Saving my mum's vintage dress

Hi,

 

Today I bring to you my latest project....

 

A while ago now, when me and my family were on holiday in the IOW my mum bought this beautiful original 1930/40s dress in a vintage shop:

 

 

It fit her really well and looked nice however, when we got it home we realised it had some quite bad watermarks/staining on it :( They hadn't shown up in the shop (we hadn't been lied to, just nobody had noticed them), but are clearly visible in daylight:

 

My mum was really disappointed and hasn't been able to wear the dress due to the visible staining on the bodice and the main stain (pictured above) on the skirt. My mum tried getting it dry cleaned- they tried their best but nothing could be done :-( Again I was sad because my mum really liked the dress and it cost her £125; though this is not extortionate, it is still quite expensive, and definitely is an amount you want to get some enjoyment from.

 

My mum stashed the dress in the wardrobe, then yesterday we were watching a programme on TV called 'This old thing' which was all about vintage clothing and refashioning it. We decided to get the dress out and give it one last attempt to try to make it wearable. I looked at it, assessed it, thought about hard etc... and then I came up with this idea:

 

A central panel of matching colour scheme purple crepe type fabric (fabric from one of the bargains I got in the costume store!). My mum thought that sounded good as she wanted to preserve the dress (so not cut into it) but also to cover all the stains on the bodice and skirt of course- and the panel can do both! Also I knew I had to come up with a solution that was fairly simple in style so as not to overpower the rest of the details on the dress or make it look 'too much'. The simple, clean shape of the panel should be perfect.

 

I started work on it today- I have got the shape tacked onto the dress and the bodice and skirt panels cut out and ready to be seamed together- I will work more on it tomorrow and will of course bring you lots of pictures when the transformation is complete. I really hope it looks gorgeous and I know it would make my mum really happy if she did love it and could wear it- she had kind of written it off after the dry cleaning didn't really work out. I have made it my mission to SAVE MY MUMS DRESS!!!! :0)

 

Hehe, I have also got some alterations I am working on for my next door neighbour too, I need to finish those of tomorrow as well- I will be a busy bee! But in-between I can relax with dad and brother who have both happened to have the day of work/school and we are getting subways, a mcflurry and playing tennis at the park. So that will be nice. I had a good day today as well- me and my mum saw the importance of being earnest at the theatre and had cupcakes from Sweet couture. Mmmmm... I am craving another one now!

 

Lol, I better get off to bed ready for my busy day tomorrow,

 

Speak to you all again soon,

 

Bye XxXxXx

I won a giveaway!

Hello everyone,

 

Last week I was very happily surprised to find out that I was one of the lucky winners of Stephs mystery giveaway prizes!!! :oD

 

I was soo excited and was not at all disappointed when my fantastic parcel arrived a couple of days ago- look! :D:

 



 

I really really love the nakd bars so was very pleased when I pulled one of them out of the envelope!

 

The brooches Steph made are absolutely beautiful- they go perfectly in my brooch collection :) I can't wait to start wearing them :-)

 

All the little charms are super kawaii too:

 

I have lots of ideas of how to use them :o)

 

Thank you Steph for organising the giveaway and thank you for my fantastic prizes xxx

 

In other news I finished my mums kindle case:

 

She really liked it and hasn't stopped using it since I gave it to her :) Hehe, I was pleased with the fit seen as I didn't get a chance to do a 'fitting' as I made it whilst I was away at uni.

 

Im off now to keep working on the new items I am working on to go in my shop soon....

