Striped Tee Shirt

I sorted out my tee shirts recently and realised most of them were plain colours and some were very old.  Got rid of the old ones and started looking out for new ones.  This striped one caught my eye straight away, I like stripes, they go with a lot of things...

It will go nicely with navy blue trousers, my pale blue jeans and the darker blue ones.

I like the button detail on the shoulder...

Longer sleeves to the elbow would have been better.  The tops of my arms don't look very attractive these days, it's not that I have 'bingo wings' but the skin is a bit lined looking, almost like cellulite on the inside area.  Not much I can do about that, older skin is very strange, it sort of goes like a balloon that was blown up ages ago and is starting to deflate.  Accepting who we are and growing old gracefully is how I prefer to be, those women who have plastic surgery can look very strange can't they.

A Cream Jacket

I've been looking for a light weight jacket to wear this summer and managed to find the perfect one...

It looks like linen as it is a linen and viscose mix.  I'm very pleased with it, I don't like pure linen as it creases so easily but linen mix still has the look but not the bad creasing.  It doesn't show in my picture but there is top stitching along the seams and pockets.  I must try and get a better picture of that detail.  Also, there are button tabs at the ends of the sleeves - a nice touch that I thought.  I got it from the shop that a lot of women scorn, Edinburgh Woollen Mill.  I've got some nice things from this shop so I really don't understand their aversion, maybe it's because I'm not a posh person like they are!

A Jacket

Six years ago my husband retired and for his retirement do I bought a jacket to wear with the skirt and top I'd chosen.  Yesterday I decided to reorganise how things were hung in my wardrobe.  Winter coats and posh outfits are stored in hanging garment bags.  On checking what was actually in these bags I came across the outfit I'd worn to that do.  I took it out of the bag to have a good look at it and what did I find - the red jacket!  What a waste of that jacket, I could have been wearing it all this time...

It's a darker red than it looks in this picture, not so tomato.  It'll be very useful, I've got a few things that it goes very nicely with.

The weather is a bit warmer today so I'm thinking about being able to wear summer skirts and dresses.  One thing I will be doing which is totally unfashionable is that I will wear sheer tights (pantyhose).  I really do not like the fashion of wearing dresses/skirts with bare legs, unless you are on the beach that is.  Most women's legs are not perfect and sheer tights help hide imperfections.  It's rarely hot enough here to make this a problem with overheating.

A Retro Blouse Pattern

For a while now I've been having a go at making blouses.  I didn't blog about the last one I made but will show a picture soon.  I am having a bit of trouble getting these patterns to fit, I'm broad shouldered, small busted and rather wide on the waist.  Rectangular is my body shape. This blouse is still in progress, I've had to fiddle around a lot with the pattern and I'm now waiting for a concealed zipper foot to arrive so that I can put that into the muslin to check that the fit is right before I start on the fabric I want to use...

Now this blouse...

...fits without much adjusting at all, I just left the front darts out and added a bit to the peplum.  I started sewing the final fabric one together today, hope to get it finished this week but I'm not rushing it.  I'm making the view without the collar first.

These two patterns are reproductions of 1940s style blouses, I wanted 1930s style ones but I really liked these when I saw them and they were easily available for me to buy.

I'm glad that more women are going for these vintage styles, I've admired the look of 1930s fashions since I watched the Poirot series that started in 1989.  Then I watched Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries and her clothes are gorgeous.  In Poirot all the outfits are beautifully put together, matching hats, belts, bags, shoes, even the lipstick colours match, wish I had the talent to put clothes together so well.  I am trying to find things that all coordinate with what I'm wearing.  When I was a teenager in the 1960s it was usual to have shoes, bag and gloves matching and it seemed easy to find these items then, or maybe I just lost the habit of 'doing myself up' after I got married.  I spent a long time not bothering, if I don't do it now I never will and it's enjoyable to search out the items I want, sort of like a new hobby!

A Raincoat

I've spent all of April messing around trying to make a blouse that fits.  It's been a struggle but I think I've cracked it and will get it made up during May.

In the meantime - I've been looking for a lightweight, showerproof coat and at last I've found one...

I don't usually go for coats with belts, they can make me look like a sack of potatoes but this one already has a bit of shaping so the belt ties nicely without too much bulk around the middle.  Full price it was £38, there was £10 off plus I got an extra 20% off by using a coupon, that meant I ended up only paying £22 - bargain.

I've also had to buy new shoes.  I hate buying shoes these days.  When I was a youngster my shoes were always nice feminine styles, these days they tend to be a bit clumpy looking and flat.  Do you remember a poem about shoes, I loved this poem as a child...

"Choosing Shoes"

by Frida Wolfe

New shoes, new shoes,
Red and pink and blue shoes.
Tell me, what would you choose,
If they'd let us buy?

Buckle shoes, bow shoes,
Pretty pointy-toe shoes,
Strappy, cappy low shoes;
Let's have some to try.

Bright shoes, white shoes,
Dandy-dance-by-night shoes,
Perhaps-a-little-tight shoes,
Like some? So would I.

BUT
Flat shoes, fat shoes,
Stump-along-like-that shoes,
Wipe-them-on-the-mat shoes,
That's the sort they'll buy.

I suppose it was wearing high heels that ended up giving me Morton's Neuroma .

These red shoes don't look too clumpy.  I got the bag from Oxfam for £2.99.  The bag doesn't match exactly but it's not bad.

The green shoes do look clumpy but they are comfortable...

The bag was from another charity shop and cost about £2.50, something like that anyway.  It was probably quite a cheap bag new but it goes nicely with my shoes so that is ok.  I also got a green scarf that goes quite well with these...

It was from Oxfam and cost £2.50, it's silk and probably quite old.

Here are two more bags I bought, one from another charity shop, cost £1.50...

It was probably cheap when new but I like the shape of it.

And this one from a Vintage Fair I went to...

It's faux snakeskin and cost £8, a bit more than my charity shop buys but still affordable.