A sunny Sunday outfit post!

Tis' a lovely Sunday evening here and I am spending it in my pj's on the sofa with the window open (for the first time in about 6 months!) having been stuffed to the gills with food. Ahhhh, Sunday.

I thought I'd share with you my Sunday outfit (albeit, from last Sunday) which I wore for a jaunt to a local pub for a massive Sunday lunch with pals. It was one of those outfits which just sort of fell together, but that I really love.

I created the outfit based around the lovely rayon oriental lounging pyjama top, which I picked up from Judy's vintage fair in Spitalfields which I visited on Easter Bank Holiday Monday with some of my gorgeous vintage-loving chums. It came from the bargain box on a stall for an impressive £5, along with the belt I am wearing!

 

 Outfit details:

Cashmere 50's style coat: charity shop.

1940's beaded necklace: fleamarket.

Lounging pyjama blouse (30's/40's?): Judy's vintage fair.

Embroidered fabric cinch belt: Judy's vintage fair.

Wool pencil skirt: handmade by me.

Wooden bracelets: charity shops and carboots.

1930's embroidered handbag: Scarlet Rage Vintage.

1940's style platforms: Miss L Fire.

I also wore some handmade (RosieAliaDesigns) colourful purple orchids in my hair to top it off.

I adore this outfit, but was soon regretting the cinch belt when I had consumed a large roast dinner, a very dense chocolate pudding and some bubbly cider. I hobbled home after dinner and immediately changed into something more roomy to allow my food to digest whilst reclining on the sofa.

Pip pip! xx

When an outfit just comes together....and my very first Miss L Fire's!

I did it, I was naughty and treated myself to some Miss L Fire shoes from their sale. 

But boy oh boy were they worth it!

I just can't stop looking at them....

I opted for the Fern, which were £45 in the sale. I could have bought many others but my purse just wouldn't allow it (oh my, do they know how to make a beautiful shoe)! But these are a green-and-brown dream.

The moment they arrived my mind started reeling for outfits I could wear with them...and I came up with a rather perfect one. 

Don't you just love it when that happens?

 Rust coloured 1940's silk shirt: secondhand/antique emporium.

1940's style pinafore skirt: made by me (I forgot to get a close-up picture, but by total coincidence the straps button to the skirt with lovely rust coloured buttons too)

 Accessories

Autumnal hair flowers: made by me (Rosie Alia Designs)

Acorn brooch: a Christmas gift, from Luxulite

The beautiful shoes of joy: Miss L Fire

Green plastic beads: charity shop

Now I need to start racking my brains for some other perfectly coordinating outfits for these shoes.

I think I may have to get my sewing machine out for some projects based around these beauties!

Pip pip x

Christmas and New Year....festive time photos!

Happy New Year!

.....I'm not even going to mention the long blogging absence-shaped elephant in the room....ahem....

I hope all you lovely people enjoyed an amazing festive period, and are enjoying the beginning of this brand spanking new year!

I just thought I'd do a post rounding up how I spent my time over Christmas and New Years! As I'm cramming them all into one post, be warned, it is picture heavy indeed!

 

Just before Christmas I popped to my Mums local charity shops and picked up this amazing collection of vintage decorations!

 

A snap of a dressed down Christmas Eve (daytime) outfit...

A newly purchased 1940's silk blouse: £8, secondhand/collectors emporium.

Green and black silk headscarf: bought many moons ago from goodness knows where!

Green plastic beads: charity shop.

1940's repro trousers: Heyday.

 

A few Christmas snaps, including a photo of me and my chums at our traditional Christmas Eve gathering, and my little sister's adorable letter to Santa.

Christmas morning arrived and I awoke at the ungodly hour of 6am.....

Santa hadn't even delivered my stocking yet. I closed my eyes and TRIED to get back to sleep, but to absolutely no avail. So instead I (im)patiently awaited footsteps outside my door and a reasonable hour. But the moment I heard a rustle outside the door, I leaped up, harassed a very grumpy boyfriend to wake up, then plonked our stockings on our feet and commenced stocking opening in a frenzy of paper!

Then, we went downstairs and popped the tv on (a Christmas edition of Horrible Histories) and eagerly awaited the parents coming downstairs!

 

And then came PRESENTS! And boy did my nearest and dearest do well, as usual....

 

A flying V ukelele! This is my second ukelele, so I really should learn to play them.

