Giveaway-time!

Kitten in love has reached 100 posts! In honour of this event, I'm giving away this pretty little bow-pin;

I think it's silver (the box has a jewelers tag on it) and it measures about 3 cm across and 1,5 cm from top to bottom so it's a little smaller than in the picture. With it comes a cute little toilet bag into which I might put even more goodies if I happen to come across something suitable.


If you want a chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post and just to make this a bit more fun, share with us the name of a film or two that you like because they wear loads of pretty clothes in it, or beacuse it has a nice story or something along those lines...Don't forget to leave the address to you blog or your e-mail in the comment!

If you want to have an even better chance of winning, you can mention the giveaway on you own blog and link back to me, but make sure you let me know!

Now then, you can post until 8 pm (Kitten time) on Sunday the 4th of October when I will draw a name out of a hat, and the following Monday I will present you with the lucky winner!

Good luck!

A flirt with the 60's

Before I got into the 40's and 50's inspired style, I liked the 60's and 70's. One reason for this was that I happened to come across some of my parents old clothes in the attic of our house. Needless to say, they didn't stay in the attic. At the age of 13-14 I started to wear my mum's, (and dad's!) old flared jeans and other items to school, and finally began to feel like I had a style that I liked. Around this age is when I started sewing a bit more as well, however most of my projects from back then are still in storage somewhere, unfinished, because I did not yet have the skills to make things the way I wanted...

Anyway, a few years passed, I moved abroad and dressed more mainstream until I moved back to Finland, broke up with my boyfriend at the time and found many of the wonderful blogs that I now follow on a daily basis. My retro fashion interest returned, now focused a couple of decades earlier than before, until this;

I found a fantastic 60's dress with a gold pattern and no way was I leaving this beauty in the charity shop. Cost me 3 euros.

A couple of weeks later I found a pair of matching gold shoes. So I have decided that it is silly of me to limit myself to any certained time period, when there is so much fun to be had with a broader wardrobe...! We'll see what the future holds!

# 97

My latest find cost me 30 euros. But, I just thought about the chance of me ever finding a clock as cool as this one ever again (highly unlikely) and got it, even though it's a bit chipped and is missing the key to wind it up with. However, Mr Kitten did have a look so I'm hoping he has some idea on how to get this baby ticking.

On the subject of time, did you know that I am fast approaching my 100:th post on this blog? Yup, time flies...So now I'm thinking I should do something to celebrate, like, a giveaway perhaps? Sound good?

The long lost and forgotten; Mallorca part II

I never did tell you how the rest of our trip to Mallorca went did I? Well, it's about time then!

On the third day we rented a car and drove across the island to visit the "cavern of the dragon", an amazing and long cave complete with underground lake and guards shouting at every visitor who dares to try and take a photo...

After the cave we went to a drive through safari park where we saw this little fellow;

And this;

Another kitten;


The following day we drove down this winding road...


...to some pretty high places.





The views were amazing!

Saturday we had a lazy beach day.



And on sunday we went to the aquarium.




The last day we spent shopping and that's when I found the shoes!

Oh, how I wish I could be somewhere that warm and sunny again, I had to wear a hat and gloves on the way to work early this morning! Oh well, I'll just have to try and see the good in all of this, among other things, I should be able to use that muff I bought soon! But now I'm off to learn the foxtrot with mr Kitten.

How to clone yourself

A few moths ago I decided to clone myself. The reason I wanted to do so was to make sewing, and altering clothes easier for myself. Basically, I wanted to have my own dress form, and here's how I did it.

I found a t-shirt I wasn't using and a few rolls of transparent packing tape and kindly asked my boyfriend a.k.a Mr Kitten to tape me up. I wanted my dressform to have a bit of an arm, so that I can make things that sort of go around my shoulders. I also wanted it to continue down to the wides part of my hips, so that I don't accidentally make a skirt too tight. When I was all taped up, Mr Kitten cut through the tape and the t-shirt from the back and I could peel of my shell;

Then I taped the back together again. We used about 1 ½ rolls of tape and the form was pretty sturdy made from tape + t-shirt alone.


Looking right trough me...

I wanted my form to have a filling, so that it would keep it's shape, and a stand to make it easy to work with. So I went out and after a bit of a search found an old lamp stand for 5 €. I also got some filling material that builders use, makroflex I think it was called, which expands.

I cut up and old plastic bottle (for the neck) and taped it to the stand, then filled it with the flex-stuff...which didn't work out too well as it needs air to dry, which there wasn't too much of in that sealed off bottle and that caused the flex-stuff to sort of melt in parts. But it was still good enough for me, so I continued.


Before the melting.

When the bottle was firmly attached to the upper part of the stand I turned my shell up-side down and put the neck/spine in place.

And started filling the shell up. This took me several days to do, as the flex-stuff takes about 12-24 hours to expand and dry, and you have to do it in layers, because if the layer underneath is not dry, it will melt when there's no contact with air...At this point I did wonder why I hadn't filled it with something else, but hey, trial and error is the way to go, right?

Filled-finally!

Finally I taped a piece of cardboard cut to shape on the bottom to cover the filling up and put the stand back together, et voilà;

My home-made dress form (and my hoover).

If you are into sewing and want your own "customised to you" dress form there are a few things that might be useful to know:

Choose a better looking t-shirt than I did, alternatively cover the finished dress form up in a new fabric/long neck tight t-shirt when it's done. I still need to get one of those cover up shirts as I am not too keen on that yellow t-shirt being visible...Another alternative is to use a coloured tape, or duct-tape, as used on the site from where I got my inspiration.

Be careful when getting taped - don't let it get too tight because you will need to breathe!

Choose a good assistant who isn't shy, they will need to be very careful when doing the taping to avoid creases and get an even result. Me and Mr Kitten were a bit too impatient and as a result, my clone is a bit funny under the arms...I would also recommend using strips of tape, instead of you spinning as your assistant moves the roll of tape up and down. Don't rush!

And finally, use a different filling! Maybe old newspaper or scraps of fabric or old pillows, but nothing too soft or loose.


I am quite pleased with my result, although it is a bit too wide under the arms, and the shoulders got deformed after standing up side down for a few days, but it's close enough. Pinning pieces of fabric together on my back and sides is so much easier when I have a clone to do it on!

Questions?

Finds from Juthbacka

A couple of weeks ago I went to this huge market held once a year not too far from here. Apart from the muff, I also came home with this 1 euro scarf;

Two pairs of gloves (2,50 € each).

And an old curtain;

Which I turned into this;

I also bought a hat and a 50's swimsuit, but I haven't photographed those yet.

After being well for almost 1 year and a half, I have now got a cold. Nothing to do with pigs, I hope, and it's not that bad at the moment so perhaps I'll survive...Hope you've all had a wonderful and flu free weekend!

Autumn is on it's way

In the spirit of autumn, I thought I'd give you some falling leaves.


The leaves form the pattern on this shirt and skirt, which I bought for two euros in a fleamarket on the way home from that camping trip to Pori.

I don't know why, but it feels a lite bit too granny-like when worn like above, so I prefer to wear the shirt tucked in. Although I don't think I've worn it since when I took the photo...