Wednesday Wonderfuls #33

Hey there lovely readers and a very very happy midweek to you all!

After my blissful bank holiday I was launched back into full scale rehearsals yesterday and today I must admit I'm pretty exhausted. With the long days I've been working recently and the weather starting to turn all I can think about is snuggling up in bed and having a good old snooze! With autumn on it's way I keep thinking about quilts, I have always wanted one but have never owned one, perhaps it's time to make one of my own :) In honor of my love of quilts I thought I'd share some of my favourite online finds with you. Take a gander at these...

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Isn't that pink and blue yoyo quilt dreamy? The perfect thing for the perfect girlie boudoir :) And to add some more warm fuzzy feelings to your midweek let's bring on the Wednesday Wonderfuls!

• These raspberry and lemon breakfast rolls from Joy the Baker look absolutely devine, the perfect snack to munch on whilst curling up under your quilt :)  
• As a huge fan of Angela Carter (she's definitely one of my favourite authors) and in particular her book of short stories, "The Bloody Chamber", I loved this post over at The Black Apple.
• Speaking of The Black Apple, its brilliant creator Emily Martin is releasing her second book, her first ever novel! Anyone who is a fan of Emily's artwork will know that this is going to be a must-have, I can't wait to get my hands on it :)
• Tilly isn't just a fabulous seamstress she's a marvellous writer too, as proved by this essay: "Creativity in Every Home: What Can the Cultural Sector Learn from Dressmaking Blogs?"
• And finally a bit of fun, these flowerpot desserts look disgustingly amazing, and not, i think, just for children, I know my Sweetheart would love them!

That's it from me today, join me again soon for some more crafty posts. I have so much to share with you, I'll have to make the time :)

Bye for now!

My Bank Holiday Adventures

Hello there lovely readers, it's so good to have a spare minute to write something to you all!

Imperil War Museum

Today was Bank Holiday Monday in the UK and I was lucky enough to not be called into rehearsals, so I got to spend a glorious day in London with my Sweetheart :) We decided to take a trip to the Imperial War Museum and I was very excited because I've never been there before. I had a brilliant time there, I'd really recommend it to anyone who enjoys history, plus it's free entry!

Have you got your tickets to the gun show? Sorry, I couldn't resist! :)

My Sweetheart with a fabulous London bus

One of my favourite parts of the museum was the WWII reproduction home. I loved some of the decor, and I loved the mannequin and sewing machine in the living room, it reminded me of home :) 

This girlie room was very sweet

Mannequins are totally awesome :)

The Make-do and Mend part of the museum was brilliant, I loved reading the pamphlets and bits and pieces, I picked up some tips for my own sewing :) Plus all the examples of 1940s daywear were beautiful.

Make-do and Mend

I got very snap happy with all the propaganda posters, I really love the look of them. I loved the little characters that were invented to get messages across, like Pete Potato, Dr. Carrot and Mrs Sew-and-Sew. My personal favourite is one of the posters below: "Be like dad. Keep mum!"

WWII posters

Tips for everyone methinks...

Yay, Make-do and Mend!

An iconic posters, and one of my favourites :)

There are some brilliant parts of the Imperial War Museum, the trench experience was fascinating although obviously pretty nasty, and apparently the Blitz experience is pretty incredible too, although we didn't get the chance to see this part of the museum because of crazy queues (plus, to be honest, I didn't really think that I'd enjoy thinking that bombs were being dropped on me). There are also some pretty harrowing parts of the museum, the Holocaust experience in particular, but I really think that that is the point of having a museum dedicated to war, reminding us of these terrible things so that we can do our best not to let them happen again. All in all it was a brilliant trip, and I really would highly recommend the museum, I will definitely be going again, particularly if they reopen the Make-do and Mend exhibition that was on there not so long ago :) 

Imperial War Museum = Top day out!

