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Hi bloggers, happy Saturday! Hope everyone is having a creative weekend, making the most of all that indoors time with this terrible wet weather. Good news for all you Facebook fans, we have just set up a facebook page for Vintage Follie so keep up to date by 'liking' us today. Still a lot to do to make it look good but make sure you check it out soon.

Vintage Dress Up Workshop

Hi bloggers, yesterday was such an amazing day and I think we are definitely getting better and better at hosting these workshops. It was our anniversary workshop since we started teaching these classes one year ago. Everything was set out on the tables with a mannequin and a little bag of goodies in front of everyone's space. We also set up a table in the corner with a range of vintage ephemera to bring the vintage theme alive and to further inspire people's creativity. With 1930s music playing in the background, the set up for the day was finally coming together.

Once we got started, everyone's ideas started to evolve and the best thing about hosting these days is seeing what everyone comes up with in the end. Its so fascinating to see so many different ideas and outcomes when everyone started with the same paper mache mannequin. We started with a base coat of white gesso to give the mannequin a smooth texture to work with and then we gave everyone a choice of 4 different colours that they could paint their mannequin with. Many chose a neutral shade as this is quite a good starting point to build up on. We also provided everyone with another technique which was to stamp a whole range of images onto old dressmaking pattern tissue paper and then glue these onto the mannequin which worked very well with a lot of people's designs.

After lunch everyone enjoyed placing the finishing touches onto their mannequins with a whole range of flowers, lace and ribbons to create dresses and decorative finishes. Another popular choice was decorating the mannequin with cut out butterflies which look stunning. To finish the afternoon off we had a small raffle with two prizes which were paper mache trinket cases that had mannequin images on them (a great buy from TK Maxx).

All in all another great day, I will leave you with the outcomes of all the mannequins........

We are both so proud, well done class of Vintage Dress Up 2012.........



C'est Magnifique

Check out these totally vintage heart magnets that mum has been busy finishing over the Easter weekend. This was a project we did at our last craft day and we love them so much that we've made some more and will be selling them at Home Sweet Home Furniture. This shop is located in East Grinstead for anyone nearby who might want to check it out. They sell a whole range of vintage treasures such as hand painted furniture, vintage tea sets and shabby chic home accessories. They make a perfect gift, very unique and a lovely adornment to any magnet board.

Vintage Dress Up: More Inspiration

Another mannequin finished, which means more inspiration for you! This time with different techniques and colour schemes. This mannequin is mums and she designed her mannequin with a ballerina theme in mind. Paint was still used as a base coat and then stamped designs on tissue paper were layered up around the bodice of the mannequin before finishing it off with a tutu and intricate trims, gorgeous. More close up pictures are below:





Happy Easter!

Vintage Dress Up Inspiration

Hi bloggers, I hope everyone is feeling inspired by our new upcoming workshop, Vintage Dress Up, and I just have to post this YouTube video so that you can get some inspiration for how you could decorate your mannequin. Its a video from Paper Clipping showing the Ranger Design Challenge at CHA 2012. It includes mannequins from Tim Holtz, Dyan Reaveley, Jenni Bowlin and many other inspiring designers. So check it out and let your imagination run wild. There is so much you can do with a mannequin that I really want to make another one.........

Vintage Dress Up

Be inspired by our new workshop, Vintage Dress Up! We are so excited about this project because there is so much you can do with it. I have created a very girly mannequin using pretty lace and ribbons and have carefully used punched out butterflies to create the bottom of the dress on the mannequin and I have placed butterflies also at the top of the mannequin so that it seems as though the butterflies are travelling up the bodice. The mannequin comes in a very plain format and then you can decide how you want to paint it or decorate it. I started by covering the mannequin in a layer of white gesso to make the surface of the bodice smoother and it makes an excellent bottom coat. I have put more photos below to provide a zoomed in image of the different areas of the mannequin. We hope everyone will like this project and if you are interested then don't hesitate to leave a comment or get in touch with us.