I WANTED TO COME UP WITH SOME SMART HEADLINE BUT I DIDN'T

Some time ago I wrote about the advantages of revamping a piece of clothing so it becomes more wearable. But as great an idea it may be to reach for the scissors, do think twice - I did a small closet clean out and cursed my 17 old hippie ass for destroying a lot of fine clothing; making high waists low, changing the shape of skirts, and worst of all, drawing with this awful decoration paste on some pieces making them totally unwearable for someone who does no longer spend the days burning incense listening to, ehrm, goa trance.

After crying blood for a little while it was however time to get on with some cutting, as I am wiser now than ten years ago (amen! to that). My gradmother recently gave me her hand made foot-long dress that hasn't been worn for a couple of decades. It's ultra thin and beautifully flowing, so for a while it felt like a shame to cut it. But hey, if no one wears it the way it is, why hesitate? After scrweing up and cutting it off too much and then managing to save it again, it turned into something that might become my favorite new summer dress - so unbelievably light to wear, with such a lovely collar and what best, the ugly-pretty pattern makes it go along with my yellow, purple, blue green and pink shoes and sandals! (Or red ones for contrast, like now, together with the belt. No need to mention black shoes since they go with everything anyway but yeah those too). Now that's what I call a versatile dress!


As for the hair, I did a mixture of these two hairdo's (my number 3 and 4). The vintage bow comb is from Hoochie Mama Jane.

Psst. I'm featured as a vintage style muse this week on Debutante Clothing (where also the most fabulous and funny vintage dress ever was featured too)!
www.debutanteclothing.com

POLKA DOT DREAM

The other day I was browsing around a thrift store I came upon the most adorable girdle ever, a white and red polka dot dream. But with the amount of derrière I have I could only dream of squeezing into these...

Leaving them behind was of course not an option, and for a slight minute I thought of keeping them for myself as a decoration for the boudoir (as if I have one, well, boudoir corner perhaps). But then I decided to give them to Ina for her birthday hoping she'd fit in to them. And if not, she'd get something pretty for her boudoir instead. But they did fit and that makes me very happy (and her too! :)

THE MIGHTY FUTURE HOUSEWIVES ;)

Pictures © Hanna Anttila

Last Sunday Ina and I were photographed at my place for a picture series of 50's enthusiasts and shared values. And as you know we usually go all domestic and cosy on Sundays.

(and in my case it sadly stays Sundays only... I've received some requests to show pictures from my home. I will do that one day, but like you might tell from the pics above, it seldom is tidy enough in all places for me to take any pics. Hrmm... but you know, both of us can't look good at the same time. It's either me or the house.)

PRINT OF THE DAY

Rob Ryan : Tears That I Cried Over You

FFB NEWS - THE BURLESQUE EDITION

(wohoo, I got to write that stupid headline again :)

Cherry & Lola : Catfight (as seen at Wanted II)
Photo by Marko P

It's a busy burlesque summer coming up:

* This Saturday, the 23rd, it's time for Club Wanted V, the last one for the season! The evening starts with the rock n' roll and swing dance workshop as usual, then it's time for some brand new summery burlesque numbers. The band for the night is The Slippers! Don't miss it!

* If you missed our The Good, the Bad and & the Pretty show together with Sally Vanilla last month you'll have a chance to see it again at the From Helsinki to Honolulu via Hysteria burlesque cruise June 14th! Also performing a bunch of other great gals from overseas such as Kitten on The Keys, Baroness Eva von Slut, The Diamond Daggers and Lucky Penny from the Atomic Bombshells, as well as Burlesque Polaire from over here!

* I will perform at the Hellbilly Fest on June 19th at bar Loose in between The Guitar Slingers and The Surf Rats!

* Sally Vanilla and I will do a burlesque show at Tavastia July 10th at the PSYCHORAMA - Psychobilly & Burlesque Festival 2009.
More info on that later.

You can also catch our whole IttyBitty troupe at the Helsinki Pride Festival women's party on June 26th and at Free Rauma (in Rauma, of course) July 18th.

Pssst. there might be even more dates coming up soon...

MORE OF THOSE ROSES

I have a dress that has spring written all over it. Or, it more of shouts SPRING and therefore had to wait in my closet for months until it finally made it's premier. (Now I'm going to start listening for small cries of summer from the closet to see what to dig out next.)

