Vintage inspired skirts in retro prints

When I began thinking about this post I very much had Dita Von Teese in mind.

Image from Betty Le Bonbon

I just love her style of big flouncy skirts in vibrant colours or tweeds and sometimes with exciting prints. It is a look I have always liked and the feature skirt and classic T-shirt was a staple of mine in my undergrad days.

I have really struggled lately to find good skirts. Especially when it comes to vintage. I'm not sure if skirts were just worn more so they haven't lasted as long as the more available 'special occasion dresses' of if skirts just weren't as popular (I lean towards the former).

So I decided that the best way to get hold of a 50s style skirt was to make one myself. I wanted to go for a gathered skirt rather than full circle as circle skirts can sometimes look a bit cliche. I used Simplicity 1369 in the longest length with a few minor tweaks.

I found an amazing fabric shop in Scarborough that was selling beautiful print cottons for less than half RRP! So I gave myself a treat and bought some cute fabrics so that I could make some skirts.

The first skirt I made was in the black apple print fabric. I made the size according to my measurements however I found that the waist was too big, so I had to take it in :S whoops... Sorry I don't have a better picture of this one.

The second one I made was in the leaf print. I also interfaced this one with more stiff interfacing around the waist which I found I really liked. I did make the really stupid mistake of having the leaves face up on the front and down on the back however... whoops. Thank goodness the pattern hides it quite well!

The skirt even has a pocket!!

I also decided to make the dress in a really amazing 60s/70s red and blue print. I made this skirt extra full.

I took quite a lot of care with this skirt to pattern match which is not something I've done before. It was quite a bit of a faff, but I think it was worth it when I considered the finished look of the whole skirt.

In these last pictures I wore the most amazing shoes. A pair of Rocket Originals in red leather. The style is called Judy and they are so comfortable and amazingly retro looking, but that is because they are designed based on vintage shoe patterns. I never thought I could wear a pair of sling backs, but these are perfect!

Outfit details:

Skirts: Home made

Shoes: Rocket Originals and Clarks

Top: Laura Ashley t shirt/Primark tshirt

Cardigan: GAP thrifted

Have you ever got an item of clothing in several different colours?

A trip to Northumberland

It was spring break recently and I took a bit of time off to visit home and a little bit further north too. My family rented a holiday cottage on the Northumberland coast at Bamburgh and my husband and I went to spend the Easter break there too.

Northumberland is such a beautiful part of the country and I am really pleased to say that I recently secured a new job up there and will be moving to the North coast in the Summer. I'm so happy to be returning home, not that I haven't had a lot of fun in the South, but this last year in particular I have missed home so much that I knew I needed to go back (and I thank my lucky stars that my husband feels the same way).

Who wouldn't want to live in the same county as this after all:

The weather leading up to the trip was not exactly spring like so I packed sensible warm clothes. I never expected the weather to come out as well as it did.

The first day was a bit drizzly so my Collectif rain mac (the 3rd of the coats I bought in the sale) came in very handy for a walk on the beach.

That's Bamburgh castle in the background.

I this picture sums up my husband and I so perfectly. Walking along the beach on a dingy evening, wearing totally inappropriate shoes ;)

I also couldn't resist having a go on the big swing!

But then the weather changed, and it was very different. Bright and sunny and... warm even! I feel like I have been in this uber long mild winter so to get some warm sunshine was completely unexpected.

Here is me next to Dunstanburgh castle after a long walk along the nearby bay. It was such a beautiful day I felt like I was in another country.

And back on the beach at sunset.

We also went on a boat trip to the Farne Islands and we saw Grace Darling's lighthouse and a lot of seals.

This is my favourite photo I took on the trip:

This seal was so angry at my Dad for coming to close to it.

We also went to Holy Island on Easter Sunday and again, the weather was beautiful:

And there were birds, lots of birds... including a cute mallard couple. I had no idea that mallards could live by salt water, but I guess this proves it!

