Recent Finds

I haven't been op shopping much lately but I managed to get in a quick fix one lunchtime a couple of weeks ago.

I found this old necklace with glass chillies on it.. I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to eating chilli so maybe it's false advertising to wear them around my neck, but I don't care because I really like it.

I also picked up a few patterns. I will probably never make the pattern on the right, but I couldn't not buy it.  

I didn't op shop this one, but it's too awesome not to share. I bought this 1940's jacket on Trademe for $5.50. It was described as a linen/cotton blend but it's wool (I'm not sure how you get those two confused). It had a few of what looked like rust stains when I got it and was pretty scungy. I washed it three times. The water turned brown and then dark purple, but it came out clean in the end. The stains are gone and it looks way better. Of course, I won't be able to wear it for ages because it's too hot but, in the meantime, I'll just stare lovingly at it and hope for cold weather.  

Sixties Stripes

I'm not really into Christmas shopping or Christmas sales, but I did make a point to go to my favourite Salvation Army's Christmas Sale last Friday evening. A sale at an op shop is my kind of sale. For $9.50 I got the dress and bangle I'm wearing below and two tops.

 The dress is modern but it looks really 60's. I took the hem up about an inch because the proportions just looked slightly wrong with it longer.  

Pockets!

Dress: Op shopped
Bangle: Op shopped
Tights: Kmart
Shoes: Op shopped

Dizzy like a Daisy

Remember this top I made? Well, before I made it in the broderie anglaise fabric I did a muslin. Since I semi-drafted the pattern myself, I wanted to check that it would fit alright.

I used some flower printed cotton leftover from this dress. The fit was okay so I decided to finish it off and call it a wearable muslin. I bound the seams with bias tape and used some buttons from my stash. When I made the final version I did make some changes. I took in the neckline a bit and cut some excess fabric off the armholes. 

 I also bought some Freddies of Pinewood jeans. I was going to sew some more jeans because I wear the ones that I made quite a bit. I have the fabric and everything. I was going to make them with proper pockets and topstitching, but then I realised that it was so much easier just to buy a pair. I hate doing topstitching and jeans require an awful lot of it. I'm happy with my Freddies. They fit well and I like the way they look.
 

Top: I made it
Jeans: Freddies of Pinewood
Belt: Op shopped
Bangles: Etsy and ebay
Shoes: The Warehouse

Vintage at the Office

This is what I wore to work today. When I first started I did try and tone it down a bit, but I don't feel like me unless I'm wearing multiple floral prints. I did wear a blazer over the top to make it marginally more corporate.

The pleating on the bodice is what made my buy this dress. I'm a sucker for drapey bits. It goes around the back and has a couple of hooks and eyes to close it over the zip.

Don't know what I'm giving the side eye to there

Vintage dress: Trademe
Tights: Kmart, maybe?
Shoes: Tony Bianco

Me and my Bobbie Brooks

I bought this late 50s/early 60s cropped jacket when I was in Nelson a couple of weeks ago. It was one of those things that I didn't know I'd been missing until I saw it. It's getting hotter here, but there are still days when you need something against the wind. It's perfect because it's light enough for the warmer weather and it's a good length to wear with full skirts.

The colour looks greyish here but it's an apple green

 
It isn't lined but all the seams are finished with bias binding. Bobbie Brooks is an American clothing manufacturer that started in 1939. The label in my jacket is similar to some of the ones on Vintage Fashion Guild that are from the 1950's and early 1960's. It came with a belt. I assume there was a matching dress at some point because the belt can't really be worn over the top of the jacket.

Jacket: Eclectic Antiques Centre, Nelson
Skirt: I made it
Bangles: Etsy and Ebay
Shoes: the Warehouse

The Last Chintz

Yesterday, I went out to Tai Tapu (a little village close to Christchurch) to visit Last Chintz. It's a new shop that sells "upcycled furniture" (quotes because I think the word 'upcycled' is stupid) and vintage fabrics. The furniture was gorgeous, but I was far more interested in the fabric, obviously. There was floor to ceiling shelving filled with lots of lovely, old material. I was pretty restrained and only bought two pieces.

This lovely, soft rayon is going to be turned into a 1940's style dress. It's nice and drape-y so something with gathers would be nice. The whole piece was $18 and there's about 4 metres there.

This one's a rayon too, but I think it's a crepe so it has a completely different texture. I'm not that great at dating fabrics, but it's probably quite old because it's not very wide. Fabric these days tends to be 45 inches or wider. Before the 1960's fabric usually came in widths of between 36 and 39 inches. This one's 39 inches.  

The print looks like the sort of novelty prints that were popular in the 1940's too. It has medieval-type coins on it. There's about 4 metres of it, and it was $6/metre. 

I'm probably going to make another dress with this because, let's face it, I pretty much only make dresses. That is, if I ever get around to sewing. I'm still getting used to fitting sewing in with working full time. I used to sew pretty much every day when I was at uni, but I'm lucky if I manage to sew once a week since I started working. 

Mash-up

I bought this blossom patterned quilting cotton on sale a couple of weeks ago. I'm trying to stop buying new fabric, but I couldn't resist the print. I knew I wanted to make a slim skirted dress that I could wear to work but also just wear generally.
 

I've made both these patterns before so I knew they fitted reasonably well. I used the bodice from the pattern on the right and the skirt from the pattern on the left. 

I cut the bodice out on Thursday and then didn't do anything else until about 3 in the afternoon yesterday. It was quick and easy to sew up and I finished it in time to wear it to work today. 

This was my attempt to take a picture of the zip. I used an op shopped vintage metal zipper. I have a huge stash of op shopped zips. They're mostly still in their original packaging. I hardly ever use them though because I never have the right colour or size. I was excited to finally use one.  

This is what happens when I take pictures after work/around sunset

Dress: Butterick 8459 skirt and Vogue 4260 bodice

 Belt: Op shopped

Tights: Kmart

Shoes: Tony Bianco