40's shirtdress from Tara Starlet

NEW THINGS OLD LOOK

Every now and then I like to dress up according to some theme or inspired by a certain decade, without taking it too seriously. Fun and easy you know. That's the whole point actually. To take what you like an make it yours.

So here I went somewhat around 1930. None of what I'm wearing is vintage, but mixed and matched semi old items from my wardrobe to create a vintage look.


Dress - Selfmade, Wrap-around knit - old
Bag - Global Acessories/Stockmann's, Headband - Ekawear
Shoes - customized ModCloth, Belt - made from a leftover piece of cloth
(The lace stockings are Norlyn's I think)

Here's my modernized verision of a late twenties look, from last year btw.)

HOOCHIE MAMA JANE

Kallio is the best part of town.

In other words, here's where I'll be tomorrow:





Hoochie Mama Jane will probably be one of the smallest vintage stores you'll ever visit, but it still fits an amazing lot of wonderful things. Apart from hand picked vintage items from here and there and everywhere it also has some hand made accessories and stationery, as well as Tyra Therman's burlesque-ish creations!

The owner is a friend of mine, who you could earlier spot at Ansa Vintage.
I hepled out with the graphic design for this one.
Anyway, the opening party is tomorrow, starting at 12! Vaasankatu 10 in Kallio.
Let's see how many can fit in at once shall we? Wohoo and oh yeah!

FIVE FAVS

Some time ago I was tagged by darling Vintageportalen's Jessica to list five of my favorite following:


Acessories
Oh, you know how I can never choose between things or make up my mind but this is what I'm feeling for the moment then:
Brooches - since those apparently are the only jewellery I seem to wear these days
Scarves - as bows around my neck or in my hair. Preferably polka dot ones.
Belts - At least half of my outfit contains belts. Around the waist only. Never on the hips.
Lingerie - an important part of what's beneath any outfit, but having anything of it show is a big no-no for me (unless it's a burlesque performance of course :)
My leather jacket - may not count as an accessory in the eyes of many, but for me it kind of is, since what jacket I choose to wear defines how the outfit end up looking, making it more lady, cute or rock chick. A jacket can actually change the whole outfit and that's why this is my favourite item to accent things up with.

Clothes
Trashy Diva silk dress - because it's so pretty
My mother's old safari dress - because it's so easy to wear wherever, whenever
My Rock Steady Dress - because I look great in it ;)
The black skirt - because it has a huge hem and is endlessly versatile.
My mom's old wrap-around skirt - because it has such fresh colours.

Shoes
My granny's old black suede ones - too small for me to ever dance in, but great for small steps and makes my feet look tiny
My purple pumps - the perfect shape of toe, heel and everything
The Minna Parikka's - a quality shoe is comfortable no matter how high the heel and so are these. And very pretty too of course.
The Blue Ones - new shoes are always one of the favourites. And the bow is like the bow!
My Raspberry Sandals - The best bargain ever. And so summery!

*******************************

I'm not really in to tagging anyone myself, it somehow reminds me of exchanging stickers in elementary school, picking out girls to do a N.K.O.T.B dance for morning assembly, or choosing the baseball team in gym class (pick me! link me! you know...). Well not really, just a little bit, sometimes...

But, but, since there are some tags I haven't (yet, sorry :) answered I'll go and tag those who tagged me in return! Because that's just, eh, fair. Hehe. So I'll tag Ilona, Nataly and Sam. That makes only three even though this tag wants you to go on and tag five. Oops.

ROSEBUDS. CURTAINS. LIGHT

If one would place the fabric of my skirt next to my curtains I bet one couldn't tell which pattern was the skirt's and which the curtains'. I think it's perfectly fine to wear clothes that might remind you of an old ladie's curtains. At least on Sundays. (Or tapersty. It reminds me of old tapestry too. We have walls like my skirt at our summer house).


Skirt - Jackpot, Cardigan - Zara
Curtains - Marimekko

Whenever I open a closet or drawer or curtain there's a cat waiting for me behind it. My cats are everywhere (they're intense, like K says). Can you spot the other kitty cat in the picture?

