More tea vicar?

June 13, 2012

By quirkyp

Well I think I’ve been affected by all the Jubilee celebrations and talk of tea parties that seems to have recently dominated the news. Tea cosies came to mind and now I think I may be going crochet crazy!

My mum tried to teach me to knit what I was little but I just never got on with it. In the 70s crochet was all the rage and everything was crocheted – who can remember the crochet dolls to sit on top of the spare toilet roll, never mind why everyone had one??? I’ve even seen patterns for wedding dresses. Well, my mum made clothes for my Action Girl (the sailor suit was my personal favourite) and then started to make those granny squares and I joined in. Before we knew it we had a throw, a bedspread and a blanket for the dog.

So, Quirky Purple have just posted up their first set of handmade crochet items. We have a new range of tea cosies and more designs will follow. Below are the current ones for sale on the online shop, but you can request different colours etc here

You don’t have to like tea to like cosies – we’ve got coffee cosies too! Again you can request different colours etc. How cute is the espresso set??

Above is just an example of some of the things we have for sale on our eBay site – stock changes daily. Check us out!
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Quirky-Purple

Flirty florals and playful playsuits

June 8, 2012

By quirkyp

Well, we all know that the british summer can be changeable at best – as I’m writing this it’s raining, but only a few days ago we had a lovely heatwave.

So, I think we all need something that will brighten up even the dullest, rainiest day – florals can just do the trick!

Florals are really big news at the moment and vintage florals really fit the bill especially when they are vintage playsuits.

Can you remember playsuits in the 70s and 80s? The 70s always seem to be the longer full length trousers and then the 80s made it shorter.

My mum and dad have a picture of me on a cruise in 1990 at the Captain’s dinner. I was wearing the most fabulous full-length, wide-leg, halter-neck pantsuit in black with gold swirls. I thought I looked the dog’s doo-daas. That was until the current Mr Quirky Purple saw the photo, burst out laughing and asked me why I was wearing fancy dress!

It took me until the end of last year to buy something similar for an award ceremony in London. I didn’t want to look like everyone else, just wearing the same little black dress. I thought it was a pretty glamorous outfit. No gold swirls this time around, but plenty of gold bling accessories!

I’m loving seeing all these playsuits in the shops, so I’ve found some absolutely fab vintage playsuits – mainly floral, some strappy and some that look like gorgeous tea dresses. We also have some great 70s floral summer dresses that just remind me of Saturday Night Fever disco dresses.

Below are some of what you can find on sale in the shop.

Above is just an example of some of the things we have for sale on our eBay site – stock changes daily. Check us out!
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Quirky-Purple

Decades of denim

June 2, 2012

By quirkyp

Who doesn’t own at least one piece of denim in their wardrobes?

Not bad for a piece of material that started out as work wear…

It’s been used in clothing probably since the 18th century and probably really only started to become a fashion piece in the 50s, when people like James Dean wore them in “Rebel Without a Cause”. This started to give them a rebel status with teenagers.

Around the mid-60s it became more fashionable to wash jeans to give them a more worn effect, and shrink to fit. There’s a scene in Quadrophenia where Jimmy is trying to get his jeans shrink to fit. Sorry, I can’t resist adding something from one of my favourite films… When I was a mod I used to buy a pair of jeans and then get the sewing machine on them and make them so narrow I could barely get in or out of them – thank goodness I discovered stretch denim otherwise my knees may never have moved again!

By the 70s, you have flares and bell bottoms and stitching and patching started to become the way to wear them. Standard wear for hippies. Fringing was also pretty popular. I can remember that you could buy different patches, some with slogans or just flowers etc, that you could sew onto your denim.

The 80s saw some ‘innovative’ uses of denim – stonewash, acid wash, ripped jeans. I remember even seeing denim jeans that were printed with a tartan-like effect. Personally I decided the way to update my ridiculously skinny jeans to match my more scooter girl image was to put them in the bath and do the ‘bleached’ effect. I wasn’t sure it was working so got an old toothbrush to try to spread the bleach – but all the bristles fell out so I just left them there and thought I’d brush them off when I rinsed the jeans. It was a cool effect in the end – all the little bristles left little bleached marks all over the jeans. I also managed to accidentally get a ripped effect at one point when messing around with my Vespa battery!

Moving to the 90s, jeans were still popular and other styles such as baggy gangsta jeans were around and then the 00s brought us low rise – which to be fair a lot of people shouldn’t have worn as I saw way to much arse-cleavage and builders’ bums! Also that ever popular way middle-aged men started to wear jeans with a shirt and a casual jacket to prove they are still down with the kids (think Simon Cowell).

