schwurlie

Valentine's Day's a-comin'

2012-02-06T08:32:00.000-08:00

Valentines film by fellow Durhamite Indietrix. SEND TO YOUR LOVED ONES :’)

Please like, comment, share, etc!

Hello everyone

2012-01-29T08:30:00.000-08:00

Currently experiencing what is probably my third hangover ever. It's kind of horrible, and yet, and yet, and yet, it makes my room seem especially cosy and this porridge taste especially comforting. And it makes writing this blog post and reading seem like the perfect thing to spend my afternoon doing! So there you go.

What to update you on? I'm back in Durham for one thing. It is now officially my home as my parents are off in sunny ol' Sydney for good. But that's fine! Durham may be a little small but it has everything you need, plus Newcastle is only a few minutes away by train. So yes, all is well. I've had massive amounts of work to do but I've taken this week to relax a bit, read some non-law related things and generally pretend I have nothing to do. Feels good. Oh, and yesterday I went to a Burns Night dinner party and had haggis for the first time. For some reason I thought haggis was some kind of horrific offal sausage, but... it wasn't! It was actually really good. I could go for some more right now. But ANYWAY, yesterday I got some outfit pictures for the first time in what feels like ages. I haven't worn something so prissy in a long time. I felt a bit like a walking cream cake. But kind of in a good way.

I love this lion brooch. I got it for £2 from Topman! For some reason the Topman in Durham has a lot of jewellery I like. Much more than the Topshop downstairs, certainly. Very strange indeed. I actually bought my sister five Topman necklaces for Christmas just because they were all so good. ...YEAH.

Now, let me tell you about this dress. It was sent to me by the lovely China Doll Boutique and it is... awesome. It came with a slip which I stupidly forgot to put on, but no matter. It's lovely soft stretchy lace, super comfy and pretty. I will probably wear it a lot when it gets a bit warmer. But for now, luckily it looks febulous with a collared shirt underneath.

Aaand this was Charlie's outfit (the very kind photographer for the afternoon). And also a very nice door. Kind of feel like I should have taken pictures of Palace Green for this post, just because it's so nice. But I didn't, so oh well. Is this a strange way to end a post? I'm not sure. Anyway, goodbye!

My style in 2011

2012-01-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd do this after seeing it on a couple of other blogs. I feel like I don't take that many outfit pictures and yet it seems like I have a lot to post! Anyway, these are my outfit pictures of 2011. Possibly not representative of my style in general / right now, but this is what I have!

Bye!

Tutorial: sailor top

2012-01-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

It does seem a little premature to be making summer clothes in January, but oh well. I'm looking forward to warm weather, what can I say? Plus, I got this slightly bizarre dress the other day that I needed to do something with. It was floor length, blue plaid with blue spotty long sleeves and a spotty frilly bit at the end. Very strange indeed. I took off all the spotty bits and basically made it into a nice summery sleeveless dress. I'll post a picture next time. BUT ANYWAY, so I ended up with a bit of spotty fabric that I felt I needed to do something with, and I decided on a shirt. Possibly because I almost bought this Whistles blouse the other day, and thank god I didn't. This isn't as nice, but it didn't cost me anything and it only took me a couple of hours to make. Partly because I rushed it haha, but partly because it is just one of those minimal effort sewing projects. See, I could have just gone straight onto the tutorial, but I thought I would waste a minute of your life first. Anyway anyway anyway, on we go.

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You will need...

I'm going to say about 1.5m of fabric just to be safe (maybe the .5 could be a different lining fabric instead? Up to you, but I'm doing it all in the same fabric), a sewing machine / needle and thread, tape measure and pins.

What you must do...

Cut two of the black outline (the back), and another two following the yellow line instead of a (the front). I like how it was only after making this fancy diagram that I realised my tape measure was back in Durham. So... I guess I will update with exact measurements later. But for now I will just try to give some general guidance. The shoulders (c) should sit towards the edge of your shoulders. The whole thing (for me) was meant to have a kind of oversized and cropped look. That being said, your armholes should still be small-ish. For now, use a shirt you already own for reference to how big to make them. Well, I mean, they don't have to be, but that's how I made mine hoho. Oh god I hope this isn't irritatingly vague. Just cut out the pieces in your general size haha, using an existing shirt as a reference.

Here are what mine looked like. Yep. Now, pin the front piece to the back piece, right sides together, and sew the shoulders (c above) and the sides (d) together. Do the same with the other front and back. By the way, you may have noticed that my pieces seem to be sewn together in the middle. This is because my fabric was all in one narrow strip and I had to make do hoho.

Cut two sleeves! Once again, I'll give you the measurements later, but you don't really need them. The curve is where you join the sleeve to the top, so when you fold it in half and hold it up to the armhole, it should be the same length. B just depends on how long you want your sleeves to be really.

Right sides together, fold the piece in half and sew along b. Might as well hem it now too.

Match up the seam on your sleeve (the b side you just sewed) to the side seam on the top (d above). Starting at this point, right sides together, sew the sleeve to the armhole. The middle of the curve on the sleeve should match up to the shoulder seam on the top. Do the same with the other sleeve and it should look like the picture above!

For the collar, cut two of the shape above. The size of it is up to you, it just has to match up with the neck opening on your shirt. So, basically the two upper corners of the triangle-shaped hole should be at the shoulder seams. The top side of the triangle should be the same length (and slightly curved) as a above. The other two sides match up with the 'triangle' kind of shape in the front. Right sides together, sew the two pieces together along the yellow dotted line. Turn inside out and iron.

Now, I stupidly didn't take a photo of this part (I always forget to photograph particular steps in these tutorials), which is rather inconvenient considering this is the hardest part to explain. Basically, you want to sandwich the collar between the shirt and the lining. Match up the shoulder seams of both the shirt and the lining, with the right sides together. The collar should sit between both layers of fabric, matching up the green dots above (so the corner of the 'triangle' should match up to the beginning of the shoulder seams). Probably easiest to start at the back (between the green dots). Sew along the back neck line, between all three pieces. Turn everything the right way round (the lining on the inside, collar sitting on top) to make sure everything is all in order. Turn everything inside out again and sew (again through all three pieces) from the green dot to the pink dot on both sides. Your collar should now be completely attached!

At this point you can now sew the armholes of both the lining and outer shirt together. Zig-zag or overlock everything, hem the bottom, and you are done.

home for christmas!

2011-12-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

Well, kind of home. Home for the next couple of weeks, then I'm moving to my grandmother's old house in Wimbledon. Then my mother goes back to Australia and Durham is my home for good! Slightly exciting but also sad because I love this house.

Right now we have the best window display ever. In my street everyone puts things in their windows, and my sister and friend decided to do something Christmassy.

Awwww. It's funny watching people walk past the window and then stop to gaze upon the glory of the penguins (they dance in sunlight, by the way). Everything is really Christmassy in Brighton generally at the moment. I mean, it is Christmas, but it seems even more festive here than up in Durham. ANYWAY. So yes, I got here on Saturday evening. The first thing we did was go to Street Thai for fucking amazing food and cocktails. I love thai food. Wow. Actually, everything I've done has revolved around food so far. We went out to breakfast the next morning, then went to my favourite cafe, then went out for mulled cider that evening...

... how very festive. Then today we went out for breakfast. I was also presented with a box of candy upon my return and I have eaten literally all of it by now. Let's see how much weight I gain over the break, shall we?

Where on earth did this ferris wheel come from? It was definitely not there when I left haha.

While I'm here and seeing as I haven't updated in a while, I'll also post some photos from Durham.

I wear this coat basically every day.

Starbucks Christmas drinks! Starbucks coffee is usually awful but I have to say... eggnog lattes are fucking good.

ANYWAY, today is a bit rainy so I'm going to stay indoors and do some work. I'm so awful at writing blogs haha. Let me show you my Christmas outfit?

Well, one of a few. Haha. Recognise the fur? Pretty sure I wear it too much. But oh well. The jumper is from a giveaway by Fashion Your Seatbelts!

Anyway, nothing else to report so... goodbye!

Lumiere Festival!

2011-11-20T03:26:00.001-08:00

Click here if you don't know what it is. I can't believe I only ended up actually going last night! I'd seen random little things around but I actually 'went' yesterday. It was so amazing. Almost unexpectedly so. And I took pictures! Not of everything, but still.

The giant snowglobe thing! Took seemingly ages for it to actually start 'snowing' but it looked nice either way hoho

A rainbow at night! Yes!

The Crown of Light, or at least a little snippet of it.

Okay now this was a little bizarre.

So was this, but in a slightly better way. Plus the music he was making was good.

This just seemed vaguely dangerous hahaha.

ANYWAY, you get the idea. Lights n' shit.

Another tutorial coming soon... when I get my sewing machine back from someone. Yes. Time for me to go and get some work done now (:

Bye!

