Well Christmas is almost upon us and I'm feeling mega-organised because I've been ready for about a week, only needing to pick up a few last minute bits when I picking up my fiancé for the holiday. Although I don't get a 100% work-free holiday (damn you, essay marking), it still means I get some time to go out a few nice places. This particular outing was to a shopping village; the Whittards bag contains MULLED WINE TEA!! Which is amazing, and I completely recommend it.

I chose an outfit that turned out to be just perfect for the weather as it was warm enough not to need a very heavy coat. The skirt is a new charity shop find which I previously featured in this video, and boy do I love it. It's a beautiful wool, and a very flattering length and shape, and the cherry on top - it has pockets. Paired with my all-time favourite jacket, it almost makes a suit and I get the most wonderful Peggy Carter vibes from it. I just had to pair it with what I'm calling my "fox fur" - this fluffy pom pom scarf that is a new addition to my wardrobe and also featured in the video.

That's probably all from me now until after Christmas, so I'll see you then and I hope you all have a wonderful time.

A post shared by @helenmaegreen on Dec 22, 2017 at 5:46am PST

A post shared by @helenmaegreen on Dec 22, 2017 at 5:48am PST

Pretty much ever since I got into wearing vintage I have been wishing to own a proper swing coat; one that is both long and wide enough to successfully accommodate a swing dress underneath. Although I've been after one for ages, I never managed to find one that was in my budget, as they do tend to be a bit more pricey compared to options available on the high street. However, I was lucky enough to be given some money for my birthday and finally decided that now was the time to find the coat of my dreams.

I looked around at several options and priced up various different brands as well as different retailers, and eventually settled on the Hell Bunny Elvira Coat, which retails at around £90-£120 depending on the individual retailer. When I purchased it in October, the cheapest I could find it at was £105.99 from Rock Collection (which is where I ultimately bought it), however at the time of writing they are selling it for £98.99 in most sizes  so now is a good time to get one. I went for the black option, as this seemed as though it would be the most versatile, but I think the red is also very stylish and I am pretty sure I've also seen it in a lovely teal colour from other shops.





Apart from the price, one of the things that was slightly putting me off buying one of these coats (from any brand, not just Hell Bunny), was the fact that almost none of them contain any wool. For me, it's very important to have the warmest possible winter coat as I really feel the cold, and therefore wool (or a wool blend) is usually the best choice for me. The only ones I'm aware of that contain some wool are the Collectif Pearl Coat and the Heyday 5th Avenue Coat but at £216.50 and £250 respectively, there is no way that these would be options for me at the current time.

According to the Rock Collection website, the Elvira coat is mostly polyester, but despite the lack of wool I have actually found this to be a very warm option and it has a really good weight to it when you lift it up. Due to the wide skirt, I have also found that I can wrap it around myself when sitting down, so it feels even more snuggly.

I also find that the faux fur is nice and warm, not to mention soft as all get out and super stylish to boot. I have heard a number of times recently that some "faux furs" available on the high street have been turning out to be real fur produced at very low prices in fur farms abroad, but I have checked over the fur on this coat extensively and I am certain it is completely fake due to the texture of the fur and the backing is not hide.




In terms of sizing, I was unsure whether to opt for the size XS or S. As I am a UK size 8, this often corresponds to a size XS, however as this is a winter coat I wanted to be able to fit extra layers underneath and therefore gambled on the size S, hoping that it wouldn't end up looking too bulky. I'm actually really pleased with the fit - it's definitely big enough to fit a fairly thick cardigan underneath without losing the sleek fitted look. The length is absolutely perfect and exactly what I was hoping for as it's the right length to completely hide my swing skirts and dresses (both vintage and repro). The only slightly weird thing about the sizing is how completely enormous the hood is. If I wear it as I would normally it completely engulfs my head, even if I'm wearing my hair in a bun or a ponytail that adds extra volume to my hair. I have seen it suggested online that you could pin the hood in place with kirby grips, but I have yet to try this and I'm actually not sure where the pins would go as I don't think I want to go shoving grips into the fur.



Overall I'm really pleased with the coat and I think it was totally worth the money. When I have some more money available I'd like to also get a camel coloured one and then I think I'll be all set. Of course there are loads of designs from different brands that I love so I could happily buy twenty of them if only I could afford them! I'll definitely enjoy wearing it all winter.

Hi everyone! I hope you like this little "thrift haul" video. Let me know what you think in the comments!

One of the things I love about winter clothing is the many opportunities for wearing lovely brooches. For some reason I associate brooches much more with Autumn and Winter, I think largely because I tend to wear them pinned onto coats, jackets and scarves. My beautiful crocheted flower brooch was a Christmas present last year, but I don't think it has ever made it into a blog post before. I really like how the neutral colour of it works so well with this outfit and how the different textures offset against each other. My poor coat is really starting to show its age (though you can't tell from the photos), but it is my absolute standby for this time of year as it's effortlessly stylish, warm, and a great neutral. Eventually I'd like to get a full length swing coat in the same kind of colour to "replace" this one. And by "replace" I mean I will probably keep the old one anyway and just pretend to myself that I have replaced it with a new one.

