My Pattern collection and a giveaway!

Hello there lovely people! 

I have two rather exciting things to tell you about!

The first thing is that I have put my organising skills to good use and created a new page listing all of my sewing pattern collection. It was a bit of a pain trying to get blogger to line the pictures up just as I liked them but managed to find some coding tips over here which did the trick.

I really wanted a way to be able to look up my own patterns easily while out shopping and also somewhere for you the reader to see them as well. So I had looked at apps for organising patterns and thought of using flickr as a portal but in the end I decided it might be good to have them all on the blog where it would make sense to have them and then include links to all the projects where I have used them before

Pop over to the page to have a look! There is a button to the right of this page and there is also the link below;

sewingthe60s.blogspot.com.au/p/my-patterns

They're all sorted by company name and pattern number so they're easy to find and if you ever need a hand with finding a missing piece, let me know!

Taking Stock - Mid year

Well its almost half way through the year and I think I can safely say that this is going to be a pretty cruddy year. Various little issues in my non-blogging life are making being my normal happy self a little harder to be and I've not spent anywhere near as much time sewing as I'd like. 

I guess I can be upset about my situation for as long as I like, but in reality I'm the only person who can get me out of this funk. So I decided that I will need to start being responsible in taking charge for my life, my productivity at work and how I spend my spare time!

Pip over at Meet me at Mikes regularly likes to 'take stock' so I thought I'd try it out. I've tried to be positive and you can have a try too if you like! It's fun!

Me Made May - Week 3 and 4 and a bit of 5

Well I've taken my sweet time since the last Me Made May post, so here is pretty much what's left of the month! 

(You can see the first and second posts here)

There were more than a few days where I didn't wear me made mainly because I just wanted to get going in the morning and not have to worry about making my dodgier things look normal. 

I also noticed I didn't have enough separates. I have plenty of skirts, but no where near enough tops. I think I have 2 me made tops that I actually want to wear. Hopefully I can rectify that soon as I've recently bought patterns and fabric just for that purpose. 

Also we had some crazy weather this month. Sometimes it was really cold and then, like last week it was Springtime warm! So dressing to match the weather became an art form

So lets have a look then! 

Sally

It's been awhile since I've named my projects - heck its been a while since my last project!

But what's in a name you ask? Well, if you have been watching the latest episodes of Mad Men, you may now see Office manager Joan is now an Account Executive and has sporting a few dresses contrast collar and cuffs - much like my new girl below. But the real fashionista I think of this season so far is Sally. Sure Megan has the most fabulous West Coast wardrobe, but Sally's teenage wardrobe is giving me the biggest envy of all! 

Sally doesn't get enough screen time I reckon, but we are now seeing her form a different relationship with her father and getting into mischief with her friends, rebelling against her mum and her school and sneaking out of class to go shopping - all the sorts of things girls her age may do, but in her case, while wearing the most trendy styles of 1969

So now onto my Sally dress then? 

Fabric-a-brac 2014

Hello dears! How is your weekend going? 

For me, this weekend was successfully spent splurging my pay on vintage fabric and patterns, eating bagels, listening to ukulele bands and "sewcialising" with Susan from Measure Twice/Cut once and lots of other fabric lovers

The shops, crowd and merchandise was substantially bigger then last year, which was awesome. If you remember I attended last years Fabric-a-brac at Newtown and had quite a bit of luck with my buys - you can see last years post here. I didn't spend as much time in the notions baskets or button jars this time - I had my eyes on fabric and the huge amount of vintage patterns which filled the boxes, cute suitcases and baskets around the tables

Photo by Susan Goodwin

Less is more

Hello one and all! 

How are you keeping? I think it's time for a nice short and sweet post. Life is all so busy and crazy lately, I need to re-centre myself and get back to basics 

Less is more is the theme today - enjoy my lovelies

Me Made May week 2

Dear lovely readers, guess what? Monday was my bloggy birthday!

Hip, hip, hooray!!!!

Thank you for sticking around and listening to my nonsense this past year! I'm so darn excited and grateful to have you all popping by every now and again for a look. The frequency at which I post has definitely slowed down from those first few months, but I guess it was all very exciting back then, and it still is, I'm just such a busy little bee of late. 

I wanted to post this on Monday, but man I've been sooo tired lately after work that I crash out after dinner, I haven't sewn in about a week, but that's ok cause this weekend end is gonna be spent behind that machine!

I'm still prepping the pieces for my McCalls coat, which is taking ages cause I have to baste organza to each of the coat pieces. Cause I chose cotton sateen as the coat material it would basically be useless without some sort of under lining so that's what the organza is for! 

