Sewing a reproduction vintage pinafore or jumper

I've always liked pinafores, dungarees or any kind of skirt with straps that go over the shoulder. I've had 'vintage pinafore' saved on my eBay saved searches for years. But I've not had much luck. For some reason the pinafore skirt doesn't seem to crop up much in the UK. There's been a bit of a fad lately to have little skater skirts with braces attached to them but nothing really substantial.

So I decided to make my own.

I began searching online for patterns, and wasn't having much luck, but then I had a break through when I spotted a gorgeous pinafore on The Fiercest Lilliputian Blog (an awesome blog btw) and I saw that she called it a 'jumper'. Now in the UK a jumper is a wooly thing you have to put over a head (a sweater to my US friends) so I was a tad confused.

I took to eBay again searching for 'vintage jumpers' and got a load of Cosby sweaters...

But change that search to 'vintage jumper pattern' and a few results popped up. And then I saw on in my size (just about) from the US. It was a size too small but I was confident enough that I could adjust the pattern so that it would fit so I went for it. Being a pattern, international postage wasn't expensive and it only cost around £4 in total.

As soon as it arrived I went fabric shopping as I thought this would be a perfect Autumn transition outfit. I chose some softer green twill that was mid range in price, it cost about £16 for all the fabric I needed. I added extra full facing to the inside of the top because I wasn't doing the ric rac or binding from the pattern and that was a bit of a pain logistically. At one point I sewed the waistband on back to front and I had to unpick the WHOLE THING - that was 2 rows of stitching :( Oh, and fitting the bust was a nightmare! I've got to get a dress form.

Anywho, here's how it turned out!

Detail to the top (I LOVE top stitching!):

So here's the final product. I've not taken proper pictures yet, but I think the dress is a little too wintery for August/September so give me a few weeks. But you get the idea.

Saying that I'm pleased is an understatement. I think this will be the perfect transitioning into winter dress! I'm not on a mission to make it in ALL THE COLOURS!

If you like the look of a vintage style jumper/pinafore then Collectif's new season has a lovely one with a flock polka dot. I'm going to save up for that one now too as I'd love to try it out!

This post is largely about hair, but also features a really cute Monsoon jumper

So this thing happened the other week (because I have a huge blog back log at the moment!) where a friend that I haven't seen in quite a while text me about meeting up. Turns out that even though we've been living well over 4 hours apart for the last 10 years we now live about 30 minutes down the road from each other!

What this did mean was that I needed to make myself look presentable at fairly short notice.

Now I'm no expert on vintage hair, but from the 'experts' I have spoken too I have gained a few bits of wisdom. One of the slightly strange tips I've been given is that dirty hair is good for doing vintage styles. Something about the texture allows you to tease and create a sleek look without as much faff as clean hair. A lot of hair stylists use product and curlers to give the hair texture but it seems there is nothing quite as easy as just leaving your hair to grease up.

Here is the style I went for:

                       

This is the product of 3 and a half days of not washing my hair (yeah gross I know). I split it into 3 sections, two on the top and one underneath, teased the top two layers and rolled them into vertical victory rolls. Possibly the neatest I've ever done, and smoothed them using a smoothing comb from Boots.

(I also can't help but think that this make up somehow looks a bit 60s without the lipstick)

I split the back into 3 sections again and did one small roll under and two pin curls at either side.

This jumper is possibly my favourite at the moment, it was from Monsoon in the sale. I simply love the neutral colour and the lace pattern, but the best part is the faux button detail down the back.

The skirt was from a charity shop. It was pretty big on the waist so I used the sewing machine to take in some pleats at the back to make it fit a little better. I think this is one of the greatest gifts sewing has given me the ability to pick up things in charity shops that can be altered or adjusted cheaply to make an improved garment.

So one last thing too, the faux pearls, they were 50p from a charity shop. They're not a bad set and in pretty good condition with a good weight, they are fast becoming a wardrobe staple of mine.

Jumper: Monsoon

Skirt: Thrifted

Tights: Accessorize

Shoes: Clarks

Pearls: Thrifted

With this outfit I wore a pretty sweet coat vintage coat that I got of eBay for £4.99 (incl. postage) but I'll have to save that one for another day!

Vintage Outfit: Red vs blue reversable vintage cape

Oh, it's been a little while since I last posted, but luckily I'm back with something pretty cool!

I am a mega fan of a vintage cape, I now have 3 in my collection, and so far one of them featured on my blog back in this post. I am now sharing my super versatile winter cape!

This cape was a pretty lucky eBay find and I managed to snipe it for just under £20. The best part is that it is two capes in one as it is reversible.

I honestly have no idea when this cape is from, a wild guess would be 60s/70s but I don't really know. Plaid is one of my all time favourites and especially the various red types that are around, this pattern is red and blue so that it goes with the simple blue on the under side.

Here are each of the reversible sides of the cape:

(the satchel came from Yoshi by the way, they have some really lovely printed leather bags!)

Here is a close up of the tartan. 

I actually have a little Scottish blood in my family so I had to look up the tartan (the Scott family) and found that it was a red one, as I had expected, but it is red and green not red and blue.

It can be quite difficult to properly dress a cape as the size and shape can sometimes make you a bit wider in unusual places. I think dressing with simple lines under a cape is a good idea as I feel that something too poofy and flouncy would spoil the effect.

My outfit of choice continued the red and blue theme with a navy blue pencil skirt, vintage red jumper and a peter pan collar blouse.

These glasses are some of my current favourites from the Ozeal website. I'm also really pleased that my hair is finally long enough to be able to do rolls and things. I pleased that I'm finally getting the hang of styling it enough to maybe have a go at telling you how I do it... although perhaps a little more practice first.

Vintage cape: eBay

Bag: Yoshi Satchels

Scarf: Thrifted

Pencil Skirt: St. Michael

Jumper: Vintage thrifted

Brogues: Clarks

Blouse: New Look

Wearing a cape always makes me feel a little a super hero.

Do you have any clothing items that make you feel super?