sophie makes

interlude

2009-08-25T15:33:00.005+01:00

Ok. So it's been a really long time. But I've been busy. I moved country for a start. I really don't know what will happen with this blog, but as lame as it sounds it's been one of the best things I've done. I'm not saying it's an amazing blog or anything, but it's easy to forget exactly what happened over the past months or year, and from time to time I click back through the archives and am reminded of various snapshots in time that had slipped my mind. For me at least, it's so easy to forget and so easy to let everything slip by into one big blurred memory, so I would really like to try and keep this going. Well I'll try! But for now, I promised some pics, so here are a few.

love train

2009-06-22T09:20:00.008+01:00

Saturday was spent mashing about in Deptford, a poke about at the market, lunch at a creative re-use of an abandoned site, The Deptford Project, finished off perusing the creative wonders of Cockpit Arts open studios. Muchly my kinda day.
The Deptford Project is a piece of dis-used land, turned into a market (just next door to the regular market) with mix of furniture, vintage fashion, food, and arts and crafts stalls by local designers, and, a definite contender for the top 10 coolest cafes in the world, is the cafe housed in an ex-railway carriage.

Cockpit Arts

Along the road from Cockpit there are various other studios, a gallery, a creek and a nice vibe. I like Deptford a lot, it has genuinely cool, exciting creative goings-on, alongside the very normal, cheap and cheerful. I feel much more at home than in the well-known somewhat forced, too-cool trendy arty quarters of London. (Not naming any names, haha)

In the Cockpit Arts pop-up cafe.

25° is just fine

2009-06-15T08:41:00.002+01:00

shirt-dress revisited

2009-04-22T13:14:00.005+01:00

You may recall this. A guys shirt made into a dress. This time I tried it with a too big caftan/shirt, again snipping off the sleeves and turning those into a ruffle on the hem to make it long enough to be a dress. I also took the sides in a little.

Et voila, I quite like it.

I must confess this blog has moved slightly from sophie makes fashion to sophie makes food...at least its a bit of both and a few other things inbetween. Either way it's still sophie making.

As for cake, that is something often revisited with me :)

[Chocolate orange butterfly cakes, and mixed berry cakes.]

last nights endeavours

2009-04-03T11:26:00.003+01:00

Ever get compelled to do something you know isn't going to work out that well and will only last about 2 minutes? :

Grey and peach are just so meant to be.

Last nights dinner. Doesn't actually look as appetizing in the photo. It's proper yum tho. My own recipe too (!)

Also! Me and my friend Erica are having a big wardrobe clear-out and selling it on ebay. It's pretty much all vintage stuff. If anyones interested: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/fly-by-sunday
(We'll ship international too)

edibles

2009-02-18T09:22:00.003Z

Like I said before, a day spent cooking equals much fun.

a legitimate day off

2009-02-04T08:49:00.005Z

wifey

2009-01-17T17:52:00.005Z

It has come to my attention, that, with my absolute favourite way to spend time being sewing, and, in sporadic bursts obsessively watching cooking programmes, and cooking up yumminess, that perhaps being a housewife is my true calling. Hmmmm!

The dress is something I made recently, my last sewing project before uni started again. Paired with my favourite combo of layered tights, it makes a nice soireeing outfit. The fabric, as with everything I make had a previous life as something else, I think it had been used in a window display or something, and seemed to have had been stapled to a wall and then ripped off. As a result the fabric has some tiny holes here and there, but I loved the shimmery pattern that looks different from different angles too much to let it bother me.

The cake, was a chocolate and orange invention, and was possibly one of my yummiest yet.
Seriously, wouldn't it be fabulous to spend all your time making clothes and cakes?

famous last words

2008-12-28T19:25:00.009Z

As soon as I said I wasn't abandoning my blog, it got temporarily abandoned. I guess things got busy as "things" always do. Anyway, it's really not getting abandoned again, I really miss blogging fever. Although as 2008 draws to a close, and we think back over the past year, I really have to say the departure of Fops and Dandies has really left a huge void. There's loads of blogs I love, but without Fops and Dandies...things are just not the same. Anyway, here's to 2009, with lots of new found inspiration and joy.

Lately, somehow or the other, I was reminded of Shrinkles, the kids craft toy... aka shrink plastic, ...that plasticky-paper you drew on and coloured in, then popped in the oven and watched shrink...? Well some people know what I mean, others just look confused as I push into their hand a small badge strangely resembles a kids drawing embodied in plastic.

The drawings...

the colouring in ...

the shrinking...

the finished shrinkle!

It's rather addictive...

too long!

2008-11-17T10:10:00.009Z

No, I haven't abandoned my blog, but too much work, illness, and getting my computer fixed meant no blogging time. So what happened in the past month...?
I went to a scary monsters ball, as Spiderella, and made this fascinator for the event...

I made these skirts for reVamp...

...and had fun layering tights!

linked

2008-10-08T18:22:00.006+01:00

All the talk about paper fortune-tellers reminded me of something I had been meaning to post aaages ago. A while back I got a commission to make some cufflinks, in the same vein as my jewellery/clothes/accessories, meaning in some way recycled, re-purposed and re-constructed. And these were the results...

The insides/cogs of old watches, and some military pins found at a car boot.

Where's Wally fortune-tellers, and of course, Lego.

School sports badges, found at a car boot.

I was really excited to do this project as it means I've finally got an item for the guys! Lots of people ask me if I do stuff for guys, or why don't I, and it's just simply because....Well guys aren't so much into wearing/buying accessories, and I guess, being a girl, ideas for females just occur to me more often! But actually, after making these, I feel like ripping off the buttons and adding an extra hole on a couple of my shirts, so I can wear some too. Especially the watch ones, as some may know, for no particular reason, I am ever so fond of everything watch related.

eidings

2008-10-02T10:39:00.005+01:00

And...eid mubarak, happy navratri, and shana tova to everyone who was celebrating (or still is) on Tuesday and Wednesday...Seems like everyone was getting their festivities on!

My silly posing. Ahem.

Eh. I don't really get a good stain on the back of my hand and arm. Maybe if I have time tonight I will do the palm of my hand. Uni work is looming though, so that's a bit doubtful.

Just a little delay..

2008-10-02T09:40:00.009+01:00

Mmm, I've been rather slow in updating, blame the return to uni and the copious amount of reading, boo! Last Friday me and Erica went to the V&A Late, a themed late night opening of a museum, with activities and goings-on and such. This one was 'Fashion Photography', and followers of Facehunter might know he was there. He negleected to snap us, (haha! his loss!) however this V&A woman was keen to photograph us repeatedly after we had finished in the DIY wearable adornment from everyday materials room.

Hmmm! The most awkward smiles ever!
Incase you couldn't tell, Eric's made her gold bow bracelet and pink brooch, and I made my origami/fortune teller headpiece.

I have quite a thing for making fortune tellers you see...

My fortune-teller installation-thingy, (with my friend Jen's work on the left) and a Asterix comic fortune-teller birthday card for my friend Shadi.

We forgot to take any outfit shots that night, but perhaps I should point out the rest of me looked like this:

I drew on my tights, something I'd been meaning to do for ages, but the colour seems to be fading...Mainly because it comes off all over my hands when I put them on, despite it being permanent pen. I think perhaps a higher denier would work better.

the weekend

2008-09-15T13:16:00.016+01:00

On Saturday we went out to get breakfast and stumbled upon a small car boot sale going on. I didn't find anything interesting to buy, but one of the cars there was pretty unusual from what you usually see!

Later we stopped for a drink at the arts centre across the road from me. In the bar area they were displaying some work of students from a local high school; their project was based on 'connections' I think, and the outcome was these map-dresses...

This is the view from there; the river, old boats and derelict boat houses. Apparently there are some artist studios and a small gallery hidden away on this island in the middle, but I've never been, I must check it out soon...

3 things

2008-09-15T12:48:00.009+01:00

3 things I'm currently loving...

1. My new bangles. I was looking in charity shop a couple of weeks ago for some bangles that would be good for bag handles; I didn't find any but I did find these that I thought would be good for my wrist hehe...

When I'm bored in the bus or something, I like to line up the pink bits perfectly, then shake them out.

2. My new best friend, my new shorts. They're nothing radical, just some plain black slightly puffy shorts, but for me this is a big step. Again, last week, charity shopping, spotted these, for £1.25, and thought hmmm maybe now is the time to take the plunge. Anyway I'm discovering that they are v. comfy, v.practical for this inbetween-y weather, and a great way to wear the array of tights which seem to have creeped into my drawer, despite the fact I really don't own enough skirts or dresses to really warrant their presence.

3. Corn on the cob. Random yes.

smudged

2008-09-11T22:41:00.007+01:00

Here is my left hand. I'm not sure about it. It got a bit smudged overnight and hmmm maybe I didn't mix the paste well enough, it's a bit messy. Oh well.

lately

2008-09-03T20:36:00.017+01:00

Here's what I've bee upto lately...Scouring charity shops for 70s bedsheets and duvets which would perhaps be a bit too chaotic for a restful sleep, but perfect for recycling into bags and skirts...All these will be going on sale at the Cancer Research shop in Marylebone High Street, as part of reVamp

For these two bags I made the handles by shaping a piece of wire, adding beads, and finishing each end with a button.

For this one I used a bangle for the handle...I really like this idea because I always see lots of cool bangles in charity shops but I can't really justify buying them because I have hundreds and hundreds already...but now I will have a legitimate reason!

I really love the chunky floral print of the dark brown one, there's was some material left over, so I started making a dress for myself, but either I'm being stupid or the sewing pattern is missing some steps! It doesn't seem to be coming out right...and there isn't enough left to start over so I'll have to make some adjustments and try and use some of my sense to make it fit...

Oh and thanks so much to Estrella for the "100" award, I will get around to passing it on soon :D

ebay

2008-08-18T20:40:00.004+01:00

Who came up with these categories?! And how does one define Rather Strange or Really Weird? Disappointingly, the items in Totally Bizarre are a little dull...

baaack

2008-08-18T17:39:00.021+01:00

Ok no palm trees or hammock but it was very nice
all the same....

I picked up a couple of cute vintage dresses, for 1€ each....Of course as soon as I got back here, the weather is awful again. I think Summer is officially over, so looks like I'll have to wait till next year to wear them.

I also found these huge bead necklaces, which was a bit of a coincidence, since all of my recent drawings, of ideas for clothes, were accessorised by enormous bead necklaces. I had been vaguely considering covering a load of ping-pong balls in fabric and stringing them together, but these seemed much less effort!

And lastly some vinyl/plasticky fabric. This is for making a second pair of shu-boots, this time the idea is that with this fabric they'll be waterproof, i.e rain-shu-boots.

BRB

2008-07-31T00:41:00.002+01:00

See you in a bit...

set sail

2008-07-25T11:20:00.019+01:00

Yesterday we took a little boat trip. It was intended for the week before but the dodgy weather meant we had to take a rain check. With yesterday possibly being the nicest/hottest day we've had so far, we set sail. Clearly quite a lot of other people had decided the same, and the boat was a bit more crowded that I would've liked haha, but still it was really nice. It was kinda hard to take pictures but imagine lots of pretty views, fancy houses with gardens running down to the river and kids using air-beds as lilos.

I just noticed this stamped on my bag.
It's rather appropriate for yesterdays outfit,
well the design on the skirt at least.

I also had a little purchase....I'd been trying to convince my friend that I don't shop a lot, I don't think he believes me at all hehe. But these shoes were gorgeous, and massively reduced, and they were the last pair, and it was my size, so it was all meant to be really.

dust

2008-07-22T10:11:00.020+01:00

I don't post outfit shots very often simply because I don't think mine are particularly noteworthy, but I wore this dress for the first time yesterday, and it was the first time I went out with that much bare leg on show in err, ever, so it deserves to be noted I guess. I posted a pic of the dress ages ago, it was my grandma's and I finally got around to altering it about two months ago, and the weather finally got around to being decent yesterday. But lets not get too excited, the papers are telling us it's only for a few days, until which point we can expect the usual undecided it might rain it might be sunny, who knows situation. The bare-leggedness situation wasn't as traumatic as I have previously been afraid of, tho I'm really not convinced it's cooler (as in temperature) than wearing jeans.

