The Sunday Times (Late Post!)

Hope you've all had a great weekend, and have settled back into another working week!

I had a great time on Saturday at the Historic Dockyard with Alex looking at all the ships we have on display here in Portsmouth. I finally got to wear my 1940's dress out, although the wind did keep me paranoid that I would flash everyone.

I've lived here in Portsmouth for 6 years now and I can't believe I have never been to the dockyards before! It was a lot of fun going around the museums they have down there, and we particularly enjoyed one that took you on a tour of how they made the ships and set them off, and also featured a lot of artifacts either rescued or donated from previous ships. Here's all the photo's from our day:

Things I Love Thursday!

This week has been particularly special as my very close friend gave birth to her second child (and her second boy!) They named him Rufus, which I think is a gorgeous name! So hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll get to go and have some cuddles after the family have all been round!

I've also got an awesome night lined up tomorrow, as it's a CBGB theme night with a couple of tribute bands honoring The Ramones & Blondie, which should be awesome! Just for fun, I've put together a little collage of my dream outfit in keeping with the CBGB punk theme!

All images sourced from google.com

It's also Armed Forces Day on 25th June here in the UK, and to celebrate the historic dockyard here in Portsmouth is transforming the area into a 1940s style street party, so I'm gonna drag Alex with me so I can wear my handmade 1947 dress from my previous post. They've also got live bands playing, a 1940s salon, and talks on the 'make do & mend' culture which should really interesting. They're also opening up all the ships for you to take a look around which I'm excited about!

These are a couple that live in Portsmouth, the HMS Victory & the HMS Warrior.

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I think I'm finally coming to the end of my cold after what feels like forever! So i'm hoping i'll have more energy next week to finish up some projects that have kind of stopped 3/4's of the way through!

I'll keep you posted!

Have a great weekend!

Project for this week..

This week I will mainly be continuing with my grey/pink floral dress.

I already had the bodice pieced together ready for the neck line to be sewn, and I have attached a black pointed peter pan collar,

and some straps inserted into the bodice so I can create a bow in the cutout back piece. I kept the skirt gathered but included some side seam pockets using the same floral cotton. I did toy with the idea of having a pleated skirt, but I was lazy and stuck with the gathering. 

All thats left is to insert the zipper, sew the armholes and hem the bottom. Although I am quite tempted to use the square sleeve pattern I used for this dress, just to make it a bit more interesting. 

I've started doing a few sketches this week for my 1940s fashion collection, and will hopefully have some things to show you in the next week or so!

Happy Tuesday!

The Sunday Times

Evening All!

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend!

I had another busy one yet again! 

Friday night saw the opening of my fiances architecture exhibition which gave me the chance to see what he's been up to all year whilst he's been spending late nights at his studio! It was a pleasant evening (made better by free beer & wine) which was then followed by a trip to the newly opened 'Jamie's Italian' in Gunwharf Quays. 

Saturday was the opening day of a two day tattoo convention happening in the main square here in Portsmouth. I had a great day wondering around the guildhall (below) meeting other tattooists & enthusiasts

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from all over the UK & Europe. I also got to watch my fiance get tattooed by our regular tattooist as he very bravely sat for 5 hours while getting his ribs done! 

Today has been a day of catching up with my sewing/designing whilst beginning another new project.

I quickly sketched this out this morning from an idea i've been carrying around in my head for a while. I decided to catch on to the bandwagon of having a cutout back, but went for a more subtle deep scoop instead of a heart or a diamond. It will be made more interesting (and more girly) by including some straps into the bodice which will be tied into a bow. 

I've started on the bodice which is being made in a grey/pink floral cotton i've had sitting in my stash for ages, and is lined with plain black cotton. The bodice parts are all ready to be joined together at the neckline which i'll carry on with tomorrow night!

I've also put a couple more dresses up on Ebay for auction this week, 

1960's White Mini Dress

1960's Lemon Shift Dress

and I managed to find this beauty also on Ebay which I'll be using when i've created my Forties inspired patterns!

I'm still working my way through my new Forties Fashion book, which I plan on sharing at some point this week! Hope you all have a great start to the week!

Things I Love Thursday!

I apologise for not doing my using 'Projects' post on Tuesday night, but alas I am not a well lady at the moment, and have appeared to have caught the cold going round the office! 

I have finished my nautical printed Butterick dress and am planning on wearing it out Friday evening to an exhibition my fiance is taking part in! I should hopefully have some photos to show you!

Back to the scheduled post!

This week I have been totally smitten by the 'Forties Fashion' book I posted previously, I want to write a featured post on this book just detailing some of the things I've found fascinating at a later stage. I've also been doing a bit of digging around the net looking for dress inspirations for this era, so take a look:

Anthropologie

Anthropologie

Topshop

Topshop

Rokit

I could fill a book with all the amazing dresses out there at the moment, so I've managed to whittle it down to these few!

I am also extremely pleased to say that I've sold 8 more vintage dresses this week, so I can relax a little now and take some time out to sew some things for me before delving back into the rails in my stock room!

I am also looking forward to this weekend as it's going to be another busy one for me! Friday night is my fiances Architecture exhibition followed by a few cheeky drinks down at the local. Saturday I will be spending the day at the Portsmouth Tattoo Convention along with said fiance who is getting tattooed all day, so I'm planning on taking my camera and having lots of photos of people looking in pain to show you on Sunday! 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! 

What are your plans??

The Sunday Times

This weekend has been quite chilled compared to most. I managed to spend all day today in front of my sewing machine, churning out this little number using Butterick 5209 which is a 1947 re-print.

I decided to use my nautical printed cotton viscose, which is very pleasant to work with.

This is the first time I've used this pattern, and I found it really easy to use. I decided to make the version that has capped sleeves, as it would be more wearable. I didn't have to make any alterations which came as a nice surprise, and it fits really well!

The shape of this dress is very flattering, and includes gathering at the bust, a gathered skirt, and a side zipper.