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.

Paisley Rayon

This dress was really hard to take a photo of because it's pale, and I'm pale, and the house was dark because it was raining outside.

I made the dress from Eva Dress pattern D40-359. I think this is the oldest pattern I've ever made. It's a reproduction of a pattern from 1940.  

The fabric is a 1940s or 50s rayon from Unearthed in Wellington. It has a paisley pattern and then these abstract bow (or maybe flower?) shapes. I'm not normally a fan of synthetics but rayon feels really nice, and it's only a semi-synthetic.

I only just had enough fabric. Even though I had about 4 metres length, like lots of vintage fabrics, the width was really small. It was a total pain in the arse to cut out because it's really slippery. It was kind of hard to sew too. This is why I usually stick to nice, stable, mid weight cottons. So much easier to sew.     

I'm not totally sold on this dress. I love the fabric print and the drape but there's just something about it that I'm not sure about. Maybe it's the colour? Pale colours do not suit me at all. Or maybe it's the shape around the waist? The gathers make it way more droopy than the pattern envelope looks.  I dunno. Maybe it will grow on me.

Straight outta the 1940s

That's what someone told me today, that I looked, "straight out of the 1940s". It pleased me greatly because that's exactly what I was going for. I have a bit of an obsession with 40s ladies suits, but I can't really afford one, so this is my approximation of one. The skirt is a wool circle skirt that I made. The blazer is op shopped and I added an op shopped belt to give it a more 40s shape. The faux fur wrap and gloves are also op shopped.   

 The bag and the shoes I got at Brumby's garage sale. I made the hat using this 40s pdf pattern from Kallie Designs on etsy. I used some sort of mystery wool type fabric from the op shop, and an old button as decoration.

The pattern was really quick and easy. Now, I'm keen to try some of the other hat patterns in the Kallie Designs shop.

I am me, I am me, I am me

I got these bright yellow tights for my birthday, and I love them, but I've been struggling with what to wear with them. I've worn them with black and grey clothing but it just didn't feel like me. I think I've finally found something I like them with. Instead of trying to find colours that go with the yellow, I just put on a whole pile of clashing colours, which is way more 'me'. The dress is one I made. Most of the other stuff I'm wearing is second hand. The belt is just some petersham ribbon tied in a bow.     

And yeah, the title refers to the Willow Smith song. It's been in my head all week, but that's okay because I think she's pretty awesome. Her song is awesome. Her style is awesome. Her hair is awesome. And her parents are awesome for letting her wear what she wants and cut her hair how she wants. 

Tutti Frutti

Sherry recently wrote an interesting post about style rules and it got me thinking about how much I dislike any rules which tell people what they should or should not wear. I'm short (or petite as it's now euphemistically called). "Style rules" usually say that I shouldn't wear bold prints and should dress in one colour from head to toe. Well, I say screw that. I love bold prints and usually wear a rainbow of colours. This dress is pretty typical of the kind of thing I wear every day.  

Aside from being a bold print (which I shouldn't wear), the fabric breaks another style rule. The print has both red and pink in it which are not meant to be worn together.

The shoes worn with this dress probably break some style rules too. I wear my saddle shoes with almost everything, though. I like the way they make fancier dresses look more casual.

I used a mish mash of two Burda patterns for this dress. The skirt is made from the Jenny pencil skirt. The bodice is made from a modified dress pattern that I got from a Burda magazine from the library.

I made a pleated inset for the front waist based on one of my vintage dresses. It's pretty much just a rectangle with three pleats that's sewn into the side seams. 

This was a really quick dress to sew up. I started it the day before I went to away for a few of days. I pretty much finished it that same day. I did the hem and a few other bits of hand sewing while I was away, in between scouring small town op shops and visiting my grandma.