 

A selection of my execellent presents....including a matching lurex bag and compact once belonging to my Step Mums grandmother, a black velvet dressmakers dummy, antique sewing scissors, a gold tea set, a book by Jon Ronson and taxidermy!

 After tearing through copious amount of wrapping paper to reveal many a fabulous present, we rushed off upstairs to get dressed before the arrival of family for more present opening and breakfast and booze.

 

This is my chosen Chirstmas outfit. Because if you can't wear red and green on Chrsitmas Day, when can you? 

Green plastic beads: charity shop.

Green cardigan: Primark.

Red 1940's dress: a birthday present from my Mum and Aunts, from Mishka Vintage.

Green belt: H&M

 

I wore my hair on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in a fine hairnet hand-beaded with gold beads, over a curl set, and lots of festive hair flowers.

Hair net and hair flowers: by me (Rosie Alia Designs)

 

This was my Dad's chosen outfit. The monkey mask was worn to answer the door to the rest of the family, obviously.

Later on, after an amazing dinner, me and Mr Mike drove over to my Mum's to spend the rest of Christmas Day with the rest of my family.

This included even more present opening, and even more food....along with a one AM game of Just Dance with my little sister and cousin.

 

More lovely presents, including matching handkerchief and glove boxes, a tiny set of amazing vintage nativity figurines, a stocking made by my 10 year old sister....

...and this beauty! A 1930's toaster, which my Mum got my Grandad to rewire so I can actually use it. *Swoon*

  

Me and Mike got to sleep in my Mum's lovely Shepherds Hut on Christmas Day which is always exciting.

We then did LOTS of travelling, heading up to Mr Mike's family in Lincolnshire for Christmas number 3, then back to our London flat for 2 days, then I hopped back on a train to Norwich to spend New Years back with my family.

 

My NYE outfit. I was particularly chuffed with my hair.

Cath Kidston tea dress: charity shop.

Plastic bead necklace: charity shop.

Red patent shoes: M&S sale, £9.

Festive hair flowers, again by me.

 

I went with my family to their friend's house for a party, where we ate copious amounts of wine-spiked cheese fondue, drank very odd shots of all types, and I played a 5 hour Monopoly game with the kids!

Congratulations dear readers, if you have in fact made it this far. 

I did warn you it would be picture heavy!

I hope you all had a fabulous time too!

Pip pip x

Birthday week...family, fun and beautiful presents!

My birthday was at the beginning of October. My 25th birthday. This scared me. As did the fact that it was my first "working" birthday ever (I usually wangle a day off). Eurgh, adulthood.

So I decided to pootle off to Norwich for a week before my birthday to spend time with my fam, foraging in other peoples cast offs (carboots, junk shops, charity shops, but that was covered in my previous post), playing drunk pool and eating loads of food.
Plus opening presents, obviously! .....WHAT? I'm not too grown up for presents. Never.


So here is an ever so quick pictorial round up of the week leading up to my birthday, minus the previously shared bargains:

 

5 games of drunk pool with made-up rules and everyfink. These rules included removing the black ball until the end, so it didn't get accidentally potted before its time. Obvs.

  

  Family frolicking and dog harassment.

 

 Birthday bowling after my first ever day of going to work on my birthday.

 

Now onto the PRESENTS!

 

Typewriter cushion thoughtfully chosen by my little sister. Knitted gauntlet gloves. Beautiful vintage buttons.

 

Housekeepers box. Teatowel. Kitsch vintage baby ornaments....and a satchel! A lovely lightly worn black vintage one, a handy smaller size than my beloved Burt. I think I shall name her Betty. And although I shouldn't know the price of birthday presents, my mumma just couldn't resist telling me, for it was such a bargain. Two teeny pounds from a carboot!

 

A swiss chalet clock.

 A vintage telephone table. A working vintage hairdryer. A 1950's tree topper lady with a crepe paper skirt. A ballerina ring holder. A retro portable radio. A giant shoe horn, of course. Folding coat hanger and retractable airer, and a vintage flag.

 

A naked lady. A lovely apron. A floral ceramic earring and brooch set. Vintage buttons. A knitted hat needle case. A faux fur capelet. A lucky rabbit foot brooch.

 

This vintage 1950's card has a music box attached, so when you turn the handle it plays a very twangy version of "Happy Birthday". How fab is that?

 

A beautifully glamorous vintage pearl, crystal and cut glass earring and choker set. A pair of crochet gloves. A black velvet turban-style headband, lovingly made by my talented nan!

