It's a Start!

Hello everyone!

Long time, no see. Another year has passed without any blog posts. Shame on me. I will try to do better. Anyway, must start again somewhere and that somewhere is a quick look at some of the things I bought at Vapriikki Vintage 2016. I know, I know, it was two months ago, but like I said, I have to start somewhere.

First of all, jewellery:

Top left are a couple of plastic brooches and a metal sweater guard in the shape of two hats. All of these were actually given to me by a friend. I'm especially pleased with the pink flamingo! Top right is an absolutely insanely huge cocktail ring bought from the lovely Leena at Vintage Garden. The  four lower pairs of earrings in the lower right picture I also bought from Leena. The top ones I bought from a friend. I have a wedding coming up this spring and I was thinking of wearing the cocktail ring and the aurora borealis earrings as they sort of match. I also have a brooch with pink AB stones, so I can really pile on the bling!

All of the wooden jewellery in the lower right picture are from one seller. The jewellery is Aarikka-inspired and was made by Ibero. There are two brooches, two pairs of huge dangly earrings and a rather unusual double necklace; I have no idea what to wear it with apart from the fail-safe all black outfit.

Then I bought these two darling dresses:

The first one is fluffy nylon and is home-made and from the mid-50s, I'd say. The second one is cotton and by Kaisu Heikkilä, early 60s. It seems practically unworn. And look at those colours! 

Now, you may ask "why are there no outfit photos with these two dresses?" and I'll tell you why: they don't fit (yet). Yes, I have been piling on the pounds this last year thanks to the eh fatso -diet, rich in chocolate and fatty carbs. Normally, I never buy dresses I can't fit into, but I keep telling myself these dresses will fit me once I shed this fat suit I'm currently still wearing. I hope. Fingers crossed.

I did manage to take one outfit photo on day two of Vapriikki Vintage (silly me forgot to take one on the first day, oops).

Corduroy dress - late 50s vintage

Black pumps - late 40s vintage

Not dead

So, it's been exactly one year since my last post and as you can see, I'm not dead. Some of this blogs followers have already discovered me on Instagram, I'm chuffed to see. Anyway, you might be wondering what I have been up to for a year that has had me so busy that I haven't had time or energy to write new blog posts. Well, here's the story in the form of captioned pictures. Enjoy!

In spring 2014, I had my first solo article published in Golden Vintage magazine. It was about Finel vintage enamel.

During the summer I wrote and had published my second article, this time it was about a friends vintage handbag collection.

At the beginning of July was Suvi-Vintage, where I once again took to the stage in the Fintage vintage fashion show, this time in early 60s styling, dress and accessories.

Pic by Atelieri O. Haapala. 

 In late summer I had my first pinup-style photo shoot with Pin-Up Helsinki. Here is a quick snap of my derriere the brilliant photographer Jirina Alanko took on my mobile. Styling by Fiona Timantti.

In early autumn I was given the opportunity to take part in the making of a short film called The Shadow Seamstress. It was directed by Nick Gillespie and will shortly have it's international premiere! This is a pic of me in costume (and possibly in character), taken before filming.

The Maid: Spitting in your tea since 1919.

 

Happy Mother's Day!

 This morning I was greeted by a cup of sweet coffee and chocolate bisquits in bed and wonderfull presents from Junior, Peanut and Hubby. I also got a beautiful potted rose, that I'm going to plant in our garden later this spring. This promises to be a simply lovely Mother's Day!

The boys and Hubby bought me Burberry Brit Rhythm. The cup is vintage 50's, bought from London a year ago.

Cup of coffee #2 in rollers and vintage 60's dressing gown

Tiny, hot pink roses

My Fabulous Pink Kitchen

A little while back I finally got around to doing something I had been planning for ages: paint the kitchen cupboards pink. And didn't it turn out fantastic! I have been thinking of having a vintage-inspired pink tea party...

The original plan was to paint the entire cupboard door pink, but that would have meant taking them of the cabinets and taking them to the garage and then painting first one side and after it had dries the other and it became an overwhelming and very daunting task. But then I thought, hey, why not just paint the middle bit. And so I did.

This is how it looked before.

The doors are made of painted MDF and therefore didn't need to be sanded or primed in any particular way. I just gave them a thorough wipe down using a rag and a surface washing liquid specifically designed for the job.

I also took the opportunity to completely get rid of the door above the stove so that the spice shelves could be used for display. I also lined the shelves with leftovers from the Pihlgren & Ritola wallpaper from the opposite wall. It's called "Kihlaruusu", BTW.