So anyway onto the me made's then? 

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!

Time of the season

I feel like I've been neglecting this poor little blog of mine and most of all my sewing machine! I'm so flipping exhausted when I get home that I just need to have a little sit down like a Nanna before starting dinner.

It's all totally self-inflicted, you see. I had this marvellous idea (not really) to go to the gym after work each day, and then come home and make dinner. But work being the way it is, means I finish later than intended, go to the gym and end up catching the all slow services home.

And then I keep picking the most complicated things to make for dinner when really my dear boy is just happy with having chicken wings and rice! Bless him. 

And then there's the pile of laundry that's sat un-ironed for the past 4 weeks! Oh yes 4 weeks. We keep picking things out every morning to iron and wear and it gets progressively smaller, and then a new load of washing is done and we start the merry-go-round again! 

How I feel every time I look at the ironing pile from here

Pattie Darling!

March 17th may have been St Patrick's day for some of you, but if you are after something else to celebrate, then why not Pattie's day!

That's right, Pattie Boyd, the lovely 60's dollybird also celebrates her birthday on the 17th of March. As her mother had assumed she would be a boy, a name was never picked for her, so being born on the day of a saint was an easy pick!

Pattie is a favourite of mine. I even made a suit in her name and managed to remember her birthday!

Cool weather sewing plans

Hello readers! 

I have a very funny situation going on. Its March and normally around this time its starts to get a little chilly, but summer just wants to hang around for a bit more! Which I'm totally cool with cause I love warm weather. Luckily its not the stinking hot version that saps your energy and makes you want to eat icy-poles all day on the couch. Though I have been doing a little too much of that anyway... 

So regardless of what its like now, the cool weather will eventually come and I've got a pile of projects I plan on executing in the next 6 months. 

I have this idea that I'm going to be super productive over the colder months (like I was last year) so I've created quite a large to-sew list.

Would you like to see? 

Charlotte, the dancer

Oh hi there! You've come back! Hurrah!

Last week I promised I would post the pictures of my Charlotte dress like the next day, but I never got the chance to.

It was a very eventful week last week. In both good and bad ways

Bad because I was swamped with work one day which required me to stay back, I fell ill with a cold and needed to go to bed early and then had a super large hangover yesterday

But also good as I was randomly invited to see Phoenix on Wednesday with a friend, had my birthday on Friday and birthday dinner on Saturday (hence the hangover) and then an urge to cook a lot of fancy things on Sunday whilst hung-over. 

We had roast pork with all the trimmings and I made banana bread for this week’s morning teas! Yummy! 

So you see. I'm very bad with time management lately, for both good and bad reasons. Add the warm weather lethargy and I'm just a hopeless sloth! I really must learn to get back on top of it because my sewing is looking quite neglected =( 

So finally, I will now give you my lovely Charlotte! 

Being sewcial on Satuday

Hi there lovely! How was your weekend? 

On Saturday I met up with a group of sewing bloggers from Sydney for a little sewcial outing.

The very well organised Mel from Made by Melanie set up the whole day and we all had a pretty darn good day! 

Dressing the Decade - 1964

It's been a fair while since the last installment of Dressing the Decade, and I do apologise as I've just been too busy to spend the time researching and so on. But this weekend was a lot more relaxing. Catching up on blogs, baking and catching up on some TV shows has been really nice while writing this post. 

Speaking of which, if your in Australia I hope you've marked Mondays at 8:40pm in your diary to watch Love Child! For those not familiar with the show, Love child focuses on the lives of the Nurses and girls at a women's hospital in Kings Cross, Sydney set in 1969. The main story line focuses on Nurse Joan Millar who has just moved from London back to Sydney and discovers her new place of employment engages in illegal forced adoptions on un-wed mothers. A poignant and sensitive topic for Australian women's history as forced adoptions were something practiced quite often - so much so that the government was compelled to make an apology in 2013 to the Mothers and Children involved in the practice. I highly recommend watching it not just for the story line, but also for the music and of course costumes!

Anyway, so back today's blog post. I last left you in November with 1963. That year we started to see the emergence of youth fashion with silhouettes slimming down and the cinched in waistlines almost disappearing 

So lets continue now 1964!

Put on your dancing shoes!

I'd been keeping my eye out for the release date of the Orla Kiely for Clarks collection since they announced their collaboration last year, but when they were put up for sale a few weeks ago they didn't include international postage - I assume because Clarks wanted to keep all the Orla Kiely loveliness to themselves* and not share it with Australian Orla lovers.

