welcome to my blog
Here at my 50s style blog I’ll be sharing my latest projects and anything retro, vintage or mid century inspired that takes my fancy. I’d love to hear from you on my blog post comments or via the contact page.
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WR Johnston Craftsmen made to measure menswear catalogue Fall/Winter 59-60.
Those of you who follow me on social media may have seen a post a couple of weeks ago where I showed a few pages from a hand illustrated late 50s made to measure menswear catalogue from the late 50s that my husband picked up somewhere in the US. I spent quite a bit of…
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How to use mid-century style fabrics and wallpapers in your home
Mid-century modern (MCM) is a design style that emerged in the mid-20th century and is characterized by its clean lines, simple shapes, and use of natural materials. Mid-century fabrics and wallpaper are an important part of this style, and they can be used to create a timeless and stylish look in any home. One of…
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How to make your own tote bag in easy steps
This bag is big enough to hold a couple of A4 folders and to fit comfortably over your shoulder, but you can make it any size with straps any length you wish (just make sure you cut the two main bag pieces and the two lining pieces all the same size) For this size you…
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How to work out how much fabric you need to make curtains
Before you start measuring your windows for curtain fabric you need to decide on a few things: Do you have a curtain pole or track already fitted? Will the curtains hang inside or outside the window frame? How long do you want the curtains to hang? Generally about 10cm (or 4”) below the window is…
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Mid century kitchen renovation
OK so finally here I am posting pics of our kitchen remodel. It has been almost finished for a while but I wanted to get it properly sorted before I took photos. Then I had to wait until I had freshly cleaned it and the weather was nice and bright enough to get some decent…
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Vintage sewing ephemera
A few months back now I was going through some boxes in my loft. I knew I had a box full of bits and pieces that belonged to my Great Aunt Gladys which had been passed on to me by her son who knew I was interested in family history.Anyway I spent a few hours…
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Retro kitchen roller blinds
You may already have seen these gorgeous photos on my social media but they are so amazing I think they are worth their own blogpost. Way back in August we had a message from a lovely lady Helene at Revival Vintage. (Click here to visit their website.) She was redoing her kitchen and was interested…
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How I created a pattern from a garment and enlarged it too!
A while ago I shared a post on Social media about a vintage blouse that I’d owned for years but which had fallen apart in places and was beyond repair. I had kept this blouse because I really loved it and eventually (20 odd years later) the idea hit me to unpick it and make…
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Home Made Kwik Sew K3897 Dungarees
I have always loved dungarees. Or anything with a pinafore type top. When I was pregnant I had a pair of maternity dungaree shorts and I also used to slop around in a pair of vintage men’s Lee dungarees which were so comfortable. I’ve been on the lookout for another vintage pair for a while…
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Weldons Home Dressmaking Magazine No. 693
I have finally gotten around to scanning in the last of my Weldons Dressmaking magazines. I left this one until last because it was ripped almost across the whole thing and it took me a while to make it look decent in Photoshop (which isn’t my forte) But anyway I think it was worth the…
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Free knitting pattern 1950s ladies jacket
Sometimes I struggle to find ideas to share in my blog posts (and social media in general) I tend to save interesting bits and pieces as I go about my week but occasionally I find I haven’t got anything that I want to write about. That happened this week but as I was searching through…
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Sew your own makeup brush roll
This was originally going to be just a social media post but I had too many lovely photos so I’m making it into a blog post so that I can use them all. At Christmas last year I was given a set of good quality makeup brushes. I’ve never had any decent makeup brushes. In…
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Bespoke mid century fabric design
A few months back I received an email from a lady called Karen who was looking for some retro fabric to make into blinds. She had been pointed in my direction by a mutual friend of us both, and was keen to know if it would be possible to recolour one of my designs. She…
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Bestway nightwear catalogue
Last month I shared a scanned in version of Weldons home dressmaking magazine, this month I’ve spent a bit of time scanning in a Bestway Fashions no. 244 underwear, nightwear and pyjamas magazine. It was in quite a state and my Photoshop skills are not the best but I think I’ve managed to make it…
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Weldons Home Dressmaking Magazine
