Knitting Night

The more I wear vintage-style clothes the more I love them. I have recently shifted away from "real" vintage to pieces I've sewn myself. For example, I now have a number of blouses made from 1940's patterns (such as the one I'm wearing below). While I truly love vintage pieces, I find it more practical to wear clothing I don't need to worry about as much. I get rather over protective of my real vintage and it does make it less enjoyable to wear on a daily basis. Me-made clothing allows me to wear the styles I want, without worrying about staining or tearing them. It also means I can get exactly the outfit I want, as finding 20s/30s day-wear can be difficult and expensive (especially for poor recent graduates). 

I wore my new 1940's style blouse for my weekly knitting night with Britt. We have started knitting in coffee shops once a week, and have plans to try and get other knitters to join us. Britt just finished knitting a toy-mouse to practise her fair-isle skills. I'm working on socks (as my portable project. I have a number of other projects at home) done on two needles. I'm not a fan of double-pointed needles so I knit my socks flat then sew them up. I especially love this construction method because it makes it easy to knit two socks at once.

That's All.

How to Make Your Dressing Table Attractive (1929)

(Right-click and open image in a new tab to view full size)

New Boots

 I spent a lovely day today in Bobcaygeon with my mother and grandmother. We had a great time and did a good bit of shopping. My big purchase for the day was a pair of nice rubber boots. They are technically a birthday gift but I am getting them now so I can wear them in the spring (instead of waiting until June). They have a warm, fuzzy lining and a corset-like detail at the back. I plan on getting some satin ribbon to coordinate with my spring coat. I just had to go for a walk in the woods to try them out when we arrived home. Oh boy, was it chilly outside! 

That's All. 

Clara Cloche

Hey everyone. My (relatively new) laptop unfortunately died and has been sent away from repairs, so I will not be able to post much until I get it back. However, I did manage to finish my latest hat pattern before it broke. Introducing the Clara Cloche:

The pattern is now available in my Etsy store for only $3.  And as a bonus for my blog readers, use the coupon code NEWPATTERN to get 25% off your next pattern purchase (this includes any pattern in my shop). 

I hope everyone is having a great week and I will be back to blogging as soon as possible. 

That's All. 

Menswear Inspired

Outfit details

Wool Sweater: Vintage

Trousers: Can't remember 

Blouse: Smart Set

Silk Tie: Vintage

Earrings: Made by me

 I have been very inspired by menswear lately. It is still quite cold where I live, so dresses/skirts are not the most comfortable option. Wide leg trousers + sweater + tie has become my everyday look. It is easy and,  most importantly, warm! And can I just add how much I love wearing a tie?

And for anyone who is curious, I finished the mystery puzzle! It took a couple days but was a lot of fun. There was just one piece missing....

I also thought I would share my new sunglasses. It is downright hard to find 20s/30s style sunglasses! I have been looking for ages but finally found this pair at Zehrs. Yes, the grocery store. They should be available at the Superstore grocery stores as well if anyone else is looking for a pair. 

That's All. 

(PS: I only just realized that I had the settings wrong on my Flickr account and it wasn't letting people pin some images to Pinterest. I've fixed it so you should be able to pin any of the images from my blog now.)

Spring Hats (1915)

Outfit Glimpses

I didn't have time for a full outfit shot, but here is a glimpse at my 1920's inspired look the other day. 

I have been knitting up a storm lately and just finished this 1930's hat. The pattern is available for free here and my Ravelry project page for this hat is here. 

And this was my outfit on Valentines day. Once again, no time for a proper outfit shot but you get an idea of what it looks like. I wore my hair pinned up but took it down when photographing the hat. I am very much in love with this top and the little blue rose pins which stop it from falling off. I designed it myself! 

That's All.

DIY Faux Kintsugi - Repairing Broken Pottery

A few days ago my grandmother was putting away some plates and accidentally knocked over a glass. This caused an avalanche of glasses, plates, and other assorted items. Luckily no one was hurt but it did cause a lot of breakage. Most of the pieces broken were of little value (either monetary or sentimental) with the exception of an old bowl. It had belonged to "old grandma", who I think was my great, great grandmother. It seemed such a shame to throw it away but then I remembered reading about Kintsugi a few days previously.

Kintsugi is an old Japanese art of repairing broken pottery. It traditionally uses resin and gold dust to fix broken pottery. The finished works often look better than they did before they were broken. Unfortunately the materials used are not easily available outside of Japan. I found a few "new Kintsugi" kits but all were out of my (limited) price range. So I improvised and came up with the following:

Materials:
Pottery Cement (pictured below is the stuff I used. It is clear when dry.)
Liquid Gold Leaf (available at most craft stores, beside the gold leaf)
Broken bowl, plate, etc

Instructions:

1. Arrange the pieces first. You want to make sure everything fits together so treat this part like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
2. Use the cement to glue the pieces together. You will have to wait for a while in between pieces. If you try to glue more than one or two at a time the entire thing will just fall apart (guess how I know that....). I took me about 2 days to get the entire bowl glued together. You have to be very precise or things will not line up. 
3. Once the cement is dry you may wish to go over the cracks and chips again with the cement. This will fill in any gaps and make painting easier. 
4. Once again, wait for everything to dry. Then with a fine paint brush, use the liquid gold leaf to paint the cracks and chips. Do both the top and bottom of the piece, letting it dry between coats. I only did one coat per side but you may wish to do more. 

And that's it! Now just sit back and admire your work. (Please keep in mind the finished piece will not be food safe! It is meant as a display piece only.)

Before painting

The finished piece

My grandmother was so pleased that I was able to repair the bowl. My father didn't think the bowl was worth saving but even he was impressed with the results. While I wouldn't recommend breaking antique pottery, this is a great way to save an old piece that does accidentally break.