Fly Away

Hat - H&M

Dress - Jumble Sale, 20 p

Socks - 99p store

Clog sandals -  Charity Shop

Rucksack - TK Maxx

So I'm off! I leave at 6am tomorrow morning for an 11 hour plus flight to L.A. Then I'm spending three weeks roaming about the West Coast. I can't wait. I hope to return feeling inspired and refreshed. If anyone has any tips about places  to go to (especially good vintage shops) or things to do I'd love to hear any recommendations you've got. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the summer and I'll see you when I get back.

Humble Jumble

I love a good jumble sale. Rummaging elbow deep in other people's old clothes isn't for everyone, but really there is just no better place for bargains. I think all the items in this post added up came to less than £4. I think my best baragin was the suitcase. It cost a whole 50p! Unfirtuenately the previous owner wrote their initials on the base. I mean the R is right, maybe I should alter the rest to fit me name? I love the fact the case has the date it was made (1966) stamped inside it. I wonder who R.G.J was and where they took this case. The pale blue floral dress is another favourite, it was my first find and with the case the best thing I found. It's handmade possibly in the 1970's and it is a pretty perfect fit, it even still has it's original belt. The bag looks like it has never been used, I love the little ship motif. The black button front skirt and navy dress were both calf length, but chopping the hems off has modernised them suitably. I love the logo on the N.R.S book and how you can see it on the gates in the photo. Plus the sweet little bookmark inside., spread the word about the N.R.S! I looked it up and it is still going, they have some dedicated rose gardens in Hertfordshire. After buying that I had to buy the pink porcelain rose too. I was so happy with the sandals too, I've been after some and they only cost 30p. The only non thrifted item is the little top with lace collar. I've been after some simple light summer tops so I made this one. It was my first attempt at bias facings, but I think it just about worked. Plus I had that one piece of lace and it was the perfect length, obviously it was meant to be!

Nature Trail

Necklace - Made from an old belt buckle

Skirt - Jumble sale

Belt - Charity shop

Shoes - River island sale, with changed laces

These photos are from a little nature walk I went on. I saw these strange looking bugs everywhere, they didn't seem to mind having their picture taken, I looked them up and I think they are called red froghoppers, which is a pretty brilliant name I think. Also sorry for my lack of posts, since last week I've been to the Grace Kelly exhibition at the V&A, which was interesting.  I enjoyed learning that the costumes she wore in High Society were given to her as a gift from the studios and made up part of her wedding trousseau. Apparently this rarely ever happened, studios usually kept the costumes. On Saturday I attended a friend's wedding, it was a beautiful day but I forgot to take any photos, hopefully I can unearth someone elses. I originally went shopping for a new (vintage) dress to wear but then I thought, why not wear something I already have, since I'm hardly short on dresses. The one I chose is a long standing favourite that I also wore for my 22nd birthday. On a different note, I will be going away on 27th July for about a month, I'm very excited! I will be visiting San Francisco, L.A, Las Vegas, Yosemite and various other places. If anyone has any tips or recommendations on places to see/things to do, I'd love to hear them.

Vintage holiday

Here is a little selection of vintage photos I've picked up recently. They have a bit of a holiday theme to them, except for the rather grumpy looking girl in stripes. I love the first photo even though it's in pretty and condition. Look at all the beach outfits. On the back it says, sent back to fair haven, with the wide grin, his face (white shirt) & goggles. I took this. It's kind of sad that I will never know what any of that means, although I assume it refers to the boy to the left of the middle.  None of the other photos are captioned. I think the third photo looks like some kind of girl's sports team, except there is one boy in the photo. I really like the one of the four women playing about with the wheelbarrow, they look like they are having such a lot of fun. The second to last one is a classic holiday snap, I think her shoes remind me a bit of my clogs. As  for the final one, it says on the back Falmouth 1945, so at least we know where it is. I would happily wear both of their outfits on my own summer holidays.

The Rose garden

Necklace - Gift from when I was about ten

T-shirt - Topshop (very old)

Skirt - Belonged to my grandmother

Bag - Belonged to my other grandmother

Sandals - New Look (again very old)

On Sunday I visited a National Trust Property called Nymans, a  garden and partly ruined house.  Nymans is one of my favourite National Trust places  so far, the gardens were full of bright flowers and plants everywhere you looked. The first image is taken in 'The Temple' and looks down over the grounds. This sort of  landscape always reminds me a little of Jane Austen, I'm not sure why. As well as the garden you can visit a few rooms of the old family house. The house was partly destroyed by fire in 1947 , yet later partially rebuilt and lived in by the last of the family to live there, Anne Messel. The gardens have a pinetum which has samples of many different types of trees, a walled garden - that made me think of the secret garden, and a rose garden. The rose garden was so beautiful, I'm not sure I've ever seen so many different roses in one place. This blog seems to be turning into 'what I wore to visit a national trust garden,' I hope nobody minds.