Outfit

Hi everyone, it's time for a very colourful outfit. I've mentioned many times before that I find it interesting to see the way in which outfits come together; I often end up pairing pieces together which I acquired around the same time but may not necessarily have put together otherwise. This is definitely the case with this outfit. The dress is one of the pieces which my friend had made for me in Hong Kong and the cardigan is a recent DIY/customisation project. I have very rarely, if ever, seen anyone wear this colour combination; it makes me feel like I could be a presenter on the children's television show.  I absolutely love this dress and, being a completely different material, I hope it's different enough to the green velvet version which I posted here. Orange has been such an underrated colour for me up until recently. I used to hate orange and, as a result there is very little orange in my wardrobe. This is my second orange dress and I have an orange bag but a pair of orange shoes would be pretty cool. I love that orange is bold and makes a statement. It's great that it's such a happy and positive shade. It's like my relationship with yellow. I hated yellow until last year and now it's one of my favourites colours; it's becoming like that with orange too. The other reason why I chose orange polka dots  is because I almost bought a dress of that description not long before I had this one made.. It was really exciting to receive a piece which I so desperately wanted. 

I've been interested in sewing lately; not making clothes because that would involve too much effort and skills which I don't have. However, I love adding beads, buttons, sequins and trim to cardigan. This has been a hobby of mine for many years but on a very off and on basis. I posted a couple of the my earlier customised cardigans here and here. This is my favourite one I've ever designed, assisted substantially by the existence of these beautiful fun beads in Lincraft. It was great fun and I was even a little sad once I finished it but that is ok because I have a number of other designs in the making. To add even more brightness to an already colourful outfit, I decided to show you my new bag which I received courtesy of Tidebuy. The colour is very beautiful, as is the diamond design. The large practical size means it will probably come to work with me a number of times. 

In other news, I recently came across a site called Cuponation which offers fashion discounts as well as beauty coupons and deals. I love discovering new sites; it's one of my favourite parts of having a blog and spending so much time on the Internet. I've always liked the idea of these coupon codes but have never known where to find these deals. I even noticed a few of my favourite stores on there like clutch bags for $7 at Colette, 50% off the clearance section at Florsheim and 70% off wallets at Strandbags. I look forward to making use of these codes and doing some shopping soon. I like to share these discoveries with you.






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Custom Made Orange Polka Dot Dress
Customised Cardigan from Review
Wittner Queen Heels
Colour Square Block Satchel c/o Tidebuy 

Linking to: What I Wore Wednesday, More Pieces of Me, On The Daily Express, Simple Sequins, Whatcha Wearing Wednesday, Confident Twosdays

Outfit

Today's outfit post is my entry into Bloggers Do It Better where Kristina has challenged us all to wear sequins. I love the idea of Bloggers Do It Better but I've only participated in one before which was the Colour Blocking Challenge that I posted here. When I saw the sequins challenge I knew I couldn't let this opportunity pass by because I absolutely adore sequins. Although I do have a black sequined dress I thought I would wear my sequined cardigan for this post because I've wanted to display it on my blog for ages but I never got around to it. My sequin cardigan is one of my DIY projects. I sewed all of the sequins on myself. I completed it during the winter holidays last year and it took me about two weeks. I love having such a unique item and I know I'll never find one that is exactly the same. I took inspiration from the sequin cardigans in Alannah Hill last season. It is the best feeling ever when I receive compliments on a cardigan that I have entirely customised myself.

I recently purchased these pink jeans after my only pair of jeans disappeared. I totally should have bought some coloured denim before! I very rarely wear jeans and one of the main reasons is because I believe they don't fit in with my very feminine style. So I think that pink jeans are perfect for me and are a girly take on a pair of jeans. I also love adding colour to an otherwise predominately black outfit. In terms of my shoes, they will probably be the subject of my next DIY project. I want to customise them with glitter.











Self Customised Sequin Cardigan
Jay Jays Pink Skinny Jeans
Betts Patent Heels

Outfit

This is the outfit I usually wear when I cannot decide on an outfit or when nothing else seems to work. I frequently find myself in such situation so this is probably one of my most worn outfits over the last few months. I first posted this dress here and here when I spent the day at the beach last July. It is very versatile and there are so many shoes and cardigans that I can style it with. I also love the vintage vibe to this dress. I customised the cardigan myself by sewing the white flowers onto it. I wore this outfit last Thursday when it was cold and raining. I just had time to snap a few photos in a short rain break.









