Festival Outfits

It is not long now until I go to my first ever festival. I am insanely excited and have been spending a fair amount of time considering what I will be wearing. I am guessing that most people don't take 5 pairs of shoes when they go to a festival so just for this once I have narrowed it down to 2 pairs plus wellies just in case.

I have decided not to take my heavy DSLR camera, I will take my old camera instead but I have no idea how these pictures will turn out. So I decided to photo my outifts in advance, this also makes it so much easier for me to work out what to take and pack. I am guessing this is a bit obsessive, but I like to plan well in advance and be prepared as there won't be any mirrors there so I won't be able to check what my outfits look like. Maybe people don't really make that much effort with what they wear when they go to a festival, but I always think if in doubt, go for it.

So here are my outfits, I just need to cut down another pair of jeans into shorts in case the weather is unbelievably hot (fingers crossed).

Top - Next (about 8 years ago)

Skirt - made from charity shop dress

Hair garland - Ebay

Shoes - Spartoo

necklace - present from my sister

This was the skirt that was originally a dress but too tight around the bust. I have finally got around to cutting the top off and sewing in an elastic waistband. It is a bit rough and ready but should be fine as long as the waistband is covered. I am thinking of adding some fairy wings to this outfit for the fancy dress on saturday.

Sunglasses and feather earring - Urban Outfitters

Top - New Look

Elephant necklace - Etsy

Shorts - Old jeans from Next cut down

I think I will need to do a bit of cheese grating with these cutoffs before I go. Any other good ideas on how to fray them?

Blouse - H! by Henry Holland at Debenhams

Shorts - as above

Feather Headress - Little Wings on Etsy

I will just add tights to shorts for when it gets cold in the evening. I am thinking my hair might get a bit frizzy if I don't get to wash it so can put it in a bun with this feather headress. We will be taking our own shower and tent so I am hoping for a hot shower every day though!.

Dress - People Tree

Cropped Leggings - New Look

I think this dress might be a bit too dressy but hoping that the cropped leggings help to dress it down a bit and make it more practical.

T shirt - customised

necklace - a present from my Mum

Bag - Desigual

Tube top - charity shop

worn with cutoff jeans (as above)

This t shirt is another one of my DIY projects that I have finally got around to doing. I just cutoff the sleeves and kind of gave it a racer back.

As for the music, there are so many amazing bands, artists and DJ's that I want to see. I am just waiting for the full line up and timings to be announced so that I can work out how much I can fit in.

Are you going to any festivals this summer? what will you be wearing?

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

To Do List

Do you have any pieces of clothing in your wardrobe that you never seem to wear for one reason or another? I have loads. The obvious answer would be to clear it out and recycle it in someway either by selling, swapping or donating it to charity. But I am far too much of a hoarder for that and I am not going to let the fact that an item of clothing is a bit too long, uninspiring put me off. I decided that I need to fix some of the issues with the clothes that I don't wear that often.

I love the fabric of the first dress and it fits perfectly on the bottom half but is too tight on the bust (very unsual for me as I am not exactly big on top but have big hips) I plan to make this into a skirt with an elasticated waist. The second dress is vintage and  absolutely love the floral pattern but it is too long and just feels a bit frumpy. Both of the t shirts are just a bit boring and shapeless, the first is actually a maternity top that I bought wore when I was pregnant.

All of these projects are scheduled for the weekend. I will let you know how I get on. With festivals and other fun stuff coming up, I will definitely have plenty of opportunity to wear these pieces as long as this beautiful weather holds out.

What are you doing this weekend?

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

More Fashion Democracies

Following on last weeks post in The Shopping Forecast, a new fashion democracy, where you and help to decide what should be in the shops for the season ahead. I have come across lots of other initiatives where the fashion retailers are really listening to their customers in order to give them exactly what they want.

Another really exciting new website is Usabrand founded by Moritz Baier. The site allows users to upload their fashion sketches, which are then voted on by the public and the item with the most votes gets made and sold. If your item gets made, you get 5 Euros for each piece sold. There are some really amazing sketches and I am definitely going to be voting, I might even get out my colouring pencils and try one of my own.

Sense of Fashion is another great site that is a marketplace with a difference. It allows the Indie designers to openly communicate with their customers, fans and other designers allowing them to tailor their products to exactly what the customers want. Designers can poll customers about potential colours and style. It is also a place where fashionistas, photographers, fashion bloggers and stylists can exchange views and recommendations.

As if that isn't enough to keep me busy browsing and voting for hours on end, Beta Fashions is yet another fashion democracy where fashion created on an open platform in collaboration with designers from around the world.  The community can view, comment and help decide which designs will become reality. This is not only a way to discover emerging designers but also is also a step towards changing the way fashion change is created and consumed.

There are also lots of other sites like Teepay which allow you to upload your own t shirt designs. For those who prefer to do a little more than just having their say and want to put their money where their mouth is, there is also Catwalk Genius which I have posted about in the past in connection with the first ever fan funded collection by Kate Eary.

I love the idea of having more say in which clothes are available to buy and also having an input into the creative process of creating the clothes that I wear. I also think the idea of having clothes that are designed and manufactured according to what the customer wants could well be more sustainable because there is less waste and it also encourages individual style (which is timeless) instead of mass produced fast fashion which changes each season. Finally it gives customers the chance to show their preferences for clothes made with more sustainable materials (if that is what they want).

What do you think of these sites? will you be casting your vote?

Have a lovely weekend

Ceri X

Sketch by Mafiu

How To Make Lace Accessories - Part 1 - Statement Necklace

I have entitled this post part 1 in the hope that I can manage to make some more accessories and post about them soon. Quite a few years ago I did a fashion and dress making course and I designed and made a skirt using lace, a black suedette sort of fabric and neutral coloured fabric. The other day I came across a bag of scraps of material that I had saved from those days when I actually had time to make my own clothes. I found quite a bit of the lovely lace that I used to make the skirt and as lace is so on trend at the moment, I decided to use it to make some accessories. Here is the skirt that I made.

