Summer Fashion (1925)

Summer fashions from a 1925 issue of Photoplay. You can read the entire magazine(s) online here.

That's All.

Travelling

I am exhausted! After a busy week of school related work, my parents and I went for a mini-holiday to check out a potential property. We have been property hunting for a while, but as of yet have been unsuccessful. This time it was an adorable 33acre farm with a stone farm house from circa 1880. It was really pretty but needed a lot of work (it hasn't been lived in for 10 years, no electricity, no water (they used a hand pump), no heat, etc...). I loved it but I'm not sure if my parents are going to go for it.

 It was a fun but tiring trip. I forgot to take any pictures, so instead here are some outfit shots from the other week. I was meeting my high school friends for a mini reunion. Please excuse the wrinkles; these were taken after sitting in a movie theatre for a few hours. 

Outfit Details:

Blouse: Smartset

Trousers:  DangerousGarbs which seems to have disappeared from Etsy... Anyone know what happened?

Boots: Softmoc

Sunglasses: Icings

Scarf: Vintage

That's All.

Umbrella Revamp (part 1) - DIY Lace Parasol

A while ago my grandmother gave me a broken umbrella in hopes that I could do something with it.  I made two different projects from it and  decided to put together a tutorial for each of the projects. The first one is for a lace parasol. 

You will need:

-Umbrella (it can be slightly bent and the fabric torn/unattached but should still function)

-A piece of lace slightly larger than the original umbrella fabric
-Trim 

The original umbrella

1) Remove fabric from base. The top knob should screw off. Carefully snip the threads attaching the fabric to the arms. 

2) If the arms are slightly bent, gently bend them back into shape (this is much easier to do with the fabric removed).

3) Use the umbrella fabric as a pattern to cut out the lace. Leave a ½” seam allowance around the edges.Save the umbrella fabric! I will be posting another tutorial later this week on what to do with it. 

I folded the original fabric in half, then cut it out along a fold of the lace.
This made it easier to cut out. 

4) Cut a tiny hole in the top to fit over the centre of the umbrella base. Carefully try it over the frame. Remove and carefully sew the trim to the edges. I used a zigzag stitch with the trim lain on top of the fabric. You may also want to use a zigzag stitch around the centre hole you cut depending on your lace.

5)Again, carefully put the fabric onto the frame. This time secure it with the centre knob. Hand-stitch the fabric to the base in the same places where the original fabric was sewn on. 

And that’s it! You now have your very own lace parasol.  

Giveaway Winners

The winners of my giveaway are:
(selected by random number generator)

Prize 1 (Knitting): Katie
Prize 2 (Sewing): Sara E.K.
Prize 3 (Other): Vintage Bird Girl

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who entered. And of course, thank you once again to everyone who reads my bog!

New Dress

A few days ago I went to see Brave with my best friend. A night out is always a good excuse to dress up so I wore my new 1930's style dress. I made it using a 1930's pattern and some vintage fabric. I suspect the fabric is from the 1970's. It has a slight stretch to it so I was able to get away with not adding any closures to the dress (it also means I can use the left over fabric to make a bathing suit!). The sleeves in the original pattern looked terrible on me, so I swapped them out for these looser sleeves (which I based off of a 1930's dress illustration).

The pattern I used is available here for free. It doesn't have any instructions but it is relatively easy to figure out.

Outfit Details:
Dress: Made by me
Belt: Vintage
1930's Hat: Vintage
Shoes: I can't remember...
Faux Pearls: Thrifted

That's All.

Canada Day and the Bessie May

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian readers! I spent the day having a latte in my favourite coffee shop. It's located in the historic Port Perry downtown, and after sipping my latte and reading the paper I wandered down to the harbour front where they were having a Canada Day celebration. What caught my attention was this beautiful historic boat docked at the harbour. She is called the Bessie May and was built in 1932. My pictures do not due her justice. She was completely stunning, especially the inside which unfortunately was extremely difficult to photograph.

That's All.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Ok, so my birthday was actually last week but I've been so busy I only just got a chance to edit the photos. I had a lovely but understated birthday this year. My parents took me out to my favourite coffee shop in the afternoon and then we came back and had an intimate family dinner. I went with a floral theme this year.

My cake was lemon and decorated with edible flowers. I also had lavender lemonade with violas frozen in icecubes. For the main course we had a salad and a quiche. There were also chocolate truffles, an Earl Grey flavour and a rose flavoured type. Everything was made from scratch by me.

My lovely cake. It has a whipped cream frosting.

Strawberry Vanilla Rose Black Tea

Roses from our garden

Lavender Lemonade with Viola icecubes

My mother wrapped all my gifts in beautiful floral paper. I didn't want very much this year, but in the end I got two farming books, some dish towels, and a stunning paper-doll book of 1930's fashions. 22 is not too old for paper dolls, especially ones as stunning as these!

I am completely in love with this book!!

Britt came over after dinner, and we went out for coffee and thrifting. She even dressed up! I forgot to photograph the lovely gifts she bought me, but they included a book on herbs, a 1940's copy of Pollyanna, and a decorative tin with a 1910's illustration on it.

Britt looking stunning as always. 

Me being slightly less comfortable in front of the camera...

My hair had faux flowers and ribbons in it. 

It's been a busy week, but I'm taking the weekend off to relax. And hopefully I will be able to get some of my sewing projects done, as well as my embroidery projects. Aren't they cute so far?

That's All.

Giveaway Time!

As promised here is my 300-follower giveaway! I've decided to do 3 prizes. It's not quite as grand as I hoped due to the cost of my new laptop, but here they are:

1) Knitting/ Crocheting Prize

Includes:
-5 knitting and crochet booklets (ranging in dates from the 1940's to the 1960's)

2) Sewing Prize

Includes:
-Vintage Lace Seam Binding
-Two 1960's Sewing Patterns (complete as far as I know, but I haven't fully checked)

 3) Other Prize (for those non-sewers/knitters/crocheters)

Includes:
-Blank Notebook
-Hair Bow (made by me)

To enter leave a comment on this post telling me one interesting (or uninteresting if you prefer) fact about yourself. Make sure to specify which prize you would like to be entered to win and a way to contact you! Thank you to all my readers for taking time to read my blog. It really means a lot to me!

**Edit: Oops, forgot to add the giveaway closes July 2nd!