Hyello

2011-11-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

Long time no post!

So after weeks of forgetting to bring my camera out with me, I have finally taken some pictures of Durham! Yes! They're not amazing but... they will do for now hoho.

I love this view and this photo does not in any way do it justice.

Once again, this photo does not do the cathedral justice! Obviously I am not the most fantastic photographer so... you'll just have to come and gaze upon its glory in person.

So, you get the general gist of things. Durham is a beautiful place. Yes it is. As you can see, everything is very autumnal at the moment. Much more so than Brighton ever was / will be considering how incredibly leafy it is around here. Despite being very pretty however, autumn leaves make everything incredibly slippery underfoot. I have come to realise over the past few weeks that I've made awful choices in terms of what shoes to bring to uni with me.

These are my uni shoes (minus one pair which cannot be photographed because it looks awful at the moment). I can only generally wear the awful shoes, or the first pair in the photograph. Everything else is deadly. I had no idea my shoe choices were so impractical until I came here, to be honest. Like I said, Brighton isn't leafy and the ground is pretty even. I could go out wearing any of these and it wouldn't be a big deal. Here, I even have to be quite careful while wearing the first pair (slippery). Maybe I need some hiking boots? Idk

Generally I am quite limited fashion-wise here because I couldn't bring all that many clothes with me, but it's not too bad. Here are a couple of outfits haha :|

Coat: vintage / scarf: Edinburgh Wool Company / bag: made it / shoes: Bertie

Not the most attractive picture of me but... I'm wearing a red coat with gold buttons so all is well.

Dress: made it / sweater: second hand / skirt thing: Debenhams / necklace: Topshop / rings: H&M, Primark?, ChainlessBrain.com / shoes: vintage

Okay, why do I seem unable to take pictures which aren't a bit weird-looking? This is what I wore today. Actually, I ended up wearing different shoes... but yes. Otherwise this is it.

The ring was very very kindly sent to me by a company called Chainless Brain! It's now something I wear pretty much every day. I'm sure you agree that it's pretty awesome hohoho. Anyway, they do loads of different designs or you can choose your own. Check them out here!

Aaaaand now it's time for me to go to dinner. Bye!

Update

2011-10-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I really really wish I could update properly, but I started university last week! I feel a little awkward asking people I don't know to take photos of my outfits haha, but I do have my sewing machine with me so should be able to do a tutorial soon.

Anyway, Durham is lovely (albeit a little small) and I'm having a pretty good time.

Hope you are all well (:

Tutorial: Turn a jacket into a cape

2011-09-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

Now, I was going to make a cape from scratch (honest) but as the only thing I could really use for fabric was so close to what the end product would be, I decided to just make a 'reconstruction' tutorial.

Now I'm sure there are other ways to make capes, but this is just what made most sense to me. There are no pockets (though you could certainly add them if you wanted) but there are little holes for your arms to go through haha.

You will need...

A sewing machine, seam ripper, scissors, one blazer / jacket / coat. The jacket I'm using is massively too big for me so I've made the shoulders smaller. You wouldn't have to do this if you used a smaller jacket, obviously. The only thing is that the length of the cape would be limited to the length of the sleeves unless you decided to add another piece on the side... but that could look weird? ANYWAY, do what you want.

Remove the sleeves using a seam ripper and set aside. Cut from the shoulders down both sides, from where you want the shoulders of your cape to sit. Either refer to your own shoulder measurements or use a jacket that fits you as a guide.

Use the seam ripper to open up the sleeves. Cut the sleeve (with the lining) into a kind of... smoother shape :|

Right sides together, sew the 'sleeve' to the front and back of the jacket, stopping where you want your little ARM SLIT (what a terrible name but 'arm hole' is kind of already taken). Do the same with the lining. After that point, sew the main fabric to the lining fabric of the same piece. So, the sleeve part will not be joined to the 'body' at that point, it will just have the lining and main fabric joined together. You know what I mean. When you want the slit to stop, rejoin the sleeve + body in the same way as before. Do the same on the other side. Now all you need to do is hem the whole thing (you should have to do some trimming first) and you are done.

Bye! (:

recent outfits n things

2011-09-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

I got this done the other day! Yes, yes, I have joined the Mucha tattoo crowd but... well, yeah. I think this illustration is beautiful. She did a really good job and I am so pleased.. Just braggin'.

Sorry for how bizarrely portrait-y this picture is by the way. It's even making me feel awkward. I'm going to keep it up there though, because my hair looks nice. YEAH.

But on to other things... here are two outfits. I have been wearing so much white recently. So much. Actually, I have been wearing this tight / shoe / dress combination a lot. I have worn this dress three times this week. These shoes almost every day. Maybe I'm just getting lazy, idk. Fun fact: this dress is the most expensive item of clothing I have ever bought. That doesn't say much, as 80% of my wardrobe is second hand, BUT STILL. I've got a lot of wear out of it and it still looks just as nice as it did back when I wore it to my Year 12 formal in '08!

For this outfit on Lookbook click here

I've worn variations of this outfit a lot recently, and figured I should take a picture before I get bored, but sadly I don't think the brightness of the coat really comes out in this picture! Maybe it doesn't look as impressive in real life as I think it does hoho.

Aaanyway...

Does anyone have anything in particular they'd like a tutorial for?

Most of the time I make things just because I want them, but I don't really want anything right now haha. If I have the right fabric (and whatever else is needed) for it, I will try anything.

Oh, and thankyou Kat (we very briefly ran into each other when I was in Berlin - what a coincidence!) for slipping me into her online magazine Frock&Roll! Click here to read the whole issue.

Bye!

Things to do with a button-down Pt. 2

2011-09-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm so flaky haha. It's the unfortunate combination of business + laziness. Oh, and I also have to apologise for the slightly bad photos in this tutorial! There's not a lot of space in my room right now. If anything is unclear, just ask and I will explain! Luckily this is probably the easiest tutorial I've made yet, so you shouldn't have any trouble.

You will need...

Two shirts + a sewing machine or needle and thread. Pick whatever colours you like / have. The shirts should be of similar material / weight. If one of them has more of a structured collar, you might need to sew some of the interfacing from that shirt into the other shirt. Or not, up to you.

What you must do...

From the collar, cut along the middle (or about 2cm to the right) of the back of one shirt (the one with the collar you want to keep) and remove 1/2 of the shirt. Do the same with the other shirt, but cut off the collar.

Oh god this is the most useless photo ever. Basically, right sides together, sew the collar to the other shirt-half. Make sure the space between the edge of the shirt and the start of the collar is even on both sides. Right sides together, sew the shirt-halves together along the edge you cut just now, and you should have one complete shirt!

In my case, because I have a mens shirt and a womens shirt I ended up with two sets of button holes. If this happens to you too, DO NOT WORRY. You can sew buttons on anyway and the old button holes will be covered up. If you don't have that problem, remove the buttons already on the shirt, and replace with the buttons that were on the other shirt. If you want. Up to you. Either way, you might need to reposition the buttons to make sure they match with the other shirt. BASICALLY, at this point you need to sort yer buttons out.

Cut off the sleeves. Or leave them, idk. Put it on, see if you want to take it in at all.

Take it in if necessary, make the shoulders narrower, hem the sleeves and the bottom, and you are DONE.

Goodness gracious me

2011-08-29T02:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in ages so... just an explanation!

I got my a level results the other day. I got A*A*A + an A* for the extended project. I'm not happy about that A, but I've made my offer. I'm especially happy about being awarded full marks for my extended project because I worked SO. HARD. on it. I wrote it on whether prostitution should be legalised, and I actually started with the belief that it should be. That changed when I actually did some research, and I'm so happy I did. It has completely changed my perspective on the issue. JUST SAYING. I wish I could post my discussion on here for you to read but... I can't quite bring myself to re-read it haha

So anyway, that means I made my offer to study Law at my first choice university - Durham (Van Mildert)! I'm so happy! So happy! I've spent the past couple of weeks filling in all my forms (I still have one left), reading as much as I can and generally trying to get my shit together. Because my parents are leaving the country (well, my dad has already left as of two days ago) and my boyfriend and other Sussex students will be taking over the house, we have to move out. Oh, and I randomly went to Cardiff for a couple of days.

My sewing machine is still out, and I will bring it with me to uni, so the tutorials will continue. I will do the second button-down tutorial today or tomorrow! Anyway, just thought I would post an explanation / life update.

Bye!

x

Tutorial: Coat!

2011-08-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Just in time for the weather getting ever so slightly cooler, you can make yourself a coat! As you can see, this is slightly different to the coat I posted in my last post, but it's just as easy to make. I haven't included pockets in this tutorial, but you can refer to my past tutorials to get an idea of how you might put pockets in, or maybe use this tutorial to make patch pockets. I also haven't added buttons to this coat (I don't have buttons that match right now) but the design is so simple you could easily add buttons and buttonholes yourself. ANYWAY, on to the tutorial.