I also took one of my favourite vintage dresses with me a nice green floral number that I got in Pickering a few years ago and I found that is is super versatile. It even went with walking boots ;) 

I had a lovely week I really didn't want it to end. 

Did you do anything nice for spring break?

Going for the chop: Lets talk about hair...

Just a quick post today. I've been trying hard with my hair lately, trying to learn more styles practising and improving the styles I know. Which has lead to a few good hair days.

For example this one (excuse the coat hanger). Where I backcombed and teased my victory rolls for the first time. Would you also believe I slept in this style and woke up in the morning looking like this?

Or there was the time I learnt to brush out my hair properly by using a proper large paddle brush (thanks to this tutorial).

 Glasses from SpecsPost by the way.

The only problem is that on lazy days when I didn't style my hair, it looked more like this:

SCARY!!!!!!

This is what I can best describe as a frizz bomb. It was really unfortunate that the leftover perm from over a year ago had taken its toll. The thing with perms is that you need to do regular intensive conditioning and to have it re-permed, which I did not.

So I decided to chop all of that damage off. I had a pretty drastic cut, adding layering, shortening and new colour that is much closer to my natural colour.

Now styling has been fun with this new do, at one point I ended up looking quite a bit like Moss from the IT Crowd...

But I am pretty confident that I have got the hang of styling it now :) I am really enjoying how easy it is to set too as there is so much less of it! I'm starting to feel a little more like Betty Draper than a frizzy lion.

So I will have to give the complex up-dos a miss for a little while but at the moment I am totally not missing them. Several people at work have even told me that I look like Snow White :)

A #MeMade Snow White cosplay costume for World Book Day

So kicking off Me Made May, which I am not officially part of but would like to dabble in, I have a cosplay costume to share with you.

I really love Disney, like love Disney, but lets face it Disney is a bit of a Marmite, the people who love it, love it and the people that hate it, hate it. I have found that Disney is popular in cosplay circles and I can completely understand why. The dresses! Who wouldn't want to try and make those beautiful and sometimes rather offbeat ballgowns.

When I was a little girl I was lucky enough to go to Disney world in Florida and I can very vividly remember the moment a lady ran up to my Mum saying 'Oh wow, you look just like Snow White! That pale skin, that dark hair!'. My Mum was flattered and a little embarrassed and as the years went on we both got older and I started to look more and more like she did on that day (although a little rounder...).

So when it came to choosing a costume for World Book Day back in March I decided that I wanted to dress as Snow White. Because she was one of the original fairy tales committed to writing by the Brothers Grimm, but also because I wanted to make a costume my Mum might one day be able to wear so she can be Snow White again.

This was the first Disney costume I have made completely and 100% from scratch but I did have a little help in the form of Simplicity pattern 2813 Snow White and Cinderella.

Firstly I would like to say that this is the greatest pattern I have worked with so far. I WISH I had known of its existence when I made my Princess Daisy dress (although that still somehow turned out pretty well).  It had really comprehensive instructions and was really straightforward to follow despite containing some really complex elements. Well done Simplicity!!

This costume took a lot of fabric and as I decided to make it in a better quality cotton it was not cheap to make, but I am feeling like it will be a great costume to wear again and again.

I started off making the bodice that was not only fully lined but also had interfacing around the collar, these were two new skills I learnt just for this costume but interfacing makes SUCH a difference I could not believe it (that's the white stuff poking out at the seams)!

I also learnt how to applique the design on the sleeves using wonder webbing and a new zig zag stitch on my sewing machine, which was fairly simple, however what was not simple was the white collar.

I SPENT 3 HOURS ON THE COLLAR!! It has two layers of stiff interfacing, an attempt at machine overlocking and strategic velcro attachment so that the collar would also stand up AND be detachable. It was very hard work, but I was so pleased with the finished effect.

Also how much do I love my swirly fancy fringe in this picture!!

And here is the final outfit, including the hair bow, that I also made myself :)

And here is a quick selfie I took with my wig on before heading off to work.

