Literature Love // Nine Stories...

I wrote last year about my rediscovery of Salinger's works - despited being disenchanted with his 'must read' Catcher in The Rye I gave him another chance with 'Rise High The Roof Beam Carpenters' which I fell totally in love with and eager to read more to I picked up a copy of Nine Stories.


The collection of short stories, originally published in magazines throughout the late 40s and 50s - showcase Salinger's unfaltering ability to captivate with his beautiful portrayals of seemingly normal, every day human interactions. What appears to be lighthearted social commentary in some stories, masks thought provoking and poignant moments which catch you completely of guard (you are distracted from Seymour's depression by his heartwarming playfulness with a young girl in 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish' for example) and startling revelations for his fascinating characters, his detailed observations of life's little moments and descriptions of individuals mannerisms bring his stories to life. In 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish', the first story in the collection (and probably my favourite) - I was reminded of the gentle beauty of Seymour Glass, such a wonderful character and one who I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to understand...


Another favourite from the collection is 'The Laughing Man' - you feel the anticipation for the the next installment of the 'The Laughing Man' story along with all the kids on the bus, my breath would catch each time 'The Chief' would turn around from his drivers seat and the story continued, an almost comic style adventure, with a Robin Hood-esque protagonist, disfigured as a baby by Chinese bandits who wears a mask of poppy petals to veil his face - it is simply amazing! 


I could talk all day about each and every delightful tale, but shall let you discover those for yourself. Definitely another highly recommended book from us!


Much love,
Rhi xx

Lauren's Wishlist: Mint & Lemon

I know it's getting old but I still can't quite drag away from all things lemon and mint. So, instead of purchasing anything else, I've decided my bank account will love me a whole lot more, if I put together a mini dream wishlist of a few of my favourite items!

The funny thing is, usually when is comes to creating wishlists, I'm terrible. Ask me what I would like for my birthday or as a Christmas gift a couple of weeks before and I cannot think of a thing. Anything that does pop into my head, I talk myself out of just as quickly. I'm also terrible at receiving gifts, I'm told I say thank you way too much at the best of times. 

That said, if just so happens that someone fancies sending any of these marvels my way, I'm not going to complain too much...

1. Vintage Telephone

2. Record Player

3. Mint Green Calls, iPhone Case

4. Nailpolish, Chanel

5. Vile Bodies, Evelyn Waugh

6. 1950s Vintage Tea Set

7. Books V. Cigarettes, George Orwell

8. A shiny new, Nissan Figaro

Pretty, please! 

Much love, 

Lauren xx

Literature Love Guest Post // Birdsong

Our literature love today, comes from the fabulous Miss Carla Renton, famous for her regular attendance at Twee Tower wine nights, styling incredible victory rolls at our vintage twee parties and delightful chats about her favourite leading men!



Birdsong is 503 pages long. A decent length’s read, but hardly War and Peace. And yet, it’s taken me nine months to finish. A horrendous average for anyone even semi-literate but, in my defence, it’s been a busy year! My snail pace is no reflection on the book, which is superb, and anyway, I like to think of Birdsong as my book-baby!

Birdsong spans eras and generations, beginning with Stephen Wraysford’s placement in a textile factory in turn-of-the-century France, lodging with his wealthy boss’ family. We rejoin Stephen some years later in the same land, a lieutenant in the British Army, fighting the battles of WWI. The story’s told from the point of view of Stephen and the other men in the trenches, but also retrospectively through Elizabeth, a single, successful career-woman in 1978, obsessed with understanding the sacrifices made by her grandfather’s generation at Flanders Fields.

For a novel about war, love is an ever-present and transcending theme. The central relationship seems to be that of fairytale, Hollywood love, an all-encompassing, requited and urgent passion. And yet, the book never allows itself to indulge in happily-ever-after territory. Its function is to acknowledge that real-life love, relationships, are rarely romantic, often difficult, painful, and hampered by the trappings of society and circumstance, expectations and personal failing. Not even movie-love is guaranteed an epic ending. It can fizzle to a quiet, bittersweet conclusion.

Mostly, though, Birdsong concerns itself with other, less-conventional takes on the theme of love. Love that develops slowly, through fondness and kindness rather than lust. Parental bonds between those with no blood-relation. The unexpected feeling that grows between men, forced through circumstance and fear to pile all their trust into one another.

For all its romantic notions, however, this is not a book that shies away from the atrocities of battle. Limbs are blown from bodies, brains obliterated, and a death due to gas attack is described in excruciating detail. Similarly, the horrific trivialities of daily trench life; shirts infested with lice in the seams, the ever-present possibility of being maimed or buried alive by tunnel collapse, having to work, sleep and live around the bodies of dead comrades.