What you need...

About 3m of medium - heavy weight fabric and 3m of lining fabric (depends on how long you want it to be), about .5m (maybe more) of another fabric for the collar if you want, about 1m of interfacing, sewing machine, pins, tape measure, seam ripper if you have one.

What you must do...

1. Cut out your pieces

When I say 'cut x 2', you must also cut x 2 of your lining fabric. The length of the diagrams is not the length I think the actual pieces should be! I have not measured the length as it is completely up to you and makes no difference to how the coat is put together. It might help to draw these pieces on paper beforehand (art paper / baking paper / butcher paper, whatever). This would enable you to get a better idea of the size of the pieces without cutting into your fabric first, just in case you make a mistake. If not, it doesn't matter, just be a little more careful, and remember that it's better to make things too big than too small.

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When cutting your main fabric, include the shaded area. When cutting your lining fabric, stop at the yellow line (add a couple of cm for a seam allowance). Also, with seam allowance, cut two of the shaded part only out of both your main fabric and interfacing.

From your shoulder to the bottom of the armhole. Don't make this too small! Mine was about 30cm

Plus seam allowance, from the collar to your shoulder. You could make this longer, depends on what you like. Mine was about 13cm

This depends on how wide you want your lapel to be. The whole piece should be wider if you want a double-breasted coat, 23cm

d = 14cm (top to bottom)

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Cut one on the fold. For your lining fabric, the fold should be at the yellow line - the main fabric will have a pleat at the back but the lining will not!

Same length as the (B) above!

This is the neck. Mine was about 11.5cm.

About the same as (A) above.

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56cm

9cm

It's really up to you, though, and also depends on how wide you cut your front piece. Keeping in mind the fact that it will look smaller when all sewn together, pin this piece to your front piece to see how it looks! If it's too big, trim it. If it's too small, you can always trim down the front pieces a little (:

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must match the armholes, but it's an easy fix if you get it slightly off (as you will see when you sew the sleeves on)! Mine was about 30cm. Once again, how long / wide / tapered the sleeves are is totally up to you.

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2. Sew

Right sides together, sew the shoulders of the back piece (A above) to the shoulders of each front piece (B) above. Take the little piece you cut from the shaded bit above (front diagram) and sew it to the front piece you cut from the lining fabric, attaching interfacing to it in the process. You should end up with a lining piece to match the front piece made from the main fabric. Sew the front + back lining together in the same way.

Along the yellow line in the diagram for the back, right sides together, sew one line of stitching. Use the longest possible stitch on your sewing machine for this (or hand sew), but go over the top inch or so with a normal stitch. You do not need to do this step to the lining fabric.

It's a little hard to see on my fabric, but opening up the back piece to lie flat, iron the fabric you've sewn. As you iron, keep making sure that the stitching is in the middle. About an inch from the top, stitch over the fold a couple of times to reinforce the area where the pleat will end.

Unpick the long stitches! You should now have a pretty pleat.

Right sides together, sew the side edges of each sleeve piece together, and again with the lining fabric.

Turn the 'body' of the coat inside out, so the right sides of both the front and back pieces are together. Matching up the bottom of the armhole on both back and front pieces, sew from that point to the bottom of the coat, and repeat on the other side. Where both pieces have just been joined together, at the bottom of the armhole on one side, match this up with the seam (the bottom) on one sleeve. As always, right sides together! Sew from this point all around the sleeve / armhole, so they are joined together. Repeat with the other armhole / sleeve and do the same with the lining fabric. You should now have two coat-like things, one in your main fabric and one in your lining fabric.

Eeeeeven though I've divided one side of my collar into two, you don't need to do that. I mean, you can if you want but it's not necessary. It means you can secure your interfacing down the center if you want. Anyway, sew your interfacing to one of your collar pieces, either into the two underside pieces when you join them together, or basted around the edges.

Right sides together, sew both collar pieces together along the widest edge, then down the sides. Cut the corners and turn inside out.

Right side of the main fabric against the underside of the collar, sew together at the neck edge. Make sure the collar is perfectly in the middle.

Do the same with the lining fabric so the collar is now anchored between both sides. Unfortunately I didn't photograph this part but... turn the coat inside out so the wrong sides of the main fabric and lining are facing outwards, and sew along both outer edges (i.e. the edge where both sides of the front meet when you put the coat on... THE FRONT SIDE EDGES. I'm terrible at explaining things). Clip the corners and turn the coat the right way round again. Iron (+ maybe stitch over the top if you feel you need to)! The only exposed edges now should be the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the coat.

Get a hold of the sleeves and match up the seams on both the lining and main fabric. With the right sides together, sew the lining and main fabric together at the end of the sleeve. When you turn it the right way again, you should have something like the above picture!

Your lining should be shorter than your main fabric so... trim it a bit if necessary. All you really need to do now is hem both the lining and main fabric. You could, if you wanted, turn the whole thing inside out and actually sew the lining to the main fabric at the bottom (leaving a little gap to turn it out the right way again and hand sew closed), but I'm not going to do that.

So... now the outfit I wore with it hoho. As you can see, I actually ended up adding pockets. I did this the day afterwards and didn't photograph it - I'm sorry!

Bye everyone!

So my scary story...

2011-08-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

... is at the bottom of the page after the jump. Unlike on livejournal, apparently you can't have text after the cut but still outside it! Hmm! Well here are some pictures of my non-scary week. I wish I took my camera around with me more but I just don't! Sheem.

I love these blended ice things. They have pretty much the same at Starbucks except they don't have peach flavour which is... the best flavour. Tasty tasty tasty

We went to Cheddar Gorge! It was amazing. I took loads of photos but unfortunately most of them are a bit blurry as the light was so low in the caves.

We also went to Wells, where they filmed Hot Fuzz. It was so pretty and there was a choir practicing in the cathedral when we went inside which, as I'm sure most of you will agree, is always a bit of a tear-inducing experience. We also went into this really nice cafe called Coffee#1. They do hot apple and cinnamon, one of my favourite drinks and actually not too easy to find (AMT coffee does it too, randomly) as well as things like hot chocolate with coconut. We were impressed. But anyway...

These were taken on one of our many walks. No pictures of me because we were going to the woods where there are zillions of stinging nettles and I didn't bring any trousers with me hoho. I looked bizarre in the end. Actually, I didn't bring loads of things with me e.g. shoes without holes, tampons, toothbrush, contact lens solution... I had to got to Asda and buy all these things the day after I arrived because I was so disorganised haha.

Plus here are two old photos from Andy's mother's wedding that I decided to upload because they have some stylish ladies in them. Makes me excited for winter so I can get out my fur coat. And speaking of coats...

I made this coat today! It was a bit of an experiment but as it succeeded, I'll make a tutorial for it when I get some new fabric (: but maybe with a couple of modifications. I feel like making loads of them haha. I might end up with a wardrobe full of coats. Anyway, here is my scary story. Sorry it's so poorly written!

Hope this isn't an anti-climax! On my second day at the farm, I went off by myself to read (the cows can be a bit noisy so I wanted some peace and quiet). I didn't go far, just to the other side of the field in front of the house. There are a couple of bridges on the far edge of the field there as there is a river, and on one of the bridges there is a gate separating that field from a long lane that runs between two other fields. I went over the gate, into the lane, and sat on a mound of grass in the shade.

(This is the view from the gate to the house)

I had been sitting silently for about 40 minutes, kind of crouched down on the grass, when I looked up and saw what I initially thought was one of the cats. It was about 5m away from me, on the other side of the gate, half in the long grass.The first thing I noticed was the long, low, curved tail which was dark brown with some darker brown markings on it. One of their cats is a brown tabby called Olly, and as I've seen him outside in the grass near the house a few times, I assumed it was him just going for a bit of an explore. HOOOWEVER, as I kept looking (no idea how long it took me to notice haha), I realised that in comparison to the gate, the cat was significantly larger than Olly. Then I realised its legs were weirdly muscular and sheeny. Then I realised it had a big head, not like a domestic cat at all, more block-like (idk how to explain, but like the head of a leopard). SO, I picked up my bag, walked to the gate of a nearby field a little way down the lane, climbed over the gate, and ran faster than I have probably ever run in my life. I now realise that actually, this is the absolute wrong thing to have done, but obviously I had never thought to google 'what to do when you see a big cat' before last Monday. Anyway, my story is not yet over!

