Old Hollywood Inspiration: Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh was born in Darjeeling, India in 1913 during the British reign. At age 6 her parents returned to the UK to give Vivien a convent education.

At the end of her education she pursued her ambition to be an actress. She featured in many British films such as 'The Village Squire', 'Things Are Looking Up' & 'Look Up & Laugh'.

In 1938 she went to the US to visit her lover Laurence Olivier, and while there she auditioned for the much coveted role of 'Scarlett O'Hara' for the feature film 'Gone With The Wind'. As we know now she got the part and it won her the 'Best Actress' Oscar.

In 1941 Leigh & Olivier married and starred together in 'That Hamilton Woman'.

Leighs personal life suffered after this time during which she had several miscarriages, contracted tuberculosis, and was diagnosed with manic depression.

In 1951 she starred in her second Oscar winning performance as 'Blanche DuBois' in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' opposite Marlon Brando. 

In 1960 Olivier left Vivien to marry Joan Plowright, and in 1967 Leigh died after contracting tuberculosis once again.



What A Weekend!

This week has been a hectic one to say the least, with plenty of exciting things happening.

This week saw my husband & I celebrate 5 years of being together, his 25th birthday, one of our best friends birthdays, and a welcome home party for two of our friends who have spent the past year traveling around Oz & Asia.

Not only that, but we've put a deposit down on a brand spanking new car (which is being built in a factory somewhere as i type!), so it's been a bit of a busy (and expensive) week!

Needless to say not a lot of sewing has been going on, however I have finished my blouse muslin and am very happy with the way it's turned out despite the minor alterations I had to make.

My chosen fabric has been cut out ready to start this week, 

and I managed to pick up some of these babies at the weekend to..

So I can have my very own leopard print buttons!

My red 1947 Butterick dress only has the hem left to do now, but I can't quite make up my mind about how I want to do it? I'm thinking binding the seam with some red ribbon I have, but I just can't decide!

Either way, it WILL be done this week!

I've also had a few fabric bits given to me by my mother-in-law this week that she managed to grab from work. It's mainly home furnishing type fabric but that doesn't mean I can't find a use for it somehow?!

Top Left - Cream lining for curtains

Top Right - Rose Printed thick cotton

Bottom Left - Pink & Red polk dotted cotton

Bottom Right - Dark Grey Wool Blend/Possibly Tweed?

Any ideas on what I should do with them?

Things I Love Thursday: Reading New Blogs

I love discovering new blogs that are filled with the same things that I love.

It's wonderful when you discover that there other people that appreciate the same ideas, style, & passions that you have.

In no particular order here are some of my favourite 'new' blogs that I've found...

Call Me Lucille

The Fiercest Lilliputian

Advanced Style

Yesterday Girl

And to give you a taster, click the links to show you a fantastic hair tutorial from Call Me Lucille, and look into the history of 'The Breton Stripe' by Jenny

What are your favourite 'new' blogs?

Old Hollywood Inspiration: Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow was born in 1911 in Kansas City, to a successful dentist and his wife.

She ran away from home at age 16 and married a young businessman. They set up home in Los Angeles where Harlow got work as an extra on movie sets. After two years, many smalls roles & bit parts, and a divorce under her belt Harlow got her big break in Howards Hughes's 'Hells Angels' in 1930.

After this she starred in such films as 'Platinum Blonde', 'Red Dust', 'Dinner At Eight' & 'Blonde Bombshell'.

Her most successful films were with which she was paired with Clark Gable (6 in total), her last being 'Saratoga' in 1937. During filming she contracted uremic poisoning which took her life at age 26.



Simplicity 5645 (1964) Continued..

I've started putting together a muslin for my blouse this week, as the bust is actually a size bigger than I am I thought it best to play safe and do a test run. So far I've made a couple of amendments such as taking in the side seams (by 3cm each side!) and reshaping the armholes, but this was to be expected.

I've used an old 1970's (I think?) bed sheet that my mum had stored in the loft for years and donated to me a while back along with some other material.

It's pretty safe to say I would have never used this for anything worthwhile, so a muslin it shall be!

Gorgeous right? Ha!

Not too shabby, right?

There has been however, a couple of hiccups as far as the instructions are concerned. For one thing it mentions an interfacing pattern piece that does not exist in the actual pattern. Confused? Me too! 

The pattern has all pieces accounted for, but for some reason in the layout diagrams there is an extra piece called 'front interfacing' that isn't listed along with everything else, and there's no mention of what size/dimension it should be? Either way, I don't see it as being too important as I have other patterns of a similar style that don't call for interfacing in the front (only collar/cuffs). 

I also had a misunderstanding with the collar/tie piece which ended up having one half cut on the right side, and the other half cut on the wrong side. If you look closely you might notice it!

A lesson learned for next time!

Next up for me are the facings & stitching the collar in place, then onto the sleeves.

I also managed to get myself to a shop that stocked the type of zippers I needed so I can finish my red dress, as well as this beauty

Some yummy blue leopard print cotton, which I'm very tempted to use for this pattern.

I've also been a bit naughty and bought some ebay/etsy goodies this week too

These are currently on their way to me from the States

And 3 metres of polyester goodness was waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday

Now to decide what to make with what?!

I'm now on Bloglovin!

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Things I Love Thursday: Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters is one of my favourite places to look when buying things for the home.

I love the quirky items they have, and I always take a look at the website to get inspiration when decorating my home.

They have some great bed spreads/throws in store at the moment including the Alice In Wonderland set above.

I love these cupcake headphones too, so cute!

All images sourced here