Taking a(nother) break!

Hello all! It's been a little while, hasn't it? I feel like my blog has been a little lacklustre, lately. I don't know if it has been but I definitely feel more than a little uninspired as a blogger. In fact, I think I've just been uninspired for life in general (except for playing ukulele, which I would happily do 24/7 right now) and a bit slumpy. And just tired. Somehow in that I've inadvertently been on hiatus here (I didn't even realise it had been two weeks since I've posted!) so I'll make it 'official' and just leave blogging (and tumblr-ing and whatever-else-ing) until the new year. Hopefully by then I'll be over the burn-out and I will be all inspired again.

I will probably still be around twitter and I'll definitely be on Instagram - I'm andibgoode on both. Until then, here are some Instagram snaps from the last month or so...

Love this 1960s cover for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Seems I've inadvertently started a South Pacific vinyl collection.

A new collection I've purposefully started (I'll write a post about that when I'm back.)

Think I'm going to give playing my dad's old Melodica another go.

Happy holidays, everyone and happy new year! Here's hoping you all don't forget about me (just kidding!) and that 2013 is swell.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Pink gingham with red

Firstly, thank-you to everyone who left a lovely comment on my last post! I'm still enjoying my new hair immensely. And, now, another outfit!

Every summer I feel like I've forgot how to dress for the warmer weather, yet my summer outfits almost always end up being amongst my favourites. Isn't that strange? Anyway, I was happy to find that this dress my mother made for me a few years ago (one of the first she made for me) still fits...well just. It's slightly more, er, sassy than it used to be. Ha. I wore it to go to my friend's workshop to teach her to play ukulele so I knew I'd be somewhere I felt at ease, just in case I ended up feeling a bit uncomfortable with the neckline.

Glasses | Dangerfield

Hot dog earrings | made by me

Dress | made by mum

Belt | gift*

My beautiful girl, Sugar Kane, made the trip to the city with me. It's

So many people just hate red and pink together but it's one of my favourite colour combinations of all time.

I picked this brooch up at a craft fair held where I used to study quite a few years ago now. Unfortunately I don't remember who made it.

Also, I'm slowly working on a new layout (as much as I still love this one) so that I will finally be able to reply to all of your comments! But this time of year is hectic so who knows when I will get around to installing it? Eek. 

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

*I've only just realised that many bloggers use the term 'gifted' in outfits for items that were given to them by companies, etc., but if you see the term 'gift' here it means that someone I actually know (a friend or family member) gave the item to me as a present. I'm not sure if anyone would have confused that but just in case! I like to be as clear as I can.

New hair and an outfit

The other night I went to see In the Next Room with a good friend, put on by the SA State Theatre Company. Unfortunately I couldn't see it in time for a proper review to be worthwhile (ie drawing in more audience) but I was kindly still invited to go along and I had a blast. It was incredibly funny, well acted and I enjoyed the costumes a lot, too.

Oh and I've had a haircut. (Which the incredibly unimaginative subject would have given away somewhat.)

Hair flowers | home made

Vintage necklace | etsy

Dress | made by mum

Belt | gift

I was only slightly apprehensive about my haircut. My friend Sonya wrote a well-timed piece about having short hair (and indentifiying as a fat woman) and the complicated relationships we often have with our hair and how it ties in to our identities and ideas of femininity a lot. These things weren't necessarily in my own thought process (I was mainly thinking 'no more hair scarf making me sweat in summer! No more long hairs everywhere! No more getting stuck in doors and seat belts and everything!') but it's still an interesting (& short) read.

I'll admit, there was a very small part of me that was wondering if I'd be happy with short hair: 1. after having long hair for so long 2. because I'm a couple(ish) sizes bigger than the last time it was this length as my body has changed, as they do (though I'll add that I'm happy and comfortable with my body about...99% of the time, I'd say). I am glad I took the risk because I love my new haircut. It's so easy to style (I barely have to do anything) and it feels so much lighter. Plus I felt a bit like Phryne Fisher (not to mention joining the multitude of bobbed-hair babes out there including some good friends of mine)!

