Sew in love

After weeks of chucking out, I'm finally getting round to thinking about sorting out those items of clothing that need a tweak to make them wearable. 

Altering those pesky £1 Jane Norman turn up jeans the other week has given me my sewing mojo back and I set to on a pair of Levi 501's bought on ebay for the OH.

He virtually refuses to wear any other jeans, and as you know, they are anything from £55 to £70 brand new.  We (well, just me actually) trawl ebay periodically, searching for the elusive button fly red labels to keep him stocked up, usually at around £20 for a lightly worn pair, if you are lucky.  It appears to be worth the cost as Levi's last for eons, and the pocket linings are the strongest I've come across.

Anyway, a recent purchase provided a conundrum, they were too long. Way too long!  OH has a 34 inch inside leg and these were at least 36 inches.  Label said they should have been 34 but...

After a quick trawl of the internet, I came across several tutorials showing how to keep the original hem whilst removing length, and chose to follow this one from Snapguide 

Taadaah!

Bit more detail for you

I had to cut the excess off as it was longer than the hem and quite bulky.

Another project I'm just mulling over is this pretty home made dress that mum came back with when she went to help the local village hall clear their loft out.  It appears they had a sewing club there many years ago and they left an awful lot of half finished projects, fabric and shop bought clothing to cut up, in the loft when they disbanded.

We donated the other items she rescued to the local chazza, but I was rather taken with this dress.  The fabric is a little vintage looking, it reminds me of the Magic Roundabout!

It is a lovely thick glazed cotton, I can't find a selvedge to find a printer's mark though, so am in blissful ignorance of its origin.

I'm not into pink, but love this print, and am hoping to get a summer maxi skirt and maybe squeeze a fitted top out of it too.  I dropped the hand stitched hem and found a further three inches of fabric and the dress was already too long on me so fingers crossed!

Only one purchase this week, since the epic Ercol find the other Friday I'm not sure anything will live up to that.  I bought this pretty wool cardi from ebay, at a cost of £7.94.  A trifle more expensive than I like to pay but I can never find nice cardigans in the charity shops, and they are so expensive brand new.

Pity the seller didn't notice the oversized top buttonhole that the button wouldn't stay in, or the stain on the front, something I didn't notice either until after I had given it a quick wash.

The buttonhole was hand stitched with a matching thread to tighten it up and is now good as new.

I'm still on the lookout for another cardi though.

This past week we had a flying visit from OH's dad, who now lives across the water in his native Ireland.  We decided to take him out for the day and popped over to Witley Court via the Dog Inn at Dunley

We visited the Dog on my birthday, and it was quite empty then.  I was really surprised to see hardly anyone in the place again, as the food is beautiful and very reasonably priced, and the French Maitre d' is attentive (and a rugby fan!)

We arrived at about 12.30 and were the only ones there for quite a while.  I had the ranch burger and OH and his dad had the Cumberland sausage with mustard mash, which looked amazing.  With drinks, the bill was £36 and we were very full. (apologies, totally forgot to take a photo of the food!).

Onwards to Witley, to walk it all off.

A trio of trouble!

Wearing: new-to-me Seasalt raincoat £29 ebay, Grey leather Fat face boots (possibly £35 on ebay but can't remember) and H&M teenage jeans, £2 chazza find.  One of my more expensive outfits.

I love all the moss on the fountain, bet English Heritage don't though

Witley is huge, you can only imagine how amazing it was when lived in

The fire damage is most evident in the ballroom

The building is still beautiful though

The front porch is bigger than our cottage

The back portico is probably the largest in England on a country house

Plaster still on the walls

Beautiful window surrounds 

Walls without floors

Witley Court is maintained by English Heritage, and well worth a visit if you are in the area.  It is very atmospheric and was featured in the video for A Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum, in the late sixties.

OH has kindly offered my limited sewing services to a friend who has wrecked the zip on his expensive rugby stadium coat, I've been sitting looking at if for a fortnight now and haven't plucked up the courage to attack it.  Good job I googled around as I've found a super quick way of replacing the zip and the friend is happy to let me do it, so much less faff, will update next time! 