 Tara Starlet 40's style dungarees.

 

Sweeeeeeets!

 

 

A treat voucher crafted by my wonderful pal.

 

This absolutely phenomenal 1940's coat was brought down by a lovely lady for me from the storage room of a charity shop when shopping with my mumma. I gasped. And my mother kindly offered to buy it for me as a combined birthday/christmas present. £45 well spent indeed! It is incredibly perfect condition, fits me (well, not on the chesty-region, but that rarely happens!) and just look at those pleats. And hidden/top secret pockets, but I didn't tell you that!

 A beautiful trio of wall mirrors. I can't wait to get these up in my flat when they manage to get here.

Now I just need to find a space for them...cue clever Mr Mike's suggestion to just get rid of some of my "stuff" to make room for them. I think NOT!

 A gold crest motif, which now sits perfectly on the front of our fake fireplace.

 This gorgeous 1940's dress is a luxuriously soft cotton summer dress....but there's no way I can possibly hold on until then. Besides, blue and cream works with brown right? I'm thinking brown What Katie Did seamed stockings, a brown cardigan and a fur collar. That's wintery.

Phew! What a fab bunch of present buyers I know, eh? As you can imagine, I was all smiles.

Pip pip x

A little trip homewards...

For those of you who read my ramblings on this blog, I'm sure you have noticed that there's nothing more I like than to take a trip back to Norfolk to visit my family. That is except from taking a trip home to rummage for pretty things with my family.

So when I got the opportunity to pop home for the weekend last month I simply leapt at the chance!

 Lucky for me, it coincided with the wonderful summery weather which was perfect for a bit of vintage hunting and a garden party to celebrate my Mumma's birthday.

When I arrived home I was greeted by some rather brilliant presents from both sets of parents...

 

I spent the Saturday on a hunt for exciting things with my Dad and Step-Mum, visiting the Loose's fleamarket, charity shops, and an antiques shop. I came home with a few delightful treats:

 

Communist China (apparently) era waste paper basket - £3.50, Yellow 1960's handbag - £12,

1940's sunglasses - £5, jewelled clip on earrings - £1.50.

In the evening I travelled over to my Mum's to celebrate her birthday with a garden party. They have a pretty enchanting garden (vegetable patch, shepherds hut, fire pit, trampoline, climbing frame, wendy house, potting shed) which made the perfect setting for the festivities.

Cue a few drunken people tripping over guy ropes to the tipi; children running wild; an incident with some children, a purple drink, my 1940's dress and resulting in a very soggy me; and some very sore heads in the morning...not mine, you understand! I was keeping myself in a good state so I could fully enjoy the carboot on Sunday morning!

Speaking of which, due to the glorious weather we were enjoying, was out in force. I bought some things for the flat (pewter swan, 1950's magazine wall racks, eggcup, knitting bag....) and a couple of items of clothing (1960's cardigan and a 1940's dress in need of some quite serious tlc) of which I did not get around to taking photos of but I can assure you were all items I truly *NEEDED*...well, as much as anyone can ever need a pewter swan or another knitting bag. These things are surely crucial to my existence, right?!

We were later met by my chap, who drove down to Norwich with a big van to be filled with the backlog of carboot treasures which I never EVER have enough room in my suitcase to get back to London, and some furniture acquired from my parents. What I was expecting to be a few bits and pieces soon turned into a rather crammed van full of belongings! I can tell you that it is very stressful trying to justify to yourself (and your rather minimalist boyfriend) why you need quite so much stuff. I think the prospect of unloading said stuff and carrying it up 3 flights of stairs upon arrival back in London didn't exactly help!

But the main thing is, we did it. Our flat is looking rather cosy and all that stuff o'mine are finding their homes within our little flat!

Did anyone else utilise the lovely weather to get themselves a carboot fix?

Pip pip xx

A trip to see The Artist: what I wore.

On wednesday, me and Mr Mike had a rare day off together, and used it to go and see The Artist in a posh cinema (think sofas, tables, service in your seat) and eat the most delicious cinema snacks (cocktails, honey roasted cashews, and hummus and freshly baked bread).

For those of you who have the opportunity to see this film, and have not: I URGE you to do it. It is absolutely phenomenal.
Honestly, I laughed, and cried...a lot.
I want to see it all over again!

What did I wear for such cinematic luxury? 

  

Faux fur stole: carboot.

