Sally SweetLove

Hello everyone,

Today I am going to share with you my new favourite vintage and Retro style dress maker. She is the lovely Sally SweetLove. I came across her work through a friend on Facebook and went over to her page to take a look at what she does. Well what I found were beautiful handmade vintage style clothes made from 40s and 50s patterns. I was so taken with her work that I asked her to make me a dress for a wedding that I had coming up. All I can say is the dress is so perfect! It's exactly what I wanted, a one of a kind and it was cheaper than many of the big name new vintage retailers.

I'm going to attach links to her test shop and Facebook page so that you can go and see her lovely work for yourselves. I asked the lovely Sally if she would mind me writing a blog post about her work but she was so happy about it that she wrote me a little piece about her life for me to share with you.

So here it is -

I have been sewing since I was at primary school , the first thing I ever made was a red corduroy bib and brace skirt , that I wore until it was bald and far too short . At school my sister and I made all our own clothes, basically knocking off any Goth style we saw on TV or in magazines, I copied a dress David Vanians wife had, and a couple of nifty Siouxsie Sioux numbers as well . At university got into the retro scene and copied whatever I could from old films teaching myself to tailor and making lots of cute 40s suits. I also made ball dresses and bridesmaid dresses for other people, it was the early 90s, with a lot of taffeta and boning lol. I kept going when I started my career as a fashion buyer , making suits for work as there was nothing 40s around . Sadly then my career took over and I only did little projects . I gave up my career two years ago and started swing again. Starting with tea dresses , then Teresa from Peggie Sues saw one of my blouses and persuaded me to make her one, then it's just snowballed from there. Now I have an International business selling to the USA , Australia and Finland to name but a few! I love that the clothes I make are unique, but most of all wearable. I don't think frocks are for special occasion, I think that femininity is a sign of strength and shows that we can really be ourselves and not follow the crowd. I hope my frocks make people happy, I have had some lovely comments back .

Sally xxx

https://www.facebook.com/SallySweetlove

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SallySweetlove

So go and check her out and tell her I said hi.

Thanks for reading, love Doris xxxx

HRH the Queen of 1950s fashion!

As a special celebration blog entry I'm
Looking back at the fab fashions that HRH Queen Elizabeth ii wore in her youth and especially in the 50s. I'm also looking at some of the late Princess Margaret's clothes too as she was also a style icon.
Now I'm not a historian or royal expert but just a loyal subject wanting to celebrate 60 years of wonderful reign from our monarch!
In her younger days the queen was at the top of the fashion stakes, even today she is always polished and dressed beautifully.
My personal favourite era of hers in the style stakes was the during 1950s as this was the decade that she came to the throne, here's some pictures for you to see what I'm talking about.
And also some pictures of her equally stylish sister, princess Margaret.

I hope her majesty has a great diamond jubilee and has many more years as our Queen!

Thanks for reading, love Doris xxxx