Not the best angle to take photos from (seeing up my nose and what-not) but I like this shot.

Sometimes it's just fun to take photos of your shadow, don't you think?

And sometimes I like to turn my photos into black and white to see how different they look.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Supanova Day Two

Oh gosh - I nearly forgot to post the follow-up to my Supanova post! I've been so distracted doing one thing and another (hence the unimaginative title) that it almost slipped my mind. Well, here it is...I ended up wearing the same dress that I'd worn out the Friday night because I wasn't entirely happy with my second costume. It was lucky that I didn't wear it as I didn't stay as long on Sunday and I would have felt like I was cheating the costume (but at least I've got one for another time, once I finish it to my satisfaction.)

The dress was made using a vintage pattern that I bought because it reminded me a bit of the blue dress Ann Robinson wore in The War of the Worlds.

The bat was just tacked on - I think I'd like to get my name embroidered on it or cut out a nicer one before I attach it properly.

A couple of slight changes on Sunday - my hair, obviously, and I wore a different belt, which I think works a lot better than the one with the gold buckle.

I couldn't resist posing with my Batgirl Pullip, Betty, (though I realised too late I was covering my own bat up with her...)

Wonder Woman (my friend Abi) wanted to make sure we all got a photo together!

And my friend, Shea, again as Buffy from two different episodes (Double Meat Palace and Anne).

Also, I've started using Pinterest again (sort of - I'm trying to, anyway) so if you feel like following me, here's the link.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Would you like space fries with that?

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to Supanova over the weekend and that I'd be blogging about my costumes as soon as it was all over. So here is a look at my costume for Saturday (I only ended up wearing one and not the other as I didn't feel well on the Sunday).

Roswell is one of my all-time favourite TV shows so I decided to do Liz’s Crashdown Cafe uniform - it's actually been on my 'costume ideas' list for quite a while now. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who not only recognised my costume but were pretty excited to see it, too! One lady said she hadn’t seen a Roswell reference in years and thanked me. It was pretty neat to be able to connect to people over a favourite TV show, especially one that doesn't get as much love as others that aired at around the same time. My mother and I put quite a bit of work into this costume and I’m really happy with how it turned out (though I'll be looking for a taller bopper headband for next time I wear this).

For anyone who hasn't seen Roswell I've included a shot of Shiri Appleby as Liz Parker in her Crashdown Cafe uniform below (though it doesn't show the apron, unfortunately).

And here are a small number of photos I actually managed to take whilst at Supanova.

This signed photo of Dean Cain made me feel nostalgic for watching Lois and Clark with my mum when it was on TV. I haven't watched it in years - I wonder how it holds up?

I don't know this girl but she was dressed as Gaz from Invader Zim! My friends and I used to be somewhat obsessed with this show as teenagers and Gaz was always a favourite character of mine.

Obligatory Dalek shot...

My friend Abi as Princess Aurora.

My friend Shea as Buffy the cheerleader (from the episode Witch).

And James Marsters!!! His panel was incredibly entertaining - it was the only panel I went to on Saturday but I'm glad I chose this one.

I think I went a bit overboard with the editing on some of these photos - oops! I didn't realise until after I'd uploaded them all but hopefully they still look OK...I'll try to get the second post done soon. My outfit was more vintage inspired (& therefore more relevant to why I started this blog) than this one.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

A video and some links

I haven't been posting as much as I'd like to, lately, and this is partly because I've been trying to get my costumes for Supanova finished! I've never been to anything like this in costume (well, at all, really) so I'm excited but it's not left a lot of time for blogging. There will be posts about it next week, I hope, but until everything is over I'm just focussing on sewing and crafting in my spare time.

So, for now I leave you with this lovely video showcasing some of the handmade dresses at local Adelaide vintage store Push Pin Boutique. The video was created by Sugar Smack, an Adelaide based screen production company.

Push Pin Boutique: Summer 2012-13 from Sugar Smack on Vimeo.