Annnnnnnd here is the final thing, complete with apple! I really wasn't pleased with the make up as I had to keep it fairly toned down for work, I am looking forward to wearing it again, and since I have had my hair done, I wont need to wear a wig - YES!

Sad news is that I didn't win the staff competition this year, but I don't think it would have been very fair to win two years in a row.

But I did get some very weird looks on the train!

The best part of the who day was when I walked past the nursery near my work and one of the staff came running out to ask me to say hello to the children. It was adorable!

What do you think of my costume? Do I make a good Snow White?

Can you believe I'm wearing brown? No me neither, but it is a beautiful late 1950s St Michael dress...

Around 12 years ago there was a phase in fashion where brown was really, really in. I remember it vividly because I had this brown and blue skirt from Next that was the only concession I would make to the brown trend. About 10 years ago I decided I hated said skirt not only because of the colour, but also the stupid asymmetric hem. Ew.

So imagine my surprise when I came across a vintage dress that was most certainly brown, and I really, really liked it. WHAT?! I think the saviour of this dress was that it was not a chocolate brown, but also that it had a print design to it. I can best liken it to a cross between animal print and tree bark. Miaow.

The dress is 1950s St. Michael or Marks and Spencer as it's known now and still has the satin label that was used at the time. I love the fact that M&S changed their labels so frequently allowing their clothes to be dated so easily.

With the dress I wore a modern M&S cardigan, vintage beads and a vintage belt (that is dropping to bits and desperately needs replacing!).

My freshly trimmed hair was tucked into a nylon scarf bow that I tied around my head. I am so much happier with my hair now that I have had all the perm damage cut off. It is in so much better condition and I think I suit the darker colour so much more than the red.

And the back of my hair showing how I tucked it all in the nylon scarf.

The back drop for these photos was a super glamourous back alley in Alnwick, Northumberland. I felt the colours made a lovely combination to go with the dress.

Last think to mention is something else pretty cool. In Alnwick there is a huge second hand book store where the famous/infamous Keep Calm and Carry On poster was originally found. Since the keep calm thing is a huge now it was pretty nifty to see the original.

Outfit details:

Dress: Vintage St. Michaels

Cardigan: Modern M&S

Necklace and Belt: Vintage

Hair Scarf: From Natalie Vintageous

Shoes: Clarks

 How do you find brown clothes? Yey or Ney? 

Its Spring! So I'm going to take one last chance to celebrate the winter coat...

So I've been away for a few weeks and the weather has changed and so has my wardrobe. In the few weeks that I have been away from the blog I have put all my coats away, stored my super thick black tights and swapped my winter boots over for more dainty shoes. I am loving spring!

But I wanted to take one last minute to celebrate the winter coat.

Boy oh boy was the Collectif sale good this year, so good in fact that I bought 3 coats! But when they are around £35 each over 3 months it really doesn't seem like such a naughty thing... Maybe.

I though it was worthwhile mentioning this coat too as even though it is out of stock right now Collectif are really great at tweaking popular designs and releasing improved versions in new and exciting fabrics and colours. I for one hope a version of this coat comes back, in a navy blue!

So this coat is the Annabelle. It came in two colours; mint green and pink. I decided to get the green as I thought it was a simply gorgeous colour. 

It has a lovely sumptuous fur collar and cuffs too and a silky floral lining that makes it really comfortable. It is generally a warm coat but it is not quite as warm as the Rachel coat I showcased in this post and because of this I think it is the perfect coat for transitioning from winter to spring.

As always the Annabelle features a full skirted design which is great for fitting over full skirts like the Mary which I am wearing underneath ;)

One thing I will say is that this coat is small fitting. I was able to buy the Rachel in a size 12 and this size 14 Annabelle only just fits me so if they do re-release a similar style to this be wary when choosing your size.

Did I mention how much I am loving spring?

Outfit Details

Coat: Collectif

Jumper: Collectif

Skirt: Collectif

Shoes: Clarks

Have you made the wardrobe transition yet? What do you do to switch to spring? Do you do anything at all?!