How To Make Bunting!

Hello everyone,

Got quite a few blog posts to do today, I've had a very busy week! My birthday was on Saturday, and I had a vintage themed party. I decided to decorate my flat to get it looking a lot more retro so the sewing machine got dragged out!

I used 5 metres of white ribbon, a metre square of red polka dot fabric and a metre square of blue polka dot fabric. This came to £7 which I thought was very reasonable considering the price of bad quality bunting for sale in the shops. It actually turned out I had too much fabric too. I would say maybe around 75cm square would have been better.

Firstly I made a template on some card of the triangle for the flags. It is 15cm across the top and 20cm down to the point.

Then measure 40cm depth into your fabric from the edge and cut to create a rectangle. Fold in half with the underside facing outwards (so we draw the template onto the messy side of the fabric). This means that you get two flags from cutting out one template. Before drawing the template on, iron the rectange to create a fold that is exactly 20cm into your strip of fabric.

Using a black marker pen, place your template onto your strip of fabric with the 15cm top against the long side of the rectangle. Draw on, making sure that it finishes in a point at the other end. Once these are all drawn on, cut them out! I ordered mine into piles of red and blue polka dots.

Time to get sewing! I chose quite wide ribbon which I folded in half over the top of the flag. This creates a little pocket that you slot the flag into, so it is sandwiched between the two halves of ribbon. I just did a single stich and one fingers space between each flag.

 Hello!

And here is my end result!

Have any of you ever made bunting?! I think I would like to leave it up permanently, it looks pretty!

Hannah xxx

Fashionably Late

Hello everyone,

My frequent visits to the Vintage Brighton website provides me with lots of inspiration for many a vintage look but I love the events section of the website in particular. A few weeks ago, I noticed the event, 'Fashionably Late', to be held at the Pavillion. Not only was there entry into the Biba exhibition, but cocktails, music, hair, make-up...a vintage girls' dream! There was no question about it, I was going and purchased two tickets so I could drag my boyfriend along!

I rushed home from work, quickly transformed myself and rushed out. We walked in through a variety of furniture designs, straight to the bar for some vintage themed cocktails, and then began to look around. I didn't really anticipate that you could also have a nosy around some of the museum exhibitions, so we snook in and had some cheeky photos next to a lovely scooter!

 

We then wandered past the perspex jewellery making, and went upstairs for a look at the fashion exhibition. Not only was there a fantastic array of different clothes to try on, but a photographer to capture the moment and iconic designs from the eras around the room for inspiration. I particularly loved the display of dresses in tribute to the Union Jack.

 

Then we entered the Biba exhibition. The display was designed in a timeline effect, you first began to learn about Barbara Hulanicki's family, to her time at Brighton College of Art and Design and then you followed the exhibition as the Biba brand grew. This brings together a collection of newspaper clippings, illustrations, original pieces and original stories from visitors and employees. I found it particularly amazing that at the very start of her career, a design was advertised in the Daily Mirror! You could purchase it, and as her followers grew, so did the brand. It really was amazing to see the growth of a brand from a passion of a talented student, to the dizzying heights that it reached! The show runs until April '13 so get yourselves down there! Here are a few photos I took...

 

 

 

There was also a display of the make up that Barbara designed for Biba.

 

 

This entire collection was donated by the amazing make up artist, Lisa Eldridge. It was in incredible condition and the colours were so vibrant, it seems to have been the equivalent then to what MAC is to us today. I really recommend you to check out her website. She has extremely accurate and easy to do make up tutorials, including a sixties look designed in collaboration with Barbara Hulanicki. You can find this here. I love how she uses a range of brands from the extremley high end to more often than not, your basic brands found in Boots. She has lots of interesting videos that are definitely worth a look.

 

Wow this has turned into quite a long post! I had a fantastic evening and love visiting exhibitions like this, they fill me with inspiration and to think that a ticket was five pounds, what a bargain. Did any of you go to Fashionably Late? Have you seen the exhibition? What did you think? I will end this post with a picture of me becoming part of an exhibition...

 

 

 

Dress: New Look

Shoes: Topshop (years ago)

Bag: Vintage Darling!

 

Lots of love,

 

Hannah xxx

 

Thanks, The Splendid Suitcase!

As my birthday is rapidly approaching, I have been frantically trying to find the perfect party dress so I can celebrate in style. Its quite a big one this time, twenty one, so I am attempting to organise a pretty damn good party!

 I have been looking for a late fifties/sixties inspired wiggle dress. Many long evenings of trawling through Ebay dismissing "vintage retro Mad Men Primark dress"... clearly if you mark everything vintage it will sell! After being outbid many times I gave up and tried Etsy- and thank god I did!

It was my first time using Etsy and I think I will most definitely be using it again. Once I had narrowed down my search criteria I very quickly stumbled across the online shop, The Splendid Suitcase, based here in Brighton. Their blog is gorgeous with lots of pictures modelling their clothes by the beautiful Margaux (her and her boyfriend Alec own The Splendid Suitcase).

Before I knew it I found myself at the checkout purchasing the perfect dress that I had been lusting after. And even better, Margaux offered to refund my postage costs and hand delivered it to me!

What a great little find, I am sure to be buying from them again!

 

 

 

Lots of love,

 

Hannah xxx