After a great time at the museum what better way to end a day out than cupcakes?? My lovely Sweetheart took me to Sweet Couture in Covent Garden and we munched away on some yummy cupcake goodness. His choice was classic Red Velvet, mine was Peanut Butter. I totally won with my choice :)

Sweet Couture = best cupcakes EVER

Peanut Butter and Red Velvet

My two favourite things! heehee :)

Very happy bunny!

It was pretty much a perfect day :) I hope you've all had a great Monday, Bank Holiday or otherwise, filled with your own adventures.

Bye for now!

A Sneaky Sneak Preview...

... of my latest sewing project.

Yummy vintage pattern...

I spy vintage fabric, blue cotton interlining and hand tacking :)

Is that a catch stitched facing I see...?

I think it may be! Good times :)

More on this project soon, for now I hope you have an awesome weekend, I'm going to be catching up on some serious sleep!

Bye for now!

Wednesday Wonderfuls #32

Hello there and the happiest of Wednesdays to you all! An especially big hello to my new followers, I cannot believe there are 118 of you now, I feel so lucky, thank you so much, you're all very very welcome in my little corner of the blogosphere :)

Rehearsals have been going very well indeed, my only problem is the lack of sleep with all the early starts and such, because when I'm sleepy all I want to do is eat cake. Not the best of plans when you're jumping about all day! But in the name of my general love of cakes I thought I would share these yummy mini cupcake pictures with you. I made these teeny tiny cakes before my trip to Disneyland, they were much enjoyed by all on the Eurostar, I can tell you :) Here's their little story...

Out of the oven, a bit naked...

Now clothed in chocolate frosting goodness but not quite complete...

Add a strawberry slice, and voila!

I could have eaten these all day. Actually, scrap that, I could eat them all day right now. Nom nom nom nom...

Scrummy :)

After all this talk of scrummy things it only seems fair that I share some scrummies with all of you, my lovely readers, so without further ado let's bring on this week's wonderfuls!

• I own a pair of Melissa / Vivienne Westwood shoes (white with cherries, I love them!) so I naturally got very excited when I saw this post about their new autumn/winter collection. Methinks my wallet may be abused some time soon...!
• I just had to share this post of Casey's with you for the beautiful pictures. Her hair is incredible, inspiration for anyone who aspires to create the perfect vintage look :)
• Ever since I saw them on Dragon's Den I have been fascinated with The Vintage Patisserie and it's creator, Angel. Now she has released a book on "hosting your perfect tea party" and I cannot wait to get my hands on it - it's my Birthday soon, hint hint  my Sweetheart ;) - if you're interested check out this review over at Penny Dreadful Vintage, I guarantee you'll be captivated!
• Is it just me or are these some of the most fabulous cupcakes you have ever seen? I'd love the brilliant Katie Cakes to make some yummies for me!
• This post by A Girl, A Style reminded me how fun it can be to be a bit of a tourist in your own city. I'm longing for the time off to re-explore the streets of london, fabulously-glamorous-tourist-esque style :)
• Casey has some fabulous embroidery to share this week, it's made me miss my own embroidery project. Time to plan the next methinks...

I hope you've enjoyed this week's Wondefuls, I've so enjoyed collecting them all for you! Join me again soon for some more creative projects, even though my spare time is sparse I've still managed to start some new bits and bobs. More on that soon!

Bye for now :)

Dita brightens up my day

Hello lovely readers! A very happy Tuesday to you all, I hope the weather where you are is better than the weather I'm having right now, I think summer is really heading out of town and autumn is on it's way. All these rainy days and a general lack of sleep have been making me feel a bit blue over the past couple of days, but then I received a video from a friend which made me smile so I thought I'd share it with all of you too :)

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This video is of the fabulous Miss Dita Von Teese backstage at her shoot for Harper's Bazaar. I love how articulate she is and how effortlessly glamorous her manner is, I think she's one of the most beautiful women around and I admire her greatly. A role model for the pale girls if ever I saw one :) I hope you enjoy it!

I made my very own petticoat!

Hi there lovely readers! My goodness you've all made me so very happy over the last couple of days with all your gorgeous comments on my finished Pin Up skirt, I'm so glad that you liked it, I'm loving it :) And I now have another project to share with you, a project that I've been talking about for a very long time. I've finally made myself my very own petticoat!

