Production line

It's hard to not just keep on making things when I find it so relaxing but I have decided to choose 4 designs of fascinator to focus on and only do a few one offs (when there's a rainy day and I just have the urge to make something).  I think this will be good for when Shara and I have our stall.  I have to admit that the idea of making 2 of things originally came about because I made something and wanted one myself but I'm going to be putting everything I make up for adoption!

I have realised that no further posts have been forthcoming about my project.  I have the main parts cut out and sewn but still debating about what colour zip to use - I have a hot pink, pale pink and blue at the moment but may just go for the pale pink tonight.  I will remember to take more photos but for now here is what the pieces looked like when I cut them from the pattern.  I'm sure I'll have it ready for summer 2011!

iphone 'does' vintage

There is an awesome App on the iphone called 'Hipstamatic', if anyone is as old as me photos from when I was a kid had this really beautiful OLD feeling about them.  Ask your parents to see if they have any photos from the 1960s/70s and you'll see the lovely grain and warmth of the photo itself.  I have only just upgraded to an iphone and this was the first App  I bought as you can recreate that feeling.  Here's an example of what it can do.  it adds the frame and the effect when you take the photo.  I love it and think it gives a real vintage look to any photo.  Enjoy!

Orchids are growing

I know I mentioned my orchids before, yes, I'm a little bit like a proud mother but they are doing so so well at the  moment and new ones are growing everyday. So in honour of them (and because I mentioned the clips in the La Soiree post) I wanted to share some photos of my orchid hair clips.  They are very delicate and add just a hint of vintage glamour.  Hope you like them, they are certainly a favourite of mine,

 

By the way, just waiting for our webshop to open, if you wanted to buy anything from us then do get in touch. As a stop-gap I've gone back to using my old etsy shop which is found through the link below.  Please start a converstation through the site with me, mention the blog and receive a discount.  The name Vintage Garden was long before Teaparties and Lace but I like the shop banner and can't bear to change it and the pixiedemon thing....who knows????!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pixiedemon

What's in a name?

When Shara and I decided that we wanted to join forces and just 'make pretty things' we didn't know what to call ourselves.  Originally we wanted to be called Vintage Vixiens but think someone had already beaten us to it.  So, while we were designing and creating this blog came into being.  I told Shara and she loved the name so from then we began 'Teaparties and Lace'.  The idea fits well into our concept which is vintage fashion, something that you might wear to a teaparty.  I always think of garden parties hence my flower theme and teaparties so quintessentially girly so I use soft fabrics and girly veiling.  But where's the lace?  Well, this is the racier side of our business and the making of pasties.  Not the ones you can grab as you wait for your train at Kings Cross but the nipple tassle variety.  It got me thinking though that I needed to use lace more to truly live up to the name 'Teaparties and Lace' so I got the ol' glue gun out and created these pasties, the ultimate in naughty burlesque.  What I like about these ones is that they offer a little more 'coverage' for the more modest among us.  Oohlala.

I tried my hand at sequin ones as well but it is so painful if the glue gets you and it usually does.  I like how they came out though :-)

  

When birds attack!!!

I have to write this now after the 'event', I am shaking but laughing at myself at the same time!  Now, I am a bit of a girl but have a phobia of all things fluttery, flying, wing beating, and/or jumping.  It may go back to when my lovely dad used to catch daddylonglegs and pretend he had them in his hands and run around chasing me as I screamed and tried to find a place to hide.  To this day, if a daddylonglegs comes in the house, I run and hide throw a tea-towel at Mr P and ask him to get rid of of  it...(shudder) just the thought makes my skin crawl.  Bluh.  Anyway, I was at home and noticed at the window a sparrowhawk.  I knew that it was around as last summer I was slightly tramatised but the sight of it going into our hedge and coming out with a sparrow in its claws.  It flew off but the poor sparrow families who live in our hedge were distraught.  Normally the only thing that they need to worry about is our cat and they don't even worry about him, more taunt.....So I grabbed Mr P's camera, putting the strap over my neck like I've been told and raced out to take soe photos.  It was all going fine until the bird noticed me.  Looking through a lens didn't make it seem so bad but then I realised there was nothing between me and it.  Looking at the photos you can tell its getting ready to do something and do something it did.  I swear, it came right for me!  I ducked for cover and it swerved, went into the hedge, plucked out a poor sparrow and flew off.  I was slightly shakey (have you seen those claws) and but fine...until I looked around and saw my neighbours front door open with the whole family watching me.  They had seen it all, granted I was sneaking around the road right by their car but was that casue for concern? ;-)  So we taked about what had happened and the dad of the family said 'that's something you don't see everyday'...I'm not sure if he meant the sparrowhawk, a grown woman ducking for cover under his car from a bird whilst trying to prtect her husband's camera or all of the above.  Anyway, I've got photos to prove my little adventure.  In the meantime, our cat came rushed out the front door faster than I've ever seen him move.  I like to think he was protecting me but I think he was just after the biggest feathered dinner he'd ever dared to dream of.