Jeans are now pretty much standard wear for all sorts of occasions – casual, dressy, clubbing, even work, with the more casual-wear culture in offices.

To celebrate all things denim, we have a whole range of denim and denim-inspired items for sale in our online shop. Here are just a few examples:

Above is just an example of some of the things we have for sale on our eBay site – stock changes daily. Check us out!
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/quirkypurple

Goodbye to disco divas and childhood greats

May 23, 2012

By quirkyp

Last week I did a post on the 70s – the diverse decade and this week it seems like a couple of my childhood 70s legends have sadly left us – Donna Summer and Robin Gibb.

As a child of the 70s, I remember Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” record in the charts and relished in the fact that it was considered naughty. What I probably didn’t appreciate at that time was what a great (and different) track it was.

Similarly I was at just the right age to love Grease and therefore John Travolta. Which, consequently meant that, as a teenage fan, I had to investigate and therefore love anything else he was involved in. That’s really how I found Saturday Night Fever – yeah I know it was a huge film, but that was the adult world and not the teenage world. I remember going to see a PG version (I think – anyway I could get in at the age of 12/13) of Saturday Night Fever. Boy did that soundtrack sound fab in the cinema!

Even now whenever I hear “Stayin’ Alive” I immediately see John Travola walking down that street, carrying his paint can.

That soundtrack was predominantly the Bee Gees. They were so ‘standoutish’ in the crowd – the voices, harmonies, the catchy tracks and, of course, their look. Due to the film, there were all sorts of set dances that you did to the tracks too – what could be better for a teenager in the days before dance mat games!

I loved that disco fashion too and remember strappy dresses and a lot of metallics – gold and silver. I had one of those tiered ‘gypsy’ skirts and an off the shoulder sort of gathered top to go with it. Plus chunky cords and ‘granny’ shoes. I had one of those long tweed type skirts too. I didn’t have any sort of clothing budget in those days so my wardrobe was pretty small.

I also hasten to add that all this was quickly shoved to the back of my wardrobe as we moved towards of the end of the 70s as I was starting to properly suffer from decade displacement as my obsession with all things 60s and mod had started.

70s disco became a little (secret) guilt pleasure…

If, after reading this, you feel like some 70s inspiration, check out our 70s inspiration board on Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/quirkypurple/70s-inspiration/

We have a few 70s influenced and vintage clothes, and dressmaking and knitting patterns, for sale on our eBay site – stock changes daily. Check us out!
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/quirkypurple

70s – the diverse decade

May 16, 2012

By quirkyp

Over the last few weeks there has been a 70s documentary on the BBC. I love it. But then again I grew up in the 70s, so there’s also an element of nostalgia.

The 70s is an odd decade for me. When I was a teenager, it was a laughing joke – flares, flower in your hair – no thanks! The 80s seemed really edgy and the 70s just seemed lame. If you liked anything 70s it had to be your guilty little pleasure.

That changed in the 90s. The usual rule of ‘if you wait 20 years it will be fashionable again’ came into play and 70s influences were everywhere.

It was actually a really diverse decade. It had the runoff from the 60s hippy movement, into glam rock, progressive rock, then switch to disco, then a massive shift to punk and new wave. All these genres could be seen in the charts and on Top of the Pops each week. The same with the clothes. Walk around town on a Saturday afternoon and you would see fashion reflecting these music styles.

The 70s has spawned threads of styles in music and in clothes that are still around today. The influences can even be seen on the hight street today. Vintage really is the key to getting the look right though. Mix and match it with some high street looks and you’ll have your own individual style.

To celebrate 70s styling Quirky Purple have just launched their 70s Inspiration board on Pinterest – you can jump over to it here:
http://pinterest.com/quirkypurple/70s-inspiration/

We have a few 70s influenced and vintage clothes for sale on our eBay site. Check us out!
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/quirkypurple

We love the 60s!

May 11, 2012

By quirkyp

Quirky Purple loves the 60s

Yep, that’s right I have a real passion for the 60s. I think I suffer from ‘Decade Displacement’ and should have been a teenager then. I could have experienced the beginnings of the Beatles and all the UK scene and its spread across the world.

Mod would have been happening around me (instead of in the 80s when I discovered it). The Who, The Small Faces, The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones, soul from the USA – too much to mention.

I could have joined the psychedelic revolution and watched the evolution of bands like the Beatles and the Small Faces. Not to mention all the UK and US garage bands.

To celebrate 60s styling Quirky Purple have just launched their 60s Inspiration board on Pinterest – you can jump over to it here:
http://pinterest.com/quirkypurple/60s-inspiration/

We have a few 60s influenced and vintage clothes for sale on our eBay site. Check us out!
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/quirkypurple