Posh Frock Friday

I joined Posh Frock Friday at http://scathingly-brilliant.blogspot.com last week and just realised the link doesn't take anyone to the post. Apologies to those who have already seen these before, but as red hot faves, here they are again.

Why make one when you could make two?

When I was kid my mother used to make most of my clothes. As she always bought too much fabric (just to be on the safe side, eh?) she never made just one thing, and I think I've absorbed that habit.

The yellow cushion was made with leftovers and still I managed to eke it out to make a little bag. I bough this 1970s print skirt at the fleamarket and with the fabric I cut off when I shortened it, I was able to make a belt and use a buckle I've been saving for years.

Visit me at Frock Me! this Sunday

I will have a stall at Frock Me! this Sunday (24th October) at the Corn Exchange in Brighton. Opening hours 11am-5pm.


I'll be selling vintage clothing, bags, jewellery and a new range of hand-made brooches.

http://www.frockmevintagefashion.com/index.htm

Upholstery for beginners

These are pictures of my first upholstery project - and yet another good use for old curtain fabric. (Maybe I ought to be working for some kind of curtain marketing board, if such a thing exists...?)

This 1960s dressing table stool had been covered in off-white vinyl when we found it in a market. It cost the princely sum of £5.

Firstly, I prised off the dome-headed tacks holding the vinyl in place on the underside of the stool using the claw (forked) end of a hammer, with an few extra tugs with the pliers for some rusted ones. The foam padding covering the wooden seat was in very good condition, so I didn't need to replace it.

The fabric I wanted to use was the offcut from the bottom of a pair of 1970s curtains my friend Ali had me shorten for her. Because it was a lighter weight than upholstery fabric, I covered the stool with a layer of canvas first, to strengthen it. The vinyl I had taken off served as a pattern to cut out the canvas and the outer fabric. I used a staple gun to attach both layers of fabric to the underside of the stool - because it is a bowed shape (I never choose anything too easy for a first go at anything!) I started from the middle of each side, pulling the fabric taught, rather than at the corners.

Having secured the sides, the corners of the canvas were folded over squarely and tucked in, like "hospital corners" on a bed sheet. To avoid extra bulk, the corners of the outer fabric were turned in the opposite direction to the ones on the canvas layer.

The stool turned out really well, which is always very encouraging for a first attempt. And it cost the equivalent of two lattes at my cafe of choice, plus an hour of my time. I'll probably do an entire couch next, knowing me.

Treacle & Co

My new favourite cafe (and they do seem to be springing up thick and fast despite the recession...) is Treacle & Co on Church Road, Hove, East Sussex.

Its blue and white tiled interior indicates that it was either a fishmonger or a fish and chip shop in the past. It has been wittily furnished with salvaged furniture and all sorts of curios. The highlight for me is the women's toilet: wallpapered with black and white cuttings of animals and one single colour picture of a goldfish (apparently the men's toilet features maps of the world).

Oh yes, and there are big fat cakes if you like that sort of thing, and nice coffee.

Breathing new life into old stuff

Hello there. My name is Carol and, having kept up a general blog for some time now, I have decided to start this new one with a more specific, but certainly not narrow, theme.

Like many others out there in the blogosphere, I am a passionate collector of vintage clothes, but I also re-appropriate vintage and recycled fabrics, furniture and other finds. The theme of this blog will be hunting for vintage and second-hand treasures and giving discarded items a second chance.

You can have a look at my more general blog here: http://carolseatory.blogspot.com and you can see my children's clothes at http://www.atelierbricolage.co.uk.

So, to start with, here's a dress made from an old curtain using a vintage 1960s pattern. I liked the inappropriate combination of winter trees on a sleeveless summer dress. Old curtains are great for recycling as you often get a lot of fabric even if there's only one of the pair. There are pitfalls though: the fabric will be weakened - and probably faded - especially down the sides, by the sun's rays; also, I often find that curtains have been used as dust sheets for decorating and so they may have paint on them. Even after damaged fabric has been cut away, you can usually squeeze quite a lot out of the remaining fabric, although you probably won't be able to lay out the pattern pieces as per the instructions as you would with a new piece of fabric.

The first time I wore this dress I happened to visit the market where I had bought the original curtain. I met the stallholder again; he squinted at me and said "I recognise that from somewhere..." When I told him how his old curtain had been reincarnated he insisted on taking my photograph to show his wife what had become of a piece of their old junk.