One thing after another....keep it coming!!

Hey everyone :)

I've been having some rather exciting times recently! First there was Made In The Shade, then secret plans were made with Carrie from MITS (more will be revealed in due course), now I have a dress order from London fashion journalist Jas Tang who writes for Pretty Things magazine whom I met on Saturday and I'm now part of the Granny Would Be Proud family!! So you can see Miss Lottie Lou on 8th May in Hillhead Library :) Would be swell if any of you are around the Glasgow area and popped in to say hi! I'll blog more information on Granny Would Be Proud soon, but their Facebook page seems to be down at the minute.

Miss Lottie Lou is also doing the costumes for a local theatre company who's show this year is...dum dum duuummmm......High Society!!! Another very exciting development! I had my first production meeting on Monday and I got the show director's email through today for what she envisages the costumes to look like and so far I'm loving her vision and I have so many ideas :D

I also jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. I'm still unsure about it. Does anyone have any opinions on Twitter? Maybe once I'm up and running properly I'll like it and find it useful and what not but right now it's so bare and boring! If any of you have a twitter, leave a link to it so I can follow you! Next bandwagon I'm thinking of jumping on is Flickr. Again any opinions?

Other than that I have so many photos to show you of my latest fabric, clothes and shoe buys. And for some reason another addiction to add to my list is furniture. It's been creeping up on me for a while but I finally acknowledged it when I saw the cutest little art deco piece in Glasgow on Tuesday, dreamt about it that night, and then went up first thing on Wednesday to buy it! I have nowhere to put as of yet but it's beautiful! And totally worth the bruises I got lugging it round Glasgow with me!

I'm super tired now from all this excitement so I best get myself to bed. Tomorrow I'm making a super cute tie top for Miss Amelia ready for our Saturday night out, more on both of them tomorrow.

Hope you're all doing well :)

Lottie x

I got Made In The Shade!

Well Saturday was the big day...Made In The Shade!! I was so nervous I couldn't write my price tags out I was shaking that much :( But it was such a good day and I had some sales!! Was awesome! I didn't get chance to have a look round at everything else, but I hear there were some cool things. My friend Lee bought loads of stuff! And another friend Kat was early enough to get a free goody bag and she was kind enough to give me her badge which had a pug dog on it!! I'm not sure if I've ever expressed my love for Pugs on here before, but I'm crazy about them! One day I will have one!

Anyways here are photos from my stall! I was going to take photos of the whole event but I didn't leave my stall all day! So check out MITS blog and Flickr for photos :)

My Mum and myself having a cake break!

Commissioned dress that was just for show. This got the most attention out of everything on my stall! Everyone kept coming over to touch it!

My table with fabric covered buttons and neck ties. In the corner you can just see my suitcase with fabrics in for people to have a look through.

Me stood next to my rail! I wore a vintage jumper, headscarf and dress Miss Lottie Lou and beautiful Vivienne Westwood shoes :D (I also have them in cream!) Originally I was going to wear a high waisted red Miss Lottie Lou pencil skirt but on the morning I went to get dressed and it was miles too big! Made me happy but oh so stressed! Luckily I had this trusty little black dress :)

My stall :) Well more space than stall. I had people signing up or my mailing list all day! Even if they didn't buy anything they jotted their email down which is ace :)

After the event was over I was so super duper tired but I had a 50th birthday party to go to and then at 11pm-3am I was working on the door for a night called Shout Bamalama which was super busy as they had famous London DJ Gaz Mayall up for the night. Was a good night but by 3am I had past the super duper tired stage and ended up being wide awake! Embarrassed to say I slept till after 2pm on Sunday and even then I only woke up because my Dad came and woke me up!

I've now applied for another selling space at a different event in May, still in Glasgow though. Fingers crossed I get that one too as I really enjoyed the day and the whole experience. I want to say a big thank you to the Made In The Shade girls, my parents and friends for making the day possible :) I also want to thank Leah over at Leah Halliday for all her tips and advice and her friendly chat before the event and on the day, much appreciated!

