I'm laughing at clouds

I took these photos before I went on holiday which is why my hair is way shorter. 

I can't remember which sewing blog it was that I first saw a raincoat made of laminated cotton on, but I immediately went searching to see if I could find some similar fabric. I bought this Michael Miller laminated cotton off Etsy and then it sat in my sewing stash for about a year. I didn't sew it up because I was scared of ruining it. Usually when I sew I use my unpicker quite a bit. With laminated fabric you can't really unpick your sewing if you do something wrong because the needle leaves holes in the fabric. You can't use pins or iron it either. My trip to England finally spurred me on to make a raincoat because I didn't have one to take with me.          

The only coat pattern I had on hand was Simplicity 8452 which I had picked up at an op shop for 20c.  I didn't really love it but couldn't find anything better in the limited time I had.   

Luckily, it doesn't look that much like the pattern envelope. It's longer (although that could just be because I'm short) and more a-line than the picture. I really like the pleat at the back. 

Don't look to closely at the topstitching, it's a bit wonky

The construction wasn't actually as hard as I thought it would be. The worst part was the topstitching. I hate topstitching at the best of times but it's a million times worse when you know you can't unpick it if you screw up. I used bulldog clips for holding the pieces together instead of pins. My Mum has a sewing machine foot she uses for making things out of oilcloth so I used that because a normal foot would stick to the fabric.

I used snaps instead of buttons because I thought that doing buttonholes in the fabric would be difficult. The snaps were the most fun part because I got to use my hammer to bang them in. 

I didn't end up taking the raincoat to England because it's quite heavy and if you get the laminated fabric creased it stays like that. I did wear it a couple of times before I went though and I'm sure I'll get lots more wear out of it when summer's over and we start getting rain again.  

Lotsa Hats

Hats are one of those things that are slightly annoying to travel with. They take up quite a bit space and you have to be careful they don't get crushed. This did not stop me coming back from England with four new (old) hats. 

I should really have taken the plastic wrap  and tape off my hat block before I took photos

I bought this cocktail hat in a charity shop in Ilkley, (I think). I have no idea of its age but I think it's the 'youngest' of the ones I bought.

This juliet cap-type hat was from a vintage shop in Saltaire. It doesn't look like much here but I really love the way it looks on.

Front view

I got this one at the same vintage fair in Saltaire (yes, I bought lots of stuff in Saltaire), that I got the two dresses in my last post.

Side view

I love the bows at the sides.

My favourite is this black pillbox with the red top. My aunty got it for me for Christmas. It's from Circa Vintage in Harrogate which is a lovely shop.

Some things I bought

Here are some quick photos of some of the things that I bought in England. This isn't all of it. I also bought back four hats and some other stuff that I will put in another post.  

I bought this dress and the one below from the same seller at the Saltaire Vintage Fair. The Fair was in a hall, and even though they only had about half the number of stalls they were meant to because of the snow, they had lots of great stuff. Most things was reasonably priced as well.

The person who was selling these dresses had written the bust, waist and hip measurements on the price tag which was helpful because sometimes it can be hard to tell if something is worth trying on or not.

These vintage buttons, from a shop in Haworth, were the only sewing related thing that I bought the whole trip. I avoided going into fabric shops because my stash is pretty big already and I don't need to add to it. The sunglasses were from Primark for 50p. I feel guilty about getting stuff from Primark because I usually try and avoid buying new things.

I got this bag in the same charity shop in Haworth that I bought the raincoat below.  

This is a close-up of the raincoat that I was wearing in a photo in my last post. Before I left for England I actually made a raincoat from laminated cotton (I'll do a post about it eventually). I realised once I'd made it that it would be impractical to take because it's quite heavy and would get creased in my suitcase. Luckily, I found this one not long after I got to England. I've always wanted a red 60s style raincoat so it was perfect.

Green Day

So, I have returned from my six week holiday in England. I had a great time seeing my relatives, trying as many Quorn products as possible and going to almost every charity shop in North Yorkshire. Today I wore a dress that I bought in England. It was from a vintage shop in Haworth called Oh La La. They had some fabulous stuff but I only got one dress because I didn't want to buy too much too early in my trip.

Photo taken by my aunty

Here I am standing in front of Oh La La wearing a raincoat that I'd bought just minutes before at a Sue Ryder charity shop.

The raincoat came in handy because it rained and snowed quite a bit while I was there. It's been a bit of an adjustment going from the snow in England to the heat of summer here in New Zealand.

Dress: Oh La La
Cardigan: op shopped
Keds: op shopped
Socks: Columbine
Bag: op shopped
Sunglasses: Vintage shop

The bag and sunglasses are also from England. I bought the bag in a charity shop in Harrogate. I wasn't sure I would be able to bring it home because of it's size, but at £2 I had to get it. Luckily, I managed to fit it in. The sunglasses were from a vintage shop in Saltaire that I can't remember the name of.