Frocktober Powers On.

Ah, I wish Frocktober would never end, I feel special wearing a different dress everyday.  I can't keep up the pace though.  I want to go back and wear some again.  It is a great way to confirm my suspicions about some dresses being on their way out of my wardrobe and others confirming their places as faves.
Day 22.  Off to an all day Hen's do.  I made this dress this week on a whim.  I wanted something sparkly and this frock does not disappoint.  Made from simplicity 8498 from 1972 from some  itching metallic fabric and odd length of vintage trim from my stash.  The dress came together really quickly but the hem did not behave, it was very slippery and hard to get straight.  I ended up sticking a bit if horsehair in the hair to help give it some structure.  Check out my fabulous 1960's sparkly shoes that I found in their box in perfect condition

Day 23.  Chilling in my pony dress. 

Day 24.  Back to school on Monday in my candy stripes.

Day 25.   I had a really long skirt from Libby that was being neglected.  I chopped it saving the fabulousness of the border print and made a bodice from Style 3746 from 1972.  I like the result and love this neck line.

Day 26.  Two installments because it was one of my bff's birthday and Pete requested a birthday frock and my husband and I went out (on a school night) to see a show.
I had been wanting to make a sailor dress for a while and had a 1950's pattern that I was planning to use, but then I came across Simplicity 5349 from 1973.  I have been digging the style of the 70's dresses lately so rolled with it.  I attached the collar wrong a couple of times because I didn't fully read the instructions and had to unpick it.  I also attached it right and unpicked it in shear confusion and frustration!!  If it didn't happen this way this dress would have been super fast to make.  I love it and can't wait to rock it again.

Day 26.5.  My only brand new, purchased dress from Bettie Page brand.  I love this frock.  I spent the whole day under a cape at the hairdressers changing my do from  safe mummy to fabulous!!  A little Tilda Swinton and Michelle Williams inspired do.  It has been 15years since I've been a blonde.  It instantly changes the way my dresses look and I love that!  My husband and I had a fab time at the Powerhouse catching John Waters show "This Filthy World".

Day 27.  My pineapple dress with the very fabulous back.  I would wear this dress all the time except I have to wear these disposable bra stickers to hold the girls in place.

Day 28.  Another pony dress.  I dig this style with the low scooped back and plan on making a dress with some sweet pink lace for a wedding coming up soon.  Ginger styled me, Harry Potter style.  Isn't she cute in her boy shorts ( picked the fabric herself), Harry Potter glasses and chop stick for a wand.

Ginger is Fabulous!

I had to share these two last days of Frocktober asap.  My little Ginger is getting to be a bloody brilliant photographer. Sigh.

Day 20.  Dead on the grass.  I love the pop art filter on my camera and I love my beaded peacock bag too.  My frocks are often too busy to team with pearler.  My Fly me to the Moon dress.

Day 21.  Rita's courting frock.  This was Rita's favourite and mine too.

Next time you see me I'll be wearing a new frock and sporting a new do.  Excited!!

Day 18 of Frocktober

This day gets a mention on its lonesome because I made this frock the day before. 

It's a very busy picture, but I thought the dress perfectly suited what we call the Ladies Lounge because of the lovely ladies with a shade of green, adorning the walls, coffee table and cushion.

Made from simplicity 6672 from 1976 (I think).  I used some fabulous t shirt fabric from the same era ( I think again), which I've had for ages and have been waiting for the right pattern to present itself.  This dress was a breeze to make.  I love using this fabric because i don't have to finish the edges, but it frustrates me at the same time because it doesn't behave like cotton does.  I also loved being able to use a couple of massive buttons.
I leave you with a couple of  pictures of my lovely offspring.  The 3 kids playing in a bookcase on it's side, a photo op too good to miss.  Ginger tells me she is "just scratching" her nose.

Here's Alby in his newly decorated room.  He loves his adventure wonderland.

Frocktober continued....

The frocks are fun.

Day 10.  An op shopped frock.  I love the coral colour, with contrasting black lace trims.

Day 11.  Purchased from an antique shop for a steal, it looked unloved, scrunched up in the back of a cupboard, stained.  But this fresh white embroidered linen came up a treat.

Day 12.  My sundae dress.

Day 13.  Another op shopped dress.  I love this style with the tie bow and the flick skirt.  But damn it it is hot sticky polyester.

Day 14.  My religous frock made for mother's day.  I am soooo not happy in this photo.

Day 15.  A Rita dress.  I love the print and style of this dress.  In love.  We did a bit of a fun photo shoot.

Day 16.  I love a stripey dress.  This maxi dress is super comfy.

Day 17.  Moo Moo on a Monday.

Stella's 70's skateboard riding style and a BBQ

Stella is my first born my muse, my style aficionado.  She is the first one to compliment my outfits and will constantly pull together some stunning combinations.  She has a great sense of style and perfect comedian timing.  She will be a force to be reckoned with.  Here Stella is rocking her 70's skateboard riding style.  Check out Ginny, both her shorts and singlet are on back the front.  Just by chance i got this pic of Stella posing with our new mini BBQ.  I will have a big photo shoot one day with Stella showing us her super vintage darling style.

I spotted this at the markets and knew we had to have it.  It's not often I bring home treasure and Matt gets excited about it,but today he did.  A 50's/60's mini BBQ in it's original box. fabulous.  Oh yes.  It's going to be a great summer, lounging around in my kaftan having a mini BBQ.

Nine days of Frocktober

Everyday this month I am wearing a frock and I love it.

