Stitch by Stitch

Hello there!

It's a bit cold really for tapping out a blog post. Need to be doing something active, my fingers and toes are freezing! I'll have to learn to knit socks. 

Which brings me neatly onto my topic for today. 

See what I did there....!

We've been starting to clear our garage over this last week. Some sad finds. Ruined fifties petticoats and a handmade dress. Apparently there's mice in there! 

There's still some suitcases of clothes to go through, but Eric's gran was tiny. So I have no hope except for accessories! 

One thing there was an abundance of though was magazines. Including these Stitch by Stitch ones from the 80s. 

They're a little dated, but there's a lot of handy how to's and little projects like the one above that make them worth keeping. 

So without rambling on too much more, here's a few of my favourite pages! 

Free skirt pattern. Uncut. Casual and comfy I think! 

Sweet summer dress fitted with shirring around the bodice. 

 

Suffolk Puff quilt. Not just for prams. Great for using up scraps of fabric! 

Velvet winter dress. With a few tweaks could look very 40s! Slightly less poof to the shoulders maybe! 

Simple nightdress pattern. With tap pant style shorts as well. I'm thinking more undergarments than night wear! 

Trench coat. Basic but smart! 

Crocheted daisies. Why not. 

A lovely little find to cheer up the monotony of clearing!

Jo. 

P.S. do you have any go to guides you love? Cheap pattern sources? 

A Cape for Christmas

I know. I said the C word. I've just spent an hour at a Christmas Market at the Tiptree Jam Factory with my at some point to be sister-in-law. There was Christmas music. It's got me feeling all sparkly!! 

Mulled wine, roast chestnuts, hot chocolate and mince pies. Fake snow and fancy decorations. It was a good evening, but not the best thing that happened today. 

I give you, my charity shop cape!

It's pretty awesome. Zipped openings for your arms. Cute collar. Smart navy. Good, warm winter length. 

But wait!!

What's this?!

It's only bloody reversible! Look at that face. Imagine my excitement when I discovered this Amazingness! 

Bird Jo. Apparently it looks like a wing man suit. Meh. 

See how happy I am?

There's more! Whilst ringing my mum to tell her all about the amazing cape (we all do this right?!) I looked for a label. 

The reversible bit of the coat explains why neither I or the charity shop folk could find one.  

So I fiddled about between layers.

It's only Burberry! A Burberry cape for £12.99. That's reversible. 

Yes please. Don't mind if I do! 

So sorry for the bad phone quality photos, but I'm far too excited to wait for proper ones! 

Here's a picture of me looking all excited again. Just in case you forget. 

Cheers!

Jo. 

P.S. what's your best bargain from a charity shop? This beats my previous hands down!! 

October Instagram Round Up

Top five of my most liked photos from October. 

Yes I managed to miss September completely. I will try harder. Many exciting things are occurring here at the moment but they are taking time! :-S please bear with me! 

So with no further ado:

Red hair with a cherry print bow! All dolled up for my dad's big birthday! It was a great night and we managed to get 70 candles on a cake. It was a raging inferno and the chocolate may have melted!!

 

My first attempt at inserting a sleeve, but with no pattern. My sewing skills seem ok. Pattern making skills, not so much! 

My beautiful blue lace circle skirt. I am pretty proud of this one! Two layers and the lace looks amazing. It didn't even take that long to make! 

For bored and wrote some stuff on a picture! When the finished table is back in my sticky mitts I will post another picture as this is only halfway through! Finished it's like a mirror! Seriously, you can read stuff in that surface! 

And last but not least, no make up and no filter selfie! After having had some issues with attempting to dye my hair blonde, I've gone back to fairly near my natural brunette. Which is sort of fading to a reddish colour as we go on. Darn red hair dye! Should definitely have gone blonde first. It's my plan after the red grows out now! 

That's all for now :-) catch you all again soon and thank you for reading!

Jo

P.S. what was your favourite thing last month? 

Of a Vintage Air's 1st Birthday!

So. One year. This will be my 32nd post. Which I consider somewhat of a failure as it's not even one a week! 

Celebrating??

Two big gaps in posting have helped attribute to that I think! It's been better the last month or so. I've tried to be more scheduled with my posting. I have four things to write about every month, and then anything interesting I might do gets tucked in between!

I think my favourite posts have been the sewing ones. It makes me quite proud to think that I've actually made something. Especially something wearable and washable! (My skirts have braved the washing machine and come out unscathed!) 

Blogging aims for the next year?

> More frequent posting. 

> More sewing/crafty projects. 

> Book reviews and research into the wartime years. 

> Airplanes!! They definitely haven't made enough of a dent in this blog yet and they're actually a huge part of my life! 

So happy birthday to the blog, and I hope to hear more from the few of you who read next year! 

