how to: rag curl long hair for vintage styles

Here it is: rag curling for long hair. How to curl long, fine straight hair. It's super simple, and all you need are around 10 strips of fabric (the rags), and, well, that's it! Trish has beautiful silky long hair, and it's also straight and very shiny – the kind that seems the hardest to curl. It can also be hard to pin curl long hair, as even if you can get it into a curl (a snail! Thanks B. MacDonald!) it will be quite big, and not exactly comfy to sleep on. And we don't want that!

So, one sunny late afternoon, I popped round to Trish's gorgeous house and we did rag curls – with excellent assistance from Betty-dog, as you'll soon see! As Trish had washed her hair earlier and it was already completely dry, we brushed it and then sprayed it with a little water, so it was damp. Not too damp, though, you want it to dry overnight! I find it curls much better with a little watery help, but to keep this simple and something anyone could do without having to get anything form the shops for it, we didn't use any setting lotions and so on. Just water. And it looked very dramatic, catching the light! Then, starting at the tip, start to wrap a smallish section (about the thickness of a big texta/permanent marker) around a rag. Roll it up towards the head, and then tie the rag in a double not. Don't go too close to the head, or it will be uncomfortable to sleep on and the curls will start too high. Betty showed us her couch-matching skills as we went. And then got a bit bored. But seemed interested in the final result. The hair all curled up. The ones at the side are a bit shorter, as in curled closer to the head, than the ones at the back, to make a nice curved shape. The next morning, they were still all in place. We gave them a quick blast with the hair dryer (on hot) to make sure they were toasty and dry. And then waited for them to cool. And then started to take them out. Betty was quite used to this by now. Cute little spirals! Boing! Finally, we carefully brushed them out. We used a little bit of smoothing product followed by some hairspray, and voila! A cascade of curls ready to be styled. Easy!

Would you try this? Let me know how it goes if you do!

two vintage 1950's dresses, two australian birds and an autumn afternoon

I have finally been able to make a start on doing some vintage hair tutorials! First up will be a rag curling tutorial – how to rag curl long hair for vintage styles. I did this with Trish, through whom I am living out my dark hair dreams (I've been missing my dark hair lately, but there's no going back for me!) and who has long straight hair. The challenge was there to curl it, and curl it we did. I'll post it tomorrow!

Afterwards it was such a beautiful Melbourne Autumn day that we just had to get outside in the glowing sunshine. After some sweet chai with extra honey, we bought some balloons for Truly Vintage, and then checked out some op shops in the foot of the mountains that seem so far away and yet take just minutes to get to in the car. It was so nice to see the trees turning orange and red and rusty against deep blue skies. We saw some rozellas enjoying a meal with some galas! I now see that we were mirroring their colours..! They let me get pretty close before deciding it was time to fly up in a tree for a bit. They're in there somewhere! We both were wearing 1950's dresses with full skirts. Mine a pale yellow with embroidery along the hem in blues and greens... ... and Trish's in reds and oranges... ... with an amazing vintage print! There was a cute little chair outside a house covered in 1940's style bow print fabric, so of course we had to check it out and then take it in turns to sit on it. But we were soon back in the sunshine looking at dream weatherboard houses with pale blue woodwork and perfect picket fences. Such a perfect afternoon. Again, again, please!

stretching out the days especially the weekend ones

Weekends. Long breakfast-lucnhes that you want to go on for hours. Another coffee, please! I've felt like there aren't enough hours in the day letely. Today I am going to (hopefully) buy a pair of shoes – closed toe closed toe closed toe is my mantra – and then climb up on the roof (not in my new shoes!) to do some house-y fixing. I had a lovely Saturday that included a few hours in the afternoon doing some vintage hair styling for a lovely lady, and today I have a day free! Clear to do whatever I want. Best feeling! What are you up to today?

a trip to the coast, brilliant blues and lots of mustard -- peninsula getaway, part one