I used this tutorial, which is absolutely brilliant, incredibly clear and easy to follow and basically a joy to use. It involves gathering 8 yards of fabric into 4 yards into 2 yards into your waist measurement, simples. You also bind your edges in ribbon to make it look all pretty :) Here it is in all it's glory:

Three tiered petticoat

Check out all those bound edges

That's a lot of fabric!

I'm not going to lie this petticoat did take a while in it's construction, you have to cut out a lot of strips of fabric, add fray check, do a whole lot of gathering, and then binding those edges isn't a quick job either, but to be honest I think it's worth it. There are so many different styles that you could try out with this petticoat, using different fabrics, different amounts of layers, different finishing techniques. I used my Austrian organza for this petticoat and I do think it would have worked better if I had used a more substantial fabric as although the petticoat adds a great deal of sticky-outy-ness (yes, that's a technical term) to my full skirts I think I'd like a bit more. I think next time I use this tutorial - and I am sure I will use it again! - I will try using something like a fine tulle (hopefully the finer it is the less itchy it will be!) and a double layer in the largest tier, I think that would really create the optimum amount of sticky-outy-ness :)

I also did a little photo shoot for this petticoat to show you how it changes the line of a dress. I'm wearing my Cream Floral dress (remember that?) as I never actually posted any proper pictures of me wearing it, so it's a two birds, one stone kind of deal :)

Here it is without the petticoat:

Finally, a shot of me in my cream floral dress!

I love this dress and wear it all the time but as you can see the line of the full skirt looks a little lackluster. it's pretty but it definitely needs some body underneath.

I love this dress :)

And now here it is with the petticoat:

Yay for petticoat poofiness!

The petticoat just makes this dress look perfect, filling out the skirt so that it has a nice full finish. Subtle, not too many frills, just enough for day to day wear :)

Posing in my petticoat...

A bit of full skirt action :)

So there you have it, my first foray into petticoat making and it think you'd call it a success. I will be revisiting the tutorial again but for now I'm very happy with my new petticoat, it gives a very welcome ra-ra feel to my wardrobe. Plus it's great fun to swish about it!

Swish + Ra Ra = my petticoat!

Dress - Revamped by me

Petticoat - Made by me

Belt - by Cassie Stephens

Shoes - Jimmy Choo

Happy Weekend everyone!

Pin Up Embroidery: The Big Reveal!

Well my lovely readers the moment has arrived, it's time for the big reveal of my Pin Up Skirt!! Check it out...

I'm not going to lie I'm ridiculously happy with how this project has turned out! It has taken a while but it was all worth it because I've come out with a piece of clothing that is perfect for me, it really is! It's refueled my obsession both with pin ups and embroidery, I'm sure this won't be the last project the involved either or both of these things :)

I really like that the embroidery isn't too overpowering, it's subtle and interesting and it draws the eye. It's really cute and girly but also a bit sexy because the pin ups are so gorgeous. It's different and I like it!

I decided to wear this skirt out on the town with my Sweetheart and I had been out for less than an hour before two people had admired it and asked me where I had bought it. Man were they surprised when I told them that I had made it! I love moments like that :)

I love the details of this skirt, the scalloped waistband makes me very happy and of course and the Pin Ups. Here they are in all their glory (click for bigger!)

I knew that this skirt was a definite success when the neighborhood cat decided she wouldn't leave me alone during this photo session. If the cat likes it it must be good :)

So there you have it, the finished Pin Up Skirt. I really hope you like it and that you've enjoyed the process of it's creation as much as I have. Thank you all so much for all your lovely comments throughout my work on this project, I'm so thrilled that so many of you have like it and that it has even turned a lot of you back onto embroidery, that thrills me so much! 

Pin Up Skirt - Made by me

Body - Topshop

Bag - from Vintage on Southbank

Shoes - Jimmy Choo (a gift from my Sweetheart)

All pictures taken by my Sweetheart xx