Bellbottoms Revisited

Ah, my favourite antique store in Pretoria. I used to go there so often, we lived a few blocks from there. Back when I was still studying, I would go on these walks in our area in Villieria (Pretoria). I walked everywhere and loved it! I would come across little thrift shops and bead shops and would find quite amazing things…

Back to Bellbottoms, then. My very first Bellbottoms post was way in the beginning, when I just started blogging and for some reason that post has become one of my most popular posts. It is an awesome little shop, parking is limited to about four spaces if you're lucky. The last time I was there (before we moved to Hermanus almost four years ago) they had two repaired Jukebox units standing there! For Sale! Wow, if only I had a house, and money back then…

So last year, we went back up to Pretoria for a little holiday. And to celebrate my 30th with friends and family(as most of then still live there), and my best friend was having her baby… who, by the way was born on my Birthday! What a gift! Wow I'm rambling! So much has happened that I haven't been able to share with you due to my crazy workload when I got back and then the Christmas holidays and then more work and then I started singing in the lounge of a 5 Star Hotel….and then! and then! and then…..!

What I want to share with you now, is my recent visit to Bellbottoms, September 2013 with two of my lovely cousins (Bernadean and Zandienne). It was their first visit there, it was awesome and afterwards we went out for sushi! It was amazing to spend time with them, I miss them so much. They kept me busy that whole day and when we went back to my godmother's place, my family had thrown me a surprise party! It was out of this world, but that's a share for another time…

-to my cousins: "thanks you two, for a wonderful and unforgettable day! I'm so proud of the ladies you have become, I miss you both terribly and love you dearly!" and to Bellbottoms: "may your doors always be open and that memories can be made for generations to come"-

xxx

  

Outfit Love: Minty &Fresh

Wow! Tuesday, huh? Everyday I'm more amazed at how fast time flies! Here we are, with Autumn literally around the corner when it seems Summer has just arrived. Even though it's still very hot here in our little town, I can see, smell and feel a change in the air. Shadows are becoming longer, the sun is setting earlier… I must say that I am secretly awaiting cooler weather. I have a lot of knitting to learn and will be teaching crochet classes real soon.

Today's outfit, as it turns out, might be one of my favourites! I'm wearing my Happy Monday Makings #10 and I simply love it! It's flowy, light and thought it is boxy it still has a sexy element to it. Now, I have to admit, I'm not so good at sexy. I always feel uncomfortable wearing revealing clothes, but now that I turned 30… I feel the need to dress more like a woman and less like a cutesy girl. So feel free to join me on this journey to find my more grown-up style and please do leave a comment with advice or just to say hi or whatever… ha! I'm rambling! Back to the outfit then.

-As you know, I made the Minty box top. 

-My genuine leather, vintage belt is from a local thrift store.

-The denim pencil skirt is from Mr. Price (long time ago).

-My lovely stiletto's are from Fashion Express

    -I just love how "the tuck" can make such a huge difference to an outfit! Smart-casual, classy yet relaxed… Oh, I forgot to mention, all my accessories are made by me! Yay! Finally a post with all-handmade accessories! Accept for my rings, of course-

Hope you had a lovely Tuesday!

xxx

Happy Monday Makings #10

Hey! It's Monday! So here is my latest Happy Makings! I found my inspiration for this project from Cotton & Curls. This blog has been tempting me to further my sewing skills for a while now. Cotton & Curls is full of lovely diy's for making and revamping clothing, among other things. This is such a fresh blog, I just love visiting and just taking everything in. I know, I'm terrible at leaving comments…and staying in touch… I will try my best to comment more on the blogs that I visit regularly.

If you follow this (Tops) link, you'll get the idea. Scrolling through all those diy's just makes me want to make something! And so, I did… it took me long enough! 

-pardon the un-ironed box-top… I was a bit over eager to take the photo's for the post-

-seams! again! you can probably see from the photo above that I really suck at it! I am hopeful that with  practice, I might improve. The photo below shows the burn-out pattern of the fabric, isn't it beautiful? I found it in Pretoria, along with the rose print fabric. I loved this one so much that I bought it in three different colours. So keep a weather eye out for the next Happy Monday Makings-

Hope you had a good one!

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