If you follow me on social media you will have already seen a couple of these pictures. I bought a few vintage magazines a while ago from a vintage fair and have been scanning some of them in. The illustrations are beautiful so I’ve cleaned them up a bit and will share the whole magazine…
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Marian Martin brushed cotton plaid shirt
A few months ago I decided that I would like a brushed cotton plaid shirt. I wanted it to be a mens style but with a ladies fit. This Marian Martin pattern seemed to fit the bill. It’s one of my favourite pattern envelopes. Being a mail order vintage one, it still has the original…
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Delano wraparound skirt
I have got so many sewing projects to share it will take me forever to write up the posts, but I am going to keep adding one now and again just so you hopefully don’t get bored with the same sort of blog content. It was only after going through all my photos that I…
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Hand crocheted wool blanket
I’d always wanted to crochet a blanket and I also always like something to do once I’ve sat down in the evening so this project was a bit of a no-brainer. My lovely sister-in-law who is also very crafty, bought me a brilliant book ‘200 crochet blocks for blankets, throws and afghans’ by Jan Eaton….
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Sewing Midcentury style handbags
Last year I had a spate of sewing bags. I was kind of experimenting with ideas for new products I could sell but I didn’t get around to sharing them for opinions, so I thought I’d make a blog post out of them. The first one which I love is this fortune cookie style bag…
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Handpicked Selection of Midcentury Style Christmas gifts
No matter who you are buying for this Christmas we have a gift to suit. From our most recent range of shoulder bags and pouches… …to beautifully luxurious feather filled cushions and matching coaster sets for the home. For the chef in your life we have marvellous mid-century teatowels (which also coordinate perfectly with our…
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Make your own pattern weights
I have recently bought myself an overlocker (or serger to those of you in the US) I mainly wanted to be able to make myself T shirts and tops in knit fabric and despite buying a walking foot and stretch needle I could not achieve the finish I was hoping for with my sewing machine….
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Coats & Clark Fashions In Quick Crochet
Just take a look at this fantastic advert from the Coats and Clark ‘Fashions in Quick Crochet’ book for their ‘Speed-Cro-Sheen’ crochet yarn. I hope you all like the crafty things I share on here because I keep on finding more of them! Although I guess you don’t actually need to like crafty things to…
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Making myself a Marian Martin wrap dress
I made this dress ages ago. I’ve just checked and it was 4 years ago to be precise and I am only now getting around to sharing it. I did take lots of photos during construction but I think they often make for not very interesting reading, and believe it or not I had only…
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Vintage Justin cowboy boots
If you follow me on Instagram you will have probably seen these already, I shared a few photos when I originally bought them but I love them so much I’m going to share some more! I fell in love with these boots when I was looking for a pair of western style boots. I love…
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Make your own 1950s tailored hat
A while ago I bought a few magazines from a vintage fair, one of which was ‘Popular Handicrafts and Practical Homecrafts’ from August 1957. It has loads of lovely adverts and quite a few interesting projects to make and I thought since I love to find free patterns online and from other blogs, that I…
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Sewing the Wearing History 1930s blanket coat
This has been the scariest project I have undertaken on my sewing journey. I cannot deny I was really nervous about it, and for those of you who follow me on social Media you will already know that the buttonholes spooked the hell out of me! I do love a coat with a hood. I…
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Homemade 1940s blouse McCalls 7277
I have 2 teenage daughters and despite my love of crafting from a young age neither of them has had any inclination to take up sewing. They are both incredibly arty and very talented on the drawing and design front but have no interest in actually creating anything that they can wear. So I was…
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Mid Century Floor Cushion
I’ve recently been playing around in my head with new product ideas, one of which is roller blinds which will be coming to my shop very soon. If you haven’t seen my recent Instagram and Facebook posts showing my colour tests have a look and I’d love it if you let me know what you…
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Sewing with fabric scraps, how to make a jewellery roll
Recently I was thinking about using up scraps of fabric and making something useful so I set about trying to find a pattern to use and share with you all. In my Etsy shop I sell what I call ‘scrap packs’ which are useable bits and pieces of my prints. I try to make sure…
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My 50s English Rose kitchen
