༺ Roundup: The Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge 2015 ༻

I’m going to keep this quick as you probably have seen the rather exhustive Stitching Stories posts that I have already done on these items. 

For my records, however, here is the complete list of my Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge items that I made in 2015.

If you recall from my first post about the Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge, this was my goal:

“I, Bonita Vear of Lavender & Twill, pledge to sew at least five vintage or vintage reproduction patterns in 2015 ~ these MUST be patterns that I haven’t used before from my stash!”

And here are the items:

♡ Stitching Stories: Going Dotty for Spotty Cotton

 

♡ Stitching Stories: A 'Round the House Wrap Dress

♡ Stitching Stories: Adventures in Baby Cord

♡ Stitching Stories: Burning the Roses Red

♡ Stitching Stories: The 1940’s Peasant Christmas Blouse

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There you have it; my 2015 Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge completed.

If you have noticed a trend with these ~ haha! So have I! It is quite clear that I simply adore Simplicity patterns. It’s even more obvious when you look in my pattern stash. I kind of want to sew/collect all of them from the late 1930s to the end of the 1950s {though I have liked a 1960s Simplicity here and there too!}.  (⁎♥ ヮ♥⁎)∠❤

There is something about the style of Simplicity patterns that instantly wins me over ~ I feel like their designs are very “me” and I don’t think that I’ve met a Simplicity from those eras that I haven’t fallen for on the spot! 

Another trend I also noticed ~ barring the Wrap House Dress {which was Simplicity 2275} ~ is that it seems like every time I try to do a pattern from another company, like Advance or Butterick, the pattern goes horribly, terribly, wrong and I can’t resurect it.

Now, I don’t know if this is just down to bad pattern choice, or whether the patterns from Simplicity suit my body shape better, or maybe the Simplicity patterns make more sense to me construction-wise. I’m not too sure, but I do know that I love my Simplicity patterns and will continue to make them this coming year!

And hopefully I don’t run into too many snags if I do decide to make up a pattern from another pattern company! (≧ o ≦) 

xox,

bonita

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༺ Australians All ༻

Yesterday was Australia Day, and it was such a great day! I rode my horse in the morning, and in the afternoon the Mister and I went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

I won’t tell you any more than that, but I have to say, I really did enjoy this newest Star Wars a lot. Much more then I enjoyed Episodes I, II and III... Which I did not like at all. (ಠ_ಠ) I haven’t even seen Episode III…

But we aren’t really here to discuss the ins and outs of movies, or the whys and wherefores of their merit, are we?

This fabulous sailor dress is from a brand called Hearts and Roses London, and while I had a completely different outfit planned for this week’s post, when I saw it hanging on the back of my door all shiny and new ~ an idea popped into my head. I totally had to do an Australia Day outfit post!

I knew this dress was perfect for the job. The royal blue colour is not a common shade in my wardrobe {you know how I love my pastels}, but I’ve wanted to try a nautical style dress for a while, so when this one came my way, that was it. All I had to do was add some more white and a touch of red to my outfit ~ Australian flag here I come! 

This is first time I’ve ever done a flag themed outfit in celebration of Australia Day. That might sound terrible to my American friends who love to celebrate their red, white and blue on Independance Day, but usually in Australia, we show our patriotism by plastering the Australian flag over everything from stubbies to eskies ~ not dressing up as one! *(~ ‿ •)

I was so excited when the "Debbie Dahila" from Daisy Jean Floral Designs turned out to be the perfect accompanying piece to this look. It’s an exquisite, giant single flower that looks realistic as well as delightfully pretty in your ‘do. I’m really getting into hair flowers this year. As you know, I’ve always been a bow kind of girl, and always will be ~ but I think for summer, and certainly for those times you want a gorgeous statement piece, you can’t go past a stunning floral hair accessory! 