My other brooch was a birthday present from my fiancé and it was an excellent choice on his part as it goes so well with the kind of colour palette I favour at this time of year. I missed out on a proper close-up of it this time but I'm sure it will appear in plenty of future outfits.

Earlier this year I was featured in the first issue of a Lithuanian magazine called Vintažo ženklai. I was asked to write a little about three of my favourite vintage items and why they are special to me. Although I did write the article I can't remember much of what it says and sadly I don't speak Lithuanian but I still like looking at the pretty page spread they put together for me. The three items I chose were my most used vintage powder compact, my 1980s boots and my double-strand pearl necklace. All are special for one reason or another and I really enjoyed sharing them for the feature.

I recently bought this amazing skirt in a charity shop and couldn't wait until the weather got cold enough to take it for a spin. It's a snuggly wool blend which will be just perfect for keeping me warm plus look at that slinky shape! I'm also really enjoying things in the burgundy-ish colour range at the moment because they kinda sorta match my hair which is pretty cool.

My sweet blouse is from Lindy Bop (although I don't think it's available any more), and I really liked the way the roses on the collar tie in with the colour of the skirt. Leopard print seemed like the ideal choice to top everything off and add a pinup touch. I felt like a proper glamour puss especially in my little instagram selfies.

A post shared by @helenmaegreen on Nov 17, 2017 at 4:33am PST

Details... #1950s #1950sstyle #pinup #pinupstyle #vintagefashion #vintagestyle #retro

A post shared by @helenmaegreen on Nov 17, 2017 at 4:59am PST

I have already planned several other outfits featuring the skirt, and I'm sure it will be in regular rotation over the winter. I can see it maybe with a green cardigan at Christmas (and by the way, I can't believe how fast that is creeping up!)

Hello everyone! Today I have a slightly different post to usual, but I am very excited to show you. Over the past few weeks I have been working on some vintage-inspired home decor with a company called Pixers, who sell a variety of different items from posters and wall canvasses through to wallpaper and fridge stickers. I picked out several different items to help make my uninspiring rental flat look a bit more vintage, and I'm going to show you some before and after photos as well as talk you through my experience with some of the items. I also have a lovely 40% discount code if you'd like to get yourself some goodies from Pixers so make sure you read all the way to the end to find the details on that.

Because I live in a rented flat, all the items I chose had to be suitably temporary (I couldn't choose a wallpaper, for example, because I am not allowed to change the colour of the walls and also I don't plan on living here long-term). Fortunately Pixers has plenty of options that can help to make a boring rental home look much nicer, without the need to make any major changes. If you don't live in a rental home and you can completely control you own interior design, then of course any of these options would still be suitable, and Pixers does also sell some wonderful designs of wallpaper and wall vinyls if you're able to go for something a bit more permanent.

Of course I've chosen all vintage-inspired designs (of which there are plenty available), but Pixers has literally thousands of designs across their different ranges so there is something to suit every taste. In addition, many of their designs run throughout their ranges (for example you can have the same design on wall murals and a table veneer and a fridge sticker... etc) so you can choose to keep a theme running across several different items if you wish.

So let's have a look at the items I chose and what I did with them.

First of all, I picked out some pretty antique-style wall canvasses to help decorate the bedroom area of my studio. Here is the before and after look at the area:



Let's take a closer look at the details.

Before adding the items from Pixers, I already had a little nod to vintage style through the crocheted blanket that I use in the winter. To add to this, I chose two of the wall canvasses from Pixers to mix-and-match with some similarly vintage-inspired canvasses I already owned but had never bothered to put up since moving into this flat. I really liked the collage style of the "Vintage" canvas, and it features a dragonfly which is very appropriate for me given my interest in insects.





My second canvas of choice was the "Le Cabinet de Curiosités" print featuring some unusual items in bell jars and some scattered butterflies. Again I liked the antique style, but also the museum feel of the print was just perfect for me as I have done quite a lot of work in museums and even met my fiancé in one. I knew he would also like the print, so this one was a good choice for something we can hang up in our flat when we finally manage to move in together.



For the finishing touches I tidied and rearranged the items on my dresser and added some throw cushions and fairy lights for a cosy feel.





Next I did some work on my bathroom. Like the rest of the flat, the bathroom was very plain and quite clinical (and features and ancient and disgusting snot-green coloured bathroom suite) so I was very pleased to be able to make it look more attractive and a bit more vintage by adding some carefully chosen accessories.

First, here's the before and after comparison:



I chose a cool retro car wash poster from Pixers to kick things off, as it appealed to my silly sense of humour to have a car wash poster in the bathroom. This particular poster was unframed (although Pixers do sell framed posters as well) so I bought a plain glass frame to help protect it and to make it rigid so I could choose to either stand it on a surface or hang it on the wall.



I propped it up in the window for these photos, although I might hang it on the wall opposite the bath in the future. It was a difficult size to find a frame for so I ultimately ended up with one that was quite large in order to accommodate the dimensions, but I'm sure a picture framer could provide a custom frame to fit it better. It was very difficult to choose a design as Pixers sell several different retro posters including a lot of vintage advertisements for car washes and other businesses such as diners and cinemas. Ultimately I decided a car wash design was the best for what I wanted, and I eventually settled on this one.