I also put up some valances I sewed from Marimekko's "Kippis"-fabric. It has a lovely mid-century feel, even though it was designed by Maria Louekari in 2008.

Marimekko has been creeping in to my decorating schemes more often now that my taste has slightly moved away from the mid-fifties and gone towards the later fifties/early sixties and mid-century modern. I find that the simpler patterns and bolder colours suit my taste better.

Knit one, purl two, knit...wait...What??

A couple of weeks ago I started my first real knitting project. Yup, that's right, the first. I had learnt to knit at school when I was around ten, but it never really "caught on". I mean, I did knit the obligatory scarf and dolly blanket back then, but as far as I was concerned, knitting wasn't something I did. I would drool over vintage knitting patterns and items made with vintage patterns, but that was it. It always seemed like too much faff to even begin a project.

But when I was looking at vintage patterns a while back, I suddenly realised "Hey, I could do that. How hard can it be?" Bahahaaa. No but seriously, it's not hard. There are only a limited number of things you can do with a knitting needle and yarn and they can all be learnt.

Easy peasy...

With me it was always a lack of motivation that stopped me from beginning. I wanted to knit something I'd actually use, like a cute vintage cardi. This meant I'd look at patterns calling for a thin cotton yarn and teeny-tiny needles. Sometimes, I'd even get as far as casting on and knitting a few rows. But then...couldn't ...quite...get...further. And stopped. I know quite a few knitters and it always bugged me that I wasn't one of them. It was like a club I wanted to join, but couldn't quite muster up the inspiration to fill out the application form, if you get my meaning.

The beginning of a.....err...Nope, can't remember.

Luckily, like I mentioned, I know knitters and they guided me towards a suitable pattern. And I found one on Subversive Femme's blog: The Target 'Quick-To-Knit' Cardigan from the 50's. The size is right (no alterations to width needed), the yarn and needles are a reasonable size ( which means I'll make quick progress despite my slow knitting speed), it has some flourishes (which will be a nice challenge) and it's QUICK-TO-KNIT. Perfect!

So this is what I've been doing with some of my free time. Only change I'm making is that mine will be shorter so that it will go nicely with full skirts as well. I've already finished the back and am currently knitting the left front. Look, I even did popcorn! The whole popcorn-border-bit took some figuring out to begin with but it looks so cool that it was definitely worth it. Anyway, I'll show you how it turns out once I'm finished.

Popcorn!

Lorelei

So  a week ago spring had taken a few steps back, although it looked like it had already come for a moment. Nope, winter wasn't ready to loosen its grip. So more snow, icy wind and freezing temperatures it was. On the upside, the boys had a ball playing in the snow, of which there has been very little during the winter. And I was able to wear one of my favourite dresses at least one more time before putting it away for the summer.

Icy wind. Nice.

The dress is Lorelei by Cherise (seamstress, designer and all-around great gal), who, by the way, has her own adorable blog Vintage Follies. The dress was part of her A/W 2012 collection. It has it all: full hem, nipped waist and Peter Pan collar. It's made from a lovely medium thickness cotton-rayon blend textured fabric, which is just perfect for fall and winter. To finish off, there are four black cut-glass buttons. I mean, what more could you ask for?

I wore it with my trusty black beret, black leather gloves and a pair of vintage Clark's ankle boots. Now, as it was rather cold, I naturally wore a jacket over it, but I don't have a picture of that, for some reason...

What I did on my Holidays

A few days after the buffalo we, that is to say Hubby, Junior, Peanut and I, went to the nearby "big city" of Tampere and did the touristy thing. The Hubby and I have this tradition of visiting a place in Finland for a day every summer and couldn't at first think of a suitable place. It needed to be close by as Peanut isn't one for long drives. He won't sleep in the car, you see. So Tampere was an easy choice. We started off at Sorsapuisto (duck park) and had lots of fun looking at the different birds on display.

A beautiful balcony photographed from the Erkkilän silta bridge

Then we went to Tammelan tori market and had some sandwiches. After that we continued to the Tampere Cathedral. The cathedral is famous for its frescoes, painted by the symbolist Hugo Simberg between 1905 and 1906. It's absolutely stunning.

The altar

The Garden of Death

Outside the cathedral. I'm wearing a vintage 50's dress bought from a friend and the red bag was a find from Suvi-Vintage.

Then it was over the Tammerkoski rapids via the Patosilta bridge and to Keskustori square for some ice creams. After the ice-creams it was already noon and nap time, so we headed home. All in all a lovely summer day.