I thought this month I’d share some photos of my English Rose kitchen. I shared some of my bathroom when we decorated it a few months back so this completes the story. When we moved into our house in 1995 (the days before Ebay and the Internet) there used to be a free ads paper…
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Lampshades in my new fabrics
I don’t often remember to mention the fact that I also sell lampshades made using my fabrics. The ones shown on my website all feature my first collection of dress fabrics and are all still available to buy but I have just made a few samples in my new interior weight fabrics. Since these fabrics…
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Sew your own vintage bunting
How many of you have ever had a go at sewing your own bunting? I made quite a lot of it for when I was selling my wares at various fairs using my original range of dress fabrics. I was often asked if I sold it (which unfortunately I don’t) but I thought I’d share…
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Vintage Sewing Box
About 5 years ago my husbands Aunt sadly passed away. She had been a machinist all her life and worked in various sewing factories up in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. When I used to work for M&S suppliers she always used to ask me ‘what are the colours going to be next year?’ because she knew…
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Economy Design 1950s blouse pattern
Sewing another vintage blouse pattern… So last year I decided to have a complete wardrobe review (if that’s the right word for it) I had become aware that although I had too much in my wardrobe I wasn’t really wearing a lot of it because I didn’t have things to pair with a lot of…
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Another vintage knitting project…
As any of you who follow my rather sporadic blogging will know, I do like to try to knit. I can knit but very, very, slowly. I am not great at knitting anything with a pattern – it takes all of my concentration to get the increasing and decreasing correct in plain garter or stocking…
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Vintage Bathroom Redecoration
Back at Easter time we decided to bite the bullet and redecorate our bathroom. The bathroom suite itself was fine but the paint had gotten a bit cracked and flaky and the tile grouting was grubby. Plus I’d never really been happy with the pale turquoise colour we’d painted it when it was first done…
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Fabric printing methods and my homemade duvet cover
Over a year ago I shared a photo on Instagram of a duvet cover I had made from my Senora fabric, As I was hanging it on the washing line at the weekend and marveling at how little it has faded in the year it’s been in use. I thought I’d share it again in…
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Making a 1950s duffle and tote bag
One of the benefits of designing and printing your own fabric is that you always have a plentiful supply on hand for those little craft projects that you’ve always been wanting to make. A while ago I bought a pattern from Etsy seller ‘My vintage wish’ for a 1950s tote bag. I liked the look…
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Hand made placemats
Just a quick post to show you all something I made recently. I really liked the idea of having some placemats to match my Melamine coasters so set about sewing some up. I wanted them to be double sided and found a tutorial on Google that looked interesting and that I thought relatively easy. (Famous…
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Mid Century chair upholstery
Recently I was approached by an upholsterer from Suffolk, the beautiful next door county to my home county of Norfolk. She was interested in purchasing my Starlight fabric to reupholster a 1970s Gplan style chair. I watched her Instagram account in anticipation, and was completely blown away by the end result. Nicky very kindly sent…
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Sewing With Knit Fabric
I received the ‘Gertie Sews Vintage Casual‘ book for Christmas and have to say it is fantastic! I spent ages just reading through it and making notes of additional bits and pieces I wanted to buy. I do love to have an excuse to buy new sewing supplies. I quite fancied the idea of sewing one…
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The Trials And Tribulations Of Wearing Vintage
I had this lovely little red and white gingham vintage cotton blouse. As with most of my vintage finds I remember buying it. I can still see the shop in my minds eye, we were driving through a small town in Texas and pulled over to have a look in a little vintage/thrift shop. I…
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Another Vintage Knitting Project
This is my third attempt at knitting a vintage cardigan and I think I am gradually improving!! I’ve actually worn this one a lot, it fits better than any of the others and is a pretty straightforward style to wear. Again the pattern was a download from www.thevintageknittinglady.co.uk I love this site, so much choice…
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Vintage Fashion Illustration Haul Continued
About three months ago I posted four of these sketches with the promise that more would follow but they didn’t. Better late than never, here they are. If you follow me on Facebook you’ll have seen them already but I like to keep my promises so I’m posting them here too, hope you enjoy them….
