Recent Acquisitions

And by recent I mean between yesterday and months ago.

I got this vintage dress a couple of months ago on Trademe. The photo on the auction was of the dress lying on the floor so I wasn't sure what it would look like on but I took a chance and I love it. It's way nicer than I was expecting. The colours are a lot more vibrant in person than they look here.

My Mum got me the cocktail hat when she was out op shopping yesterday (I definitely got the op shopping gene from her). 

  

I love the bow on the back. It has little crocheted loops on the inside to stick bobby pins through to keep it on your head. 

 

I also recently got a couple of new (old) bakelite bangles from Dear Valentine on etsy. The new ones are the carved green one on the left and the carved red one fourth from the left. I rationalise buying bakelite because I wear them every day.

On Saturday I went to the Two Squirrels winter sale with Helga, Ayesha and Ayesha's friend Raea. There were lots of people there and lots of goodies.

I managed to nab the floral and a novelty border print fabrics (above), the 60s pattern below and some other things I didn't manage to photograph.

 

 

It's in the bag

I found these two wooden beaded bag handles at the op shop last week. They were mine for the ridiculously low price of 50 cents. I went digging through my stash but didn't really find anything that grabbed my attention until I happened upon a barbecue themed novelty print in my Mum's stash (her stash totally rivals mine).





It was only a small piece, but the perfect size for the type of bag I had in mind. Luckily, Mum was generous enough to let me have it. To continue the outdoor eating theme, I decided to use some picnic style peach gingham for the lining (also from my Mum's stash). Since both fabrics were thin quilting weight cotton and were slightly see through I underlined with some white cotton.





I used a combination of this tutorial and this one, plus a bit of make-it-up-as-you-go-along. The construction was really easy until I came to attaching it to the handles. I tried the technique in the tutorials I linked to but the gathers at the top looked really messy. Mum (what would I do without her?), suggested I make a smaller machine stitched casing at the top. This worked way better.





I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. The fabric reminds me of a fifties novelty print which I love. Now all I need is warm weather and some TVP sausages and I will be set to barbecue in style.

The inside

Sartorially Ambitious

My love for floral prints is well documented on this blog. Pretty much every second thing I sew or buy has flowers on it, but I also love vintage novelty prints. I have a few, but I'm afraid to cut into them in case I spoil them.

This vintage barkcloth is the newest addition to my collection. It's actually a curtain. My Mum bought it for me last week from the Painted Room, one of my favourite shops. Unfortunately, their shop was destroyed in the September earthquake, they re-opened somewhere else and then lost that shop in the February earthquake. They have opened for a third time though, at 407 Selwyn St. If you live in Christchurch they are well worth a visit.

This is a border print which I plan to make into a skirt at some point.

Why yes, those are tiny bottles of booze. I'm thinking of using this to make the peplum dress that was in the previous post.

I have two versions of this gorgeous Japanese scene fabric. The other one has the same print but has more green tones.

I think this is from the 50s or 60s. It has a stamp on it saying, "Passed by inspection house. Japanese Government", which is strange given the print is a New Zealand one and I bought it here, on Trademe.

I haven't started on my June Challenge dresses yet because I have an exam tommorow, as well as two essays due next week. After that I'm on holidays though, so I'll make a start then.