 

See you soon,

 

Byeeeeeee xxx

An update :)

Hi,

I hope you are all well and have a good weekend planned :) I am excited as next week I have a reading week so get to spend lots of lovely time with my family! (though, I mustn't forget I do have a bit of work to do in-between :P)

This week I have managed to get a lot further on the kindle case I am making for my mum, I just have the ribbing left to do, and then just sewing it up:

 

I also managed to Finish the little cross stitch I wanted to sew onto the front for decoration:

 

I should be able to give it to my mum this weekend as I reckon I will get it finished tomorrow, my aim was to get it to her before my family go on holiday to the IOW the week after next (my holiday is out of sync with my family this time) so I am well within schedule :P

 

I have actually got a lot done this week, now I am more used to doing all my washing etc... and I don't faff so much I can do more stuff! I baked some flapjacks for all the girls on my costume course. They were chocolate, date, raisin and sticky toffee:

 

 

I doubled up on the recipe so everyone got a nice big one :) They really enjoyed them so I was very pleased, I thought they were tasty too! We were thoroughly spoilt today though as it is one of the girls Birthdays coming up and a couple of the other girls made her a really tasty gluten free lemon cake and brought it in. It was very moist and delicious :-P

 

Today we also started making corsets!!! This is our next project, I am very excited about it. We get to be models for each others so I am making one for someone and they are making one for me :-) Today we started the master patterns which tomorrow we are changing to fit our person:

 

They are taken from historical corsets (I chose the 17th century one) so at the moment the patterns are very tiny, people were so much smaller- my wrist just about goes through the armhole! :P

 

In about two weeks we should get our Kimono stuff back (it is being marked :) and then I can show you all pictures of my kimono- which was my first project as I mentioned.

 

Hehe, that is about it for my update, but just before I go I remembered the other day that I hadn't put up the picture of what was inside this years mini parcels Christmas giveaway, silly me! So here it is- just in case you were curious :o):

 

 

See you soon,

 

Bye xxx

A WIP for my mum and it's Circus time...!

Hello,

I hope everyones week is going well so far!

 

This week I started a new knitting project, something for my mum actually- a Kindle fire case :-) She got a kindle Fire HD from my dad for Christmas and a hard case to protect it, but I thought I would knit her a pretty case to slip it into when she takes it on holiday etc...

 

I came up with a style and colour in my head, then looked through my knitting stitch calendar from a couple of years ago to find the kind of stitch I wanted. Here is it so far: 

 

 

It will have the cables running all the way up and then ribbing at the top, and to add the final finishing touch I am going to sew this little hedgehog cross stitch that I am working on too:

 

It is another mouseloft kit- just in case anyone thinks he is cute and wants to start stitching him for themselves :P

 

This week for me is installation week at college- all the people on technical courses (like me :) have to work in groups to make a little exhibition piece thing and this years theme for the installations is fairgrounds/carnivals etc... so me and my group decided to make ours about a circus. Our piece gets a bit dark in places and we have lights and sound etc.. to convey our story but today we got our torn poster wall we planned up- it looks pretty good, I helped out with editing some of the old style posters we found and then distressing them with teabags and stuff- it was fun! Here it is:

 

 

Hehehe- still more to do for our piece, including putting out and focusing the lights onto the jars with little circus scenes in that me and a girl from theatre design put together. We will get there ready for showing them on Thursday and Friday though!

 

See you all again soon and I hope you are all well,

 

Byeeeeeeeee xxx

My trip to the UK wedding fair :)

Hellooo,

 

Last Saturday my mum took me to the UK wedding fair at the excel centre in London (To study all the pretty dresses with my costume making eye! :P). I was very excited as many of you will remember me blogging about how amazing the Asian wedding fair I went to was.

 

Hehe, Instead of waffling on I will let the pictures I took do the talking- this time I managed to get clearer photos as me and my mum got really good seats right at the front for the catwalk show:

Who said a wedding dress had to be white? This is one of the vintage dresses they showed, here is another one:

 

I love going to bridal shows as it is an area I may go into in the future, after uni. You Learn a lot from them and often pick up tons of contact info and brochures (with tons of pictures!!!) I want to got to an African wedding fair next so I work my way around the globe-wedding fair style! :P

 

I hope you all are having a good week so far :) This week is my last week in college working on my half scale kimono- it is going to be a challenge but fingers crossed I get it all done (it doesn't have to be finished, the project is more looking at good technique but I realllly want to finish mine!).