Tweed blazer: charity shop, £4.

Felt poppies brooch: carboot, 10p.

  

Dress: Heyday.

I wore my new-to-me tweed blazer teamed with a faux fur stole for warmth....and of course I wore these wonders on my tootsies too. I've wanted a tweed blazer for an absolute age, but have always felt a bit like I'm dressing up in "grown-ups clothes" so I had resisted buying one. Until now. For £4, who could refuse? And I think I am beginning to warm to it! And IN it. (giggle).

I chose to wear my green matt Heyday 'Mary' dress, which I absolutely adore! I simply can't get enough of it. Anyone want to donate me the pennies for another? 

Nope, thought as much.

*looks at empty purse*

Le sigh!

Are any of you going to see The Artist?
You'll all be swooning over the lead, Mr George Valentin!

Pip pip xx

Went out for a Christmas jumper....

...came back with these beauties!

Yellow 50's bathroom scales: charity shop, £4.

I didn't even want any scales for the bathroom. But, I couldn't very well leave them all lonesome in that chazza shop now, could I?

Pip pip xx

Haul of the charity shop kind.

Now, you all know I have a penchant for le charity shops. And I have a particular love for the charity shops of Wymondham, the little town my mumma lives in.

Here are my finds from my most recent visit with my ma!

Firstly some slightly themed buys...

 

This lovely green checked homemade maternity shirt was only £2.50.

Yes, I don't need this...but I can put it away...until me and Mr Mike decide to have our sprogs- that's definitely acceptable, right?

 

This wooden pull-along dog toy is lovely and has little leather ears! He was £1, and my mumma convinced me that I needed to buy him and again keep him (at hers) until we have some sprogs. 

She just wants another baby to fawn over...can you tell?

 

Sewing box, £6.99.

 

This keyring has an 'R' embroidered on it, and a bell.

Noisy and therefore not appropriate for actual key carrying, but obviously meant to be. 

20p.

 

A yellow plastic-coated wire plate holder...will be perfect for my new kitchen!*

50p.

*We are moving to a bigger flat in september, where I am going to have a sewing room! 

I can't quite believe it!

Though it does mean you may be hearing less and less of me for the coming months (or at least get shorter bloggins) while we pack/clearout/paint/move/get internet installed etc etc. Plus I am working two jobs, and  doing some freelance dressmaking on top of that. I feel exhausted just thinking about it!

So if you're wondering where I've popped off to for such long periods of time- that'll be me running around like a headless chicken wearing clothes covered in paint! Tee hee.

Have you bought any great bargains of late?

Pip pip xx

Family, charity shops and bowling...

Hello all!

How the devil are you? This weekend has been very busy...and lovely! My mumma and little sister came to stay with me last night. They are having a big London adventure as it's half term for my sister.

Yesterday I met them off their train at Kings Cross, we popped back and dropped their stuff off at mine, then we went off up the road to crouch end. My mumma used to live here when she moved to London from Edinburgh when she was younger. Thing is, we didn't get very far, due to the distraction of good charity shops (you can see where I get it from). We bought some lovely things though!
Then after the shops closed, we met up with some family friends and went for a most delicious dinner! Fettucine with ham and asparagus in a garlic and olive oil sauce, topped with parmesan cheese. YUM.

 

You can't see that well in this picture but my sister and mum asked me to do victory rolls in their hair for the day, so here is my little land girl sister in her mum-made knitted coat.

This morning me, mum and my sister started the day with a healthy breakfast in bed of sweets, crisps and chocolate, before going out to see another family friend. Then we met up with my aunt and cousin and...we all went bowling!

 

I got this fab old printed cotton dress from the charity shop yesterday...my mum thought I shouldn't buy it. She says it's a 'Dot Cotton' dress, though I fail to see how this is a bad thing! 

I often have Dot Cotton clothes envy.

Dress: charity shop, £6.

 

Bowling shoes!

Aren't these record cases fab? I already owned the small 7" one (my Dad bought it for me from a carboot a couple of years ago, and today when we visited one of our family friends she dug out this bigger 12" version for me that she has had in her house....they are the exact same! So pleased!

She also gave me these crying kewpie baby salt & pepper shakers. Slightly odd, but I love them! They are marked 'foreign' so pretty old, though I'm not sure exactly how old. What do you ladies think about kewpies? I simply love them and their pointy heads and cute individual characters.

 

Oh poor bubbas!

Pip pip! xx