1950's Petticoat

I made my petticoat! It was a bit of a thing in the end, because I made one version, decided I didn't like it and then ignored it until the night before the party. Cue finishing at midnight, many a threat of abandoning it and nearly some tears along the way! I was really glad I did it though because I felt amazing in my outfit!!!

Here it is:

And here it is, as part of the finished outfit:

It didn't make my skirt huge, but then I didn't want it huge - and actually it felt quite big wearing it. I'm surprised at how small it looks in photos to tell the truth! However, if it had been much bigger, I think it might have felt a bit cartoonish and I was going for elegant!

I think this might be the second time in my life I've felt elegant - after my wedding day!

I wore the dress with a pearl necklace that may or may not have been real, may or may not have been my Gran's, and may or may not have been the one I wore when I got married. My mum has 2 and can never remember which is which! I'm fairly sure it's the fake one and it's not the one I got married in (too long). I have no idea if it was my Gran's but I suspect they both were, so it potentially pre-dates the 50's. The beaded cardigan I have had for years, originally bought to wear to a winter wedding about 10 years ago. It's just from Oasis so not actually vintage, but I absolutely love it! It's wool though, so very warm to wear in summer. It didn't last long on!

I am absolutely useless at doing hair, so I was particularly proud of this achievement:

I followed a tutorial on Youtube, which was meant to be a proper full updo with more pin curls. The rest failed but the front one seemed to be happy to stay in place. I thought I might do a half up-half down type style, hence the feather/jewel-y thing, which is totally un-50's (from Urban Outfitters about 4 years ago and it has also passed for 1920's style previously) but then decided I preferred a ponytail, which gave the illusion of a hair up from the front and left the feathers in because I like them! 

I think I can confidently say, I was the most authentically dressed person on the night, mainly due to the hair and the petticoat! Everyone made a really good effort, and there were lots of glamorous 50's style dresses, and a few who focussed more on the "summer" part of the theme, with pineapples proving very popular! I did feel a little overdressed, however, better to be over than underdressed. I thought I looked great and I got a lot of compliments!!! :)

Danielle has asked for a tutorial on the petticoat. I don't feel I am really qualified to write a tutorial on this (nor to teach Danielle anything), however I will write a post on how I made it, including the very excellent tutorial I loosely based it on. I'll do a separate post on that to keep things simple, so stay tuned!