Today we went for a walk in some bluebell woods, and I used it as an opportunity to take this new skirt for a spin. I'm very proud because I made it myself and it came out really pretty well overall. It's just a simple gathered skirt made out of what I believe is an original 1960s or 70s fabric that my mum was given by my granny. I have another skirt that I made myself which I haven't had the opportunity to photograph yet but this one is better. I'm slowly improving even though it's all a little bit trial and error but at least this is one sewing success. I've also got a little bit of knitting on the go, so it's all creative for me at the moment.

I really enjoyed seeing all the pretty bluebells; it's a wonderful feature of certain English woodlands this time of year. Some of them are much more dense than this one (although I think they're not all out yet so there might be more coming out here soon). I kind of wished I'd been dressed like a beautiful elf maiden; this woodland was just crying out for a fantasy photoshoot of some sort.












I also posted the following image on Instagram recently when I wore the skirt for work. I really like it with the polo neck and brown shoes for something a bit different.

A post shared by @helenmaegreen on Apr 25, 2017 at 5:16am PDT

What do you think of this 1960s look? I don't dress 60s very often at all; it's really not what I gravitate towards but it can be fun once in a while. This dress was a fairly recent charity shop find and is actually completely modern, originally from H&M. It's a great example of modern clothing doing a good job of mimicking vintage when paired with the right accessories and hairstyle. It makes me feel very "Made in Dagenham". The dress is actually a little on the small side for me but the main problem was with in the neck which was too tight and was irritating me. I did a little DIY to just widen the neck a bit, and now I'm pretty happy with the overall fit of the dress. It even has pockets!

Hi everyone! Today I have the last dress I modelled for English Country Vintage. As usual, the hair in these shots is by Jacqui at Tip Top Hair Design, and the images are by Steve Bond. The other model in the pictures with me is Suranne, AKA Shorty :)





These beautiful dresses are 1950s/early 60s style bridesmaid's dresses showing two coordinating but different styles from the same line. It was really great to model with someone else for a change, and I think we got some really nice shots. I'll really miss modelling for Steve and Jac when I've moved away but maybe we can get some shoots in sometime if I ever get the opportunity to come back to the Midlands for a while.

Continuing with the pictures from our Through The Ages photoshoot. This time it's a 1960s look featuring a beautiful original 60s dress (not my own). The silk millinery flower is from Natty Titfers.

Images are by Steve Bond and hair styling is by Jac at Tip Top Hair Design. You can see the 1920s section here and the 1930s/40s section here. There's one more section to go now with a 1970s look.

After reading my copy of the April issue of Vintage Life Magazine which features an article all about wellies, I felt inspired to wear wellies with everything. We even had a couple of days when it rained heavily, so wellies suddenly became the most appropriate footwear. The outfit itself was a little bit inspired by an outfit shown in one of the photos in the feature, and was also something easy and comfortable to wear. I've been working six days a week recently (though thankfully not quite full days) and I've also been running a lot, so I'm finding myself gravitating towards outfits which are practical and don't require too much thought. I do a lot of lifting and kneeling, so I prefer to wear things which I can move around in and which don't matter too much if they get dirty. This loose-fitting 1960s dress fits the bill perfectly.







This jacket has also been getting quite a bit of wear recently. It's one left over from when I was at school which I bought when I was still bothered about trying to fit in with what was in fashion at the time, although honestly it was never really much my style. It's much more modern than most of my clothes - even my non-vintage clothes tend to be a classic style if not vintage repro - but I've actually been quite enjoying wearing it a bit now that the weather is starting to warm up a bit. I did have to dodge the raindrops for these photos though!

You may remember from my previous post that I got my hair done by Jac into a Man Men-esque beehive style for my cousin's wedding last weekend. Since I'd paid for it and it meant I wouldn't have to worry about doing my own hair, I decided to make the style last as long as possible. In the end, I wore it for five days in total - Friday morning through to Tuesday evening. I showered wearing a shower cap and slept in a hair net to keep my hair as neat as possible, then tidied it up each morning using my teasing brush (I have this one) to smooth it out and pinning any bits which had come loose. After five days I decided I really needed to wash my hair as I could see the front of it was starting to look dirty. I normally wash my hair around every other day, so it had stayed looking pretty clean for a lot longer than it would normally.



The photos here were taken on the last day, a couple of hours before I washed my hair. As you can see, it still looks pretty decent, and I probably could have squeezed another day or two out of the style if I'd really wanted to, especially if I'd had any dry shampoo to put on it. Apparently a great Aunt of mine used to get her hair put in a beehive at the salon once a fortnight in the 1960s, which is pretty amazing! I think I would have to get mine done once a week instead.

When I took everything out, my hair was huuuuge and looked pretty awesome, but also felt like old Barbie hair, which I think was mostly down to the build-up of hairspray I'd put on it throughout the week. I washed my hair as usual and gave it an extra dollop of conditioner as I always do when I've had a lot of teasing in my hair.




Overall I'd say this is a really great timesaver if you're busy. It is a bit restrictive though if you like to change up your style regularly, like I do. I find that if I'm having a lazy hair day, I'm always far too tempted to just throw my hair up in a ponytail or a bun, which gives me the excuse to dress down. This hairstyle is a good alternative because it allows me to be lazy but I'm also more likely to wear nicer clothes.

Long live the beehive, and bring back weekly sets at the hairdressers!

I'm still working on my lab stuff at uni (only got till the end of the month to get it done and am still a bit worried about getting it finished by the deadline!) so I'm still choosing my outfits for comfort and ease of movement while avoiding things that I would cry about if they got ruined. As I mentioned before, I do wear a lab coat which should prevent any major clothing-based tragedies, but yesterday I spent a lot of time grubbing about on the floor and got the knees of my jeans all dirty and today I went to help my friend lay pitfall traps at her experimental site, which is all brambles and nettles and totally overgrown. So there is definitely potential for a horrible accident to befall my clothes. Obviously this outfit is not the best for trekking through undergrowth, but the trip was unplanned (at least for me, I just tagged along) and I saw a teeny frog in the bushes so I was happy :)