Little bit of sewing…

Using some of my stash of vintage fabric and a vintage dressmaking pattern.

Thank you, British Heart Foundation...

...and whichever old Mod dropped this crisp and perfect beauty into their donations bag.

Festical of Britain exhibiton, South Bank, London

On the trail of couture

A few weeks ago I was extremely fortunate enough to happen upon a 1960s Courréges dress at one of my regular second-hand haunts. I snapped it up without even trying it on and when I got it home I couldn't believe that it fit me like a dream.

Apart from a prized piece of vintage Pucci and a Quorum dress that was only briefly mine, I have not owned many "high end" labels in a lifetime of collecting vintage and second-hand clothes.

So I've been looking into this one, trying to date the dress. I stumbled upon something similar from 1965 on a 20th century collectibles auction website and that, along with the fact that the label has a serial number stamped on it, makes me suspect that my humble market dress may actually be a piece of French couture.


The next step is to share my find with the expert members of a vintage forum and we'll see where to go from there.

Why walk when you could run?

I think it's fair to say that the phrase "running before you can walk" was invented for me. After re-upholstering two vintage stools (requiring only common sense and a staple gun in the way of technical expertise) I decided to re-upholster a chair I found in the street.

Having stripped the grotty specimen of its previous covering using only a pair of tile nibblers (any upholsterers reading may have to go for a lie down in a dark room at this point), I discovered not foam underneath wool, horsehair, burlap and springs.

Ah, so we have jumped froward from novice to advanced in one go here, but I am a tenacious sort and it takes more than that to put me off.

Three excellent YouTube videos and a roll of wadding later, I was well on the way to a new chair. (And, so enthused with the project that I never even found the time to change from my vintage 1960s green paisley dress and glass necklaces into more "suitable" clothes.)

I used a single 1950s curtain I'd been saving for something special for a long time to cover the chair, I adore this fabric and I've never seen any print quite like it.

I'm thinking of getting a tattoo of the word "Crafts" over a pair of scissors and a staple gun rampant. Home brew or macramé next, do you think?

Put the kettle on

It may be over a month since I last posted here but I have been busy working, organising May's Artists' Open House (more on that nearer the time) and – most importantly – making things.

Thwarted in my desire to collect the real thing by a lack of anywhere to store any more teapots than I can actually use, I've started a tea- and coffee-pot series based on mid-century modern design classics.

Here are one old (Poole) and two new ones (Midwinter Sienna Marquis and Zambesi).

Frock and jacket

Ah, The Frock and Jacket - anyone remember the coolest bar in Brighton before it became a branch of Cafe Rouge? Those were the days! I worked double shifts at Food For Friends to pay the fees for my masters degree, kept a tiny sketchbook hidden in the folds of my work apron and tottered around on cork-soled platforms looking like a drag queen with my big, big hair....

So, to bring us back to 2010, here's a frock and here's a jacket. Oh, hang - on this only brings us to about 1963. I think my time machine is broken - I'm still going backwards.

Every Girl Needs a Staple Gun

My first upholstery project. I will definitely be doing more of this; Julie is right: every girl needs a staple gun.