Outfit Love: My Very Own

Oh my! I don't wish to complain the whole time… It's just sooo difficult when there is sooooo much to complain about. For one, I couldn't publish my Outfit Love post yesterday nor today due to some rather  irritating technical problems regarding my Mac and the internet constantly quitting for no reason. Ever since we upgrade to Mountain Lion, I experienced some misbehaviour. I really hope we don't have one of those very rare Apple viruses. As soon as I can find the time to do a system clean-up, we'll upgrade to Mavericks, hopefully that will sort our problems out.

Back to a happier, prettier topic now… You have probably all seen my HMM post on Monday, well this outfit is all about that post. About three years ago, I started to really LOVE rose prints. I searched for rose prints everywhere (locally) but couldn't find anything! Then to make matters worse, the internet and my favourite magazines were covered in roses, rose prints…roses everywhere! Everywhere but here! Eventually, I found a really nice pair of rose print jeggings at our local PnP Clothing outlet but that was it… Two years ago I found a hand sewn vintage blouse at Hospice with the most beautiful rose print, then that was it! So on my trip to Pretoria last year I hit the jackpot when I walked into Metro  (one of my favourite fabric stores). They had so many rose printed fabrics, I didn't know how to choose. The worst part was that I could only take a few pieces, as I was flying back, don't you just hate that? So I decided to take half meters of fabric so I'd have more of a variety of prints…okay, I did sneak in some large pieces as well, I just couldn't resist! The first rose print item I made was The Rose Swift dress which featured in my Outfit Love post A Rose Garden. Without further a due, here is my ultimate favourite, my very own, very first, rose printed pencil skirt! 

-Oh happiness! This skirt was such an achievement for me! My next challenge will be to actually work from a pattern, I'v never done that before. So wish me luck! The amazing thing about this skirt is how the outfits just put themselves together. It goes with so many the clothes that I have, it's the perfect game-changer! To tell you the truth, I've been so lost in "myself", not knowing who I am anymore. And as I said in another post, I find myself liking too many styles it feels I got lost somewhere in a vast forrest. Though this might seem a bit shallow, this skirt has become a symbol, a first step to finding myself again. I'm so excited! If this skirt turned out so great, I can't imagine what the future will be like-

-the cute lacey design necklace was a gift from my mom.

-my favourite polka dotty top I bought at Mr. Price years ago

-vintage leather belt is from our Animal Welfare shop

…and the rest (as they say) is history!

Hope you guys had an amazing day…

xxx

Happy Monday Makings #14

Oh, hey! I'm so excited about today's HMM! As you might have noticed, I've been making friends with my mom's sewing machine. Though I still struggle to sew straight most of the times and that sewing machine is damn moody, I think I might be getting the hang of this. Now, this project was inspired by the beautiful piece of rose-print fabric I found in Pretoria when we were the last September. When I saw it there in the shop I just knew it was going to be a pencil skirt. It took time and a lot of courage (for me) to start this project but last Monday, I did! I worked on it during every off minute of last week and the weekend…and now it's done!

-YaY! WhooooHoooo!!!!! I cannot believe I did it! I made this and it's awesome! I've been wanting to wear rose-printed everything for more than a year now but our local clothing store never have what I want… I'm sooooo happy!-

-Okay…so it's no quite perfect, it was my first! The waist-band part isn't tapered to the curve of my middle 'cause I kinda didn't think of that. Well, okay, to tell you the truth…I didn't use a pattern. I kinda just, winged it! And it worked! Ha! (to all the sewing experts out there, go easy on me) I really enjoyed this-

-Oh, I had sewn the hem at my mom's place and when I got home I ironed the whole thing, fit it on and thought it should be shorter. So I marked where I wanted the hem to be, took it off, turned it inside-out and pinned it all around. I then ironed the hem in place, took out the pins as I went and the sewed it with what looks like a whipstitch on the inside all the while making sure that the stitches on the right side were tiny as hell. Ah! Then there's my very first "clothing" zipper… I know I did it soooo wrong, but I couldn't find my mom's zipper foot and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to use it. So I winged that too.

