The Shadow Seamstress

Last autumn was also the time to try some new things! Lassi's cousin Nick, who happens to be a cinematographer, had been wanting to shoot in Lassi's building ever since he first visited it last year, and he actually ended up turning that idea into a short movie! The movie was to be shot in Finnish, so I was extremely relieved that the character I was cast to play was actually mute :-D

It was nevertheless extremely exciting to act in a movie (first time ever! :-) ), and we had a wonderful team to work with. Besides Nick and Lassi (who took care of producing and assisting Nick with a wide variety of tasks) most of the people involved were close friends, such as Saara Salmi and Marco Melander from Atelieri O. Haapala and people from Fintage RY. Stay tuned, since the movie is now finished and that means we'll hopefully be able to show it somewhere in the near future! :-)

as Venetia van Kraemers
picture by Marianne Niemelä

Fleamarket Finds, Vol.7

So while I'm stuck at the airport in Paris, I may as well write a couple of belated posts more!

Last time I posted about the open air market in the Basque Country, and this time I'll post about probably the very best open air market in Finland (at least that I have been to). It's in a small town far north, in an area of Finland where they mostly speak the kind of Swedish that was spoken in the area hundrends of years ago, when Finland was under the Swedish rule. 

The trip there is long, so it was really nice when this year we organized a little bit of a roadtrip with a couple of friends (one of which is originally fom the area, and his parents still have a lovely cottage by the cost), and had the last sauna + swim of the year by the sea. The weather was quite terrible, so I decided to wear some confortable and warm clothes. Unluckily enough, I came down with a cold nevertheless :-D

30's sunglasses, 1930's tie, shirt from fleamarket, breeches from
fleamarket (they are part of a Finnish army uniform), puttees from Varusteleka and NOS 1940's shoes

To be honest it's been such a long time since summer that I can't even exactly remember what I bought! But the three main things I remember are a gorgeous jugend bookshelf (that nowadays holds part of my vintage shoe collection), a jugend cushion cover and an old sewing box.

The first and the latter were two items I had really been searching for, specially the sewing bow. I now sew so very often (burlesque + tribal fusion bellydance + vintage) that I had been in urgent need of a sensible way to organize the basic sewing supplies for a long time. The box I found was not the prettiest, nor the in the very best of condition (specially since the wood got quite wet with the rain during the early hours of the market), but it was big (lots of space!) and I got it at a very good price (prices for sewing boxes are usually quite prohibiting). 

[picture to follow when I arrive home!]

The cushion was a simple piece with a jugend rose pattern, but the elder lady who was selling it was so happy I wanted to buy it that she even gave me a discount! Still searching for more of these, one can never have too many cushions! ;-)

[picture to follow when I arrive home!]

I already have a jugend bookshelf that I bought in the begining of the summer, but I had nowhere else to put shoes in my room so I was in dire need of a second one. Later on Lassi did a bit of research, and he found an almost identical one in an old Muurame catalogue, which was quite awesome because most of the vintage pieces of furniture in my room are also from Muurame (warning: if you google the name and come up with pictures of what they do today please do not be scared! they used to do absolutely gorgeous pieces in the 1910's-1920's decades)

[picture to follow when I arrive home!]

Fleamarket Finds, Vol.5 - Restaurantapäivät

And more catching up! Restaurantapäivät is one of the nicest open air summer markets nearby our area in Finland. It happens in a town called Kangasala, which is really close to Tampere, and during a weekend in July plus an extra day in August. We usually prefer the weekend in July, since there are usually more sellers. Most of the sellers mostly have old and rusty car parts, but thorough hunting usually yields very good results! And when I say thorough hunting I really mean it, I have often walk around the market many times in the same day and keep on finding new things every time. As last year, this year we also rented a spot for our vintage association Fintage RY. We offer vintage clothing and accessories at extremely good prices, and are available to answer questions about Fintage and vintage in general. 

Fintage's table at Restaurantapäivät

As you might remember from my last post I wasn't really in the position of spending a lot of money, but at the same time I had just recently moved and there was a bunch of things I really needed for my new apartment. Luckily enough (and with the invaluable help of Lassi) I managed to find most of them at really good prices! You can see most of my "loot" in the picture below, only the black 1930's spring coat is missing from it but I hope I'll be able to show it in future posts :-)

Loot: 

- Jugendstil wooden bookshelf (my prettiest shoes are displayed in it at the moment! :-) )

- 1920's slip

- 2 x copper pots which I use at flower pots

- 1950's plaster and wood frame (it currently holds a gorgeous picture of Lada Redstar by Atelieri o. Haapala)

- jugenstil curtain rod and rings

- two more sets of jugenstil curtain rings

- jugenstil brass mortar

- to-die-for jugenstil blanket <3

Restaurantapäivät finds

Moving!

