Spotlight: Twinwood 2010

... otherwise known as the Twinwood Experience.

Oh my, I can't believe it's taken me so long to babble and gush enthusiastically over Twinwood, the vintage festival held over August Bank Holiday weekend. Shame on me, I am such a slack tart!

This is going to be a picture heavy post, peeps, because frankly everyone there looked amazing ... apart from Best Gal Pal Jemma and I who felt decidedly out of place in modern clothing. I'm happy to report, however, that next year we will be dressing up!

Anyway, on to the good stuff!

A little over excited I made Jemma drive us to RAF Twinwood for 11am, in hindsight this was waaaaay too early as we then peaked too soon and ended up leaving at around 4pm. Ideally next year we'll get there just after lunch. Twinwood's all about the dancing, the bands don't kick off until 1pm and head on into the night so as you can plainly tell we missed out on quite a bit.

We found the air field with no trouble, it was quite a pleasant journey through Bedfordshire's rather flat countryside (a marked difference to Wales and felt very strange). We parked up in a big field, already squealing a little excitedly over the vintage bus we'd seen. Tickets in hand we wandered over to the tent at the entrance, following a rather dashing foursome in RAF uniforms and beautiful tea dresses.

We'd just missed the bus to the actual event but it was a short walk away and we decided to just wander over on foot instead. As you can see the bus driver, like all the staff, was very friendly (and a little loopy) and waved madly at us as he drove past.

The main arena was actually a natural arena, part of a hangar made up the stage and a small bowl in the hill formed the base where people were setting up camp chairs and picnic blankets. Around the edges, just before the sides started climbing rather steeply in places to the flat of the airfield, were vendor tents selling marvellous vintage and reproduction clothing, books, hats, shoes and knick knacks. And food, mucho mucho food. Randomly (and rather poetically I thought) our food tent choice turned out to be Welsh who gave us extremely delicious chocolate cake and coffee with a bright bore da and a twinkle.

We had a nose through the vendor tents, I tried on this cloche hat, what do you think?

I picked up a 1940's shirt pattern, Jemma bought a lovely brooch, and we spent an extraordinary amount of time just happily watching people wander past in the beautiful clothes (even the kids!) and pointing out the more fabulously costumed to each other.

I'd been gutted that I hadn't had a chance to make my dress or overalls in time for the festival, but Jemma had been very relieved to hear I wouldn't be dressing up. Thankfully that opinion changed within about two minutes of arriving and we were soon discussing potential costume ideas for next year within about 5 minutes of getting our coffee.

I'm not sure we could ever rival any of the below, but I hope we'll give it a damn good try!

Don't they look dashing?

We then wandered off to the vendor area, above the main arena and to the left of the woodland walk with its vintage armed forces vehicles and fire engine. There were a couple of hangars and sheds, one set up as the women's dorms (I was in love with the whole place).

Jemma and I both fell in love with this lady's dress, almost hidden in the corner of the fire engine hangar. What a fabulous blue! She looked stunning and we were both very envious.

Not finding anything of interest in the vendors tents we toddled off to the dance lessons tent to have a nose. Unfortunately we never managed to remember to get back to the dance lesson tent on time but whenever we did pop our head in it always looked like such amazing fun. And there were some brilliant couples giving it their all on the floor:

Convinced we'd seen everything we headed back to the main arena for another aimless wander and to check out the band that was about to start on the main stage (and get some more yummy food). The dance floors started filling almost as soon as the bands started playing.

It was about this time we realised we'd missed an entire section! Where was the other stage? Where was the Glenn Miller Museum? Where was the Tin Hat and the Officers Mess? Understandably we went wandering to find them.

And find them we did, a little further past the end of the vendors tent. Along with:

The prettiest of the lot! Well, almost. Because whilst rummaging around in one of the hangars displaying general stuff from the 40's a deep thruuum started vibrating through us, so deep you could feel it in your bones. This was what I'd been waiting for and I admit I squealed like a little girl and physically dragged Jemma and her camera outside.