Go bold or go home, right?  (*≧ꇴ≦) 

Do you prefer hair flowers, bows ~ or just to throw a wild card in the mix ~ hats?  I’d have to say that I always adore hats above all, but I find that hair flowers have a really great impact without having to make a lot of effort, and bows are so perfect for making a hairdo look a touch more fancy, or sweet, depending on your mood.

xox,

bonita

Disclosure |  Daisy Jean Floral Designs and Lavender & Twill have partnered up this year to bring to you some amazing floral hair accessories! I bought the DJF hair flowers because I really like them, but I’m also excited to feature this wonderful Australian small business, and the pieces I buy are discounted as part of our agreement. (✿◠‿◠)

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"Debbie Dahila" Hair Flower | Daisy Jean Floral Designs
Rose Red Earrings and Bead Necklace | Old
Royal Nautical Stripe Dress | Hearts and Roses London
x2 White Crinolines | eBay
Be Mine Ruby Vintage Gloves | eBay
Strawberry Wicker Purse | Collectif
Lipstix Platform Heels | Old

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༺ Looking Forward ༻

Goals for 2016! Yes, it’s that time again.  ✧*｡٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧*｡

I like to make resolutions every year. I like to make goals each month to tick off. I’m such a list person, and this is my way of keeping track of my personal growth so that I can make sure I’m working towards the goals and achievements I’d like to see happening.

Even though it has taken me a while to figure out my resolutions for 2016 ~ I haven’t forgotten to make them. Firstly, however, a brief glance back on my resolutions for 2015.

~ My New Years Resolutions: 2015 ~

2015:  My personal goal ~ To be much more mindful of the time I have and how I spend it.

I feel that I did better at this in 2015, but that being said… I don’t think I have achieved this goal, and can tick it off ~ mainly because it’s one I might always have to keep working on!

However, getting into the habit of mindfulness is a good thing. To deliberatly decide how you are going to use your time, even if you are deliberately deciding to rest and spend the day reading or watching Netflix and knitting…  \(￣< ￣)>

༺ ♡ ༻

2015:  My skills goal ~ To practise my sewing so that I can get faster at finishing a project.

Okay, here goes…

Despite the fact that I had so many sewing disasters last year, and despite the fact that I did fail rather dismally with my list of sewing projects: 

• 5 out of 14 planned projects were completed
• 6 projects actually finished ~  as one was a last minute unplanned project {yes, I’m looking at you, dress-that-should-have-been-burnt!}
• No less than 2 WIPs are floating around {a mint pinwhale cordrory 1940’s skirt and bolero jacket set} ~ to be completed this year
• 1 UFO jersy dress that I don’t know if I’ll ever finish as I royally stuffed it up, but I still can’t bring myself to toss all that fabric yet… (〒︿〒)

That’s actually quite a lot of sewing for me! I had my machine out pretty much constantly this year. I think I did go almost a month  in the middle of the year without working on any thing because I was feeling burnt out in July, but I have made some good progress, learnt some stuff, so you know?

I’m actually happy that I’ve done what I set out to achieve last year. I practised my sewing ~ a lot ~ and I did become faster and better at it! More confident too, which I think was what I was really aiming for. Stuffing up isn’t the end of the world!  *(~ ‿ •)

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~ My New Years Resolutions: 2015 ~

2016:  My personal goal ~ To stop being lame reset the good habits of housecleaning and cooking I lost last year!

Fairly self-explantitory. I need to cook more healthy meals, and I need to stop procrastinating housework in favour of other more fun things like sewing, riding, blogging, etc… ‘Nuff said.

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2015:  My skills goal ~ To grow my blog 

Speaking of blogging, I would like to see my blogging skills grow this year. I really want to save for a better lens so I can improve my photography. I would like to attend more meetups this year ~ they are ever so much fun! And I would love to do some collaborations with other bloggers, and I’d like to get my “Vintage Girl Goes” series up and running. In conjunction to blog growth, I’m also looking forwards to working on Teacup Girl Art. I’d love to see that little world expland and grow this year too!