In other news my Mum bought me some vintage trousers in a pea green colour which have pleats going down the front of each leg...they sound pretty strange but they're beautiful!! Unfortunately they don't quite fit me :( I can do them up, they're just too tight to wear yet. Which is annoying as she'd bought them to replace my mustard trousers as they're too big for me! I need to wear a belt to hold them up which makes them gather. Doesn't look too bad but it's not ideal. Sigh the in between sizes stage of weight loss is most annoying!!

Eeeeee today me, my parents and my fabulous big sister Hana (not real sisters, we're just like sisters!) booked for the Rockabilly Rave!! I'm so excited!! Just short of 9 weeks to go woo! Anyone else going? I've never been to the rave but I've done the riot which is held in the same place. It's awesome going somewhere where you don't get stared at or asked what's with the costume as everyone is 40s/50s! Today when I was out charity shopping (I only got some wooden anchor buttons) I had several old ladies come up to me and tell me I looked like I belonged in Land Girls. This sort of thing I'm cool with, because I do haha! But when I'm getting asked what's with the costume and or why are you dressed funny or something else along those lines, it's just rude. So I'm rude back to them and just ignore them. There are nice polite ways to question my clothes and when this happens I'm more than happy to tell them about my look. Rude people really get my goat!

Sorry got a little ranty there!

My plan for today is to clear up my bedroom/workroom as my fabric and button boxes exploded all over the place...Hope you all have a much more exciting day!

Lottie x

3 more sleeps!!

Howdy :)

First of all big thank you goes to Beth over at refashionrecyclereuse for my latest blog award!!

It still pleasantly surprises me every day that there are people out there that read my blog let alone follow, comment and give me awards! Talking of followers I now have 21! Yeah 21 is nothing compared to some of you awesome bloggers out there but 21 to me is amazing! So thanks guys :)

As well as collecting awards, I've been busy working on things for Made In The Shade which is this Saturday!! That's right folks get down to Glasgow Lighthouse on Mitchell Lane between 10.30am and 5pm! For more info check out Made In The Shade's website and blog. Early birds get a goody bag!

Rightio back to the sewing machine! If you want a sneak peek at a few of the things I'll have with me on Saturday check out the Miss Lottie Lou Facebook page :)

I promise that after Saturday I shall keep up to date with my blogging and commenting!

Until then, hope to see you Saturday!

Lottie x

PS The job interview I had went so well I got the job!! How exciting!! Thanks for all the good luck you guys gave me :)

Where has the time gone?!

Well happy April and happy Easter to you all...a little late yes, I hadn't realised it had been so long again. My poor neglected blog!

Right what have I been up to? Preparing for Made In The Shade that's what! I have Miss Lottie Lou stickers and different coloured tissue papers all ready for packaging items, business cards designed and awaiting print, card labels ready to be tied onto items with essential information on the back, and my stall set-up all sorted out! On top of the little bits and bobs I've been making clothes which I will post photos of shortly once I've taken them. Today I made a full skirt which, I know I'm slightly biased, but it is so super cute I want to keep it all to myself! And over the last few days I've been making fabric covered buttons both to sell at Made In The Shade and to use on garments. I can't believe how amazing they look! Makes me wish that I had been making fabric covered buttons forever. I can't imagine my life without making them now!

Also I have a confession. I'm addicted to buying fabric. Now it's not as bad as it seems as I never buy fabric from a fabric shop (unless it is a customer request) so I'm not going out and buying brand new fabric, it is only ever vintage or recycled fabric. Even so I'm running out of room and getting overwhelmed at all the prettiness!!! Some mornings I wake up and can't decide what I'm making or with what fabric as I want to use them all right away!

