Things that I'd like to do and things that I had to do

A little story about one weekend in August. I was planning to do this earlier, but I found the perfect time for it just now... sitting home, resting and trying to get rid of bronchitis. I was sick as a dog for a week, but I'm getting better now. :)

I believe it was in August when I was hoping to make a new petticoat one weekend and to do a petticoat tutorial with pics as I go along... but no such luck (is there ever, really?).

First I noticed that it was the only weekend there was to finish renovating our second bedroom. And that needed to be done. Seriously. When we started fixing that room it was supposed to be quick and easy, so I wasn't worried about living without wardrobes for a short while. We changed the room layouts of our two bedrooms (next to each other) a bit, so we had to tear down the wardrobes from both of them. No problem, I'm able to survive two weeks without wardrobes...

I haven't counted, but I believe that those two weeks became more like three months. Not good. I wasn't able to find the clothes I would like to wear. Plus I don't like the giant piles of clothes, not to mention the clothes racks, all over my living room. And if I had my choice I would like to sleep in a bedroom, not in the living room. ;)

So we painted that last wall with "Stylish Petrol" (see that wall here), installed the laminate flooring (the style is called "Seagrass Spirit"), and assembled our new Ikea wardrobe with sliding doors. It was all done by Sunday 8 pm. Yay!

I couldn't get my clothes into the wardrobe and out of the living room at that point yet, though. I had to start making a hanging mobile I had promised to make for the following Monday, for a window display. (We were trying to advertise our dance club by having this display for two weeks in the centre on the city.) The mobile had both old dance pictures and new ones mixed and was supposed to draw attention as it gently rotated on the window.


I think the window display went together quite well. (Sorry about the bad quality of pictures.) It was done by four girls (including me) from our dance club. We wanted it to remind people about the age when swing dancing was born, but for some reason it had mostly 50’s flavour... What can I say, these things just happen sometimes. ;)

40's dress

So this is supposed to be a sewing blog, eh? Not too many posts about my projects so far...

I've been so unbelievable lazy photographing my finished projects that I should be ashamed. But hey, with my full time day job, teaching two nights a week, performing regularly (I'm dancing also in a musical this winter, it's fun... mostly.), and trying to get some training done too... and continuing to renovate the apartment... and sewing... and desperately trying to get some sleep at some point... (Did I mention I still have few courses on my schedule too?) Well, you get the picture. Time is a limited resource here.

But hey, it's always a good time to start, so here it goes!

This is a project I finished over a year ago, one Saturday between balboa classes and evening dance party. (I actually cut the fabric on the dance floor before I went home to freshen up.) It took me about two to three hours to put the dress together. There were no alterations made, except putting darts on the back instead of gathers. It's really a muslin, so I have to admit I didn't hem it (properly) by hand, but instead just used my sewing machine for speed. (Yes, I'm ashamed of that.) But it was essential to get it done quickly.

I wore it the same evening at the party and got lots of compliment. (Sadly, again, no pictures.)

The pattern is Simplicity 4975. I estimated it to be a mid 40's pattern. I made the version with short sleeves. Here's the pattern cover:

I haven't made another one yet, but because the shape is very flattering this pattern is definately going to get another round.

It fitted like a dream... a year ago. After that I've been loosing weight, so now I'll have to pass it on to someone who will appreciate it more and fill it better than I do. ;) Here are some more recent shots of the dress:

Maybe I'll try the long sleeved version for this fall...

It's all about shoes, right?

I know that I have enough shoes, but I can't stop drooling over Minna Parikka's designs. Her designs are fun, sexy and vintage inspired. Just perfect! See for yourself. Her website can be found here...

These are just a part of her collection for the Mantere Shoe Factory for spring 2009:

And these babies below can be found at her web boutique. I'm not sure if I can actually survive without her powder pink/black Armi boots (in the middle)...

Her Sonja boots (for Mantere) are actually affordable (below, on the right)... and I could also live with Helmi laced shoes.

Entire collection for Mantere for the fall 2009 can be found here.

Red is the new black!

Yesterday I found my perfect black purse... only to find out it was red (and on sale!). Oh, they had it also in black, but that version was way too shiny somehow. I wonder why I don't mind that in the red version... Naturally I bought it, and I don't really mind the black purse being red because it's faux crocodile print and I've got the perfect vintage shoes to go with it!

I've had these shoes for ages and they are one of my favorites. It's quite sad that I've never had a purse to match them before... Actually I was thinking about that yesterday morning, just few hours before I found my new "black" purse...

I also found some black socks for fall, just what I've been looking for! The two pairs on the right are knee socks to wear with my 40's "sports" skirts. The pair on the left with lace ruffles and bows is "over knee" length, and probably my future favorite.

Last but not the least of my new findings are long gloves of soft leather, in dark brown this time. I already had a pair of black ones and I've been looking for brown ones for a while now... I'm planning for a brownish coat for fall/winter. Let's see if I actually get to make it.

Vintage glasses

I found a great place to spend your money (once again)! Retrospecs has an amazing collection of vintage/retro styled frames. I love these 50's cats eye glasses, but I can't decide which ones I like the best... Maybe the black ones with silvery accents, or those apple greens, or...

...I also know a special someone who would like to have these Buddy Holly styled frames. :)

I wanted to do a petticoat tutorial last weekend, but life got in the way somehow. More about that soon... And I will make that tutorial as well, soon.

I want these!

What can I say except big thanks to Nancy, from Waiter Waiter Percolator, for her last post! (You’ll be able to read it here.) It was because of that post that I found these shoes… And while I’ll have to wait for my fairy-godmother to appear to actually afford either one of these, I’m happy just watching them… Pretty shoes! Yay!

These and many more at John Fluevog’s. I just might have to visit their shop when I'm in San Fransisco...

Dancing all day and all night!

Last few weeks have been busy. I just noticed today that during the last two weeks I’ve had one single day without dancing (no training, no social dancing, and no performing). So I decided to take a day off today… Sweet!

But hey, dancing is such a great fun that I really can’t wait to go training again tomorrow. Just to prove that here’s a pic from last Saturday: just me, my partner and the Collegiate Shag.