These are not huge goals, and I am fairly confident I can achieve them ~ they are certainly not as ambitious as my “Sewing All The Things” plan, but I’m okay with that. I have more than enough different passions that I like to pursue; so I have plans for a whole lot of other things this year, and I have to fit them in somehow!! 

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Do you like making resolutions for the New Year? What’s one of the resolutions that you have achieved and are most proud of? I’d love to hear your success stories. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

xox,

bonita

༺ ♡ ༻

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༺ Stitching Stories: The 1940’s Peasant Christmas Blouse ༻

Thank goodness this blouse worked! That’s all I have to say! …

Haha! Joking! You should know by now that of course I have a ton more stuff to say.  : P

This is my last Vintage Pattern Pledge make of 2015 ~ Simplicity 2483, a 1948 peasant blouse ~ and I hit my goal of five different vintage or vintage reprinted patterns made up from my pattern stash. Yay!

I’m actually super relieved that this blouse turned out so nicely. Mostly because, once again, I ended up having little to no time to get this project done. Christmas was arriving with the speed of a bullet, and I had tons of events to go to, things to do, etc. And you know what else?

I had to grade a pattern for the first time. Yup. I went there…

With all the sewing disasters that have been dogging me through the last half of this year, I really don’t know what I was thinking except that I really wanted a peasant blouse for my Christmas outfit this year?? Simplicity 2483, Veiw 3 was perfect, except my pattern was for a 32 Bust.

….. Yes. Not going to fit. So I just, ya’know, graded it up using this tutorial I found on the interwebs.

I’m surprised it worked, but you know what else ~ I did end up sewing a toile for this. I was way too freaked out about the pattern grading, and the fact that to get my perfect fabric I had to pay $22.00 a metre! *faint!* (ô д ô) I think it was worth it, but you can bet your buttons that I wasn’t going to cut into that precious print without making sure I wasn’t going to stuff it up.

Good thing I did too, because some how I graded too much into the pattern, and with the FBA I also added, the toile was huge on me!

So I cut the back, the sleeves and the back yoke using the original pattern pieces. Thank you Charlotte for eating my traced pattern pieces.

Then I cut the front and the front yoke with my newly adjusted pattern pieces from which I’d removed all the grading, but left the FBA.

Still with me?

Because the pattern is actually too small for me, the cutting the back from the original pattern turned out to ~ surprise, surprise, make the back too small. Um. Yeah. Whoops.

I decided that, instead of folding over the back panels in the centre to get the interfacing for the button bands, I would sew an extra strip of fabric to each side of the back opening, fold them over, top stitch them down so that they wouldn’t peak out at all and give myself the room I needed for the buttons and the button holes that way.

It worked!

Up to the point when I realised that now the yoke was also too small for the back of the blouse. With the button band modification, the yoke was too short and didn’t reach the edges of the blouse any more, so I had to taper it down to meet the top edge of the blouse, rather than being the full height with an extra button on it as it was supposed to be. You can see the gap in the photo below, where the lace ends, the yoke ends. I think it still looks okay though! It now has a pretty scoop along the back neckline which I like. Alls well that ends well.
₍₍ ◟(• ε •๑)◞ ₎₎ ₎₎

*whew*

Sometimes I wonder why I can’t sew through a pattern just the way it’s supposed to go, but then I realise that it’s mostly my fault for not thinking every step through clearly and realising the implications of what I am doing until it is too late to fix it!   (￣。￣;)

I really liked sewing this pattern though. For the most part, everything went together really smoothly. The blouse is pieced in a way that makes sense {yay!} and allows for a fairly straight forward construction process. I left off the ruffle, but decided to go with some cream lace trim instead, which I think was the right addition to break up the busy pattern and add a touch of interest to the yoke detail.

Also; top stitching!!

I had so much fun top stitching this blouse. I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous, but I discovered a new-to-me trick that experienced sewers probably already know ~ and it’s awesome!  Seriously, it really changed my top stitching method.

