Antique Wedding List

I love and despair about Sheffield Antiques, love because it is a cavern of joy and delight and despair because it's in Sheffield (which is a long way from my house)!

 

If you know some one who is getting married I can't advise you more strongly then to take the trip up there as you will find 101 original wedding gift ideas. They have such a huge range of vintage and antique goodies of every shape and kind that if you don't come away with more than you intended to get i'll eat my new 70's, turquoise, leather jacket that I accidentally bought on this visit.

For them;

cute and kitsch

I would get married again just to receive this!

Babycham Deer

Another idea is maybe finding your thank you gifts for your bridesmaids here, they have such a huge selection of vintage jewellery and accessories;

You never know, you may also find a little something to make your own wedding day that little bit more unique;

1920's veil and tiara

If you don't live in Sheffield it may feel like a long way to go but it really is so worth it, you really can spend the day there - they also have a lovely little cafe on the top floor which is never a bad thing.
And don't forget the surrounding area, we spent the afternoon at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (i'll post about that soon) which was beyond fantastic.

Portishead Lido

This weekend we took an inpromptu trip to the thoroughly British Portishead Lido. Built in 1962  (http://www.portisheadopenairpool.org.uk/history.php) it is the perfect place to spend a hot English summers day. The water was warm, the sun was hot and the colours (thanks to Ty Pennington) made everything feel totally summery.

The diving board is my favourite kind of vintage building - one piece concrete, all smooth lines and clever engineering;

 

 I also love the way they have mixed very classic "British Country Garden" with potted lavendar and hanging baskets with the "Tropical Beach" colour scheme and feathery umbrellas. It sounds like it shouldn't work but to my mind it epitomises the whole experience;

 And the final piece of the puzzle, that made it a completely English holiday experience has to be all the towels in a row;

Perfect.

M Shed

For those of you that live in Bristol, you may know that last weekend saw the opening of a new museum -The M Shed- showcasing some of the cities history. We were lucky enough to be invited to the opening and in amongst the old double decker bus, hot air balloons and musical memorabilia (I still have a bee in my bonnet that Roni Size wasn't mentioned once!)  there was the sweetest Victorian wedding dress;

Victorian Wedding Dress

There was also some "Jazz" under skirts which I loved and may well have to recreate ;

And finally, in relation to vintage clothes, a mod homage to the 60's with possibly the best moped jumper in I've ever seen!

Knitted Moped Jumper

We had a really nostalgic morning, if you're ever on the water front I recommend popping in. You'll also get to see this fab mural that me and my son loved, I mean who wouldn't love a Dinosaur made of the city they live in!;

How to put a dart back into a pattern

Now I know this weeks post is not for everyone but I wanted to show haw easy it was to put a dart back into a pattern if you're trying to copy a garment you've already got that has them in.
The top that i'm currently working on for a client is one she loves so much that she wants it made in different fabrics (and I will post pics once it's finished). Once I have the pattern I can make it for her again and again, so it makes sense to do the pattern properly.

Stage one is very simple - draw around the seams and edges of your garment as closely as possible making sure you mark on where the darts start and finish. Then look at the inside and measure how wide the dart needs to be;

Fold in half and redraw making any uneven edges even and levelling lines up to match (You need to keep hold of this pattern for a bit later on);

This is how to add the dart: Draw the dart line in that you have copied from your existing pattern. Then draw a line from the end of that dart up into the neck line (or any other edge that you wish depending on how confident you are feeling);

Cut along the original dart line and then fold along the new line you have made, opening the dart up to the width it needs to be (mine is 4 cm);

Your dart is now back in your pattern but the neck line has changed.
What you need to do is redraw the bottom half of the pattern from the under arm down and the neck line down including your new dart. Then place your original pattern on top matching up the under arm and neck point and draw on the original neckline and shoulder;

 

This is your final pattern piece;

 

 To summarise;
1. Draw around the top you want to make, measuring the width of the dart.
2. Fold it in half and redraw it marking on your dart line and a line to open up your dart.
3. Open up the dart by folding into the neck.
4. Redraw the bottom of the pattern with the dart in using the original pattern to redraw the neck line.
5. Finished

 

I really hope I haven't made this sound too complicated (all feedback welcome!).
xkt