Wordless Wednesday ~ 2nd August Ed.

    

    

xox,

bonita

Spectacular Spectacles or Sad Specs?

Pearl Fascinator Hair Comb  ~   Two Dollar Shop     Blue Danube Cardigan  ~  Me Made, ‘12    Apple Delight Crochet Top  ~  ICE     Vintage Lilly Flower Brooch  ~  Love Vintage Show, ‘11   Swingin’ Circle Skirt  ~  Me Made, ‘11    Cream Cable Stockings  ~  Target    Tenhut Tennis Shoes  ~  Thrifted

~ * ♥ * ~

I finally have my new glasses after a LOT of um-ing and uh-ing over which pair to try out.  The problem is that I am not 100% sold on them.  I think that they tend to overwhelm my face, but I not sure if that is partly due to the fact that I have never worn such large, bold frames before, and therefore are just not used to the look!

Another issues is that the multi-focal script in my new frames isn’t correct for me, so I still have to get another pair of lenses.  So do I buy a new-new pair of frames or just stick with these new ones?   Decisions, decisions…   

I also found out that I really shouldn’t buy vintage glasses with the aim to replace the lenses, as the plastic will most likely be too brittle{boo, hiss!} and may or may not break.  Honestly, if I could find a pair of gorgeous $50.00 & under frames I would probably give it a go anyway, but as it is all the frames I like are $100.00 and over, so that isn’t going to happen.  I just can’t risk that sort of money!

None of that changes the major problem which is having to potentially throw down $800.00 for the lenses I need.  With that in mind, I so have to find a pair of frames that I love! 

I would hate to hate wearing my $800.00 dollar plus glasses just because I didn’t find the right frame! 
: S 

So there you have it, glasses dilemmas of the day.  When I wrote the My spectacles ~ how to find vintage frames to suit you! post, I certainly didn’t think I’d be having this much trouble finding the right pair, but here I am…

xox,

bonita

Link Love ~ Refashions of a Shawl Collar T-shirt

I love the look of this shawl collar t-shirt; comfortable but stunning and vintage styled at the same time ~ what could be better?  Pop over to So, Zo… What do you know? for instructions on how to make this lovely refashion for yourself. 

Refashion Friday Inspiration: Shawl Collar T-shirt

…There's one of two ways you could create a garment like this from an existing T-shirt. You could either take a T-shirt that already fits you (or the indented recipient) well then recut the neckline, make the new collar and then attach the collar to the T-shirt. Or you could do what I did here: take a large loose fit T-shirt originally intended for a guy, and cut it up and remake it using a T-shirt sewing pattern to fit you before getting involved in the collar section.

I took the collar pattern from New Look 6808 (pictured above) to make the collar. I also used that sewing pattern's front and back pieces as a guide to recut the new T-shirt neckline…

xox,

bonita

A Pretty Vintage House Decorating Guide

I found this lovely 1967 Woman’s Weekly Home Sewing Decor Guide last year, but only just had the brilliant idea of making it in to a .pdf to share! 

It has lots of instructions on how to sew just about everything you could possibly need for your house; everything that that can be sewn that is, and it also tells you how to make interesting window dressings like pelmets, valances and cornices.

      

I like these examples of window treatments ~ although that floral wallpaper on the right is a bit much for me!!  >  <

The instructions for the table clothes seem simple, but with a nice variety of trimming styles from the normal boring square, which is useful. 

    

    

I love the colour pallet in all of the photos above that I saved from various websites ~ the fresh pastels really seem to lighten and brighten the spaces, don’t they?  Shabby French Country Chic is one of my favourite decor looks, although I love dark woods instead of all the white~washed furniture. 

There are of course, a ton more inspiration pictures out there, but combined with your handy DIY guide, your own vintage home decor and furnishings shall be easy to create ~ download it here.   ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

xox,

bonita

Wordless Wednesday ~ 1st August Ed.

    

    

xox,

bonita

Stitching Stories ~ Tackling Bias Cuts & Pattern Matching

This post is on the behind-the-scenes details of my latest me-made project, which I recently featured in an outfit post ~ My Fall Fancies Dress.

  

So I started this dress in February with this vintage Advance 9785 dress pattern I got off Etsy and this vintage thrifted cotton.  I think the Advance is late 1950s – early 1960s?  I’m not 100% sure, but I thought it was pretty anyway.

.      

        

I had to tackle a few new skills with this pattern ~ doing to an FBA on a kimono sleeve bodice was just for starters.  The dart ended up looking funny, so I just moved it to where I thought it should go and thankfully it worked! 

I also had to try my hand at my first on-the-bias project, as the bodice was bias cut, and to make the layout trickier, I had to pattern/stripe match as well!  This meant that it took me THREE hours just to cut out the bodice, and I wasted a fair amount of fabric which led me to the conclusion that, although pretty, bias cuts aren’t necessarily worth it. 

Buttonholes and pleating were also two new skills to me ~ and I have to say I adore my Bernina 860!  It’s five step buttonhole program is the easiest, simplest way to do buttonholes and once I practised a few I just breezed through the three buttonholes on the dress’s bodice.  I never thought I would say this, but ~ I love stitching buttonholes!

The pleats were relatively simple, and I am positively ecstatic with how they look!  I think that they suit my figure far better than gathers, so I know I will be trying these again. 

