From trousers, to shorts - with the help of some scissors

I went on a giant charity shop shopping spree on Saturday, to three different towns! I came back with 5 bags filled with vintage goodies - it was very satisfying! One of the shops, Cancer Research, had live mannequins in the window wearing some pretty nifty vintage outfits... definitely different to the usual window displays.

One of my purchases were these highwaisted trousers, for £5. As soon as I saw them on the hanger, I had envisaged a DIY for them - to turn them into shorts! I've been after some shorts with 'rolled up' turn-ups for a while now. I love the shape they make - its almost like a highwaisted skirt, but there will be no worries about a sudden gust of wind blowing them up (very useful in the weather we currently have).

This was the easiest DIY to date - just a case of chopping most of the trouser part off and rolling the remaining material up, with a little stitch to keep them in place.

So here are some 'before' photos...

And after the transformation...

Shirt - Thrifted Jaeger, £2
Belt - Vintage
Shorts - Racing Green, £5

It has to be said, I do feel a little bit like a character from the BBC show 'Land Girls' - but maybe thats not a bad thing? Did anyone else watch it?

Sadie xxx

My new, homemade, tweed dress!

On the weekend I was wandering around a market when I saw some fabulous woolen tweed material poking out from a shelf of fabrics - and just had to buy it!

As it was quite expensive (when you're a poor student, anything over £5 is expensive), I wanted to make something special, so I actually tried out a few designs before jumping in with the scissors and sewing machine. One thing that I definitely wanted it to be was 60s style - so my original ideas were to make it quite mini, possibly with a bit of a peterpan collar or some little pockets.


They were all quite tempting to make, but what I REALLY wanted to do was make something with sleeves - a bit like this beautiful Calvin Klein shift dress that Alexa is expertly modelling here. I had always thought that sleeves would be hard to do, but I was feeling up for the challenge - so 6 hours later, I had finished my own version in tweed!

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, but there just seems to be something missing. So I need your opinions! How should I style the dress? Does it need a scarf? A belt? A jacket? Or a cardi?

Also - is it too plain? Should I add something like a black velvet collar?

So many questions! It's just not quite perfect yet!

Sadie xxx

A homemade scarf, just in time for winter!

Remember those amazing knits by Rodarte from their AW 08 collection? After seeing them, I fell completely in love with the whole concept of shabby chic knitwear, and just HAD to have something similar in my wardrobe. So, after a year of knitting... haha... I have completed my own version of their woolen creations.

I present to you my new, 3m long homemade scarf!

None of my family seem to understand it and instead think I'm just rubbish at knitting - which is true - but this is actually how it was intended to come out. I incorporated bits of ribbon and different thicknesses of wool to add to the look.

The colour scheme was based on the colours of wool that I had available - mainly 'baby' colours because the wool comes from my gran's old knitting box and she knitted baby clothes! Thats why I added in a some dark blue, to give it a bit of an edge.

Making the scarf was veryveryvery easy. Even if you're a complete beginner like me, I definitely recommend having a go! It doesn't even matter if you drop a stitch, as it just adds to the whole look. Use the widest knitting needles you can find and it should work really well!

Sadie xxx

One velvet LBD, two different looks

- Bit of a picture heavy post I'm afraid! -

I acquired this black velvet dress in a charity shop recently (another ankle length atrocity that underwent treatment with my sewing machine!). I'm really pleased with it - it fits like a glove! I've noticed that I seem to be building up a big collection of eveningwear in anticipation of going to university - I'll probably show you some more of my new 'going out' dresses in future posts.

But I was thinking, just because it's a velvet LBD, does it need to just be for going out? Definitely not - that would be such a waste! So I styled it up for casual wear as well as an evening look. And here are the results...


Look #1 'The evening look' - this was mainly an opportunity to show you my new faux fur coat, picked up from a charity shop for a mere £8. It's top quality, vintage Marks & Spencer's (or St Michael as they used to brand their clothes). I'm rather delighted with it! Saying that, I can't actually imagine wearing it out as it's a bit over the top for my usual dress sense, but its nice to look at! Excuse the wayfarers... I wanted to style a really 'extreme' going out look, haha.



Look #2 'The casual look' You can't get much more casual than a plaid shirt and Converse! This look is a little bit different to my usual high waisted skirt and heels ensemble, but I quite like it! The Converse are sneakily borrowed from my sister (hopefully she's not reading this). She bought them in a vintage shop in Brighton, and I've been secretly admiring them ever since. I like how the red piping matches the shirt!

Look at the beautiful label! ♥

Which look is your favourite?
Sadie xxx

Dancing shoes

As 6 year old, I did ballet lessons - and stopped about a year later when I went into the 'hating pink' phase. It's a bit of a shame really, because I can't help but feel I'd be a lot more elegant and a lot less clumsy than I am now if I had carried on!

