A 1920s inspired necklace with a twist!

Been getting ready for a certain performance which is indeed vintage fashion related - but will blog on that at the end of the week...till then sssshhh i can't say a word ;)

In the meantime i've been working on a gift for a friend. It's a 1920s inspired knecklace with a twist, it's knitted! Yet again from a vintage inspired pattern book and very easy to make if not a tad time consuming.

All you need are 3 1/4mm needles and 4 different coloured wools. I've used the 4ply left over from the Pucci purse but you could mix and match and use any left over yarns. The pattern? cast on 10, knit 8 rows, cast off, sew together, fill with stuffing and voila you have a knitted bead :) I'm making 50, 10 of each colour which ill then attached to a croched chain.

Final picture should be ready by Wed as this is my deadline but in the meantime below is the picture that inspired it and a few of my beads.

x

Pucci style 1960s bag

Late night last night finishing off the Pucci bag ( once i'm near the end of a project i can't stop till it's finished). 2 episodes of the BBC Sherlock later - brilliant series now on DVD and it's finished :) Ready for my mum in law for mother's day.

After knitting both pieces i decided on a purple satin liner as purple is one of my m.i.l's favourite colours. I had a train to catch to Glasgow first thing yesterday so i spent the journey attaching the lining to one piece. I then completed this last night on the other piece then simply joined the 2 together. The hard part was attaching it to the purse frame which involved gluing it in place and crimping the frame down tight. I really hope she loves it!

ps i used 4ply yarn in colours : ice, Rivera red, lime and amethyst using about half a  50g ball of each to complete the whole bag. Trying to capture the Mediterranean colours that Pucci was known for.

working on the go - attaching the lining on the train

Pucci style bag finished!

Lining

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My first vintage fair and a 1940s dress

What a day! Heard on the grapevine that is facebook, that a vintage fair called "Granny would be proud" would be taking place in Glasgow at a place called "Hillhead book club" ...sounded intriguing.
So myself and my daughter headed off for the day to find out more. We were not disappointed. Hillhead book club was a huge building ( found out it was an old cinema) off Byres st in Glasgow in the middle of all the city's vintage shops. Its actually a bar and restaurant with such brilliant quirky style and a fab friendly atmosphere. Upstairs the fair was taking place with vintage sellers from Club Noir ( selling old costumes) to stalls selling period shoes and bags. After a  couple of cupcakes ( Oreo cookie flavour!) and lots of tea out of beautiful china cups, we decided to do a quick tour of the vintage shops in the area.

 We  popped across the road to "Starry Starry night" to see if any 1940s dresses had come in since our last visit.......and there it was, a beautiful grey silk 1940s dress - 1948 to be exact and actually a wedding dress. I tried it on and it fitted like a glove. Few stains , which is to be expected for a dress this old and some damage to the buttons on the back but this can be restored easily. I have tickets to a vintage "Victory ball" in April and this dress was perfect for such an occasion. £45 was the asking price and a steal if you ask me, photos below showing the detail as well.
x

HillHead Book club

my 1948 dress

"Ruby in the Dust"

Found a fabulous vintage dress shop in my home town of Stirling today :

 http://www.facebook.com/rubyinthedustvintage

Situated in the Stirling Arcade it had lots of beautiful vintage dresses, tops and accesories! One of the dresses that jumped out at me was a vintage reproduction 1950s wiggle dress with a strawberry patterned fabric and boned bodice....had to be tried on and i fell in love with it for my vintage dance class tonight :)

I also need to add that the customer service was also fabulous which makes all the difference, really recommend this treasure of a find in Stirling!

I've attached two photos , one a bit closer so you can see the cute strawberry patterened fabric.

Can't wait to go dancing now ......

x 

Chanel

Just finished reading a beautiful book about Chanel , full of the most fabulous photos.

I adore Chanel and she is without a doubt my fashion icon, I even adore Karl Largafield and how he has evolved the label. For my 30th birthday a while back i was very lucky to given my own set of Chanel pearls ( see the photo below next to the book) and i wear them whenever i want to feel empowered or just up the glamour, I would wear them every day if i could!

 I feel the next project already developing in my head - a Chanel inspired outfit and i've found the very one i'd like! Now this would be advanced sewing and i'd have to make my own pattern! scary stuff! But these Pucci purses need to be finished first so it will have to wait a couple more weeks.

x