The bag was a birthday gift from my friend May, who is currently residing in Vancouver for 6 months. She came back for a visit on Saturday. My birthday was a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't much in the mood for celebrating, hence no pics of merrymaking and such. Anyway, if you're a longtime reader you may know I love tooled leather bags, mostly Moroccan-ish style ones, so this was a very cool and unexpected gift. (Actually she had told me about it on the phone, so I was quite excited haha) It's vintage and kinda falling apart inside but it has this really cool and ingenious adjustable strap mechanism, I think I'll steal it for future bag-making.

As I said, the inside is somewhat disintegrating, leaving a thick dust all over the contents of my bag. Regardez:

Ok it doesn't look so thick, but it is really!

So, that leads me to the question, should I rub some leather shoe polish/protector/general overpriced shoecare nonsense into the inside in an attempt to seal it and prevent dust overload, or will that result in the contents of my bag feeling like they've been bathed in Vaseline? Alternatively should I sew some cloth pouches to put inside the bag....This sounds like a longwinded and boring thing to do...Yet probably the more sensible solution. I think I'm too lazy and impatient and having 100 other projects that need doing to bother with that. Hmmm.

You know how when you look at a word for a long time it
starts to look really weird...dust is looking bizarre.

twoot!

2008-07-17T08:58:00.006+01:00

It's forever since I posted and I meant to post this ages ago, I already wore it twice but forget to capture that moment in celluloid or rather jpegage. But my brother made this fabulous t shirt for me. I mentioned before about his general ultra coolness and the fact that he's a dab hand with his air spray gun, getting the kids at school to queue up to get designs put on t shirt and caps. Well now I've got a piece of the action, a golden owl with my name on, I love it. And what else is cool, is that because it's gold with white highlights that kinda look silver, you can wear a mix of gold and silver jewellery, now thats rad.

I made a cake for my boyfriend's birthday, and was rather devastated when it didn't turn out quite right. Without trying to big myself up or anything, cakes are my thing, my cakes are always fabulous, so this incident has completely thrown me and made me question my existance on the planet. Ok, well not quite but still. See it looks pretty but tasted a little....strange....And I've made this cake 100 times before so I'm mystified.

random

2008-07-05T22:32:00.003+01:00

I found this pic when on Google image search when I was searching for something entirely different. Don't ask why this came up! Anyway it kind of illustrates the point on this post. I have no pics of new makes, because this week has been all trial-and-erroring with no finished results, so simply here is a picture of my feet.

a tiered ruffle affair

2008-06-30T14:01:00.006+01:00

This month, my contribution to reVamp, the desginer collective who take charity shop donations and revamp then into fabulous new items, was very much tiered and ruffled. I think I've had my fill of layers for a long time, they are way fiddly and time consuming.
Here are the 'before' items in all their frumpy outdated glory:

And the 'after' results, going on sale at the Cancer Research shop in Marylebone high street.

No lovely model in the form of my friend Eric this time, but this second one can be worn as a top or a skirt

www.revampfashion.co.uk

Today I am having some jewellery making stresses and troubles :( This is made harder by the fact I'm now very eager to turn that purple jacket into a waistcoat, thanks to all the comments, and a couple of other makes for myself which are calling out to me. Oh well, here's hoping a revelation will come to me overnight to fix this problem.

relax

2008-06-27T19:18:00.007+01:00

Yesterday I took a day off from sewing and we went out of the city, picnic in hand to this really beautiful park. We were all set to go to a local park, then in a burst of spontaneity we decided to go out to Virginia Water. 30 minutes later and I was really surprised and how stunning and massive it was...it's endless, we didn't explore half of it I'm sure, it was like an idyll of lakes, forests and all that nature stuff.

the picnic

This is a dress I bought from Traid charity shop £3 ages ago, and finally got around to altering recently. But I've come to the conclusion that whilst it looks cute on the hanger, it kinda just makes you look like a shapeless blob/ makes you look way bigger than you are. I guess maybe I should alter it a bit more.

There was some wind induced skirt-billowing. Either that or I ate way too much picnic. And yes, had this trip not been so spontaneous, I definately wouldn't have worn these shoes. We walked forever, by the end I had to carry them. Besides walking in grass is so nice.

As for the fruits of my labour, in other words, the latest things I've been making; the pics will come soon..

absence

2008-06-20T20:22:00.006+01:00

Yes it's been a while. I'd like to say I have 8 days worth of makings to show, but rather it's been more experimenting and testing some things and mainly having flu, which is not much help in getting things done. Instead here is my latest charity shop distraction. (Traid, £3 sale, need I say more). I bourght if for the fabric, it's so....something, and covered in these transparent yet shimmery sequins, underneath which is this retro geometric print. The shape as it is doesn't do much for me, it's about 2 or 3 sizes too big and the length somewhat drowns a shorty like me. So the question is, what to do with it? Shorten it? Shorten the sleeves? Make it sleeveless? Change the neckline? Hmmm I can't decide. Any suggestions?

Also here is a pic of this jacket I posted a while ago, again looking for suggstions of how to alter it. The general consensus was to leave it as it is, there's nothing wrong with a little bit of puff.
But as you see, once it's on, it's not a little bit of puff, it's a whole lot! Even without shoulder pads it looks like my shoulders go on for about four miles. Also the way the bottom of the jacket is done, with this V, instead of the sides meeting, just makes it look like you ate a really big dinner and your belly is poking out too much. All in all the garment as it is isn't doing it for me, it's the fabric that's cool. So again, what am I going to do with it?

a make a day keeps the doctor away

2008-06-12T09:41:00.007+01:00

Or keeps me happy at least.

It started out like this, a regular guys shirt.

Then I took it in, made it smaller and gave it a more femenine shape, cut of the sleeves and attached them to the bottom to ruffle it up and make it into more of a dress. Oh and added my favourite detailing du jour, the rolling-up-sleeve-strap-button thing.

Accessorised of course, with one of my tie-belts. (I have no idea why the picture is so small)

The sleeves into ruffle worked out better that I had imagined, I think I'll be on the look out for a couple more mens shirts to make some more. Along with this, I've been working my way through my alterations to-do list, which means this pink dress and this blue dress now fit me and are no longer lying redundant in my wardrobe. (The blue one is also minus the marks by the way!)

Oh and yesterday I found this in a charity shop, for the princely sum of 50p.

You might wonder why I should want such a thing when I have a fully functioning, fabulous regular sewing machine. Well, I thought it would be useful for akward bits of sewing, where you can't quite get the piece to like flat or something like that, and for when I make things like my shu-boots. I haven't got the right batteries for it yet, so I hope it works! And lets not forget, this is as seen on tv! Err..in 1976 that is.

women in black

2008-06-09T09:45:00.010+01:00

I've been catching up on my tv viewing recently, watching a series which had been on recently, Women in Black. The premise is, that Muslim women now comprise 10% of the world’s population, yet they are seen by many as “Shapeless blobs in black.” So the programme tries to challenge that view by going underneath the veil.

My thinkings are that it didn't exactly do that. I think it's good the programme was made at all, and it probably did do something to educate or challenge some people. But it was so full of generalisations and mis-representations, and these irritating "discoveries" the presenter, Yemeni-British Amani Zain made. They kept mixing up culture and religion, presenting one as the other and missing out showing a range of women. We often saw only a minority of upper-class women, or just one's that made good tv but didn't represent a whole. There was no depth, and although I was glad to see this series was coming on, it left me frustrted. However with only five 30 minute segments, (one in Yemen, Dubai, Egypt, UK and Holland) I guess you can't do much other than scratch the surface. The worst one I thought, was the one focusing on the UK, which is weird, since the presenter and people making the programme are from here, but it was the randomest, un-representative slant on things. The presenter said she has no Asian muslim friends, and that Arab muslim females and Asian muslim females are nothing alike. Err...what?! Who on earth believes there aren't similarities between any two women, regardless of their culture. Even the title was stupid.

Anyway, you can read much more detailed and insightful reviews and commentaries here and at this great blog

This article in The Observer is also really interesting. The writer says she was asked to be in the show but then rejected for too being western and "the fairly common, non-conflicting story where cultures don't clash, but sit quietly side by side with minimal effort required, is one that never gets the limelight."

But what I mainly wanted to show was, some stills from the episode when she went to Egypt (which was in my opinion the most interesting, least dodgy portrayal of the series). She went to this hijab styling boutique and got made over by the girls working in the shop who had the most dexterous skills in wrapping, weaving and sculpting, and produced these amazing creations:

This episode also featured one of the funniest quotes I have ever heard in relation to creating logic about why something is acceptable. A plastic surgeon, (or women who ran a cosmetic surgery clinic, I can't remember) when asked about her thoughts on the view that we shouldn't tamper with out bodies as we shouldn't change what God made, replied "God created us in a most beautiful form, and we have to take care of it. I believe God created plastic surgery too, and if we dont use it, it's also a sin"

Well, if it's a sin...

abandoned

2008-06-08T09:32:00.008+01:00

For our Friday night, me and my friend Erica went to an opening of an exhibition my friend organised and had work in. The space was amazing, a three storey abandoned warehouse. Great for taking blurry eerie photos.

I forgot to take pic of the toilet-piano area. The out-of-tune, spooky echoing melodies were a perfect accompaniment to going in there!

topaz

2008-06-05T09:52:00.006+01:00

Yesterday I finally realised my cycling intentions for the first time since the traumatic paint accident. We cycled through a sun-dappled green tunnel along the river which was lovely, except for all the nature making my allergies get crazy. Though a date, caramel and cinnamon ice cream did help to soothe it somewhat hehe.

At the weekend I got this dress at a car boot sale. It wasn't till I tried it on that I really became enamoured with it. Now I'm thinking its perhaps one of my best finds (of the 2nd hand/thrifted type that is), especially since it was £5. I'f I ever go to a ball, this will be my gown.

Practicing ball type dancing you know.

trick up my sleeve

2008-06-03T15:01:00.010+01:00

Remember the kids dress I posted recently, the one I said the sleeves were too tight. My original idea was to just cut a slit in the sleeve, and continue the red curved stitching up the slit. However after I did that I decided I didn't like it and that it only highlighted the fact that my arm was too big for the sleeve.

So, I began rummaging around in one of many many boxes of fabric, this one being one given to me by my grandma, of fabrics and things she had made; embroidery and crochet and all sorts of things which stir up my memory and imagination. I found theses piece of embroidery. I think they were place settings. And I thought they'd be just perfect to use.

I just cut a section out and sewed it over the gap, leaving the top part open, but fastened with a button, so it's kind of a pocket. I'm so pleased with it, the red and the white of the flowers goes exactly with the red and white detail of the dress. I had been thinking this dress makes me look like a doll in a ridiculous kind of way, but now with the additions I've made to the sleeve I'm liking it so much.

I do kinda look like I just stepped out of a fairytale though, especially if you wear bow in your hair like this! Which is too overly cutesy for me, so I don't think I'll ever wear the two together.

Anyway this box of stuffs is like treasure for me, I'm properly amazed by the stuff my grandma made, I couldn't even begin to get my head around making this kind of stuff. Some of the bits of lace and ribbon I've used in work before but there is still lots to be explored.

And here is a pic of my grandma and friends in Barbados, probably about the same age as I am now. I just love their swimming costumes! I wish they made more like this nowadays, rather than endless badly fitting skimpy bikinis. These are much more stylish.

I see girls...

2008-06-02T22:23:00.005+01:00

Apparently guys are no longer content with simply making tasteless flirty comments as girls pass by in the street, now they have moved on to slowing down as they drive by, rolling down the window and blowing kisses. Yesterday I was treated to this and the guy's oh-so-witty repartee from the car window. First was the blowing kisses as they drove by, then some metres down the road they pulled over as if to park. Me being suspicious began to rummage in my bag pretending to search for keys/mobile, as I approached the car, so I would be occupied if they started. I was starting to feel a bit paranoid and stupid for being suspicious when one of them said "Hey, hey, hello, don't you believe in love at first sight?" to which his friend in the passenger seat added "Come on, don't break his heart!" Oh so romantic, how could we not fall for these so delightful advances? I was so glad I had been suspicious and didn't have to do the staring fixedly into the distance, pretending I can't hear you thing.