Happy Friday! Let's make an early escape, yeah? I can't believe it was almost four weeks (?????!?!?!?!!!!) ago that I headed down to Dromana for a blogger's getaway weekend. With Iolanthe at the wheel, we drove down on a golden early afternoon to the Peninsula, for two nights and three days of relaxing, good eating and brilliant company by the sea side. After a short drive, mostly along the coast, with blue skies and bluer seas around us, we were at our Aquabelle apartment, where we would be staying with Stasia for the weekend. And, just a few doors down, were Cecylia, Leeyong and Candice – five people I was absolutely chuffed to be spending a whole weekend with! And check out our view..! I'd packed with a mustard theme in mind – oh, um, I sound a bit like Kath from Kath and Kim, here, but it's true! – and when packing light(ish) (I had to fit sportswear in there) (more on that in a minute) you need to have things that go together. Obviously. So, I chose mustard – perfect for the Autumn that Melbourne was trying to conjour up, and doing a marvelous job of in a sunny kind of way – and O HAI I matched the apartment's decor! Loved the mustard couches, high ceilings and the wall of glass that opened onto a large balcony overlooking the sea. We could see massive ships go by. I'm always impressed by these. They look so dramatic on the skyline. Isn't it great that the angle of the horizon and gravity are helping the ship along..?! Note to self: think spirit level next time! My vintage mustard cardigan fit right in to its new home. The main bedroom, Iolanthe's – well she did drive us and so she more than deserved it – had a gorgeous blue ensuite. I love these tiles, and this colour is one of my favourites. And erm, yes, I may have stood in the bath – shaped like a big half egg – to get a photo. Looking back now, I feel like I should have gone for a brisk walk along the beach, taken the air, put some roses in my cheeks. Instead, drowsy from the drive (being a passenger, ha!) I made the most of the free wifi (thank you Aquabelle this is brilliant!) and did some blogging, some instagramming, and some general internetting, and then watched a big storm blow in. I love watching Victorian storms come in, and the best place for it is by the sea. I was warm and cosy in my cashmere socks. This was pre pom pom sock days. That evening, we went with Stasia to the other apartment where Candice, Leeyong and Cecylia were staying, to have cocktails – totally worth the 30 second trot! – and then we all headed back to ours where I cooked us dinner. I made a pea and goats cheese pesto pasta with roast tomatoes and rosemary – based on this recipe on Pip's lovely blog.

I didn't count on cooking for 6 taking so long – maybe the cocktails slowed me down a bit! – and we had a lovely late dinner, talking about everything and including the next morning, when we'd be up early to do a yoga class. Yoga! This is what the sportswear was for. Early morning outdoor yoga. Yep, I did it. And... more about that soon! First, we somehow managed to stay up far too late and eat far too much pasta... which has got to be the nicest introduction to a long weekend with friends.

pencil skirts, vintage cardigans, victory rolls and real autumn

After our Big Day on Saturday, Sunday was a much quieter day. And much colder and greyer and rainier. Which I loved! I wore a 1980's-does-1950's yellow pencil skirt I got from an op shop a few years ago but haven't worn very often with my 1950's beaded pink cardigan. And added my burnt orange suede wedges and my starfish brooch. These are the most comfortable shoes that aren't trainers and I am so happy I got them! It was also a super windy day! I put my hair up in victory rolls. It'd been two whole weeks since I'd last done my roots – so, yep, it's already time to get onto that! I still love the pale colours, so maybe light blue next? Or pale pink? I let the fluffy back get blown about as much as it liked. I loved this more seasonal weather, and the feeling of the cold wind blowing the leaves about. It smells amazing in Melbourne, too, at this time of year. Lots of houses still have wood fires and the smell of them burning is just the best. So Autumny and cosy.

After brunch with a friend, John and I went for a drive in the hills and watched a storm blow in. It's amazing how quickly it turns dark here when that happens; the sky goes black in just a few short minutes and then the rain drops on the windscreen make the lights outside big and sparkly, disco snowflakes. We were soon home again with hot tea and the heater going – no wood fire for us, but one day! ONe day we will have one! – and watched Call The Midwife. The perfect cosy Sunday night in.