1920's Costume Party

Ages ago I posted about doing research for a 1920's costume party I was going to. True to form I never got around to doing the follow up post, due to lack of pictures taken on the night. Recently I went to another 1920's party(if you follow this blog at all you'll know I'm quite the fan of fancy dress), so I actually have some photos to show you.

Above is a picture of me wearing possibly the most unflattering dress I've ever donned in my life, but I needed something that was shapeless and straight down. Having a big (and I think quite lovely) boobs and bum is not great for wearing a 1920's style outfit, but I did the best I could. I got the amazing neck trimming at the Milk Market for around a tenner, and I happened to have the black and silver trimming in my stash box. The white flower lace is actually vintage and was given to me by John's Mum. I don't have any photos of the making of the head piece, but I cut three strips of black trimming, measured them to the size of my head. Then painstakingly sewed on the flowers, and added some drop pearls to the side. To attach this delicate piece to my head I used some matching cream hair clips that I got in Pennies for a couple of euro. It took nearly as long to make this as it was to do the alterations on the dress, but it was my favourite bit of the costume.

As you can see I added some chiffon sleeves to balance out the top, and bought these crazy white gloves in Glitz and Bitz, they were pricey at €15 but they really made the outfit. I added white lace to the end of the dress, which you can't see here, and also the white satin low waisted band.

We got John's waistcoat in a liquidation sale in Blacktie for only €10, and the lovely burgundy brocade bowtie was made by Silk and Burlap(at the Milk Market every Friday and Saturday) was a steal at only €8.

The 1920's party was in celebration of Dr.John's bar being open a year, and this is the lovely Dr. himself. This place along with the Blind Pig downstairs has started to become my home away from home, a good and bad thing. They have lots of great gigs there, along with comedy, country, and cinema nights. They have a Facebook page here, if you want to go check out their latest(and mostly free) events.

Thanks go to Ken Coleman for the above photos.

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Planning a Tea Party

Originally Pinned by Lana Bogunovich from Larritt Evans

I'm turning 30 next Tuesday and I decided yesterday that I would throw a tea party during the day before I meet the rest of my friends in the pub afterwards. The only bad thing is that it's a Tuesday and daytime so a lot of my friends are working, but I just wanted to do something fun and girlie during the day.

I'll be happy making the posh sandwiches but I'm not much of a baker so the cakes will be a bit of a challenge. My plan is to make it very pretty to distract from the fact that they may not be the best cakes in the world. The main point is that I try to pull off a grown up thing like a tea party, you know with me being 30 and all I have to try to be a lady, well at least for one afternoon.

I have lots of cute chintz cups already that I've been meaning to turn into pincushions, and I can get whatever else I need from charity shops. To get some inspiration I went hunting on Pinterest and found some amazing ideas, I will definitely be making the strawberry Rice Crispie cakes as I think even they are within my baking abilities.  

Originally Pinned by Debbie Scott from Disney Family

Originally Pinned by Kimberly Lane from Style Unveiled

Originally Pinned by Natalie Rudzinske from The Pretty Blog

Originally Pinned by Wendy Foster from Go City Girl

Originally Pinned by Teresa B K from Babble

Originally Pinned by Austin Boatwright from Tea Traditions

Originally Pinned by Lori Griffin from Sweetopia

Originally Pinned by Kathy Stephens from Robin Leigh

Original Pinned by Deb Reineck from Dirty Laundry

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Research for 1920's Costume Party

I'm at that age when all my friends are turning 30(and getting married and having babies!). So this weekend I have another 30th to go to, my friend Ruth is having a 1920s themed fancy dress party. So as usual I got very excited and did loads of research. I think this low waisted style is possibly the most unflattering thing I've ever worn, but in the spirit of costume I will not shy away. Later in the week I'll post about the dress I'm working on. But in the meantime check out all this beautiful pictures(click the images to go to the original sites to see more lovely things!). 

Note: during my ramblings I found this amazing pin board of about 1500 dresses through the ages, if you are into antique clothing and costume at all this is an absolute treasure trove.

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1980's Costume

This is the result of all my 80's research at the weekend, my friend described it as 'things people wore in the 80's, but all at the same time'. Most of it I found in my wardrobe, all I had to buy was the yellow t-shirt and some jewellery.

• Yellow neon flower hairband; Claire's Accessories €6 but part of a 3 for 2 deal.
• Geometric dangle earrings; Claires accessories €6 part of the 3 for 2 deal
• 2 beaded necklaces: Pennies €3 each
• Backless yellow t-shirt; Pennies €6
• Red long sleeved t-shirt: Dunnes €6
• Vintage A-wear jacket: I bought it a few years ago in Dublin and never wore it, but now it will be leaving my dress up box and I'll be wearing it on a regular basis, I love it. I think it was around €25 and it came with a pair of trousers.
• Red Belt: Pennies €3
• 3 Bracelets: Claire's accessories approx €5
• Blue skirt with pockets; Pennies approx. €5
• Red tights: Pennies €3
• The legwarmers are years old, I can't remember where I bought them
• I had to buy these white shoes after I damaged them in a fashion show that I had, I never wore them but I knew they would come in handy some day! €10

 Yellow and green eye-shadow; yikes!  

Sharon(on the right) had an amazing costume but I have no decent photos of her, shiny tracksuit, with a cassette walkman and a side ponytail; classy bird!  

 The birthday boy as a 'wanna be Don Johnson' with Dolly Parton

 I love this purple leopard print dress, with Curehead Paul

Dawn dressed as herself in the 80's, I was understandably obsessed with her hat!

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Had a break, had a kitkat

As some of you may have noticed I took a little break. I realised working 7 days a week wasn't really that healthy, so some part of my brain decided to switch off. It was lovely, I did normal things like play poker(which I lost in grand 'All in' style), went to the pub, and a surprise birthday party for a friend of mine. We will also be heading away this weekend to Doolin, a gang of us have booked a house to celebrate my friends 30th, should be good craic. All in all I'm feeling really good, and normal, and not like my usual workaholic self. I have been tipping away on a few bitsfor the shop in Ennis, but I haven't been doing crazy 15 hour days.

I got some exciting news that may alleviate my mad workload. A lovely graduate of the art college popped down to the market and offered to help me out one or two days a week, for free to get some experience!! What great news! I'm meeting her today for a coffee to figure it all out. Many an hour I have spent wishing for a magical little elf to come along and help me sew in buttons. Fingers crossed it all works out.

Update: The meeting went really well, and Una has agreed to be my apprentice, woohoo. Starting next week I have a magical elf helping me 1/2 days a week. Sweet!