 

I am thinking of doing a giveaway soon, so keep you eyes peeled :D

 

See you again soon,

 

Byeeeeee XxXXxXxXxXx

 

 

It's my birthday!!!

Hello,

Yes, today is officially my Birthday! :D I have had a fabulous day with my lovely family :-)

 

My Dad as usual amazed me with the birthday cake he made for me- it was so lovely to look at and to eat! (though my eyes were too big for my belly and I ate a bit too much :P)

 

Here it is in all its lovely leopard print and cute little mouse/bunny glory :D:

 

 

Isn't he adorable :3

 

Also as usual I was blown away by my family's generosity and thoughtfulness in the presents they got me because having them is a gift enough- and all the lovely stuff they got me ready for uni too- I seriously thought I might wake up and have stuff taken off me instead of getting more gifts as it seems like I have had more than my lot already!

 

Here are some pictures of my wonderful gifts- Thank you to all my lovely family and friends for all of them:

 

 

I am soo excited about reading all of these books :) I have already gained inspiration for my Halloween costume from the fashion book my friend got me :P

 

Hehe, two Kawaii fuzzy Llamas and a fluffy jacket to match- what more could a girl ask for? ;)

 

My mum got me the two little craft kits and my wonderful, lovely, brilliant brother got me the Hamtaro Bijou plush (he also got me a very cool Domo poster which I will post a picture of when it is up and the words he wrote inside my card he made for me were so lovely that they made me cry! And on top of all of that he offered to buy me a film and a Mcflurry- because I love them so much!)

 

I can now top up my chocolate stash thanks to my friends and dad (my friends also got me a pretty picture frame with a picture in it of all of us at my Halloween party dressed up- haha, it is coming to uni with to make me smile each day)

 

Some lunchboxes and luxurious bath stuff courtesy of my dad, I love the cat lunchbox as it reminds me of the Lucky Chinese cats!

 

And last but by far not least some cool Dvds and Cds. I have been wanting to watch the films for ages- mainly for all the amazing costumes in them and who doesn't love a bit of Andre Rieu? :P

 

Thank you again to my family and friends as my day would not have been so  special without you to share it with xxx

 

Hahaha, I hope all of you have had a wonderful day as well, see you all soon with more Innocent hat knitting news!

 

See you all soon,

 

Bye xxx 

The month of Mum :P

Hola!,

 

As most of you will know next Sunday is Mothers day :) As well as this it is also my mums birthday next Wednesday so I have been busy prepping for both occasions :P

 

My mum has recently been trying out some different styles so for her birthday I thought I would give her an accessory box, a little box filled with all different little bits for her to wear. I have bought a couple of things to go in the box but I have also been making some stuff to go in it so she has some super unique accessories too! Here is all the stuff I have made so far...

 

A flower zipper brooch:

 



 

A crochet and felt button flower brooch and a ribbon and button bracelet:

And finally a little fabric yo-yo and ribbon necklace:

 



 

It has been fun making them and experimenting with new techniques and mixing different items :) I hope my mum likes them all. I will probably make a few more things as every time I finish one thing I get another idea, lol :P

 

For Mothers day I think I am getting her a film for us to watch and some chocolate for her to enjoy. I am also going to try and get a cross stitch card done.

 

Hehehe, lots of crafting and so few days left! I bet get started on it again :-)

 

See you all soon, I hope you have a lovely weekend <3 p="">

 

Bye my lovely friends! XxXxXxX

A present for my mum (+ advent pics!)

