Winter Blues

The only thing that's been going through my head the last couple of weeks is my portfolio for art foundation and my textiles final piece. I'm so excited to start making my final dress and show it to all of you (in hopefully a fantasy themed photoshoot) at the end of December. It's quite hard to believe that all of this work for the past 6 months or so has been leading up to just 12 hours of actual making work, but I hope it paid off! As for the portfolio, I've got to start putting all of my best work together for my application as soon as possible so I've been racking my brains for original ideas. What have you all been doing recently? 

Normally I don't show outfit posts that I've actually been wearing the day I post them but I genuinely did wear this today! The dress is from Topshop which I bought years ago. It's a great simple piece to layer with though the colour can be a bit tricky. I made the jumper last year and I showed it in this post when it snowed (Have you heard the rumours about the snow that's coming to the UK?). I find it quite stressful wearing tights and having to match the right pair to an outfit (other people must surely feel the same?) and I've ended up becoming a bit boring and have been lacking courage to go for anything over than a simple black/grey pair. I'm sure you are all fed up of seeing my studded boots by now...I've already started thinking about shoes for Spring though! I definitely feel like my styling has been pretty bad recently and I'm not very happy with my outfit posts (and as I'm trying to save my money for Christmas time I've not had the chance to buy anything new) so I'm hoping my current wardrobe boredom will cure itself soon and that I don't bore all of you in the meantime!

What do you think of my outfit?

dress - Topshop

jumper - homemade

boots - ebay

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More textiles work...

This is another piece that I have been working on in my textiles project. This like the previous is supposed to be a large sample working on developing techniques I have used in my sketchbook. I decided to separate it up into panels and create a skirt. Again, it can be unfinished and doesn't have to be neat and the focus is more on the actual samples. I prefer the corset piece I made as the samples were more refined (a word that my teachers have engraved in my mind...we're constantly told to refine things) and I put more time and effort into making it but as promised here is my second piece. 

 I used a mola technique for the green holly shapes and appliqued on the black pieces. I also printed on circles to the surface. 

A very simple one using red and black paint. 

I used a leather type fabric and draw onto this using white pastel which gives a really interesting effect when smudged on the material. I then stitched over this. 

I stitched two pieces of yarn together to create the swirls, which also transferred the pink material onto the cotton. I painted and drew on the green background and black swirls. 

 Very simply stitched yarn onto a clear material and then spray painted gold onto certain sections. 

 Made using rolled up lengths of fabric and drawn with pen. 

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Pink and Purple

I've joined tumblr and my link is above for those who are interested. I'm using it mainly just for collecting images of fashion and as a sort of addition to pinterest, so my use of it could vary a lot. Leave your links below so I can check out yours!

I feel as if I'm running out of outfit ideas at the moment and have run out of clothes (if that's possible!). I've been buying a few things on ebay but they're mainly going out dresses (which I will show you in the next couple of months) so I'll have to find some more cheap day clothes to re-inspire me. Anyway, I've chosen to do an Autumn version of an outfit that I showed in the summer. The dress was something that I made with the most wonderful fabric and influenced by something I saw in Topshop at the time. I've paired it with a plain white t-shirt here which makes it feel a lot more casual and also keeps you warmer in these temperatures! I really like it with the pearls and boots as well for a pretty yet edgy look. 

What do you think of my outfit? What have you been wearing lately?

 dress - homemade

t-shirt - old

shoes - ebay

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Mock of a smock

I've been feeling pretty uninspired by my wardrobe lately (...an excuse to buy a whole new one maybe??) as I'm pretty bored of wearing the same clothes over and over again. So I decided that I'd spend a couple of hours today making this dress. I have had two smock dresses (here and here) but one shrunk in the wash and I left one in a hotel room *cry*, so this kind of style was an obvious choice. The fabric is also perfect for it - it's very lightweight and has a bit of a stretch to it. The print is very summery but I'd still be happy to wear in the autumn with some dark tights (such as below), my studded boots and a jacket. I'm still undecided whether to keep it for myself or add it to my shop - what do you reckon? I definitely want to make more dresses like this to sell though,... perhaps with long sleeves? Anyway, I haven't worn my silver heels in a while so I added these and a set of pearls to complete the look.

How was your weekend? What do you think of my dress?

dress - homemade

heels - New Look

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Green Paisley Dress

I made this dress recently planning to put it in my shop but accidentally ended up making it smaller than I planned! (You can still buy it in my shop if you want) but I'm not overly bothered if I don't sell this one as it's definitely something I'd be happy to keep for myself! I can't tell you how much I love this fabric. It's come out quite blue in these photos but in real-life it's slightly more turquoise-y. My mum loved it so much, she's commissioned me to make a similar dress for her (hopefully in return for a pair of shoes!). I haven't worn this necklace in ages (some of my long lasting followers may remember the stage I went through where it would turn up in every single blog post) but I'd really like to wear it a bit more. This Office heels go with lots of things which is pretty handy. I've probably mentioned this before but they didn't actually come like this and I added the lacey-white fabric onto them so that I could wear them to my Year 11 prom last year. 

What do you think of my outfit? 

 heels - Office/diy

dress - homemade (buy it here)

necklace - River Island

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I can now call myself a designer

I'm so excited about this post and the fact that my handmade clothes are soon and now available to buy. I've only put up one thing in my shop but have 3 more items nearly ready and waiting as soon as my zips and thread arrive in the post! I'm very proud of my dress below. It has no mistakes or anything wrong with it at all. I've posted it here and on my asos marketplace. I've also got new vintage/pre-worn clothes being posted at some point next week so look out for that. 

I instantly fell in love with this fabric and had to buy it. I've got lots more left so I'll definitely be making more things with it. The dress is fully lined (I've actually really started to like lining my garments. It reduces the amount of hemming needed, which is something that always frustrates me). Anyway, I hope you like the dress and be sure to come back to check for my other pieces!

What do you think of my dress? How are you spending your weekend?

 dress - homemade - buy it here or here

shoes - New Look

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When in Rome

As the title may suggest, I have just come back from a weekend trip in Rome. While I was out there, I took the chance to take some photos of a dress I made recently. It was a new experience for me making this dress - firstly because I've never actually made a circle skirt before (even though it's supposed to be one of the easiest) and secondly because I fully lined it. This had the advantage of making the edges a lot neater and could be seamed on the inside making it look a lot nicer inside and out (although you obviously can't see this in the photos). I'm definitely very pleased with how it turned out considering I was trying out completely new things (a few imperfections but I won't mention those!). 

I'm free for a whole month now so will be back to regular blogging and I'm looking forward to catching up on all your blogs!

What do you think of my dress? How was your weekend?

dress - homemade

belt - vintage

sandals - Topshop

Visit my shop here

Visit my asos marketplace here

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