I didn't try to get back into the field in front of the house because I figured that if the cat was in that field, I should try to stay out of that field, so I ran diagonally across the field and over another gate on the other side. I looked back behind me once and it didn't seem to be following me, but I kept going. In the next field there were two horses and a caravan but they were behind an electric fence. I like crawled under the electric fence (haha :|) and tried to find someone but nobody was there. I ran to a gate on the right to go into another lane, but I looked over the gate and into the lane, and 20m ahead of me I saw a cat running from the hedge connected to that lane to the hedge opposite. At the time I didn't know whether it was the same one or a different one, but I think it must have been the same one. If that is the case, the fact that it was initially 5m behind me and then 20m in front of me is TERRIFYING but... I'm alive so there you go. Anyway, after seeing it again I decided not to go into that lane and went back past the horses and over another gate. I ended up on a gravelly road thing, and saw a big leaning tree up ahead that I recognised so I knew vaguely how to get back through the residential area. I ended up going through the whole residential area to get back to Andy's farm on the main road.

Two weird things: at first when I was running I was like 'must find people / houses to get help', but when I actually reached the first house, I felt oddly embarrassed. Like they wouldn't believe me and would think I was crazy. I never asked anyone for help, WHY? The other thing is that when I finally got back, despite my throat being painfully dry and my face tear-drenched, Andy's Dad saw me from about 10m away and was like 'had a nice walk then?' and I was like 'yeah, I guess!' haaaa. Then went I went inside I saw Andy's mum and she asked me how I was and I was like 'I'm okay! (:'. Then I went upstairs to Andy's room and like broke down haha. Anyway, eventually Andy went downstairs and told his mum what happened, and his mum and brother went out to the lane area and found all these paw prints! I haven't got the pictures from her yet but Andy and I went out a couple of days later and I took some of my own:

So yes, that's my story. I still don't know what it is. There is a rumor of black panthers in Wiltshire, but this definitely wasn't a panther. I initially thought it was the brown tabby cat if that gives you some idea of it's colour, but it definitely had markings on it. It also wasn't enormous, just around the size of a medium-large dog. Anyway, seriously scary. I hope it doesn't seem like I'm overreacting considering it didn't even attack me haha, but it was definitely the most frightening experience of my life. Even more frightening that a scary man on drugs bashing on my door with a metal plank and threatening to smash my windows in haha (oh Brighton! hyuk hyuk). But seriously, it was scarier than that. A couple of people in Andy's extended family (they all live in Wiltshire) have seen odd things, but none of them sounded quite like what I saw. All I know is that the 'myth' that there are big cats roaming the Wiltshire countryside is ... not a myth. I'm sure that many of the reports are false, and it certainly wasn't a huge panther or a leopard that I saw, but there are obviously animals out in the countryside that aren't supposed to be there haha! The fact that it was so close to me really scares me, especially seeing as they are generally supposed to stay away from humans. I COULD TALK ABOUT THIS ALL DAY (and this is an edited add-on haha) so I'll stop here. But yes, scary!

Things to do with a button-down Pt. 1

2011-07-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

I got back from Andy's yesterday so expect a big rambling post soon. Something really really scary happened to me, actually. I feel like I've told everyone I know so it's time to tell the internet too hoho. I will write about it in my next post, but for now I have a new (kind of) tutorial.

This is awfully similar to my reconstructing dress tutorial except... well, it's using a shirt rather than a dress? haha. WELL, I realised today I have a ridiculously large amount of button-downs. I don't even know how it happened, they've just accumulated over time. I was thinking about ways I could make use of them today, and decided it would be fun to do a little series of button-down related tutorials. Just simple ways to change them up a bit. This is my first, simply because I felt like making a dress this morning.

What you need...

One large shirt, a sewing machine, scissors, tape measure, seam ripper if you have one.

What you must do...

Cut this kind of shape out of your shirt. The top should be as wide as you want the shoulders to be (plus seam allowance) and the sides of the front must go down the center of your boobs, a little narrower at the bottom. The piece should end at your waistline (or where ever you want the waist line to be). The back should go down just outside of your shoulder blades.

With the rest of the shirt, cut two of these pieces to join the front and back of the piece you cut above. You might need to make the (front) line more curved if you have a bigger bust. Remember, it's better to make it too big than too small so you can change it later if necessary.Try to waste as little fabric as possible! Use a tape measure to check that it will be big enough sewn together. Right sides together, sew the (front) to the side of the front piece, and then the (back) to the back piece, and again on the other side.

Try it on to check it fits, trim the bottom / armholes if necessary. Zig-zag over everything if you so desire. Hem the armholes, trim all the loose threads etc. etc. Looking at this picture, I probably should have added another button SO if it is a little gaping around the boob-area, fix this now.

Take the bottom of the shirt (easier to keep it buttoned for now) and trim to make sure both sides are the same length. Use your seam ripper / scissors to open up the sleeves for extra fabric to add to your skirt, making sure everything is the same length. Right sides together, sew all the skirt pieces together to make a loop. Hem everything. Gather your skirt at the top (I do this by sewing the longest stitch along the top and pulling one thread, but you can also get gathering foots for your sewing machine), making sure it is the same length gathered as the bottom of the bodice. Unbutton the skirt and bodice. Right sides together, matching up the edges, sew your skirt to the bodice.

You should now be finished!

Hat: vintage
Collar: vintage
Coat: vintage
Dress (underneath) H&M
Shoes: New Look

Bye!

Tutorial: wrap dress

2011-07-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

What you need...

About 3m of fabric, sewing machine, elastic (possibly a needle and thread and a hook)

What you must do...

Cut two of the first (front), one of the second (back). The orange dotted line is where you might use a princess seam (refer to my 'wrap bodice' tutorial) but I don't think it's a big deal. Up to you. I've just done one because I have limited fabric and it's a way to... make the bigger piece without it looking odd haha. I've also done the same on the back but... JUST IGNORE IT. The length of both should be from your shoulders to the waistline, plus an inch or so seam allowance. Keep in mind that for the first piece, you will cross these over so make sure you make it a few wider. You can use an existing shirt for reference if you are unsure. I have not made this to be fitted - you should be able to pull this over your head so do make it wide enough!

With the right sides inward, sew the pieces together at the shoulders and sides, along the dotted lines. Set it aside for the moment.

For your skirt, either get one long piece of fabric or lots of panels that together make up one long piece of fabric, whatever you can do. I've heard some say the skirt should be 3x you waist measurement for adequate poof, but obviously that depends on the weight and type of your fabric / your own personal taste. Sew them together so you end up with a big loop / circle, and hem.

Either pleat or gather your skirt so the skirt opening and the bottom of the bodice are the same size. This should still be quite a bit wider than your waist.

Unfortunately I didn't photograph this part very well but it's easy to understand. Get your elastic and cut a length that is snug around your waist but not so tight you can't fit it over your hips. Sew the ends of the elastic together. Match the sewn part of the elastic to a seam on the skirt and sew it in place. When you pull the elastic taut, take hold of the loop on the opposite side to that you've just sewn down, and sew that side to the other side of the skirt (as in the diagram). Now, from one of the sewn points, sew over the elastic on to the already gathered edge of the skirt, pulling the elastic taut. As you sew, pull the elastic so it is the same length as the skirt. If you pull it too much or not enough, it will end up looking uneven. Keep doing this until the whole skirt is attached to the elastic and it fits you around the waist.

WHY are my diagrams always weird? Cut two of both shapes. This left shape is the collar, so it must match up with the neckline of the bodice as above. Wrong sides together, sew the sides of each piece together so it forms a big tubey thing, turn inside out and iron! Take the wrong side of the collar (the side which will face inward) and sew the edge to the edge of the neckline (wrong side against wrong side - any raw edges should be zig-zagged first!). Open the collar out the right way round and iron.

For the second shape, make sure the length matches up with the armholes. Sew the ends of each piece together so you end up with two circles. Hem one side, sew the other side to the armhole, matching up the seams.

This step is optional. If you have some hooks and eyes on hand (or just hooks, really), use a needle and thread to sew a little loop on one side of the collar, and a hook on the other side (you will have to do this from underneath the collar so it is hidden). This way you can make your dress a little less revealing quickly and easily if you so choose.

Anyway, sew the bodice of the dress to the skirt (right sides together) on the elastic in the same way as before i.e. pulling the elastic taut as you sew. You should now be finished.

Berlin

2011-07-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hi! I got back from Berlin last night. WHAT AN IMPRESSIVE CITY. I'm so sad that I was only there for a few days so only did really touristy things, especially as it turns out a couple of my old friends were staying there at the same time. I'd only reactivated my Facebook a couple of days earlier so I had no idea. But oh well, I had fun. So so impressed. I can't wait to go back, though it probably won't be for a while.
It was also fun as an opportunity to speak German to people haha. So many awkward moments e.g. trying to order icecream and having no idea how to say 'one in each'. I don't even remember how I ended up explaining what I meant but it was horribly awkward, mainly because the lady made no attempt to hide how annoying I was being haha. And also being yelled at by a security guard for some reason still unknown to me and neither of us could understand each other. I pretty much ran out of the museum haha. I still don't know what was going on.
Also, also, also, I had my first non-crap bubble tea in 2 years there. And I had WURST. YES. But anyway, here are some of my photos.