The chick has attitude

I detest shopping in normal shops.  If I'm forced to go normal clothes shopping (usually only ever if I have vouchers to spend) I get very twitchy if I can't find anything within an hour.  As I'm not a follower of fashion and the range of clothes I feel comfortable in is very narrow, this can be a trial.  I'm not one for make-up, can't blow dry or even think about colouring my own hair and don't do perfume or products.

So, I thought I would do something totally against the grain and recommend some products I've been using recently.  Knowing me they could possibly be discontinued as it takes me an age to get round to using 'stuff'. 

Here goes:

I do like a good body scrub.  I usually buy whatever is available in the pound shop, but a while back got this product from Boots 75% off sale.  Soap and Glory the Breakfast Scrub.  

The smell is amazing, have to stop myself from scooping it out and eating it! 

They've changed the recipe since I bought this, and it is available on a buy two get one free at the moment in Boots.  The reviews are very good and I can concur, it is fab! 

Next up, I'm getting better at using hand cream, and over the years have tried some supposedly great ones (Neutragena, I'm looking at you!) but have settled on cheap Avon ones instead.  By the computer I've got an Avon Christmas one based on paraffin, which is excellent, but this Avon one smells divine and sinks in really well

I do have an Avon one with royal jelly in it, absolutely horrid and am using it on my feet.  Once it is on your hands it just won't rub in.  Gah, I really hate sticky hands!

Hair next, I'm currently using a men's Next shampoo that OH was given for Christmas but can't use as he has fussy hair.  It is absolutely fine for me.  My choice of conditioner at the moment is this cheap Creightons one from Bodycare, 99p.

Lovely stuff and doesn't weigh my fine hair down at all, actually I think it is giving it a bit of body.

Body moisturiser next, I'm using this at the moment, bought it in Poundland and love it, when I remember to put it on.

So there you go, if you have tried any of these and agree with my findings, I'd love to know!  (if the opposite is true, let me know too)

Back to the task in hand, I'm still decluttering like a good 'un, and my ebay listings grow ever longer.  The local charity shops are doing well too, and so is Facebay.  I have a bin bag of stuff to get rid of this week as well.  This was last week's pile

We had a big birthday in the household last week.  My little Araucana hen, Lola (as in "her name was Lola, she was a showgirl") turned 7 on 31st March.  She was the first chick to hatch out of a box of six hatching eggs I bought off ebay.  She wasn't supposed to be a bantam, but she is.  She spoke to me from inside the egg, I spotted the egg rocking violently as she tried to break her way out, and gently "peep peeped" at it to encourage her.  It "peep peeped" back, very loudly and rocked violently!

There she is, one day old.  The girl's got attitude!

Here she is at seven

She is still laying, albeit a little sporadically, but I am so pleased she is fit and healthy in her mature years.

After throwing out so much of my wardrobe, and realising that some of my more well loved items were a bit tattier than I thought, I was very pleased to discover a BOGOF in one of my local charity shops.  i was thrilled to find a couple of tops in with tags still on, and got both for the grand sum of £3.

The one on the left is an Artscape top, still for sale (albeit discounted now) on the QVC website.  The striped one is Esmara, which I now know is Lidl.  Both fit me, although the Esmara one is a 14/16 but works well a bit looser I think.  Here I am modelling them, excuse the cheesy grinning, I need to work on my selfie face.

I'm wearing my £1 Jane Norman jeans which I have altered the turn ups on, on the left I have Moshulu slides from Ebay and on the right I am wearing white BHS sandals, that were free with a cashback credit card voucher.

Saving the best till last, OH and I went on a charity shop trawl last Friday and made an impulse purchase. We spotted this table and chairs in the local YMCA shop, which is closing down this Friday, and decided we couldn't leave it.

It was £45, and is Ercol (yes!).  

The table is the Chester pedestal style and the chairs are Windsor Shaker.  The cushions are a bit ropey but replacing them with proper Ercol ones will cost hundreds, so I plan to cut the tabs off and make my own cushion covers to go over the foam pads.

  

The highly sought Ercol button!  

The label says they were made in 1981. 

I have cleaned the chairs since the photo was taken, they were rather dusty. To continue the good karma, I gave the old table and chairs away on Facebook to a nice young couple.  It was a modern Argos set I bought in 2007, and has served me well considering it only cost £80. 

What's your latest bargain?

