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Twinwood Festival 2012


So…back from Twinwood and I can safely say that it was even better than last year. I loved the fact they had a new big marquee (The Colonial Club) and although the weather forecast threatened everything from thunder storms to hail, we were very lucky!

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Kitten von Mew with Vintage Life Magazine taken by Lee Parker

I managed to meet up with some of our friends Lola Lamour, Luna Nightingale plus David Burt, Madeleine Brown, Adam Hoffman (Mr Twinwood!) plus Leanna Faulkner (Voted 2nd in the Miss Twinwood competition), Lee Parker, Shona and Twan of Heyday, the Elliots, the girls and boys from Vintage Life and even a lovely lady that I first met on The Berliner trip!

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Kitten von Mew at Twinwood 2012 taken by Mr Mew

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Shona and Kitten, both in Heyday dresses! Taken by Mr Mew

I couldn’t wait to show Shona my Mary dress that I had embroidered with twigs of oak leaves and swallows. It was taken from a 1940’s embroidery pattern that I had found and doctored. It was my first attempt at embroidery and I was proud of my efforts! Shona was wearing one of her beautiful wrap dresses and an original hat!

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The sweet taste of success. Lee Parker licking Mr Twinwood 2012. Taken by Kitten von Mew

On the Saturday and Sunday evenings I had performances in the Colonial Club, Casablanca Club and Cafe du Bois. The big marquee was perfect for my Lili Mewleen act and although there were a few technical hitches on the first night, the routine went down very well with the audience and I got super feedback!

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Kitten in her Voller’s Corset getting ready for her Lili Mewleen act!

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In the Casablanca and Cafe du Bois Clubs I did my ATS fan dance with spitfire pasties. The atmosphere was electric in these tiny clubs and it was rather hot in there too! Shame I got poorly with a migraine so missed my last performance of the weekend, but Im so glad I made it through the rest as the audiences were fabulous!

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John Miller seems to remember me….

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Worryingly he seems to remember Richard too…

We got to see the Glenn Miller Mystery film that I was looking forward to watching in the Tin Hat Club. They had done a very good job in transferring the stage play onto film and I was pleased to see that they had used the same actors too. The fact that it was set in the buildings in Twinwood made it more real and creepy. I could see this being re-made for the big screen for sure!

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Mr Mew, taken by Kitten von Mew

One thing that completely made me wobbly was the fact that Max Raabe and his orchestra was staying at our hotel! I had a few little chats with the gents and they were lovely and wanted to try and play in England more as they only came over last year. It is amazing to think they have been around for so many years, yet the British vintage market is only just tapping into their talents!

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Max Raabe and some of his Palast Orchestra with Kitten von Mew. Taken by Mr Mew

Unfortunately when I was getting ready to go over to the small clubs, they were performing, so I had to sneak out and take a bit of video and a few photos when I could!

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Max Raabe at Twinwood taken by Kitten von Mew

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Max Raabe taken by Kitten von Mew

So roll on next year! Hope you all had a great time too, I saw soooo many people dressed up and having a good time!

Heyday Online 1940’s Trousers


Kitten von Mew wearing Heyday Trousers

It is no secret that I am a complete stalker of Shona at Heyday Online. Lucky enough to be one of her models, I adore her clothing, especially the Mary Dresses and Trousers.

Unluckily for me, I have put on some weight this year due to bad health, meaning most of my yummy clothes are no longer fitting (excuse me whilst I try and find my tiny violin to play a tune of self pity…), but LUCKILY for me and my love of Heyday, this won’t stop me from wearing my gorgeous trousers!

Yesterday I sat on the sofa and carefully unpicked the back of some of my trousers, right to the join at the crotch. I popped them on, pinned the back to my desired size and hey presto! a new lease of life! Shona’s trousers have a good bit of fabric left in the waistband, tapering down, which means you can get a size or so more out of your beloved trousers! Just sew them back up and no one will ever know the torment your waist once went through (unless you post it on a blog like me!).

If you have worn through the bottom of your trousers due to lindy hop, trudging around WW2 events or general wear and tear, why not make them into high waisted shorts for summer? You can even use some of the excess fabric to crate a little pocket for the front or back! I will be doing this with some of mine early next year, so will let you know how I get on!