The thing is, I just don't get it. What's the point? What do they think they're going to get out of it? And none of my male friends do this, so what makes certain guys feel the need to? It's more the "Hey baby" etc calls that bother me than the longer more drawn out advances. At least they're trying, in a very lame way, to be constructive, and it is vaguely amusing sometimes. What's worse is the "tst-tst" / "tch-tch" noises. It sounds like you're talking to an animal, really, what is the point. The other thing I don't get is, why me? It seems to be pretty constant and yet, I don't make a special effort to dress up all pretty and femenine all the time, I don't show a lot of skin (not that that's an acceptable reason for guys to act this way, but that is what happens), and I really don't think it's that they appreciate my vintage + handmade attire. Although, that would be rather cool. I guess it just comes down to the anything with a pulse will do criteria.

I guess I am just finding it all rather tiresome. Except for one comment I heard today. As I sat down on the bus, sitting near me was a very little kid who said, "A lady! Look at the lady mummy! She got nice twirly hair!"
Twirly hair! I think it's the perfect description.

long time no post

2008-06-02T10:58:00.008+01:00

Exams are over finally, thank god. I didn't do much to celebrate except for a brief detour into a charity shop and a frugal expenditure of £1.50 on these shades, buttons and scarf.

These are kinda tacky I know. But used in a certain way they'll look cool.

I like the two-tone crochet thing going on.

Yesterday was my friend Erica's "I hope it doesn't rain birthday party barbiequeue". I did not rain which was a lucky surprise. I forgot to take pictures of what I made for her or any of the barbequeing action though. Part of her gift involved one of the buttons above, collaged images from Hansel and Gretel, and beads turned into a brooch. It started out being cute but then kind of went a bit disturbing in a Hitchcock's Birds kinda way. But I like to think of it as if the witch from Erica's film 'One for Sorrow' were also the witch from Hansel and Gretel. You kinda have to see it for that to make sense.

Wow, now I'm free to do all the makings I want and go on some hardcore charity shop hauling. It feels weird.

a moment of insomnia

2008-05-26T02:10:00.002+01:00

I can't sleep.
Anyone know where this skirt is from? It's amazing.

Ah, I've answered my own question.
Goodnight.

big kid

2008-05-22T12:14:00.015+01:00

Taking a day off from revision, I went to what is becoming my favourite charity shop, the location of which is top secret hehe. But it's the same one I got my sewing box and all the patterns and ASOS pencil skirt and other things. I'm somewhat a fan of kids clothes, one the nicest, best-fitting pair of jeans I have are from the kids department, and my ladybird top which got me so many compliments from the glamourous grannies is from the kids department. So I picked up these two kids dresses to try on.

The black one (£2) I kept, it's like a big smock top on me, the cuffs are a little tight, but I've got a trick up my sleeve to fix that. But I had to admit defeat with the yellow one and resign myself to that fact that I'm not age 6. It was so cute tho! The white over layer you could detach and wear over something else.
I also got these patterned tights, Dior darling, for 50p. They turned out to be stockings (well yes, it does say that on the packet) so I'm not quite sure whether they're supposed to stay up by themselves or what yet.
It's funny how you see things that previously you never would have worn, being worn by other people, and suddenly you discover their appeal. I kept seeing so many bloggers wearing really high wedges, or just really big heels in general, and wondering, how can they bear to wear that all day, and run around and be comfortable.
Time to play spot your feet girls.

So curiosity led me to try these on. That and the fact I'm getting drawn to all things leather and strappy, which I suppose is the gladiator effect, or the reverse gladiator effect.
I found them so be surprisingly comfy-ish, and after wearing them all day, and walking quite a lot, my feet were sore and tired, but way less painful than pointier non-wedge heels. So I'm kinda pleasantly surprised.

We had such a nice afternoon, skipping about in the sun along the southbank...
they were setting up the space outside the national theatre for these free summer shows and dances etc...I love the giant grass lamp!

and also setting up these images of the front of tate modern, for the upcoming street art exhibition. They've never altered the outside appearance of the tate, and I really like it
.

We also stopped off in my beloved Leon hehe, these are the stools which have been on my "to-do" making list, since about 5 years, when I first saw them in this Africa Remix exhibition. Watch this space, hopefully over summer, my take on them will come to life.

this almost never happens

2008-05-19T14:46:00.008+01:00

Yesterday when I was walking home, I spotted this box being thrown out, outsides someone's house. I'd been looking around for ages, to find one exactly like this, cheaply. They go for about a tenner on ebay, but I wanted much cheaper than that naturally. After knocking on the door to check if they were actually chucking it out, a group of boys in their late teens, games consoles in hand gathered at the door and watched with bemusement as this stangely dressed girl pounced on the rubbish in their yard.
I have somewhat fallen for my sewing box I got a few weeks back, despite the overly floral granny chitz, so I wont be using this wooden one for my sewing stuff, but it will definately be very useful.

I think I'll paint it, and perhaps stencil/freehand some design on it, then replace the existing handles with some pretty ceramic ones like this.

Any ideas for colours/patterns? I am eternally indecisive after all.

coco

2008-05-19T14:30:00.003+01:00

My dad came back from a long work trip in Jamaica, and lucky me got gifts...

So yesterday for the first time in ages my moroccan-ish leather bag got a break, as my stuff was nestled in this bag made from coconut shells...And the book is a notebook with some nice, very "me" style decorations inside..

I also really liked the carrier bag!

write me a letter

2008-05-14T11:48:00.007+01:00

The girl on the tube with my name necklace has fuelled a renewed name/word jewellery obsession.

I'd kill for some word rings....or some jewellery saying "Oh my days!"...just so my brother could say to me as he often does, 'Just what is it exactly about your days? What happened to your nights?'

While searching for those I also found these...
kitschy cute

rad rad rad

Mario necklace from http://www.lyrics4lyrics.com/
the others from:
www.gangstagold.com
www.tattydevine.com
thomasnayler.co.uk
http://www.unusualdesign.com
www.zahras.com

them feet them tickle

2008-05-13T23:36:00.015+01:00

My wardrobe is far from empty, yet I can't resist charity shops...I figured that if you see something amazing, you should just get it cos else you'll regret it later. Then later if you change your mind you can always sell it / give it to a friend / use it to make something else. And at the end of the day, the money is going to charity. I may not have a monthly direct debit set up but I might as well do since 90% of my clothing purchases are of the 2nd hand charity shop nature. I don't know why I'm trying to justify this to myself! I found this top at this "discount" charity shop near by. I'm not sure how or why its discount, but everything is cheap and I always find something unusual. This top reminds me of the irrefutably rad M.I.A, with the neon tie-dye and all.
I'm not trying to pose all badass, just the sun was in my eyes. I am a total badass tho, obviously. It'd be killer with some cool crisp cut-off shorts but I haven't got the legs nor the guts for that so jeans will have to do.

I also got this....which, ok looks a little crazy, but ignore the shape, it's the print, this metallic purple wood effect. It could be very cool transformed into something else. Any ideas?? It has insanely exaggerated shoulders but it's actually kinda small, so not a large amount of fabric to play with.

And now I have an excuse to post lots of fabulous M.I.A pics

These ones I took at her gig last year. The camera was being so cool at capturing movement that night.

Ok, ok I'll stop now.

it's here

2008-05-13T11:08:00.007+01:00

Summer that is. At least for now. I was digging around in the back of the wardrobe for something that wasn't woollen or long-sleeved or generally wintery, and found this dress. I'm not crazy about it or anything, it was more of a necessity purchase. I was in Valencia last summer and at one point it was super hot (still 35 degrees at midnight one day), so I needed something breezy, and got this.

Just checking the neighbours weren't watching me.

But to avoid the attention of the delightful guys who have nothing better to do than hang in the doorways of the various selubrious fast-food joints we have in the area, and pass comments to every girl that walks past, it is necessary for a little cover up. It is an overdose of khaki green I'm afraid.

Alas the dark circles refuse to desist!

all that glitters

2008-05-10T00:25:00.004+01:00

I'm watching Santogold on Later with Jools...Her dancers are looking as rad as they did when I saw her supporting M.I.A, in their robotic wayfaring fabulousness. Also, recently a poster for her debut album has popped up near where I live. This is going to sound stupid without a photo to back it up, (but I don't have one due the speeding past the poster on bus) but the gold part of the poster, is erm, really gold. All glittery and eye-catching.

Luckliy I've found some pics online:

pics from here

check out Santogold's shimmery radness here

out and about

2008-05-08T15:15:00.021+01:00

Lots to show and tell...

Yesterday and today I had exams, ick, but on the plus side the temperatures gone up by like 10 degrees and it's gloriously sunny. The place we have exams in is called the royal horticultural halls. I don't know what horticultural business they get up to in there but there are some pictures of plants on the outside of the building

So yesterday I wore my birds tie-belt with this floral shirt. I liked so much the idea that the birds were sitting in the flowers/trees...ah simple pleasures.. If I could get hold of the wood print fabric I saw once with Eric, and made a skirt, it'd be a fully themed tree oufit!

On the way to exams yesterday, I found the uh, more direct route, (rather than the long stupid route I took last time that got me lost) and along the way found this cute little street with a little market, and some semi-unusual shops. There was this jeweller which had these so cute charms in the window...

They are well pricey as you can see, but they are gold lol...But they had some in silver which were much cheaper. I was thinking on my last day of exams I might treat myself to a silver one. Althought judging by my performance so far, I'm not sure I deserve one. There is one which looked like one of these old-fashioned tills you get in the Italian cafes in Soho, but on closer inspection it was one of those gambling machine thingys.

In this new-found street they also had this hairdresser. I was also thinking to get my hair cut there after the last exam, I mean, whyyyy not?!

On the way I also passed the Channel 4 headquarters, which I guess if you pass every day isn't that exciting but I found the building quite interesting.

As you round the corner these red metal blocks come together...

...to form the 4 sign.

Since yesterday, with the arrival of the sun, everyone had busted out their summer dresses, so I decided to join them.
Recently I was getting annoyed that all I could find in the shops were footless tights, and I wanted my feeted ones. But I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing this out with as much bare legage as this dress shows, so now they've come back into my favour.

I've been pondering name necklaces for a while, and then today, opposite me on the tube, this girl had a necklace with my name in arabic. I mean I'm sure it's her name too, but it was a funny coincidence. Actually I wasn't wearing my glasses so I couldn't exactly how many dots there were so it could have been "Suqi"...but I'm jus gona think it was Sofi hehe. She was probably just wondering what I was doing staring at her chest.

So today I got more of a chance to look at the market, which sells some random, funny, and lovely things. There were some weird pyjamas and big granny pants which reminded me of when I was really little, there was this market we used to go to in Spain, and apparently I used to complain about going there because, according to little me, it was all table cloths and big pants. Nowadays you'll never find me complaining about a trip to a market.

There was also this stall selling so many sooo nice dresses...I could've easily bourght any of them..So I was taking some pics, so I could think about it and come back later.
This one had little heart-shaped buttons.

But in the end I decided on the red one, which was one of the more simple and less detailed ones, but I realised I have lots of patterned stuff already, and I have nothing red.
When I tried it on I found it's too big around the sides...I think it looks a bit weird like this.. This was the smallest size they had so I can't exchange it for a smaller one, so I think I'll have to change it for a different style. I think I'll have to drag someone along to help me choose because there were so many and I'm bad in making desicions.

So all in all the exam trips have been sweetened somewhat.

sonic recycler

2008-05-06T13:48:00.004+01:00

Coming up...a night of reinvented sounds, recycled music, films, installations...
Yours truly will have my stall there selling my recycled wares..
And there's gona be a guy turning cds into vinyl! I don't know how exactly, but for sure I'm gona take along some cds and find out!

* Oh, and thanks so much for all the so nice comments about the things I've been making, it's so lovely to hear that...Especially the tie-belts, I'm very proud of my little invention hehe... *

reVamp launch

2008-05-05T23:17:00.012+01:00

revamping

2008-04-29T17:38:00.015+01:00

On Sunday I went to drop off the results of about a months work for reVamp. I posted about reVamp here a while ago, but to explain more about it, here's a quote from the press release:

"Cancer Research UK has joined forces with reVamp, the eco-couture designers, to launch an exclusive collection of clothing and accessories recycled from stock donated to Cancer Research UK shops.

reVamp’s collection, on sale in May, showcases the best in established and emerging design talent from across the UK. The collection will be available to buy at the Marylebone High Street Cancer Research UK shop in London, and online at the Cancer Research UK eBay store. "

So as I said in the previous post, Eric came and modelled the pieces I made, and here are some pics:
(I posted the "before" pics in this post)

We had to choose one piece to be shown at the launch, which is going to be on Thursday, so I've chosen the silver skirt with one of my tie-belts. I'm so excited for the launch, if it weren't raining and there wasn't studying to be done I'd be out skipping or dancing or some sort of celebratory bopping.