Can you see the real me, can you?

Amongst all the mayhem of two property renovations, I've been discarding more clothes and shoes recently, something I probably should've done years ago.  Why do we keep so much stuff, even creating more storage areas to store it all? Madness!

The task is made easier (slightly) by the fact that I no longer work in an office, I can wear what I like and what is comfy.  This has meant saying goodbye to some of my pretty jackets and gorgeous footwear, mainly heels in varying colours.  I'm still saying goodbye to the footwear, mostly fab ebay purchases, and oddly enough some have sold back on ebay for more than I paid for them in the first place, always a good thing!  

Anyway, paring down the wardrobe has made me think about what I really need to live with and what I can do without. Most of my gorgeous skirts have gone, they aren't practical on a day to day basis. Shorts, I had a pair for every day of the week and a spare, yet rarely spent more than a week a year wearing them.  I have managed to get it down to four pairs of varying lengths but could probably cut it down further (another trying on session needed methinks!).

I find so many bargains on an almost daily basis there is no need for me to hoard, if anything fell to pieces I could replace it with a charity shopped duplicate within a month I'm sure, even though I generally stick to the pound rails.  Many of the items I buy are near duplicates of things I already have as well, adding to the clutter.  Although OH has a pared down wardrobe and replaces when he needs to, I find that fashion complicates the issue for us ladies. Men's jeans, for instance, are always available in a classic cut, no low rise nonsense there!  When I find mid or high rise jeans, I want to buy them and keep them all.  I don't follow fashion, I know I feel comfy in a nice fitting top and jeans, and maybe a classic styled jacket, a scarf and a comfy pair of boots, that's me, the pared down version!

Pared down Claire:

 Fat Face grey leather boots (ebay and somewhere around the £35 mark), Aldi jeans £7.99, Laura Ashley grey needlecord jacket £1 (charity shop), cotton print scarf probably 25p or 50p and charity shopped, top BHS (free with cashback vouchers), handbag black leather and less than a tenner from TJ Hughes many moons ago. 

As a consequence of the great wardrobe clear out, there are no charity shop bargains to share with you this time.  However, on Good Friday OH and I drove over to Ragley Hall in Warwickshire, somewhere I've never been as an adult.

Ragley Hall is privately owned and lived in, it is not part of the National Trust or English Heritage but it is part of the Historic Houses Association, something we have just joined.

We absolutely loved our visit, the staff are all amazingly friendly, genuinely helpful and speak even if you just pass them on a footpath.  Seeing me taking a photo of OH in the grounds, one young lad approached and asked if we would like a photo of the two of us,
 yes please, we said!

He took a really nice photo of the two of us!

If you can just see on the first photo, the two people in front of Ragley Hall are near a peacock.  He was fairly comfortable around visitors, and casually sat down in a sunny spot when I approached him, and he posed for me.

He is an absolute beauty!

We decided, as the weather was glorious, that we would spend the day wandering around the grounds.  We walked around the house and off through the gardens.  The borders were waking from their Winter sleep, daffodils and hyacinths everywhere, espaliered plants in bud

We could glimpse the landscaped grounds from the gardens, with the sheep and lambs roaming

The view from the back terrace was stunning

Out of the fenced garden, we crossed the Capability Brown landscape, turned back and saw how impressive Ragley Hall looked from the back

Closer to the house

The woodland garden had a little coppice of silver birch, so pretty with the sun shining

  We sat on the banks of the lake for a while, enjoying the weather

After lunch, a trusty car picnic, we set off for the Grade 1 listed stable block, a large and impressive courtyard, completely enclosed, with a further courtyard off to house all the staff

To the left is a horse walking area, and to the right, you can see part of the amazing carriage collection

Part of the staff quarters

Around the gardens again, searching for the statues dotted about

Found two! 

It took a while to realise the dog wasn't moving and was, in fact, a statue.  The girl is looking over her shoulder at her reflection in a pond.

A couple more statues, with a couple of humans too! 

We can't wait to go back to Ragley Hall and go inside for a look at the state rooms.

Back at the rental, the wallpapering is done (phew!). This week we are painting all the woodwork upstairs, I am hoping to get carpet laid upstairs soon.

In the meantime I have some more clothing to sort through, the template is set at comfy casual and anything else can go out!

