Casual Summer: Florals and chiffon

After the initial shock of moving to Welllington and thinking how unbelievably cold it was, turns out it was only for the day that I arrived! Since then it has been pretty sunny and not too much wind! (Always a bonus here!) 

Even though the lighting isn't great here, it was actually VERY sunny and hot (when you are not under another balcony anyway).

Chiffon tops always look lovely and feminine. However, I don't often find ones that I like that also fit! When I found this one I snapped it up! Mine is Abercrombie & Fitch. Shorts are from Glassons, and the belt is  came with a dress. Shoes are Ipanema from Novo. 

Jewellery: 

- Acorn and leaf pendant by Karen Walker (A birthday gift!)

- Watch by Citizen. Its solar powered too, which I always find exciting, as I seem to stop watches that have normal batteries. So far this one is still going strong after 3 years!

I always feel as though I am one of the only people who choose to wear glasses over contacts. Mainly its because I'm too lazy to wear contacts all the time (who can be bothered to clean them thoroughly every night when you can just take your glasses off your face!). The only time you see people wearing glasses in fashion is when they are trying to look intelligent, or they are only modelling glasses, but its always clear that they are just modelling them, and probably wouldn't choose to wear them all the time. People always ask me 'why don't you wear contacts?', but it's because I'm comfortable wearing my glasses and I think it is still easy to be fashionable and pretty and all the things girls want to be, while still wearing glasses. For all you glasses-wearers out there, feel comfortable wearing them! Mine are part of who I am :)

Windy Wellington - Not a real summer!

I have just moved back down to Wellington to start back at uni all over again. After living in Auckland all summer with lovely 25-26 degree heat, I got an unwelcome shock when stepping off the plane in shorts and a singlet into a Southerly 15 degree wind.... The next day I reluctantly agreed that I would have to dig out my non-summer clothes! I didn't even get a chance to wear my inbetween clothes that are summery but too hot for Auckland summer and too cold for Wellington! And now I'm in Wellington, the flat I'm in doesn't get much sun at all so its even colder!

Before I moved into the flat I stayed with my Mum at a hotel in the City. This was my Wellington (supposedly summer) outfit....

I actually had another cardigan on underneath the blazer as well!

This outfit has a mixture of nicer and cheaper things but I think it still comes off looking classier than its price tag. I am wearing...

• A plain cheap, $5 white tshirt which I picked because it ran it quite a small size and a stretchy fabric. But it still does the job. The only downfall is that it is a little see-through, so you have to wear a singlet underneath. However, I tend to do that with most clothes anyway so it doesn't really bother me.
• The scarf is 100% silk, and from a Hospice shop (op-shop) for $4! The design on the scarf is quite nautical and seems of a similar style/pattern some designer scarves I have seen around. It also has quite a few colours on it so it can be quite versatile, working with blues, white and black.
•  I found the blazer the other day while looking in Kmart for high neck/boat neck tshirts, after having exhausted every other shop in the mall. I decided to look in the children's section as I assumed that children's clothes would have higher necklines. However, they didn't have any either. The blazer is quite a cheap polyester/knit material, but the sizing in the children's was perfect. I ended up buying a size 10 girls as the sleeves on the 12 were too long. All in all, I got a good fitting blazer (which are quite hard to find!) for $17! Student prices! 
• The jeans are by Huffer. They were from an outlet store (Dressmart in Onehunga, Auckland, it really is an amazing place to get good deals) and were $80. However, I got them as a gift from Mummy for Christmas so that is even better!
• The shoes are by Australian brand Novo. They were $60, but are leather and have rubber soles. I like them because I like to have the front of the ballet flat come up a little higher on the foot, otherwise they are very hard to walk in and just plain uncomfortable. I wore these around the streets of Wellington and they were fine! For those of you who don't know Wellington, it is a seriously hilly place! Heels do not fare well here! (Although it doesn't stop me wishing I could wear them everywhere!)

On another note, I am looking for a more 'cost effective' version of the LK Bennett 'Sledge' shoe in nude. I would like them to have a low platform to add extra height and also lessen the impact of the heel. But not too chunk otherwise they loose some classiness I feel. However, I can't afford to pay $350 for shoes! I don't mind investing a little if they are a very versatile and comfortable shoe. I have also heard of the Ann Taylor Perfects - does anyone have a pair and want to give a review?

Summer Date: DIY dress

Now I saw the idea for a top like this whilst searching for embellishing ideas. (Here) I found some fabric just lying around in my house that I thought would do the job, and would make a nice dress. However, the original design used a knit fabric while the fabric I had was satiny and very slippery. This meant when I was trying to sew it (as a very amateur user of sewing machines/overlockers etc etc) I had a lot of trouble making it. The fabric was also prone to fraying very easily, which meant a lot of extra work neatening the edges/stopping them from fraying. So in the end, it was basically my mum that made it while I helped :) But overall I'm pleased with the results. The only thing was that I decided after I had made it that it would look quite nice with the front part high, but because the sides are the same length, and only connected through the sash part, when I did this the back hung really weirdly and was also then longer than the front. I also didn't allow enough fabric to do this so it also became really short. So it looks better with a lower neckline and belted.... And I know the sash is a little too long, but I haven't got around to redoing the end. I wore a variation of this outfit when I went out for a friends's party, and also on my Valentine's date!

Without the belt it looked a little pyjama-ish, I think due to the pattern. My tips to you are if you want to make this dress/top, and you are a beginner, make sure you know what you want to do with it before you start, and choose a non-fraying, easy-to work-with fabric. 

P.S whenever you are wearing any kind of top/dress that has straps (or no straps) that will not cover those of your bra, make the effort to wear a strapless! It makes your outfit so much cleaner and tidy looking. I also have a pet peeve about being able to see the back of a bra either through or above the backline of a top. I just think that it looks so tacky and trashy. Stay classy!

Nicola's Birthday - DIY T-Shirt x2

Recently it was one of my close friends birthday, and as I have been on a bit of a tshirt-embellishing craze recently, I thought I would post the DIY tshirts I gave to her for her birthday. One was a simple design that just involved buying trim and then half machine/half hand stitching it on. The other was an idea I saw on the internet...  Here... however I used a slightly different process. Both were initially plain tshirts.

These were the finished products:

This is the back view. The doily actually has the centre cut
out so you can see a subtle hint of skin underneath. 

On the birthday girl!

I hand sewed the trim around the neckline and the doily on this shirt, but if you are crafty with a sewing machine then that would work well too. I initially stuck the doily where I wanted it with some iron-on hemming tape, which basically is has a light adhesive on both sides when heat is applied, which meant the doily stayed in place whilst I was sewing it. I then cut the tshirt around the part of doily that I wanted cut out, leaving about 1.5cm of fabric from where I had stitched in case the fabric frayed.

Both these shirts were $5 each from The Warehouse on sale (normally 10), and were fairly good quality for the price. I bought the doily from a local hospice shop (like a thrift/secondhand store), and overall these nice gifts cost just over $20 for everything.