Jo :-) 

Outfit Post: Autumn Days

So Autumn seems to have turned up! I'm really rather chilly today. Jumpers at the ready I think! 

This is one of my standard, easy go to outfits for this time of year. 

The trousers are a lovely wide legged, wool blend in a deep aubergine colour. They were from a sale in New Look and are very toasty!  

It's warm enough with the sleeves for cooler days and not too bulky to chuck a thicker jumper on over the top if needed. 

I love the top. The colour is such a pretty blue and the pleating detail around the neckline is a really feminine touch on an otherwise standard top. 

It's from a Next outlet and the only bad thing is that I always find their tops a tad on the short side for tucking in. 

Pockets! Pockets are awesome. 

So that's it. Simples. Classic trousers and top combo. If I'd actually had time to do my hair it might even have looked a bit more vintage! Although I have been told that when worn with my flying jacket, I look like I'm off to fix a B17! 

Outfit details:

Pearl headband: gift. 

Top: Next Outlook £3

Trousers: New Look £5 (belt included)

Ankle Boots: New Look £15

I'll be back in a couple of days with a holiday photo post! 

Jo :-) 

P.S. what's your go to outfit as it starts to cool down? 

August Instagram Round Up

Well, this post was all ready to go just before I left for Germany. Planned posting on the 6th. And then there was no wifi. :-(

So here it is. Only a couple of weeks late!! 

Ooh a new month and a new Instagram round up! If you fancy seeing some more from me, my Instagram and twitter are both @ofavintageair 

Top five photos by the number of likes! :-) 

5) beautiful 50s beaded handbag. A birthday present from my fiancé's mother :-) I love it! But am so worried about damaging it on an evening out! 

4) Red gingham skirt outfit for a blog post! I love this skirt! It went down so well at the jazz club and is perfect for dancing in!

3) starting to sew up the gingham skirt of my 1940s singer sewing machine. Taken just before the "threading the needle the wrong way" failure!

2) my beautiful spitfire jewellery from one of my very best friends for my birthday! The box says from Hoarders World if anyone's interested in buying some! 

1) and people's favourite this month seems to be sparkly grey nails and my beautiful engagement ring. Can't say I blame them to be honest! Just need to get some of that nail polish for my own now! 

Well. That's your lot folks! I like doing the Instagram round ups. It's nice to look back over what you've been up to for the last month. Sort of like a photo diary! 

Jo :-) 

P.S. are you on Instagram and should I be following you? What were you up to in August?

How I did 20s make up

So the other week I went to the Colchester Jazz Club's Summer Party. It was wonderful fun, made all the better by my Eric joining us for a change! 

Due to a bit of idiocy on my part I couldn't sew up my red gingham circle skirt and go as a picnic blanket as I'd intended! 

Cue crazy dashing round shops looking for something twenties inspired to wear instead. Dress finally found I realised I should really do some make up to go with it! 

Now, make up has never been a hugely strong point for me, but I'm getting a lot better! 

I still think these photos look better in black and white! 

I went for a fairly heavy "film star" type look, but dispensed with any heavy foundation due to the amount of dancing that would be happening! Didn't think everything sliding off my face would be a particularly good look! 

So, if you're not going to be doing anything too strenuous, start here!

1) pale foundation. You're looking for doll like skin, looking flat and flawless for those 1920s cameras! 

Again, if you're not sweating too much, you could try covering your eyebrows and re drawing them completely, but I personally feel like I wouldn't be comfortable wearing such a stylised look out! I'm not the brave! I just used a brown liner to accentuate my own eyebrows a bit!

2) I swept a pale pink across my eyelids, right up to the eyebrow. 

3) then used a charcoal colour (that had a teeny bit of sparkle to it) and swept that across my eyelid, into the crease, and nearly up to the insides of my eyebrows. 

4) then I used my black and white smudge stick. The black I smudged on the outside of my eyelash line. All along the top of my lid and just underneath and on the outside of my lower lid. The white I used on the inside of my lashes on the lower lid. 

5) for a bit of extra definition I used a black kohl liner on my top lid and took it out to the side in a gentle flick. 

6) pile on the mascara! I did the lower lashes as well, just not quite as heavily!

7) tidy up under your eyes, maybe a sweep of pale powder. I didn't bother with blush (dancing makes me red enough!) but I think it helps with the doll like look. 

8) I used a deeper than normal lip liner. Really accentuate the Cupid's bow and don't make your lips as wide as normal either. Blot the edges with foundation. 

Ta dah! 20s style inspired make up! 

I wouldn't wear this day to day! But I quite like the smoky eyes toned down a tad for an evening look. Although everyone I asked said they liked the look even if it was heavy, that it was just a bit different! 

Which was nice of them :-) 

Jo :-)

P.S. do you have a make up go to? Like trying new styles?