Even fairies wear boots

So, here I am, trying to get back in the habit of regular posting, not going according to plan so far!

Very busy still with a property renovation, high ceilings and uneven walls mean wallpaper with a bit of texture is a must but very hard work.  I've only ever assisted with wallpapering, but now mum is suffering with arthritic knees, I was the one who had to do the stairs ceiling, it was a feat of ladders balanced on planks balanced on ladders and don't look down!  The walls were even trickier, with the last piece on each side of the stairs measuring 14 feet to the point, eek!

However, it is now done, and I am both surprised and pleased with my new found skill.  Just one last room to paper this week and the painting begins.

Not too many bargains of late, this is due to my realising that I really do have to be ruthless and get rid of that 80% of my wardrobe that just sits there, gathering dust, when it needs to be out there, finding a new owner and being worn.

I did find this pair of gorgeous 1970's Vymura Whisperwood curtains in a charity shop, and promptly snapped them up for just £3.99

   

I do think it is so pretty, I found a different colourway online, the matching wallpaper actually, and all the fairies had flame red hair!

I've sold a few old bits and bobs on ebay recently, and treated myself to a mac, a lovely Seasalt one (my first Seasalt clothing purchase), it was £29 including postage and is in fantastic condition, the RRP is £120

Not wanting to put a dampener, literally, on summer, but I'm hoping for plenty of chances to wear this!

Next purchase was also an ebay treat, a brand new one.  Trying to get away from black bags, I've treated myself to this Owl print oilcloth cross body bag (sadly, I also purchased a matching purse!) it was just under £11 and there were plenty of colour options, this one is grey, bit blurry but it isn't in real life

Here it is in use

Last bargain is a supermarket clothing purchase.  I do have trouble finding jeans to fit me and I hate proper clothes shopping in real shops.  Can't remember the last time I used a changing room in a shop either, so I do create pretty much a perfect storm for badly fitting clothes and disappointing purchases, hence another reason for my many charity shop purchases!

Anyway, back to the latest bargain, which I haven't worn yet so no photo of me, just a screenshot.

Popped into Aldi for the weekly shop and saw these.  Thought I would take a chance and bought them.  Thankfully, they fit like a glove!  Really pleased as I have thrown out several pairs of ill fitting jeans recently.  They are not thick denim, and are very much jeggings quality, the sizing is very generous, I bought a size 10 but am a 12 usually.

On the subject of throwing things out, I've just cleared this little pile out this week

Several fake fur hats from Next sales about 20 years ago, lots of belts, several tops, and a denim waistcoat, plus the last of my ill fitting jeans.

We've been on a few day trips the past couple of weeks, the first this month was to Brockhampton Estate in Herefordshire.  I can't remember where we set out for, but we soon realised Brockhampton was nearby so called in.  

You may have seen it before on my blog HERE, so here's just a couple of photos

 Brockhampton is a 14th century moated house 

Each room downstairs is dressed in keeping with a different era from the property's history, the kitchen is the latest era, the 50's

I've got a Mason Cash bowl not too dissimilar to that, and a stone hot water bottle (or pig as they are sometimes called) and we have some old stone jars too. We use our large jar to store our washing up brushes in

   

We popped over to Kenilworth Castle on the 11th March, only someone (that's me) forgot to check opening times so we walked around the perimeter walls, something we have never done before. It was very misty

 By the time we had walked right round to the entrance, the mist was clearing.  Kenilworth must have been quite stunning in its heyday

 Him indoors, deep in thought, walking across the tiltyard

After the disappointment of Kenilworth, we headed towards home, and decided to spend the rest of the day at Baddesley Clinton.  It was brightening up so we wandered around the grounds

Feeding the ducks is almost compulsory, and we always have proper duck food to hand!

  

Beautiful Baddesley, I could easily live here

 Gorgeous views 

Plenty of daffodils around

 Plenty of sheep too, almost feels like Easter

Almond cake (gluten free, I have to find the recipe!) in the Baddesley cafe, now it really feels like Easter!

On the way home we pass this McLaren dealership, never noticed anyone in there before, but this time I can see they have customers.  Wonder who they are?  The area is home to the odd film star, rock star and footballer, hmm...