To finish off I swapped out the ugly plastic shower curtain for a fabric one with a pretty sepia-coloured butterfly design, and I added a red candle to match the red in the poster. Lastly, I tidied all of my bottles of shampoo and shower gel etc into a little wicker shower caddy which looks much better than having them all loose.



Lastly I picked out some nifty things for my dining/work area. The first item I chose was a laptop sticker with a gorgeous Edwardian little girl on it.



Overall I'm really happy with how this looks; the little girl is absolutely adorable. I will say it was a bit difficult cutting the corners of the sticker to shape, as the vinyl was square but my laptop has rounded corners. I tackled this by sticking the vinyl on first and then cutting it to shape with a box cutter around the corners, which worked pretty well but wasn't perfect. So far I haven't been able to come up with a better idea as it wasn't really possible to trace round the corners before sticking the vinyl on, as the case of the laptop is also curved at the edges. You can also slightly see the HP symbol peeking through the little girl's face in the centre of the sticker. Nonetheless, I think it still looks really great and she definitely is super cute.

Now for the biggest project I undertook - my table. I have a poor battered old Ikea table that serves as my dining table/work desk and which originally came from my old flat when my landlady sold the building. I had been thinking for a while about how I could somehow upcycle or tidy up the table so I could keep it going a bit longer, but I couldn't decide whether to paint it or decoupage it or something else entirely. When I saw that Pixers did table veneers, that completely made up my mind for me and I decided to paint the frame and use one of the vinyls for the top. I chose an amazing atomic print design, which I thought would look chic and reasonably neutral as I don't know what the decor will be like in any future flats I might move into.

Before we get to the details, here's a look at the before and after shots:



I started off by painting the drawers and legs etc of the table grey using a chalk furniture paint. This was incredibly time consuming as I had to wait for certain surfaces to dry before I could paint other surfaces, and I was supposed to leave 4 hours in between coats according to the instructions. Since the table needed 2-3 coats to get a fully opaque streak-free coverage, this took a long time to achieve. I don't want to make this blog post about the painting process, but I also noticed that the paint was very prone to getting brush strokes in it, and it seems to scratch easily so I'm not sure how long it will last.

When I had painted the table all over (except for the tabletop) I started to apply the vinyl. This was a difficult process even though I followed the instructions on the website. I struggled to get the sheet straight and then ended up with loads of air bubbles in it (it's similar to using that sticky book covering stuff that I always used to put on my exercise books when I was at school). Then, completely through my own clumsiness, I managed to damage the vinyl in a couple of places when trying to get the air bubbles out, and again when I was slicing down between the leaves of the table.

All that said, there is nothing at all wrong with the product - I just think it would be much easier to use if:
1) you had a second person to help out
2) you had a smaller table to work with
and 3) your table was all in one piece and didn't have leaves

Overall I'd really recommend this as a quick and simple (if not necessarily easy) way to customise or upcycle a table, especially if you're a bit better than I am at this DIY thing and are less likely to damage it when applying it to the table.

Since the table's in a difficult position to photograph, here's a slightly darker image just so you can get a better look at the overall pattern:



Honestly I really love this pattern and the colour scheme, and it would also be an easy way of disguising a more modern table as an older one, if you're someone who has a lot of mid-century and atomic homeware.

I think I might also paint the chairs to match, as I have plenty of paint left over and it will be nice to have a matching set.

Thanks very much to the folks at Michael Joseph for working with me! I hope you enjoy my review and I'd really recommend getting a copy to read over Christmas.

For this week's Steampunk Saturdays post I have finally managed to get around to photographing my current most worn steampunk outfit featuring a western inspired dress from Spin Doctor.



Since I bought the dress, I've worn it to several different events and I really enjoy wearing it. I always wear it with my vintage western/Victorian style boots which I knew would be just perfect for steampunk outfits even though I wasn't attending any events when I bought them.

It was a bit nippy getting these photos so I'm not too sure how much more wear I'll get out of it this year, but I have worn it with a blouse underneath so that does help to make it just a little bit warmer.

A post shared by @helenmaegreen on Oct 4, 2017 at 4:18am PDT

I have a few additions and improvements in mind for the outfit for the future, including a gun (thigh holster maybe?) and saddlebags (something like this) so I have something to put my stuff in when I go out. I am also contemplating options for some additional jewellery - I usually wear the dress with my cog necklace but forgot to put it on for these photos. Here are some grainy mobile phone snaps so you can see what that looks like.




Eventually I'd also like to upgrade my goggles as I've seen some amazing real leather and brass options which would be a really nice addition. That being said, I'm still really happy with my DIY ones for now.

A post shared by @helenmaegreen on Jul 26, 2017 at 12:46am PDT

Autumn mirror selfies. #ootdsocialclub #ootd #vintagefashion #vintagestyle #1940s #1950s #vintageblogger #sharesies #autumn #fall

A post shared by @helenmaegreen on Oct 18, 2017 at 8:29am PDT