Kelly Doust introduces readers to her wonderful world of reviving and customising vintage pieces, while bringing a modern and unique twist to wearing vintage clothes – Dita Von Teese
Waxing Koigu
Knitting with Koigu - socks designed by Barbara Brown
How darned cute are these? Socks from the new Koigu Magazine in ‘Autumn Berries’ and some scarves to make you wish for colder weather.
I’ve almost completed a crochet project with Japanese Koigu yarn in various shades from lemon to hot pink, and it’s such a buzz to work with. Not for the delicious texture alone, which is soft and fine and anything but sticky, but the delight in watching its variegated colours play out. And it looks amazing on smaller items such as roses or scarves for little people. I’m going to give the knitted iPod case just completed at my Corner Shop workshop a go in a zesty lemon-lime-tomato combination next, with Koigu from Calico & Ivy Balmain.
Now the days are getting cooler, I’m keen to be knitting and crocheting when I can. And I’ve gotten to the sweet spot with crocheting where I can watch a film or chat and still concentrate on keeping up a pattern, which is heaven.
The challenge this winter? To learn how to make socks, so I can give a pair or two to friends with mid-year birthdays. Wish me luck.
Home sewing is easy!
Esther Han interviewed me for this piece in the Sydney Morning Herald today.
Apparently dressmaking courses are seeing a huge surge in popularity, with much of the buzz about recreating all the vintage-style frocks we’re going in for of late. Lovely news (or at least nicer than the other headlines I read this morning) because not everyone can find a true vintage frock to fit, much as they’d like to.
I’ve been dying to make a vintage frock from scratch for aeons. Inner Westies should try the Summer Hill Sewing Emporium if you can’t get to Beverley’s classes in Penshurst, or any of the squillion on offer at TAFE.
Convinced? For inspiration, see Cara Mia Vintage for some lustworthy original designer pieces from the likes of Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Pucci, Moschino, Vivienne Westwood and Ungaro. Cara Weinstock’s pieces had me positively drooling at the last Love Vintage.
Bellissima, darlings!
Itchy fingers
Carmen Cass gets toasty
I’m like the grasshopper who sang all summer (except I was getting superfit working out five times a week – no weight loss, but I can run up hills now, big ones, and not pass out or be sick, bonus! – and writing books not blog posts and making monumental plans to overhaul my life), and now it’s autumn and I have 50 projects to make for the next book, which I handed in last February but is about to be shot in just over 2 months time, and it’s scaring the bejeezus out of me. Yikes!
Met with my lovely new publisher, Tracy Lines (former Creative Director of Inside Out) on Wednesday, and she succeeded in lighting a fire underneath my butt (totally necessary – I even had Olive help me overhaul a hatstand yesterday, how desperate is that? Just a tip, three year olds make rubbish helpers). Fortunately I won’t starve or go begging the ants anytime soon, but it’s time to stop squawking.
Naturellement, this was all feeling a bit stressful. So I took off to The Corner Shop in The Strand Arcade last night to learn how to knit as part of the Campaign for Wool (thank you Corner Shop, you’re my favourite) and despite now fantasising about making my own clotted cream-coloured slouchy knit for winter (I can purl!), à la the one spotted here on the enigmatic Ms Kass, I’m also considering signing up for the always-fab workshops at Calico & Ivy Balmain over winter because my fingers are itchy, dammit, and I’m going in for a spot of work avoidance behaviour (WAB) this week. When you make for a living, making for the selfish hell of it feels gloriously subversive.
Wool week at London's Selfridges
What else?
Cloth is selling off cute bundles of all their archived fabrics at their online store, so I might pop in for a nosy at those this afternoon and urge you to do the same.
I went to Rozelle Markets for the first time in months last Sunday and was wooed by my ruggedly handsome paramour all over again (don’t tell my husband). Sometimes a vintage vixen starts to feel pure Second Hand Rose when she’s up to her ears in marketeering, but I bought a bangin’ black miniskirt, secondhand Sass & Bide tux jacket and lambskin floor rug for under 50 bucks, and now I’m biding my time until our 8am tryst tomorrow. Gotta love those cheap thrills.
Rozelle Markets, I heart you
And I’m appearing at Sydney Writers’ Festival in a month with Indira Naidoo to talk DIY! All the superlatives in the world can’t cover how XXXXXXXX I am to be part of the best festival in The Showgirl’s calendar. Love SWF to pieces. I will finish reading The Marriage Plot and Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? before I see Mr Eugenides and Ms Winterson next month, I will I will I will.
I won’t promise to blog more, and I won’t wish to fit more in my week. I broke fast with one of my dearest friends in the world this morning, and life is GOOD (I’ve been up since 3am, can you tell?)
Much love to you & yours & keep on truckin’.
Top birds: Harlequin Market
Bluebird brooch
I love the girls at Harlequin Market – check out these fab new birdy brooches, just in. Perfect for adorning your cocoon coat this winter.
If you’re searching for costume sparklers, cuffs, Lucite bags, unserious Bakelite pieces from the twenties onwards and anything statement, this is the best vintage jewellery store in Sydney, with pieces sourced from all over the world by owner Bruna Harrison. Start saving those pennies.
Vintage gold Chanel cuff from Harlequin Market
Hello Polly
Craft for every season
Stripy shopper
Okay so it’s Autumn here in Sydney, but to celebrate the release of Crafts for Every Season (a.k.a. The Crafty Minx) with US publisher Thunder Bay Books, here’s the instructions for my super-simple ‘Spring is Here shopper bag’, made from lovely linen fabric from No Chintz. Fold and pop one of these cloth shoppers in your handbag year-round to avoid plastic and remember: it’s all about the print!
A spot of auction trawling
1980s Zandra Rhodes couture frock, auctioned late 2011
Today’s tip for vintage fashion and fabric hunters, and indeed anyone interested in sourcing rare, high-quality vintage items is don’t overlook the auction houses. Especially if you prefer true antiques to vintage or retro (remember: 70s-80s items = retro, 20s-60s = true vintage, and anything pre-1920s or over a hundred years old is considered antique). Most auctioneers list their items in online catalogues and allow absentee bids, so you can buy from anywhere in the world providing the items are compact (and the auctioneers willing) enough to pop them in the post for you. Ebay’s great of course, but its popularity means bargains are few and far between.
I’m keeping my eye on this clothing and textiles auction, to be held next month by Theodore Bruce. The catalogue should include historic, vintage and designer fashion, accessories, lace, needlework, samplers, textiles, sewing tools and related items. One to watch. And when it comes time to bid, just another hint for auction novices: decide what you’re willing to spend and stick to your guns. Start small by bidding on inexpensive items, build up your confidence noting the forecasted price versus real price items sell for, and you’ll hit your straps in no time. Go forth and plunder.
Nani IRO fabrics
Shall we polka?
Last weekend at Surry Hills Library I ran a craft workshop for around 25, making early xmas gifts whipped up by hand and sharing favourite places to source materials. There was much discussion on Japanese fabrics, yarns and pattern books because as a rule, I think the Japanese have nailed the quirky craft market, consistently producing covetable materials I can never seem to own enough of.
Nani IRO is one such collection of stylish, unique designs. Some are printed on lovely cotton, others on linen blends or 100% cotton soft double gauze, and they’re perfect for fashioning homewares, bags, wall art and clothing. Duckcloth stocks an enviable range, as does Calico & Ivy. I’ve used them for skirts, cushions, curtains and lightweight scarves to name a few. And they wash so beautifully, too – well worth purchasing a metre or two in time for holiday crafting.
