Boats in the Sunshine

Scarf - vintage, blouse - made by me, everything else thrifted (except socks!)

Today was a rather lovely sunny day, and after deliberating for ages on what to wear (I've forgotten how to dress myself for warm weather and in a way that doesn't involve jeans) I had a very long train trip out to visit a friend and do some wedding planning!

I apologise again for posts being so sparse, but I have gotten myself a job (at last!!) and have been working like crazy to save money so we can move house.. Once this happens I won't have to sit through an hour and a half of public transport every day so I'll have more time to blog. It doesn't help that the days are getting shorter - waking up and getting home in darkness are not really conductive to taking outfit photos, and neither are the rather boring work outfits I've been scrimping together (apparently I have an embarrassing lack of tops that go with jeans.. must remedy this.)

I am planning to try to come up with some non-outfit-related posts so I can try to post more than once a week, but I'm afraid I can't promise anything just yet!

Hope everyone had/has a great weekend!

Teddy Girl

Helllooooo!!! Long time no blog!

I apologise for this, I've been super super busy and also managed to get myself sick, boo.

To be honest, I haven't really been dressing up as much as usual so there hasn't really been a reason to take any photos. But today I decided to make an effort, for myself as well as so I would have something to post!

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I've been doing quite a bit of research lately on the Teddy Boy/Girl scene of the late 1940's/early 1950's. I think the look is super cool and perfect for colder weather, incorporating elements of Edwardian style (which is something I've never really delved into) as well as the usual 50's look.

Teddy Girls were an offshoot of the underground subculture of Teddy Boys - young lads and ladies who had grown up during the war rationing of the 1940's and adapted the look of the Edwardian era into a style of their own. Teddy Boys and Girls were said to be "collectively rejecting the post-war austerity" - as one young man is quoted as saying "our dress is our answer to a dull world."

They were among some of the first teenage-rebel groups. The men dressed like dandies, and the women in a wide range of edwardian-influenced styles - oftentimes wearing manly suits, drape jackets and jeans.
They were into rock and roll, and known for causing a bit (or a lot) of trouble.

I hadn't set my hair last night so when I woke up this morning wanting to dress up my thoughts went immediately to the easy-breezy Edwardian up do's sported by these stylish gals, and then an outfit formed itself around this!

Excuse all the eyes closed/looking down poses - it was very bright and glarey out.

Coat - stolen from Eli, blouse and shoes - thrifted, "bolo tie" - ribbon and a thrifted brooch.

I always find it so interesting to think that while we are here in 2014 wearing vintage clothing from the 40's/50's/60's etc, you never really think about people from these eras being into or wearing vintage-to-them looks. I guess because it wouldn't have been so accessible for them (they couldn't just jump on Etsy/Pinterest and search for something!) and also there were just so many more new ideas around that hadn't been thought of before. It's pretty cool to see these kids drawing inspiration from so long ago, just like we are now!

There is a great article about the Teddy Girl subculture here, and a whole website of info here (mostly on Teddy Boys, but some nice pics of the girls too!
Katie over at Butterfly Loves Snapdragons  showed her take on the style here and also did a fab hair tutorial which would totally work with this look.

What do you think of the Teddy Girl style? Is it something you'd try?

Some sunny day

Phew!

Today was a long day. Eli and I woke up extra early (ok, half an hour earlier) as we were meant to be visiting my parents for dinner.. But first we had to return a shoe (singular), visit an op shop and have a doctors appointment!

It was a lovely, sunny, slightly-too-warm day, so I wore a somewhat weather appropriate outfit, with a sun hat of course!

Hat, belt & shoes - thrifted, blouse - eBay, skirt - made by me, scarf - borrowed

My skirt is the first of a (hopefully) three piece outfit I'm making from that lovely wool blend fabric I mentioned a while ago.. it was maybe a little too wool for today.

Also, that scarf may have been protecting me from hat hair, but coupled with the black hat it was also making my head a little bit too toasty, so off it all came (not the skirt!)

Muuuuch better.

In other news, my sister and I will be hitting up Coburg's Trash and Treasure market tomorrow bright and early with the hopes of nabbing ourselves a stall space and offloading a bunch of clothes and shoes (and other random stuff that our Mum just dumped on me) - if you're around and looking for cheap random clothing pieces do come by!

UFO's and house dresses

A couple of weeks ago, while I was cleaning my sewing room, I decided it was time to devise a new organisation strategy for my "UFO's" (that's unfinished objects), because having them slung over a clothes-rack was really not conductive to me actually finishing them.

So I pulled out a tub, folded them neatly (after throwing a bunch of no-longer-relevant projects away), stepped back and realised I have a LOT of unfinished projects that I for some reason have just not gotten to. Some of them are literally as simple as sewing a button back on. Like a 5 minute job. Yeah.

I set myself a goal to get through at least one of these a day (two or more for the simple jobs) until they're all done, at which point I can start making new stuff.

And then I hit a wall. I had no motivation, I just could. not. be. bothered.

After reading this post on Lucky Lucille, I decided to do what Rochelle did - just sit down and sew something. So I picked some fabric at random and made myself a little house dress.

I adapted view B of this McCall's pattern - I cut two of the front waist band and extended the length of one of them as well as one side of the back waist band as well to create the cross over tie. 

I cut two front skirt pieces so there would be a decent amount of volume and cross-over (no one likes to accidentally flash their house guests when they sit down).

It took me three days to finish (with the help of my assistant, Brian Wilson).

It's a little bit rough around the edges but it's perfect for sitting around reading books and for when I'm sewing since it's super easy to take off when I need to try something on.

Hooray for fancy lounge-wear!

Now I just need to make a few more of these, my house coat and maybe some 1940's lounge pants and blouses and I'll be all set in the lazy-glam clothing category!

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Has anyone else made/bought any fancy lounging clothes? Don't they just make you feel a million times more amazing than pyjamas all day?!

Autumn sun

hat, belt, bag & shoes - thrifted, card - Big W, dress - made by me, glasses… no idea!

Weeeee it's finally autumn!!!! Although honestly it didn't feel much like it, so I got to get a little more wear out of this summery dress I made a few weeks ago.

I went with Eli's band to watch them do a photo shoot today at the big park near our house. There is a huge lake there and it's pretty nice and peaceful, despite the scratchy dry summer grass at the moment.

I was pretty pleased with my hair today - I used large rollers on freshly washed hair, both of which I don't usually do because they never work, but it worked out just fine with big, soft and bouncy curls. I'll have to set it again tonight (maybe with smaller curlers) to make it last but for today I was pleasantly surprised!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!