky stitching. It makes me feel a bit better about my sewing when it isn't perfect. I know how hard it is to get topstitching straight so I sympathise with whoever made this dress.

Bomb Girls

Pictures from Reelz

 Bomb Girls is a Canadian tv show set in the 1940s. It follows four women working in a munitions factory building bombs during World War II. It aired in Canada in January this year and, by some minor miracle, they played it in New Zealand recently. Usually it takes ages for new shows to be played here, if they do at all.



The clothes are gorgeous and it was worth watching for that alone, but, surprisingly, I loved the storylines and characters too. I find period dramas a bit hit and miss. Sometimes I love the clothes but hate the characters (e.g. Mad Men), or I love the clothes but just can't summon up the energy to care about the characters and storylines (e.g. the new version of Upstairs Downstairs). I don't dislike them all (I love Downton Abbey), but I would rather watch a show with interesting and likeable characters that doesn't have amazing costumes, than a boring show with pretty clothes.

I love Vera's coral coloured shirt dress

 The first season of Bomb Girls was only six episodes long but they're making another season. The show isn't perfect, but it did make me cry a few times and laugh quite a lot. I genuinely like the characters and I can't wait to see what happens to them next season. I also love that a show is telling the stories of what women did during the war. Women in munitions factories put their lives at risk making bombs and it seems like their actions are rarely remembered.   

I would wear all of these clothes, even Marco's

I read that there was some criticism of Kate's (second from the left) dress for not being historically accurate because it was too short, but I got the impression that was deliberate. I think it was meant to show that she was still wearing the clothes she had as a young teenager, which makes sense if you watch the show. 

Picture from amatteroftiming

 Bonus picture of Betty and Kate dancing because they are adorable and I ship them.