Rip 'em to shreds.

I've been loving a lot of shredded clothes in the latest runway shows, and for a while all I wanted to do was to start cutting up all my clothes to turn them from daggy back of the closet eyesores to 'masterpieces' of cutting edge fashion instantly.

Needless to say, I'm glad I restrained.

What I did do though, was cut up some old scraps of fabric that I had laying around. Not much of a compromise I know, but the more I've been thinking of shredding my clothes the more I've been thinking of turning them into some derivative of a weave. I wanted to get a feel for what it would look like.


I'm not entirely sure about the one on the blue floral print, but I do like texture of the cream stretch fabric with mustard silk & stretch navy suiting.

What I'm thinking of doing next: Buying some cheap loose (maybe a size or two too big) stretch tees & singlets & slashing different areas at different angles. At the moment my favourite idea is diagonal slashes starting just underneath the bust on one side & coming down to the base at the other side & weaving through some torn fabric. I like the idea of the weave slowly creeping up the top. The execution could be tricky though. I also like the idea of having the shoulders slashed with weaves draping down over the rest of the top.

I'll post some pictures of whatever I end up doing, (no matter how terrible).

Birthday Present for T.

It was my friend T.'s 25th birthday recently & I was really struggling to find her a gift. After a lot of to-ing & fro-ing, I thought the best thing to do was to make her something. I found some red velvet I had stored away & used it to make her a cute little red swing coat.


What pattern I used: Vogue V8146, with some minor modifications. The original pattern didn't allow for a lining & I'm of the opinion that coats should have linings, so I added one.

What I was inspired by: Colours & Textures of Alexander McQueen A/W 08/09.

What I still have left to do: Add the buttonholes. I've decided that rather than adding buttons (I couldn't find any I liked), I'd do button holes on both sides of the lapel & weave a scarf through & tie it in a bow. Because the colour of the velvet appears slightly different in different lights or even when worn with different colours, I really struggled to find a cotton with the 'right' shade of red. As a result, all the seams are invisible & I'll be sewing the buttonholes in a gold metallic thread. I think this will be a nice contrast.

I'll post some more pics once it's finished later this week.

Another Polyvore Play

Had another play on Polyvore this evening to create an outfit around these cool Giuseppe Zanotti shoes.



You can find the full details of the outfit here.

My Backpack's Got Jets

Today I released my inner geek & went to the Star Wars Exhibition at Scienceworks. It was awesome to 11.

R2D2 & I

They had heaps of models there that featured in the older films & ones used in the development of the newer films. Because Scienceworks is a science museum, there were a lot of science based activities you could participate in. The engineer in me had a lot of fun building hover cars & robots & making them travel through little courses. They had the costumes from all of my favourite characters and there were quite a few people dressed up too. I had my photo taken with a life-sized remote control R2D2, which I was super psyched about. You can tell how much fun I was having from the photos, even though I look like a COMPLETE dork.

The robot I built...

Today I was wearing Saba jeans, my fav Zoe Wittner open toe boots & a top I made last weekend. It's a simple black stretch top, except for the big sash I sewed in. I really like how it hangs down, but if I make another I might make the top slightly longer as I keep feeling like I need to pull it down. I was also thing of ways to make the sash in more of a contrast colour. I'm going to try to find some fabric with a gradual colour change, so when in the areas where I sew it to the top it's the same colour as the top, but then it changes into another brighter colour... We'll see if I can find anything suitable.

I also thought I'd post this picture of one of Padme's costumes from Episode I. I really like the bindings around the lower arms & legs (and down over the shoes), over the loose flowing top & pants. I also like how they've allowed a little of the sleeve to poke out from under the bindings & hang over the hands.

Summer Dreaming

I've been at home sick today, thinking about summer to try and will myself better. I don't think it worked particularly well, but I did make up my first 'set' on Polyvore. It was quite fun, so here it is;

Malene Birger necklace, Donna Karan shirt, Proenza Schouler bag, Tashkent by Cheyenne shoes & Preen shorts. You can find the full details of this outfit here.

You are beautiful.

I was browsing through some magazines at a store recently when I came across this one, Karen magazine.

