Beating the winter blues...

... with turquoise and green...


... purple...


... orange and mustard...


... and more orange!

I love digging out all my chunky knits, cords, warm tights, woolly scarves and favourite coat at this time of year... they make the cold, wet English autumn & winter totally worth it.

The high street might be a bit depressingly early 90s grey-and-beige at the moment, but my winter wardrobe is bursting with colour :)

Mending and Alterations

Ah, mending! I'd never throw things away just because they lost a button or ripped a seam but my goodness mending things is dull. It's right up there with ironing on my "loathed domestic chores" list and despite sewing things for a living the mending pile is often neglected for months.

So I'm feeling very virtuous this week for getting a top darned, a rip in a cardigan mended and two pairs of too-long trousers hemmed. Hurrah!


I'm also thinking about tackling another "make do and mend" project, altering another vintage dress that's been lurking unworn in my wardrobe for years.


I love this dress - the florals! the multicoloured buttons! the ric rac trim! - but I never wear it because the sleeves are just too huge. They start out as a sensible width and balloon out to these big flappy things that while being deliciously retro are completely impractical for anything other than a fancy dress party.


I'd love to be able to wear this dress all through the autumn, with bright tights and cardigans but to do that I need to alter the sleeve to make them more wearable (and to make them fit under my cardigan sleeves!) ... making them narrower and maybe adding a cuff? I predict much googling of sewing tutorials in my future!

Finished: Summer Skirt

My skirt made from a lovely but ill-fitting & damaged vintage dress is now finished!


I hand stitched it while watching an episode of Miss Marple and a cheesy afternoon movie, and though there were a few fiddly bits it was surprisingly easy.

I removed the long, broken zip and replaced it with a six inch one bought from the local market for about £1.30...


... and after chopping off the top of the dress, I folded the excess fabric over twice to make a new waistband. This was a bit tricky as the dress was darted from the waist but I got there in the end!


My dressmaking skills are by no means perfect but I'm really pleased with how it turned out and very proud of myself for attempting it in the first place.

After and Before

My adventure with fabric dye turned out great... I've got a black skirt again!


(I probably should have ironed it before taking a photo though. Never mind)

This weekend I'm tackling another make-do-and-mend project, giving this old vintage dress a new life:


Yes, I know it's gorgeous - that print is just so stunning, and it's just as lovely and floaty as it looks - but it really doesn't fit me properly so I've hardly worn it, it's a bit "aged" under the arms (eww) so it always had to be worn with a sweater on top anyway, and it's been languishing in my mending pile ever since the zip broke last year.

So this weekend it's being turned into a "new" skirt, just in time for summer. Pics tomorrow!

Dye Job

Things are almost back to normal here - all last week's parcels have been posted with the help of my boyfriend (what a star) and all my shops have been re-opened (yay!).

Today I'm tackling some things which were on last week's to do list, including the next task on my make do and mend pile: re-dyeing an old and much-worn skirt.


Many many years ago this skirt used to be black but it's not any more! Hopefully with the addition of a nice bit of fabric dye purchased last week it'll be restored to its former glory and I'll look marginally less scruffy into the bargain.

Spring Cleaning

We have been spring cleaning a little, spending my time moving books about the place (new shelves! hurrah!), cleaning stuff (man, our bathtub was getting sooo mucky) and trying to have a bit of a clear-out (cos we have too much stuff). So I've not managed to devote much time to quietly sitting down & making stuff.

I have started a new project of sorts. I emptied my wardrobe the other day, in order to put everything back with the summery things more accessible, and was totally horrified by the vast heap of clothes on my floor. I am forever clearing out bits & pieces to take to charity / give to my sisters & friends, and still! this vast heap!

So - bar a few things I know I wear almost every week - I've not hung anything back in my wardrobe but have instead stacked everything in a big pile on the wardrobe's floor and am only going to take things out & give them hanging space when I actually wear them. I'm doing the same with all my baubles. I am also toying with the idea of joining the wardrobe refashion challenge, or at least sticking to its principles... but for the moment it will be interesting to just do this, to see how much of my stuff I actually need & use and how much of it is just unneccesary.

Big heap of clothes (and this is not even including the ones stuck in my leaning-tower-of-Pisa ironing pile...) in the bottom of my wardrobe:
Deliciously empty hangers:
The few cherry-picked basics & over-worn faves that are my current "capsule" wardrobe: