And now you're back, from outer space...

...however no sad faces being sported here!

I'm back again! I can't believe the last time I popped on here was in April, how time has flown! Hope you've all been well?

So you might have been wondering where I disappeared to after my previous promise of returning. Well, I've been spending a little time really thinking about what it is I want to do, what's important, makes me happy and gives me fulfillment in life. I've realised I've recently been moaning and groaning that I never had enough time to do the things that I'd enjoyed, such as crafting, spending time catching up with friends and family, and making plans for the future. A lot of my time had been wrapped up in work and studying for work, and the dark winter and frightfully chilly miserable spring just wasn't motivating me to do anything other than the essentials. I've finally got a summer break from evening classes, and I'm taking a slightly scary jump into a new job starting a week on Monday (wish me luck!). I finally have the time and freedom again to get creative, which includes a long overdue and missed return to blogging. 

The Mister and I have also just returned from a 3 day holiday along the coast on a little beach just down the road from Bexhill. We've had the most amazing time exploring Hastings and Rye for the first time, and met some lovely people as well as found some amazing beauty spots to take in the views. I feel totally refreshed and recharged, and today's sunshine back in Brighton has just put the cherry on the cake. I feel like a new person. A new person who's been a busy bee crocheting away at a new project. Can you see what it is yet?

For anyone who keeps an eye on my Facebook page, I posted a few pictures up of crochet bits and bobs I've been churning out, including some red roses which I fashioned into a makeshift hair-slide. I got some really lovely feedback off the back of it, and so I thought I'd try my hand at a more finished crochet piece. 

Featuring a green crochet base and two crochet roses in pinks, I added some snowdrops, a little robin (picked up in Hastings!) and a couple of vintage buttons from my stash, I'm rather pleased with this one! What do you think?

I've made a couple of these in different colours with different flowers and bits and bobs from my overflowing hoard of haberdashery. The Mister and I will be holding a stall at the July Johnny loves June Vintage fair in Shoreham on the 21st and I'm hoping to be able to test the water and see if anyone would like to take one home with them. Keeping my fingers crossed, it would be a dream to someday somehow make a living from a hobby! 

So on to today's happenings. The Mister and I decided that 3 rounds of Crazy Golf at the Hastings International Championship Mini Golf course on Thursday wasn't enough, and that we had a score to settle. If you didn't know already, we're a little Crazy Gold mad and play quite a lot! Today's arena: Brighton Adventure Golf on Madeira Drive. Here's me sporting my best golfer's pose:

For any fellow lovers of The Chap Magazine you might recognise the setting from one of their covers. Unfortunately for me, the Mister won this round after I royally ballsed up on the first 2 holes (the course was faster than I thought...my excuse and I'm sticking to it, hehe!), although I did managed to score at least 1 hole-in-one. Next time!!

Outfit:

Flower hair-slide - Made by Me!

Vintage bangle - Roedean Vintage & Collectors Fair

Vintage pale pink knitted top - Charity Shop, Haywards Heath

Vintage pink wool cardi - Lewes Flea Market

High waisted pedal pushers - Rye

Mexican blanket pumps - Primarni

Much love from sunny Brighton,

L.J.

XXX

She's Alive!

Well hello there, long time no blog! 

I cannot believe I haven't been back on here since January... I swear I've lost the plot a little of late, because I have no idea where the last 3 months have gone! I am putting it down to studying by night, working by day, and stuffing in as many woolly crochet projects as I possible could in between, I just haven't had the time to get myself blogging again. But I really have missed it, and all your lovely messages while I've been on a little blog-break have made me itch to get back into it. 

And I had to pinch myself when I logged on earlier this week...I've sped past the 100+ followers mark in my absence *jaw drops* THANK YOU!!!!

So I thought I should get back into things with a little outfit post, a Sunday Best! Thank you everyone who has been taking part and spreading the love of the Sunday Best Campaign, I have a lot of reading to catch up on and can't wait to see :) 

Without further ado, a collection of snaps prancing about on Kemptown seafront, in a nice quiet spot down from our flat:

The Mister and I headed over to Shoreham yesterday for the 1st Johnny loves June Vintage Fair. For a first time, it was packed and now on my favourites list! Forgot to take my camera along, d'oh, but managed to pick up this pretty little springtime dress for £10. Bargain! 

I paired it up with a little jacket from a To Be Worn Again kilo sale and it being super light, probably set me back around £2. Have I mentioned that I love a good bargain?  It has the cutest elephant buttons and an embroidered elephant on the collar, super sweet! 

In my time away I've got a little lazy when it comes to doing my hair, and have been keeping it in its natural state and haven't curled it (apart from an aaaaaaaamazing photoshoot I did recently which I will tell you all about this week, promise!). However, I've been loving playing around with pinning bits of it up, and have nearly mastered the art of finishing getting up and out the house in under 20 minutes; there are upshots of being super busy sometimes, heh. 

Also, my hair seems to have grown a hell of a lot!

It's really lovely to be back again, and I'm finding it really inspiring getting back into reading all the blogs out there and finding new ones again. I've missed it, and I shall try my best to get back into being online again as often as possible, but please do bear with me should I seem to disappear off the planet again, I will be back!

Dress - Johnny Loves June Vintage Fair, Shoreham

Jacket - To Be Worn Again

Petticoat - family hand-me-down

Gloves - Flea Market, Lewes

Sunglasses - Betsey Johnson

Much Love from Brighton,

 L.J.

XXX

A furrrry Sunday Best

Another sunny Sunday, another Sunday Best!

Winter has most certainly arrived, I opened the curtains this morning and had the very first frost of the season, so what better way to prepare for a day out walking than wrap up warm with layers of wool, petticoats and fur :)

We took a stroll into town along the seafront to blow off those cobwebs (quite fitting this weekend, nay?), and in-between rain showers and sunshine managed to take a few snaps.

This jacket is starting to make a lot of appearances on the blog now the weather has turned, and still has to be my favourite item of clothing. If I haven't mentioned before, this is a 1940's Cyril A. Castle Saville Row Suit jacket, and I have the matching skirt! Woop! Gloat much.....sorry! ;) This time however I've teamed it up with a 50's floral tea dress, padded out with 2 layers of petticoats for added warmth, white jumper and fleece tights (hallelujah Primark, finally something I actually needed!).  

A little on the controversial side perhaps, but I'm not ashamed to admit that yes, the fur that I am wearing is real. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I am completely against the 'production' of new fur, but don't see why that should mean that vintage fur should be left to be eaten by moths in a darkened cupboard. What's your opinion on the matter?

I also finally got around to dying my hair again this week, long overdue indeed but I am totally in love with being a fiery red head once again. If only this could be my natural colour, hah. Pinned up at the front in swirls and in a big birds nest at the back, one of my recent favourites.

And of course Charlie had to join in and wear his Sunday Best. This is a made-by-me coat I rustled up in time for last Christmas. There were two, one for Charlie and one for his brother Buster (RIP), they're fleece lined, with a waterproof inside layer, their 'family' tartan and finished off with green pipping and their initial embroidered on the fleece collar. Sure to keep old Charlie warm in the coming months, and sure to attract plenty of attention from passers by. I think Charlie got more comments than either the Mister or myself! The people of Brighton sure do love a beagle in a coat heh.

I see quite a few fellow bloggers have now joined me in the Sunday Best Campaign, and I'm loving seeing all the effort you've been going to to crack out your Sunday Best, no excuses needed! Please do remember to let me know when you've posted up a Sunday Best post so I can start creating a monthly round up of all your frilly frocks, looking forward to it!

1940's Suit Jacket - Martlets Charity Shop, Brighton

1950's Brown Floral Tea Dress - Upper Gardner Street Flea Market, Brighton

Fur Ear Muffs - Christmas present

Fur Headband - Pop Up Vintage, Hassocks

Fur Collar - Brighton Marina Car Boot

Vintage Glass Bead Necklace - Brighton Marina Car Boot

Yellow Fleece Tights - Primark

1950's Floral Umbrella - Seaford Flea Market

Much Love from Brighton,

L.J.

xxx

Lady Jardin on VintageBrighton.com

 

 Bit delayed, but I recently had the honour of being featured on VintageBrighton.com, our local hub for all things Vintage related and one of my most visited sites when looking up forthcoming events and shop reviews.

 

Please follow the link below if you fancy having a read :)

 

VintageBrighton.com

 

 

Thank you to the lovely Jo-Ann Fortune for letting me be a part of VintageBrighton.com, and a huge thank you to all me loyal followers and fellow bloggers for sticking with me and following me along my journey into all things Vintage, Crafty and Creative!

 

Much Love from Brighton,

 

L.J.

xxx



A 'Special Occasion' Outift Post

We had a the Mister's niece's Christening to attend a few Saturday's ago, and I finally got to bust out one of my favourite a-little-too-nice-to-wear-on-a-normal-occasion dresses and matching bolero.

Sadly the little shop I purchased it from no longer exists, and I found this on my first and only trip...the little old lady was gone the following weekend! But many long-time vintage lovers in Brighton have informed me that it was Brighton's best kept vintage secret, the tiny shop up on Upper St James St in Kemptown where apparently Kate Moss used to get most of her bits from.

Anyways, I've had this dress since my 21st Birthday, which was um....nearly 3 years ago now, and have only worn this on 3 occasions, my 21st Birthday, my friend's 30th as seen here with me sporting my oh so sexy wrist braces, and for the christening! It even proved to be dog-proof too...pretty and practical? Score!

Me flashing some bling-bling for a change:

And a hat with a GIGANTIC flower set off to one side:

Now to organise some more special occasions as an excuse to get the others out of their plastic covers! I may just decided to go back to what they used to, and wear my best on Sunday's every week, special occasion or not! Anyone care to join me? Liberate those rarely worn lovelies!

Dress & Bolero set - 30a, Upper St James St, Brighton

Hat - Brighton Marina Carboot

Bird Necklace - Brighton Tattoo Convention

Broach - Oxfam, Uckfield

Daisy Chain - Worthing American Car Show

Much Love from Brighton,

L.J.

xxx





Learning Hairpin Crochet at Super+Super HQ

For the last month, I've been spending my Tuesday evenings at cosy Super + Super HQ learning how to hair pin crochet. Miss Amy Phipps has been patiently teaching our class the lacier form of crochet.

I did a bit of research before I went to the first class, and really couldn't figure out how the hell it worked....a bit anxious I had signed up for something a little too tricky. But I was totally wrong! Once Amy had shown us it was all done on a little frame (She'd made us some out of an old coat hanger, so simple yet perfect! Saved me £9 from Amazon!), with a normal crochet hook, the only difference being that you wrap the wool around the frame as you work along the piece!

So here is our class working away making lots of 'strips' of crochet, the first step in making anything!

Many many cups of tea and slices of cake were had, yum yum! And learning a new skill at the same time? Great night out on a school night me thinks :)

The browns and greys above were mine, and below is what Amy was working on while showing us. I fell in love with the metalic gold wool!

I got a bit carried away and kept making more and more of them before learning how to join them all up. I had a vague idea of maybe making another cardi out of them. Hasn't quite worked out to plan, but it was a learning exercise! heh. 

Next step? Learning how to join them all together! We started off being shown how to join two up with no other yarn involved. Here is one I prepared earlier:

You sort of weave one side in and out with the other. Now I understood why Amy kept telling us to work on contrasting colours first; at least then you can tell apart the sides when it starts getting fiddly!

And here is our teacher's example:

Fellow student Sarah's work:

And here was my first attempt at trying to finish off all the edges.

