Summer favourites

Finally I feel like I'm actually doing something about that pile of things to be altered, the pile that normally seems to be only growing has actually started to shrink!  This skirt didn't even stay in the pile for long, as it's the one I recently bought in Sweden. What was too long and one size to big now fits me and is likely to become a favourite this summer.

 

Another potential favourite is this red skirt that used to be my aunt's in the 60's or 70's. It was a bit longer before and made me look really short. But now that's been taken care of! I of course used my serger when I shortened both skirts, and then I had an idea and looked through my sewing machine equipment and indeed, turns out I've got one of those presser foots who fold over the fabric and make hems look neat and pretty...so of course I had to try it out and I'm pretty pleased with the result!

Today I have also turned a pair of long legged trousers into 50's style capri pants (high waist!) and I can't tell you what a difference using the serger makes. You can't really tell if those trousers/capris have been altered with the professional look the serger leaves. The sig-sag just doesn't do it for me anymore...

Malmö finds, part 2

My last day in Malmö was a monday, therefor my brother was at school and his wife at work, so I had to go out vintage shopping on my own...I didn't do too bad though! It was a warm and summery day so I put on this outfit and wandered off into the city. Several hours later I had found two skirts;

 

I've been looking for a red one for ages...And the one below was just fantastic, LOVE the pattern, has to be taken in slightly though.

I also found a dress which fitted me like a glove. Both skirts and the dress came from Humana.

And last but not least, I found two hats...In an antiques shop with loads of beautiful teak furniture and string-shelves other nice things I sadly could not fit into my bag and bring home.

Aren't they pretty? But kind of wintery so they won't get worn for another couple of months. I also visited Som Ny, and chatted with the lovely owner. She had some nice stuff there, especially the jeans, but sadly nothing in my size that I liked. But do head over there for a peek if you're in Malmö, or visit her web shop, she had some nice jewellery too!

I had a really nice time in Malmö, the shopping was sure better than around here, as was the restaurant we went to and of course it was also nice to hang out with my brother and his wife. The finds have been washed and now I just need to iron and do some other fixing before I can start wearing them. Oh, and I need the weather to be warm again...

Finds from Malmö, part 1

My trip to Malmö, was pretty nice. I went to visit my brother but in reality, I spent most of my time getting to know his wife C better. My brother isn't into shopping so I wasn't surprised he left that part to us girls.  C and I haven't really spent time together before so it was pretty nice, especially since it turned out we had more in common than expected, she's into ecological thinking too and likes flea-markets for example. So for once I didn't have to go shopping alone, yay!

The first day we went around a couple of vintage stores in town, as well as a couple of antique shops. We saw some nice stuff but I still came back empty handed, while C found a lovely 60/70's tunic that looked really cute on her.

On Sunday we went to a carboot sale kind of market and suddenly my I started spotting things I wanted. My favourite find was this old H&M dress, a couple of sizes too big with buttons missing in the back but hey, it only cost me 30 SEK (about 3 euros) and I just know it will look great once I get it fixed...

The bad thing about outdoor markets is that you can't try things on, so I bought me another dress that was too big. But I should be able to fix it...I just need some time.

This skirt on the other hand was just right, but I'm not sure about the belt...Maybe it would be better higher up? Why oh, why does everything I buy turn into a project?!

 

My last purchase of the day doesn't have to fit me, as I bought it as an addition to my collection of vintage slips and nightgowns. One day I plan to have my collection hanging on the walls of our bedroom, I just need some hooks on the wall first (or a bedroom with walls that I can put up the hooks on myself, without the need of stone wall drilling equipment...).

C also came back with a few things, and I even managed to find a few things for her that she liked (a retro tablecloth and retro enamel casserole, both awesome but not quite my style). Anybody else need a personal shopper? I'll show the rest of my finds another day so stay tuned!

Dressing like a granny

Hello readers! This is what I'm wearing at the moment of typing;

I just finished turning the skirt from a size 38 to a size 34 and I just had to wear it right away. I won't be wearing it too much longer though, Mr Kitten and I are soon going out for a meal with some of his friends and after that, we're all going to see the local revue "Oopåålapåtte". I'll probably go wearing my red jeans and something more rockabella-style than 40's inspired...Mr Kitten tends to think I dress like his grandma did when I wear vintage and I'm not sure that's the impression I want his friends to get of me, hah.

