Air NZ Lady Date and "Ode to Joy" Dress

Yesterday Ria and I caught up one final time before we head home for Christmas (she's going to Adelaide/Sydney and I'm going to Taranaki/Auckland/Tauranga).

I kind of wanted to do something fun and I had recently read about an Air New Zealand Exhibition at Te Papa which included a display of historical Air New Zealand uniforms, it sounded like a blast - so we went along.

The first part of the exhibition was a history of the uniforms worn by Air NZ staff - starting with the current uniform, which is ok I guess. I've seen a lot worse on my travels on various airlines. In case you were wondering, that second photo is of a cabin crew member dressed as an elf with a small child dressed as a hobbit - I do live in middle earth after all.

Then it was the uniforms from the 1990s and 1980 - what can I  say - it was horrible, horrible stuff. Especially that dropped waist dress - I just can't see how that would look good on anyone ever!

The 1970's was MUCH more my style - I'd so wear that green shirt dress and that chunky houndstooth fabric. It's all so dreamy.

My favourite decade was of course the 1960's - look at how cute the uniforms are! I love the hats too! Also how great is that photo of the woman looking longingly at the Kiwi - it makes me giggle.

Finally the 1940s/1950s - the uniforms looked quite militaristic here - but included a perfect crisp white dress.

The exhibition wasn't ALL uniforms, there was so much interesting stuff about the history of the airline. I loved the old posters - although some of them are pretty cringe worthy by modern standards.

There was a lot of interactive parts to the exhibition - we got to sit in a old style Air NZ Cabin which is huge by today's standards. It felt more like sitting in a train carriage than a plane.

There was a photo zone - so obviously we were all over that as well!

There was also a kids area which included all kinds of fun activities - including dress ups! As the dress ups were child size the only thing we could wear was the  hats, but it was totally awesome. Adult life choices always.

However - the very best part of the exhibition wasn't inside Te Papa - it was outside. In case you're wondering, that is a cockpit of a plane!

Neither of us got invited into the cockpit of the plane as kids - can you tell? It was pretty exciting.

After all that excitement it was time for some lunch and so present opening!

Ria basically got me all the stuff I like for Christmas - Hello Kitty, birds, sewing stuff and creepy stuff.

Finally let's have a look at that "Ode to Joy" dress of mine! This dress is inspired by my friend Joy who is the Queen of all things animal print.

The fabric was from a sale at The Fabric Store and I only bought 1.5 metres, not really knowing what I would do with it! Fortunately even though I only bought 1.5 metres the fabric was so wide that I had plenty for a dress.

I decided to make a Moneta - because duh that's the dress I make right now. There  wasn't enough fabric for the three quarter length sleeves, so I made the shorter sleeves. I tend to make most things with three quarter length sleeves, but I'm actually really liking these short sleeves.

Well that's all for now - tomorrow Rich and I will be flying to my parents house for Christmas day. Then its onwards to Auckland for about five days and finally we will head to Tauranga to see Rich's family. So many busy holiday times ahead!