The intense detail with which these experiences are described, coupled with the reader’s knowledge that these are not wholly imagined events, makes for a moving read. But what truly moves is that the characters are so relatable in their turmoil. They are scared to take action, and scared to not. Their tendency to worry, prevaricate, and harbour the basic hope that, in the end, everything will have been worth it, applies whether negotiating affairs of the heart, or those on Flanders Fields.

One of Lola's favourite books... you all must read! 

Much love,

L&R xx

A Vintage Twee Party: Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of our Vintage Twee Party! Yesterday, we shared our inspiration for taking a nostalgic amble back through our favourite Twee Tower moments, to pull together the ultimate Twee Party, after reading the charming Vintage Tea Party book by Angel Adoree! After guiding you through our tips for the perfect twee set up and some retro styling advice, we now move on to our favourite bit, the treats and tipples! 


After a trip to France last summer, Rhi brought home lots of lovely Rose & Violet flavoured goodies, including syrups, sugars and liqueurs and we set straight to work concocting yummy cocktails to celebrate her return! An absolute must on our Twee Towers drink menu... floral cocktails!


Our delicious Rose Martinis went down a storm, adorned with dried rose buds... one must always pay attention to the finer details of a twee soiree! 

Parma Violet tini's! Absolutely divine. As with all Twee Towers cocktails, we prescribe to the dash of this and splash of that methodology! We think we used martini, vodka, violet syrup and violet liqueur to taste. You could always add lemonade to make this into more of a punch! 


Speaking of punch, here is our take on the summer classic Pimms Cocktail! All the traditional ingredients of a pimms, with our own little twist!



For a more subdued event, we are obsessed with Twinings Lavander Earl Grey or Rose Flavoured Tea! So much so, that we may have had a teeny, twee troubles-esque meltdown when our local supermarket stopped stocking it... for months, and months, argh! 


The menu from our Royal Wedding Celebration (as mentioned in Part 1) featured traditional English Afternoon Tea fayre including miniature cakes, crumpets, cucumber sandwiches, strawberries & cream and Twee Towers staple Champagne! 


Earlier this week, we were discovering the joys of making our own preserves. We started out with the delectable Strawberry & Rose curd! Serve on scones or spread between sponge layers on a cake! Tie with co-ordinating ribbons and these become a lovely part of your set-up too!


Seriously Twee cake, Lavender & Love... with a starring role from the aforementioned Lavender Tea, this was our take on Gizzi Erskine's Earl Grey Chocolate cake and tasted simply fabulous. 


Perhaps our most delicious creation yet, the truly scrummy Violet & Chocolate Cupcakes! In true Twee style, we even created our Silent Movie to take you through the recipe... 


For ingredients click here. 

Hope you have enjoyed partying with us, we'd love to see your own Twee Parties soon! In case you missed it... Vintage Twee Party Part 1.
Much love, L&R xx

A Vintage Twee Party Part I

When we spotted that one of our friends and best customers Kelly had purchased this decadent delight of a book, we knew we had to have it, and the lovely person that Kelly is, she went and picked up the last copy for us! The Vintage Tea Party Book is a complete guide to hosting a perfect tea party, for the glamourous gal, written by Angel Adoree, well known Vintage Clad Gal and founder of the Vintage Patisserie.
One was totally enthralled flicking through the pages of this beautiful book where every page hosts something pretty and inspiring, every page extracted a rapturous gasp of excitement (and of recognition, one of the lovely models is a local lady!). Angel and her stunning crew take you on a captivating guided tour from the design, tastes and styles to elevate your party into the full vintage experience.
This brought us back to previous afternoon teas held here in Twee Towers where we pulled our resources of rescued antiques and every pretty prop we could lay our hands on to throw visually delightful soirees... Paying tribute to the attention to detail of eras gone by one never scrimped on the lavish layouts... Even if it was just the two of us dining! And thus, we were inspired to create our own mini guide on the Vintage Twee Party using recipes and photos of parties past from the Twee Towers archives. So as Angel would say 'Lets all raise our teacups' for the She Dressed in Black Vintage Twee Party! 



For Afternoon Tea parties, we often set up in the studio, as the light in there is lovely. We gather furniture from about the house (Peacock Chair from the hall, basket seat from Rhi's room) and mix and match our soft furnishings for an eclectic look.
Don't be afraid to be ostentatious with your twee party props, you want to create that atmosphere of a vibrant and kitsch affair.  The set up above was in celebration of The Royal Wedding, one can reveal that this was our FIRST day in Twee Towers and the rest of the house was barely unpacked, you can pull together a party like this in any circumstance!


Crucial to any Twee Party, flowers, and lots of them! The lavish bunch above features a mix of prearranged bouquets, break them up and play about till you have a unique feature for your event. Use small vases with little sprays of flowers to dot around your set up. We love the look of flowers in jugs, gives a lovely homely, rustic touch.