Tie-belts are something I started making about a year ago, to sell on my stall/etsy with my other recycled jewellery and accessories. As you can probably tell from this blog I'm quite the charity shop lurker, and I always used to see loads of ties in charity shops, so I dedided to make use of them. The cool part is that the way I make them, they can be fastened in different ways so that you can wear it around the waist, on the hip, in your hair...or anywhere else! So when I went to collect materials from Cancer Research I scooped up a stash of ties and here's what they look like now...

Now I just got to figure out that constant question, what to wear to the launch...

gifting

2008-04-28T07:50:00.012+01:00

The trouble is with Erica is.....there is no trouble with Erica hehehe, I just found this pic completely randomly on Google image search a while ago and wanted to slip it in somehow. My friend Erica came round a few days ago to do some modelling for me, which was fab and very useful. It was the first time we saw each other since she came back from holiday in Japan and lucky me, kind Eric had brought me gifts!!
A quick look around this blog and you might notice I have quite a think for pocket watches, and low and behold...

and from the back...

I like it verrrry much, thanks so much eric !
Not only this but some biscuits which are somewhat depleted now hehe

And these candles which were not from Japan but Eric said they reminded her of me because of the henna-like designs. These are so lovely, I shall save them for a special soiree. It's been sooo long since I did any henna :(
So thanks you so much to Erica. Now the cool thing is I have a little gift for her, if she likes it. The other day I was in the hidden-away charity shop behind the supermarket, and spotted these shoes, the gold horse reminded me of Eric's horse necklace/brooch/earring she got at the car boot.
I don't know, they've got the "they're a little bit wrong which makes them so great" factor which is why I liked them. If Eric doesn't like them, they can go on ebay.
The interesting thing is, they once cost £75 from Kurt Geiger !!! And, that whoever bourght them, decided to sew their name tag into them (who does that past the age of 12?!) and then cross it out in marker pen. Seems sensible to me. I removed this so now theres just a faint line of dots. But still, tsk, what a stupid way to damage shoes.
I also spotted these which I liked but were a size too big, so I got them for my mum who I'm trying to convince of their radness. She's yet to be enamoured. So again, if she doesn't like, they'll be ebayed.

my brother, style icon

2008-04-24T07:45:00.025+01:00

Yesterday was my brother's birthday, he turned 15. I say style icon because, whenever anyones makes any comment on his clothes, he nonchalantly shrugs and jokingly says, "Well..yeah..I'm a style icon". He's not exactly passionate about clothes,(although I did find some wardrobe diary shots in his phone the other day) but he does put together some rad combos that most teenage boys would dismiss as "looking gay". My favourite was a pastel turquoise hoodie with bright fushia gloves he found somewhere. Anyway, I was searching to get him something other than clothes as a present, since he's got his own style, but in the end I got these screen-printed t-shirts (the guy I bourght them from designs and prints them himself) and these red shades.

I can't believe how much he's growing up, I'm older by 6 years but it looks the other way round. Not only in his looks either, he's so comfortable with himself, and fun and witty, (I think we have the same sarcastic gene) and just cool without trying or being aware of it. I was definately none of these when I was 15. He also is really creative, he's into street art and recently got this air spray gun for doing designs and stencils etc and he's got the other kids at school paying him to designs on their t-shirts and caps. I gotta get in that queue, I want my own t-shirt by him. So this post is dedicated to my little bro who is the bestest brother in the world I tell ya.

On Sunday we went to Battersea Park and mainly messed about and played at taking stupid pics of ourselves...It was so much fun I laughed non-stop.

We took loads of these and I had animated them so you could see the oh-so athletic and graceful jumps in action, hehe, but for some reason blogger doesn't want to show these.

As my dad often randomly says "It's all fun and games till somebody loses an eye/limb" Well no lost eyes just a bump on the head.

I can see clearly now...

2008-04-22T21:33:00.005+01:00

la la la...my new glasses came. Yes, I was supposed to get new glasses ages ago, but I didn't see any I liked in the optician. Then I found this site, glasses crafter which has thousands of really nice glasses, really cheap. They're made and shipped from China, and I know, with some products, people hear "made in china" and immediately think cheap, bad quality, but as they point out on their website "Shanghai...where over 90% of the world''s eyewear is made including designer brands like Oakley, Gucci, Prada and Ray Bans" I really think the quality is fab, they seem really great, I'm really happy with them. Ok so you can't try them on before you buy, but they show various angles on the website, and the saving is seriously worth it. It total, with shipping, prescription lenses and all, it came to £33. In any optician on the high street, the average would be £70. Last time I went to the optician they reduced my prescription...apparently my eyes have got better. I'm not sure about that but I'm tyring to get used to the new lenses.

I seem to have perfected the art of looking weird in photos. I actually look like I'm trying to pose for those, 'looking into the distance, oh! whats that?' glasses adverts.

petite inspiration du jour

2008-04-17T17:15:00.007+01:00

Millionaire video -Kelis ft. Andre 3000
Watching this video the other day reminded me of some clips I've got from when I was about 3ish. The video is amazing and these clips are so cute. Does kinda increase my being mistaken for being about 5 years younger than my age though.

I've also got these sheep ones.

Today I'm tediously slow in not getting my essay done. I blame Shadi and the brain game. It's procrastination au max. Still, I've beat his high score so thats something!

Also I've been tagged by lovely Jovana

These are the rules:
* Create a link to the person who tagged you.
* Mention the rules for this game on your blog.

* Tell 6 unimportant things/(bad) habits (unspectacular quirks) about you.

* After answering the questions tag six other people and link them in your blog.
*Tell the people you've tagged about it in their own blogs.

Hmm Hmm Hmm! This is hard. The thing is about quirks is that you don't seem to notice them about yourself until someone points this out to you. hmmm here goes:

1. I always have to shake/check my towel before I go in the shower and when I get out, and the same with my duvet before I get into bed. For insects naturally. Not because there are above average number of insects where I live, but you never know. It happened to me once in both instances. I wrapped the towel around me and there was a big spider sitting on my shoulder. Ick. (My mum was amused after catching me doing this once, hence I know it's peculiar).

2. I've got a patch of grey hair. Which for a 20 year old isn't that cool! What did I say about kiddy-grandma clash-crash?

3. The most frequently asked question of me is, Where are you from? (As in ethnicity, not post code) I guess thats not a quirk of mine, more a quirk of others reaction to my appearance. The guesses are varied and always wrong hehe.

4. When the water goes cold in the shower I immediately assume someone has broken in and is fiddling with the taps in the kitchen. Because, you know, that must be the first thing on an intruders list, never mind stealing stuff.

5. I've got a birth mark on my face which looks like a bruise. I can barely notice it, but I swear on some days it must become darker than others, because on certain days everyone will be asking me :O, did you have an accident? what happened to your face? when the rest of the time they don't notice it.

6. I always prefer to write in black, not blue. It's just better.

And so I'm tagging:
Come Thrifting with Me
Fashion Robot
Jezmine the Shopper
Rose
The Everyday Question
Diary of a Third World Fashionista

I've tried to tag people who haven't been tagged with this one before....so sorry if you already got this one.

button me up

2008-04-14T23:17:00.002+01:00

So I just won these on ebay. The price wasn't too bad either. Sweeeet.

bow to bow

2008-04-13T21:26:00.008+01:00

Today I saw Son of Rambow and it was really so good. I thought it would be good, but it was even better than I expected. The storyline was cool, it wasn't predictable and there were no cheesy "sentimental" moments forced in as there sometimes are in films about childhood and friendship. And the kids who played the two lead characters were such great actors, all of the characters were fab really. All in all, go see! you'll laugh a lot and enjoy
Look at the pink elephant badge on his hat, and he had crossed over matches sellotaped to his coat, as a substitute for a crossed sword badge I guess. Yup the costumes were cool as well.

I finally got around to altering this bow shirt I had bourght in a sale at charity shop Traid ages ago. It was 5 sizes too big so now it's muchly improved for wearing.

So I wore the netball skirt, I felt like suuuch a kid wearing this today. I found a new ledge to position the camera on, but for some reason the pics were not in focus...hmm hmm.In the end I had to change shoes because of the stupid changable weather.

Shirt & skirt ; 2nd hand/charity shop, shoes on left;River Island, shoes on right; Zara

paintbox shed catastrophe

2008-04-12T00:38:00.008+01:00

Recently I had the brainwave notion of getting my bike which I haven't used in several years out of the shed, and encouraging the arrival of Spring by cycling around in the sun in a most quaint and carefree manner. So, today I attempted to remove it from the shed, which is somewhat stuffed full of various stuff and somewhat of an obstacle course. Well I managed to manouvre it out, then a few seconds later I hear a crash...and I discover a tub of paint has fallen and smashed over everywhere! And so ensues a frantic chucking out of all the contents of the shed before the seeping pool of turquoise spreads everywhere. Lucky the cat wasn't prowling around otherwise there'd be a pretty nasty flying secateurs accident. Then there is the question of how exactly do you clean up a thick pool of emulsion? Armed with a spatula and an empty Carte D'Or box, thats how. An hour later, I've just about managed to clean up all the paint, put back the contents of the shed, and have finished scrubbing my decidedly green hands with white spirit, am about to take a look at the bikes, and I'm considering it a pretty well dealt with disaster situation, when, what do I hear? Thunder....a hardcore vicious hailstorm...so there I am trying to throw the bikes back into the shed whilst being pounded with hailstones, a very productive morning lol.

Anyways this evening I went to a couple of exhibitions at Tate Modern then had dinner at Leon. At this point I should talk about the art, and give some deep and meaningful insight into what I saw. Instead I'm gona rave about how much I love Leon. Even though it's a (small) chain, each branch is so unique and I just adore the interiors, with the quirky 70s ornaments, old books, odd non-matching chairs, lampshades made from large tinned food cans and stools made from those large cans for building materials or wholesale size oil. (I first saw those in an exhibition called Africa Remix, which incidentally is my favoutite exhibition of all time, so far! And since then have been meaning to do a project making some) Not to mention the food which is just my idea of perfect, very healthy too and at very sensible prices. It is just like what my restaurant would be like if I ever had one. Anyway, end of rant about how great it is, here are some pics, they don't really do it justice, just trust me it's fab.

electric eclectic

2008-04-10T10:52:00.012+01:00

Make ya mind up! (Tho I'd prefer the latter please)

On my way to pick up a zip and some other sewing requirements, I passed by one of my fave charity shops (the one I get old sewing patterns from) which always yields fantastic bargains, even when you're trying to resist. I actually went in there because my boyfriend wanted to get some tennis raquets, ( which he did, nearly new, £2 and £3) but yus, as I said, it's impossible to leave without getting something. Sooo...
I found this sewing box. Ok. It's not the perfect sewing box, the fabric is a bit too chintzy and overly floral/ruffly etc, but I've been searching for the perfect sewing box for ages and it's either to expensive or doesn't exist. So I decided, for a fiver this one will do, it beats my threads getting tangled up in a shoe box any day. I thought I might paint over it and stencil on my own design, or cover it with some other fabric, but maybe thats all a bit long winded...It seems my style is somewhat grannyish anyway, so I might as well just give into it!

And it's really roomy which is great.

I also got some patterns of course...(20p each)

Some very circa 1980s tights....which turned out to be kinda crap actually...totally transparent, you really can't tell they're green or white, it's more kinda weird ghostly pale.

And this pleated electric blue skirt, which is obviously someones old P.E / netball/ hockey skirt hehe but so what I like it. I moved the buttons slightly so it would sit a little lower cos I'm a bit paranoid about showing too much legs. Believe it or not it was only relatively recently that I really started wearing skirts. I mean, I would wear them a few times a year, in formal occasions and a couple of times in Summer when I was feeling carefree, or occasionally wear them over jeans, but aside from that I didn't have the confidence for them. But then I decided, theres to many nice skirts and dresses out there to deny myself this option! And since then I've been loving them. Sounds kinda stupid but was a big clothing step for me hehehe.