I used the piece I joined up above, and then pinched some of the gold metalic lurex to crochet up the remaining two edges with simple single stitch crochet, bunching up the strands as I worked along.

I'm actually amazed at how quick and simple hair-pin crochet is once you've been shown it. There are actually only 2 types of stitches involved with making up the lacy bits, and then it's all about joining them up in different ways to make any sort of garment.

I think this would, in a second attempt, turn into a really cute collar! A little more practice at getting the amount of stitches right so it lays flat :)

I'm bursting with ideas now! I feel this has opened up so many possibilities, combining this with normal crochet, embroidery and beading, sewing......I think this is going to be the year of crochet for me!

I would thoroughly recommend organising a tea party with the girls at Super + Super, I had one with my Mum for her Birthday a few weeks back and had a brilliant time refreshing my memory on granny squares, with lots of bubbly and cake!

I've already finished off my first project, and planning the next already. The only down side is, I was halfway through crocheting another cardi in a different style, and that has now started collecting dust while I'm distracted by all this new stuff. That can wait for now though :)

Much Love from Brighton,

L.J.

xx

Vintage Hair Lounge visit Harlem Hair, Hove

On Monday, I joined the girls for an afternoon being models for a training session run by the amazingly talented Gloria and Sharon of Vintage Hair Lounge, at Harlem Hair in Hove.

The team spent a busy afternoon curling our hair into beautiful vintage styles, some of us receiving 1940's pin curls, 50's victory rolls or 60's beehives. I had no idea how many layers went into making these styles the proper way, it was incredible to watch them all slowly building up. Now I truely understand why girls used to say they couldn't come out, they had to do their hair! 4 hours later, with make up done and hair perfetly in place, we went downstairs for a little photoshoot with photographer Scott Chalmers.

Here's the first picture they've posted up so far :)

As soon as they've finished loading all the other girls, I will share them all with you, you have to see their hair!! Jaw dropping stuff I tell you!

Hair - Anna Lewis

Make-Up - Molly Dickie

Dress - Oh! So Vintage, Isle of Wight

Cardi - Made by Me!

Bracelet - Antiques Fair, Rottingdean

Harlem Hair will be offering Vintage hair styling in the future, so next time you are planning a night out in Brighton, I would thoroughly recommend you go pay them a visit. I have been waiting for somewhere in town to start doing this, and my prayers have finally been answered! I'm sure I'll be visiting them again, can't wait to see next time's creation :)

Jenny Mearns of Frantic about Frances was also having her hair done on the day and she had THE most amazing Beehive. Being all dressed up at 5pm and nothing to do, we had to go for cocktails with the boys after! It would have been silly not to ;) hehe. Naughty Naughty, drinking on a school night!

 

I even managed to sleep with a headscarf on and keep the front up the next day! That hair was rrock solid, perfect for a windy day at the seaside.

Much Love from Brighton,

L.J.

xxx

Shimmy Shakin' what Mama gave me!

First off, I want to say a massive thank you for all your lovely comments on last week's posts. I was actually really nervous and felt a bit shy after posting those pictures up. Wasn't sure how you were going to take it! But you have said nothing but kind words, in a week where I really had to overcome my bum and thigh complex, because I was about to bear all to a rather larger audience than I'm used to!

And also welcome to my new followers! I promise, there will be some un-burlesquey and more crafty posts to come. And I have finally hit, and gone past my personal target of 75 :) woop woop! This means I need to get organised and run a long overdue Give-away! More details on that later this week!

Last Sunday I was very lucky to take part in the Brighton Boutique Charity Fashion show, being held at Oceana on the seafront. Jenny Mearns, the brains behind the super cute pin-up lingerie shop Frantic about Frances asked me to open up her show on the day (she's a brave girl, she'd never even seen me perform before...but then not many have! Must make more effort....). Aaaanywho's....we met last year at the Vintagebrighton.com's 1st Birthday, and I have kept my eyes peeled on Jenny's site since, and watched the collection grow into the amazingly kitch cute line it is now!