Of course, although I like the original pattern, I still made an alteration and took out the buttons/facing strip down the front of the skirt.  I think my reasoning for that was that the bodice buttonholes were scary enough without having to do more!  Plus, I find button-down skirts annoying.  They tend to pop open a lot for some reason.

I had trouble with the collar/neck facing and end up tacking and sewing that down in about a hundred different ways/places, as well as the collar being a pain to put on.  I had to re-apply it and rip it out at least three times, but even though the inside is a little messy, you can’t tell from the outside, which is good. I guess these things just take practise.

All these new challenges meant I did a lot of stop/start sewing; sometimes leaving the dress for weeks until I could summon up the courage and the time to pick it up again. 

However, the thing that I am most proud of with this project is how perfectly my seams match!  The centre back seam and the shoulder seams are spot on and I love how the front facing has that lovely ‘bridge’ between the two front chevron-stripes.  Pattern matching is fiddley and time-consuming, but oh, so satisfying when it comes out right!

~ Project Details ~

Year:  Late 1950s – early 1960s
Pattern:  Advance 9785
Fabric:  About 6 yards/5.5 metres of thrifted cotton doona cover {$9.00} ~ this is one fabric eating pattern!
Notions:  Three buttons {$3.00}
Time to complete: I have no idea…
Make/Wear again? Definitely wear again!!  I am really happy with how it came out: I love the fit, the style and the fabric. However, I am not so sure that I’ll make the pattern up again.  I’m thinking that once was enough.  Although, I do love the skirt, so it does seem likely that I might use that part of the pattern again. 
Total Cost:  $25.00 including the pattern

xox,

bonita

Link Love ~ Be Your Shoeself

- ‘Coz you are perfect just the way you are!

The link to this adorable video popped up in my Twitter feed and I am so glad I clicked through!  For any shoe lover this video is well worth the watch.  So cute!

xox,

bonita

Wordless Wednesday ~ 4th July Ed.

    

    

xox,

bonita

My Fall Fancies Dress

Fall Fancies Dress  ~  Made by Me, ‘12    Harvest Guardsman Gloves  ~  Etsy   Basic Brown Belt  ~  Thrifted   Cream Cable Stockings  ~  Target   Tan Penny Loafers  ~  Big W  
~ * ♥ * ~

M’dears, I am dreadfully excited to show you this dress as it has been an extraordinary length of time in coming! Can you believe I started it in February no less?  Mind you, it has been finished for a couple of weeks as I completed it on the 2nd of July, but I have been waiting for a chance to wear it.

I was originally planning for it to be my autumn dress, hence the title, but five months {give or take} in the making and we were well into the winter season before I was done!  I shall give you more details on why it took so long in my stitching-stories-sewing-geekery post that is coming later, but for now I will say that I am glad it is finally finished!  

Yes, I have already started planning the next project in my head, and I have gotten as far as “It won’t be a dress!”  Sadly to say, for the moment I am over dresses.  They just seem so complicated and time consuming! 

It’s not that I can’t do all of the steps, {with a little help from the sewing master ~  teh Internetz!}, it’s more that there are SO many steps that it takes too long!  *sigh*  And while I love a pretty vintage dress, I just would like to get my teeth into some shorter and more winter friendly projects ~ like some blouses, or a pair of 40’s slacks…  I am itching to cut into Simplicity 3688 which is all the rage with vintage blogger seamstresses at the moment ~ mostly because of the near-perfect trouser fit; something almost unheard of!

If anyone hears of a Simplicity or Butterick or Vogue online pattern sale ~ do let me know!  I have some favourites to buy, but want to wait for a sale.  Then maybe I can try my 1940s trousers!

xox,

bonita

Link Love ~ The Flying Gnome

Animation by Mochimochi Land

If you are into tiny cute knitted gnomes, balloons, snowmen, pianos, unicorns or just about anything else you can think of Mochimochi Land is the place for you!  These tiny knits are available as patterns or complete kits, so you can make your own Mochimochi! 

I personally haven’t knitted up any yet, as I tend to favour amigurumi instead{see here and here}, but I thought this animated .gif was seriously too cute not to share.   > U <     Up, up and awaaaaayyyyyy!

xox,

bonita

How to ~ A guide for seaming a knitted cardigan

I was so eager to finish off my last {and first!} knitted cardigan that I didn’t bother blocking it, or learning how to seam it properly.  While the ribbing is very forgiving, and has settled down nicely into the shape I wanted, I thought that for my next cardigan I should learn a few more tricks for finishing a knitted garment. 

 

First off:  how to block a cardigan using wet blocking, or spray/steam blocking techniques.   Blocking is done at the end of the knitting process, usually before seaming a pieced garment. Here’s an article detailing the benefits of blocking and which fibers respond to what kinds of blocking ~ To Block or Not to Block, as well as a video on how to do the three different methods.

Then, you can seam it together with your choice of stitch style. This video is great in demonstrating how to set a sleeve in.

This one is good for stockinette shoulder seams.

And this website has some great knitting and finishing tips, including this great little video on mattress stitch, which is good for doing up side seams.

I hope you find these resources helpful.

xox,

bonita

Wordless Wednesday ~ 3rd July Ed.

    

    

xox,

bonita