Love padlocks on the Patosilta bridge

View from the Patosilta bridge

Performing the "T-Rex song" with Junior on Laikunlava stage

Date Night

Every once in a while, the Hubby and I get a chance to go out just as a couple. Yesterday was one of those times. As usual we decided to have a drink and go see a movie. The drink was apple cider and the movie was Man of Steel 3D. Nothing fancy, but I wanted to get dolled up nonetheless. It was a chance to wear my new sarong dress. I know, I know, I''m not supposed to buy new dresses, but a friend of mine is liquidating her entire collection of 50's dresses and I just had to, OK? This one is a repro she had made herself. I had drooled over this dress when she put a picture of it on Facebook after she had finished it. Luckily (or unluckily) we are the same size, although she is somewhat taller than me.

Isn't the fabric to die for? It's rayon from the 50's or maybe even the 40's. It was sewn using a 1950's pattern my friend has modified. She has, for example, added the elasticated panels on the sides, taking inspiration from Alfred Shaheen dresses.

The earrings are vintage, as is the yellow amber bracelet. The cardigan, red bracelet and shoes are modern.

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Suvi-Vintage 2013

As you may remember from my last post, last weekend was Suvi-Vintage, a two-day vintage fair extravaganza organized by Fintage and Tallipiha. I was there, decked out in my full vintage splendour selling vintage at the Fintage stand and generally spreading an air of vintage glamour wherever I went (la-di-da).

Saturday started off in chaos, as usual. I was running late and and all the hectic running around at home made me sweat and before I knew it, my hair, which was still wound up on hot sticks at this point, was wet. Argh! this meant trying to blow dry it dry before styling it. And have you ever tried putting make up on a sweaty face? Well, don't. Then I had to pack the car: two huge bags of vintage to sell, a bag of hangers, two clothes racks, one shoe rack, one suitcase (I was staying the night at a friends in Tampere) and two boxes of vintage stocking. Then I couldn't find my curling iron (to be used the following morning). Right, so off we went. And turned right back, because I had forgotten my hat, gloves and feather duster (more on that later). Still forgot my gloves. In the car I noticed my stocking had a huge run. Great. Got to Tampere and was promptly told off for arriving late. I helped set up the stand and had a rummage through the boxes of stocking and managed to find one seamed pair in the right size and colour, so crisis averted. Then I noticed I had lost one of the original fifties buttons on the front of my dress (the Hubby later found it in the car). Phew!

Goddammit!

A few deep breaths and a chocolate doughnut later, I was feeling composed again and had a look around at the sellers and of course all the fantastic vintage outfits everyone was wearing.

Vintage sandwich. Between two lovelies, Marianne and Leea.

Hat found at vintage fair in London, vintage 50's dress bought in Facebook group, modern jewellery. Pic by Taru.

I don't really need a new bag...Pic by Taru.

Even more temptations. Pic by Taru.

Fintage stand

Two very stylish Swedes, Karin and Sandra.

Marianne with a very stylish gent.

In the evening it was time for burlesque at Teerenpeli in the form of Vintage Vixens organized by Olivia Rouge. A fantastic show. And I might have gotten a bit tipsy. After the club, we withdrew to the tasteful home of two of my dearest friends for chess, wine and intelligent conversations.

Vintage 50's dress bought on the day, vintage leather bag and shoes from Etsy.

Sunday started in the form of rehearsals for the Fintage fashion show. Fintage has organized a fashion show at all of its events and they have become very popular. This time yours truly was also modelling. I was showing the outfit of a 1950's housewife, complete with pink apron and feather duster. At the end of my bit, the presenter said that my outfit was completed with a tulle petticoat and seamed stockings. So I have the crowd a little peek.

"The outfit is completed by a tulle petticoat and seamed stockings" Pic by Taru.

Fintage fashion show. Pic by Taru

Because of the sunny weather, sunday was very busy and with the fashion show as well I forgot to take a photo of my outfit. This one was taken by a friend and I look like a complete berk.

Mmm, excellent....Hat bought on the day, dress from dress swap, bag Etsy. Pic by Taru.

My main mission for the weekend was to sell as much of my vintage cull as possible and not buy a huge amount. I'm rather proud of myself as I showed restraint and only bought the dress and a bag on day one and a hat and a pair of earrings on day two. I had a lovely time, had a chat and a giggle with old friends and made several new ones (and then chatted and giggled with them as well).

'Coz I need more bags, hats and earrings...