So today I made a statement necklace using some scraps of fabric, including lace, a neutral sort of satin fabric and a black suedette, plus some ribbon that I had left over from another project and a some broken necklaces.

You can repeat this project using all sorts of scraps of fabric, beads, flowers, bows, pieces of leather or leather shoe laces, broken costume jewellery to make your own unique statement necklace.

Here is how to do it:-

Draw five (or more) random shapes on a piece of paper and cut them out.

Use three layers of fabric. The lace in the middle with the background fabric on one side and a backing fabric on the other side. If your fabric is really creased like mine was now is a good time to iron it. Pin your shapes on the three layers of fabric.

Cut around the shapes leaving about 1/2 cm of seam allowance around the edge of each shape. Sew around the edge of the paper shape to join the three layers but leave a gap of at least a few centimetres. It would probably be quickest to do this with a sewing machine but I just did a quick running stitch by hand as I couldn't be bothered to unearth my sewing machine.

Turn the shapes inside out through the gap that you have left in the sewing so that the lace shows with the backround fabric behind it. Use a pen, knitting needle or something similar to push out the edges of the shape. Fold in the fabric at the gap you have just turned it through and sew it with tiny stitches.

Repeat this for each of the shapes, then press them flat.

Now comes the creative bit... Decide how you will join your shapes together add a fastening and embellish the necklace. I just sewed the shapes together, used a broken necklace for the fastenings, made a rosette from the ribbon by gathering it with a running stitch and winding around in a circle, then stitching. I also added a bit of chain with a bead at the bottom of the necklace.

Have a play around to see what looks best before sewing anything in place. You could use ribbons for the fastening or even leather shoe lace, you could join the shapes together using little bits of ribbon and embellish with individual beads or strings of beads, chains from broken necklaces, fabric flowers etc.

Here is what mine looked like. I am quite pleased with the result for a few hours work and I hope to feature in an outfit post soon.

More trash than cash

As people struggle on (myself included) trying to look stylish in a recession, the magazines seem to be jam packed with ideas for cost effective ways to look good. The November issue of Vogue has a strong focus on DIY clothes, more dash than cash and thrifty fashion - although Vogues ideas of thrifty differs quite some from my own ideas. In particular a feature called 'Make do and mend' caught my attention, where domestic objects were turned into DIY couture by Shona Heath, William Tempest and Peter Jensen. It reminded me of a feature on Blue Peter many years ago when I was a child and they made party dresses from black bin bags.

I would have to question the ecomomics and environmental credentials of this outfit considering it is highly unlikely that it has been made using old/ recycled rubber gloves and dustbin bags.

I am just trying to picture the faces of all of the mums at the school, when I turn up to pick the children up wearing this outfit made of cotton wool balls.

Worryingly, I actually really like this, I might even consider wearing it.

Dish cloth couture- I love it!

Amazing what you can make using a few old tea towels. Very clever.

I am guessing this outfit was not designed with wearability in mind.

I decided to have a go at my own 'make do and mend' feature amidst mutterings by Mr Style Eyes that he wonders if I am all there sometimes. I have been wondering what to do with my ever growing stack of fashion magazines and have previously considered turning them into jewellery. There is something about the glossiness and rich colours that I think would work really well. Anyway I have long been hankering after a gorgeous bib necklace but lacking the cash to buy one. I decided to attempt to make one using an old copy of vogue in what I think is a truly economical and environmental project cost - £0. Not sure about how durable it will be though and I am really hoping it doesn't rain!

And here is my recycled magazine handbag crafted by my lovely daughter.

Bleach Life

Today, I thought I would wear my refashioned top that has been sat in my wardrobe for a few weeks unworn. I bought a plain black top from a charity shop, then dunked it in neat bleach for a few minutes, soaked in diluted bleach for 10 minutes and rinsed. I was quite surprised when it turned orange but actually I quite like it now. I have been seeing quite a lot of bleached clothes in the shops lately including jeans and leggings, I am tempted to try out some other clothes.

Grey denim is not at all boring

Craft Nervous breakdown Skinny grey jeans - My Wardrobe
Long line purple satin shirt - Dorothy Perkins
Cream and green check tunic - John Rocha at Debenhams
Peach Snake Skin hand bag - Fiorelli - Dorothy Perkins
Blue Ruffle Top - New Look
Floral Top - New Look
Yellow Blouse - Marks and Spencers
Draped Top - Butterfly by Mathew Williamson Debenhams
Grey and purple dip dye top, Young Fabulous and Broke - My Wardrobe

Grey is going to be all over the shops this autumn and winter, so I have decided to invest in some grey jeans. Some might think that grey jeans combined with black or other dark colours is a bit of a grungy look and a teensy weensy bit boring but they also work well with lots of other colours including peach, purple, blue, white and yellow. I would class grey denim as a wardrobe staple and almost as versatile as my trusty blue jeans.

If you are looking for a more eye catching look than just plain grey, why not try bleaching an old pair of black jeans that have started to fade. There are all sorts of effects that you can achieve from marbled to an almost tie dye or spattered. Use neat bleach for the design, leave for about 2 or 3 minutes and then soak in diluted bleach for about 10 minutes before rinsing well. The longer you leave the jeans in bleach the lighter grey they will be.

I scrunched the jeans loosely and tied with string before rolling in neat bleach to give the patchy effect.I kept my jeans a dark grey colour by not soaking in bleach for too long to give maximum contrast with the bleached patches. These bleached grey jeans will also look great with all of the colours mentioned above especially peach.