Retrophile

So Halloween is only a few days away. I am working on my costume and will feature it on the blog after our night out. But here is a clue to this years costume.

I have gotten a few questions about what the Dickens' Fair is.  Well to put it simply, it is a fair in San Francisco Cow Palace Exhibition Halls.  They attempt to recreate Dicken's Era England.  As far as fairs go I think it is one of the bests.  It feels like you have stepped in to a Charles Dickens Christmas Story.  They have reenacters, characters from A Christmas Carol, and all kinds of things that remind you of the 1850's The whole fair takes place between 1842-1863. So I usually stick to the 1850's since it is a good middle.  There are all kinds if shops, shows and fun things to see.  They even have the painted ladies on display at the dark garden corset shop.  So if you would like to check it out for yourself just go here,  http://www.dickensfair.com/ If you think you might be going, shoot me an email at retrophilexo at gmail.com   and I will let you guys know what day I will be making my appearance. Happy Sewing! N...

So I went shopping on Saturday for my Dickens Fair fabric! I am so excited about starting this project. I went a bit crazy with the fabric. I spent most the summer working on a project for my wonderful friend Kelly. But I am happy to be working on a project for myself. I decided to go for less of a traditional fabric for my 1850's dress this year, and go for on that was a bit more my own personal style. Below is the concept sketch for my dress as well as the fabric samples. I will post more tomorrow about the patterns being used and what alterations I plan to make. Happy sewing! Nikki

Hello All, I bought the fabric for my Dicken's Fair Dress.  I am really excited about it.  I will be keeping track of the cost and hours spent working on it just to see what really goes into my dresses. So far I have cut out the pattern which took about 45 minutes Shopping for the fabric took about 1 hr 30mins Check back soon and I will have sketches and fabric samples for you all to see! Later! Nikki

Happy 10-10-10 Enjoy the day!

Hey,  So someone brought up the concept of having a knit along.  So I am putting it out there for all the beginners.  Anyone interested in participating a knit along for beginners.  I haven't picked a project yet.  I am open to suggestions though.  So sent me links to your proposed ideas and we can get this going. Laters! xo Nikki

Picture from http://doodleandhoob.com/blog/ So, it is one of those days.  Woke up feeling a bit under the weather.  Went to work for a meeting that couldn't be postponed and the day just got worse from there.  Ended up coming home and crashing on the couch.  Ahhhh, nothing like the quality of sleep you get when you are really tired!  Woke up to the sun shinning in to the room and dust bunnies dancing in the light. Reminds me of sick days when I was a kid. Well back to curling up on the couch and reality shows on Tv, XO Nikki

So I have been looking in to how to do finger waves.  My hair is actually short enough that I could pull off the 1920's looks.  I just wanted to share a bit of my research with you all.  It is a quick tutorial in creating a 1920's Look. Makeup Hair And Makeup I love this tutorial because it is a really simple one that most anyone could do.  Also, it shows you how to make long hair into a flapper style. Here is another hair and makeup tutorial.  I like this hair because ti isn't as flattened down to the head like traditional fingerwaves are.  This is a more modern twist on fingerwaves.  This tutorial would be useful for those with long or short hair.  For short hair you just won't need to ponytail or pin it like you would for longer hair. Try them out and let me know how they work for you.  I am going to be trying them out myself. Have a wonderful weekend!