The cover just struck me, what a gorgeous image. I'm particularly attracted to the colour & shape of her hair & the contrast of the blue lips (which match the letter "N" of KAREN ever so neatly. I love how clean the whole cover is with just one simple line at the base.

Inside they had some beautiful photo shoots. The layout of the magazine was also really clean & succinct. There was none of the clutter or inane headlines/comments. It was really refreshing.

I''ll stop gushing now...

Winter Warmth

It's been winter for a couple of weeks now but this week was the first with a real wintery chill about it. On Wednesday I came home from work freezing & so quickly made up this vest to keep me warm. It was super easy to make, I cut out three pieces, the front, back and a long rectangle to add extra volume to the collar and stitched them together. It took about 45-60mins. I love these super quick little projects. Here's some pictures of me being silly in the garden in my new top...


What I'm wearing; homemade pink & grey sleeveless cardigan, white Cotton On top, FCUK waisted belt, old jeans, grey Mimco Tuxedo Femme Lace-Up shoes.

Here's what I like about this top; it's warm & cosy, great for lazying around on a Sunday afternoon, or snuggling up in a movie, it doesn't have any sleeves so I can still do things & not get sleeves caught/dirty.

Here's what I think I'd do differently next time; I might choose a slightly thinner fabric so that I could add more fabric without adding too much bulk to the front.

And a close up of the shoes... My new favourites.

A New Watch

I've had the same Fossil watch for a number of years & it's now really quite worn out, I've been holding on to it for long past it's use by date because partly for sentiment (it's one of the first gifts my boyfriend gave me) and partly because I love that I can change the leather band on it to match it to my outfit. So in the last couple of months I've been desperately trying to find an appropriate replacement.

Last week I finally found something that I immediately fell in love with... A Mimco bracelet with fob watch. For years I've been lusting after the Mimco fob watch necklaces & then when I saw this bracelet I decided that I finally had to commit! Unfortunately it had sold out in stores, but eBay came through with the goods & my watch arrived in the mail a few days back.



I'm in love! It's so different to all of the other watches I saw. Granted it is not as versatile as my last leather band watch, it's much harder to wear casually & it might be a little harder to wear in summer, but whenever I wear it, all I want to do is check the time. I love opening the fob to check find out what the time will be, it's such a pleasure, though I can't possibly explain why. I love the floral engraving on the fob. I love the heavy, dull, jingly noise it makes when I get a little too animated when talking. I love the weight on my wrist. I love the compliments I get for it, but most of all I love how unique it is.

Painted Nails & Open Toe Boots

I got bored the other day & painted my toenails...

I haven't done this since I was in high school & after doing so, I thought I looked ludicrous. It made me feel a bit like a grandma living in Queensland wearing coral lipstick & matching nail polish. It's fair to say I did an awful job of painting them & spent more time cleaning my toes with a cotton bud & nail polish remover than I did painting them, but I don't think this was the reason for feeling so silly. This is strange because when it comes to my fingernails, I love nail polish, I love fussing over my nails, I love going to the manicurist to get my nails done. But I've never had a pedicure & I've never felt normal wearing polish on my toes. I think I've always been afraid that I'll get there and take my shoes off and the poor girl will recoil in horror when she sees what years of wearing ski boots & stilettos will do to your feet.

I put on a pair of socks to cover them up...

The next day I wanted to wear my beautiful lace-up open toe boots, but in a rush to get ready I forgot to take the polish off. I hated it at first, but as the day wore on I found that I actually liked the way the nail polish looked on my toes with those shoes. I certainly won't be wearing it with stilettos to the races anytime soon, but with my lace up boots it looked kind of cool. It added a touch of femininity & a softness to a pair of shoes that are very strong & assertive. I felt great. Maybe I'll give the whole toenail thing a second chance.

On another note I LOVE THESE SHOES!!!! They are perfect for nearly any occasion, thought I'm still trying to find a way to justify wearing them to work :S

They are also super comfy. I got them from Zoe Wittner and I've found most of their heels to have a really nice angle to them, making them super comfortable, as well as looking stunning. In general I've been loving their shoes lately (I think in the last year 8 months I've bought 3 pairs of shoes from there), they are really reasonably priced and they have some fantastic designs.