Modcloth Serene Bubble Dress
Wittner Gloria Heels
Glassons Cardigan (self customised)
Equip Bag
Prouds Pearls

Item of the Week 014

I'm sorry for my recent and unexpected absence from blogging. I have been extremely busy lately and haven't been able to find the time for commenting and posting. I certainly hope this will change soon. Today I thought I'd show you another cardigan that I customised a few weeks ago. I've probably customised close to ten of these cardigans now but since the warmer weather is coming I plan to move onto tops. I want to start sewing lace collars or peter pan collars onto summer/spring clothes and lace trim to the bottom of dresses. I am also considering selling some of my creations on etsy. I don't think this will happen for awhile, maybe even weeks or months, but it is something I will work towards later in the year.







I posted some of my other customised cardigans here and here. The method for creating this cardigan is the same as I posted here except with this cardugan, I left the original buttons unchanged.

DIY Cardigan Tutorial

For the last few weeks I have spent endless amounts of time customising cardigans by adding pearls, bows, buttons, ribbons, sequins and flowers. It is my latest interest, I enjoy designing the cardigans and I love the satisfaction of completing an item. It can be time consuming but I normally work on them in front of the television at night so that makes it fun and relaxing. I started this idea with my family and they helped me get started and come up with some ideas and now it has really taken off from there. As I have said before, I am often surprised by the extent to which the price of an item increases simply because it has some sparkle or detailing. I also noticed how simple it is to completely change the look of an item just sewing on some detailing or even changing the buttons. The first one I completed was my sequin cardigan which I posted here.

For this post I thought I would show you how I made this particular cardigan. It is very simple. I took some photos as I was sewing but please tell me if there is anything I should explain further.

What you will need:- a cardigan
- ribbon or trim (or whatever you would like to sew onto the cardigan). I bought 2 metres of this trim and I had a small amount left over at the end.
-buttons
-thread
-needle
-pins
-scissors
-sewing machine (not essential since you can hand sew everything if you would like although this would take much longer).
Step 1: place the trim on the cardigan, wherever you would like it to be stitched. For mine, I placed the trim down the front on both sides. Pin the trim into place making sure you use enough pins to keep it in position. Make sure you leave a couple of centimetres extra which hang off the buttom of the cardigan which you will later sew to the underside of the garment.

Step 2: using the sewing machine, attach the trim to the cardigan. This is achieved by sewing straight lines down both edges of the trim in all areas where you have pinned the material. Take extra care to ensure that the cardigan remains flat at all times. (This has caused me major problems in the past where the material bunches and I had to spend ages unpicking my sewing).


Step 3: If the sewing lines are not particularly close to the edges of the trim, hand stitch the edges in a few places. This can be achieved at largely spaced intervals. It is not essential since you have already machine sewn the trim to the cardigan but it makes the trim sit flatter against the material.


Step 4: fold over and hand sew any excess trim to the underside of the garment.


Step 5: remove the buttons

Step 6: sew on new buttons which match the design of the cardigan...

... until all the buttons have been changed


...and your cardigan is complete!





I would love to see pictures if anyone decides to try this or something similar. If you have any questions then ask me in the comments section or email me at tia_cherie@yahoo.com

Item of the Week 009

For the last few weeks I have been working on this sequin DIY cardigan. It was originally entirely purple so I changed the buttons and added pink, purple, silver and white sequins to the front to give it a new look. Ever since my mother in law and my sister introduced me to the idea of adding sequins to cardigans I have been experimenting and coming up with many ideas of how to customise cardigans by adding pearls, bows, buttons, sequins and flowers. This is the first one that I completed but I have a few more which are currently in progress. Also, I have drawn inspiration from the beautiful Alannah Hill cardigans that I often see at the shops. Working across the road from an Alannah Hill store, I am often tempted by the $100+ cardigans that I see while browsing during my lunch break. Lately I thought that as an alternative I could customise my own designs. I also realised just how much the price of an item increases simply because it has some sparkly!


Juliette likes my creation. She was playing with the sequins as I attempted to take pictures.






I tried my hardest I make this a good quality item and sew the sequins on tightly but even so, I will be a little scared to wash it for the first time.

Outfit

I wore this outfit to work on Thursday and it is definitely my favourite outfit at the moment. It was a chance to wear my pleated skirt that I made in sewing class for the first time and my new red trench coat. From the week that I started making this skirt I knew it would be one of my favourite items of clothing and I had been planning out what to wear with it in my mind for the couple of weeks until it was finished. I bought a red trench coat the other day to achieve this desired look. With the colder weather fast approaching I am trying to incorporate more colour into my wardrobe to counter balance stereotypical blacks and greys that are usually worn in winter. I love the vibrant blue and bright red together here.
















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