Love a wonky stripe
Poppy field
Frocks published in China & Love Vintage
I just returned home after a lovely, meandering chat about vintage on morning radio with ABC 702′s Deborah Cameron and setting up a Minxy Vintage window display at Cammeray Bookshop, when I heard the news A Life in Frocks is being translated into Chinese! What a thrill to see my book written in the language I so struggled with learning a decade ago (Mandarin, that is… although I was living in Hong Kong at the time, I didn’t even attempt Cantonese – typical gwei-lo).
Pop on your dancing shoes & head to Love Vintage
Writing this post in a stolen half hour before heading off to Love Vintage, in full shopping mode and ready to officially open the fair tonight (shopping first, officiating second). Here’s a few reasons why you need to be there:
- Discover stylish, quirky, glamorous gear for girls and guys, plus designer vintage fashions from New York, London and Paris
- Attend my free workshops on how to wear and revamp vintage for a modern look
- Shop for linen, lace, jewellery, antique tablecloths, hand-made aprons, buckles, vintage sewing patterns, magazines, antique prints, jewelled ’50s compacts & lipstick cases, rare Bakelite brooches, the prettiest parasols, and so much more
- See summer and special occasion fashion presented by Mistress of Parades, Miss Bonnie Rose
- Learn tips and tricks for perfect ‘hair and hat’ race-day styling with the Mistresses from the Lindy Charm School for Girls
- Enjoy presentations of gorgeous gowns from the 1920s-70s
- Buy fabulous shoes, hats and handbags to complement a race-day outfit, classic suit to wear in the office, or to-die-for party dress.
Tonight is ‘Best Dressed in Vintage’ night, so dress to impress. There’s also prizes being given out all weekend, so you can rock your favourite vintage look anytime at the show.
Be there or be square.
Learn of the Evans sisters' intriguing story, and see their original 1930s dresses up close
Swing into Spring
Attention swingers, from the experienced to the tentative: this event at the Balmain Town Hall next week will be brilliant, if the last one is anything to go by (for the Mid-Winter Warmer video, click here).
* Get swinging in the knockout dance contest hosted by Swingtime
* Prizes for best dressed ‘mid-century spring ensemble’ judged by yours truly
* Vintage frou from Coco Repose
* Decorate yourself at Vintage Allsorts‘ accessory parlour
* Culinary creativity provided by Love Grub Pop Up Bar and confectionary stall by Jepska
* Polish up your pomade with Atomic Life’s mens’ den
When: Saturday 8th October 2011
Where : Balmain Town Hall
Time : 7.00 – 11.30pm
Tickets : Pre sales $25 + booking fee, available online at Daisy Tickets or $30 at door (if available – sold out last time)
Coiffs and curls optional.
Bombshell accoutrement at Coco Repose
Sixties brocade Wiggle dress from Coco Repose
So by now you may have seen some of the early publicity for Minxy Vintage (thank you, Marie Claire Magazine) and picked up on the not-so-subtle hints I’ve been dropping about its contents. Get ready to see some truly fabulous vintage pieces – not just the ones I’ve given a minor customisation, repair job or total overhaul to, but classic frock shapes from each era with advice on how to modernise or wear them.
The ‘classic’ items were supplied by my dear friend, Jessica Guthrie, designer & owner of Coco Repose. Jess also wrote the Foreword, and has curated an exhibition opening next week at the Sydney Antique Centre, featuring clothing from the 1900s through to the 1980s; much of which appears in Minxy Vintage. Pop along to the Antique Centre from Monday onwards – the exhibition runs for three weeks, and you can buy many of the pieces displayed and peruse the rest of the Coco Repose stall.
Thanks to Jess, the book has some truly rare, museum-worthy pieces in it I was thrilled to have access to. My wardrobe has also never been better since I’ve been raiding her racks.
Simply love these new/old pieces from the Coco Repose store here – seriously glam items to zhoosh up your evening attire. Don’t you think the yellow & gold number would make a magic wedding outfit?
Vintage beaded evening bag
Such a sunny little frock
Fabulous feather pillbox