These photos are inspired mainly by a Repetto advert that I saw in a magazine, showcasing a beautiful pair of white leather shoes that I instantly fell in love with. Unfortunately I couldn't afford the €160 price tag, but when I saw these slightly similar ones in H&M for £10 I was over the moon.

Repetto specialise in ballet supplies (hence the ballet theme to the photos) - but they have a beautiful collection of shoes and bags that wouldn't look out of place in any fashionista's wardrobe. I particularly love their T-bar heels and brogues - not to mention pumps in every colour imaginable.

I took these photos on self timer - it took so long to get the right look!

Sadie xxx

P.S. I have absolutely no idea when the bookworm photos will be ready! It could be a few weeks...

Winter Tartan

I had hoped to be able to show you the photoshoot pictures today - but they're still not quite ready! So instead I thought I'd show you the photos of my outfit from the other day :). It's quite a preppy look, mainly due to the loafers and the tartan skirt - hopefully it's not too 'school uniform' though!

The skirt, believe it or not, is a size 18! It needed to be folded under and held up by my belt haha. I bought the skirt in a charity shop and it was very very long, so it had a bit of my re-hemming treatment and now it's a much more wearable length. The worst thing about re-hemming it was ironing the new pleats in - such a nightmare. I may be avoiding pleated sewing projects in the future because the ironing takes such a long time... & I'm really scared that the pleats will wash out when it goes in the washing machine.

In other news, I did an interview over at Miss Onic! Definitely check her blog out if you haven't already, its absolutely beautifully presented and she has great style!

(To read the interview, go here).

Sadie xxx

P.S. I am considering getting a hair cut - possibly a long bob! But I really don't know it it would suit me! I just want to add a bit of volume and stop my hair being so flat really. Does anyone have any thoughts on what would look nice?

Sequins!

Yay for gifs ♥!

I love waking up on Saturday mornings - its such a nice feeling not to have to get up to go somewhere, once in a while! Drinking a cup of tea and watching some T4 on tv are definitely some of my favourite Saturday activities.

This is the sequined jumper I mentioned in a previous post - naturally, it came from a charity shop! It was about £3. I think it could come in quite handy for nights out in the winter - with some shorts underneath, it can pass as a dress (just about). The best thing is, its really warm! Always a good thing if you're like me - always cold.

The photoshoot photos aren't ready yet - I'm really really excited about seeing them though! I hope they come out ok!

Sadie xxx

'Un Pull Retro' - My new winter jumper

I've taken lots of outfit photos outside the garden shed, but today - mainly thanks to the weather conditions - I thought I'd take some in the shed! Hence a nice gardening theme :D. I have to say, I'm not the world's keenest gardener. I'm more the type to be given a pot plant and forget to water it - I have even managed to let a cactus die in the past. But nevertheless, gardening equipment makes for a nice background!

This is the jumper I bought in a 'friperie' (vintage shop) when I was in Lille. I wasn't quite convinced when I bought it, because its not as 'fair-isle christmas jumper-y' as I wanted, but it was only €5 and not made from itchy wool, which is always a good thing. Even if I never end up wearing it out, its a nice jumper for wandering around the house (its getting rather cold here).

Sorry about the graininess of the photos - I'm not quite sure why they turned out like that! I've just installed a very very old version of photoshop though, so perhaps it's something to do with the file format converting. Gives them a nice vintage touch though :).

I really should be working on my history coursework at the moment - we have to pick a political aspect of history in France, Italy or Spain in the 1900s, and write a dissertation on it. I really really hate making my mind up about what to choose though - its really hard because we need to research everything before making a decision!

Sadie xxx

It's raining!

...which is very surprising, seeing as it's England! I just came back from a very soggy shopping trip to my local charity shops, so I had to wear this hat to disguise the drowned-rat-ness of my hair. The hat is one of my purchases from France (H&M), and I can see it's going to be very useful for the purpose of hiding horrible winter hair.

Anyway, this is a post to show you some of the bargainalicious things that I brought home from the shops today. Firstly, this vintage top, which I thought was quite chic in its own special way - it has a lovely drapey shape and neckline. It was just £3.50 and I can actually wear it not tucked into skirts, which is a change from my usual.

I also found these BRAND NEW Clarks mid heel loafers for £8. They are the most comfy things in the world, yay! But as you can see, I might need to waterproof the leather before wearing them in wet grass again. Oops.

Mmm

In addition to these, I found a cool sequined jumper (£3) and a nice posh highwaisted skirt from Miss Selfridge (£3) - I'm sure these will appear in a future post!

I was taking these photos in a public carpark and ended up doing silly poses just incase anyone was looking and thought I was taking myself too seriously... Don't know if anyone does the same? Haha. I also had to go back inside pretty quickly because a car full of 'boy racers' turned up and I really didn't want a confrontation.

The lovely grey sky

I just found out that my best friend has also started a blog! It's called 'Viva La Vida' - check it out and leave her a comment!

Sadie xxx
P.S. The photoshoot photos should be ready soon!