The Festive Wrap-Up

The presents have been wrapped, the Xmas cards posted and we're off for a festive all-dayer in 'Spoons - which is basically the same as our normal all-dayer but with my brother accompanying us -and I'm wearing a vintage gold crochet wedding dress, as you do.

I snaffled it for the grand sum of £5 from a car boot sale in 2009. It did come with a flesh coloured full length slip but I much prefer it worn over leggings and a bodysuit. The velvet ankle boots and felted wool hat are old charity shop finds and I bought the 1970s Pakistani velvet and mirrorwork tote bag from a jumble sale in the 1980s.

Jon's giving his £1 Alexander McQueen shirt an outing. He's wearing a pair of Levi's 510 jeans I scored on eBay for him for the princely sum of £3.20 and a 1970s Italian-made cord jacket.

Did you know that if you were to lay out the Xmas wrapping paper we Brits chuck out every year it would reach the equator and back nine times? To make matters worse, most shop-bought paper is a composite of synthetic inks, plastic film, chlorine and metal-based foils and glitters and can't be recycled. On average the UK buys 6 million rolls of Sellotape in December, which is made from polypropylene and also can't be recycled.

As usual I've made my own gift wrap using recycled brown paper which I've block printed with an Indian wood block and leftover paint I'd found in the cupboard. In an attempt to do away with Sellotape I've used biodegradable garden twine. 

I posted a photo on IG which led to a discussion about other eco-friendly ways to wrap gifts ranging from using architects' plans, incomplete dressmaking patterns, fabric off-cuts, jute tote bags and vintage scarves to recycled gift wrap saved from Xmases past embellished with salvaged ribbon and broken jewellery. Vintage pillowcases tied with old ribbon make for great pressie sacks.

It may be too late to implement this year but lots of inspiration for next time. Xmas doesn't have to cost the earth!

WEARING: Vintage Phool quilted waistcoat (Eyewoodwake Vintage), Vintage Phool block print midi dress (Second to None, Walsall), Wool trilby (originally Reiss, via eBay), Clarks' Orinoco Club boots (eBay) 

This is my rosemary door wreath - photographed on the garden wall so you can see it a bit better. The ring is made from heavy duty garden wire that I wound around a large mixing bowl. When it dries up I'll chuck the rosemary sprigs in the compost bin, unravel the wire and reuse it in the garden.

A friend mentioned that rosemary helps keep the moths at bay and, as my brother has a bit of a Lyle & Scott addiction and terrible trouble with moths I made him a couple of rosemary bags as an additional Xmas present (my secret's safe, he doesn't read my blog). I used some muslin which I salvaged from a parcel I'd had shipped from India last year and block printed it using a holy cow wood block (bought in India) and some fabric paint from a job lot I got from a car boot sale over a decade ago.

As always, Xmas Day will be a low key affair. The Dead Relatives Society, our band of orphans, will meet up for a lunchtime curry and a glass of wine or two (not to excess, one of our gang works in retail and has to be at work the following morning) and we're usually so full after our Indian feast that we don't eat again till our Boxing Day lunch in Wetherspoon's.



We generally loathe the usual festive offerings on the TV (Hollywood blockbusters, animations, anything with celebrities and any sentimental sh*t) and have a stock of films to watch but we're making an exception this year as the BBC, in conjunction with Tom Hardy & Steven "Peaky Blinders" Knight, have created a new version of A Christmas Carol to be shown over three successive nights. We watched the first episode last night and neither of us to each other spoke for an hour - we loved it.

And that's it from me, the pub is calling!

Have a fantastic 25th December however you choose to spend it.

Loads of love from Vix, Jon, Stephen Squirrel and Frank.