And fourth belated post, plus a sneak peak!

Some of you might remember my last post was about the Boylesque Festival Vienna. The reality check after it was twice as hard though, since as soon as I set foot in Finland I had to start packing and move into my current apartment. Moving is always tiresome and rather annoying, but I luckily had the invaluable help of Lassi during the whole weekend, and that of our dear friends Jari and Jac who were kind enough to also lend a hand on Sunday. Besides, the apartment I was moving to was so insanely gorgeous, and in such a breathtaking area of Helsinki that I couldn't be happier about it! I was also going to become the flatmate of the crotchet pattern designer Molla Mills, who also happens to be my dear friend.

Outside of the building, and my new William
Morris mug bought in London last May

The building is from the 1920's, and it's definitely the most gorgeous one I've ever lived in. My room is spacious, and I've decorated it with a mixture of Finnish jugendstil furniture/objects (many of them found by Lassi), with a slight orientalist touch. I have also finally been able to hang some of the gorgeous antique prints and Atelieri O. Haapala's pictures I've been saving for years on the walls! 

The feeling is indeed indescriptible. The peace, the space, the kitchen always clean, and the feeling of HOME which I got as soon as I stepped on it (which I actually never felt in the previous apartment, but that's a whole different story). Bliss <3

Sneak peak of my room at the moment, changes/aditions still to come :-)

Vapriikki Vintage finds: day 1

First day at my favourite winter vintage event! And as always, plenty of things to drool at :-)

I'm trying to be a good girl this year and not buy too much, but I found some things that have been on my "wishlist" for a while now, so those were a must! Plus we are usually also taking care of Fintage's table at the vintage market during the event, and on Sunday organizing a fashion show with Fintage's members and vintage clothes, so luckily I didn't get to spend too much time shopping. 

One of the things I'm going nutts about lately is vintage men's clothing! I think it looks extremely elegant and sharp, but finding a good fit for someone as tall and curvy as me is really difficult! I did find a bunch of small items though: a 1910's white tie (which I had been missing for for my "The Chap" burlesque act, thank you Lassi for finding it!), a detachable front and absolutely GORGEOUS detachable collar (both around 1930's) and a couple of ties (probably late 1920's).

soooo in love with the collar! <3

The next thing I bought had been in my "wishlist" forever! I present you my "new" edwardian granny boots, black with the upper part in black suede! I have actually had a bit of an uncommon luck with these kind of boots, since the ones I've been finding so far have been white and brown, which are usually much harder to find. The black ones have thus been missing from my collection, but not anymore!

absolutely gorgeous label in the inside,
made in Rauma (Finland)!

And when I thought that I was already done for the day, I still got a couple of nice items! The tap pants (1920's underwear) I got from another member of Fintage and happened to be a perfect fit! And the cotton stocking from Atlas were something I've been needing for a while, and will be wearing for today's fashion show with my edwardian outfit. These socks have been produced in the same way since the 1930's, but the model actually works pretty nicely as edwardian underwear as well. 

tap pants and atlas stockings (with matching
thread for fixing included)

I did have a couple of nice outfits this day, but the always amazing Atelieri O. Haapala from Helsinki were taking cabinet pictures in Vapriikki this day, so I'll wait to show you until I get the nicer pictures!

Day 2 next...

Vapriikki Vintage 2014 approaching!

So to keep a little bit of balance, today's post will be about my third great passion: vintage. I'm in love with vintage for many reasons, which can probably be explained more in depth at some future post, but basically let's just say things were made BETTER in the past. Better quality materials were used, people really put some thought into the actual design of the pieces, and things were made to last.

Whereas there are nice things to be found about all decades, I'm specially crazy about the 1910's, 1920's and 1930's, and the reason is probably that those are the periods in which Art Noveau and Art Deco reached their heights aesthetically, at least in my humble opinion. It's indeed difficult to explain what it is about those two that is so appealing to the eye, but they just have that special something that I love :-)

That's is why I'm looking forward to this year's Vapriikki Vintage happening even more than usual! Every year has a theme, and this year's is Art Noveau and Jugend. This event is a delight for any vintage lover! It's organized by Fintage and the Vapriikki museum in Tampere, and takes place in the museum itself. The event is full of fun things to do, which can be enjoyed for the price of the regular ticket to the museum (entrace to the vintage market is free). The program includes, among others, the studio of the super talented photographers Atelieri O. Haapala, guided visits to sections of the museum, lectures, workshops, dance, music, and a vintage clothing fashion show (where you'll be able to find yours trully showing two of her favourite vintage pieces, but more on that later!). If this made you even a little bit curious, go ahead and have a look at the program! You can find it both at Fintage's website and the event's facebook page.