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Relining My Vintage Pendleton Coat
This post is long overdue. I actually relined this coat about a year ago, took photos and meant to write a post on it straight away, but as with a lot of things I didn’t find the time. It has sat on my to-do list for the last year but finally here goes. I absolutely…
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Vintage Fashion Illustration Haul
A few weeks back we popped over to East London for a Sunday morning car boot sale. I do love a car boot but have to be in the right frame of mind to really have a dig around. I only came away with one purchase but one I’m really happy with, a set of…
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Hair today…….
I just wanted to share a few thoughts on hair. My hair has always been poker straight and from about the age of 7 or 8 (except for a brief spell when I was 18) I’ve always worn it short. Often very short – in fact when my eldest daughter was born 13 years ago…
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My second attempt at knitting a garment
Knitting is something I’ve always wanted to do but never been able to master. I can crochet and sew to a reasonable standard but knitting has always alluded me and I hate to be beaten by something. My nan was a fantastic knitter and produced huge amounts of cardigans, jumpers and socks for us when…
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Final Blog Post On My Finished Garments!!
These are the final 2 garments that I made – well apart form a shirt that I made for my husband in the ‘Modesto’ print. Maybe I’ll be able to persuade him to model it for a couple of photos, but for now I’m happy that I have managed to show the ones that I…
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Finished Garments In Coronado And Delano Fabrics
I thought the Coronado fabric was quite suited to a shirt or blouse and I liked the idea of adding one to my wardrobe so I settled on Simplicity 2076 for this garment. I made the sleeveless version. There’s not really too much to say about this pattern, I didn’t realise when I started it…
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A Quick Look At A Few More Finished Garments
I am determined to finish showing the garments that I made using my 20th Century Cloth fabrics. It is taking me some time but to speed it up a bit I’m going to try to cover 2 garments in one post. If I keep in the order that I made them the next in line…
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Memphis Noir Circle Skirt
Still trying to keep things simple I made another skirt – this time though a circle skirt. I chose Butterick 6167 from my pattern stash, it only has 3 pieces so couldn’t be that difficult! Cutting it out proved to be one of the most difficult parts – although there are only 3 pattern pieces…
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Butterick 9347 skirt made using my Biscayne print
The second garment I made was a skirt from the Butterick 9347 pattern. I was still trying to keep things simple (didn’t want to jump into anything too complicated too soon!) and this was basically a wrap-around skirt with a tie waist. As an added bonus it had lovely big pockets too, I love big…
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A belated look at my finished garments
Way back on the 9th October last year I posted on my Facebook page that I’d blog about the garments I made with my 20th Century Cloth fabric. Well 3 months on and here I am, finally! I am struggling with finding time to keep up with the social media side of running a business…
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Look what arrived today….
I’m very excited today to have finally got my hands on my business flyers designed and photographed by my husband Al at www.twenty7.net If any of you people out there have shops or stalls and would be kind enough to display some to help spread the word please let me know and I’ll send some…
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Fall For Cotton Sew-Along
Last month I took part in my first ever online ‘Sew-Along’It was organised by Natasha of www.bygumbygolly.com and Rochelle of www.luckylucille.com To take part we had to choose a decade between the 20s and the 70s, choose a pattern and a cotton fabric – it HAD to be 100% cotton, hence the Fall For Cotton…
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