As I said though I can't stop buying fabric. Now I don't usually go on Ebay, I find it all far too stressful with the last minute bidding and the possibility that I won't get what I want or I'll end up paying more than I want etc. However a good friend of mine, Miss Amelia, showed me some cute peach and white checked cotton from the 1950s that had been woven in a Lancashire mill and asked if I would make her something from it. Well from there it spiralled. I ended up 'winning' that one and three others in the same style but different colours. Then my Dad showed me some beautiful silk kimono fabric again from the 1950s and I ended up with a green piece with bamboo and flowers and a bluey piece with flowers. By this point I felt I was on a 'winning' streak! So I bid on some vintage deep green with squares and a vintage burgundy piece. Then the guilt and realisation that I had to pay up hit me!! I'm waiting on the Japanese silk to arrive but the other 6 I have. I was really disappointed in the peach and white one though as it is filthy, like its lived on a dirty floor having people trample all over it for I don't know how long. Fingers crossed it's ok after a good wash!!

Along with the clothes I also have a whole load of new material to photograph :)

Of course amongst all this working and bidding I went out to play! I've mentioned before about All Tore Up! It's a 1950s record hop that happens the first Saturday of every month in Glasgow at a place called Blackfriars. It's always an excellent night that attracts a mixed crowd of students, hardcore 1950s people and those that have stumbled in off the street for a nosey. This month was particularly rock and roll as the DJs blew up a speaker! It gave off the most awful smell! Of course the night kept going and it gave everyone a story! At the next All Tore Up! on May 1st we have a band called The Caezars playing so if you're in Scotland come and see one of the most popular bands on the scene right now. I'll be there in a toga :) Seriously.

Right to try make up for my lack of posting and photos of things I've been making and buying, I'll leave you with some photos from All Tore Up! which was on April 3rd. Enjoy :)

Hana and myself

Hana and David

My Dad 'hard at work' DJing

Hana, my mum, Aaron the DJ and All Tore Up! guy and Ellie his wife

Valarie and Neil

Awwww!! Yup my parents are as much in love now as they were when they got together aged 15!

My mum dancing at the end of the night

My dad having a bop at the end of his DJ set

Lottie x

More photos as promised :)

This is me outside Vintage Guru in Glasgow. I know Alice in Wonderland is being done far too much just now but that still doesn't take away from how cute the windows are!

This is my mum and dad having tea and cake in Auntie M's Cake Lounge that it is kitted out in 1950s kitchen and living room things. It's beautiful and the cake is DELICIOUS!! If you're every in Glasgow you should swing by it. And pop into the Made In The Shade Maisonette while you're there :)

The super awesomely cool teacup that my peppermint tea came in at Auntie M's! I want a set so bad!

Neil, Dad, Mum, Me, Hana

This was Saturday night in Edinburgh at The Spiders Web seeing a band called the Blue Flames. Was a fun night :) And the calico bag you can see on the table, I made it to advertise All Tore Up!'s new record label. And yeah you might have noticed that I hang out with my parents a lot... I always have because they're so much fun and really cool to hang out with. They're not just my parents, they're 2 of my best friends. Some of my friends think its weird, others are a little jealous that I've always got on so well with them. But all my friends know if they ask me to go out over a weekend that I'll check what my parents are up to first!

Today I got an order for a whole summer wardrobe! Miss Hana Amelia went through my fabric stash picking out the fabrics she liked and assigning garments to them! Was a fun little afternoon drawing up plans for all the fabrics. There's going to be high waisted shorts in various colours, a love heart print playsuit and sleeveless tie-up shirts in a variety of colours and patterns. All very exciting however I need to get everything finished for my Made In The Shade stall so those things are on hold until after April 17th!

Tomorrow I have a job interview for a receptionist position...yay and boo. Right now I need a steady income to pay off my debts from uni and to support my fabric and vintage clothing habits. It's only a temporary position which is ideal as I can work and pay off all my debts and then once it's over I can focus on Miss Lottie Lou full time with a clean slate. Plus I don't know about anyone else but when I think of receptionists I think pencil skirts, pretty blouses and pearl necklaces!!

Hope you all had a good Monday and enjoy the rest of your week :)

Lottie x

Vintage furniture to house my vintage clothes

My goodness what a week!