And yes! It was someones old school sport skirt...somebody called Hollie

Must...get...back...to...studies...sun..is..TOO..tempting!

snow and a whole lot of sewing

2008-04-06T10:46:00.019+01:00

Well I got up all bright and early in anticipation of going to chiswick car boot sale and found....it's snowing.....in april!! Despite the fact that the blossom is out and it's been sunny all week, and that it's supposed to be Spring! Argh, so no bargain hunting for me.

Last night I altered the charity shop red dress. After googling the label, I found that is it indeed corporate wear, so yes, it did used to be someones uniform! I just can't imagine what company's uniform this was really! I'm really loving it....mmm rolled-up-sleeve-buttons!

Apparently this week I can't seem to get a shot with all of me in frame, so be prepared for a lot of half bodies. This week I've been making skirts for ReVamp. The first one actually was a test, to see how the pattern would come out, and was some left over material from the costumes I made for eric's film, so this one is for me actually hehe.

I wore it out the other night, and I really love it, it makes such a nice outfit. I really should've taken a better pic before I went out, as I did my hair in a nice old-fashioned up-do with gold hairband, but I was in a rush. How come getting ready always takes longer than you think? So anyway all I've got is this blurry knackered at 3am minus hairstyle pic. The background is what the seating area looks like if you're a VIP hehe.

Actually we didn't have such a great time as other times we've been there. There was this crazy girl who was harassing/hassling people, and doing really over the top, throwing herself around dancing. She randomly came up to us and told my boyfriend she was a double secret undercover agent, then called me a slapper and a bitch, which I thought was a little unfair, since at this point her left boob was hanging out of her erm, classy top, from all the frenetic dancing and the minimalist nature of her attire. (And I don't mean a little bit, I mean all of it, sophisticated eh) Anyway at this point she got chucked out, but it kinda spoilt the mood.

This was supposed to be a pic of my necklace I'd quickly made earlier that day, but its kinda tangled and blurred again....Oh well.
Any good dark circle remedies anyone??

So here are my first makings for ReVamp They are all variations I did on the same sewing pattern. I'm not as satisfied with these as I am for the first skirt....the zips don't sit as nicely...I guess the pattern better suits heavy weight material like the first skirt. Which is a real shame because I was getting all excited about the pattern, and just to be sewing again in general. So now I think I'll move onto something different.....there may be some blouse pictures coming in a few days...

I put some black and white checked buttons as a change from the polka dots

and here's what it was before...a shapeless oversized 80's dress

(I really had to put them on to show how un-flattering and unstylish they look...on the hanger really didn't do it justice!)

No.2
before:

mmm an 80's paisley monstrosity!
after:

I'm really not satisfied with the shape of this paisley one...I think I'll have to alter it.

Apparently I forgot to take a before pic of this one, oh no! But just imagine more dodgy 80's style...
the print really reminded me of sporting stuff/school team houses and Griffindor for some reason, even though I'm really not a Harry Potter fan, so I added these lion head buttons.

Hopefully when my friends are back in town and not busy, I will rope them into some modelling and get some much better pics of these than me running away from the self timer.

A non-stop sewing,sewing,sewing week...very,very,very enjoyable. I'm so glad to be on study leave from uni, and so so not glad at the prospect of having to get on with revision soon :( Still, if I can mix in a bit of sewing alongside revision, I think I'll be ok!

a lucky day

2008-04-04T17:51:00.009+01:00

Yesterday began with ringing into the radio to enter a competition to win VIP tickets to mumbai nights. Mumbai Nights is a club night/dinner and dance at the Skybar at the Sheraton hotel. The bar is surrounded with palm trees and plants with a swimming pool in the middle. It's rather pricey for a club, but you get snacks, the surroundings are pretty impressive, and the music's great.
Anyhow, we tried our luck, and...our call got put through, we got the question right, and we won, we won!! So, do you know, what is the fastest animal on two legs?
I was sooo excited to win really...I can't think of anything I've won before..So that was lucky event number 1

Then I dragged my boyfriend to rummage through the goodies at Traid, (well he benefitted quite nicely from it too, with two shirts) and when we got to Hammersmith we found they were having a food market so lucky us we got hot-hot bourek and falafel for breakfast. While we were eating I spotted this girl with faces on her trousers...

In Traid they were playing insane screamy techno, which really wasn't conducive to shopping! I didn't see anything I fell in love with, and I guess I was kinda conscious that I have lots of materials from ReVamp, and the Ikea boxes under my bed are overflowing with my fabrics, so I'm not desperate for new materials. That also reminds me, I really need to come up with some new storage solution for fabrics...
Anyway I just picked up a couple of XL dresses which could be used for materials, but I think this red one I will adjust to my size to wear. The thing that swung it for me was the folding-up-sleeves-button detail thingy, because recently I've had a mini-obsession about this feature!

On further inspection, I think it's actually some kind of work uniform! It's really long, and the fabric is really think, heavy polyester, and it has this attachment for pining on badges without making holes in the fabric; i.e for an employee badge perhaps. Anyway with a few alterations I think it'll make a nice dress.

This is the other dress.

I'm not so sure about the pattern on it now, but I think when it's made into something else it'll work. I think I was drawn to the colour combination because it's exactly the same as one of my woven rubber handbags I used to make.

I also got some simple black heels. I'm really stuck when it comes to shoes for going out-parties-clubs etc since all I tend to wear is flats and boots. So something simple in black to go with everything is what I was after!

Well I had better go attempt to do something with my hair and face and get my dancing shoes on.

and just to cap it all off...

2008-04-03T18:24:00.007+01:00

(yus, cheesy pun)

Last night I dropped by my local arts centre. It's somewhere I like a lot cos it's just accross the road and they've got a cinema, exhibition space, theatre/dance space and bar/restaurant. One time me and erica took part in a dance show and once I had a stall selling my handmade stuffs at a recyling event there. Sadly it's not used enough because frankly they don't advertise themselves well, you couldn't even tell that there is an arts centre there if you walked past. Anyhow, we're kinda friendly with the guys who run the restaurant, and recently I asked them to collect bottle caps for me, since they just end up getting thrown away anyway. I used to just ask everyone I know to save them for me, but now I realised I need a larger supply. So it's only just over a week since I asked them (and it's really not the busiest bar ever) but look how wonderfully proud they've done me!

It's a properly massive stash so looks like I'd better get busy! Hopefully soon they'll be looking more like this:

and this:

I'm also trying to think of something nice to do for the restaurant guys to say thank you....any ideas??

yeah we're hungry like the wolves hunting dinner dinner

2008-04-02T14:35:00.005+01:00

Needless to say, I'm a tad bit excited...

I also noticed yesterday that TRAID in hammersmith are having another £3 sale, so I might just have to swing by tomorrow. As my previous post from the last time they had a sale suggested, I get somewhat excitable. So I'll go along with some restraint and mental lists of what's necessary (???) and what's not ( " This would be really useful for if I ever...." No, no, no, that obscure fantasy occasion will never occur, put it back!)

that evasive catchy title

2008-03-30T20:50:00.010+01:00

The past couple of days were spent on a little jaunt to Manchester, cafeing, exhibitioning, shopping and dancing. What I like about Manchester is that the cool, quirky independent places are not so overpriced and pretentious as they can be in London. And there's quite a lot of vintage/handmade/unusual shops. My favourite is JUNK which is just like how my own dream shop would be. They sell handmade recycled/re-made and vintage stuffs (hence Sufu's dream shop) and the shop itself is made from reclaimed stuff; telephone receivers for doorhandles etc...aah it's rad.

I was very taken with this necklace in Urban Outfitters. It's a little envelope which you can open and close with a letter inside. Normally I never go into UO cos the first time it opened here, I went in and saw scarves you can buy in any market for £1, being sold for £14, and the whole place seemed so hideously overpriced I have ever since rejected it. However, on holiday, I thought hey why not. Well this necklace is kinda cute but for £14 !!! Argh they are living up to my overpriced pretentious expectations. A quick search online and I've found quite a few, in particular, one for £8 (incl. p+p) but, the thing is with me, I get these random obsessions with things (owls, pocket watches) which tend to disappear as soon as I get my hands on them. So I can't decide whether to fork out for this one...?? So no purchases for me. My boyf got this red cardi tho...I love the colour..you can't really see in this pic but it has this cute top button detailing thingy.

We found this gallery we hadn't been to last time, Urbis, which was really great. They had this Manga exhibition, an advertising exhibition and an exhibition of fashion designer Matthew Williamson. (And yes, you could take pictures inside)
the manga exhibition, and my shirt-dress which I adore
visitors' manga style drawings
matthew williamson prints

A little outfit-y/room-y pic...again you can't really see but it's a neony floral top,braces and my layered socks+granny shoes.

And thankfully no pics of me dancing hehehehe

ReVamp

2008-03-25T09:53:00.007Z

Last Summer I was invited to participate in a new social enterprise which was being created, ReVamp, which was being formed to promote aspiring designers and artists who provide a sustainable, ecological alternative to high street fashion. The aim was to build a designer collective to produce recyled, reconstructed and revamped items of clothing/accessories from pre-used materials donated to charity shops, which would then get sold in the charity shops. (Cancer Research UK charity shops). Obviously, this was a perfect opportunity for me and a very exciting one too. Aaaand, a few months down the line, things are taking off. A couple of days ago I went to rummage through a room of materials, a treasure hunt through unwanted garments in need of a facelift. It was so exciting really! From a quick glance at this blog, it's probably quite obvious I adore charity shops, for getting materials for making my recycled/reconstructed things and for getting bargain oufits. So indeed it's right up my street, and I'm very very excited to get started.
I got loads of ties to be transformed into tie-belts...

..a few shirts/dresses to be transformed into things which will be revealed here soon..

and some pair-less single earrings,buttons and brooches to adorn them..

So today I'm on a mass laundering/ironing mission getting everything ready to be re-made.

http://www.revampfashion.co.uk/

*EXCITED*

i'm back!

2008-03-21T17:34:00.028Z

I was away for a few days. I was in Valencia and it was good good good. I'd never been in VLC for this particular time of year which is Fallas...I'd try to explain but this guy puts it so much better,
"During the year, over 350 Valencian communities construct huge colourful fallas-sculptures (2 each = around 800 in total) made of wood and papier-mache. The fallas are usually satirical in content and often elaborate works of art, some as high as 25 metres.
On the 15th of March the fallas get planted throughout the city and Valencia explodes with the party. Millions of petards are set to explode, there are state-of-the-art fireworks twice a day and a buzzing nightlife complete with mobile discos and concerts. For the next four days the entire city takes to the streets to walk around and enjoy the fallas-sculptures.
The fallas-communities themselves break out nomadic camps on the streets and cook paella on the pavement. On every street you walk, there is a parade of locals in traditional costumes and with music bands.
Every evening there is a colourful carnival in the central square of the city, with a different theme every night. On 16th it is the folkloric carnival. On 17th and 18th it is the Offer of the Flowers – a wooden silhouette of the Virgin in the plaza de la Virgin is filled in with carnations, brought by traditional parades in full colours and music. On 19th it is the Carnival of Fire." [from www.valenciavalencia.com]
So anyway, here are some of my pics (fallas, street style and ice cream/food related yumminess)

I can't say that I really love the sculptures themselves all that much, they are all a bit the same in style and all a bit Disney-ish,.. but some are funny and interesting in what their commenting on...

Here is one of the Fallas Infantiles (smaller ones for children) being rigged up with explosives..

and here it goes...

look at the little girl's face! aww

and this is the one we chose to watch getting burnt..

some amazing lights...

carnival of fire...fireworks are showered over everyone.literally. you just gotta shut your eyes and duck hehe

traditional dress

and little boujis

even littler bouj

*STREET STYLE*
I just had to share this Japanese tourist's holidaying outfit...hehe..

clearly in 25 degrees celcius, the perfect accessory is a woolly hat! it said 'WEST SIDE' or something properly ghetto on it..

hehe I wasn't stalking her I promise..

she was rockin it anyhow..