Oh, and while I'm sharing things, I keep forgetting to link to the guest posts I've been doing, so here's a few:

♥ Top 5 (60s films) at Spokes and Daggers

♥ Between seasons with Andi B. Goode at Bess Georgette

♥ Vintage style heroes: Barbie at We Heart Vintage

And I was chuffed to be in LouLou's Vintage Fair's Guide to Vintage Bloggers.

See you all next week!

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Oh what a night!

Last night I went to see Jersey Boys with my mum (hence the not particularly original title). It was amazing. I don't think anything makes me as happy as musical theatre does! Plus I've been wanting to see Jersey Boys for some years, now, which made it even better. I'm a bit of a dork so a few tears were shed.

And here is what I wore...

I look so very stern in my sequins and candy pink skirt! Ha. Mr Frog is just as stern, I think.

Cardigan | gift

Brooch | don't remember

Necklace | Diva

1960s top | Vintage Carousel

Belt | gift

Skirt | Harris Scarfe

Bracelet | gift

Vintage purse | garage sale

Vintage stockings | don't remember

Shoes | same ol' KMart shoes

Have some extreme lens flare! I took this photo by accident, aiming the lens a little too high.

Me with my gnome friends. Ha.

Sequins!

I'm not sure if mum was happy about me sharing photos of her but I figured one of the back of her neat jacket was safe! 

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Lemon yellow and leopard print

A very brief outfit post which, I've just realised, doesn't contain any vintage whatsoever! It's bound to happen, sometimes. Anyway, I wore this when I went to see Frankenweenie with my mum. I  was relieved to find that I really enjoyed Frankenweenie (I've loved Burton's films for a long time but completely disliked the last couple) and this outfit is pretty comfortable, so it's good for the cinema. 

Outfit details: sunglasses - Dangerfield; blouse - Cotton On; belt - Valley Girl; pants - Miss Hussy; shoes - KMart.

{Source}

I think I liked Weird Girl's style the best in Frankeweenie. I wondered if she was meant to have a bit of a Village of the Damned look about her? (The eyes and hair).

I appreciated the many nods to old monster movies, too, one of the obvious being Persephone the poodle's Bride of Frankenstein hair. 

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Questions answered

It's not very often that I get questions on my blog but I've had a couple on the last two posts that I have done, so I thought I would answer them!

Helga asked which pattern was used for my pumpkin costume dress...it was a Retro Butterick pattern that you can find here.

{Source}

And below are the dresses that have been made using this pattern...(one is missing as I don't have a good photo of it).

This is actually one of my favourite dresses.

The pattern wasn't very good for the halter version - the bust just didn't sit right at all but it works well (on me - most people I know have to adjust patterns to fit them but I, luckily, don't have to do this often) with the sleeves and it's one of my favourite dress patterns. We also added a 'modesty panel' as the v of the neckline is quite low-cut.

And Alli said "What amazing dolls. And in beautiful condition. Wherever do you find them? And is there a doll that you would really love to find for your collection?"

Well, these three ladies were bought on eBay and I have bought quite a lot of dolls on there - I don't like eBay as much as etsy but there are a lot of Barbie sellers on there. Just like everything else, though, you have to know what you're looking for and this site is a really helpful place to start. I've also bought things from etsy (like the clothes in the above photo), local selling sites like Gumtree, op-shops (for '80s & later), and I get a lot of my repro or collectible Barbies from a store here called Kollectable Kaos.

There are a lot of dolls I'd really love to find for my collection. I would still love to have an original vintage ponytail Barbie but they go for a lot of money and I would also love a No Bangs Francie (last on this page) but they are the hardest to find of the Francie dolls. Oh and I'd love a Free Moving PJ or any of the PJs on that page, really. My wishlist is actually quite extensive! Ha.

I've also been asked in the past about my blush so I thought, while I'm at it, I would let you all know that I use peach glow by Natio - I used to use one by MAC but I realised it looked and lasted exactly the same as my super cheap blush so I'm never spending more money than I feel I have to on blush ever again.

Feel free to ask me any questions you may have and I'll try to answer them (only respectful questions, please, which I suppose goes without saying as I've very respectful, lovely readers, I think).

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x