I used to try to top stitch with my machine on the slowest setting and be as smooth as I could. This is still a good idea, but at time I had a thought ~ what if I was to set my needle over to the right so that the line of top stitching was at the very edge of my material?

GAME CHANGER!! ✧*｡٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧*｡

I don’t know if you can see from that close up of the back ~ but my top stitching came out nearly perfect. Not because I did anything great, just because I moved that needle over! When I did that, the fabric fits neatly along the edge of my presser foot, the stitching is right at the edge of the fabric, and that helps it all to feed through accurately. The top stitching came out so neat and tidy all over my blouse, that now I want to top stitch all the things because it. looks. that. good.

And makes me feel totally profesh. Which I am not. But I feel it. And that feels super cool. I can’t say it too many times: Peoples! Move that needle over when you top stitch!

~ Project Details ~

• Year: 1948
• Pattern: Simplicity 2483
• Fabric: 2 meters of quilting cotton
• Notions: 6 red bow buttons 
• Time to complete: One and a half days
• Make again? Yessss!! I love peasant blouses, and I want them in all the colours. This pattern turned out so nicely I guess I’ll just have to make it in all the colours!
• Wear again? Yup! Well, once December rolls around again. Gold printed holly is pretty much relegated to Christmas time only wear. But I will wear the heck out of it come the Christmas holidays!
• Total Cost:  $54.00 I think? I lost the reciept… Ouch though for a Christmas blouse!! I mean, I love the fabric, but the price per meter is not for the faint of heart. And no, I didn’t total that up when I was buying the components. I tend to see what I want, buy it, and count the cost later. I need to work on that…

So what’s the final verdict ~ novelty Christmas prints for the win, or save it for the table cloths and tree skirts??  (*≧▽≦)

xox,

bonita

༺ ♡ ༻

Holly Bow Fascinator Come Whimsy | Me Made, 2015
Deck the Halls Brooch | Erstwilder {sold out}
Gold Holly Peasant Blouse | Me Made, 2015
The Red Christmas Skirt | Sammy Dress
Hoop Petticoat | eBay
Vintage Ruched Gloves | eBay
Snowy Lattice Knee-Hi | Old
Santa Cruz Beach Heel | Modcloth, Old

༺ ♡ ༻

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༺ Times of the Year ༻

Last year I did a fun end of year review, and although it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, I love the rite of stting down and remembering all the things that happened in the last tweleve months! Especially as I don’t always get a chance to record those thoughts or events in my actual journal. 
( ^ _ ^)∠☆

As always, if you wish post these questions for yourself, please do! This was a great way to look back over the year.  Here’s how 2015 went down at Lavender & Twill! ♡

1. What did you do in 2015 that you'd never done before?

Graded a pattern ~ more on that one later. Turned 30 ~ haha! But really, I haven’t done it before!  Started drinking coffee. I never used to ~ it gave me migranes and I am a tea girl through and through… But with three little ones under five, and thyroid issues… I caved. It was either that or take four hour naps every afternoon, and who has time for that?

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions?

Yes ~ well, sort of… So I only made two goals for 2015 ~ to be more mindful, and to sew more.

While I struggled with mindfulness all year, it certainly was on my radar and it was something I was working towards. So I guess I sort of did it; but not to the point that I’m set. I definitely have to keep working at this.

Number two ~ sew more. I certainly did that, but I don’t know if this was such a helpful goal. I think I ended up putting more pressure on my sewing, and that stressed me out, which made the sewing harder, and so on and so forth… Or should that be sew on and sew forth??

The point being: I found out that I can’t be that much faster with my sewing or bad mistakes start to happen, and also I will burn myself out if I try to do a big stretch of projects over the year ~ like I had planned for my sewing all the things. Though really, that title alone should have given it away!

I think I just fall into the trap of trying to keep up with everyone and everything ~ forgetting that I have to balance my own life, not try to live someone else’s…

3. What countries did you visit?

None. Again. *sigh*  One year!

4. How many different places did you travel to in 2014?

Let’s see.  We went to:

- Sydney
- Merry Beach
- Perisher, Jindabyne

Not much in terms of traveling, but we did go to Sydney three times this year, and the snow fields for three day trips.

5. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?

More humilty to lean on God when I need help. This year has been a bit rough at times.

6. What date from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

16th of Feburary, 2015 ~ when we got to meet our baby girl. My 30th birthday! And all the resulting parties ~ so October. May the 9th because I got meet Nora of Nora Finds and A Wild Tea Party, and of course, the 14th of November, because it was the first Aussie Vintage Girls Meetup, and I just had a blast meeting all the lovely ladies and hanging out with them!

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Little Lottie Bug ~

‘Nuff said.  (•ᵕ ᴗ ᵕ•)❀

8. What was your biggest failure?

Not keeping up with healthy eating habits or the house work… We have slipped back into very bad habits of eating heaps of takeaway, and don’t get me started on the continuous loads of wet washing that have been sitting forgotten in the machine or the washing basket!!
Ugh… (″･ิ_･ิ)っ

9. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Mostly just hay fever ~ we seem to be keeping well otherwise.

10. What was the best thing you bought?

My overlocker. That thing is awesome. I love how neatly it finishes everything up inside!

11. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Meeting Nora! The Fifties Fair! The Aussie Vintage Girl Meetup! Moving my horse to a new equestrian facility!! So many fun things!

12. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder? Happier for sure. I’m not pregnant. Lol!
ii. thinner or fatter?  Thinner; again, not pregnant. Fatter; I can’t fit 80% of my wardrobe. The struggle is real.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer. I have so many wonderful people to enjoy life with! And I’m grateful that my Savior never lets me go.

13. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Funnily enough to everyone who knows how much I hate being the kitchen ~ cooking, and cleaning. Like I said, a lot of old bad habits I’d worked very hard to grow out of are back and it’s killing me. (〒︿〒)

14. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Eating bad food. Comfort/stress eating. 

15. What was your favourite tv show?

I’ve not really had any ~ but we have been watching Hawaii Five-0 and it’s been fun.

16. What was your favourite film of this year?

Avengers - Age of Ultron

17. Where were you when 2015 began?

At Khancoban, in a tent, fast asleep...

18. Where were you when 2015 ended?

In my bed, at home, fast asleep….   Haha! Life with little ones, that’s all I’ve got to say about that!

 

19. Who were you with when 2015 started?

My little family, and extended family on my side.

20. Who were you with when 2015 ended?

Family!

21. What was the best book you read?

Can’t think of that stood out, so ~ I don’t have one. 

22. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Home Free ~ because accapella wins at all the things!  (~￣▽￣)~

23. What did you want and get?

A spot at an equestrian complex that has everything I could wish for!!  Didn’t think I’d get in as there is a long waiting list, but a last minute spot popped up and we are settling into our new home. It’s fabulous!

24. What did you want and not get?

To lose weight so I can fit my clothes again.  (*´Д`)ﾊｧﾊｧ *big sigh*

25. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I went out on a lunch date with the Mister, and we had a burger at our favourite park sans the little people.  It was lovely and relaxing. I reached the big 30. Not that you can miss that ~ I must have mentioned it a dozen times by now!

26. What kept you sane?

Hanging out with good friends, my Mister, cups of tea, horse riding and prayer ~ same as last year, but you can’t beat it!

27. Whom did you miss?

I actually made a bunch of new friends and was able to hang out with lots of different people aa bunch of times this year ~ that’s been so wonderful! However, my sister-in-law was over in the USA for a long time, and I missed her a lot.

28. Who were the best new people you met?

These girls: Harlow Darling and A Wild Tea Party  

It has been soooo much fun getting to know these two lovely ladies this year, and I’m so happy that we’ve been able to hang out and be friends!  (♡◠‿◠)

{Funny story; I almost wrote down that I met Wild Tea Party last year, because it feels like we’ve known each other for forever, but in reality we only met for the first time in May!}

29. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014:

Slow down. If you rush, you make mistakes. You might have a lot to do, but if you are calm and systematic, it’s more likely to get done smoothly than if you rush around like a turkey with your head chopped off! 

30. What are your plans for 2015?

Work on cleaner eating, better housekeeping practises, maintain my 3-4 rides a week, try out Working Equitation, maybe start looking into a business plan of mine that been on the backburner ~ basically, work hard and go for it!

xox,

bonita

༺ ♡ ༻

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༺ Summer of the Vintage Rose ༻

I know my outfit isn’t terribly period acurate here. I’m not sure what era I was going for, but the results look like a cross between the 1940s {hat, hair, shoes} and the late 1950s {makeup, dress}.  I do think that this is the first time I have actually done that. Usually I’m like “Ah! I can’t wear that hat/handbag/pair of shoes/hair style because it doesn’t match the decade of my outfit!” but today I was all ~ “Eh. I don’t give a flying fig. I’m going to wear it all together anyway…”  Haha!  (¬ ᴗ ¬)

This dress is one of the three that I picked up when I was in Sydney for the Aussie Vintage Girls Meetup. It hasn’t appeared on the blog sooner because although I love it so much ~ Reverse border print! Self lined tulle petticoat! Soft vintage cotton! ~ it was actually busting apart at the seams. Literally. (ô □ ô)

I guess the previous owner loved this dress as much as I do, because it is very well worn. But after one wear, I knew I couldn’t wear it again without risking it ripping just like *snap*! The seams would have popped the moment I went to pick up one of the babies, or had to schelp allll the bags: handbag, nappy bag, shopping bags, etc.

So I decided I was going to rescue it. I painstakingly unpicked all the shredded seams {unsurprisingly all on the bodice} and made sure I didn’t cut one single precious thread of the fabric, which was actually pretty hard considering how torn it was.

Then I ironed over all those seams with Iron On Tape. Not the most professional fix, I am sure, but the only thing I could really think to do. Then I sewed all the seams back together by hand. It worked, and I’m so glad I can now wear this dress without worrying about ruining it for good!

….Well, except when said babies come in for hugs with sticky hands, snotty noses, etc..  Oh, lols. The life of a vintage mama! (*≧ꇴ≦)

For all vintage wearers out there ~ have you ever gotten a dress, or piece of vintage clothing with shredded seams? Do you have any tips for fixing them? The Iron On Tape has re-enforced the fabric well enough, but it’s not particularly the prettiest fix, and it’s also quite time consuming when you have eight seams or so to mend!

I’m not sure what I could do diferently to save the seams of this dress, but I’d love to hear your tips and tricks, or stories about the ‘wounded birds’ you’ve had in your vintage collection.

xox,

bonita

༺ ♡ ༻

Lace Trimmed Floppy Straw Hat with Bluebells | Kmart
Summer Rose 1950s Vintage Dress | Round She Goes Market
Summer Straw Wedge | Big W

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༺ Collectif Haul + A Hat Collection ༻

Hi lovelies! I’m back with another opening video!

I know that my videos tend to be far and few in between, and I’m planning to try and work on that this year ~ in the meantime…  Black Friday. Yep, I’m going back there. Time travelling to 2015.

I held out and held out and held out ~ trying to be super good because I knew I really didn’t have any funds to be shopping with, and I reallllly didn’t want to be tempted if I saw something I just had to have…. But then, I had some money refunded and that was that. I just couldn’t hold out any longer!

I went to the Collectif site and picked up a few goodies ~ I’m really excited to show you the things I got ~ two words; navy and knit! (⁎♥ ヮ♥⁎)∠❤

Also, I get to show you the lastest additions to my hat collection. These are hats that I purchased from Stephanie of The Girl with the Star-Spangled Heart. There was a lovely selection of hats that she was selling off from her personal collection, and although I thought they were all so nice that it was hard to decide which ones to bring home, I’m so happy with the ones I decided on. 

What did you buy at the Black Friday sales last year? Did you pick up any goodies? Andddd hats… Which one do you love ~ maybe you can help me pick a favourite! ∩(︶▽︶)∩

xox,

bonita

༺ ♡ ༻

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༺ Color Me Violet ~ Vivien of Holloway Review ༻

Have you ever had a perfect pair of trousers come along at just the right moment? And then you want to live in them 24/7 and completely forget all about your extensive skirt and dress collection?? You might have already guessed where I am going with this ~ but yes, these violet Pedal Pushers from Vivien of Holloway are my new living~in~them pants!

It isn’t all that often that I find vintage that can slot neatly into my “I can wear this every day” wardrobe, so I have begun to fill up those gaps with all kinds of different vintage reproduction pieces. Of course, you all know how much I love my Freddies, but I was so excited to try out these pedal pushers because sometimes a busy mama just needs more pairs of pants to run around in!

I am enamored with the colour of these pedal pushers. It is a true violet and is just as royally purple in real life {if not purpler} as the photos, not to mention that the fabric and fit to these is just fantastic! (⁎＾ᴗ＾⁎)∠☆

I’m personally not a fan of super tight trousers, so when I ordered these to fit my waist and hip measurements I was relived to see that there was a nice amount of ease to the pants. Not too tight and not too loose ~ good for sitting down and moving around! There’s also a bit of stretch in the fabric that accommodates movement; so if you wanted to size down for a more fitted look you could totally do that too.

Speaking of sizing down, with the Raglan blouse in white I am wearing I did end up going for a smaller size. I ordered a blouse to fit my bust size, but I found that the roomy cut of the raglan sleeve created too much extra fabric that bunched around my shoulders and arms. It’s lovely how the raglan style gives you tons of room for movement, but if you have a larger bust size on a smaller frame, or have narrow shoulders, you might want to consider sizing down for this blouse. I’m wearing the smaller size here, and I have ample room to move, as well as that lovely “puff” look of the style without swimming in extra fabric!

I can see the Raglan blouse as a staple in my winter wardrobe as the elbow-length sleeves add a touch more warmth and still allow a cardigan or jumper to go over the top the way some long sleeves won’t. Plus, don’t you just love the pointed collar and sleeve cuffs! I feel it’s very Audrey Hepburn in “Roman Holiday” ~ such a classic 50s look.

~ Behind the scenes of the photo shoot: a ten minute walk back to Copper’s paddock in all dressed up vintage glory! But with comfortable boots on… : P ~

And if anyone’s wondering, yes ~ it is certainly interesting being a model, horse wrangler and director of photography all in one go! Thankfully the Mister was happy to do the actual shooting, or it just wouldn’t have been possible to make this happen. 

I actually ordered one more piece from VoH, and I’ll do a review of that top later on, but for now ~ suffice to say ~ I am loving my Vivien of Holloway stuff! I filmed an opening video so that you can see the items being modeled in real time if you want to check it out on my channel.

Also, I really want to invest in some more pieces for my wardrobe, do you have any favourites you can recommend? I’m eyeing up their swing trousers, but I’d love to hear if you have any other things you think I should try out.

And for all my fellow Aussies, I’m excited to say that Vivien of Holloway have an Australian stockist ~ Christine’s in Fitzroy, Melbourne. So if you ever want to try some of the Vivien of Holloway pieces on before you buy them, you can totally check them out if you’re down that way!

xox,

bonita

Disclosure |  This post was created in collaboration with Vivien of Holloway and the items I have reviewed were gifted to me, but all views and opinions expressed in this review are solely my own. Yep, I’m that excited about these pants. *(~ ‿ •)

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White Raglan Blouse | c/o Vivien of Holloway
White & Purple Hair Orchids | eBay
Purple Pedal Pushers | c/o Vivien of Holloway
Snow White Peep Toe Heels | Light In The Box


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