FOOD YUMMINESS
This pic is for Eric. When I posted that watermelon nail varnish, she had mentioned about a watermelon ice cream in Japan which she had loved but has dissappeared and I had a vague recollection of eating something similar as a kid in Spain. And indeed I was right....I didn't get a chance to try it tho so I cant report back about whether it has chocolate flavoured seeds...I will do my best to sample it in summer tho!

And....some will know I had somewhat of a kinder surprise obsession lol...so I was very excited to see these easter pastries with kinders!

Lastly here is a bracelet I bourght. Love love love it.

It's really similar to this ring I bourght there last year...cept it's not the same guy that made them I don't think...unless he grew his hair a lot!

hide and seek

2008-03-12T23:02:00.004Z

There's a charity shop on the way back from getting groceries which I've never been to (shocking I know!) simply because I couldn't find it! There's a sign but no shop....I'd looked around before but couldn't find it...But today I persisted in my search and around a few corners and a car park later I found it! And found these grandmother-ish shoes (not to be confused with my granny shoes)
They really are so old lady chic right?! I fell for the holes and the little folded tassles on the laces. And for £1 you can't resist.

oh and p.s...

2008-03-11T22:35:00.004Z

My shoe repair stick-on heels endeavor went very well! They're well and truly stuck on and resisting the rain! So I'd definately recommend it...Fixing broken things is so satisfying lol
(background is mine and my friend jen's work from last year and yes I'm eating yoghurt...multi-tasking!)
oh and we made pani puri...yum!

strike.match.light.fire

2008-03-11T21:18:00.008Z

Well I've been MIA for a while, drowning in essay-ness I'm afraid. But speaking of MIA, here something extra super cool that I found out. A couple of weeks ago on Facehunter I saw this pic,and thought wow that necklace is amazing. A few days later I found out it's part of the new jewellery line by Kali Arulpragasam (yes! M.I.A's sister) If you know me, then you know how much I LOVE M.I.A and now I'm in love with her sis' jewellery.
The new line is called Terroism Affects Tourism and is an attempt to "remind us of the underlying beauty of countries that have been marred by violence."

Here is what excerpt from an interview with her on clutchmagazine.com, I love the "Iraq is a great sporting nation in weight lifting?" point!

"The media seems to focus on the negative, so when you Google Iraq, for example, you get images of American soldiers with guns in rubble. This is not Iraq! Iraq has culture, music, fashion, children playing, sports champions, great architecture, etc. I wanted to create a positive tourism poster for the most dangerous countries that we cannot visit.

I started googling for positive elements of countries which are portrayed as being too dangerous to visit. Did you know that Iraq is a great sporting nation in weight lifting? Total surprise! I became a bit obsessed searching the internet, books and libraries. Surely there must be more to Lebanon? What are we missing about Colombia? The cultural diversity in the Central African Republic? Women’s fashion in Afghanistan? Amazing fishing community and tropical fish in the middle of Sudan? Finding all these little wonders from parts of countries becomes addictive. It was a duty and a mission to design a necklace showing the precious beauty of these nations in the form of a tourist poster portraying a proud identity. For example, Sudan in silver or gold becomes instantly precious. Anyone who comes across this collection gasps and wows, they pick their favorite countries by comparing the other countries, they pay attention to the subjects, images, details and cultures. The truth is that these little wonders have been there all along. These necklaces are to be cherished as are these nations."

Check out all her stuff at super fertile

maman

2008-03-02T20:12:00.006Z

Here's what I got my mum for mother's day. Not very handmade but they just caught my eye and they looked so lush and yummy. I also treated my mum to a roam around chiswick car boot hehe. We didn't get anything (no man-shoe sightings) but it was fun all the same. All was not lost on the shoe front tho, in the spirit of all things mumsical, I nicked some shoes off my mum. I stole them ages ago then returned them cos I wasn't sure about them. But now I'm really feeling them, they're like man-shoes with a twist; the twists being they're not really all that manly, and the little twists of elastic which hook around the little buttons to do them up.
These I teamed with some checks...
...and some more checks..

..and skipped off into the sun like an irrefutable dandy

make do and mend

2008-03-01T22:27:00.007Z

I'd been meaning post about these shoes I've got which have a massive casulty to the sole as you can see

Actually a lot of my shoes are worn out/with holes/dying...shoes always seem to get worn out so quickly, I dunno why..I guess I walk a lot, but still, it's no good. Anyway they're these cute canvas boots with a rubber sole, so you can't exactly get a new sole put on at the shoe repair place like you can with shoes with like a hard sole if ya get me.
So I had been wondering if anybody had any bright ideas of how I could fix it. I've usually got a remedy to fix anything, but this time I was stuck until .... I found these: how fab!! I haven't seen them before but here's hoping they work and I don't end up with my shoe sole flying off in the middle of the street. Not very stylish.

spring is in the air?

2008-03-01T19:40:00.014Z

The past couple of weeks, with the lack of rain and lots (ish) of sun (still well cold but sunny) I've been tentatively thinking perhaps Spring has arrived. The past couple of days have been more gloomy so perhaps I should still be cautious but the other day I got somewhat excited about it cos Spring means Summer will eventually be on it's way, meaning more sun, ice creams, watermelon, parks and picnics, yay! Thinking of that I did this:which was supposed to be watermelons but it came out kinda crap so I took it off. Less rain also means I can wear my shu-boots again without worrying I'm going to drown in them, so in celebration of that I put together an outfit based around the green-blue of the shu-boots. I think I was somewhat influenced by these obsessive mono-colour dressers
Now that is a serious hardcore clothes mission!
Oh and here's a secret...those forests and cityscapes...I'm not really there, heres the real deal, my tip of a room. The skirt is actually a dress which has a weird neckline and is a bit shorter than I'd like so I tucked it in here and folded in there and it became a skirt
The necklace I made from a kinder surprise toy. Oh and this was paired with one of my many green eyeliners. My eyes are this weird shade of green and at some point I got a bit fixated with finding an eyeliner to match...lol..and ended up with a few too many..but most of them are from the 0,90euro shop in Spain so it doesn't break the bank.
But then the tights started to irritate me and I dunno I wasn't feelin it, so I put on this which is kinda mono-colour ish I guess.
The top was a hand-me-down from my grandma which is a few sizes too big, so I safety-pinned the sleeves under themselves to get the wide layered kinda effect, and wrapped the sash differently to how you're supposed to, and voila it fits. Oh and I remembered to wear my glasses for once. The background is a Doris Salcedo installation/sculpture, just incase ya was wondering.
Anyways, in summary, getting dressed takes too long!

If they could come to life..

2008-02-26T23:15:00.007Z

My grandma bought me a calender, '365 days of hangbags'. I'd like to dispute that title with the publishers, since sometimes one bag is used for two days, so its more like 342 handbags. Hehe not really, it's filled wtih a huge variety of styles from all periods in history and loads of stimulating designs. If I could somehow pull them from the paper into real life, here would be my picks for February..
Love it. I love maps.
Her head gets chopped off :D This is like me in the train in rush hour, all the people are taller than me and I end up getting my head knocked constantly by their oversize handbags, and near lacerated eyes from newspaper edges. Look! Other people exist!
I'm kinda surprised its circa 1880...

So cute!

who you man shoe

2008-02-26T20:45:00.005Z

Look! A whole page in the london paper on man shoes. Man shoes for men that is. Tsk! I'm only tsking cos my carbooted man-boots have proved unwearable. I wore them for one day and the right one is cool but the left one kills for some reason. I love them but the pain was too much.

Now how about lady-shoes for men...

ladybirds and ladies who lunch

2008-02-25T20:12:00.009Z

I just thought I'd share this outfit as when I wore it last week it induced an incident. A small and unimportant one perhaps but one that did surprise me. I was stumbling out of the Stockpot, a cheap and cheerful old fashioned cafe with a huge varied menu and yummy cheap food. I was greeted by a fierce gust of wind and two ladies in their 60s or 70s, stylishly dressed with perfectly coiffed hair and elegant make up. One of them touched my elbow and exclaimed 'how lovely!', well I didn't have a clue what they were on about and stood there looking nonplussed till I realised they were talking about me, at which point I looked down at myself then back up at them with the expression of a kid who is about to be told off, but doesn't know what for. (I briefly thought pocketwatch? my layered socks-shoe combo?) Anyway then she said "What a dainty girl!...don't you look lovely dear?" at which point I stood there blinking with my mouth hanging half open looking about as un-dainty and un-sophisticated as ever. I managed a surprised thank you before they sashayed into the cafe and I skipped off. It might sound silly but they made my day :D

I guess the hairstyle is kinda cute.

I guess I should also find a ledge and get friendly with my camera's self-timer as me looking concentratedly into the camera screen is getting a bit boring.
(background image from here)

family and fondue

2008-02-24T22:18:00.007Z

I went to see my family this weekend which bacically equates to lots of eating. My aunt did a fondue which was super yum, fun and very sociable, I think I'll have to try this in our next soiree. But also super-fattening for sure..emmental, gruyere, brie and parmesan ?! Yes indeed. I feel so full. (the fact I'm sitting here eating Toblerone probabaly doesn't help haha).
My grandma, on learning of my pocketwatch facination also showed me this pocketwatch that belonged to her mother...(Yes I'm afraid it's some more p-w related ramblings)
with her initials engraved in it.
And this pendant which is actually a powder compact holder thingy which you can wear as a necklace..

In other news, I took my sewing machine to the shop to get fixed. I opened it up, plugged it in and started sewing to show them the problem...at which point the problem mysteriously dissappeared...Argh! Well the good thing is that there's nothing wrong with it..But I did feel so confused and stupid..The man and his wife(?) who own the shop remembered me (which is so nice!) teased me quite a bit about it...and also complimented me on the pocketwatch!! My invented trend is starting to get noticed..watch out before it takes over!
Anyways right now I'm knackered (spelling?!) but much news and pics to show and tell later..

one down

2008-02-20T15:16:00.003Z

Yay I altered my striped skirt... Quite quick for me, who usually takes ages to find time to get around to things like this..!
The only down side I discovered is that the opening at the bottom is really narrow meaning that in a rush you end up walking like a cross between a frog and a crab...especially running and going up stairs..hehe
One down, quite a few to go...

transport museuming

2008-02-18T23:26:00.012Z

Bicyclism! Sounds like a word I'd make up.
Last week my aunt and cousins came to stay for a couple of days, and my cuzs wanted to visit the Transport museum and Army museum (they're both boys, incase you couldn't tell). Anyway the Army museum wasn't entirely my cup of tea but the Transport museum was cool for its vintage posters, and cute and humourous illustrations.

mmm yum
and check out this guy wearing spats

And I hunted down a poster featuring a pocket watch....damn its a stylish accessorie

These leaflets reminded me of a certain someone...they'll understand

This one cracked me up..."I bewared" !!

As did this 1930s-ish one encouraging people to move to the outer areas of the city...

as it's where I live and nowadays it looks nothing like this quaint quiet street, and is anything but a desirable area to move to. It's more like a selubrious haven of fried chicken and kebab shops and an abundance of £1, 99p, 98p and other variations on the pound shop, among other things.

Neat advertising idea.

And lastly...

I want some!!

phew

2008-02-18T20:28:00.006Z

Say phew cos the costumes are finished..
I borrowed eric's mum's machine on saturday afternoon and in a day and a half of non-stop sewing I somehow managed to finish them. I really had to rush them a lot, so I'm not massively happy with the finish on them. They're not perfect and I hate to feel like I didn't make something to perfection. On the other hand I'm quite surprised I got them finished and that they've come out as well as they did considering the problems. So all in all I'm kinda satisfied.

Ok so the synopsis of the film is this: A thief who lives on the edge of a town in a caravan goes for a walk in the woods. He mulls over his future as the townspeople have become more cautious and their homes more secure over the years. His plan was to accumulate enough wealth to live in another town as an honest man. In the woods, he spots a small run-down cottage. A witch lives there who has jewels in her eye sockets. He steals these while she sleeps. In the morning he is a magpie and forever the witch’s servant.

Desperate to see if they had come out ok, and with no-one else around to model for me, here I am as the thief and witch.
The thief's costume. You'll have to trust me and believe me that it is actually man-size and a lot bigger on me than it looks in the picture! The backgrounds are from this book of fairy tales that I think was my mum's when she was a kid, and they inspired me with the costume. He has a irredescent blue-greeny-gold waistcoat cos later he gets turned into a magpie and all.