*Not actual reason, I just made that up

But with thanks to my sister-from-another-mister Nicole, I was able to have a pair forwarded from the UK to me and when they arrived I put together a little outfit to wear to work to compliment my adorable new shoes! 

Jumper - Supre

Blouse (collar only shown) - Top Shop

Mini Skirt - Self made

Shoes - Orla Kiely for Clarks 'Maggie' in Mustard

Charlotte Dress

Hey there fab people!

Thank you for all your comments on my last post, I'm feeling much better about my choice. I've decided to put my the chiffon frock away for a bit until I feel ready to sew it again.

It's not often that I completely feel the need to just stop a project, even at work or in regular life situations. Normally I have the energy and drive to be able to complete projects and deal with any little pains that come up, but not this time!

It's probably something as silly as the hot humid weather we're having, exhaustion from work or distraction from watching the Olympics that's making this dress less interesting. Combine all of that with something as tricky and fiddly as chiffon and well it's a drag. I hope that explains whats going on in my dear little head! 

To get myself back into the right frame of mind and refresh my 60s love, I've been spending lots of time of Etsy looking at fun 60s frocks, trawling through my Pinterest pins and visiting my favourite place for ideas - Vintage Pattern wiki! 

I also created a separate Pinterest board for sewing patterns only, so they aren't all mixed up in fashion, sewing and private boards.

One particular image which I pinned not too long ago, came back to my attention whilst going through my pins   

Couple attends the Festival of the Flower Children at the Windsor Jazz Festival,  August 12, 1967

The big chiffon mess

Hi hello how are you? 

Me? I'm not so good. You see, I seem to have lost my sewing mojo! 

How could this have happened???

Well I blame it on this little scamp of a dress. Currently titled "the big chiffon mess" It's just not doing it for me. 

I know it will look good in the end because it is chiffon and very forgiving, but right now I just don't have the energy to be dealing with fussy little bits and details. Not to mention I never really had enough fabric for this dress in the first place and so things like the facings have to be replaced by organza and the ruffle at the bottom is non-existent!

The whole project is making me feel very ho-hum. 

Gosh! Even the photos are uninspiring!

Shift dress sew along!

Hello wonderful readers!

I know I said I would post these photos on Sunday, but I have been insanely busy even in my down time and nursing a sore knee from over doing it at the gym. Perhaps more pressing the sewing machine pedal and less hitting the treadmill is required!

Anyway, so here it is! My version of Simplicity 3833 which was sewn for Rosie Wednesdays shift dress sew along! 

Sunshine came softly through my a-window today

Hello there! Hows your weekend going?

My version of Simplicity 3833 for Rosie Wednesday's shift dress sew along is complete! I did take some progress photos, but I lost them whilst I was switching to my new phone so I don't have them to share! They could always be buried in a folder in my computer somewhere...

Anyway! I took a little trip to the city today and had some luck at both the record and vintage stores so I thought I'd share with you what I got.

Sewingthe60s dresses for sale!

Hello there! Guess what, guess what, guess what!!

I have things for sale!

That's right I have been sneakily sewing up 2 dresses from a 60s sewing pattern. The pattern is far too small for me, and I wanted to try it out, so I decided to whip up some sweet dresses for you! Take a look below for the details and let me know if you’d be interested in making them part of your wardrobe!

First up...

Aqua blue sleeveless shift dress with top stitch details on front yoke and decorative buttons. Dress is fastened with zip at back. Dress is handmade by me with facings and hem slip stitched. Great care has been taken to sew this one of a kind dress!

Fabric - Vintage cotton fabric with slub. Hand wash only please.

Approx. size 8 Aus/UK (Size 4 US)

Measurements lying flat and doubled

Bust 83 cm (32 ½ inches)

Waist 80cm (31 ½ inches)

Hips 94cm (37 inches)

Length 90cm (35 ½ inches) – Upon ordering please advise your desired length of the hem and I will sew it before posting

Price $60 AUD (Approx $52 USD, GBP ₤32)

And also this bright lime green sleeveless shift dress with top stitch details on front yoke and decorative buttons. Dress is fastened with zip at back. Dress is handmade by me with facings and hem slip stitched. Great care has been taken to sew this one of a kind dress!

Fabric info – Stretch cotton gabardine – new fabric. Hand wash only please.

