WooOOOOoooooo! Check out my very own Southern Retro page!
Matt Keller came round to the cottage for tea, cakes and photos for his wonderful website!
WooOOOOoooooo! Check out my very own Southern Retro page!
Matt Keller came round to the cottage for tea, cakes and photos for his wonderful website!
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!
These videos were taken by Mr. Mew at The Vic in Swindon on Sunday!
Yesterday Mr. Mew and I went to our 1st ever vintage fair to SELL rather than buy. The fair was at a pub called The Vic in Swindon and we packed up my clothes, shoes, bric-a-brac, pincushions and Mr. Mew’s light boxes and headed for the open road. Itw as a nice venue actually, and we were well situated by a plug point so that we could plug in the light boxes.
They certainly got a lot of attention! Unfortunately people seemed to be drawn to stalls with large 80’s jumpers and 70’s handbags as opposed to 1940’s and 50’s wear. We ended up only selling a few things, but had such a good time that we didn’t care!
At 1.30pm I went onto the stage for my singing set. The stage was also covered by one of the clothing stalls, but amidst the faux fur coats and a basket of hats, I belted out a selection of festive crooners and 40’s hits in my blue Heyday dress!
At the back of the room, the landlord/ one of the pub workers was filming the scene and posted a video on You Tube. 20minutes after my set they had laready put on some more festive tunes and on came a female voice. I said “oooh! I know that song, that’s the one I do!”…not realising I was actually listening to myself!
On Saturday I performed at the Ashdown Camp in Evesham for a reenactors group Christmas party. Cosy and warm from the log burning stove in the corrugated iron mess hut, it was an intimate affair but a wonderful one. The ladies of the group had all turned out in their best, some even in beautiful long gowns, and the men in the German uniforms. There was a small bar and buffet and I sang a 40 minute set at 9pm which included 40’s songs, Christmas tunes and a sneaky 50’s number!
I wore my long black and white gown with a train, red gloves and a 1930’s red santa cape, which was originally worn by a girl in the circus (bought in LA).
Everyone was so kind and Mr Mew and I chatted with them all evening until we had to go home.
Above is just a short little video taken that night. it was so dark, our little camera struggled, but it just serves as a nice reminder of a lovely evening!
Next weekend I am singing at the vintage fair at The Vic in Swindon as well as manning my own stall!
This is the official Twinwood video! See a little exerpt of me 5 minutes in.
Check out the Twinwood site to grab your tickets for next year! I will be performing again in the 2 little clubs in the evening!
Whilst recovering from my keyhole surgery, I decided to make something for myself for a change! I am a huge fan of berets, so took one out of my cupboard and set to work on decorating it. I have to say it was highly enjoyable and I was very pleased with the outcome! With pearl beads from a broken necklace and felt swallows, hearts and flowers, it has cheered up my headwear no end and looks great with my red coat! I will make some to sell if the prove popular!
I always longed to share similarities with a star like Marilyn Monroe. I never thought it would be Endometriosis…some of you know that I suffer from this rather unglamorous disease that causes rather a lot of pain, discomfort and fatigue. Unfortunately things have gotten so bad that no amount of rhinestones or shoe shopping can take my mind off of it, so it is time for more surgery.
Last time I had the op, I was lucky enough to have private health insurance and my hospital day pass was more like a trip to a hotel. This time Im on the NHS and although I don’t doubt the skills of the surgeons – the hospital operating rooms are under ‘urgent renovations’, conjurring up images of pre-fabs, doctors working with kitchen utensils and flickering tube lighting. Thank goodness for general anaesthetic…
The last time I had this surgery was around 8 or 9 years ago and the recovery time was long and uncomfortable. They inflate around your organs and unfortunately some air stays trapped when they close you up, with no where to go. So for a while I was shiny skinned, inflated and could not wear bras for a while as I couldn’t do them up! I moan now, but golly! What relief when I had healed! My pains had all but gone and other than having to take hormone tablets every day as medication, I felt fine for alteast 6 years after the proceedure.
So many women suffer with Endometriosis and don’t even realise they have it. Heck, I was going back and forth to the doctors for 4 years complaining and was fobbed off time and time again with IBS etc. It was only when I went to a specialist that I found out the likely cause of my pain.
If you suffer from incredibly painful, heavy and uncomfortable periods – To the extent that you have to take sick days or know that it isn’t normal, if you have constant dull aches in your tummy and possibly legs and lower back, if you suffer from fatigue…Go get checked out.
I have just payed my respects in the 2 minute silence to those who have fought or fallen in the World Wars and more recent battles. Wearing the poppy I bought from a charity volunteer of the Poppy Appeal, as I have done since I was 6 years old, I wear the symbol on my lapel to show that I care and that I have donated money to a good cause.
So why am I sitting here stewing? Having just been on Etsy and seen this…
Sellers cashing in on Remembrance Day poppies without giving anything to charity.
And don’t get me started on the celebrity favourite Kleshna who have created brooches costing £50-60 ‘For the Poppy Appeal’, yet only give 10% to the charity?!?! If this isn’t cashing in I don’t know what is!
So you are enticed to buy one of these brooches (and fair enough, some I have seen are beautiful) and encouraged to wear it again each year. So they’ll still buy a charity poppy next year? Sure they won’t. They spent £50 on a brooch last year.
Ok, so Poppy Appeal may have gotten £5 out of the sale, but they will lose sales of poppies in coming years after this type of extravagence. It doesn’t take much to dip into your purse each year and buy a £1 poppy from someone who is volunteering their time to stand out in the cold to raise money for this amazing cause. Why then give that money to greedy jewellers instead?
So please people, even if you decide to stick rhinestones on your poppies each year or do as I did as a kid…buy lots of poppies and put all the red petals together on 1 stem, put vanity aside for just 2 days (11th November and Remembrance Sunday) and remember what these little paper poppies stand for and what they raise for charity.
This is my fabric design that I have entered into a competition, which will start on 29th November! Once my test swatch has come, you will be able to order some for yourself!
Check out my fabric shop here for more designs on sale and preview!