Hello,

 

I hope you are all having a super week :)

 

The other day my nan visited and she brought me a little present, a WHOLE quality street tin FULL of buttons! I was so excited, she said it was her friends but she didin't need it any more as she is almost 100 and doesn't get round to doing much sewing anymore. I had a long look through and therewere so many pretty ones. The more buttons the merrier- it means you can always find the perfect one for the project you are working on... which is exactly what happened today:

 

When me and my mum wwnet to the V and A about a month back now to see the costume and fashion displays when we weree in the  gift shop my mum saw a pretty collar accessory but it was a little bit too much for us to afford! I remebered she had liked them but couldn't find a collar that I thought was her style to buy her for Christmas, Yesterday I thought why not just make her one! So  did, I made up a pattern piece and got started :) Today I finished it and then went through my new (giant) button box and found the perfect centre decoration for my collar:

 

 

My mum said that button was her favourite so that is the one I added, so it was her style :-) She really liked it and when she tried it on it was perfect size so I was super happy! :D as you never quite know until you try it on. 

Hehehe :0) In other news I finally bring you the photo of the gifts for this years crafty advent 

calendar giveaway for any of still curious:

 

See you all soon,

 

Bye :) xxx

Mothers day and a marshmallow! :3

Hola!

My mum liked her bracelet! Yay! :D I was sooo happy :-) 

here is a picture of the card I made my mum too, I couldn't post a picture the other day as I hadn't finished it yet:

My Mum likes squirrels :P the design was from a Mouseloft kit I got for my birthday and I added 'nuts please!' because I thought he looked a bit cheeky like he was asking for some food! It is a fridge magnet :)

And today when I was watching a murder mystery with my mum I stitched this little marshmallow:

She is called Marsha Mellow (as named by my Dad, hehehe :-) I will soon be making her a chocolate topping too because my favourite sandwich ever since my brother got me vegetarian marshmallows is toasted marshmallow and chocolate spread :P mmmm yum yum! I reccommend whipping one up and trying it :)

Happy Mothers Day Mum! 

Hehehe, See you all soon,

Bye <3

Mothers day bracelet

Hello,

For mothers day I wanted to get my Mum a special piece of jewellery :) I looked on lots of different websites at some very beautiful pieces of handmade jewellery but I didn't know that any of them would be able to arrive in time for Mothers day :( I was talking to my Dad and he said why not just make my mum a special bracelet or necklace? I had a think about it and had a look in all my craft boxes and found some bits and pieces that gave me an idea for a bracelet inspired by the one my dad bought me for Christmas:

After being slightly worried at first about how my jewellery would turn out (especially as it was going to be one of my Mums main gifts) but I am really happy with it :) I hope my Mum likes it!

I was also happy because I learnt a new skill, making felt beads :D I had lots of wool in the needle felting kit I got the Christmas before last so I had a large selection of colours, they are fairly simple to make and there is a great tutorial here! :-)

Now I have go to finish some of the little knitted chicks I am making for charity, like the ones I made last year! :)

See you all soon,

Byeeee xxx

Mums Birthday!

Hola!

Today is my Mums Birthday :D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!!

Hehehe :)

As always I like to make a handmade gift, as well as giving bought gifts when it is my family's birthdays and for my Mum's birthday I decided to make her a mug cosy. I made one using one pattern but then when I had finished it it wouldn't fit any mug in the house! So I looked for another pattern and found one for a lovely cabled mug cosy :) I am happy with how it turned out, I hope my mum likes it! She is opening her gifts when we all get home from school/work:

I used a little heart button to fasten it :-)

I'm off now to sing Happy birthday! hehehehe,

Bye xxxx

Mum's Birthday!

Hi!

Today is my Mums birthday!!!!! 

I finished the kindle cozy in time :D and also made her an apple cozy as an extra present because she liked mine so much:

I used a pattern on ravelry for sizing but then kind of made up the stitch pattern myself.

I made the apple cozy all in purple and then added a heart button and star bead to make it that extra bit special!

I wrapped them up along with the book and sweets I got her as well:

My mum was really pleased, she loved the lot! (and she thought the giant bow was cool too! :)

In celebration we've been up to london today to do some shopping and had a yummy pizza :P

I quite full now but I still might  be able to queeze in some sweets later!

See you all soon,

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

P.s. Keep your  eyes peeled for some cool stuff coming up on the blog throughout March! :)