I feel a project coming on!

Totally inspired by Jive Party last night at the sumptuously glamorous Rivoli Ballrooms, I feel a (fiendishly difficult) sewing project coming on. Forgive the wobbly photo, there was a lot of dancing going on!

Being tall, vintage frocks rarely fit so, filled with envy for the fab,flirty shapes twirling on the dance floor last night, I am inspired to make my own from this lovely original fifties/early sixties gown pattern. I picked it up at Camden Passage for home decor purposes, but hey it's complete, so why not have a stab at making it up?

Plus, this seems to be a year of weddings, so another perfect excuse (as if one were needed!) for a divine dress!

Step one: find my ultimate fabric, I'm thinking floral like these amazing retro-inspired prints from Beyond Fabrics

Step two: persuade Mother to pitch in with dress making skills and, ahem, "help"

I'll keep you posted!

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In lieu of spring

Some photos from a recent visit, with Aged Parents, to a National Trust winter garden at Dunham Massey in Cheshire.

I find myself increasingly fascinated by mossy organic textures - perhaps the cold dank (seemingly endless) winter that means my eye is drawn to these colours and shapes? In lieu of spring, I look to glossy evergreens ...

 

Not organic but fast becoming it, as the wind and weather erodes the mellow old brick? I find these colours strangely statisfying and nourishing. I think it is the quality of the red-orange against the warm grey stone ...

Vintage crush, courtesy of Frocks That Rock

A rather splendid vintage crush, courtesy of the lovely proprietors of Frocks That Rock ... reminscent of Thirties secretaries in pencil skirts, sliding elegantly into sleek sportcars. Fab.

A faint promise of Spring