Where is my mind?

I came across this video on YouTube yesterday. I quite like the original but it does work beautifully as a piano piece. Plus, the video, from 'The Mysterious Lady' (1928) with Greta Garbo, is perfect. What a wonderful dress she's wearing! And what amazing cinematography. Lighting, framing, acting, the works.

Winter feels like it's arrived today, and I went out well wrapped up today. I could see my own breath on the way to work this morning!
Hardly surprising, then, that any vestige of sun tan I did have has well and truly gone. Now, my skin barely changes colour, even when I spend all day sunbathing with no cream on. I've resigned myself to being pale and interesting. However, I went to look at new foundations at MAC yesterday (I thought my current one was looking a bit dark) and where I had been wearing NC25, I'm now wearing NC15, two whole shades lighter... it's positively porcelain. It's also the palest shade they do...should I embrace my inner goth and dye my hair darkest brown? Maybe I'm better off following Christina Hendrick's example? My hair is a dark auburn colour naturally and it's been most colours under the sun at one time or other. I'm not afraid of dye!
While I was in MAC, I picked up a lip primer, as recommended by Fleur in her recent tutorial. I wore it for the first time today, and I must say that it's made my lips look and feel a lot more moist and smooth (something I was finding a problem with the matte lipsticks) and I do think it's helped to keep the colour on. I did a little touch up after lunch but not as much as I might normally. I do use lipcoat and that also makes a world of difference!
So, expensive trip but I felt it was well worth it!

My mum and have agreed to do a pattern exchange. She's going to knit me a cardigan, and I'm going to sew her a pair of trousers. I already have my pattern bought from ebay, and I need to buy some wool. We're still trying to find a trouser pattern for her, but we have discovered that she fits into my 1940s trousers better than I do! So, that's what we're looking at first. I'll keep you up to date with my progress!

Best giveaway yet...

The wonderful Shona is giving away a Fleur dress on her Heyday blog.
These dresses are wonderful - they're comfy and flattering and although I already have one, I have a good friend who I could give a very generous Christmas gift to if I won!
Get over there quick!

Needlewoman and Needlecraft 1948

I picked this magazine up the other day. Published on July 20th 1948. There's all sorts of lovely things in here, I may attempt the gloves at some point! 

Too tired for Tuesday

I was going to be witty and charming, and frightfully relevant, but I'm cream crackered tonight, so you can just look at the me from this morning.
In other news, I'm reading Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons on the bus every day and it's a delight. For a talented woman she's been given very limited credit!

So far, I've learnt that wearing gloves with no hat is far more elegant that wearing a hat with no gloves...will try to remember that tomorrow.



Skirt - Coast

Black top + Cardigan - Marks and Spencer

Shoes - Clarks

Scarf - Charity shop 



Only 4 days to the weekend....

So, it's Monday again, and somehow I wish I were still ill so that I didn't have to go back to school. I mean work. It certainly feels like school at the moment; tiring, pointless and painful.
However, I put my best foot forwards this morning and got out my newly de-stained jersey dress (it's been sat in my mending pile for about 2 years), put on my make up and made it in to the office barely after 10! Go me.

Dress is a very old Monsoon purchase

Cardigan - Topshop

Lacey tights - Marks and Spencer

Shoes - Clarks (and featured on Fleur de Guerre's blog today!)

Scarf - vintage

Squint - 9.15am bleugh

As a reward I had crumpets when I got in. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. My toaster looks far cleaner here than in real life!

As Fleur has posted about her vintage inspired (V.I.) spots, I thought I'd join in. She mentioned both Clarks and Zara, which are two of my favourite shops (along with Marks and Spencer, in case you hadn't noticed). I have a list of shoes I want from Clarks as long as my arm.

I may have to pay a shop a visit in the near future...

I've also spotted these beauties in Hush Puppies

Don't they make you go 'oooooooooooooooohhhhhh'?! I reckon I could wear these with just about anything. Skirts, dresses, trousers, jeans, nighties... They're going on the Christmas list though :(
I also spotted a couple of nice bits over at Zara while I was browser window-shopping.

Barring the belts (it's a bit too much hobo-chic for my tastes - fine if you're 16 and skinny, not if you're me.) the tops are really very nice. There's a definate 40s vibe on the high street this autumn and if you can sift through the 80s revival and the thigh skimming tea dresses, there are some really nice shapes and fabrics around.

I think it could be a long and costly shopping trip!

For the observant amongst you, while I've been looking at shiney things, I've failed in a spectacular fashion to do any more sewing at all. Oooops. I did assemble some Ikea shelves for my TV and DVD collection though!

While I've never done any tailoring or lining of jackets before, when I found this vintage suit with ripped p lining, I couldn't resist buying it and attempting to fix it up.
I have no idea what I'm doing, so if anyone has any input or advice, please jump in!

 First I've unpicked the old lining. You can see how ripped it is and getting the shape right is something of a challenge. I wrote what each piece was onto the pieces. I also kept one half intact to ensure I have some reference as to how it was constructed. 

Once I'd unpicked the different parts, I pressed it flat and pinned it down to the new lining fabric, doing my best to match the grain.

I then cut the pieces out, leaving a 5/8 allowance, measured from the line of stitches, which is more than there was originally.

Next job will be to make a few tailor tacks to mark where the stitching stops at the pointed parts (I reckon I can manage to work out where the corners are on the square areas).

My plan is to construct the lining as a whole, and then stitch it edge to edge with the seams around the edges of the jacket. There are tabs under the arms, where the tops of the sleeves are attached to the jacket, and at the end I'll hand turn the bottoms of the sleeves and the bottom of the body.

Wish me luck, and I'm happy for advice!

Fabulous giveaways

There are 2 great giveaways that are worth having a look at soon;
The first is over at The Long and Winding Bobbin. This is a lovely giveaway of some patterns, some very pretty fabrics and a beautiful handbag.
As part of the giveaway she's asked entrants to post a picture of their current project. I figure that this is a chance to commit to finish one or two projects, so here they are. Number one is lining a suit I bought a while back, number 2 is Simplicity 3688, from which I'm making the skirt. This pattern calls for fusible interfacing on the waistband and this is the first time I've used it, so it'll be a learning experience for me.
I'm off work with a horrible cold at the moment, so if I can get myself off the sofa for long enough, I'll do an hour or so on these today. Wish me luck!

The second giveaway is from The Last Piece where Sarah is giving away packs of fabrics. They're such lovely designs, they're well worth looking at. I've been planning to make a quilt and I think that these prints would add a great splash of colour.