Do I look well crafty and skillful and thief-like? And back back back in the day-ish?

The witch. Eric wanted a loose floaty purple dress with a hint of klimt-esque pattern in a small panel...

I was going to make the panel more intricate and detailed, more klimt-ish but ran out of time. This fabric is from a screen-print design I did in A level. I was kinda stuck as to what fabric to use for it then I found some left over fabric from these screen prints and thought it would work pretty well.

Aaand I altered my striped skirt from the previous post just now when I got back from uni, so now the only question is what to wear with it. It shall be getting it's first outing tomorrow, I'll take pics.

omens

2008-02-13T20:39:00.013Z

The first of the bad news is that I shrinked my grandma's hand-me-down blue dress. I really didn't think it needed dry cleaning (even my mum agreed), and it didn't say what fabric it was so I thought a careful cool handwash would do. Oh no. It's shrunk in length but not width...if it were the other way round it'd be great, no altering! But as it is I've gotta a reaaally short dress. When that happened I really felt like it was a bad omen. And 2 days later it's happened, my sewing machine has broken down, right in the middle of costuming :( Can't believe it, my beautiful machine, I thought I'd be posting costume pics by now. Oh well. I'm gonna throw on a load of evil eye jewellery (seriously!) and hope everything goes well from now.

Yesterday I went charity shopping for costume related requirements, I wasn't even looking for myself and I had absolutely no intention or any desire to get anything for myself. Really! But when awesome things just jump out at you and they're absolute bargains, it would be stupid to leave them behind, right?
So yeah I spotted this striped skirt for £2, seems like new, needs a bit of altering (oops-i did say I'd stop buying things that need altering) but it'll be so yum when it's done.

I also couldn't resist some more patterns....They're 20p each...So useful...and so cute illustrations...

Instant pencil suit apparently!

Tennis dresses...

and oh my god the kids have got pocket watches! Ok this pattern definately wouldn't be big enough for me but how cool about the pocket watches?!...I don't really know why they're there...mmm further consultation of the pattern tells me it was an embroidery detail. How obscure tho...and how on my wavelength!

And lastly this bag...(£1.75) last time I saw my friend Kajal she had a pretty much identical bag but in green she had got on holiday in Morocco, which I had admired a lot, so now I'm admiring the one on my arm hehe.

I've realised I'm quite fond of this kind of simple-ish but so handcrafted feeling leather stuff, so effortless & carefree feeling to wear (not sure if that makes sense or if it seems like that to anyone else...but to me it does..)..I've got quite a lot of it lol...like this bag I got from a 2nd hand shop in Holland...which is the bag I'm using all the time at the moment

and various shoes which are my summer uniform...so comfortable..the pink and mustard ones I got in Spain, and the rest are sold a lot around where I live, available in every possible colour and are super cheap and super versatile.

This pic reminds me of in the playground, when we used to put all our feet in our circle and someone would say some rhyme to decide who was it or whatever. I can't remember any of them tho...and I really want to! Would be so useful in choosing things! Ah nostalgia....the only one I can think of right now is;
'Ipe-dipe-dation, my operation, how many people at the station?'
What operation now?!

So yes, some thrifting success and some sewing/making misshaps. Anyway I think I'd better ban myself from going into charity shops for a bit...hmmm!

Oh but to end on a sweet note, heres a strawberry and chocolate cake I made on Monday. It was so lush really. Clearly the Sunday dessert experience hadn't put me off for long!

to-do list

2008-02-10T20:26:00.002Z

Ok so this week is 'reading week' meaning a week off uni to read loads and study and do work etc etc. Uhhh yeah. I always get so excited before any break from uni, thinking I'm gonna do so much stuff, finally get time to make this, do this project etc etc, and then the time flies by and nothing gets done. This time I'm feeling kinda evil and thinking I should devote my time entirely to my makings rather than uni work...or rather cram everything I absolutely have to do into the sunday before I go back.
Who wins, you decide.

Anyways I've always got loads of mental and post-it lists of things I want to make but since I'm so forgetful and theres like 8 million other things to do aswell, I tend to forget them. So I decided to keep a list here and hopefully actually get some done. This is the week I'm making the costumes for eric's film so I'm not sure if I'll actually do any of these but it's so great to actually be making rather than studying. Here is a sneak-peak, the sleeve of the witch's costume.

First up, I've been meaning to make something out of this old jumper of my mum's for aaages.
Looks pretty dull huh. Well I wanna combine it with this pillow cover fabric (charity shop),

which I also used ages ago to cover my desk chair...I just noticed the saw on the floor on the left...lol...I'm not sure why thats there...can't remember what I was using it for..

Anyhow, I did plan to cut off the sleeves, take it in, use the sleeve fabric to make a collar, add the pillow fabric to the bottom to make it longer, and make it into a side opening jumper-dress with nice brown buttons. Since then I've been thinking to make into something a bit....simpler I guess...more vestatile..with a different shape. These bad scribbles kinda illustrate what I mean, ish.

Next, I wanna (get the marks out and then) take in this dress of my grandma's so it'll fit me. (Actually I got quite a few of my grandma's dresses I want to alter but this is top of the list for now)

I've also got an abundance of ties waiting to be made into tie-belts.

And I've still got the shirts and the dresses from Traid to alter.

Tights. I'm getting really excited and inspired with everyones tights experimentation here here and here and elsewhere which I can't think of right now. I particularly like the ones inspired by these and since I'm love with tights after suddenly getting over being uncomfortable wearing skirts, I so wanna get doodling on the tights. But I can't decide what!! Any thoughts anyone? I was thinking to ask my friend Jen to draw some of her designs on some for me which would look fab I reckon. But I also wana have a go myself...so heres thinking...

I really gotta burn a cd for my friend Shadi, I've been meaning to do it for aaages since the last one I made got lost in the post. Stupid post. Will deffo get around to this one tc.

Oh and I've been dreaming in a skirt resembling something like these. Massively. Yum yum yum. Want want want. So IF I get any time I think this'll be top of the list.

Lastly, I'd just like to share with you this insanely large dessert I ate today. I was getting lunch with my dad and bro, and they decided to have dessert so I thought I will too, and I thought, No, I won't get this dark and white chocolate truffle cheescake on a chocolate cookie base, no that will just be super rich and way too over indulgent. No, I'll get this Italian apple crumble, fruity and not so over the top right?
Uhhh wrong! It's the size of a frying pan!! Needless to say I didn't eat it all yet I'm still feeling super full. Groan.

LBD

2008-02-05T23:46:00.000Z

Forgot to post about a couple of things I picked up last week. There's this "discount" charity shop near me ( I dunno, everything is half-price) and on my way to the library I couldn't resist having a look in. It's a bit hit and miss, but last week was a hit. I didn't intend to buy any more clothes, I just thought they might have some man shoes or you know something really useful lol. Anyway I got this black and gold dress. I'm not much of a ruffles girl but it fits me like a glove and I love the cut, the back and the matching belt (so genuinely vintage). All that for £3 you can't go wrong. Here I am being caught preening.
Also got this granny knitting/wool bag for £1.50. It's gonna be used as a handbag, not for storing wool as sadly I'm not much of a knitter.

wanna be on top?

2008-02-05T14:29:00.000Z

"Na na na na na na, na na na na na na na, wanna be on top?"

[Ok so this is the lamest publicity shot in comparison to the previous ones. What's up with the silver.] Yes, yes it's time to get excited cos last night was the start of all new America's Next Top Model cycle 9. I swear the last cycle only finished like a month ago, so we are being treated indeed. If you're not into ANTM then a)what is wrong with you and b)what better things have you got to be doing on a monday night? I'm eagerly anticipating Tyra's insightful musings on modelling, "What you did was this [strikes a pose]. What you wanted to do was this [strikes exact same pose, bulges her eyes a little] See the difference, ha ha?" The best one from last night has got to be "You gotta keep control of your coochieness". Will keep that one in mind.
And tsk, I can't believe they didn't put Marvita through. Shame about the name (a mix of Marmite and Ryvita?) but her looks were fiiierce.

bootin and lootin

2008-02-03T17:59:00.000Z

Another thing I'd been looking forward to going to was chiswick car boot sale, I'd heard it was generally a good car boot, and also seen a lot of man-shoes from there on fem brogue blog. So braving sickness and the freezing damn freezing cold, me and eric skipped along. I went with the aim of finding some man-shoes of course, and some watch/pocket-watch ness if possible, and what a treat we had.
First up, maaan-shoes, or rather man-boots. Ok they're not silver, but they're still pretty swish for £2.

Second up are these two tiny cute lady watches (everything is getting genderised now!)...they were £1 each..

I wasn't expecting them to work, I was planning on wearing them as non-functioning accessories (I never wear a wrist watch so I'd never get used to telling the time from anything but my phone) but when I got home I got it to work kinda...it ticks but doesn't keep time well.

I love the stap of this one...it slides along and wraps around it self then snaps to fasten it.

Then there's this one,

when I got home I found out it has these hallmarks on it...don't know what they mean though

Lastly I got this watch face..it only had one hand but I like it and I'll figure out something to do with it..

Eric's loot included this ingenious horse brooch, earrings and necklace in one!

This cauldron thingy which is a prop for her next film, about a theif who steals a witch's eye,and gets turned into a magpie, and features shadow puppets. I'm going to be making the costumes for it.

And a super 8 camera !

A definate success.

a week in clothes

2008-01-31T09:21:00.000Z

Since I've become addicted to reading blogs, in particular those featuring shots of peoples daily wears, I've been thinking of sharing some of my outfit choices. Perhaps it's sad but it makes a big difference to me, how I'm looking when I step outside, and concocting an outfit gives me that little bit of fun and creativity that can make the day start right. So heres the past few days in clothes.

My blazer which I wore endlessly a couple of years ago has seen a revival since my gal pal May did remind me of it.
blazer: my mum's school blazer
dress:primark
t-shirt: ?
jeans:zara kids
boots: asda (!) my first foray into supermarket clothes. reduced to £6
scarf: also asda
bag:TKMaxx

Another pair of reduced-to-£6-boots. Nearly all my footwear is with holes or with the sole worn through, and I was so sick of wet feet and so desperate for new shoes, hence the bit random £6 boot fest. I had been thinking to make these shorter, sew another fabric in the turnover etc etc, but then I thought I could wear this long jumper as a dress with them and feel all robin hood ish. The giant hand is the hair-piece I was wearing.
Jumper: 'Jamie Quinn' from TKMaxx
Scarf: my grandma's
Boots: primark
hand hair piece: £1 from some random shop.

I remember back in th day when we were young, May wanted a cardigan which looked like a conductors coat, as in conductor of an orchestra, not a bus conductor. This one kinda does, either that or a giant hat for your ass.
cardigan: 'Jamie Quinn' from TKMaxx. no idea who this jamie quinn dude is cept that he makes nice knitwear.
scissors shirt: zara
jeans:zara kids
safety pin brooch: ?
bangle+earrings: charity shop

(yuk, horrible face expression) I'd been hassling my mum to give me this old skirt of hers, and finally she did. You can't see in the pic but its stripy and made from jersey and has a cute pocket at the back. It reminds me of kids clothes for some reason.
Recently I've overcome my lack of confidence in wearing dresses and skirts (I guess I realised I was missing out!) and since then am in love with skirts/dresses. Only thing is I don't have many. Also it means I've come to experience trouble with tights. Mine keep falling down :S !! Any recommendations on where to buy good tights? That don't cost a lot (Bearing in mind I bourght 2 pairs for 1.50 which might explain the lack of quality and falling down ahem ahem)
top: some shop in America I can't remember.
skirt: hand-me-down
button earrings: i made them

This outfit looks a little weird I know, I think its the wideness of the top of the jeans combined with the wideness of the belt, and also tucking the shirt in. Anyhow I liked how it looked a bit like something was wrong. Does kinda make me look even more of a shorty than I already am tho. The miffy keyring was a gift from May when we went Holla-Holland.
shirt: charity shop
belt:?
jeans:zara

On monday I woke up to find outside covered in a blanket of silvery fog. Thus silver-grey (and warmth) became the focus. The necklace was a pair of earrings gifted to me by May (wow I never realised she featured so much in my clothes lol) which were soo heavy so I made one into a necklace.
Jumper: charity shop (a previous Traid £3 sale)
stripped skinnys: primark (eek, again I'm afraid)

you've got mail

2008-01-29T22:38:00.000Z

When I came home to find this on the mat yesterday, I knew it could only mean one thing...my pocket watch!

