What I Normally Wear, Birthday Gifts, and Some Projects

I was going to do a proper post but instead here is a collection of photos of things from around my room. I've been taking lots random pictures of stuff with the camera by parents gave me for my birthday.

I will do a real post when I'm less sleep deprived, I promise! I actually do have some stuff I want to post about, including a blog award from the lovely Nabby. I haven't forgotten, just too tired to do a proper post! Also apologies for my lack of comments on everyone's blogs lately. I promise if I follow your blog I really do read every post. I've just been too busy and tired to come up with anything clever to say (although my "clever" comments normally sound something like "Lovely outfit!"...)

 Left-over chocolate butterflies are lovely with fresh local strawberries!

I knit myself some slippers from here. I think I just liked them because of the name!

I have plans to embellish them a bit but who knows when I will get around to that.

 When I was home on the weekend I managed to sew myself this fancy little 1930's top from one of the Vintage Vogue patterns. It looks rather purple in the picture but it is actually a light smokey grey colour. Now I just have to come up with an excuse to wear it... 

 I used to keep my sewing pins in a box but I wanted a pincushion too. This jar pincushion is the best of both worlds. Tutorial found here.

A couple of my birthday gifts. Ok, the Bob Hope boxset was actually a gift to myself. My dad wouldn't buy it for me. He thinks I have awful taste is movies :p 

 I am completely in love with this 1959 Needlecraft book I also got for my birthday. I actually have an earlier edition from 1947 and it is really interesting to see how the information and style of the book changed. The earlier version assumes the readers have a lot more knowledge and provides lots of "inspiration ideas" but very few real tutorials. The 1959 version assumes you can't sew without a pattern and provides a lot of easy projects! 

I always think it is interesting to see what bloggers wear on a day to day basis. Often only "interesting" outfits get posted, but I thought it would be fun to take a picture of what I normally wear to class. As much as I love wearing dresses and skirts, when I'm getting up at 6am for class it is rather the last thing on my mind. For my long days of classes (8am until 9pm!) I often opt for mens-wear inspired items.

Blouse and Vest: Smart Set

Trousers: Winners

Earrings: Made by me

Tie: Shamelessly stolen from my dad last time I was home

What do you wear on a daily basis?

That's All. 

Summer Rose

I cannot believe it has been more than a week since my last post! I have been incredibly busy the last few weeks (but I did manage to go home on the weekend for a belated birthday with the family!). There is a slight lull in assignments and midterms for the next two weeks, so hopefully I will have time to write a few of the posts I have planned.

In the meantime, Britt and I managed to get together to do a photoshoot for my two latest vintage-inspired knitting patterns. I love how the photos turned out! The first pattern, Summer Rose, is already for sale  here on Ravelry and here on Etsy. (As always, the pattern is $0.20 cheaper on Ravelry since I do not have to pay listing fees)

The second pattern will hopefully be posted in the few weeks so stay tuned!

That's All.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Thank you everyone for your sweet comments on my last post. Lack of transportation prevented me from taking a few of you up on your offers, but I quite appreciated it.

In the end I wasn't totally alone for my birthday. My dad came to visit for the day, even though my mother was stuck at home with a cold (she sent me a massive amount of fresh flowers though!). We went to St Jacobs where we browsed around some antique stores and a really neat architectural salvage store. It was a lovely afternoon and served as both a celebration of my birthday and of fathers day.

(Please excuse the seriously messy hair. It looked great in the morning but was ruined by the wind before I could get any pictures!)

Outfit Details:

1950's Dress: Christmas gift for my grandmother

Shoes: The Bay

Sunglasses: Icings

Hairbow: made by me

University is determined to ruin my birthday (midterms, assignments, and co-op problems, oh my!) but I am trying to be positive. I bought myself a new antique teacup and made cupcakes so that I could have a mini tea party by myself tonight. I love how the chocolate butterflies turned out. This was my first try making them but I will definitely be making them again. (Instructions for making them found here)

That's All.

Summer Inspiration

I hadn't planned on posting again so soon, but I'm avoiding school work at the moment so I thought I might as well. There seems to be a lack of inspiration in the blogging community lately. I suppose it's partly due to summer, and I know I've been feeling it too. 

As such, I have been looking at some of my magazines I managed to digitalize before I left home (I had planned on scanning images from my entire collection but only had time to do 3 magazines unfortunately). Luckily one of the magazines I scanned includes lots of pretty dresses for spring and summer. Here are some of my favourite images to bring a bit of summer inspiration:

That's All

PS: It looks like I'm going to be all alone on my birthday. Anyone have any suggestions for something special I can do? I really wanted a teaparty but that seems a little pathetic to do all by myself. 

All the Latest Steps: The Grand March

I know I promised this post over a week ago but life has gotten rather hectic. I'm right in the middle of midterms at the moment so posts may be rather sporadic over the next little while. My birthday is next Sunday so I might take a break for school work and do something worth a post then (although I'm too busy to go home for the weekend). 

This week's dance is The Grand March. This dance is technically a march, and is written for 16 couples (although it could be modified to work with less people). The Grand March appears to date from sometime around 1900 (perhaps earlier) and is traditionally done to old military or patriotic songs.

The Instructions:
(Click to enlarge)

 

 

 

I couldn't find any historical footage of the Grand March but here is a clip from 1998 of people in historical dress doing the grand march:

Old Clothing

I almost forgot to share with you the jacket I bought! It arrived in the mail about a week ago from Mabel Studios. It is by far the oldest piece of clothing I own as it dates from the 1800s! 

It is actually a mens jacket but I still love it. The lining is in tatters (hence the reason I could actually afford this baby!) and I am still deciding whether to replace it.

(See the original Etsy listing for better detail shots. The jacket appears faded in most of the photos, but it is actually a very rich black)

What is the oldest piece of clothing you own?

That's All. 

PS: I just noticed I haven't done an All the Latest Steps post in a while. Whoops! Sorry readers, I forgot. I should have the next one up this weekend or early next week.