Today I had 2 things to do: go to the vintage store near my suburb to find a pair of gloves to finish off my outfit for Tuesday, and go to my gig.
My day filled out so much more though. I got off the bus to go to the vintage store, and the flea market was on nearby, so on a whim I thought I'd check there first, bound to be gloves there. And wouldn't you know it? One of the first places I looked, they had much nicer gloves than I was ever imagining I'd find, at far better prices than I was expecting, and..... the stallholder had beautiful old 1940s dress patterns too! Oh I was in heaven. I did so well. The stallholders just offer you discounts before you even ask for them! I ended up finding a fantastic pair of 1950s earrings too. Conversation between me and that stallholder:
Me: How much do you want for these?
Her: $38. Oh I'll do it for $35..... $30, but I can't go lower than that. $28, I really can't go lower than that OK $25.
Me: OK.
After the flea market I went to the vintage store, and will probably return for a piece of fabric they had there, I did a rough measurement of it and I've got to work out if there's enough of it for what I want to make with it to make it worthwhile buying.
Then into town, where Myer was on sale for me to stock up on stockings.
Next I was off to Lincraft who were on sale - stocked up on various bits & bobs including a lovely cotton voile which is now earmarked for Vogue 2902. I think it's time to hit the pause button on fabric purchases for me.
In the middle of all my consuming, I saw a couple of angels in Sydney Town. When I left Myer and was waiting to cross the road, there were two young women who appeared to be distributing good food and kind words to Sydney's homeless. There they were, like seraphs, happily chatting to the man who's always in that spot, basket of treats in hand. He seemed so happy for the interaction and I was transfixed. I will try to remember those 2 girls next time I hear someone criticizing gen Y (or am tempted to do so myself!)
Next up, down to the FoW for my show. Here's one of the songs we did today:
Please excuse the production values - it's quite difficult to do a live recording in such a rowdy pub!
You might notice the stunning gloves I purchased earlier that day. They are slightly sheer & cream with a little bow on the wrist.
The guy who walks around selling roses gave me a rose!
To top off the day, a very dear friend surprised me with a visit to the pub and took me to a lovely dinner after the show.
Life is good. Life is very good.
Sunday 30 October 2011
Friday 28 October 2011
Picking up stitches
2011 has been the year of a lot of new changes for me. One of them is resuming sewing as a hobby, which I hadn't done since I was a teenager, and have never done with the zeal and patience that I have for it now.
I sing in a jazz band in Sydney on Sundays, and I love to dress up in vintage styles. I've bought a few vintage and reproduction dresses in the past. Anyway, when you're surfing around the net looking at vintage fashion, you're bound to end up at Gertie's blog. And end up there I did. At the time, I was still studying whilst working full time, so I didn't really feel up to acting on the myriad inspirations I found there. But, a seed had been planted.
This year I finished my qualification and found a great job. Now I had no more assignments to do there was spare time to think about sewing. And by gosh it was getting cold at the pub where I sing so I thought a long sleeved 50s style dress would do the trick very nicely. Of course Gertie had done a marvellous proof of concept with her faux fifties dress. Not having sewn in absolute yonks, her account of using the pattern gave me a bit of confidence to have a crack at it. I loved the custom bust sizes on this pattern! I made 3 muslins of the bodice (had never heard of making a muslin before discovering Gertie's site) and made it up in a blue taffeta (didn't want to use a really exxy fabric, just in case).
I was having real trouble fitting it, the sleeves felt too tight when I moved my arms but they were plenty loose enough at ease so my mum's friend came around to help me and off I went. 2 weekends later I had my dress!
Each weekend I rode out to my mum's house to use her machine as I didn't have one.
Our mum gave sewing machines to me and my sister many years ago. Shortly after that I left mine with my sister because I wasn't using it. I spoke to her to see where my sewing machine had got to. She couldn't recall, so gave me hers. I was set!
Online shopping for patterns, inheriting my sister's fabric & pattern stash, buying machine accessories. It had started. Even though the impetus was to be able to make vintage-style dresses, I got it into my head that I could make all my clothes.
God dang it, I would never buy ready to wear clothes again! And you know what? Cranky old bird that I am, I haven't. That's a few months now. I haven't thrown out my old things, but no new ready to wear. It's a good feeling.
Let the adventure begin!
I sing in a jazz band in Sydney on Sundays, and I love to dress up in vintage styles. I've bought a few vintage and reproduction dresses in the past. Anyway, when you're surfing around the net looking at vintage fashion, you're bound to end up at Gertie's blog. And end up there I did. At the time, I was still studying whilst working full time, so I didn't really feel up to acting on the myriad inspirations I found there. But, a seed had been planted.
This year I finished my qualification and found a great job. Now I had no more assignments to do there was spare time to think about sewing. And by gosh it was getting cold at the pub where I sing so I thought a long sleeved 50s style dress would do the trick very nicely. Of course Gertie had done a marvellous proof of concept with her faux fifties dress. Not having sewn in absolute yonks, her account of using the pattern gave me a bit of confidence to have a crack at it. I loved the custom bust sizes on this pattern! I made 3 muslins of the bodice (had never heard of making a muslin before discovering Gertie's site) and made it up in a blue taffeta (didn't want to use a really exxy fabric, just in case).
I was having real trouble fitting it, the sleeves felt too tight when I moved my arms but they were plenty loose enough at ease so my mum's friend came around to help me and off I went. 2 weekends later I had my dress!
Each weekend I rode out to my mum's house to use her machine as I didn't have one.
Our mum gave sewing machines to me and my sister many years ago. Shortly after that I left mine with my sister because I wasn't using it. I spoke to her to see where my sewing machine had got to. She couldn't recall, so gave me hers. I was set!
Online shopping for patterns, inheriting my sister's fabric & pattern stash, buying machine accessories. It had started. Even though the impetus was to be able to make vintage-style dresses, I got it into my head that I could make all my clothes.
God dang it, I would never buy ready to wear clothes again! And you know what? Cranky old bird that I am, I haven't. That's a few months now. I haven't thrown out my old things, but no new ready to wear. It's a good feeling.
Let the adventure begin!
Hello world
Well this will be interesting. I've intended to start a blog for years and years. Well we all know about intentions. And I intend to update this blog. We shall see.
Anyway, I've been following the sterling blogs of some lovely ladies for a while and they are just so inspiring that I just have to join in.
About me: I'm a law-practising, jazz-singing, bike-riding, clothes-sewing, library card-carrying, piano-playing, sometimes-ranting, gal who can be a bit of a nerd.
Anyway, I've recently started posting my sewing projects on Burdastyle, but figured I could probably go into a bit more detail here, and also share my non-sewing projects too, and keep it all in the one place.
First I'll need to get myself all caught up. This will be interesting (for me anyway)
Anyway, I've been following the sterling blogs of some lovely ladies for a while and they are just so inspiring that I just have to join in.
About me: I'm a law-practising, jazz-singing, bike-riding, clothes-sewing, library card-carrying, piano-playing, sometimes-ranting, gal who can be a bit of a nerd.
Anyway, I've recently started posting my sewing projects on Burdastyle, but figured I could probably go into a bit more detail here, and also share my non-sewing projects too, and keep it all in the one place.
First I'll need to get myself all caught up. This will be interesting (for me anyway)
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