hilkat

My list of needlework, jewelery-making and artistic projects is now running into the twenties, and they’re all lying around the lounge / bedroom / bathroom just begging to be finished. Today, finally, I managed to actually complete one of them (I have a lot of ‘ideas’ that end up staying as just that….), and I have to say I’m pretty pleased with it.

When I was pregnant, I bought a maxi dress from French Connection that I put tidily in the cupboard and never took out again. It was strapless, which really isn’t my thing, but the fabric was such a wonderful print that I couldn’t just let it go. A couple of weeks ago, I rediscovered it, and vowed that I’d convert it into something more wearable, even if it was the last thing I sewed. I’m not a seamstress, I’ve not trained in needlework, and I’ve never even so much as been on an evening course in anything related to dressmaking, but somehow I generally manage to cobble things together. This, being a dress however, was a little different, and I wasn’t sure that “cobbled together” was quite the look I wanted.

I came across the idea of removing the elastic band around the top of the dress, so essentially I was left with a column of fabric, and then attaching it to the top of a cheap t-shirt (in this instance, bought from Asda). I chopped a few inches off the bottom (how hard is it to get the hemline straight?!) to turn it from a maxi dress into a dress that I could actually walk in, which also means I’ve got some leftover fabric for the lining of a bag I’m making. Et voila, a brand new t-shirt dress for the grand old price of £1.50 (the cost of a Smartprice t-shirt) - not only have I got myself a brand new, and more importantly wearable, dress, but I’ve also followed the “make-do-and-mend” rule at the top of every recessionistas style list. I’m looking forward to wearing it with the new cherry red Docs, or with little pumps and coloured tights.

My obsession with studding continues, and has spread to the world of accessories. I’ve been after a slouchy, squashy black studded bag with a handle that can extend to a ‘cross-body’ length for absolutely ages, and was about to give up on my search when I came across the exact thing I wanted in H&M - but minus the studs.

Never one to shirk a challenge, I took it home and got studding - an hour and a half and a numb thumb later, and I had exactly what I wanted.

Although I’ve already posted on the DIY studded waistcoat, I thought I’d pop it on with one of my favourite floral dresses and my trusty brown boots to show exactly how it fits on the body. I like the way it’s almost a little oversize on the shoulders, like it could possibly have been intended for a man.

I was reading this great blog this morning, and the girl who owns mentioned using a camera tripod for some of her pictures - which reminded me that actually I own a tripod from my college photography days. After digging it out, it turned out that my new camera fits on it - so now I no longer have to rely on other people taking my photographs, and can spend as long as I like messing about with clothes. Happy days.

I’ve seen sleeveless denim jackets absolutely everywhere at the moment, and have been lusting after them for quite a while, especially the ones from Topshop, middle and left, and Current/Elliot, right:

The problem is that I’m a total tightwad and refuse to pay high prices when it comes to trend items, meaning that the £35 Topshop price tag made me scoff, and the beautiful Current/Elliot version that was actually my favourite, almost caused me to faint when I saw that it was a whopping £395.

Never one to admit defeat, I decided that a DIY job was in order. A sleeveless denim jacket is exactly that - a denim jacket with no sleeves. So I visited my local charity shop, spent a fiver on an old denim jacket, and got the sewing machine out…