Buying beads in the oddest places.

 At the War & Peace Revival Show earlier this year tucked away in a corner was a stall selling jewellery, baskets, beads and bags of mixed old beads (from broken necklaces) & broken oddments of jewellery. 


This was a long way away from the vintage village and the other stalls of clothing, accessories, and jewellery.
  http://www.thewarandpeacerevival.co.uk/

I brought several bags of the beads and a bag of the jewellery oddments.  Some of it was a bit nasty (but not very much), some of it not quite my taste and there were lots of real treasures.

It took quite a while to sort the beads into usable categories but it was great fun.  There were quite a few vintage beads in the mix.

 Lots of different sizes, shapes and styles - perfect for creating unique bags and purses.  
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/194691445/handcrafted-one-of-a-kind-floral-purse?

This is the first time I have seen glass beads as small as grains of fine sand, I hope I can get a needle through them.

There were lot of unusual larger  were in one of the bags, there were several crystals and pretty old glass beads in various sizes, shells, wood and pearls - beads of all shapes.  

The oddments of jewellery included a lot of earrings, clip-ons as well as ones for pierced ears, rings and brooches. 

I am really looking forward to designing and creating my new projects.  Adding oodles of beads amongst the ribbons and lace. 


https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/183566328/tattoo-skull-purseooak-gothpsychobilly?ref=listing-shop-header-3 

I love this little brooch

Dressing up a birthday present

 THE DRESS I made over for my niece was only the beginning, after making the retro looking dress to wear to my cousins wedding I decided to make the same pattern up for my niece for her birthday.  I found this lovely fabric in our local haberdashery shop (this shop is in two parts - one for fabric and one for everything else) http://www.the-haberdashery-shop.co.uk/

 

I brought three metre of this pretty Rose and Hubble fabric and cut it carefully (this time very close to the pattern, I did change the sleeves slightly) and there should be enough fabric left to make a fitted summer top or sleeveless blouse. 

I often line the bodices of dresses, partly because if the skirt is very full this gives the garment more strength, partly because it is easier than sewing the recommended facings and partly to just make the overall finish neater,  This cotton is very lightweight so lining it was a must.   I decided to finish the neckline and the elbow sleeves with shell edging.  It has been years since I last did this.  A catch stitch every four stitches gives a lovely decorative edge - just like a line of shells in a seaside garden.

The dress was finished in time for my nieces planned birthday holiday in Rome.  I also want to make her a froufrou petticoat to wear with this dress when she comes home to finish its retro look.

Sewing club inspiration

The sewing club that we started a few months ago is going really well, even though we haven't met as a group during most of August, we have all carried on sewing.

 My sister and I had to get ourselves outfits made for our cousins wedding.  
I went for a fifties/sixties inspired dress complete with froufrou petticoat and my sister made a stunning two piece from some teal brocade.  While we were doing this my niece has been making pyjama bottoms and a retro look swim suit.  My niece's friend decided to design and them make a fitted top, it may need a little work when we all meet up again.  I am so proud of them - they are really getting the dressmaking bug.  Soon nothing will hold them back.

I had to alter the pattern to make it the right size (not as thin as I used to be)  and because I didn't have enough my chosen fabric to make it as the pattern sleeve stated, I also changed the sleeves slightly.  

All cut out and ready to go.

 

 French seams for the skirt and sleeves and a lined bodice

Flowers made from the dress fabric to coordinate my plain straw hat. 

Vintage blue crochet gloves complete the look.

A good look in the cold light of day

Saturday was the first day of military odyssey for this year.  I really like this show because as it covers a large period of history it meant that there was (as always) a nice variety of items on sale.
http://www.military-odyssey.com/index.php?ix=1&iw=251&iz=0

The first thing a saw as we arrived was a beautiful old parasol, been a bit taken with parasols for a while and this one brings my total up to three.  

I got a Christmas present for my niece, a brooch for myself and then it was time to buy fabric ....... lots of fabric. 

Looking at the pile in the cold light of day this morning part of me felt I had got carried away - OVER FORTY METRES OF FABRIC!!!  Not all of it was for me so another part wished I had brought more.  I had sent some pictures to my sister for her to make decisions on and some I just brought to see if she would like it.

