Vintage gloves and a free pattern

In the past few weeks I have read a couple of great posts on vintage gloves. Jessica at Chronically Vintage is a frequent glove wearer, matching them with her fantastic outfits and looking super stylish. She wrote this fab post on the etiquette of glove wearing which is really useful if you want to find out more about the types of gloves that go with different outfits. Then over at Retro Rover Kate wrote a lovely post about the changes in gloves from the 1920's onwards, illustrated with some pictures of her own glove collection and marvellous outfits. 

I really enjoy looking at the different ways in which people accessorise their outfits and I always think that gloves make an outfit look incredibly elegant. I don't wear them myself as I have never found any that fit my man hands! 

Gloves can be made from many materials: leather, suede, fur, felt, tweed, wool and cotton. They can be stitched from fabric or knitted or crocheted. Unsurprisingly, in my small (ahem!) pattern collection I do have some for vintage gloves and I was motivated to seek them out after looking at the gloves of Jessica and Kate. I thought you might like to see them.

This 1940's pair are so fine and fancy! I like the frilly cuffs. I think they might count as occasion wear. Also, look at that hat and dress! I love this outfit!

This 1940's pair are similar but a little more sturdy, perhaps more for every day wear. I like the longer length cuffs. I wish we could see a little more of what looks like a potentially marvellous hairstyle!

I think this monochrome pair are pretty amazing, it looks so effective. Whilst this colour combination is probably the most practical in that it would go with anything, you could make them in many colour combinations to match specific outfits. Nice cuffs again!

I love the delicate lace pattern of crosses on this pretty 1950's pair. They really are elegant. Nice hat too! If you are doing an outfit post with gloves you need to make sure that you copy this pose!

Back to the 1940's with these lovely lace gloves, another gorgeous stitch pattern and great hair.

These gloves are knitted. I like the relatively plain fingers with the lace pattern backs. Looking at these patterns provides lots of outfit inspiration and styling ideas. Some great poses and props too, find yourself an old telephone quickly!

  

Are you inspired to add a pair of vintage gloves to your outfit? I am sharing a pattern here so that you can make yourself a pair if you don't have any. I am sharing the patterns illustrated in the last two images so that you can choose between knitting and crochet. If you make any I would love to see them.

A many cabled cardigan

I had been hankering after a cabled cardigan for a good while and after perusing my vintage pattern stash I decided upon this pattern. It has lots of cabling for interest, is a good shape and length and it has a Peter Pan collar which is always a winner. I bought some lovely green Sublime Cashmerino with silk and got knitting. I have been wearing it regularly for a while and it is as comfy, cosy and warm as I hoped for. Somehow I hadn't written a post about it so I decided to remedy that right now!

This is a close up of the sleeve. The cables were lots of fun to knit. I remember being kind of scared of the idea of cables before I first tried knitting them but now I have no idea why that was as I love them!

It took a while to decide on the buttons, mainly because I was doubting my judgement at pairing pink plastic buttons with a green cardi. After checking with a friend I went with my gut feeling. I love these vintage buttons, they look like little jelly moulds and the flecks of green around the edges are exactly the right match!

The collar was interesting to knit with lots of shaping to get it to curve correctly and a border which is knitted on afterwards. I was after a casual 1950's look that day so a quiff and a pony tail were perfect.

Back view of the lovely cables and collar. Look at the colours of all those shelves of woolly goodness!

I like the fact that the cables continue all the way down and around the sleeves.

Having knitted this cardi I have found that it has given me more outfit choices. I planned to just wear it over dresses but found a couple of skirts that I really like it with too. This one looks like silk but isn't and I really like the green with the berry colour of the skirt. Plus - polka dots!

The other great thing about this skirt is that it has a lot of swish.

See! Swish, swish swish! Endless fun. Thanks to Helen for taking the photos and to Ribbon Circus for the pretty backdrop.  

Cardigan - hand knitted by me.

Skirt - modern Monsoon, £5 from a charity shop!

Shoes - Clarks ages and ages ago.

If I could wear doll's clothes

I didn't mean to disappear for a whole month! I have been having the most frustrating laptop and Blogger issues and have been going round in slow, tedious circles trying to write my blog posts. I think and hope I have a solution and can now get back to writing posts again! 

If I could wear doll's clothes I know exactly what I would be wearing. I was flicking through the new Butterick patterns catalogue yesterday and found these:

Butterick have reproduced some of their vintage sewing patterns for doll's clothes. If these were in your doll's wardrobe she would be the best dressed ever! The designs are from 1946, 1954 and 1956 and there are some fabulous outfits that I would be very happy to wear myself.

Let us take a closer look.

The 1946 page of designs is my least favourite but I am very taken by this Little Red Riding Hood Cape and bonnet. I would happily skip about the nearest forest wearing this. Wolves? Pah!

If I got sick of my red cloak I would replace it with this gorgeous blue coat and bonnet set from 1954. The coat has a great swing shape and has pockets which is always a winner.

Also from 1954 is my favourite casual outfit, perfect for a teenage doll. Turned up high waisted jeans, checked shirt and matching shoes and hair bow. This is great inspiration for a casual '50's look.

From 1956 we have another fabulous casual outfit. I like the bows gathering the bottom of the Breton top and the matching capris. Nice shoes too.

This drop waist polka dot dress is lots of fun, I can imagine that skirt rustling with lots of petticoats. The matching sun hat is an added bonus.

We only get to see a glimpse of this red dress but it looks like it is decorated with floral braid which would be ever so pretty and a perfect diy if you own a red dress you are a bit bored of. The white coat could be quilted which would be marvellous and the matching bonnet is very cute.

You have to love a playsuit, especially a gingham one. The puffy shorts are pretty puffy but at least you have room to eat a big dinner!

This nightdress has a matching pair of puffy shorts. It makes me think of the sleepover scene in Grease which makes me want it all the more.

I wish we could see this gingham dress. I do like the co-ordinating trim on the hood of the swing coat.

This dress is adorable. Monochrome daisies trimmed with red ric rac and a red bow around the waist. A perfect daytime look.

I would definitely pair it with this red coat with the matching trim on the collar and the cuffs. I am coverting the top clasp structured bag too.

So, if I could indeed wear doll's clothes these are the outfits that you would find in my wardrobe. How about you?