With perfect timing the Lancaster bomber flew over the top of the hangar we'd just been in and circled back, directly overhead and repeated twice more. I love these planes. And when I say love, I mean I cried in happiness to see it. The Lanc is a four engined plane and was the plane that became known as the Dam Buster. It was primarily used in night bombing missions and was the most successful and famous of the WWII night bombers, but was it also a precision day bomber. It's engines are the same as those of the Spitfire (and are probably as big as my car) and the noise is something I'll never forget. This is the only Lancaster in the UK still flying, indeed there are apparently only two left in the world (the other is in Canada). Did I mention how much I love these planes?

The plane flew out of sight and still bouncing, we rounded the corner, following the music and found ourselves the 50's stage.

So that's where all the younger peeps had disappeared to! There were more people our age on this side of the festival than where we'd been hanging out earlier, and we'd been a little stumped over where everyone could possibly have gone. The dance floor here looked amazing, with everyone strolling in time, heads bobbing in perfect synchronicity. I'm going to get lessons so next year I can join in!

We had a wander around the Glenn Miller museum and a final nose through the stalls and then decided to call it a day. A little tired, a lot happy, we headed home. And yes, I dreamed of planes that night.

Please note all photographs are © Jemma Creaser and should not be used or linked to anywhere else. If you see yourself in a photo please let me know and if you'd like it removed drop me an email using the contact page.

Thanks for stopping by,

Colour Footage From The Blitz

I just found this on the Sky website whilst checking my emails when I'm supposed to be working. A minute of so of colour footage from the Blitz that's been found in someone's loft after almost seventy years. Amazing.

It's a Question of Style

Ali and I are having a lovely discussion/ pity party in the comments of a previous post regarding body vs style. The style I love just doesn't suit me, how to find one that does but also suits my tastes?

So I'm doing some research, the tried and true method of determining what style clothes I should be wearing based on my body shape. I am, unsurprisingly, the rectangle or boyishly shaped. My measurements currently stand at 34-29-37 ... ish. It's a little hard to measure yourself accurately. I am also high waisted and have something ridiculous like a 29" inside leg measurement. I'm not even 5'3" tall, I'm all leg baby. This means that the guidelines for looking good when you're short and boyish in shape are contradicted by the length of my torso and legs. I am in a no win situation here. But what did surprise me is that Cameron Diaz and Nicole Kidman are also considered rectangles, and this gives me some hope!

When wearing modern fashions I tend to wear low slung jeans, hipsters rather than the kind you fall out of every time you bend over, to make my waist look lower. But found that it also negated what little waist line I had because it was covered in the drape and billow of the bagginess of the tops I was wearing to cover the almost total lack of curves I actually had. It's a fine line between a top that looks like you've got curves you're covering rather than a top that highlights your lack of waistline due to being 'figure hugging' or so baggy you can swim in it. It's one of the reasons I wanted to indulge my love of vintage styles, the silhouettes hinted that just maybe I might be able to prove I have a waist. I think I was wrong based on the photos of the previous post. Or at least wrong about the styles I chose.

It's rather strange because my first love is the 40's, always has been and I seem to draw that era to me when it comes to homewares (I own a vintage Aga and now a vintage Singer sewing machine but more on that later!). The strange part is that I seem to be fixated on 50's fashion styles. For example:

{ Source: Vintage Pattern Wikipedia }
McCall's 9211

This rather lovely 50's dress with pleats. I tell myself the drop waist and pleates will make my hips look bigger and the sleeves will widen my shoulders. All of which should, theoretically, make my waist look like ... well, a waist in all honesty. Something that goes in or is at the very least smaller than my bust and my hips. Would it though? Or do I once again think that if I wear this dress it will magically make me look like the pictures?

And, realistically, where the hell am I going to wear this dress anyway? I'm currently looking for work clothes and summer clothes. This pattern does not fit that criteria.

But it is pretty!

{ Source: Vintage Pattern Wikipedia }
Advance 7955

Or there's this lovely dress. In my head the raglan sleeves and high collar will accent my piddly bust and broaden my shoulders and the full skirt will accentuate my hips. If I'm really lucky I might even end up looking like Ulrika in her fabulous yellow dress (see here for pictures). But I have to remember the pictures of me and remember that's fantasy. A piece of clothing can't give me what I don't have.