Apparently you have to book four days in advance to get in?

hoho

Tutorial: super easy tote bag

2011-07-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Finally able to post my little bag tutorial.

A lot has happened this week, including finding out my parents are moving back to Australia. For those who were not aware, I am originally from Sydney and moved here in 2009. My parents are leafing without me this time which is kind of sad. But oh well! It will force me to be independent at least. Well, semi-independent.

I also just have to express that I am ridiculously happy that Djokovic beat Nadal. I find his brattiness strangely endearing. I don't know. I also just think he looks like a sweet dinosaur / lizard.

Anyone know what I mean? I just like him.

SO ANYWAY, on with my tutorial.

You will need...

A sewing machine, tape measure, fabric scissors,zipper, outer and lining fabric (I am using grey wool and black cotton)

What you must do...

Cut a long strip of each fabric. Folded in half, it should be a little bigger than you want your bag to end up. Your lining fabric should be slightly shorter by 2 inches or so.

Cut a piece of lining fabric about the same width as your zipper and twice as long as the depth you want your pocket to be. About 10" should be about right. Zig-zag the edges. Fold in half and sew up the sides, leaving about 1cm at the top of the pocket.

At the open edge of the pocket, sew one side of the zipper to the inside edge of the pocket. Do the same for the other side. After doing one side, it should look like the picture above.

After doing both sides, it should look like this.

Keeping in mind it will eventually be folded in half, cut these slits in your lining fabric where you want your pocket to be. So, just in case you have no idea what this diagram means... do one cut in the middle, about the length of the zip (not including the base), another two tiny cuts across the ends of the first, and even smaller, virtually minute cuts off that. You should now have four little tabs in your lining which you will use to sew the pocket in place.

Wrong side of the fabric facing upwards, take the top tab and sew it to the top side of the front of the zipper. Hoping this makes sense to you but you should be able to work it out in practice.

Do the same to other tabs and you should end up with something which looks like this when your lining is the right way round.

This is to attach to your lining fabric at the top (the reason why it was cut slightly shorter). Using the same fabric you used for the 'outer' part, cut two strips (about 3" or so wide?) and the same length as the width of your main pieces.

Sew the ends together to make a tubey-circley thing.

Right sides together, matching up the seams, sew your tubey circley thing to the top opening of the lining.

You should now have two pieces which are about the same size. If either is longer, give it a little trim. They should be about the same size but the lining should be ever so slightly smaller.

Cut two strips of fabric, twice the width you want your straps / handles to be and however long. UP TO YOU.

These are two ways you can sew your handles. I did mine the first way because the fabric was too heavy to turn inside out. The second way involves folding the strip in half, sewing along the length, turning it inside out and pressing it flat.

Line the two open edges of the outer and lining. They should be turned inside out and the right sides of the fabric should be pressed together. The ends of your straps should be between both, where you want them to end up. Use your tape measure to make sure they are in the right place! Sew through all the layers of fabric, leaving a small hole.

Turn it inside out and it should look something like this!

Get yourself a needle and thread, preferably in the same colour as your outer fabric if you haven't already been using some.

Starting from the inside, sew little stitches along either side of opening, pulling the thread as you go so the hole closes but the stitches are hidden. Iron the whole thing and you're finished.

You could also do this without lining, with the zipper on the outside, with normal pockets, whatever. This is just because I personally wanted a bag like this.

Here is one I made without lining. Yoop.

---------------------
Also, here are a couple of recent outfits:

Scarf: made it (it's just fabric)

Brooch: Primark

Watch: Asos

Everything else: vintage

Cardigan: Uniqlo

Skirt: sister's

Dress: vintage

Watch: Asos

Bag: Primark

Sandals: not sure, ridiculously old

And and and also thankyou PerhapsDaily for making her dress using my tutorial. So exciting to see!

Bye!

(:

2011-05-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Go to Ventricular Projects to see my post about inspiration / things I'd like in my wardrobe. There are four other ladies who have been posted for you to follow also!

Hmm!

2011-05-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

After trying and failing to make time to sew, I have come to the conclusion that more tutorials are impossible during my exam period. Probably should have waited to start my blog until after I finished college, but oh well. I have one little tutorial that I took photos of ages ago and never uploaded, so I will post that at some point this week. I am studying 9am - 7:30pm every day and unfortunately just do not have the energy to do any sewing in the evening.

So I suppose this blog is on semi-hiatus? Maybe? I will try to post my little bag tutorial this week, so maybe not. We'll see! Just thought I would let you know the reason for my few updates. Hopefully I will be able to post two or three times a week once my exams are over and I have nothing to do but make things haha (:

Weeeelp here are some outfit photos. I usually post these on whatiworetoday2 on livejournal but will keep them here for now. I had to awkwardly go through pictures of me in the library and people kept walking past. I was like constantly flipping screens so people wouldn't think 'why are you looking at pictures of yourself' and 'what, you don't look like that - you have glasses and messy hair and you are wearing two navy blue things at once why would you do that get out of this library' YOU KNOW. Seriously though, I am wearing two navy blue things at once. Oh and I just saw someone look at my screen. I feel like creepy secret unfashionable blogger girl.

Cardigan: Uniqlo

Shirt: sister's

Watch: Asos

Dress (top): made it

Dress (underneath): H&M

Shoes: Ebay

(WORST PICTURE EVER SORRY excuse my dodgy extensions and strangely awkward way of standing, my boyfland was being a douche and this is my annoyed-but-trying-to-look-reasonable pose)

Coat: made it

Shirt: Uniqlo

Dress: vintage

Shoes: Ebay

Bag: vintage

Anyway... just before I leaf, I have to express two things:
1. I am, for the first time in my life, trying to grow my nails. I do not even remember a time when I didn't bite my nails so... this will take a while. They've grown about, what, 2mm so far? I'm still proud. I WANT TO BITE THEM SO MUCH but trying to tell myself it'll be worth it when I have nice normal-person nails. I would take a picture but they look a bit disgusting for some reason. Hopefully they'll sort themselves out over time :|
2. I turn 20 tomorrow!

GOODBYE

Tutorial: wrap bodice #1

2011-05-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

I guess I was lying when I said I'd post this 'tomorrow'! Well here it is now. I'm calling it '#1' because I may make a different style wrap bodice at some point in the future. You can probably buy a pattern for this or something similar, as most of my sewing knowledge comes from patterns I've tried in the past. I believe one of the first patterns I ever bought had a dress with this type of bodice. I always advise (when people ask) to use patterns at least *sometimes* when teaching yourself to sew. It really really helps, especially when you're making something quite complicated. You may or may not find this relatively complicated but I tried to take as many photos as possible so you can see everything that's going on.

What you need...

Fabric + lining fabric. I can't really advise you on how much fabric you need because I don't know what you want to do on the bottom half. Maybe about 2m would be safest?

Sewing machine, thread, scissors, pins

What you must do

Fold over your fabric and draw this shape on it (PIECE A). Draw it out on paper first if it's easier. Now I'm sorry this (a)(b)(c)(d) thing is really confusing, but honestly this should make sense when you draw it out on paper haha.

(a) width of shoulder strap + 1"

(b) this is part of the armhole but not the whole thing, this should be easier to figure out when you've done the other sides. In my diagram I for some reason made the armhole longer than it should be. Refer to my picture below for a better idea of what it should be like haha. SORRY FOR BEING REALLY BAD AT TUTORIALS.

(d) this is approx 1/6 of your waist. It should follow the general shape of your body, I suppose. You could always make this wider and trim it down later. + 1"

When you cut this out on your folded fabric, you should get two opposite pieces, like so!

Now you have to cut out your side pieces (PIECE B) also on your folded fabric. As you probably figured out, (b) is the rest of the armhole. Just to check you've got the size right, (c) should be the length from about 1" below your armpit to your waistline (+1-2" seam allowance). (d), when taken together with (d) from the other piece and (d) from PIECE A (add all the widths together but only using one of PIECE A) should be 1/2 your waist measurement + about 3". (c) should be curved according to your bust. If all my talk of measurements is ridiculously confusing, better make it a little too big so you can take it in later. As above, it should all vaguely make sense when you draw it out on paper haha.

Now make sure you have x2 PIECE A and x2 PIECE B from your lining fabric. You should end up with eight pieces.

Pin PIECE A to the lining with right sides together and sew along the dotted line. Do the same for the other piece.

The seam should look like this when you turn it inside out. You can now trim and overlock or zigzag the seam if you so desire!

Turn the piece the right way round so the lining is on the inside but the seam is hidden, like above. You should now iron it so it sits nice and flat.