A momentous and exciting day! Now remember kids, donn"t over winding it! I am slightly annoyed tho, it's got roman numerals instead of arabic numerals like it had in the picture,(roman numerals confuse me!) and it has 'MADE IN CHINA' on the back which you can't remove, which it doesnt have in the picture. Hmm sneaky photoshopping. However you kinda gotta expect this kinda thing when your ordering mass-produced stuff of ebay I reckon. Still well rad tho.

edit: Being so cautitious so as to not over winding, the clock is stopping every few hours so concequently I'm as lost about the time as I was before! How much winding is too much?!

jewel in the rough

2008-01-27T22:51:00.001Z

I'd been wanting to go to Deptford market since a while just cos I'd heard it was good for junk and second hand stuff which obviously excites me, and I had the fantasy that I'd find the perfect pocket watch among the rubbish. So yesterday me and eric (eric of the atonement dress) went, and of course I didn't find my dream pocket watch but it was much fun all the same.
We witnessed this pretty sunset at Crystal Palace station.

At which point I decided it necessary to take note of eric's rad outfit, love love the bag, and the red colour accents. Her expression so reminds me of someone but I can't think who..

We also went to the biggest Specsavers we could think of, in Tottenham Court Road, to try and find the perfect glasses with no avail. Whilst mashing about in the Oxford St area we passed the lush and exciting Selfridges window displays.

We also mused about the loveliness of man shoes. A.k.a brogues, like these ones I mentioned before. Fem Brogue Blog has a lush dedicated selection of what we mean by man-shoe. We want some!!
They're so paperly and craftish and remind me of some things I was making last year like this,

on the right are my sewn up fortune-tellers and spirographs, and on the left is my friend Jen's designs. Maybe the connection doesn't seem so apparent, but to me it is!
Also reminded me slightly of Tara Donovans work which I love.

shokodate temptation

2008-01-21T17:48:00.000Z

These yummily tempting chocodates have been flirting with me the past few times I've been in the supermarket

Don't they look lush! But well expensive. Well ish. More importantly what's tiki taki? And how did I fail to notice that and investigate?! Anyway they had this smaller, less expensive, less fattening ( in a way! ) packet so I got some.

And I have to say they were nice but not oh my god sooo nice....the chocolate was a bit weird. I feel a DIY chocodate session coming on. Meanwhile I bagsied all the near-its-sell-by-date-reduced-to-10p items. Scintilating I know! But u gotta love a bargain...

The drink here, Sabai, a thai wine spritzer thingy, is where I get these purple flower bottle caps from for my earrings

Maamoul reminds me of school.

traid rampage

2008-01-17T17:11:00.001Z

TRAID have been having a £3 sale recently, and that's pretty much the only time I go in there. They have some really good stuff, especially vintage stuff, but its really expensive for a charity shop, so the sales are awesome. I had left it a bit late, and thought all the good stuff would be gone, so imagine my exicitement when there was still an abundance of rad threads to be had. Thinking of what I really need, (button-up shirts to go with my beloved pencil skirt and pocket watch) and repeating 'control, control sophie', I made it out there having bourght 7 items and only dented my purse by £21.
Here are my two button-up shirts and a little bat wing jumper which I added my owl brooch to.

And here is a blue flower print dress, a massive granny jumper that I'm not so sure about now, this green string-vest type garment which I got cos the sleeves look really 1930s, and another dress which I'm now kinda thinking, why??

And here they are in action. The shirts both need taking in a little but you get the idea. Oh man I wanna be a secretary! I'd use the furniture inapproriately and change the hold music to Boom Boom Boom by The Outhere Brothers.

Both these need taking in and up, here they are pinned up, roughly how they'll be after I alter them. When and where am I ever gona wear the pink one? The blue one'll be sweet in summer, except its 100% nylon or something, so it'll be more like a massive sweatfest, mmm. It also crackles with static when I move! I'm also told that friction caused by nylon rubbing against nylon creates sparks! (My dad had an unfortunate nylon pyjama with nylon bed sheets incident. Well, it's one way to keep warm in winter.)

Hmm.

I'd also been looking for shoes with a small heel to go with my pencil skirt, as the only heels I have are for soireeing only, my feet can't bear the pain of high heels all day. I found these in Oxfam, they were £3.99 and they look hardly used. They're from Clarks, which I never go into cos to me it means schoolkids/grandmas, i.e boring practical shoes lol. But now I understand why, they're so comfy inside! They are a bit grannyish tho hehe, in a good way, like cake.

bang bangs your dead

2008-01-16T18:54:00.000Z

On a complete and utter random whim I decided to cut myself a fringe today. Clearly these things should never be so hastily considered and carried out, but I was feeling in a restless mood. At first I was like, oh my days you look like the biggest tit ever, thats horrible! But now its ok, its nice to have a change. And I've come to the conclusion, with your look and clothes and wotnot, you can't take yourself too seriously, you've gotta accept yourself and have fun with it. (Not very often I can stick to that upbeat outlook of self-image tho!) I look even younger than my real age than I did before tho, I think I'll still look about 17 when I'm wrinkly. However this combined with the granny-look I seem to be inadvertantly cultivating, (see ROSIE glasses below and granny shoes),will be interesting if not amusing.

I bacically look like this but a little taller. Not much tho haha. Same akward smile. Check out the cute duffle coat! I was well rad.

Specselection

2008-01-15T09:27:00.000Z

Ok, I have been forced into a) wearing my glasses and b) getting some new ones with the right prescritption in, as we've got a new lecturer who makes you read out passages from his powerpoints. "I forgot my glasses" is going to get really old especially as 3 people already said it before me. So, here is a long-ish short list. I haven't tried any of these on yet, it's just what looks nice on the website. All of from Specsavers, and all, after 30% student discount will cost £60, (except the first which cost £45). Still such a lot for a tiny piece of plastic to sit on my face.
So, opinions, votes, comments please!
Just FYI, these are my current glasses from the kids section which I've had since ages:

And heres the ones I'm considering:
ROSIE. granny chic.

CANDY. Actually I have tried these on, they don't suit me much.

GRAPE. Also available in brown.

HEATHER.

MARBELLA. says it all! more grannyfiedness.

PALM.tortoiseshell mmm.

UNISEX 306.also available in brown.

UNISEX 336. a bit too black and heavy for my face perhaps.

WILLOW

THATS IT!
ooh and if I could bear those little things which sit on your nose, i.e metal frames, these'd be sweet.

Hmmm

2008-01-11T23:19:00.000Z

So here is the window display of this new shop. Fine, if it I were in Brick Lane or some other trendy east london hang out. Fine, if it were filled with rad and unusual treats. However it is neither. It's in Hammersmith, random, not exactly a hotbed of coolness, cept for Tiger and a couple of charity shops. Secondly, it doesn't sell anything much cept a couple of rails of random boring 2nd hand clothes and a few odd bits of furniture. So much effort has been put into the display, theres even a row of barbers chairs complete with sinks (how rad would that be at home) as you walk in, and the one sales assistant is dressed as a concierge. Therefore I'm perplexed! I thought it might be an installation or experiment or something...but..hmm I just don't know.

Also, what is up with charity shops throwing away donated goods? One night last week I was walking past an Oxfam a couple of doors down from the Barbie rave shop, and they were throwing away an insane amount of donations. (I could tell it was donations and not rubbish cos the bin bags were semi see-through. Didn't have my camera on me tho.) I was going to have a rummage through them but a couple of guys had already started and they looked kinda crazy, and you don't really wanna get into a rummaging through trash with crazy people late at night situation.

Anyway, one of them had salvaged a portable cd player (either that or he just happened to be carrying one around), and another time I rescued a picnic basket and some really pretty decorated/jewelled NEW boxes, which were being thrown out. I really don't get it. Ok, fine, they must get given some really rubbish stuff that no-one will buy, but why throw away perfectly decent stuff. A few days later I went into the shop in question and it was so empty so it's not even like they were overstocked. I'm so damn infuriated! Today, I noticed loads of suspicious black bin bags outside a FARA charity shop. Hmmmm. I will investigate.

charity shop joy

2008-01-09T16:48:00.000Z

After an afternoon spent idly browsing charity shops, I was starting to get slightly disheartened as I hadn't found anything exciting, purchasable, amusing or simply fabulous. Until...!
I've been supposed to help my friend Erica make this dress she likes from the film Atonement, since ages, but we just haven't got round to it. Here is her illustration of it:

And low and behold here is what I found, (apologies for the crap picture, it's winter and theres so little light in here I feel like I"ve gone into hibernation)

Ok so the sleeves are different, but is has the bow! on the whole I think it's a pretty damn fine match! Also, it's Dior, not that I'm that bothered either way with designer stuff, but at £9.95 it makes it an extra damn fine find! I'm guessing Dior Jeunesse is the kids range, so the size 12 would be age 12...But it fits me just fine, so for Eric who is a little smaller than me should be perfect.

(Eric I hope you have gone into a dancing frenzy of excitement! Mua)

For the love of a pocket watch...

2008-01-09T16:28:00.000Z

Recently I've been overcome with an obsession for pocket watches...Clearly I think I'm in 1913 or something along with the spats obsession. Anyway, I MUST have one! So I've been lurking around on ebay and have made a shortlist...
This vintage beauty is too pretty but with the winning bid being £98 there was no way I could compete

It has this coat of arms on the back...aahh yesteryear!

So with the vintage ones being out of my price range its gona have to be a made in china one. I'd prefer one in gold but the designs I like are in silver.
There is this spiral "night vision" one..

which is actually silver despite the goldiness of the nightime pic, here it is in daylight:

I found one I think is the same in gold, but I'm not sure if it has the exciting night vision feature!

Theres also this Spider night vision one, which again in daylight is really silver

So it's decision time! Opinions anyone?

more clothes lusting

2008-01-04T12:27:00.000Z

It was love at first sight, after stalking the girl into the same carriage I sneaked a picture...

not that it does them any justice at all...I suspected they might be Kurt Geiger, not that I'm really into designer stuff, but I do have a friend who used to think her student loan was for indulging in designer treats, who is a Kurt Geiger fan.
Anyway, they've been reduced from £110 to £69, still too much I'm afraid...I'll wait around and hope for a super-reduction.

this weeks charity shop offerings

2007-12-30T18:38:00.000Z

Yesterday was very exciting for me, perusing some previously unvisited charity shops..some quite large and fruitful ones...
One had loads of old sewing patterns for 10p each! None of them are my size but I'll adapt them and figure something out! hmm! You gotta love these 70s illustrations...especially the girl in the blue coats expression..dreamy! And Mario's Corner looks like a right jammin hang out!

They also had this craziness...which I didn't purchase!

It's a bit sad really cos someone obviously spent ages painstakingly making it, but erm, it's somewhat an acquired taste! And now it's unloved being sold for just £5.

I love looking at the furniture too, dreaming about when I grow up and get my own place, I'll fill it with revamped old furniture. I especially like the 30s wardrobes with labels for each compartment 'hats', 'shirts', 'underwear', for those who don't recognise their own clothes and are unable to identify what item of clothing it is! Prevents those crazy what the hell am I wearing I've gone out with my pants on my head kinda situations.

Spotted this gem the other week with Erica, who when she grows up and owns a mansion, is gona have a tacky room, devoted to only the most fabulous kitsch tack. I think this'll fit in just nicely. Hopefully by that time they'll have sorted out that time travel business so I'll come back and get it for her as a housewarming gift.

And lastly, picked up this skirt from Zara I'd been eyeing up. Love love love it. Got this shirt too- at first I was mad at them for stealing my scissors motif, but it looked a whole lot better on than it does on the hanger, and at 75% off I decided to forgive them.

✂✁✂✁✂✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁✂✁

united nude

2007-12-16T09:13:00.000Z

And now for a little bit of consummerism haha
I love love love these shoes...

they're by UNITED NUDE and I'm thinking I'm an idiot for not buying them because they were SUCH a bargain...but I was thinking I don't wear heels much so whats the point? The point is they're rad and amazing!