Taken safely inside...

Closer...

Uhoh, I think I've been spotted!



Getting in to position...please note the camera is focusing in on its claws.



Should have guessed he was getting ready to fly :-(

Websites and winter wardrobe warmers

Yesterday I was trying to multitask and organise my personal life at work.  I was obviously doing my day job but at the same time tying to round up my friends for my birthday (anyone who knows when this is will have a HUGE hint to the event with my d.o.b).  I would tell you now where we're planning on going and when but a lot of people are waiting until Friday to buy tickets so I want them to get in first :-)  Needless to say it is a 1940s theme and whilst lovely friends were accepting and buying their tickets yesterday I was then getting emails from them asking what to wear and where to get it.  This made me realise that I have been totally negligent on the website front, an oversight that I am going to rectify now.

One of my favourite sites is http://www.tarastarlet.com/  The ladies that run the label are a mother and daughter team and on their site you'll  find vintage inspired clothes with a pin-up girl, rockabilly style.  Oh such lovely things!  Not only do they do dresses and the kind of things you'd want for a particularly special night out but they do essential wardrobe staples. 

Oh, and the most exciting thing is that they have a sale on which includes up to 50% off several of their items, one of which includes their flattering high waisted pencil skirts.  I think I have one in just about every colour and now you can snap them up for a bargainous £22.50!!!  What I love about these skirts is the Lycra ;-)  They stretch and move with you so no fear of splitting your seams if you bend down. 

Tara Starlet is also my favourite place to get smart high waisted trousers which are perfect for the office and therefore, in my eyes, count as everyday wear.  I have a black pair with pinstripes and they go with everything.  The only thing I would say is that you'll need a killer heel with them if, like me, you have not so long legs.  once on though, with heels, it looks as if your legs go on forever and you can feel glamorous whilst being practical.  Other fabrics that these delights come in are more casual and have a slight nautical theme or are in a lovely tweed, perfect for Sunday afternoon walks.  Talking of getting out and about, TS are doing the most darling 1940s coat.  It comes in tan tweed, grey fleck, blue fleck, bottle green and a brown/beige.  I think I love it so much as it is a 1940s feel bit still feels modern.  It's a little pricey at £150 but it's always said that you should invest in a good quality winter coat.

All together now 'ooooooooooh'

So, you have your coat, and your trousers what now?  Well, if you want to be comfy and just staying around the house I think the most comfortable high waisted trousers I've found are those from http://www.heydayonline.co.uk/. Shona makes these in a variety of different colours and seem to come up a little larger than your normal size but it was like wearing pajamas when you have these on.  You like smart and have a vintage feel but you're just soooooo comfy.  As for what to wear on top, you could knit yourself a jumper from a vintage pattern bought on ebay or search for someone who has done the hard work for you.  I think due to popularity though they can be a bit expensive.  A nice alternative is something from the selection of jumpers from http://www.rocketoriginals.co.uk/ This is one of my favourites:

As their site tells you: 'These were knitted here in the U.K. for Rocket Originals.  We have taken great care to make our sweaters as authentic as possible.  Our designs are taken from original 1940's knitting patterns, and this was knitted on a vintage mechanical knitting machine - you can't get much more authentic than that! '

As for vintage shoes to wear in the 4-season-in-one-day weather we've been having, I'm afraid I'm  not much help.  I always always choose the wrong type of shoe to wear and they are normally platforms with an open toe which I admit can get a little chilly.  but why obsess?  Like I've said before I love the style of ages gone by but I'm not a slave to it.  The wonder of us all being individuals is that we can choose our own style and pick and choose from the elements of fashion gone by. So, I won't feel guilty if I wear some knee high boots off the high street or a pair of killer heels with a high waisted skirt because that's me :-)  Enjoy the sites and remember to treat yourself!