 Here is the thing, this show at Detling is once a year, the fabric I got was only £2.00 a metre.  We have a very good fabric shop in Ramsgate and the prices there are good - but not £2.00 a metre good.

This I got to see if my sister would like it to go with her 10 metres of  embroidered cotton and 5 metres of natural lightweight linen.

Left to right :- 7 metres of a heavy brushed cotton type fabric (I was thinking of sharing this); 2.5 metres of white spots which will become a skirt; 5 metres of green & 5 metres of lightweight floral to make fifties style full skirted dresses; 2 metres white cotton for a blouse and finally 3 metres of stripe for hippy trousers and maybe a skirt.

£35.00 for five items of clothing decided on plus the decision needed for the blue.

These three remnant pieces I got with my sister in mind for £1.00.  If she decides not to have them I am sure I can find a use for them.

So lots of sewing to keep me going, especially if saturdays haul is added to the fabric I already have.

Baking disasters

Today I tried a recipe that I think I copied from a book belonging to my Grandmother although I am not entirely sure.  It was for a 1910 sponge cake. 

1910 sponge cake
6 eggs
weight of 5 eggs in sugar
weight of 3 eggs in plain flour
grated rind of half a lemon

break the eggs onto the sugar and beat well for twenty minutes
stir in the flour which has been dried and sifted
butter a square tin, dredge it with flour shaking out any which does not adhere
pour mixture in and bake at once in a moderate oven inclining to coolness rather to heat 

This was not a success; it took a very long time to cook and I do not think a sponge cake is supposed to look like half raw pastry when it is cooked.  It is possible that the weight of flour and sugar have been mis-copied at some point (maybe by me)  I will try it again with less sugar and more flour.


 All TV programs, videos and blogs about cooking and baking show beautiful works of art almost too good to eat.  I have been cooking and baking since my early teens if not before and this is not my first mis-hap :- there was the time when I fell asleep and baked the Christmas cake for eight hours instead of three; the time when I was too clever to label the jar of salt (you can see where this one is going) and put six ounces of salt into a cake instead of six ounces of sugar - luckily that one never got cooked.  I thought a different take on lemon meringue pie might be nice if a chocolate flan case filled with tinned  manderine oranges topped with meringue would be nice.  I was right it was nice but I broke the cake so badly trying to get it off the tin no one else got to try it.  

ready to bake

Even before todays effort got to the oven I was having problems with the eggs so I decided to cheer myself up and make some mincemeat squares with the spare eggs.  Just waiting for it to cool down so we can eat it.

 

 

A summers day at the War and Peace Revival

It is the time of year when tanks, trucks, guns etc roll across the Kentish countryside to a massive event.  Static displays of living history, arena shows, army surplus stands have now (at the second year at the new venue) been joined by classic cars, a 'home front' village, vintage fashion shows and stalls with clothes - some vintage some replicas. http://www.thewarandpeacerevival.co.uk/
As this years show finishes at the end of sunday 20th July plans are already being made for the next show.

I love classic car shows like this with a lot of variety there are so many beautiful cars.

A friend of mine was taking part in a fashion show - but not the one I watched .... this one in the home front village was very interesting.  Finding out about the reduction of the number of buttons (to free up valuable time), how many coupons were needed for clothes and details about styling.

A walk around the camps and vehicle display takes a long time but worth it.

The Home Front village with tape across the glass, a pub, shelter in the dig for victory garden (with chickens), war memorial to those lost in the Great War gives a good idea of what things were like even on a hot summers day. 

DRINK BING a soft drink still available today in Kent.

 Just right for smoothing the showground ready for the next day.






I would recommend more than one day because there is so much to see and do, this really is the tip of the ice berg, there are dances and variety shows throughout the day and evening.  And in the true spirit of the Blitz even the rain and storms of the last two nights can't stop.

Lone soldier

A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO I WAS WALKING THROUGH ELLINGTON PARK on my way to work and I found this gentleman standing near the main gate.  As there was still sawdust on the ground this wonderful carving can only just have been done.
The Friends of Ellington Park have been putting a lot of effort into making the park great again - with new flower beds being planted and events being held.
http://www.friendsofellingtonpark.org.uk/

I had to take pictures from all angles because I was so impressed with the workmanship of this woodcarving to commemerate the start of the Great War.

 

 I liked the dead tree that he had been carved from but this is even better.