I'm a member of the Helensburgh Freecycle on Yahoo Groups, where people post up unwanted things to give away to people for free and one day last week while I was scrolling through one just said various furniture. So I clicked on it and in amongst the 1970's cupboards and what not what was a 1950's wardrobe! There were no photos but I emailed the lady right away asking about it. She said I could meet her husband at the house and have a look for myself. Well my heart was racing when me and my mum got to the house! He took us upstairs and showed me the wardrobe...and matching dressing table....and matching bedside table!! They're beautiful!! I had to take all three because it would be sad to split them up after all these years. He then showed us around the rest of the house and said if there was anything else that I saw I could have it...so I also came away with a telephone table and a bookcase, all 1950's and free!

I couldn't take anything there and then as I had to convince my parents first of all that I needed it all and couldn't go on without them, and secondly that it would all fit in my bedroom/studio! So I spent the next couple of days clearing out my room and palming my Ikea furniture off onto others and drawing up plans to show them that it would fit. Then they said yes!! So I booked a removals van and enlisted my Dad and boyfriend to move all the furniture. I had the best time organising all my vintage clothes into my vintage wardrobe :D I took some photos to show but my camera is making them look a gross yellow colour so I'll need to borrow someone else's camera before I show you as I can't taint it's beauty with a rubbish photo!

Then as if that wasn't all exciting enough for one week, The Affordable Vintage Fair came to Glasgow!! I was a tad disappointed that there wasn't more home stalls and more 40s and 50s things but don't worry I did buy a dress! It's a sleeveless red one with buttons down the front of the bodice. And the stockings and tights stall was amazing! And the lady who ran it was just lovely and a delight to talk to. I had never seen such an amazing range of styles, brands and colours! Me and my mum spent a fortune so she threw in 4 free pairs for me! I got some Jonathon Aston stockings and tights; all nude, one with a red seam, one with a black seam and one with a red and white polka dot seam, three pairs of plain nude Christian Dior stockings, one pair of white Mary Quant tights with a white seam with white bows at the ankles and another pair of Mary Quant tights but black with black seam with a black feather at each ankle. I think that was all of them, I can't remember now! I also got a kitten brooch and a vintage dress pattern and my mum got a jumper and various tights and stockings too.

Then we headed down to Byers Road for another vintage fix! I got a 1950's red swimming costume. It is beautiful!! And I don't mean to toot my own horn but I look fabulous in it! It's red halter-neck with a low scoop back and it was only £10 out of Vintage Guru. I can't wait for summer or some sort of beach party! I'll wear it with seamed tights, wedges, flowers in my hair and matching red lipstick!!

I also bought so much fabric, it's an addiction I tell you!

Photos of everything will follow shortly, as I can't wait to show you all everything!

Today keep your eyes on The Made In The Shade Blog as they are announcing the Glasgow Springtime Jamboree. One of the names will be mine!! Still can't quite believe it!

My plan for the day is to get cracking on all my lovely fabric and take photos for you all to see.

Have a good day,

Lottie x

I've been accepted!!

I have a stall here!! It was so nerve racking applying because I have never done anything like this before and I was scared of putting myself out there. But now it is done and I have had such an amazing positive response I'm on top of the world!! I've re-read the acceptance email a bunch of times to make sure I hadn't read it wrong!

I don't know how many items I should have ready for the event so I'm just going to make as much I can right up until the time comes as I don't want to turn up on the day with like 5 items and end up with zero interest. The event itself is always awesome. I've been to quite a few now and I've always come away with something super cool. If you're near Glasgow you should come by, you'll love it guaranteed :) If not they have events in Edinburgh and they have a really cute shop down Cresswell Lane off of Byres road in Glasgow so plenty of chances to see the magic!

After all the excitement I was too giddy to start anything new. I was just so unfocused because I was daydreaming about my stall, how it would look, what I would be selling and all other kinds of little bits and bobs!

I did however finish Holly Sawkins's 21st party dress. She came round for a fitting and decided she wanted it tighter and shorter so I did the alterations. I'll get her to come round for another fitting before I say it's finished finished. When I make something I don't settle till it's perfect and even then I can always think of something else I could do to make it even more perfect! I think it's something everyone in any creative field struggles with. Perfect is never good enough!!

I probably won't be able to sleep tonight!

Until tomorrow,

Lottie x