Me and Jo March

Growing up I was always a little tom-boyish. I enjoyed climbing trees, playing all sorts of sports. But, I also enjoyed reading through mountains of books, crocheting, sewing, cooking, and doing just about every craft there was. And I still enjoy doing all of these things.

With my two younger sisters, there are now four girls and one boy total, we would put on plays or sing in our singing group called, The Step Sisters because we all stood a head above each other. Besides singing and acting, I would also write and illustrate stories. My best stories being inspired by  Thornton Burgess, Brambly Hedge, and Curious George.

Today I'm more like how Jo was in New York - sewing and writing. Maybe I don't write as many stories as before. Instead I do something different - blog posts. Though once and awhile I write a story or two. ;-)

I didn't read Little Woman until I was 16. But after I first read it I fell in love with the March sisters. Since then I have read it several times, and learning something new each time.

Little Women of 2010 event

 

I forgot to mention in my last post on why I was doing a Little Women post. It is because there is a Little Women event going on this week hosted by Rebecca at A Young Lady's Blog. 

Read all about the event here.

See the other entries for the event here.

~Ashley

My Jo March Dress

Created for fun! 

 

At first, I didn't realize that my dress looks like Jo's in the '94 Little Woman. Until several ladies on the Sense & Sensibility board pointed it out to me. 

It is fitting though. As I made my dress for my 18th birthday.

 

And guess what character I was? That's right, I was Jo March. 

 ~Ashley

How to make your own Valentines T-shirt

 

 I thought it would be fun to do a little how to for valentines. Of course, you don't have to use hearts every time you do this. You can do any shape you want! You could even use letters or numbers to spell a message. :D 

1. Find a solid t-shirt. I'm just using a black one that I had in the back of my closet. 

2. Decided what you want on the front of the shirt. I'll be using a heart.

3. Draw the shape on a piece of paper and cut out. This will be your pattern.

4. Find some fabric for your shape. I used some fabric I had leftover from my valentines dress. 

 

5. Pin shape to your fabric. Cut.

6. Pull your shirt on the ironing board. 

7. Cut out matching hearts out of "Paper Backed Adhesive Web Sheet".  Apply webbing to the hearts with the iron.

 8. Decided on where you want the heart placed.

 9. Tear away the paper back.

10. Turn over the heart, the side with adhesive should face the shirt. Make sure that the adhesive doesn't face the iron, because it will stick leaving you with a mess! :O Press.

11. Repeat if you want more.

12. Now, you are going to want to do a simple stitch, either by hand or machine, around the edges of the hearts. This will make sure that the hearts don't move.    

 13. And then you are done! :)

 

If you have any questions, just ask! :)

 

What I'm Wearing - Ashley

 

~What I'm Wearing~

Cream ruffle shirt - Chaps (Kohls)

Brown Vest - Made by me

Silk Skirt (this doubles as a tunic) - Portobello Market, London, UK

Cream stripe tights - Kohls

Brown Wedges - Target

Cameo Necklace - Portobello Market, London, UK 

Please pardon the blurry pictures. :)

Nancy Drew's Style

We had a reader request a Nancy Dress post and I thought, "why not? I love Nancy's style!" So here we are, a post dedicated to the style of Nancy Drew. =) 

First off, I will give examples of what Nancy would wear in the original books c.1930s -1940s. I'll also share Nancy's style in the old black & white movies with Bonita Granvielle. 

If you have never seen the old Nancy Drew movies with Bonita Granvielle, may I highly recommend them to you! True, they are not like the books, but they hold the spirit of Nancy Drew and they are clean family-friendly movies. You can watch and download Nancy Drew: Reporter at Internet Archive, as it is in the public domain. The other Nancy Drew movies can be seen sometimes on TCM, or you can buy them on DVD. 

Nancy's Stye in the Books:

The Secret of the Old Clock by Bramblewood Fashion featuring Chanel shoes

The Clue in the Diary by Bramblewood Fashion featuring Forever21 tops

The above sets show some examples on how you can dress Drew's style today.  Wear classic looking skirts with blouses or nicer type of shirts. Do pair it with kitten heels and a nice cloche. As Nancy would surely approve. 

Nancy's Style in the Old Movies:

Nancy Drew - Reporter by Bramblewood Fashion featuring French Connection shoes

In the movies Nancy wore blouses with bows, skirts, dresses, full slacks, fedoras, wedges, cardigans, and jackets.  All in all, Nancy has a very classic look.

Nancy Drew by Bramblewood Fashion featuring TopShop jackets

The two sets above I made on Powerpoint last year. These capture more Nancy's style in the movies, then the books. 

Screen-caps from the movies for more inspiration:

  

  

 

I hope you all found this helpful to create your own Nancy Drew look. :)