Mixing up your crockery really amplifies the twee, car boot and hand-me-down dishes, really accentuate the vintage vibe. Source pretty fabrics for place settings, this table cloth was a vintage skirt, and the napkins are offcut scraps we had lying around the studio, tied with delicate antique lace. It would not be a Vintage Twee party without doilies!



For more formal events, we absolutely adore these Alice inspired party picks. They're on our wish list for our next party! 




Play with unlikely objects around your home to create an individual look that is personal to you, with not a lot of table space (remember most of our things were still in boxes!) and a vast collection of vintage luggage between us, we created a stack here to balance a picnic basket of fruit upon.


Drink station - we used similar arrangements for Lauren's Birthday Breakfast, with the added bonus of a place to set out our drinks. Designing your own menu adds a personal touch to the event, displayed here in a frame. More recycled fabric table cloths and flowers, of course.

For truly Great Brit charm, no tea party would be complete without swathes of bunting and garlands. Follow our tutorial for Heart Shaped Bunting to add this sweet detail to your party. 


Once you're set up, the next step is to get glammed up! Usually 60s girls at heart, we roped in our slightly more polished and classicly sophisticated chum Carla to come model some iconic do's and WW2-chic. We had no idea where to start, fortunately just in the nick of time we spotted this tutorial over at A Beautiful Mess which assisted in our Victory over the Rolls. 






Isn't she a peach? First up we tried a half up-half down approach with two victory rolls atop Carla's head. With slightly waved hair, we loved how it looked a little more modern and a bit more wearable for those just dipping their toe in the early 20th Century styles.





Next we rolled it all up, finishing the do with a few more rolls round the back. Fab for a more demure look, and practical for hosts busying about the kitchen!




For a more traditional 50s housewife-esque look add a headscarf, with a bow to the side to finish off your do. Voila, take off your pinny, you're ready to attend a Vintage Twee Party!
Stop by tomorrow for Part 2, where we will be showing Twee Treats & Tipples to serve at your Ultimate Vintage Twee Party.
Much love,R&L xx

Literature Love // Charity Finds

Always on a quest to build up our collection of reads (we watched too much Beauty & the Beast as kids - a home library the size of Belle's is the ultimate goal), we were super impressed with James' recent purchases from a charity shop last weekend - and they were all half priced too!

From top left:

1. 'English Costume: 1066-1820', plates of colour illustrations mixed with line drawings, created for designers of theatrical productions, gives an excellent idea of how dress making has changed through the ages!
2. 'Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic', with a foreword by Scorsese. Especially love the hand drawn sketches of the set by Hitchcock, as he imagined the scenes he was about to bring to life. 3. A pocket sized short story by Fitzgerald, 'Babylon Revisted'. 4. 'Playbill: Full Colour Covers from the Golden Age of Broadway' - unlike today's playbill covers, which represent the show, the covers form this period (1900-1930) rarely changed. Instead, leading commercial artists of the day were commisioned to create distinctive signature covers for each individual theatre.This book contains a collection of postcards of each cover, with an overall Art Nouveau theme, they would look lovely framed!

Soo good, we're going to try and all pick up a couple of books every month, to keep the collection growing! Keep an eye out for James' guest posts in a couple of weeks, in which he shares his tips for finding gems amongst the rubble in charity shops!

Much love, L&R xx

January Highlights...

Hey Sweets,

What a lovely start to 2012 January was! Here's our highlights of this months' posts...

After wishing you all a Happy New Year we got stuck into Refreshing & Reviving our studio and She Dressed in Black as a blog...


Our Number 1 highlight was without a doubt making our very first silent film recipe for Chocolate and Violet Cupcakes!



We also really enjoyed showing our experiments from the studio and sharing tutorials for Fancy Pants and Chevron Patchwork Cushion.





Part of our 'Refreshing' was to bring in 'Vinyl Revival' to our After Dinner Dance Parties
Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4



Literature Love - Limehouse Blues and 1969 Playboy




We did a mini shoot to show off our favourite brands from our wardrobes. Rhi picked Jovonna London and Lola showed off her Alice Takes a Trip collection. Plus some behind the scenes snaps...


We reached 100 followers! YAY! So we gave a few somethings away to our followers :)


Lola showed some of her adorable illustrations in response to the question "If you could do anything tomorrow, what would you do?"


Rhi unleashed her inner geek...


We celebrated Twee Tower's regular Colour Wizard Chris' 24th Birthday with cocktails and northern soul...


We shared some more art from around Twee Towers by Rob Ryan


We announced the launch of Stitch n' Bitch


We had some blustery Twee Troubles


And another new feature - Friday Flicks, kicking off with An Affair to Remember, followed by Band A Part

Busy, busy, busy! February is going to be even more hectic here in the Twee Studio so we shall be bringing you some fabulous guest posts - can't wait to let our friends loose on the blog again, hope you'll enjoy them :)

Much love,
R&L xx