La Soiree at Southbank Big Top

I have been lucky enough to live in London for 25 years, until I moved to the country ;-)  and for me Christmas isn’t Christmas without  going into London for a show.  Last year we went to the Roundhouse in Camden to see La Clique.  It was unlike anything we’d ever seen and we loved it!  The website bills La Clique as: 

Impossible to describe and impossible to resist. A sexy, funny and dangerous experience, La Clique’s heady cocktail of cabaret, new burlesque, circus sideshow and contemporary variety has taken the world by storm. Showcasing the crème de la crème of twisted cabaret entertainers from around the world. 

So this year I was keeping an eye out for them to come back to London but no dates had been set.  After a little jiggerpokery in my friend  Google I found that La Clique is now called La Soiree and are at home on the Southbank in a big top!!!  With an auditorium of carved wood, polished mirrors, crystal and leadlight, ‘guests will be instantly transported to the glamour of a bygone era’.  I was so excited that they were back.  Coincidentally I became  a lucky receiver of 2 tickets to the show the weekend after I found out they were back and Mr P and I took the train into London sharpish.  We had ringside seats and sat RIGHT in the front.  It really is an amazing show – 2 hours of cabaret, vaudeville, burlesque and just the downright weird.  As one of the acts says she isn’t ‘wow’ more like ‘why’???   The English Gentleman were outstanding (and I’m not just saying that as they came to do an encore in just their Union Jack pants).  Bath Boy lived up to his name and we ended up getting wet from his aerial acrobatics as he spun from the ceiling over a bath of water.  Captain Frodo, well what can I say?  He really is the amazing Rubberman but I never want to see someone dislocate their arm from the elbow again so close.  He was so sweet and very modest.  He always wanted to be the amazing Rubberman and he is.  As he was perched on top of a pile of tin cans, the smallest being a baked bean tin at the top, he told us all to follow our dreams, anything that we wanted to do was possible and even if people might think it weird or odd – look at him, he’s made a living out of it.  He then proceeded to put his feet around his head and balance.  This is the guy who can contort his body through a tennis racquet!  It was an inspiring show and I loved every minute of it including when we walked in and the ringmaster I guess you’d call him, said my hair was ‘magnificent’.  I had made the effort and it was a very simple but effective 1940s updo.  Basically put your hair is hot sticks or rollers and then take out.  Top tip: do NOT brush out the curls!    Once all the rollers are out start pinning the curls on top of your head and that’s it – hair done.  Oh, apart from the lashings of hairspray to keep mine in place.  You can add a couple of victory rolls as well but again, this wouldn’t take long.  Minimum effort but maximum impact!

So, after all that hair talk, I really would recommend going and the Southbank is just dreamy in winter.  Fairy lights twinkle, the London Eye shines and the River Thames glistens...just ignore the weird brown colour it is – yucky!  La Soiree is so much fun and a good old fashioned night out.  London has so many other great shows on at the moment so if you can get into London go go go!





Better orchid photos

The time is drawing close to our stall in Hitchin which happens to be on the same day as the Vintage Fair.  Just as I have been very busy making more orchid hair clips I wanted to take some better photos of them so while Mr P was out for a run I nabbed his camera.  Please remember these clips are very large 11cm across and 9cm high - wowsers! :-)

Project number one

As Shara and I make our way through every fabric stall we see (in the flesh and online) it has given me the opportunity to have a look at what I have at home.  I have a sewing book that told me one of the golden rules with buying fabric should be to buy 3 yards of a fabric you love when you see it but don't know when you'll use it.  So I do that a lot and therefore have a lot of fabric.  Also, as I have a compulsion in making circle dresses, if I see a material I'd love for a dress I buy it but for the patterns for vintage style 1950s dresses, this calls for 6 yards of material minimum.  I found such material at home and was going to go for the same type of pattern again when I found my Amy Butler 'Lotus' tunic and cami pattern.  I opened up the instructions and it looked like it could be very similar (with a bit of tweaking) to a pencil dress with cap sleeves - divine!  So, here's the pattern and the material I've chosen:

I've already made a little fascinator from the off cuts and now realise I have enough material left to make a full circle skirt or cap-sleeve top. Hurrah!  The only thing I don't have is a suitable zipper but I am ready to google.  Anyone who always wanted to make their own clothes but never has I would recommend it.  Like anything, I think you just have to go for it.  What's the worst that can happen?  Start small, maybe an apron from a pack or a wrap around skirt?  Clothkits http://www.clothkits.co.uk/ is a wonderful site because they send you the material with the pattern already drawn on, any zippers you'd need the right colour thread.  You just need to cut and sew, it really is that easy.  Build up your confidence and enjoy it!  I'll keep you posted on how the dress goes in the various stages just so you can see it's easier than you think.....oh, and anyone who thinks I'm mad for wanting a summer dress in winter, I wear dresses with stockings and a cardi.  In an age when we leave our warm houses to get straight into a warm car or train then into a temperature controlled building for work I think I will take my chances and wear what I want.