When looking at my measurements, if I could get my waist down an inch I would meet the measurements for quite a few 40's and 50's patterns. But that doesn't take into account my high waist which negates everything.

Ali suggested looking at patterns from the 60's and 70's instead. Or the 20's and 30's as our shape (yes, Ali is inflicted with the same problems too) and measurements more closely resemble those of that period. She suggested choosing a vintage style that suits my shape rather than the styles I'm currently in love with and failing miserably at.

I'm a little wary of the 20's and 30's because I don't need any help to look boxy and I'm worried that's what they'd do. Saying that, I do like some of the fashions of the 30's and may look into that a little more in the near future.

Which leaves the 60's and 70's. Plenty of choice, more so than the earlier periods, at least on eBay anyway.

Except I find myself going for styles like these. Which is really just a 50's style carried over at the turn of the decade.

{ Source: Vintage Pattern Wikipedia }
Advance 2752

{ Source: Vintage Pattern Wikipedia }
Vogue 9967

Or this (which I am actually bidding on because I'm curious to see if the belting and looseness of the dress will work in my favour).

{ Source: Vintage Pattern Wikipedia }
Simplicity 1008

Have I really learned anything? Am I pattern hunting with my shape in mind?

I think, realistically, the answer is hell no! I am not only blind to but also in total denial of my shape and seem to be clutching hold of the firm belief that if I make or buy a dress I like then I will somehow end up looking like the picture that drew me to it in the first place. And that is impossible.

I think the fact that I'm undecided about what I want to make doesn't help. I need some work clothes and I need them fast. I refuse to go out and buy anything but coming from an industry with no dress code to an office environment with a smart dress code my current wardrobe is not only seriously limited but also seriously young. I have no grown up clothes and I hate that. But I have no idea what I mean by grown up clothes. See? Undecided.

But I also need summery clothes. Clothes I can layer. Woollens and knits that are to my taste and warm.

I love everything Mena makes and I catch myself thinking that if I get the same pattern then I'll look like Mena does in the same outfit. But whereas I've the body of a 12 year old boy with a small pot belly, Mena's all woman and her clothes reflect her shape wonderfully. It's hard to come to terms with the idea that I have no shape for clothes to reflect. And even the knowledge that almost all catwalk models have the same shape as me doesn't help in the slightest. I need to wake up and smell the sanity and pick clothes suitable for me and me alone ... just as soon as I figure out what that is.

But as Ali mentions in her post, that's what makes home sewing such a bonus. We can make what we want to suit ourselves and not the mass market. We just have to be realistic about what that is.

Am I the only one out there with a blind spot the size of the moon when it comes to my shape and a complimentary style? Or are there others out there to commiserate with me?

Thanks for stopping by,

Vintage Fashion Fair

Sunday was the Blind Lemon Vintage Fashion Fair in the Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay. I was right, it was a fabulous building! Lots of wood and carvings (of dragon's faces!), I imagine it was an impressive place in its heyday.

AnnaP and I arrived nice and early. First thing early. Anna's Swedish, married to a guy up the road and I met her walking their two dogs. We hit it off and one of the things she'd mentioned is that she loves vintage. What could I do but invite her to the fashion fair?

We left the village at about 9am, drove to Cardiff Bay and parked at the Red Dragon Centre where we stopped for coffee and tea cakes and, coincidentally, validated our parking for the entire day, before heading over the way to the Coal Exchange.

The fair was much smaller than the one I'd previously attended, with only about 20 stalls in total, if that. It was small and intimate and I have to admit that the quality of merchandise available was a lot less charity shop and a little more vintage. I think I enjoyed this fair more, the atmosphere and the quality far surpassed that of my previous experience.

AnnaP and I trawled through all the stalls, twice (just in case!). AnnaP likes taking vintage jewellery and re-working it into something new. I was looking for a compact (again) and patterns. And we were both rooting for the £100 prize draw at noon so we could go nuts and buy everything we coveted. Alas, it was not to be. If we had arrived one person earlier we would have been in heaven, unfortunately most of the merchandise remained out of our price range.

