This morning I was out at a photoshoot, for which Jac made me this amazing beehive! The weather was beautiful all day so in the afternoon I headed out to the park with mum and dad to enjoy the sun. 

My DSLR now also seems to be fixed so I've been able to use it again for these photos. Looks soooo much better. 

Clothes are all high street/gifts.

This is what I look like when I decide to try and catch an insect mid-way through having my photo taken. Actually pretty common for me; if it looks interesting I will probably try to catch it. 

Success! It is a mayfly (March brown, I think). 

Blouse and scarf (worn in hair) - 1950s vintage

Capris - Matalan, two-ish years ago

Shoes - High street

My DSLR has been acting up for a while so I've been using my old point and click but I feel like it tints everything slightly green. I think I've managed to sort out the problem with my DSLR now though, so with luck I can go back to using it soon. 

I wore this outfit to a vintage-themed get together that I went to recently (sorry no photos of the other ladies; there wasn't really chance to take any and actually not too many people dressed vintage despite the theme) and actually felt a bit underdressed for a change. Those who did dress up had all opted for frocks of course!

Dress - Vintage | Accessories - high street/gifts | Shoes - New Look via Asos

The weather is so unpredictable at the moment. One day winter, next day summer. I can't keep up. I really hope that having some nice weather now means we won't get a bad summer later on.

I keep thinking about selling this dress but I started wearing it again and I've actually been wearing it quite a bit recently. I love sundresses for their simple stylishness; so easy to wear when the weather gets warm.

This dress is currently for sale here. I also have a few other things for sale here so go take a look! There are things in a variety of sizes and all £20 or under. I'm in desperate need of the extra wardrobe space and these items deserve to move on to a new owner.

Handmade 1940s style skull cap

Today was cold enough to need layers. Where did the nice summery weather go?

The cold and wind has returned for a while. 

Wetherspoons do great Sunday roasts.

Dress - Vintage | Cardigan - Knitted by me

Accessories - high street, charity shops etc

When you were young

***

Hmm, what's behind here?

Shall I dig a Victory garden?

Blouse - Matalan | Skirt - 1970s vintage | Cardigan - made by me

Stockings - Ann Summers | Shoes - Dorothy Perkins

We grow vegetables in the garden almost every year, but this year has just been too busy! I am still feeling the land girl-ish vibes. Not bored of it yet.

Coat - H&M | Cardigan - Primark | Blouse - borrowed from mum

Skirt - Collectif | Boots - Charity shop | Socks - Primark

For some reason this coat always gives me land girl vibes.

On the positive side, I managed to sew the whole thing with very little help. I did all the actual sewing by myself, and only had to ask for a few tips here and there. It's the biggest item I've ever sewed by myself, so that's something to be proud of!

As far as negatives though, I had a lot of problems with the project (more on that here), and although I was able to semi-solve the problems by following some kind suggestions from a fellow Sew For Victory participant on Flikr, who suggested that I put in a zip and use non-stretchy gathering instead of elastic, I'm still not totally happy with it. Somehow it just isn't strong enough to wear properly without breaking the thread in the gathered sections, and the bows on the arms keep slipping down. Not super practical. I have considered hemming it up a bit as I'm not too keen on the length, but it doesn't seem like it would be worth the effort when the gathering keeps breaking anyway. Plus, I actually find it kind of ugly and lumpy. So overall, I don't really think it's wearable.

One thing that didn't seem to cause too many problems though was the insertion of the zip.

Not too bad for a first try! (excuse the pencil  marks, I haven't washed it yet). 

And that's about it for this project. I think it will be consigned to the back of the wardrobe unless anyone has any suggestions on how I can improve it enough for it to actually be wearable! I definitely don't want to give up on sewing but it's quite slow progress as I'm completely self taught. I will consider it a learning experience, I suppose.

While I'll be the first to admit that I am pretty dreadful at doing my own hair, I have been able to figure out a way of getting my hair to look okay on an everyday basis. I set my hair using rag curls, and use basically the same method no matter which decade I am aiming for. Most days I just go for a general vintage look which isn't necessarily decade-specific, so it's not too important what the end result is like as long as it looks 'vintage'.

I tried a few times to produce a photo tutorial but the photos kept coming out looking like something from Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, and then a friend requested a video tutorial instead. So here is a video tutorial on how I rag curl my hair :)

Additional Information

- The rags are made out of an old shirt of my dad's. Pretty much any scrap fabric will do, I think.

- I'm using mousse and setting lotion at the moment, but only because I have an old can of mousse which I want to use up, and I don't trust it to hold a curl by itself. Normally I would only use setting lotion.

- I do one row of curls if I'm being lazy (most of the time) and two rows of curls if I'm going somewhere nice or I want to produce a fluffy 1940s kind of look. Something like this:

Photo by Jeff Wharton

- I try to keep the ends of my hair tucked neatly around the rag to avoid any weird flicks or bumps

- How damp your hair is when you start, and how tight you make the rolls, probably depends on hair type. Try it out and see what works for you.

- Sometimes it doesn't work out entirely as planned. I try not to let it worry me; it's amazing what you can hide with some rolls, a French twist, plaits, a strategically placed hat, etc. 

- I am really bad at hairstyling. Truly terrible. If I can manage it, anyone can!

Tissington, Derbyshire.