Here's a photo of the fascinator, I can't wait to make the dress!

Deck the halls with boughs of Holly...falalalalalalalala

I was out shopping the other day and popped into Paperchase as I love all the cards in there.  They always sometimes have some darling journals that I use as recipe books or notebooks.  I was a little shocked to see that they are now doing their Christmas range...in October.  I shouldn't be too surprised by this but I was.  Anyone who knows me knows that I rarely shop 'in the wild' and much prefer to order things online much to our lovely postman's disgust.  He is such a sweet man but once berated me on ordering so much as it was hurting his back.  Anyway, I digress.  A friend at work was telling me last week about the Christmas tree she and her husband are buying for this year and I think most high street stores have started to push the festive season.  So there I was in Paperchase having a nice little look and not only did I buy my Christmas cards for this year but I also bought a 2011 diary.  The scariest thing for me was that I have already added some entries.  I do love Christmas and am looking forward to going to Waddesdon Manor this year again.  Anyone who has not been I do recommend it for getting into the Christmas feel.  They close the house all except for the east wing which they decorate with floor to ceiling Christmas trees and decorations.  The mince pies, mulled wine and sparkling lights always get me feeling like a child again.  I think it's this love for decorations that made this little item all the more exciting for me:

I found this delightful 1950s Christmas tree brooch online (surprise surprise) and love it to pieces.  Really I should have kept it to nearer the time but I couldn't wait.

I have to show you an example of the cards that I bought from Paperchase too.  They are called snowglobe cards and I've found them for a fraction of the price on ebay can you believe!  I bought quite a few but this snowman is my favourite I think.

I have some ideas for handmade decorations this year now I have my sewing machine so will post the instructions and hopefully you can do some too :-)

Oh, and on the subject of Christmas, if you wanted to have a Christmas party with a difference bear the Powder Puff Girls in mind.  Originally they had one beauty palour but have recently moved to a second premises in Soho, 35 Marshall St W1F 7EU.  Not only would they host your party with champagne and treatments but they specialise in doing hair styles and makeup in 10 minutes each!  They are such lovely ladies in there and make you feel like a princess.  Give them a shout if you're interested or just pop in!

Spring time in...Autumn??!

 

I love flowers and this shows in the things I make as the fascinators are covered in them and I love making hair accessories with a flower theme.  The thing is, I can't not buy silk flowers  when I see them just in case I ever want to make something in that particular colour.  I think I may have a complusion!!!  So the things I make are girly, flowery and bright and Shara's creations are sultry, glamorous and slinky.  We decided that this difference in style is very important to what we make and we bat ideas off each other.  Also it just proves that we represent the 1950s and 1940s in our designs.  

Hope you like the pics.



A few of my (recent) favourite things

I wanted to take a time out from things that I’ve made myself to things that I’ve bought recently maybe to inspire you to find similar but also to give these items the praise, I think, they deserve J 

First up is quite a large brooch that I found in Flo’s place in Hitchin, I love it and always seem to be wearing it if I happen to have a cardi on.

I have a favourite shop on ebay called ‘Susannah’s Vintage Jewellery’.  I get a lot of my things from her, my most recent purchase below.  A cameo bracelet (I’ve only ever had fake cameos so it’s lovely to have a proper raised one) and a pair of 1950s clip on earrings.  I do have my ears pierced but prefer to buy clip on vintage earrings.  It’s just my preference as the ones I normally go for are quite large and doing the job I do it’s far easier to take them off when I answer the phone, which makes me laugh as I think of Mad Mad, then press the receiver to my ear and earring if they were pierced ones.

Finally, and this is my bit of fun and colour.  In a past post I mentioned the Dolly Mixture bracelet I was after which then turned into a spot of handbag envy.  I’m not sure if the bracelet is meant for a child but I love it and thankfully have small enough wrists to wear it, yippee!!



