New Bicycle!!

Last summer my fiance decided to set himself a project of building a bicycle from scratch, which he did amazingly! At the beginning of the year he asked me if I would also like a bicycle as my birthday present? I obviously said yes, and we picked this beauty up from a local repair shop yesterday!

I don't know anything about bikes, so you'll have to excuse the lack of technical terms! We picked out a vintage Raleigh frame about 3 weeks ago from a lovely bicycle shop in the heart of Southsea called 'Ye Olde Bicycle Shoppe'. They sent it to a bunch of guys who would sand it down, strip it to the bare metal, sand blast it, and then powder coat it with my picked out colour (lavender). After this the guy who owns the mentioned shop, added freshly painted cream mud guards, and a matching vintage saddle! The handlebars & peddles are the originals, and he also changed the gears to single speed. I also have a very cute Raleigh badge that sits proudly on the front!

The hub has the raleigh herons built in too!

I can't wait for the next sunny day so I can take this pretty lady out for a ride!

Outfit Post

So a few weeks ago I posted a photo of a dress I was keeping from my vintage hoard, I thought I'd post a few snaps from last weekend when I spent the day in the sun with some old uni friends!

Excuse the bored look on my face!

About to have the first Jagerbomb!

On a different note, I picked up some fabric today X3 metres of black cotton, and X1 metre of hounds tooth suiting! I'm thinking of making a skirt with the hounds tooth, and a new dress with the black cotton (maybe a white peter pan collar/sleeve band contrast?)

New Blouse & Skirt!

I have been busy this week! I've finished a new blouse (currently 3/4 of the way through another!) based on the JJ pattern from Burdastyle again. After the one I'm working on now, I will be leaving this pattern alone for a little while! 

I've been wanting a bright red blouse for a while now, I've seen calivintage wearing this cute red number which she wore with high waisted jeans, and it made me think of some red polycotton I managed to get a couple of weeks back in a charity shop.

Unfortunately I didn't have enough for the whole pattern, so I used some contrasting cotton fabric with anchors printed on it for the collar and the sleeve bands! I think this works nicely as it gives you a bit of a break from the block colour. Here it is!

I can also use the tie around the waist if I don't feel like a bow.

Also this week I decided to recycle a bunch of dresses I made when I first started making my own clothes. Compared to what I can make now, they don't really match! So I took apart this dress

to make a new polka dot gathered skirt!

It had side seam pockets, centered zipper, and a waistband. This is such a simple and easy way to make a skirt that it very flattering. It takes no time at all to make either. I will be making a couple more ready for the warmer weather, so I'll put instructions up next time!

I have also finished my Iro Iro inspired dress, but I'm waiting till the weekend to take photos, plus I have my Stars & Stripes party this Saturday so I'll post photos of my outfit! 

Happy Weekend!

Future Dress Inspiration

After going through my blog roll to see what's new, I found an adorable dress on  Iro Iro's blog that has inspired me to make something similar. She has made a beautiful floral dress using an old pair of german curtains, and the results look great!

A few weeks ago when my mum was clearing out part of the loft, she handed down to me a bunch of old curtains/fabric that had been sitting up there for years. I've washed them all, and there's one set of curtains that I really wanted to use to create a 1950's inspired dress.

I love Iro Iro's creation, and I think I'm ready to try and sew some long sleeves, as the weather may be sunnier now but it's still cold down here on the coast! I personally would leave out the cut-out back and just have a centre back zipper or maybe mix it up with some buttons?! I think i'll be drawing in my sketch book this afternoon!

On another note I sold my first vintage dress yesterday!! My lovely friend Tracey bought the navy blue shift dress I've posted previously! One down....many to go!

Time For Tea Blouse!

My mustard peplum blouse is on standby as I can't find any lining that I like! So to make up for this I've made another blouse using the Burdastyle JJ Pattern, except this time I've left out the ruffles, and have given it sleeves. I've also used contrasting fabric for the collar & sleeves, which I think looks good, and gives a nice break from the floral print.

Getting Started...

The first steps are to create the front centre folds which will hold the buttons & buttonholes.

Then to sew the front centre & front sides together, as well as the centre back & side backs together, then attach right sides facing at the shoulder seams, which will leave you with the image below.

From here you attach the collar, right sides facing. It's best if you pin - baste - stitch

Pin

Baste

Finished Collar

Finished Collar

As with the majority of seams, I trim & neaten with a zig zag stitch then press.

Sleeves & Sleeve Bands

After sewing the side seams together, it's then time to make the sleeves using gathered stitching to make everything fit.

Finished Sleeve

Close up of sleeve band

Then you attach the finished sleeve to the armhole, again using gathered stitching.

Finished!

After both sleeves have been attached, the only things left to do is to hem the bottom, create buttonholes & attach buttons!

Front

Back

And this is the finished blouse!

Vintage Clothing Find No.2

As well as the previously posted polka dot dress that I'm keeping from my vintage stock, I will also be keeping this striped beauty!

New Look 6723

I've finally finished a 1940's inspired tea/swing dress that I've been working on for a while. The pattern was really easy to follow, and the result came out great! The only thing that I would probably watch out for next time is to fold more of the centre back seam in when inserting the zip, as the fit around the shoulders is ever so slightly looser than I would normally like. I'm definitely going to making this again, and I might try it without sleeves to?! Possibilities are endless!

Last finishing touches!

Voila!

Excuse the cleavage shot!