Now you have to make two shoulder straps for the back. These should be about 5" long, 4" wide but it depends on what you like / what fits you best / how wide you cut the shoulder on PIECE A. You can always trim them later. Open up your PIECE A so the lining and fabric are flat, side by side.

Pin one end of the strap to the opened out bodice piece, right sides together. Sew! When you open it out, it should look like above.

Fold it in half so the lining is on the inside again, press!

Just to see how you're doing, when you cross both PIECE As together, it should look like this now i.e. vaguely like a bodice hoho

Line up the edges of PIECE A and PIECE B that are next to each other in the picture. Lay your PIECE B on top of PIECE A so that the edges meet, right sides together, and sew along that line.

Do this on both pieces and it should look like this when you turn it inside out.

Do the same with the non-lining pieces and it should look like this when opened out flat!

Fold so the lining is inside, press your seams, cross over both pieces and it should now look like this!

Focusing on the yellow line in the picture, turn inside out and pin.

Sew along this edge.

Probably a bit of a pin overload here but pin one side of your bodice to the PIECE A/B seam and sew along it. The seams should match up.

Do the same on the inside but make sure you only sew through the inner PIECE A and the lining of the outer PIECE A so you don't see the stitching on the side.

Forgot to photograph this part but cut two of PIECE C (another two for the lining). The bottom edge should be half your waist measurement + 5" (this is going to cross over) and the left edge should match up with the side edge of PIECE B. Sew the lining to these in the same way as you did PIECE A. Sew darts according to the markings.

It should look like this. Press.

Join PIECE C to PIECE B like so, lining to lining, non-lining to non-lining you know you know

Turn inside out, and stitch along the dotted line (around the arm hole) on both sides.

Turn inside out and it should look like this (except hopefully better once you iron it hoho)

Make sure the very edge of your back piece is sewn up (turn it inside it out and sew along the edge).

Now, I haven't actually done this so I don't have photographs for you, but because this crosses over, you shall need a button or two. Your sewing machine might have a button hole setting, but if now, set your stitch to zig-zag, very very close together and narrow.

Here is a good tutorial for buttonholes, but you do not need a particular foot or a sewing machine with a buttonhole setting to make a buttonhole. Just use your small squished together zig zag and sew in a narrow rectangle (my buttonholes are generally like the one on the left in the picture), making sure it is long enough for your button of choice to fit through. Use your scissors to snip a little hole in your rectangle. Line up your button on the other side, sew it in place with a needle and thread. You should now have a perfectly good button and buttonhole. Repeat for however many buttons seem best and your bodice is now finished.

Refer to my 'easy summer dress' tutorial for how to attach your skirt. Leave one side seam of the skirt unsewn at the top few inches and maybe add some more buttons or a zipper. Hopefully my less next semi-complicated tutorial will make a bit more sense haha (:

'basics' post

2011-05-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hey everyoneee.

My gold thing has been a disaster. I do have a tutorial to post, which I will do tomorrow, but the only successful part was the bodice which I finished ages ago. BASICALLY I cut out some pieces for the 'shorts' part (I was making a playsuit) but totally forgot to add extra inches for seam allowances and now it looks freakish. I can't really fix it without it looking like loads of small pieces stuck together (which it would be!) so I may leave it for the time being. I will post the tutorial for the bodice and tell you how to turn it into a dress, there will just be no real end result on my end hoho.

Anyway, sorry I haven't updated in ages. I've got my final exams coming up so have been spending much of my free time studying. I'm in the unfortunate position of all of my university offers being AAA so if I randomly get a B, I absolutely, completely screw up. I AM QUITE STRESSED.

I'm not sure how it is for you guys, but when I am stressed, my outfits become more and more basic. I begin to feel that most of my clothing is ridiculous and complicated and requires too much thought to even look acceptable, and that I quite simply do not have enough jumpers / collared shirts / tights i.e. I need a trip to Uniqlo.

Those who know me will be aware of my love of Uniqlo, so let me show you all the lovely things I want from there that could probably set you up with decent outfits for the rest of your life.

Jeggings (£24.99). Goshdarnit I don't have these yet but I want them. Only because they look like real jeans, mind you. There are two reasons why I don't wear jeans: 1) I have short legs and they just don't look good on me. There is one pair of jeans (kind of like pre-jegging jeggings really) that look good on me, but I have no idea where they are. I bought them in a little boutique in Sydney Chinatown about 6 years ago which has since closed down. Jeggings seem like they would do the trick, but the only pair I own I have worn about twice because they do not look even remotely jeans-like; 2) I don't find jeans comfortable at all. I do find leggings comfortable. Yerp.

Polo dress: £14.99

I love polo shirts, I love dresses... I would buy this. There is nothing else I can say.

£24.99. I would probably wear this all the time. It looks really comfortable, it combines two of my favourite colours, it just looks nice.

£19.99. I have three shirts like this from Uniqlo! They are just so useful. I mean, yes, collared shirts like this can sometimes look a little corporate, but they are also comfortable, easy to wear, and smarten up outfits with no extra effort. I mainly like to wear light blue with navy, brown or beige.

There you go, doesn't she look nice. I think she does.

Jumper £24.99. Now they actually have very few jumpers on their website right now (probably because I am the only person still wearing them in this weather) but Uniqlo does such good knitwear. It's all so cosy. My favourite is the taupe one in the picture below. It's supposed to make you feel 'warm in winter and cool in summer' and let me tell you, IT DOES. It also goes with everything and, as was written in one of those free magazines you pick up at the station (stylist?), everyone looks more friendly in a jumper. So there you go. The picture on the right is actually from Cos, but I feel it more accurately portrays the ... essence of jumpers.

Anyway, moving on from Uniqlo...

A black (and brown) skinny belt! I own this exact belt from Asos (£6.99). I used to have one from Cue which I used for squillions of years but it broke a few months ago and this was the only patent black one I could find that wasn't a ridiculous price. I like to match my hardware (most things I have are gold coloured rather than silver) especially with something worn a lot like a belt.

(£27 from AA though I wouldn't exactly support buying one at that price)

Pencil skirts! You all probably have one already, I just have to express that they are really useful and I wear them all the time.

This whole outfit (COS). Tapered trousers (they look good on short ladies such as myself), collared shirts, and a black coat. I generally use the coat I made (hopefully I will do a tutorial for this in future) but it's not quite as clean as this (£150). This is what I want to look like when I grow up and am one day a lady.

Here is today's outfit. Hope you guys are all doing okay (:

Shirt: second hand

Jumper: Uniqlo

Skirt: sister's

Shoes: Aldo

Watch and belt: Asos

Tutorial: easy summer dress

2011-04-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I still haven't got round to doing my gold thing. The thing is, because I went away for a few days I kind of lost my motivation. I will finish it eventually! My next update will be the gold thing :|

I wanted to make something floaty with a loose waist... something a little bit like this:

So... this dress will not be fitted. There will be no zippers, darts or anything, so it is definitely easy enough for a beginner. There are pockets in this tutorial but they are easy to do and if you can't be arsed, just ignore that part and move on.

What you need...

This will require a lot of fabric! The bodice on my dress is approx 19 x 15 inches (there are four pieces of fabric for this too so... multiply by four). The fabric required for the top layer of the skirt is 106" x 19" and for the bottom it is 56x15. You will need a bit more fabric if you want to make a ribbon, but if the fabric you're buying is wide, you should be able to just snip a few inches off the bottom (+ you may want a shorter skirt than mine). This dress is lined. I lined mine in the same fabric as I used on the outside (I am using silk from a vintage sari), but you can use different fabric if you like. If you choose to make your inner-skirt the same length and fullness as the outer skirt but in a different fabric, you could end up with a reversible dress (oooh). You will also need a sewing machine and scissors, of course!

What you must do...

For the bodice, you will be cutting on a fold. You do not really need a pattern piece for this, you can just cut straight onto the fabric (although pinning it together in places may be a good idea, up to you).

Cut approximately this shape. The waist should not be narrower than the armhole and should be several inches larger than your actual waist measurement. The waist on my dress was about 38" so I would have cut about 9.5" from the fold (each pattern piece would be 19" across). I cut the neckline quite high so I can cut it according to what looks best when I put it on. I have a tendency of making necklines too low, you see.

You should end up with two identical pieces which look vaguely like this. Now pin one of these pieces to your lining fabric (folded in half once - you do not need to cut on the fold for this) and cut around it so you end up with four identical pieces.

Put each pair together with the wrong sides facing outward. Sew along the shoulders and the sides. You will now have two bodices. At this point you can try them on and fix the neckline.

Sewing the lining to the bodice is the only tricky part, really. It is hard to photograph in such a way that makes it clear what is actually going on haha. The three points at which they must be joined are the neck and armholes. Basically just sew the pieces together, right sides together. In the picture, you can see the shoulder seam from both bodice pieces pressed together. You will sew along this edge so they end up joined together, and do the same for the neck and other armhole.