Approx. size 8 Aus/UK (Size 4 US)

Measurements lying flat and doubled

Bust 83 cm (32 ½ inches)

Waist 80cm (31 ½ inches)

Hips 94cm (37 inches)

Length 90cm (35 ½ inches) – Upon ordering please advise your desired length of the hem and I will sew it before posting

Price $60 AUD (Approx $52 USD, GBP ₤32)

Postage for one dress is AUD $6.95, GBP ₤13, USD $18. Exact postage will be calculated upon inquiry

Email me if you’re interested or for more detailed photos. If your happy to go ahead with the purchase I will send you a paypal invoice

Thanks for taking a look, and we'll be back to our regular Sewing the 60s programming soon!

See you later lovelies! 

Cat xo

Norma Tullo

Hi there good lookin! How’s your week been? I’ve been a busy little bee myself sewing up some new dresses and doing a lot of research for today’s post.

It’s also our national day tomorrow – Australia day, and my friends and I will be celebrating by having a picnic and watching a classic Aussie film The Castle in the backyard projected up onto a sheet.

So now let’s learn a little more about one of Australia’s most prominent designers from the 60s. 

Norma Tullo

Grain lines, cut and Ossie Clark

While working on Simplicity 3833 for the sew along I thought I'd work on Burda 10/2011 which requests you to cut your skirt piece on the bias, and I wondered how this will make the end garment look, especially cause this pic isn't that great for detail. I decided to do some reading on grain lines and cut to understand more

In my research I came across some articles about Ossie Clark which spoke of his talent at being able to cut a garment well. I was rather confused because it obviously didn't mean that he was good at holding scissors and I knew it had something to do with getting his garments to fit women in a flattering way, but I still didn't know what it meant when a garment was well cut! 

Sunday's on the phone to Monday

Well, that dreaded day has come - tomorrow I go back to work after 3 weeks off. I'm kinda looking forward to it, but I'm sure the novelty will wear off by 9:30. 

The last week of holidays was well spent, I went to the MCA in Sydney to see the Yoko Ono exhibit, visited friends and got lots of housework done. And I also had a huge pile of opp-shop finds that needed new hems or some fitting changes made to them. (One dress I had been waiting to fix for 2 years!)

So unfortunately there are no new fancy new things to show of this week, but I have been spending a lot of time on Pinterest looking for work outfit ideas. I'd like to share with you some of my favourite looks which if I could I'd pluck them off the screen and wear them to work!

That would save a lot time in the morning... 

Paulene Stone

I'm Just mad about Saffron

"...Saffrons mad about me"

Oh Donovan! How many post titles can I come up with from his lyrics? Perhaps we can discuss that another time, because now I have my finished dress to show you! 

The Simplicity Sewing book 1969

Why hello there and welcome to 2014!! I hope your New Years celebrations were filled with lots of fun and sparklers!

I'd like to share with you today some images from the Simplicity 1969 sewing book. Two of my favourite things combined - sewing and the 60s! (in case you couldn't tell) 

The book itself is like most sewing books, with instructions in a lot of basic techniques and tips on how to use Simplicity patterns, but this one also comes with advertisements for sewing products and full colour fashion photos - Fun!*

*Mine also includes scribbles from a budding artist wielding a ball point! See if you can spot them!

Lets take a look!

Front cover

2013 boast post and 2014 to do list!

It's New Years Eve here in Oz, and all around the world, bloggers are preparing cute cocktails, decorative bunting, sparkly outfits and end of year posts to share with the their readers. So here now is my very own 2013 boast post!

Despite only starting this blog in May, I'm so happy and grateful to you all for where this blog has ended up! In 8 months I've gathered a nice little group of readers who are all so nice and friendly! 

And I'm really proud of most of the garments I've made, but once they are made, what happens with them? Did I actually enjoy the dresses I made? Lets have a look!

Yellow is the colour of my true loves hair

Hello hello there!

How was your Christmas? Are you still enjoying left overs? We were up until yesterday but we finally had a proper dinner tonight which I made from the Jamie Saves cook book that my dearest mum got me for Christmas. He’s a clever man that Jamie – releasing cookbooks right at the end of the year. My dear mum doesn't even need to ask what to buy me anymore. It’s just Jamie Oliver cook books by default – which I’m OK with!

Among other Jamie Oliver kitchen-y things, the bible-sized Fabric Sewing Guide and The Wes Anderson Collection, (Yay) I also got two Biba books – Big Biba and Seamless. I also asked for Biba: The experience from my sister-from-another-mister Nicole, but I have to wait for the postman to bring that all the way from England for me!

