Charlotte's Birthday Dress

Recently our friends Ross and Shelley's daughter Charlotte celebrated her first birthday - as always, I wanted to make something and ultimately her present was late because I wanted to make something.

Ross and I have been good friends since we were 18 years old - so he understands how things roll with me. I always have good intentions and I will get around to that meaningful present - EVENTUALLY.

I have to say I was really happy with the way Charlotte's dress turned out - I had a look through my stash for some suitable fabric and  I came across this really fun fabric that I had actually forgotten about! I bought this at the Arthur Toyes closing down sale, I have to admit I had no real plans for the fabric when I bought it, I just thought it was so much fun.

 

I decided to use a "tried & true" pattern and made the dress with the same pattern I used for a dress for my niece Sophiia a few years ago.

Last time I made the dress I was pretty new at sewing, so I didn't include the pocket on the front as I was worried I'd just mess it up. But I feel a lot more confident now, so I included the pocket and I think it looks pretty cute - a great little place for a little girl to hide all kind of treasures. The photo makes the pocket look wonky, but its my photography skills that are wonky - not my sewing skills!

Here's the final dress - I popped it in the mail today - I hope Charlotte likes it! Her mum Shelley is a big fan of social media, so I will hopefully see her wearing it soon via the internet (if not in real life).

This last photo was taken before I added the hook and eye to the back of the dress - that was done before I sent it off.

I hope everyone is having a good week so far! Rich and I took Monday off because we headed north for my Mum's 60th birthday - so its a short week for us, hurrah!

Fancy Lady Date - High Tea at Hippopotamus

I was having a bit of a rough time a few weeks back, so Ria decided that we needed a fancy lady date to cheer me up and booked us into high tea at Hippopotamus at the Museum Hotel.

Hippopotamus is the restaurant within the Museum Art Hotel - its fancy and there is loads of fun art. I kind of want to stay here for one night sometime when I'm feeling especially fancy!

So what was the high tea like? It was pretty delicious, as there were only two of us they served it on smaller plates rather than a fancy tiered serving platter. Which was great as it meant we could actually see each other (I do love the fancy tiered platters, but they can make conversation hard!).

for those of us having tea with their high tea (there were also alcohol high teas) there was a constant stream of tea servers ready to full up your cup at any moment you needed more. 

It was a wet and miserable day when we had our high tea - but the view was still pretty great, well apart from the car park.

Fancy Ladies on a fancy ladies day out! I bought this frock on my last trip to Auckland - but I haven't worn it too much yet. 

Here's to fun lady dates and lots of good times and good food in the future! Also when we thought we had finished eating, they bought out bonus macarons.

Thanks for looking after me when I'm bummed out Ria - I had a super rad time.

Little Green Dress

The weather is warmer, the days are longer and I'm going to try and do more outfit posts - it works in theory, lets see if it also works in practice.

This is a little green vintage dress I picked up at recycle boutique. It's tighter around the hips than I normally like - but I love it so much I can deal with that.

When I actually BUY stuff I tend to stick to stuff that isn't too tight around the hips, as basically nothing fits around my hips and my waist. First world problems right?

 Also my slip is sneaking out of the bottom of my dress - just another reason I will never be any kind of "fashion"  blogger and I'm more of a "general ramblings" or "stuff that happened"  blogger.

But look - I took a selfie in our hallway - so that's fun right? The glamour of big city life.

 Also my hair is slowly reaching my ideal "reverse lady mullet length" - party at the front, business at the back! Photo includes bonus drying rack in the background (oh apartment living).

Hope you guys had a super Monday - Rich and I actually spend last weekend "up the coast" in sunny Waikanae. I have some pictures to show you sometime even!

Winter Vintage Festival 2014

Hello world! yes its me, I've been a little quite on the blogging front of late - I've had a few things happening and also had a large dose of feeling pretty uninspired. However, I'm back - lots of fun stuff has been happening that I want to share with you guys.

First up the first ever Wellington Winter Vintage Festival!

This was the first time this carnival was being held and I was looking forward to it for two reasons. Firstly - dressing up (duh) and secondly it was circus themed. Who doesn't love a good circus?

Unfortunately my photos of the day aren't so great as I forgot my CAMERA! WHAT? I know, I'm just as shocked as you are! So the photos I DO have are from my phone camera, which is OK but not amazing. The festival itself is quite small - but as you can see it has a very fun circus vibe.

 Being a circus there were lots of treats to be had - like this alien sherbet! I'm not quite sure why it was Alien Sherbet, but I love he little picture. This same lady was also selling toffee apples, I bought one and shared it with a friend one afternoon crafting.

Back to the vintage fair, it wouldn't be ANY kind of event in Wellington unless there is at least ONE coffee cart. Turns out one of Ria's friends from costuming school was working in the coffee cart.

I also got to catch up with the amazing Mrs C as Constance Craving - she is the most amazing bearded lady!

After the fair Ria and I decided to headed to Expressoholic and have chai latte to warm up from all the rain (it was a horrible, cold day!).

These photos looked OK on instagram but are kind of blurry! Ria made her whole outfit - because she is an amazing costumer! She also did my hair and make up because she has mad skills, I should get her to teach me sometime. My frock is from the Auckland Vintage Textiles Fair.

When we got back to the apartment, we asked my regular photographer (Rich) to snap a few more pictures for us. He's the best.

Look at how cute we are - also now you can see Ria's WHOLE outfit....can you believe she made that in like a WEEK! Rockstar!

It was a super fun day out and although the fair is small now, hopefully it will grow and become bigger and better! The next vintage festival we will be going to will be in Whanganui in the New Year - the question is - WHAT SHOULD I WEAR??