I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees

When I was very young we had a massive garden, or it felt massive at the time, to my 4-year-old self. It had a big old tree in the middle of the sloping lawn and the wild strawberries that grew by the fence. I don't remember much, but I do recall climbing the tree beside the house after dark, getting covered in sap and then crying because I couldn't get down on my own. That was the last time I had a garden. Recently, after I graduated from high school, my parents moved back into a house with a garden and every time I'm back home I love to spend time in it. No massive trees but plenty of birds and bees and things to look at.

This outfit is probably much simpler (just a nice way of saying plainer) than most that I post here. But with the heatwave simple is best otherwise I run the risk of ending up as a sweaty mess sprawled on the tiles trying to cool down (I do that anyway, but that's beside the point). I also made a small capsule wardrobe for the 4 weeks I'm away so I toned down the statement pieces and chose easier-to-match staples.

The shorts are a pair I made from fabric I picked up from a charity shop and the pattern was drafted by following the the pattern of another pair of shorts that I picked up. The fit was so perfect that I had to copy the hip to waist fit and the dart placement. Overall I made them a little more high waisted (never too high) and longer on the leg. I'd make a few slight changes to the pattern; lower the back, straighten out the front, and put a little more room in the butt area of the crotch curve.

shorts//handmade    top//People Tree    shoes//thrifted

Chrysanthemums in the kitchen

Getting up on Saturday I saw that the chrysanthemums in the kitchen was dying so I decided to pick out the best ones and arrange them in a copper Turkish coffee pot found at Oxfam. Along with out fresh tablecloth and my little blackboard, it all looked too photogenic to not take a couple of snap. After spending the morning sewing this skirt, the outfit I eventually chose reflected the colours of the flowers. I just had chrysanthemums on the mind.

The photos were taken shortly after sunset down a small street in Kensington. There was a lovely house that looked just the right bit derelict. The short hours of daylight are getting me down but there's my birthday and Christmas to look forward to, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel (hur hur).

You may notice that I'm wearing a rather fetching scarf (if I may say so myself), which was sent to me by Front Row Society. I was excited to discover them because a) who doesn't love a silk scarf and b) they allow anyone to submit designs and them everyone gets to vote for the winner. I rather like this democratic fashion model. A more elaborate feature on them to come, just because I've got more photos and I feel they deserve their own post.

silk scarf//c/o Front Row Society    school jumper, silk shirt, and tights//thrifted from oxfam    belt//second hand

altered skirt, boots, jacket, and bag//thrifted    lipstick//Sante

Sunshine daisies, butter mellow

After promising an onslaught of posts the sun came out and I gave up blogging in favour of lying in the grass all day, playing tennis and softball, and generally lazing about. That and I rediscovered video games. If you follow me on twitter you will have also seen that my camera is now out of order, a pin in the CF slot bent and snapped, so I'm relying on old material for the foreseeable future. I'll just have to revert to film for the time being, which is less conducive to good outfit posts. Might also create an instagram account to satisfy my need for digital photos until my baby is cured, when I do the link will go up in the (new!) sidebar.

These photos are from late July, shortly before I left on my holiday. The main purpose of these pictures is to show off my newest sewing creation; another two piece dress! The top was already on my list of things to make but when I found a fresh pile of old sheets waiting for me at home I whipped up a matching skirt too. The skirt is a basic panelled circle skirt, much like the blue one that has appeared on this blog several times. I wrote an old tutorial for it but if demand were high enough (hint hint) I may rewrite it with better pictures and instructions. The top is a sheer cotton that I bought for £1 a yard in East London (I found the best place to buy fabric. EVER.) It's just a simple shape that works with the bow at the front or the back, finished with custom bias binding from the same fabric (that hates to be pressed). The flowers are made from a polyester that I cut into circles and then melted the edges to look like petals. I made about 50 flowers which is 100 circles and I did the melting in the height of the summer heat (because I'm really stupid, that's why). To finish off the flowers I attached them to the top with a fake pearl button in the centre of each one, like reverse daisies.

For these photos the combination of hay bales and straw hat made my feel like a true country bumpkin so I waltzed around as though I'd just come from a local barn dance. (Although I'm so dreadfully shy that I doubt I'd ever set foot anywhere near one if they did exist.) The end result was a little silly, though you can't take yourself seriously all the time can you?

Skirt and top//handmade    sunglasses//thrifted vintage    hat//old from home

Look Out Sunshine!

More sewing!
This is Josephine, the mellow yellow, lace slip skirt with a heart pocket.
I had a scrap piece of mellow yellow fabric, so I used that and a scrap of lace to make a simple skirt

This is turning into a bit of a DIY blog

Title song by The Fratellis

My first sewing machine project: Annette, the light summer dress

So last week I got my Threadbanger sewing machine!
As a first project I decided to use a Burda magazine pattern, and I used an old duvet cover so as not to destroy any good fabric. The duvet cover is actually quite lovely, it's an off-white and has small, pale white dots all over it. You can only see them if you look closely. Instead of a zipper closure I used the snaps that were on the bottom of the duvet cover. It has two tiers and a lined top with straps at meet at the back.

Without further ado, I present Annette: