’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

This weekend has been so beautiful - both in weather and experiences. It was warm enough at dusk to go for a stroll in our neighbourhood park, amongst the trees and the low light of the evening sun.





I've shown this dress before on this blog, but I wore it with black tights last time, which in retrospect looked too severe. It may not be obvious in these pictures but the tights are a pretty teal colour.





Sunset is one of my favourite times of day. Everything looks so whimsical in the failing light. I love the long shadows that are strewn towards the east.




Dress - Northcote op shop
Belt - Northcote op shop
Bag - Newport op shop
Tights - Sportsgirl, from 2007
Boots - Ebay

Wind, hail and sunshine

Sunday involved wind, rain, sunshine, a haircut and a lovely early evening dinner at a city restaurant.



I was inspired to finally watch The Painted Veil after seeing one of Casey's posts. All those dropped waists, ruffles and quaint collars... I love the flapper look. Am absolutely in lust with Naomi's hair in the movie too.



This dress is not from the '20s but is courtesy of my mum from the '70s. I love the plaid - it's such a crazy mesh of colours that shouldn't work, but do. The photo below shows in closer detail - I mean, brown/orange/aqua and purple?!? Who would've thought?



The necklace is from Drink me, Alice. Last year, I acquired many of these beautiful treasures from Melbourne-based Alicia, both as gifts and self-purchased. This year, I'm on a hiatus from even visiting the site, as I'd be sorely tempted to break my not buying any new jewellery rule. It's still bookmarked though!


Dress: vintage from my mum
Jacket: Kinki Gerlinki from 2005
Necklace: Drink me, Alice
Tights: can't remember
Boots: ebay

A wedding in the bush

Yesterday we went to a friend's wedding, that was in the bush. It was beautiful - I think when I get married, I would also like it to be in the outdoors. Perhaps on the beach, barefoot, flowers in the hair, and carrying some killer heels in one hand...

The dress code was 'warm, neat and casual'. This was a source of some consternation for me... What exactly is neat casual? In the end I settled for a dress (in my books, this is casual, as I virtually always wear a dress). Seamed stockings, ankle boots and (luckily) a warm coat, as it did get very very very cold.



The dress is this amazing creation, that I purchased a few months ago as a secondhand/vintage item. I'm pretty sure it was once a two piece blouse/skirt set, that was lovingly crafted into a dress (there are home-made seams with different coloured thread where they joined the top & bottom, and also where they cut the old sleeves off). Someone who is a far better seamstress than I created this, and then let their beautiful work go out into the world, where it found me.. and I couldn't be happier. This has become one of my favourite dresses. I love the ruffles on the chest and skirt, and there's gorgeous vintage gold buttons.





Ah, I look so tired in these. We were in too much of a rush to take photos before we left, so these were hurriedly taken when we got home at 1am, it shows too.

Spring snuck in under the door...

I get so excited with the onset of spring, the air just positively hums. Today was so brilliant I just didn't know what to do with myself.. in the end it was a lazy day at home - sewing, drinking coffee and reading the weekend papers.



This is what I wore today. I love wearing this dress, even if it's just to hang the washing on the line. The parasol was a random gift from my best friend, it's tiny and not at all practical in a parasol-sense, but it's very cute in a for-the-sake-of-it sense.



...and this trench coat, which goes with everything.



Dress: Smith street opshop
Shoes: Betts from 2007
Coat: ebay
Parasol: gift


I will be posting the Port Fairy stuff soon. I have taken all the photos, but it's taking forever to upload and resize my photos. They are huge if I don't resize them but using the proper resizing programme does take a while. I might have to go back to resizing thing in Windows "Paint". It may be crude, but at least it's fast.

Tonight there was a bit of stress involving the boy's car and break-downerage in the middle of a main road! It left us both a bit agitated so it was a quiet Saturday night in with a home-cooked meal.

Folk and florals

I'm such a novice blogger, I just realised I forgot to describe my outfit in the last post. Well, the top and skirt in question is actually second hand Witchery from the Brotherhood of St Laurence shop in the Royal Arcade, Melbourne. It's not vintage and it's not too interesting, but good for days when I want to look structured and stylish but at the same time stay comfortable.

Well, today was wonderfully warm, the first day in a long whiles I've been able to venture outside sans coat.



This dress started life out as a 70's maxi dress. Maxi dresses really do NOT suit me, they make me look even shorter and stubbier than I already am! I do really like the whole free-and-easy maxi dress look, but chopping the bottom off this one and hemming it was a no brainer.

It has the most adorable floral print on the yoke and sleeves...



The necklace, I made from a pair of earrings. For some reason, people keep giving me earrings, even though I don't have pierced ears. I couldn't pass this pair on though, because the dried flowers and bright orange resin is just too cute.


The bag is one of the treasures I found last weekend in Port Fairy. I love tapestry.






Dress - some vintage store, which I can't remember the name of.
Necklace - self-made.
Tights - my sister's old school tights.
Boots - ebay.
Bag - Port Fairy op shop.


Our backyard is inexcusably messy. Now that spring is here, I should be doing some gardening...

Roses and jasmine

Yesterday I felt like dressing up a bit - there was something about the smell in the air that reminded me of spring. So I wore this springtime dress and cardi combination.



The cardigan is from when I was little - back then it was huge on me (that was the 90s!) but now it's really cute and cropped.



The dress is from a little op shop in a church in Northcote, only about 1 month ago, for about $5. From the zigzagged seams to the unfinished hems, it's very obviously home made. It's so lovely I can't help wondering who made it, and whatever possessed them to give it away?

Hm. I'm not sure if the black tights go with it, but despite the springtime smell it's still really cold, and grey tights looked too sombre.



I felt like wearing my hair up, which is unusual for me. Usually I like wearing my hair down and feel really self conscious when it's up. The butterfly clip is actually a brooch and was handed down by my mother from my grandma.

It was so lovely being in the sun in our little backyard, which was bathed in sunshine and was permeated with the smell of the jasmine. Backyards are wonderful, I've always had them and I'll always want them. They make me feel like I have my own little magic place tucked away, like a secret.