Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Halloween Costumes

Oh boy, it's been a busy few weeks! I finally managed to get a few minutes today to look through and edit the photos from Halloween. I had planned on posting these about a week ago, but better late than never! I had technically had three different costumes this year: one for a Halloween party, one for Halloween day, and then a third for handing out candy.

First Costume: The Night Sky
This was a last minute costume for a party I attended the weekend before Halloween. I made a super quick cape and star crown, and threw it together with "starry" pieces from my wardrobe to complete the look. It was raining that night so a) I didn't get proper photos and b) my hair turned out a bit of a disaster. I quite liked the concept of this costume though, so it may be enhanced and re-worked for a future Halloween.




Second Costume: Forest Princess
 I'm calling this one my "forest princess" costume for lack of a better name. There are plans to add some special effects to the photos so I may turn into more of a fairy or something magical, but for now "forest princess" is a more accurate description. I definitely felt like a Disney character, albeit perhaps more of an evil step-sister than a heroine. The dress is a vintage one, which I've paired with a real corset to give it a bit more shape. Instead of a crown, I opted for a glittery headpiece of green leaves and baubles. I was also too lazy to curl my real hair, so I used it as an excuse to wear one of my many costume wigs that I use for photo-shoots. This one looked like 1920's style ringlets on the package photo, but in reality it's huge! Not really appropriate for it's intended purpose but it made a great vaguely 18th century wig when pinned up. 

Every princess needs a animal familiar!


Costume #3: Knitting Unicorn
 I was planning on wearing my princess costume all night, but after several hours in it I decided perhaps it wasn't the comfiest nor the most practical outfit. I took inspiration from Britt's fox costume and hopped into my Unicorn onesie for the rest of the night. It was definitely the best choice for knitting, movie watching, and handing out candy.

And those were all my costume for this year! Hopefully I will get more time soon for more proper blogging and such. 

I hope everyone is having a great week,

That's All. 

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Autumn Colours


Whew! It's been an exhausting couple of weeks! Between a quick trip to the cottage to check out the autumn colour, birthdays, weddings, doctors visits, video filming, plus a whole lot of other things, I am utterly shattered. I've luckily managed to schedule myself a couple slower days to rest up. (The sofa and I are going to be spending some quality time together!) However, I still have a bunch of editing to get done on Britt's wedding video so I can be idle but productive at the same time. 

Speaking of being productive, I recently finished another "3-hour sweater". This is my 5th time using this pattern and this time I've modified it into a cardigan. I love this sweater so much! The yarn I used has a subtle copper shimmery fiber running throughout it, which I've complemented with a very shimmery copper yarn along the yoke. 


For my regular weekly coffee with Britt, I wore my new sweater with a pair of high-waisted trousers (from an Etsy shop that sadly no longer exists), brown brogues, and a brown tank top. The necklace I'm wearing is actually made from petrified wood (i.e. fossilized tree remains). Isn't that cool?! 



Yes, I'm wearing camo unicorn socks with my brogues... They were a present from Britt and her new husband Tommy (he was in the military, hence the camo was fitting). 


On a completely unrelated note, after receiving a rather large unexpected bill, I feel the need to warn others against using FedEx. I ordered some makeup-making supplies over a month ago, and while I love the supplies, my experience with the shipping was awful. Firstly, FedEx claimed they couldn't find my house and that I had provided them with the wrong address (we literally saw them drive right in front of the house). Then a month after receiving my package, I was sent a bill for $45. I had already paid almost $30 in shipping initially and was not expecting this wallop at all! I understand paying custom fees, but the duty on the parcel was $0.27 plus taxes around $12. The rest of the fees were from FedEx and seem to be standard for them to charge. Having never shipped with them before, I had no idea there were all these extra "standard" fees that were not mentioned initially and would be later charged. The package was a small one and all these extra charges are costing me more than the actual package was worth! I contacted FedEx but they basically shrugged and said if the customs fees were calculated wrong they see what they could do but the other fees were just the way it is. Long story short: when ordering online, check who is shipping the package. I order online all the time and have never had such an awful experience with any other postal service. 
Ok, rant over. Let's take a deep breath and look at the pretty leaves... ⇑

To end on a happier note, here is the video I filmed with Britt in case you haven't seen it. We went on a day-trip to visit an antique carousel, plus wandered around a cute small town. 