In the meantime I've been working away at my mustard yellow Simplicity 7296

In a nice change of pace, this dress has some rather interesting structural elements to it instead of just a zipper and a couple darts.

Merry Christmas lovelies!

Hello again to you!

Just popping in now to wish you all a Merry Christmas wherever you are in the world and thank you so much for all you kindness since I started this little blog in May. I've made some really great bloggy friends and you've all had such nice things to say which really helps in wanting to keep posting more and more sewing projects!

If at any point during the next few days I get to take a break from eating, drinking and watching terrible Christmas movies, I'll get back behind that sewing machine and hopefully whip out something in time for New Years!

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful next few days and that all the presents on your wish list are brought down your chimney by Jimi Hendrix in a Santa suit!

I'm sure hoping that will happen for me!

Take care lovelies and Merry Christmas!

Cat xo

Holiday Plans

Hello lovelies! Hows the weather where you are? 

We're having a stinker of a heatwave currently - 38 degrees today - that's 100 for my American pals. And I've been ever so lucky to get what seems to be my 100th cold this year. Another fever to enjoy in the middle of all this heat. yay...

Its really hard to want to sew in this kind of weather, but the boy and I have decided to resolve the issue by buying a portable air-conditioner which will arrive just in time for the heatwave to end!

The crickets seem to like it however - their singing their happy little songs while the sun beats down and wilts my garden. At least there are no water restrictions this year so I water it every evening.

In the mean time, I have been planning what I want to achieve over this summer. Would you like to know what I'll be up to?

Lauren from Rosie Wednesday is hosting a shift dress sew along and has been kind enough to invite me to help rally up the troops! 

We will be sewing with Simplicity 3833 - which you can buy at your local sewing shop or online.

It's a 1960's reproduction pattern so I just had to say yes! Pop over to Lauren's blog to take a look at her excellent introduction video, the schedule and to grab a badge for your blog. You can see mine at the bottom left!

Also I've just cut the pattern for my next sewing project. When I bought the fabric I was planning to use Vogue 7219 which I used for this project. That was until I received Simplicity 7296 in the mail. I didn't realise it, but the two patterns are incredibly similar. 

The one notable difference is that the back on the Vogue dress has a seam down the middle and the Simplicity version is a one piece back. 

Also the simplicity version comes with a belt tie and a short sleeve option. Have you ever bought a pattern which just ends up being exactly the same as another pattern you own? I've done that a few times!

I've decided to use the Simplicity version as I've not used it yet, and I'll be making it from this textured mustard silk that I bought from The Fabric Shop in Surry Hills. It very light like silk, but it feels like wool. I love this fabric! It's ticks so many boxes.

This dress will be perfect for Autumn and work days in the freezing cold office!

Also on the sewing pile is a completely different style of dress than normal. I've wanted a late 60s/70's style maxi dress (dare I say hippy style?) for awhile and I found a really nice chiffon to go with it! 

The pattern was a bit trickier to find because there are so many patterns that look like what I wanted, but I settled on Burda 10/2011. Though with my obsession with bishop sleeves I'll probably be making those sleeves a lot bigger!

Also there I have a massive pile of UFO's (Un-finished objects) and opp-shop purchases that need modifying. I plan to set aside a day or two to concentrate on these. Throw in festive activities, and happy little day trips outside our lovely Sydney, I'm gonna be a busy girl over these next few weeks! 

Luckily though, all the Christmas gift shopping is done and we're going to my sisters house for Christmas lunch, so I wont need to spend the next few days planning, shopping and cooking for that! Phew! 

What plans have you got for yourself over the Christmas break? Will you be making Christmas dinner or doing any sewing? 

Enjoy the next few days lovelies and try not to leave the gift shopping till the night before! 

Cat xo

Biba's Pink Gingham dress

Ooh my it's been awhile since I've posted an actual project! 

But I have still been sewing and scheming (and working and slothing about) and holidays are only a few days away! So many UFOs to finish and opp-shopped clothes to repair

For now however, I bring you my reproduction of Biba's gingham shift...

Do you like my Christmas decorations?

Replicating Biba's pink gingham dress

Back when this blog was just a twinkle in my eye (approx 10 min before registering it) I had planned on focusing on only reproducing iconic 60's dresses and other garments. But after a moment of panic about possibly being in trouble for breaching Intellectual property rules or being dubbed a lazy copy cat by other vintage lovers, I put that idea at the bottom on my 'blog post ideas' list

But now I've finally gotten over my initial worries and have decided to try replicating a dress which seems to no longer exist except in books and memories. 

source