Millinery Essentials Course – Days 6 & 7

This is the downhill slope towards the end of the course.  Where the mad dash to the finish line takes place.  My poor hat has lain in pieces for weeks now, as we’ve been tweaking and playing with a medium that no one else in the class is using.  Tonight it finally started to really come together.

Summer ‘Do

My hair has three ’states of style’.

  1. A la Naturale (which means quite curly)
  2. Blow dried
  3. Pin curled/Vintage

So when I get my hair cut it has to look good all three ways.  Thankfully I have a hair dresser who understands both my hair, and my styling needs.  I try to stick to one of these, for the vintage styling purposes.

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These are the basic shapes of hair cuts through the 1920’s to the 1950’s.  I do tend to modify little bits, as I don’t (yet) set my hair every day, and it needs to be flexible (as per my list above).  So I’ve gone for a “Baby” cut length around the base, but have left the top of my hair about 6″ long. It’s roughly the shape that Nicole Kidman had in “The Others”.   This allows me to wear it ‘natural’ or when I style my hair I can do some barrel curls on top, but still keeps it off my neck and away from my face through the hot months.

I haven’t taken any pictures yet, as it’s been a madhouse between the Boy, the Mister and Spring Cleaning.

Beanie Thingy for my Spinny Thingy

I love my Spindolyn.  She is beautiful!  But sometimes can be awkward to use as holding things between my knees for extended periods of time can get painful at the moment.  Thankfully the lovely CadyMay (the genius behind the Spindolyn) has created a great little bean bag tube/donut thingy to help keep the base stable and still remain ladylike in a dress.

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It’s a great little knit, and holds the base so nicely.  I filled mine with a rice filled knee-high and it sits great!

I’ve used yarn that was leftover from my shawl, and I still have some left, it really doesn’t take much at all.

I haven’t actually used it yet, but I will report back once I have.

Spinners Lap Mat (Great Tutorial)

The “Mad Quilter” has made a great tutorial for a Spinners Lap Mat!

Made with Oilcloth, webbing and binding, it has pockets for fibre, tools and what not.  Simple yet effective.

Head on over to her blog and get sewing!

Dress Me for the Holiday Season!

I ususally like to have a new ‘all rounder’ dress/outfit for the holiday season.  As it’s summer here, I obviously need something cool.  I also like to wear what I have, which means it will be worn over and over again, so needs to be a little versatile.

v8577 This is the dress pattern.  I’ll be going for the view with the short sleeves and collar. It’s Vogue Patterns 8577.

I figure this is a dress that can be worn with heels or flats, by itself or with a wrap, and accessorised with a simple pendant or pearls.

material I have some fabric in my stash that I think will be perfect for this dress, I have just enough for it, I think.  Just need to grab some plain poplin/polypop for lining.  The motifs are about 3″ across, and the background is a lovely cream/off white colour, it’s 152cm wide and I have 4m of it.  So it should be enough, given that I usually have to shorten things anyway.

It’s Not Much …

I think little victories help when you think that you’re not suceeding in what you’re attempting to achieve.

I’ve had a rough couple of days here, nothing major, just those days where the universe (and your 3yo) think that you need a challenging day.. or three.

But I stepped on the scales this morning, and found that I have lost 2.6 kilos some time in the past month-ish.  This might not seem like much, but every time I try to exercise, I end up getting a cold or something that knocks me around.  I had certainly not expected to have lost any weight recently.  But there it is!

So I feel a little good, despite having a couple of bad days. Yay!

Millinery Essentials Course – Day 5

Not too much to report, it’s just plodding along with the making of things.

I got my brim off it’s block, only to find out that it was 1.25″ too small.  So I spent the next half hour manipulating the crown section of the brim to expand it, and in the process trying very hard not to screw up all my hard previous blocking work.  I think I did ok, but will find out next week when I start actually assembling my hat.

The fascinator is looking good, slowly coming together, and over this week I’ll be really starting to get it together, and I should have some pictures next week.

I’m Not a Rocket

So I won’t be going from Frumpy to Fabulous in less than 60 seconds. In fact, I see this being a very long and slow transformation.

I have to start slowly, I can’t overwhelm myself with ‘mandatory changes’ or I’ll just get freaked out and won’t continue on. Baby steps are definitely the key.

My first baby step has been to make sure that every time I go out, that my hair is done and my face made up. I’m also making more of an effort to wear some of my nice shoes, rather than resorting to my Crocs all the time.

I’m hoping to be able to make myself a new dress for Christmas, I really don’t have much summer stuff in my wardrobe at the moment and it will be nice to have something new to wear.

I’m on the countdown to my hair cut, and have decided not to touch the colour just yet. I think the shorter hair by itself will be a whole new look. And quite frankly, I don’t want to freak my son out too much all at once.

Grey Gardens

I just have this to say.. ZOMGWOW!  I have finished my first shawl and I am in L-O-V-E with it.

I have yarn left over, but not much.  I can’t wait until it gets cool again now!

On Your Marks…

It’s hard to move forward without some kind of starting point… I need to change some things, but too much at once will get overwhelming for me.

Things that are going to be the easiest to start with.

Hair – I’m going in a whole new direction with my hair.  A few months ago I was seriously considering staying a la naturale and growing it obscenely long.  But I realised, that’s really not who I am.  Going grey doesn’t bother me at all, but I like the option of being a different colour when the mood strikes.  And really long is nice if one has no intention of styling in vintage hair do’s… but I do.  So I’m going for a cut that is going to be very easy to style and to take care of.  I will take before and after shots when the time comes (appointment is later this month).  It will be versatile for up and down, casual and dressy, styled or a la naturale (I have curly hair).

Clothes – I do not love my current wardrobe.  Not just because of the size, but I have compromised the styles I enjoy wearing for whatever fits.  To combat this I’ve compiled a list of patterns that I want to buy across all of the main brands.  As they come on sale, I’m buying them slowly.  I have a stash of fabric, some of which is earmarked for special vintage patterns that I already have, once I’ve lost some of the weight I have put on over the last decade. So it will mean more fabric shopping (which I love, so that’s ok), but it also means a lot of alterations on patterns, which I don’t mind at all, because the final fit is always much better.  My biggest hurdle is sewing clothes for my current size, which I have to get over if I want to have clothes to wear now that I love.

Exercise – While heading into summer is the wrong season to start thinking about walking and getting outside (for fear of melting into a puddle), I have new joggers and some great walking routes in my area, so I’m going to get out there and pound the pavement.

So those are the three things that I can do now.