Anyway, I managed to finish a non-sewing project this week also, I turned this;

Into this;

A lot more to my taste...I used gift wrapping paper and some leftover plain black paper. Didn't even take that long! Right, I'd better go have a look in my closet so that I have an outfit ready when it's time to go, hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Dot dot dot

Mr Kitten and I went shopping to Kärkkäinen last weekend. What I came home with all seemed to have something in common, can you spot (pun intended) the similarities? The gift wrapping paper I plan to use for making some pretty storage boxes, I've been looking for dotted paper for ages! The blue package is our new shower curtain, in case you were wondering.

Earlier this fall I had plans for making a shirtwaist dress. Well, I made the shirt, but as this is the first shirt I've made since I was in school (aged 14) and I made up the pattern myself, it didn't come out exactly as planned. I also chose a fabric that turned out to bee pretty itchy...Oh, well. Can't win em all. But I now know what I need to do differently next time. To make myself feel better I made another circle skirt instead, this time with a hidden pocket! Turned out a lot better than the shirt...

As I mentioned in my last post, I took some old clothes to be sold off at a nearby flea-market. Of course this meant more room for new items in my closet! At said flea-market I found an item I could not walk away from, even though it had lost it's shape (bad washing?) and needs a bit of work to fit me. An embroided cardigan, 50's style, most likely vintage (it has beads as buttons!). I have been searching for something like this for a while and now I've got one! Hopefully it will come out wearable after I take it in a bit, shorten it etc.

Another lovely find was this vintage dress;

Great colour and style, matching belt (pretty much) and my size! Nothing to alter!? Definitely a style I will try and copy for other dresses. It is not as long as it looks btw, camera was a bit high...And note my matching nail polish!

Hope you are all doing well, I'm going to Vasa to get braces tomorrow...No sticky candy for me for the next few years.

Just an outfit

I went for a little shopping trip on friday, and wore this outfit;

I visited two charity shops and I actually found a vintage dress for once, or at least I think it's vintage. But no pictures yet, sorry. I also found a cute red girls dress which I'm gonna turn into a skirt and a piece of houndstooth fabric. I just need to find the time and energy to sew and take pictures...But right now, I need to get ready for work. How do you motivate yourself to sew and/or blog?

A little bit of light

Yey, I've seen the sun two days in a row now! While it was light I also got a picture of the new skirt I made.

The top is also new - second hand. My new project is making myself an apron, a bit like the pink one in this image from sovintagepatterns.com. Only mine will be blue and white.


This saturday I'm going to my work x-mas party, and I'm just about to start pin-curling my hair. Hopefully it'll still look good on saturday...Have a nice weekend everybody!

The rise and fall of inspiration

November. The darkest time of the year. My motivation and inspiration level has been quite low lately. It's been too dark to take any decent pictures and I've been too uninspired to sew anything. Thoughts like "why sew something new when I haven't got any occasion to wear it" and "it's too cold for a dress like that" have been in the back of my mind. But now, I think I might have gotten out of it. I hope. Because of a huge piece of dark red fabric in my shelf ...I'm thinking something along these lines;

Images from vintagefashionlibrary.com, stopstaringclothing.com and pinupgirlclothing.com

I might also make a pair of high waisted trousers if there's enuogh material, or try my had at making a shirt/jacket! Or maybe that piece of fabric will still be there next year. What do you do when your mind starts asking "why bother sewing/being creative/dressing up?

Something for summer?

Now here's an outfit I can see myself wearing a lot this summer ( if it ever gets warm). The top is from a charity shop in Vasa and the capris a bit closer to home. They had been taken in and shortened by the previous owner, and needed some adjusting. Luckily, the time it takes me to get around to doing this kind of asjustments has shortened a lot in the last few years. Lucky, as I've found un-adjusted clothes from years back which will suit my style much better today than they would have, however altered, back then.

For some reason I've actually found up to five or six pairs of vintage gloves in this area, where other types of vintage clothing is so rare. Here's yet another pair, for 50 cents, along with some hair stuff and a cute broche. I've not been that into wearing broches, but then again, I haven't really owned any worth wearing...

I've already got a skirt almost identical to this one. But...ok I haven't really got any good reason for getting it. Other than it being so cheap. I couldn't resist the top either, as it was in one of my favourite colours and had a bit of a vintage feel as well.

Now this shirt - total love! Felt very 40's even though it's new. It had some nice details too. Worn with the same skirt as above, vintage gloves and handbag and grandma's old shoes.

