Monday 18 April 2011

The Vintage Kilo Sale - my finds

Hello there!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I did, I finally got my sewing space all sorted out and organised (I snatched the chance in a break between projects, otherwise I wouldn't have even known where to start!) so I have a lovely clear space to work at last. And that's good because I have a lot to be getting on with, as you will soon see! As promised here are my finds from the Vintage Kilo Sale and my plans for them - Vintage Revamps Ahoy!

First up are two sweet blouses:

Yellow embroidered cotton blouse
Pink and white gingham blouse

These blouses are both much too big for little old me but they were such perfect spring colours that I just had to nab them. I'm a bit lacking in the separates department in my wardrobe, so these will hopefully start to fill that gap! Plus they'll both need very little alteration - just a little bit of taking in and a tweak here and there (the yellow blouse has a small burn on the sleeve that will need to be worked around) - and they could look very 1940s. Perhaps I'll add some ruffles like the bottom left pattern below, or some embroidery on the pocket like this sweet nautical blouse.


Source

Next up is this lovely plaid shirt:

Yummy green and orange plaid shirt

This shirt would literally drown me, it's so big! Luckily I have more exotic plans for this shirt. Because of the large amount of fabric I want to simply take the shirt apart and use the pieces to make a 1950s style jumper suit like the gorgeous one below. It will be a challenge, but if it works it'll be perfect for the summer, and it will go nicely with the yellow blouse above too!

Source

And then we have the dresses. First up is this nautical inspired number in teal:

Teal nautical dress

I'm not quite sure yet what exact changes I'm going to make to this dress, it needs to be taken in for a better fit and I'll probably take the hem up a little too, but I do want to retain the feel of the dress. Perhaps I'll remove the sleeves like the central dress below (taken from a 50s fashion magazine, in which the 50s fashions echoed the style of the 30s, even then vintage style was cool!), add a white belt and throw on some white shoes and a hat :)

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Then came this gorgeous peach silk number:

Peach silk (well a polyester imitation!), so girlie :)

I must admit when I saw this dress I grabbed it from the rail in a second, it seemed so unique and special. Some of you may wonder at my choice of dress, I realise that peach and silky may not be to everyone's taste, but it was just so sweet I couldn't resist! I mean, just look at these fabric covered buttons:

How sweet are they?

Le swoon, le sigh! My big plan for this dress is in fact to turn it into a glamorous golden age film star type dressing gown. Just imagine a little bit of quilting, a touch of embroidery, and I might end up with something close to Dita's fabulous boudoir gown below:

Oh Dita, yes please!

And finally we have by far my favourite find of the day, this 1980s-does-50s day dress:

Hot pink 50s style dress

This really was my little hidden treasure of the day, I found it stuck between a lot of baggy jumpers in a cardboard box at the sale, can you believe it? It really needs very little alteration at all, it is only a touch too big so it's really the perfect find, it even has a matching fabric belt! And look at the sweet white cotton detailing on the bodice:

So pretty!

I really love it, I think I may put it to the top of my revamp list just so that I can wear it as soon as possible! I just can't believe how 1950s it looks. Compare it to it's original 50s  counterparts below and you'll see what I mean!

Source
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So as you can see I now have lots of lovely projects in the pipe line, I can't wait to get started! So expect lots of vintage revamps very soon :)

Happy Monday everybody, I hope you have a great week!

12 comments:

Nisse said...

So many finds! I'm particularly interested in the turning of the plaid shirt into a jumper suit.
Anyway good luck with all the adjustments!

LandGirl1980 said...

What a haul!!! :)

Vintage Girl said...

You found some beautiful things, love the peach and red dresses. Love the first shirt, beautiful color!

Wendy Bayford said...

Oh wonderful! Can't wait to see the transformations:)

Tasha said...

Oh my goodness, if you do transform that plaid shirt into a jumper I hope you'll share notes along the way, it's a great idea!

Katie said...

LandGirl1980 - I know, and for less than half of what I'd spend on one dress at some vintage fairs!

Vintage Girl - Thank you, I know I love them too :)

Wendy - Hopefully they'll go as planned! We'll see :)

Tasha - I'll be sure to post the whole process, hopefully it won't all go terribly wrong!

Caroline C. said...

Jealous!!! I know some people might be questioning your finds but not I! Those are all fantastic!!!! GOOD EYE especially the dresses. I've been to rummage sales before (nothing as fabulous as your kilo sale across the pond). The rummage sales I went to were again mostly 70s/80s/90s cast-offs from local vintage and retro stores. But I never managed to find anything workable with and at least admission was either free or something like $2 (Canadian). I did one time come away with many wedding dresses that I want to revamp into wearable dresses. Girly? I think so. :P

Rhia said...

Very nice finds you got there! I'm excited to wait and see how the revamping will turn out. Too bad I can't attend on Vintage Kilo Sale, I probably would have gone mad in there :D
We used to have similar thing here though. One charity shop used to have sort of an outlet where you could by clothes bulk, and pay by weight. But the minimum was 10 kilos. And unfortunately that shop has now closed down.

Katie said...

Caroline C - I generally find that if you search hard enough there's always treasure to be found, believe me these finds were stuck in between a whole lot of stuff I had no interest in at all! Those wedding dresses sound brilliant, I'd love to see what you do with those. You can never be too girlie :)

Rhia - I always nearly go crazy there, I have to work on restraint :) I hope the revamping works the way I want it to, we'll just have to see!

Caroline C. said...

Hrm, well the rummage sales I've been to are always so poorly organized/chaotic. They are almost always in a back alley area where a tarp is put onto the ground and clothes are just piled in a heap on the tarp. Also, not quite as much selection as your Kilo Sale! Girls just end up climbing all over each other and stepping on the clothes (also ruining them/damaging them). I've discovered that rummage sales aren't my cup of tea anymore (at least the ones in my city). Although on Thursday there is going to be a fabric rummage sale I'm going to. I think it'll be brilliant and much more enjoyable.

Katie said...

Caroline C - Wow that does sound crazy, I'm not sure how I would deal with that kind of rummage sale! I don't blame you for giving them a miss, sometimes it's just not worth the stressfulness. Although that fabric rummage sale sounds amazing, I hope you score a good haul and do share your finds please :)

Anonymous said...

Ohhh I love your finds! Especially the dresses!!!! How busy was it? Did you have to queue for ages?

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