When you have finished and turn it all inside out, it should look like this. Notice that all of the seams you just sewed are now hidden!

Now cut both skirt layers. You can use the measurements I wrote above, but its up to you. If you are making pockets (oh go on) you will need to cut the outer skirt layer in half. If not, just sew the ends of your big skirt pieces together, creating two circles / loops / tubes!?

For the pockets, fold some fabric and cut this shape out on the fold.

Cut two of them so you have two pockets. They should end up looking like the above.

Place your opened out pocket on one end of one piece of the outer skirt layer (right sides together). Sew down the straight edge. I forgot to photograph this part but sew the other side of the pocket (the other straight edge) to side of the pocket.

I am terrible at drawing diagrams haha but it should look something like this! Do this with both pockets on both halves of the outer skirt so they are all joined together. Now sew up the sides of both skirt pieces from the bottom (the sides in the middle of the diagram should be joined together with the pocket in the middle). When you reach the pocket, leave the opening and continue above the pocket. Sew up the pocket from the fold to the opening. Do this on the other side with the other pocket.

You should now have pockets like this on both sides of the skirt. Sew up the lining skirt in the same way but (obviously) without the pocket. Now set your machine to the longest possible stitch and do one line of stitching along the top of each side of the skirt. Do the same to the lining / bottom layer of the skirt. Take one of the threads and pull it so the fabric bunches up. Make sure each side of the outer skirt is, when gathered, the same length of one side of the bodice so the side seams match up e.g. if your bodice is 19" across, gather your skirt until it is 19".

The above picture is my gathered lining. Line the edge of the gathered skirt with the bottom edge of the bodice, right sides together. Pin the edges together and sew along the edge, making sure the seams match up. Do this on both sides. With the lining, sew the skirt so the stitching faces the same way as the rest of the lining seams do.

Once you do this, when you turn the whole dress inside out, the skirt attached to the lining should look like this i.e. the same as on the outside.

Hem both outer and lining skirt layers.

Trim and zig zag over all seams (you should be able to get to all of them).

Yay, you are finished. If you want a ribbon, cut a long piece of fabric (mine was approx 40" x 2 1/2"), sew along the whole length, turn it inside out, fold in the ends, stitch over the top and iron.

(this is what I wore today)

Hat: vintage

Glasses, necklace, watch: Asos

Shoes: New Look

BUT add your ribbon, tie up your hair and add tights = instantly ladylike ;D

Easy, yes? I hope this has been helpful!

Mini-tutorial: Heathers scrunchie

2011-04-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

I only got back a couple of days ago so have been a bit too tired to do any hefty (even moderately so) sewing projects. I've done a mini-tutorial for a scrunchie a la Heathers because its easy. First, however, I will post some photos I took over the past week. I was staying with my boyfriend (Andy) at his parents' dairy farm in Wiltshire. The calves were let out into the sunshine that week so I'm so frustrated I didn't get any photos of them! They were all tufty and sweet hoho.

We went for a long walk at this... place. I don't know what it was called or where it was, just that it was very pretty / there were stinging nettles bloody everywhere

Am I the only one who finds this weirdly Blair Witch Project-esque?

We decided to get a ROAST because it was Sunday and as luck would have it, we ended up having the greatest carvery ever. The table wasn't actually reserved for us or anyone else (I think) so idk why it says that but THE POTATOES WERE INCREDIBLE.

Then Andy made me a fancy coffee when we got back. Fancy in so far as the equipment was fancy and it had foam but wasn't out of a machine. I was impressed.

Weird aeropress gif

I don't even remember what day this was from BUT just FYI, this is a man made hill. Nobody knows for sure what it is for / why it was made but it is enormous. I don't know why I am telling you this, readers of my blog, but I am.

More walks around various places.

AND WE MADE A ROAST OF OUR OWN. It was amazing. I tried to do closeups of the chicken (the best bit) but it looked a bit gruesome so you shall have to imagine its crispy/tenderness for yourselves.
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Anyway, hopefully this tutorial doesn't come across as a bit of an odd thing to post following a photo of a roast chicken. Unfortunately I couldn't find any plain red fabric suitable, but I made do! I guess we can only call this Heathers inspired (or just a scrunchie with a bow on it? ha) because it's not plain red and is somewhat less floppy but anyway, on we go.

What you will need...

Sewing machine / needle and thread

A small-ish amount of red fabric. Maybe use an old shirt or something?

Elastic

What you must do...

Cut your elastic according to how thick your hair is / how big you want your scrunchie to be. I believe mine was 9 inches.

For the fabric covering, you will need to cut a rectangle shape. The length should be more than double that of the elastic (so approx 22" for me) and the width double how much you want it to eventually turn out like (the width of mine was about 2.5" in the end so I would need to cut a bit more than 5").

You don't really need to measure it, just cut a long rectangle more than double the elastic in length and however thick you want the scrunchie to be x2 in width.

Fold the rectangle in half and sew along one side

Sew one end of your elastic to one end (along the stitched side)

From that point, sew down to the other corner.

Turn it inside out and it should now look more or less like the bottom picture hoho

For some reason I didn't photograph this bit properly but now you have to get the elastic from inside (it should be inside now that you have turned it inside out) and pull it out of the opening to meet the other side. Sew it in place like you did on the other side! In hind sight (sorry I didn't plan this very well) you could've sewn it to the other side before turning it inside out... BUT ANYWAY

It should vaguely look like this - stitched down at the open end.

It gets a bit hard to photograph from this point. Turn the ends of the open side inwards about 1cm.

Fit the open side (with edges turned in) over the sewn up other side of the tube. You may or may not want to pin it. Pinning can sometimes make fiddly things even more fiddly, but it's up to you.#

Sew down the folded over part through all layers of fabric. You could handsew it so you keep the 'tube' and so you don't have a visible row of stitching, but I can't be arsed.

Cut four of this shape! It's hard to tell you how long they should be really, but mine was about 16" long. The width depends on how fat you want your bow to be. Mine was about 4" wide. The angle of the 'tail' also depends on your personal taste, obviously! Each piece will be half the length of the entire 'ribbon', so keep that in mind. Put two of the pieces together (right sides facing inward, wrong sides facing outward) and stitch along the orange dotted line. Now do this for the other two pieces.

Excuse the weird picture. I haven't ironed anything haha. Open up the joined pieces so they are lying flat with the stitching facing upwards. Place the two pieces together with wrong sides inward and right sides outward, lining up the flat edge on both pieces. Don't worry if they've ended up slightly uneven, just give it a trim. Sew along the flat edge (the dotted line in the picture).

You should now have something which vaguely looks like this?

Fold it in half (right side inward, wrong side outward) and stitch along the dotted line but leave a space (about 2cm?) in your stitching at some point. It doesn't really matter where, but I left the space in the centre. Through this hole, turn the whole thing inside out. Depending on where the whole is and how big it is, you can choose either to leave it or handsew it up (see the slipstitch on this page)

Arrange your ribbon into a vague bow shape that you like. Pin where you want everything to go.

Sew it all down :D

Get a little bit of fabric (about 4" x 2"), fold it in half and stitch along the longer side. Turn it inside out.

Make a little pleat, fold it in half, stitch, trim the end. You should now have a little loop.

Sew your loop to the scrunchie along the seam. Sew through the elastic as wellll. Get both sides of the loop and stitch it to the fabric of the scrunchie so it sits relatively flat. The line of stitching in the above picture should now be hidden.

Get your bow, push it through the loop, arrange and adjust so it looks nice, use a needle and thread to stitch it to the loop. Now you've finished, hooray.

Mini-tutorial: shift dress

2011-04-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

I'd planned to make a proper tutorial of this but I forgot about taking photos half way through. I've tried to make little diagrams, hopefully they make sense. Honestly, this is one of the easiest things to make ever so you'll probably get the gist.

I really like this. I wore it yesterday (the photo), I wore it today... I won't wear it tomorrow but I'd like to! Haha.

And of course because I'm bored and vain I rustled up another way to wear it without black. BUT ANYWAY, ON TO THE TUTORIAL :| :|

You will need...

About 1.5m of fabric. I used some vintage printed silk (sorry to sound pretentious) I've had for ages so it's not too translucent / doesn't have too much drape but is still really lightweight and airy. You could use virtually anything, actually.
You will also need some matching thread, scissors and a sewing machine. Provided you make this the right size, you shouldn't need any zippers or buttons or whatever.

What you must do!

Lay your fabric flat, folded in half. Either straight on the fabric or on a very large piece of paper (tracing paper, butcher paper, whatever), draw this shape (the black line):

Now I'm not going to tell you what size this is because it's supposed to be... you-sized! Because this doesn't have a zip, unless you're using stretchy fabric, this can't be skin tight. You can use an existing dress or top to work out generally how large to make it. Is this horribly vague? I shall update tomorrow with the measurement of my dress, actually.