What do you guys think? Have you made something recently using a new skill?

I'd love to see

xxx

 

Outfit Love: A Rose Garden

So Tuesday just came and went! My day didn't turn out at all like I had planned. First our power was off during the early morning and it was raining… then, I totally over slept and missed my morning walk appointment with my mom. The rest of the day went by so quick, it's all kind of a blur! I did manage to get a few important things done. Then Dave was to pick me up at 5pm sharp! He had to be at Cricket practice and I had a meeting with my muso friend…non of that happened. Instead Dave came back late from work (Cricket canceled due to bad weather), my meeting was rescheduled for tomorrow and we ended up going out for drinks with colleagues. The day ended quite good, we had such a lovely time!

So now without further a due, this is what I wore today. I was so excited having finished my dress yesterday that I couldn't wait any longer to wear it. I did however think that such a short dress wasn't appropriate for a week day. Then, by just adding a skirt and changing the accessories that I had in mind to wear…I managed to dress my outfit down just enough to still be classy but a tad more casual.

-when I hung this beautiful dress up, I saw a loads of outfit possibilities form and I hadn't even tried the dress on yet. Then when I had to make the sudden wardrobe change today, I thought it would be fun to see how many outfits I can possibly make with this simple shift dress. This is then no.1 of the Rose Garden-

   -I am simply in love with this print and the fabric is amazing! If I remember correctly, it's a cotton/spandex mixture. It was easy to work with and feels great on! Did I mention that it is a knit fabric… it's really awesome! I feel like I'm almost me again. The past couple of years I have been hardly me, I was quite lost in myself. Now, I seem to be finding my way back to knowing myself, but I'm not quite there yet-

Hope you had a lovely Tuesday

xxx

Happy Monday Makings #9

Hiya! It's Monday, again! How was your weekend? Mine was very interesting and fun! But first, here is my Monday Makings. I've been sewing on and off since I can remember. Sewing just never appealed to me, not like painting, designing, beading, mosaic, crochet… So, whenever I had a sewing project I would ask my mom, aunt or gran to help me and never developed the skill myself.

I decided that I've got to just do it this year! I started with a few plain and simple things, like this dress. I bought half a meter of beautiful rose-printed knit fabric. I folded it in half(length wise, print facing in) pinned the sides and cut the fabric at the fold. This leaves you with two equal rectangles. I sewed the sides, leaving space for armholes, I then pinned and sewed the shoulders. Seamed the armholes, shaped the neck and seamed that as well. I then turned it right side out and took in the shoulders with two pleats each, by hand. I'm still deciding whether or not to just seam the hem or to get matching trimmings like a pretty lace or something to round it off.

-I cannot wait to wear it! It will be perfect for our recent scorching weather. I also have accessories that would make the cutest outfit of this dress-

Hope you had an awesome Monday!

xxx

30 Days of Dresses: Dress #14

This is a quick one... I've been in pain all day. I need to take some pain killers and go sleep now. I did manage a smile for the photo though...

 -I'm in love with these colours-

-something about this fine detailed collar, the dainty rose pattern and the lovely cotton that forms a nostalgia that goes deep into my memory almost like a dream-

 

xxx

30 Days of Dresses: Dress #11

Man, I'm so tired tonight, I just started falling asleep while editing the photo's. Now I'm completely lost for words! I named this dress/outfit Plain Jane simply because it's a one-colour dress and the fact that it's made of a knit fabric, makes it oh so comfortable. My aunt Bernadette gave this dress to me for a birthday present quite a number of years ago. I wear it so often, it's just such an easy going dress. What I love most about this dress is that it isn't Plain Jane at all! It's got the cutest little details around the neckline, with the finest lace.

 -this dress is perfect for a busy Saturday. We cleaned the house, went out to get some goodies for the braai (or barbeque as most of you know it), came back home, baked this tart. Drove out to the property my Dad just bought, had some bubbly, came back home had a braai with my parents and they just left, few-

-Ah... my Odd Ones! Just some of my older products. I always try to keep at least one item when I make a batch of products-

xxx