Eurovision - 1960s style!

I love many things, but each year in May, the thing I love the most is the Eurovision song contest!

Yes, quite seriously I am a Eurovision fiend. When my good friend still lived in Australia we would watch together and play drinking games and have a giggle at the insane costumes and dance around and smile when our favourites would come on. 

Eurovision has a quite a decent following in Australia, being that we are a multicultural country who in the past 60 years has seen immigrants from all over Europe and who are still in touch with their families in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Germany and so on. And as I have Lithuanian heritage I also get to legitimately cheer on my country even though their entries aren't always stellar!

We watch it on time delay however, so I have to restrain my Facebooking and news watching during the weekend so that I don't accidentally see who the winner is!

The most outstanding part of Eurovision is always the fashion and costumes. Some are amazing architectural pieces, some a plain letting the singer shine and some are multi dimensional giving the wearer the chance to change costumes mid-song for higher impact. The show is voted on by the viewers, so the song, set, costumes and dancers must all be entertaining. 

But back in our favourite decade, (before the famous ABBA performance), Eurovision was a little more restrained and certainly didn't reach the dramatic proportions that it does now

Lets take a look at the sweet and demure looks of 60s Eurovision!

Me Made May - week one

Hey there fine people of the internet? How have you been?

Last week was another nightmare week at work so I did pretty much no sewing and totally forgot about Me Made May!!

I knew May 1st was coming up, but for other reasons, and then May 2nd came and I think the only me-made item I wore was a knitted scarf, but it wasn't anything to sniff at!

So I tried to make up for the two days I lost by wearing my pledged me-mades on the weekend! 

Impromptu swing dresses

It's Sunday, and I have to go back to work tomorrow after 10 relaxing days off! But happily I think this has been the most productive work break in a while! 

On Friday, just for funsies I whipped up a new dress so I could have something to wear to my first day back at work tomorrow. Something to help ease back into the work week that was fun and easy that I knew would fit without any problems, and here she is Simplicity 7436!

Green goings on

Hello lovely people! How was your Easter?

I'm still on holiday because I was a smart cookie and took off the 3 days between Easter Monday and Anzac day which falls on Friday this year. Quite a lot of other people in my office did the same thing, so I guess it would be somewhat un-Australian not to extend it out to a 10 day break!

So, what have I been up to these past few days? Well quite a lot of cleaning out of my cupboards - nothing good. Just trying to get rid of those naff things that I've bought over the years that don't fit me or my style any more. Some things I've put into storage because I cant bear to let them go - kind of like an outpatients ward. If I don't see it, it will be easier to let go of later!

And I've also been watching this interesting 5 part series on Youtube - "The 60's - The Beatles decade". Basically it tries to follow the ups and downs of the Beatles in line with the changes of the 60s, focusing mainly on England and its own political and social story. 

You can watch parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 here

I also took time to take photos of all the little projects I've been doing here and there. Repair jobs and modifications as well. 

Peggy Pinny

Hello to you all!

How have you been? Its been a while, but we have no one to thank for that except but my naughty little modem who decided to conk out last week leaving me internet-less until yesterday! 

I have been sewing quite a few little projects in the mean time, but I can now finally share with you the blouse and pinafore outfit that I have dubbed Peggy, in honour of the return of Mad Men for the year! 

Once I had finished and popped on this outfit, it felt like something the smart and career minded Peggy would wear. I just missed the deadline for the Mad Men sew along so I never got to submit it, but I guess sometimes my whole blog is just one big Mad Men sew along anyway!

And so I present to you now for your perusal - the Peggy Pinny!

Me made yay!

Do you recall back to the start of the year when I promised myself I would participate in Me Made May?

Well it's confirmed for another year! So that means for the month of May I will make an effort to wear my me made garments according to a little rule that I get to set for myself

I already wear my handmade stuff pretty often, so I decided to challenge myself to wear something handmade every work day and weekends are optional - depending on what I'm doing that day, though I totally could do it on the weekends too really easily. 

It's getting better all the time

Hello hello there! 

How was your weekend? 

Thank you for all your comments on my previous post. I'll reply to them all shortly as I think they all need a properly written response as you all took the time to write such nice things. 

I think sometimes I just get myself worked up and need a little breathing space and time for things I enjoy! Everyone goes through periods of good times and down times and it's important for our mental health to try to get ourselves out of the funk we've buried ourselves in. 

I've been really good and working away at the tweed pinafore. The fabric is really lovely to sew with - no special needles required. And so far I've gone through 3 packets of bias trim for all the Hong Kong seams!