Funk Fair Preview

This Saturday I will be taking my DIY/thrifting addiction public for the first time. I'll be selling my humble wares at Edinburgh's Funk Fair, happening at St Mary's Parish Centre from 10am til 6pm. Most of these will be upcycled/updated vintage items that were a little worse for wear when I found them, or in need of a little updating, with a little straight-up vintage mixed in.

Here's one item that needed a little tweaking. Exhibit A (forgive the less-than-fashionable stripey socks):

Hard to see in the pictures but it's a wool dress - so the long skirt and long sleeves made the whole thing way too heavy. The print, however, was lovely, and the basic structure of the dress definitely had potential.After  a little sleeve and hem shortening, including adding elastic to the sleeves, and sewing up some moth holes, and voila!

Much cuter when it isn't ill fitting and huge, no? Gotta love a dress with pockets! And the best part is that one lucky buyer can be the proud owner of this dress on Saturday! Hope y'all can make it to the Funk Fair!

Introducing... On the Mend

Hi and welcome to On the Mend! Excuse the awkward, self-conscious first blog post - hopefully all shyness will be overcome quickly.

I have always loved hunting for second hand and vintage bargains but often found things that were so-close but not-quite right. This summer I bit the bullet and bought a sewing machine for fifty quid on Gumtree and set about using YouTube and blog tutorials to teach myself how to sew. Slowly but surely I figured it out... but quickly accumulated a ton of charity shop finds with potential for greatness that simply could not fit in my ever-expanding wardrobe.

So in comes On the Mend: uniting my love of thrifting and DIYing, I'll track down vintage treasures that are a little rough around the edges and (if you'll allow the mixed metaphor) polish them til they shine. Some are mine to keep, but many could be yours to own (for a small price). More info on that to come.

But first: one of my first DIY triumphs. I found this vintage cotton dress in a charity shop for £8. Even though magenta is not normally my thing, I fell for the gorgeous painterly print, though the fit was a bit frumpy. 

A little nipping and tucking (i.e. shortening the hem and sleeves, taking in the waist), and I had a lovely little floral dress. Just in time for... autumn. In Scotland. Meaning that sadly, this dress has had few outings at this point, but I have a feeling it will see lots of action next summer. Nonetheless, I did take it for a spin last month on a day trip to Aberdour Castle.

I need to work on my modelling skills, clearly. (And do something about my hair) But you get the idea.


Stay tuned for more thrilling, thrifted alterations and transformations!