She made me an outfit, even picked out the music, and I had about 10 days to make up a routine in ready for the show on the Sunday, yikes! However, many frantic email back and forth leading up to the event, we had a last minute run through when we arrived and then spent the morning getting our hair done, faces painted, and panties positioned.

Here's a sneak preview from behind the scenes, with the models just having gotten into their outfits, how cute are they?

Needless to say I was exceptionally nervous. I haven't done one of these shows since the Royal Wedding themed one last year, and that was only to a crowd of 20 people, this one was to 200+ *gulp*

So how did it go? Apart from having horrible visions of falling off the stage straight into someones lap, legs feeling like they were about to melt away, it was actually extremely liberating!! I had such an amaazing time, and now I remember why I did it last time! The stage was super narrow...it was a catwalk, but I'm proud to report I got through it, no one was hurt during the perfomance (apart form my parasol which is now looking a little worse for wear), and no nipple tassles came flying off. Hurray!!

So here are some piccies taken by the lovely photographers from the day:

Backstage, seconds before going on. love those bows on the front of the corset!!

And in chronological order .....If you switch through them quite quick, it might look like a movie....it's worth a try anyway : P

Photography by Patrick Le Garsmeur

Photography by Patrick Le Garsmeur

Photography by Patrick Le Garsmeur

Photography by Malcolm Tam

I'm looking forward to helping Jenny again in the future, and if any of you are in Brighton this Saturday, make sure you head down to the Mesmerist, she's going to be holding a sample sale of all those lovely knickers!!

 Much Love from Brighton

 L.J.

xxx

Experiments in Vintage Crochet - Part 2

My journey in re-discovering crochet continues! After completing Experiment 1, I stuck to the shrug theme and went ahead and tried this one out. Looked reasonably simple:

You too can purchase this 1950's Sleeve-Shrug PDF here from Cremetarian's Etsy shop!

So, how did it go this time? I think it turned out rather nicely, even if it was (again) a little bigger than anticipated, but I'm kinda enjoying the slouchy shrug with this changing weather!

The pattern was actually quite simple to follow, and was a matter of making a rectangular length, doing a cuff then fastening off, starting again from the first chain, and mirroring on the other side, you just gather up the back a bit and sew up the arms, and voila, you got yourself a Sleeve Shrug! This came up pretty quickly after spenidng a windy afternoon at a car show sat inside the car!

I think this is my new favourite :)

If only I could be bothered to make up the tassles, but I will soon, when I'm not distracted by the next project!

Posing it up at the Old Steine in Brighton on my way home from work:

The great thing about this pattern is once you've made it up once and know the measurements of the bits, you can make this up in any kind of stitch. So for the next one I'm going to attempt it in a lacy shell stitch, but in chunky wool as it's all I could find at the charity shop on the way home. Plus it makes up a lot faster ;) impatient as ever!

And a few close up's back at home:

I think I've decided to make this my year of crochet and focus on trying to make up my own patterns later in the year once I've mastered a few of these. So keep your eyes peeled for more experiments, and please do let me know if you have any hints, tips or your own crochet projects!

In other crochet related news, I've just attended my very first Hairpin Lace Crochet class at Super+Super HQ in Brighton in a 4 week course. It's AMAZING! I am so excited about next weeks class where we will learn how to join up all our little bits of hairpin crochet. I stupidly forgot to bring my camera, and wine, along to this week's class, but will do for the next and will be reporting back on my progress :) They run all sorts of creative classes as well as vintage swap shops, pop-up shops, blogger meets and more. Definitely worth paying a visit next time you're in town.

Anyone else been busy crafting away over the rainy Jubilee Weekend?

Shrug - Made by me!

Dress - Dig for Victory, Brighton

Shoes - *cough* Primark *cough*

Bracelet - Antiques & Collectors Fair, Rottingdean

Much love from soggy Brighton,

L.J.

xxx