Right, now I'm gonna have togo and check on my boyfriend, he's attempting to cut his own hair...

Dig through piles of clothes and you shall find

Last friday was payday...which meant money to go shopping! I happened to have the day off so off to the charityshops I went, spent 15 euros and came home with some nice stuff in lovely colours.

I worked throughout the weekend and today I finally had some time to take pictures.


Such a great scarf, I can see myself wearing this a lot this summer.


This skirt is actually a bit longer than this, but hey, nothing that can't be fixed with a bit of time and my beloved sewing machine...

And then, finally, as I was going through a pile of swimwear, something red caught my eye. I pulled it out, noticed the shape of the bust and my heart almost stopped - could it be? Oh yes it could! A real 1950's bathing suit! (50's clothes are seriously rare to find in this area) And it looked small too...but when I tried it on it was sadly a couple of sizes too big. Which didn't stop me from spending an entire 50 cents on it and posing in it for you all to see. So, now it will live in my closet for a few years until I gain a bit more weight. I didn't really need a bathing suit anyway, since I've already got my new leopard print bikini...and the eight or so other bikinis/bathingsuits in my closet.

Yellow and red

Working seven days in a row is not particularly fun, especially when it's the evening shift and I have to start getting ready for work at about 11.45 in the morning. Not much time to do your own thing. But, once it's saturday I get four days off in a row! Followed by another eight days straigt of work. I can't say that I'm liking this whole "open shops on sunday" thing. Although I wouldn't mind it - as long as I didn't have to work...

Here's the rest of the stuff I bought in Vasa. The checked red and white skirt cannot wait for the weather to get warmer, and neither can I.

I could not resist this mustard coloured jacket, and it was the biggest gamble of all my purchases I think. It just fit me so well. Just like the red, the blue, the beige and the brown jackets that are very, very similar to this one. Ehem, adding colour to my wardrobe will have to be my excuse.

This dark red skirt also fit me very well, and I really liked the fact that it got a little bit wider starting from just above the knee. Oh, summer, come soon! I've got so many nice things to wear when it gets warm...

Finds and sewing inspiration

Saturday was spent in the town of Vasa, where I dragged my poor boyfriend around all the shops as well as a charityshop. Being a thrifter, I find it hard to pay full price for new clothes, so I end up only buying non-second hand stuff I really, really like - as long as the price is reasonable. This little dress from Gina Tricot only cost 15 euro and had such a nice cut that I had to get it. I rarely pay more than 20 euros for any one item. For me to pay more it'll have to be something like a winter coat or everyday shoes - things I know that will be used alot.

In the red cross charity shop I spent about 20 euros, for about...7 items? That's budget shopping for you. Among the things I got was this very useful and easily combined white tie front shirt, as well as these capri pants/jeans, with a nice high waist. I am unsure about keeping the length though, perhaps I should shorten them slightly?

I also got this lovely dark red skirt, which has a nice fall to it. The dark blue cardigan is from the H&M sale and the black pearls, something I've been looking for a while, are from Glitter.

In the evening we saw "Vaude" and with my brother playing the part of a crazy circus director, Mao etc. I really enjoyed the vaudeville spectacle.

Today is my day off -working on saturday instead, and I am in the mood to sew something. This type of dress is what's inspiring me at the moment;

And I happen to have a piece of fabic similar to this, but striped;

Time to get out my pattern files and start mixing! (Dresses from Stop Staring)

New Old Skirts

I've bought a couple of skirts lately that I thought I'd show you. First up is the vintage black pencil skirt I got a few weeks back but never showed you, worn here with that handbag that I got from the same place, a second hand top from England and my new cherry necklace.

It appears I'm getting slightly influenced by all the cute blogger that wear a lot of bows, I've never really been into those but look at this, on saturday I found this brown leather skirt...with a little bow on the back.

Behold the quality, or lack there of, of my crappy old camera. The skirt from the front. 1€ it cost me, how could I resist?

Now this one I really couldnt resist, the lady in the charity shop gave it to me, as she was gonna put it in the "free stuff" box anyway, and since it was a couple of sizes too big. Hope me and my friend the sewing machine can fix that one.

I also bought two pieces of fabric in dark brown and dark blue corderoy, a sarong-like thingy to go with my bikini in the summer and two champagne glasses. At the moment I'm working on turning the brown fabric into a dress, wish me luck!