Well, I feel I should write more as I definitely have more news and things to share, but that will have to do for now. As I said before, I'm exhausted!

That's All.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Bridesmaid

Last weekend was the wedding of my best friend, Britt, and I was a bridesmaid! When it came to picking out the bridesmaid dresses, I offered my sewing services to create us something one-of-a-kind. There were a few design ideas kicked around, but in the end we decided to go with this design inspired by a 1919 Vionnet dress. Britt's colour scheme was shades of blue, so we went with a royal blue material with black hems+belt. I love this dress so much!! I am going to be making a few for the shop (in different material), since it's just such a pretty and flattering style.

I'll post more about the wedding once we get the official photos back, but for now here are some photos I took of the dress after the wedding. I tried really hard to smile in the photos but I was pretty exhausted by that point. It was a lovely but very long day. Time to sleep for a week!






 That's All.

Sunday, September 3, 2017

Almost Autumn

Hello everyone! Long time no see. Last month was not the best health month for me and I haven't been around the ol' interwebs as much as normal. Just the last couple days have been a bit better energy-wise, so I'm enjoying it while I can. My best friend's wedding is coming up soon and I'm certain I will absolutely shattered after that! 

I just passed my final driving test and am now a fully licensed driver! (Ontario has a graduated license system meaning you have to take a written test plus two different driving tests over a few years before you are fully licensed. I've technically been able to drive for many years, just not alone on some of the major highways). To celebrate, my parents took me to Cobourg. It was a lovely afternoon of driving in the beautiful countryside and sipping lattes in a quirky independent coffee shop. 

I haven't dressed up in ages. When I'm not feeling well, dressing up is just too much effort and thus doesn't happen. But I don't feel like myself in normal clothes, so I took the opportunity today to put on something vintage-inspired. I wore my me-made grey-wool skirt, hand-knitted 3-hour sweater plus a matching hat from a 1930's pattern, and a necklace/earring set I made a few years ago. I also brought along a shawl (which you can see off to the side in the photos) as it was a touch cool out when we left.  





I am so happy autumn is soon arriving. Bring on the wool and knitwear!!!!! I've just cast on yet another 3-hour sweater (this makes #5), because I may have gone to the yarn store after passing my test and may have been overwhelmed by the yarn fumes and may have succumb to buying even more yarn... Celebratory yarn purchases are hard to resist! Even though I have zero need for more yarn, I bought enough for 2 more 3-hour sweaters. One will be in autumnal shades of brown and copper, with the other one in wintery shades of blue, grey, and silver. Did I mention I already have several other projects on the needles that I have yet to finish? I think I may have a problem. (The problem is not enough time and not enough yarn, obviously😉)

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend!

That's All. 

Monday, August 7, 2017

Shopping for Fall Clothing (1920)

I've been fantasy shopping in old catalogs again. Browsing through antique mail order catalogs has long been a hobby of mine and oh how I wish I could actually order from them still! With autumn approaching, I've started to think about my fall wardrobe and what gaps need filling. I will post an updated wardrobe plan in the near future, but for now here is my wishlist if time-travel was possible and I could order from the 1920 Eaton's Fall/Winter catalog!

I'm loving the plum coloured coat on the right. The lower neckline would suit me better than the high collars, plus it would be the perfect shade for when winter rolls around.

I may have to get a few of these dresses. Hmm... let's see... The green one for sure and the turquoise one. I rather like the navy one on the far right and at only $11 I may as well order one of those too.  

Yes. All of them.

A big shawl would be perfect for the colder months ahead. The serviceable all-wool shawl for $2.50 will do.  

This is hard choice, but I think I will go with the hat on special bargain. It would be easy to add extra trimmings to if I fancied something a little bolder. Although that smart velveteen hat is also calling my name...

I should pick up an apron for wearing around the house. I think I'll go with the bungalow apron.

A new chemise or two as well, I think. 

Yes to any of these.

Ditto.

Before I place my order, I may as well add some yarn because...well.... yarn.


Well, that was fun. I do wish one could still order from old catalogs because they have the loveliest items. At least it gives inspiration and ideas for styles to be on the lookout for. Maybe next time I should go furniture shopping and redo my rooms.

And if anyone invents a time machine... can you pick me up a few things?

