Pretty Postcards

I had some time to kill is Helston the other day (because a certain Flik turned up an hour late to go to truro for fabric - something I'll blog about another time) so I went into the "market" which consists of a tiny hall in the center of town selling a few plants, a few cakes, some amazing handmade lace which I really really wanted but couldn't justify spending £10 on and boxes of postcards. Lots were new ones but I found an old leather case full of older ones. The few that had dates were of the 20s. They were 50p each though so not a total bargin when you really just want to buy them all. I managed to limit myself to 5, mostly pictures of people. I love the two above. The first is dated May 1924 and the second is a photograph with the postcard layout printed on the back which seems a little high-tech for those days. I liked the first for it's prettyness as a photograph but the second I had to have for the brilliant outfits the 3 girls are wearing. I guess the photo was taken on a beach holiday along a strand.

This one just makes me laugh! The picture is so posed and the little girl looks quite grumpy about the whole thing. It's actually a birthday postcard with a sickly sweet little poem in the bottom right corner. It was from the birthday girl's "hubby". I really love the little hat and dress and the way the umbrella and flowers are so neatly positioned.

This was the only one I bought that wasn't a portrait. I used to visit Weymouth a lot for family holidays when I was younger. One of the first memories I have is of a donkey ride along that beach. I'm not sure how much it's changed now but I miss having that few cars on the road and those buses! (though on my recent trip to the scillies, all the local buses on st marys did look quite like that.)

And finally, this is the last one. It's not my favourite but I liked the way it was sort of in colour but not quite and the girl's hair is amazing. I spend too much time wishing I had curly hair Though if I did, I'd probably give my soul for it to be straight - the grass is always greener on the other side.

These are the backs of a few. I love the old writing and the stamps! You can click the image to see it bigger I think... If I've got it to work right.


I think that'll do for a post. Once I got the scanner working here, I couldn't help but scan everything in sight so I've got a few from the latest vogue that happened to be lying around here but I'll pop them in the next one.

Let me know with a comment below if you're reading this blog (to spur me to carry on). Maybe let me know which card was your favourite? Thanks x

THE red dress

I've got so many dress making projects that I could talk about for my first post but I thought I'd choose the dress that I made for summer ball at school.

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I bought the fabric - relatively cheap (£7 a meter-ish) red satin backed something from heathcotts in tiverton - waay back in April I think, after a successful clothes making couple of days with flik. A "prom dress" is somehow something you have to get around to making and I've often said I would but after buying the fabric, I got a little scared and didn't touch it for quite a long time. Then came the holiday in trelowarren. Flik came with my family so that we could "revise together". We basically spent the whole time making clothes or visiting the most amazing fabric shop in truro. The week ended with a pretty chilly fashion shoot with my brother the photographer on the cliffs above Kynance Cove, Cornwall. I will get around to showing it to you properly sometime but for now, just head on over to my rather empty flickr.

The dress is actually quite basic, mainly because I really don't like using patterns so I had to work out the pieces myself. The skirt is a full circle which basically means the pattern pieces looks like a donut. The bodice is very slightly more complicated with 3 pieces for the front and 2 side pieces (see the diagram). In the end I made it backless with nice cream satin ribbon cross-over straps. This meant that when I put the zip in the back of the skirt, it didn't have to go through lots of seams. Zips are hard enough as it is. I'm just not a perfectionist so I can never be bothered to sort them out. Luckily this one went it ok... Still not brilliant. I added a little gather using a handsewn running stich right at the front just because it looked a bit boring otherwise.

I wore it to the ball with a petticoat made of cream tulle. I just streched a piece of wide elastic whilst I sewed layers of tulle to it so that when it relaxes, it gathers. It's not a perfect petticoat but it works and wasn't too itchy!

I didn't have a camera with me at the ball so I don't have any pictures of me on that night but hopefully some will start appearing on facebook sooner or later.

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RIGHT. So that was my first post. Let me know what you think? Do you like the little pattern diagram? I tried to this what I would find useful on other people's DIY fashion blogs. I'll do some more in-depth tutorials sometime. Again, let me know is there's anything specifically you would like to see.

theyellowrabbit

A new blog :D I shall have to fill it with stuff but keep coming back!