I did, however, find 5 patterns and a head scarf (no compact, boo!) so I counted the day as a win! I also managed to fit into a 50's dress, although - once again - I didn't manage to get out of it (or into it) alone. The back was fastened with little covered buttons that were impossible to open and close by myself, poor AnnaP had to button me in and then get me out again. Also included in the day, as a bonus to ourselves, was a trip to Ikea and Bhs where I bought muslin and a tea pot (and sweets!). All in all, a fab day out!

Some fab undies we found almost immediately upon arriving

The carved dragons heads on every supporting arch, aren't they cool?

Yummy bag that AnnaP fell in love with

Finally a 1950's dress that fit my waist ... shame about the rest of me!

{ Bestway C.203 two-way slip and knicker set }

{ Style Print 1421 }

{ Butterick 3058 }
(don't ask me why, I have no clue, I have no partner to sew it for)

{ Le Roy Pattern 2322 maternity dress and smock }
(again, don't ask me why, because unless I'm the new Virgin Mary I'm not wearing this any time soon!)

{ Butterick 2198 Misses lingerie coordinates }
Possibly my favourite (I can't wait to make view D!)

Thanks for stopping by,

Slack Tart Roundup Post

I've have been terribly slack and not blogged in aaaaages so this will be a nice (hopefully not too) long post to catch up.

Vintage/ Retro Shopping

I recently bought some canvas summer shoes as I have only wellies and heels courtesy of the wolf and his habit of chewing anything I touch. I've never shopped in Peacock's before but my friend, Joanne, told me that (given my budget) they would surely have something for me. She then proceeded to talk me (admittedly with very little arm twisting) into buying two pairs of shoes.

As you can see the wolf has already managed to cover them in hair and I've only worn them around the house! They're redder than they look in the photo and surprisingly comfortable. I'd always heard that wedges are easier on the feet than heels, now I can totally agree!

The second pair are black in the same style but flat. I'd photograph them but the wolf got his jaws on them a couple of days ago and tore out the inside sole. Fixable with an inner sole but not exactly photogenic.

Vintage Books

On a seperate shopping trip to Ebbw Vale, again with Joanne, I picked up a reprint of a book from Wartime Britain called Sew and Save. I've heard of this book from vintage bloggers and it's chock full of information about rationing and sewing. I picked it up for only a couple of quid from The Works but it's also available on Amazon and I highly recommend it, it's a fascinating read.

Vintage Fashion Fair

Blind Lemon are once again running the Vintage Fashion Fair in Cardiff, this time it's in Cardiff Bay instead of the Town Hall in the centre of town. It's running on Sunday 9th May from 10am at the historic Coal Exchange, Mount Stuart Square. You might recognise areas of the square from Torchwood and Doctor Who, and the Coal Exchange was the location of the first ever recorded million pound business deal. It's quite an austere and impressive looking building, sumptuously decorated inside (if I remember correctly it doubled as the Titanic in Doctor Who's Christmas Special with Kylie Minogue), there's paired Corinthian columns and wood paneling galore inside and I'm very excited to be going there. AnnaP from over the road is coming with me, tickets are booked, outfit's all picked out and I'm raring to go! If anyone's in the area and wants to come along then tickets are available on the door and there's a £100 prize draw at noon that everyone's entered into with their ticket purchase.

Vintage Festival

I'm not a fan of festivals as I have a teeny tiny fear of crowds, but the Twinwood Festival looks just too good to pass up. Luckily, my best friend, Jemma, lives 25 miles away from RAF Twinwood and is free on August Bank Holiday. We're both very excited to be going to this event (although tickets have yet to be bought) and I'm already planning outfits and shoes. Has anyone been before? I want to wear homemade outfits but I'm unsure what to make. I was thinking some trousers such as Simplicity 4044 and a short sleeved shirt but I also have a Sense & Sensibility pattern coming for a 1940's Swing Dress that I love. I was thinking of trousers and shirt for the day and then for the evening dance changing into the dress, that's not overkill right? Right?

Thanks for stopping by,