That's All.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

More Showers


Last Saturday was my best friends second bridal shower. I shall not get into how I feel about there being a second shower, especially since it was a "personal" shower (i.e. everyone, including elderly relatives, had to bring panties + lingerie for the bride), parties take a massive toll on my health, and the fact that I had already put approx. 50+ hours into my gift for the first shower. I will let you draw your own conclusions about my mood that day.... I feel I should mention this second shower was not the brides decision. She is such a lovely person and good friend, and it was for that reason that I attended (albeit, under-protest). Anyways, enough grumbling! 

I wasn't sure what one wears to a panty-party, but I figured a vintage nightgown set was a good choice. This soft mint green nightgown+jacket is so comfortable and I'm pretty sure everyone just thought it was a dress. With the surging prices on vintage dresses, vintage nightwear is a relatively cheap alternative and can be styled to look dress-like. I paired mine with a thin black belt, vintage-style hat, and some striped flats.  


Suffering with chronic illness means parties are hard. Like, really hard. I'm still recovering days later, even though I took 2 days beforehand to rest up. I'm also recovering from a hand/wrist strain that happened last week. Recovering is so boring! I'm limited with what I can do with my hands at the moment so my normal diversions are off-limits (including video editing). Luckily, I have a touchscreen computer so I can still read blogs and look at instagram without the hand-strain caused by using a mouse. Hopefully in a few days, I will be back to normal.

I did finish some knitting projects before the hand-strain (actually, I'm still doing a little bit of knitting as it helps to loosen up my hands and isn't what caused the injury in the first place). The first project finished was this Edwardian sweater. The pattern is a free one from a 1918 "Columbia Books of Yarns". I mistakenly knit the entire sweater on the wrong sized needles (whoops!), but it turned out ok in the end. The arms are a bit snug/short, but the sweater is still very wearable and I prefer 3/4 or 1/2 length sleeves anyways. 



This was the original illustration for the pattern:

Yeah... mine didn't really turn out like the picture. Oh well. Live and learn. 

I love the yarn I used on the cuffs/collar, but I would never use the main yarn again. The splits, pills, and matted bits in the yarn ruined the smoothness of my knitting.  It was a mess and it does make the sweater look less well knit than it is. The camera shows up the yarn flaws more than it looks in person, so I still plan on wearing it, just perhaps not on days when I will be photographed. For more details on the project, check out my ravelry project page. 

The other project I finished is a 1950's bolero. It's so cute but I have yet to photograph it, so stay tuned for that!

I hope everyone is having a great week so far.

That's All.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Cottage Days

I recently returned from a lovely few days up at the family cottage. There was lot of swimming, yarn shopping, and coffee sipping, and it was glorious. It was a surprisingly busy and exhausting week but somehow it managed to be refreshing as well. 

I didn't really take any outfit shots while I was up there, but I did have to take some photos of my new bathing suit. Yup... I now have an Edwardian-style swimsuit. I knew I needed a new swimsuit this year and opted to make something a little more covered up than my previous 1940's bikini. The reason? Well, mainly because the lake is always freezing plus I think Victorian/Edwardian bathing suits are adorable. I had a friend who used to always wear a wet suit to go swimming in the lake, so I figured this is just a cuter version of that. 

The material has a great texture and looks a bit like wool on one side, but it actually very similar to modern swimsuit material. It's super comfy and stretchy enough to make movement easy. I did plan on doing some real swimming in this thing so I worked hard to make sure it was a functional garment. I didn't actually wear the tights or ribbon belt for swimming, but the rest of it made for an excellent swimming costume. The only downside is that it takes forever to dry out.



I researched a lot of historical suits styles before designing mine. In the end, I opted for an Edwardian  suit rather than Victorian (it seemed a little more practical). Most suits also seemed to have a sailor collar, so I felt that detail was a must-have on my suit. While most of the original suits were not black, this fabric was on a very good sale so I opted to add in colour with the trim instead. My main inspiration was the swim costume top-left in the below image:

I'm sure I looked quite a sight floating around in a giant swan in my Edwardian bathing costume...



You may have already seen part of my Canada Day outfit on instagram, but I thought I would repost the uncropped versions here. I wore this the day we left for the cottage and snapped a few quick pictures after loading up the car. I was hot, grumpy, and tired when these photos were taken, but hopefully it doesn't show too much. 

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable summer so far!

That's All.