Weeeee, what a great start to Frocktober.  Day 1.  Rita's pineapple dress makes me want to twirl.  For those that don't know I acquired some dress from a  woman named Rita.  Her mother had made them and she wore 2 often, while her husband was courting her and 2 never saw the light of day, she never wore them.  Yah for me.  This is the pineapple dress' first outing, she is fabulous.  I felt like I need a fluffer under her, but I don't have one.

Day 2.  I bought this 1950's day dress from an op shop during SSS so this is the first time I have worn her.  A perfect frock for a day at the fair.  It was a wild and windy day, I was constantly fighting with the wind lifting the fullness of this dress up around my shoulders.  Worth it though.  And doesn't Ginger look adorable in her vintage polka dot dress.  I totally tricked her into wearing it as she normally likes her boy shorts.  She stole the show, people stopped to look at her on the rides.  Cute a  button.

Day 3.  I have had this dress for years, (I think I bought it when I was breast feeding), but it's the first time I have worn it.  It has lived in Japan for a while while my body belonged to my babies.  I like to think of it as my secretary dress.  It has a suede feel with a towel feeling trim.

Day 4.  My lime dress.  Made last year some time.  I wasn't digging it when I wore it this week.  I'd usually just change, but I felt like I had to wear it all day.  Very practical for a bust mummy though, with big pockets for stuff and a full skirt for sitting on the ground.

Day 5.  Another of Rita's dresses, also the first time it has been worn.  I love the crossed over bodice.  Of all my patterns, I do not have one with this look, bummer.  I absolutely am in love with this dress.

Day 6.  A morning spent at school working with the preppies.  I was a little shy having Stella take my photo at school.  A dress I have made.  I love the leopard but skirt bugs me on this dress.  It has a yucky feel to it.  I may get around to fixing it one day.

Day 7.  I was talking to a Nanna at the local craft shop the previous day about crocheting and I was inspired to dig out this nanna number.  I got lots of comments on my dress on this day.  This frock conjured up memories of people's grandmas.  Oh, isn't that nice.  I took direction from 3 year old Ginger for the photo on this day.  I had to say many made up words and pull funny faces and poses.

Day 8.  It was stormy morning and I wanted to wear something a little warm.  Here is my take on the suburban flannie.  My 1970's shift dress mad with a cross hatch checked flannel fabric.  Worn with not Ug boots, but Japanese tabby boots.

Day 9.  It is going to be the summer of the kaftan at my place.  Sipping cocktails around the pool, looking fabulous.  Last weekend at the local flee markets I came across a lady selling clothes out of a box.  It was one woman's take on leisure wear through a couple of decades.  Kaftans beat trackies hands down.  I picked up a couple of kaftans, moo moos and little tops all for $1 each.  Happy day.  I popped into the Petrie historical village markets this morning and was turning heads in this flamboyant frock, or it may have been Stella in her 1970's Hang Ten shorties worn with her led Zeppelin tshirt.  Very styling in a 70's skateboard riding kinda way.  Love this dress, I may just have to go and lounge around now.

SSS ' 11 Days 28, 29, 30.

These last few days of September have been crazy.
Day 28, was spent looking after a couple of extra kids, while trying to sew some things for someone else.  (I'll blog that later, as it's bit exciting).   I wore a black skirt  I made years ago.  It is looking a little worse for wear, but is very practical.  I will have to make myself another one.  Now I'm a more accomplished sewist, it will be practical, and fabulous.  Ginger was "helping" me make dinner.

Day 29, the day before Alby's 6th birthday and his party.  I literally spent the whole day cleaning and preparing for the onslaught.  And was up all night making cake.  Our downstairs area is also home to my sewing corner, so I had to put alot of stuff out of the line of fire.  I wore a tshirt I made and a pair of dusty pink cords that I cut off years ago and found recently.  I wonder why I cut them off.....

Day 30 and the day of the party.  What was I thinking letting 12, 6-8 year olds tear through my house?  It was alright really, Alby had fun.  I don't thinks kids parties are ever fun for Mummys.  I had a mini disaster when my frankfurts for mini hot dogs cooked too long, split and curled.  Thank goodness for mother in laws.  Mine was able to duck to the shops and then keep a watchful eye on them dang little things while they cooked.  The kids love mini hot dogs!
I wore a recently made high waisted pencil skirt, in a lovely shade of blue.  I do really dig this shape, and it was very comfortable as the most fitted part is higher than my tum, which tends to bulge after hot dogs, punch and lollies!  I will do a separate post on this skirt, with pattern details, as it is fabulous. 
Here is my 6 year old and I after the guests had all gone.  I made Al's shorts last night.  I would like to make them shorter, but he likes them this length.  O well, at least he will grow into them.  Dr Zeus, cute.  He loves them.  And I love him.

30 days of wearing items that I made myself wasn't too difficult, but it does highlight the fact that most of the things I make are too fabulous for cleaning, being sick in and basic lazing around the house.  I may need a few humble house dresses.  And  I definately need more separates. 
I thoroughly enjoyed Self Stitch September.  For the joy of wearing things I made, (I feel a real sense of pride) and checking in on other SSS'ers to admire their fabulous garments and style.
Next month, eek, starting tomorrow is Frocktober.  Every day in October I will wear a dress, either made by me, someone else or store bought.  I can do this easily, but I fear I will have the same dilemma as SSS, with days at home.  I think I will just pretend for October that I am a Stepford wife, don an apron from my collection of thrifted aprons. Or better yet, make sure that I do something a little glamorous everyday, to warrant a fabulous frock.  I will post my frocks weekly here.