Altering Vintage

Do we? Don't we? Should we? Shouldn't we?

On the whole, I think go for it. Not with anything precious or very old but alas, life being what it is, I am not likely to own anything like that.

I do often have to battle the nagging voice in the back of my head that says "Should you even be altering this? It is vintage." (the voice says vintage in a very Ab Fab sort of way) Let's not be precious though. Just because something happens to be more than 15 years old is no real reason to preserve it untouched. Fashions and hemlines change and a piece of clothing is far better off being altered so that it fits and is wearable rather than hanging on a rail unloved for all time.

If it was an expensive purchase or difficult to alter, I may consider sending it to someone who is slightly less cackhanded with a sewing machine than I am but with things that aren't quite so old, I don't feel quite so much pressure. I (eventually) have a crack at the alterations myself. Here's one I did last year.

I picked up two very nice Welsh tweed skirts from Oxfam months ago. Rather a snip at £6.99, thought I. But, oh, they were a hideously unflattering length. Look, see for yourself (and ignore the Mitch Benn tshirt. I only realised at the last minute that I should probably take a photo before starting the alterations):

Turns out it wasn't so very difficult to make them look good after all. Measure, pin, hack and hem. Bish, bash, bosh. They're both beautifully made, so it was just a case of trying to do it neatly enough to do them justice.

Additional bonus - a lot of offcuts! I think I shall attempt making a clutch bag. Watch this space. I may get round to it by...ooh...September?

And what do they look like now? Well you can only see one because I haven't photographed them both, but here is the darker of the two. I'm very pleased with the results.






Shirt - Zara, via charity shop
Skirt - vintage, via Oxfam
Cricket jumper - Oxfam. No idea if it's vintage or not, it's just cute
Brogues - Dune, via TK Maxx
Coat - Kookai, via car boot sale
Gloves - Accessorize

Jeans (and why I loathe shopping for them)

I think that shopping for jeans is one of the most unrelentingly miserable tasks in the shopping universe. It can never be described as fun. If you want a nice pair of shoes, well, you wander round various shops going "Oooh" or "Ergh!" as the mood strikes you. A size 6 is generally a size 6. If you want a nice pair of jeans you have to wade through 47 different cuts/colours/lengths per store just to narrow it down to which ones you take to the changing rooms. Then comes the dreaded task of trying them on, complicated by the fact that a size 14 is not a size 14. I still don't understand how, IN THE SAME SHOP, a pair of size 12 jeans in one style can be too big and a pair of size 16 jeans in another style not go up over my thighs. Yeah, Next, I am hereby naming and shaming you. Sort your sizing out.

I honestly thought I had struck lucky. I've been buying Dorothy Perkins dark wash skinny short jeans for a good few years now and they've always been a good fit, a good colour and even better, a really good price: £15 (and often on offer for cheaper). Things appear to have changed with my latest pair.

I still like the colour and price very much but the fit has changed. I actually like the fact they sit a bit higher up than my previous pairs but that slight tweak seems to be matched to an increase in leg length. Now I don't think I've shrunk, but my other pairs have always sat nicely at the right length. These are decidedly too long, hence today's turn-ups.

I'm not sure I can face the drama of finding a new style from a new shop. Probably easier just to take these up myself.




Hey ho. At least my cardigan gives me no woes. I made the official Charity Shop Noise Of Joy when I found it. It reminds me ever so strongly of the things that the Dreaded Grandma (an entirely affectionate nickname: she was lovely really) used to knit for me when I was little. Little pearlised buttons and everything!




Top - H&M
Cardi - Charity shop
Jeans - Dorothy Perkins
Coat - Kookai via car boot sale
Brogues - Dune, vastly reduced in the TK Maxx sale
Pearls - honestly can't remember
Ring - Landbaby

Shopping. At This Time of Year?

Don't worry gang, it's not one of those posts about how to buy the perfect last-minute gift for your second cousin twice removed who's invited himself round for Christmas dinner. Does anyone even do that, or is just one of those things that the magazines would have us believe?

It's just about me and what I've been buying recently.

I'm not one of those people who subscribe to the school of thought that when buying Christmas presents you MUST get yourself something nice as well. For starters, I buy presents throughout the year and I'd be constantly skint if I went down the one-for-you-one-for-me route. Then you hit the issue that shopping in November and December is always dicey - don't want to ruin someone's beautifully chosen present by buying the same thing for yourself. Also, I'm not 6 years old any more. I don't automatically have to reward myself for getting things done.

It is extremely nice to have money spare in December though. For me, it means not having to stress about January (which is when I bitch and moan almightily at the prospect of spending upwards of £800 on car insurance). It means I can donate money to my favourite charities, especially those who are in extra need of it at this time of year. It means that whilst I'm doing fun things during my time off like visiting friends and popping out for lunch, I can mosey around the shops and if I wish to pick up a few things, there's nothing stopping me. Plus you know, the sales all start before Christmas now. I don't want to be sitting at home crying over my bank statement until payday.

A few things that I've been able to purchase recently:


This beautiful little necklace from a charity shop. It might just be an abstractly painted pebble but I look at it and think of lakeside scenes and the Chalet School books and smile.


Also from a charity shop, an old school scarf. Needs a spot of darning but that's easily done. Thanks Timothy, whoever you are!


Rather lovely Dune brogues, half price in TK Maxx. I had no plans to buy more brogues, having only recently bought the glittery M&S pair, but these are proper leather (I can hear my mum saying "they'll last you years if you polish them properly!") and were too nice to leave behind.


A big cosy stripy jumper from Dorothy Perkins. Not only was this half price in the sale, it was also buy-one-get-one-half-price on everything in store so I got another pair of my beloved skinny jeans for all of £7.50. Bargaintastic.

Also these two tshirts from Threadless:

Dandy Lions

M!aw

All stuff that I could afford, I'm confident no-one else will have got me and that is going to fit very nicely into my wardrobe. That's how December shopping should be.