FFB NEWS

...as in the Freelancer's Fashionblog's News.
Jeez.

Must be my most idiotic headline ever.
But I like stupid headlines so that's perfectly fine.

Anyway.
* My blog is on Bloglovin' and some people were even folloing me there. Now I've caught up myself and in order for me to be able to add that little icon to my side bar I have to post this here right now:
Follow my blog with bloglovin´.
OK. So if you don't catch up with me via Google you can luuuv me by clicking that link.

* If you for some reason just can't get enough I've gone and twittered myself here.
(Turrrbocherry is quite the lousy updater though.)

* Norma Jeane tried out the Aloha twirl. Turned out gorgeus, check it out!

* Helsinki vintage lovers, you're lucky: there will be a new store full of goodies opening soon! Keep your eyes open ok!

Heh, I think I have to start doing these news things once a month or so. Just so I get to write that headline again.
Ta-ta!

BOWHEAD BUBBLEGUM AND FRINGES

If you feel a a bit down there's no help hiding under black scarves and sunglasses (or staying in bed). It's much better to dress up bright and funny instead! So I went all bubblegum girl. (it's the dotted cardigan. It always give me the candy-vibe. And the mint green). Well then this bubblegum bowhead went to a gig to get cheered up a little bit!

From one thing to the third, I recently stumbled upon my old fringe bag during a (unsuccessful) attempt to clean my closet. I remember coveting this bag for a whole year a long time ago. I used to go to Stockholm quite frequently before, and saw this bag there, far too costy for me. But whenever I went back I had to go and check on it, to see if it was still there and perhaps on sale. But it took me two season sales and some eleven months before I finally bought it! (I still regret not buying another green big leather bag I saw a year later. Gnaah).

Anyway, I'm not really much of fringe girl so I'm tempted to cut them off. But would that make me a total retard to do so?

HAIRDO'S #4 : The Aloha-twirl

I promeised you a tutorial of this hairdo about a month ago. And here it is.

For this 'do the hair is parted in three sections (a-b-c) and rolled towards upwards towards you forehead, except for one section which is pulled back with a comb. The bangs/your hair in the front is rolled upwards in a small roll. So, here we go.



I had my hair rolled up during the day and curled my bangs before starting, to get some structure in my hair.
So, to begin with, take your bangs, or -if you don't have any- your hair in the front and fasten it loosely to the side with a pin to be rolled up later (as you can se in the highly informative picture).



Then, part your hair (with a parting comb or similar) on the right side from above your ear until slightly before the top of your head. This will be section A. Fasten it with a bobby pin for now, change it to a comb later on (the comb will otherwise be in the way of rolling the rest of the hair).



Take the hair on top of your head (section B) and part the hair on the left side (slightly lower than where you parted it for section A on the other side), then roll it inwards from the left to the right, towards your forehead. Fasten it on the top of your head.



Take the rest of the hair on the left side (section c) and roll it upwards, towards your face.



Now, go back to section A; take the pin away and fasten it again with a comb. You can "puff" your hair by pressing the comb pretty deep in, it will make the section higher. I use a comb with flowers on. If what's left of section A, hanging under the comb, feels to thin you can make a small roll of it and place it to cover up the parting of section B.



Finally, roll your bangs/hair in the front upwards, in the other direction as the other rolls (right-left) and fasten it. Add some hi-shine hairspray to sleek the rolls.



That's it!


Now you can stick some more flowers in it if you like (I put a lot since I went to the pacific venue after taking these pics). I don't think it matters if you overdo it a little :)



If you ever make any of my hairdo's you can always mail me some pics of it and if I get enough I'll make a post about it!

PALE BLUE NIGHTS, PALE BLUE TUNES

Chet Baker.
Maybe the finest heroin addict ever (and my favorite interpreter of this song):



Every spring I get as surprised by how light it is at very late and early hours(as I on the other hand always tend forget the darkness that comes with autumn). Lately I've woken up to work at five-something and the sun is already shining from a bright blue sky! Later I'm enjoying the pale blue May evenings by walking around the wooden houses and huge stone buildings with their massive courtyards in the next part of town, admiring the evening light, listening to Chet Baker and thinking of things, being able to relate to every word in every song. Well, except for My Funny Valentine perhaps.