Good enough to eat?



Autumn leaves but summer flowers?!

In the UK at the moment, it’s Autumn.  After a very sunny summer (so hot that our lawns got bleached and dried up) it started to get darker and colder, the nights seemed to come earlier and the first light of the day later...or so I thought.  The weather this weekend has been blissful.  We have a little summer house at home but it was too hot to sit in on Sunday so I did some weeding.  How glamorous ;-)

 It’s such a strange feeling knowing that it should be getting colder but it seems to be getting sunnier.   Leaves are turning brown and all the great shades that you associate with the season but new shoots are pushing their way up.  It feels really strange but it’s great to still be able to pick roses and sweet peas and bring them inside.  It was really such a treat to spend so much time in the garden this weekend.

 I managed to put our apple and pear trees into good use and made an orchard pudding which is basically an Eve’s pudding but with anything you can find put in the fruit ‘stew’.  The apples and pears are so sweet and you can eat them off the tree.  Never tasted anything like them, so sweet and fresh.  My cousin and wife, who live in Boston stayed with me the night before I got married and in the morning they were so excited that they could pick their own breakfast!  I’ll never lose the image of my cousin running around the garden like a child, picking an apple for everyone and watching them eat it.  He thought it was awesome!  Sadly, this weekend we left the pudding with our hosts for their children but both hubby and I really fancied it Sunday afternoon but didn’t have any!  Will make some next weekend, the smell from the oven was so cozy and delicious.  Apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger – all autumn smells filling our house, can’t get better than that.

It’s not just flowers outside that are doing well.  I seem to ‘collect’ orchids and they are doing so well!  So well in fact that I don’t have room in the house to display them all.  I’ll take some photos and post them on here, hopefully to show that anyone can grow orchids at home.  Don’t be afraid just give it a go.  I would say, like anything involving ‘green fingers’ is: be patient.  I love growing things from seed.  It’s an amazing feeling.  I started to grow anemones one year and potted them in the house, I was so proud that I showed my dad my first seedlings which he promptly plucked out telling me that the shoot I was looking after so well was a weed!  He was right though and a week later the curly tell-tale sign of the anemone shoot pushed through and now we have loads in the garden J

All this talk of flowers has inspired me in crafts.  I have some lovely girly material that I bought to make another Swirl type dress out of.  The only problem with loving the fifties look is that you need so much material to make a circle skirt, the good thing is that it leaves me with lots of spare material to make fascinators and the latest addition to the Teaparties and Lace repertoire...aprons!!!!  I also had a go at another couple of fascinators too.  Is there a point when there are too many flowers on a fascinator?  I’m not too sure, or if there is, I don’t know where that point is hehe.

More orchid clips made!

Other news is that Marge (the T&L head dummy) will be joined by 3 other ‘ladies’.  I ordered 3 more Marges, which I am sure will have names by the end of the week when they arrive.  Hurrah!

Another new addtion to the team :-)

Shara and I may look to the past in our style and how we dress/makeup/hair  but we both have our feet firmly in the present.  At the moment Shara has a new buddy who goes by the name of ‘Pearl’.  Pearl is her very much loved white Blackberry.  Here’s a photo, I love how her little dog princess Bella is the background – so cute.

We spent Saturday on the sewing machine with my tummy rumbling as the house was filling with the smell of Orchard pudding.  Shara made her first apron and 2 gorgeous little padded hearts that could be used as pin cushions/drawer smellies/anything else you can think of.  So watch this space, Shara gets her own machine this week and after one lesson she was amazing.

Photos as promised

Marge :-)

Thanks has to go to the new addition to our team the mannequin 'Marge' - it makes positioning veiling so much easier :-)  It's fun to experiment with different materials and with Marge you can pin anything and everything to the base to get an idea what the finished fascinator looks like.  Before we started making fascinators, I had one hair flower that I wore a lot, more like all the time.  I love it and still wear it now but when I was out and saw the exact same flowers on a stem I had to have them...in all the colours they did!  So I went on a bit of creating mission and made a LOT of hair flowers.  They are mostly orchids (small and large ones) and some roses.  The roses can have a little bit of veiling added, which I did recently for a wedding we went to.  So, enjoy the photos and sorry there are so many but I couldn't choose between them!

Hair clips made with a  snap clasp, like a mini fascinator really...



It's a Pastie display on a cake stand...don't ask ;-)