Because you're cutting through two layers of fabric (you have folded your fabric in half) you might want to pin them together. On one piece, cut along the broken line around the neck. This is, surprise surprise, the front!

On the front piece, sew your darts! NOW. The dart on the left is approximately where you would usually put your darts (the point is generally the outermost point of your chest) but on the right is where I put mine. I have only put darts in this dress because otherwise you would have a gaping effect, but I don't really want it to be fitted. Does that make sense? Just do whichever you prefer. You could use a really wide stitch to begin with (or hand stitch) so you can take out the stitching and redo it according to what you like.

To give you a really basic idea of how to sew darts, take the edge along the dotted line, and bring it to meet the edge of the solid line, creating a fold. The folded should be on the wrong side of the fabric (what will be the inside of the dress). Sew it in place, coming to the point. Here's a photo of a dart to show you generally what it should look like:

link

Do it on the other side (make sure they are even), iron, and move on to the next step!

With the right sides together (the sides that will face outwards when the dress is finished) and the wrong sides facing outwards, sew along the shoulders and the sides (not the arm holes!). As you can probably tell, you are almost finished at this point.

Now you have to finish off the armholes, neck and bottom of the skirt. I usually do a really simple hem where I fold over a few mm to the inside, fold over again, and stitch over the top. You could also use bias binding if you find it easier / if you like the look.

Now you should be done. Sorry if I have explained this terribly. I will be working on improving my tutorials in future! I will also definitely take more photos next time. I have a tutorial in the works with a photo for every step, although the whole thing is more complicated.

Here is a little preview!

I haven't finished it partly because I had to go to sleep and partly because I haven't decided what I'm going to do on the bottom half yet haha. It should be nice though, whatever it is.

Hellooo

2011-03-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm ridiculously busy at the moment. Probably not a great time to start a blog, but there you go!
Last week I went to Durham. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera with me (I went on the train and brought as little with me as I could) so here's a photo of it I found on Flickr.

Beautiful, right? I can't wait to study there, even though its a relatively small place. Fingers crossed I don't have a seizure during my exams or something.

I've got a revision timetable up on my wall now. It's less than three months until my first exam, christ. I've also got my Extended Project presentation on Thursday which I should definitely be preparing for instead of blogging right now. I MUST STAY POSITIVE THOUGH. I MUST.

I'll just post my outfit for today and leaf then!

Cardigan: Uniqlo; bodysuit: vintage; trousers: Zara; shoes: Primark; Necklace: Asos

Not the most amazing thing you've ever seen, I'm sure, but I am wearing my new favourite thing - a blue stripey bodysuit! It did have a little glittery bow on it but I took it off. I'll probably replace it with a plain white one!

Oh! Oh! Also! I will try my hardest to upload a new tutorial this week if I have time on Friday. I'm thinking of making either a pair of high waisted pleated shorts or a coat. I'd prefer the coat but my one problem is that I have no lining that would match the fabric I want to make it out of! We shall see what happens but either way, I'm excited to post a new one.

blaack n goooold

2011-03-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! My boyfriend went home for his uni break yesterday D: so to cheer myself up I (among other things) decided to dress up in my favourite colour combination - black and gold. Anyone who looks at my outfit photos should be able to tell that I wear a lot of black. I like black x silver, black x white, black x black but moooost of all I like black and gold. It looks good with my hair, it looks good on its own, IT'S JUST A REALLY GOOD COMBO. BUT ANYWAY, here's my outfit:

Here's another black x gold outfit I've taken a photo of.

I'm pretty sure I first started to search for black and gold when I watched the 300 Spartans. For some reason it was really sartorially inspiring, haha.

ANYONE KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

Anyway, here are some black x gold Etsy finds.

NodtoModvintage

TimelessVixenVintage

HeatherVintage


MagwoodBoutique

aiseirigh

Vintage50sEyewear

And I'm just going to dump this outfit picture here too:

I'm trying to cut down to only wearing makeup twice a week. Yep. Anyway, I'm going to the March for the Alternative tomorrow, probably in the Labour Women group so... maybe I'll see you there if you come :| if anyone reading this is from the UK, haha! Clearly I am terrible at ending these kind of posts. Bye.

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Oh, and thankyou rippedknees for linking to me! I haven't got a link list up yet so will just link to her blog here hoho

Tutorial: reconstructing a dress

2011-03-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! This is my first tutorial, sorry it's a little dodgy! I hope to do some tutorials for things made from scratch but seeing as I was making this the other day, I thought I'd photograph it and post it on the internet as my first blog post.

DISCLAIMER: This is a tutorial for people who want a new dress in a couple of hours. Please note that I can only really get away with this because I am using a cheap dress (£4 from a charity shop) made from not-so-special fabric. If you are using more expensive fabric or a more expensive dress, not only would I advise you to take extra steps e.g. overlocking, ironing, interfacing if needed etc, I'd also advise you to use a sewing pattern if you are new to sewing!

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You will need...

Scissors, a seam ripper (optional), pins

I would advise you not to use scissors like these, actually. They are an absolute bitch to use. If you can, get some fabric scissors! Mine are in a box somewhere :|

A sewing machine!

Well, I suppose you don't need one, but I'd advise you to use one. Possibly one a little more trustworthy than mine. Oh, and please do not follow my example and use your sewing machine on the floor hoho.

A nice big space where you can work. Can you tell we are in the process of moving in?

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What you must do!

What I've done first is taken off the skirt and sleeves of the dress. If your dress is not too much bigger than you want it, I would use a seam ripper as to not lose too much fabric. If your dress is very big like mine, just cut them off!

Put the bodice on like a shirt so you can see how much you want to take off the shoulder. I've ended up taking off 2 inches! It depends on what you like and how the fabric actually sits on you when you're wearing it so you may find you don't need to take anything off at all.

Turn the bodice inside out! Mark with pins where you want to sew the bodice on the sides. You can do this while you are wearing it or using your waist measurement. Now sew with a straight stitch from the bottom of the bodice to the armhole. Don't worry about the edges matching up, you can fix it with your scissors. Now is the time to cut from the shoulders down to the bottom of the armhole according to how you want the dress to fit. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you but... cut in a gently curving line! Now, fold the edge of the fabric over and stitch it down, creating a narrow hem. If it is fabric that frays easily, now is the time to overlock! If you find it the circular line too difficult to hem or you simply can’t be arsed, you could always use bias binding. You can find this in fabric stores and (possibly) the supermarket. [Also, totally forgot to add this in but if you want some shape in the bodice for your chest, now is the time to add darts if you so desire]

Now you must gather your skirt! You could leave it the way it was before and just cut off the extra length, but as I prefer my skirts with a bit of poof, I’m going to take the whole thing and gather it until it’s as long as the bodice opened out flat (check if you need to allow a little extra length for a seam – mine is a button-down so I don’t need to).

Some people use gathering foots on their sewing machine but as I don’t have one, I do it by hand using the good ol’ drawstring method. Set your machine to the longest possible straight stitch and stitch from one end to the other along the side that will eventually join the bodice. Leave a few inches of thread at either end. At one end, tie a knot with the thread. At the other, take one of the two threads and pull it. Gently push down the fabric from the thread and it should bunch up. Continue doing this until the whole length is gathered on one side. Make sure the gathering is even. If this is confusing, here is a better explanation!

Undo the buttons on the bodice and the skirt so both are totally flat. Turn both so that the ‘right’ side of the fabric (the side that you want facing out when the dress is finished e.g. the darker side of denim fabric) is facing outwards, then place the bodice on top of the skirt with the ‘wrong’ side up so the ‘right’ sides are together. Line the bottom edge of the bodice up with the gathered edge of the skirt. Pin them together and then sew in a straight stitch along the edge through both the skirt and the bodice (remember to set your stitch to the normal length again). When you turn them the right side out again, it should look like the picture above.

If you like long dresses, you’re pretty much finished at this point. Put it on, check it all fits, trim all your loose threads and maybe give it an iron. Howeverrr, like me, you may prefer shorter dresses. If this is the case, try on your dress and mark with a pencil / chalk where you want the skirt to finish. Take off the dress, and cut the skirt from the line. Try to be neat at this point because hemming wonky skirts is annoying as hale and you could end up redoing it. It would be useful to use a tape measure to make sure the skirt is the same length all over. Now, how you hem your skirt is really up to you. You may want a wider hem, you may just want to roll it over and sew a tiny one. Just go with whatever feels right hoho.

So there we have it. A lovely new dress (or, in my case... tunic-thing). If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.

If anyone has any tips for me regarding tutorials / the blog in general, I'd very much appreciate it <3