Winter Orange

It's well and truly winter now and its cold, cold, COLD - but I figure that's no reason to stick to the typical Wellington colour scheme of black and grey.

For me it means time to break out the most bright and colourful dress I have, right now its this orange vintage shift dress .

That badge I'm wearing is a gift from Alicia - because I'm an adult I need a Hello Kitty birthday badge (obviously).

The beads are a purchase from Indonesia, the cardi I've had forever from Glasson, boots from Lippy and the tights could be from almost anywhere really. The dress is a bit tighter than I generally like a dress to be around my hips, but I kind of like it anyways.

I wore it to work and then to a wee dessert get together we had the day after my birthday, time to finally break out the sprinkler shaker Emi bought me (its a unicorn!).

Also Ria bought over the most amazing zombie cupcakes - she totally gets me!

I hope you all have a great weekend, its totally FREEZING here - but at least we went and bought a bunch of tickets for the New Zealand International Film Festival today. When its as cold as this you may as well watch films right?

The ten riggit dress

I've recently returned from travels in South East Asia. Generally when I travel in Asia I will buy fabric and cute accessories. I might buy the odd t-shirt if I can find one that I actually like but most Asian clothes are too small for my hips! A problem when you mostly wear dresses.

Also I pretty picky with my clothes, I like to wear mostly vintage when I'm not wearing stuff I have made myself. In my experience, most Asian countries don't seem to have a lot of vintage (or at least I don't know where to find it!).

So when Rich and I were wandering around the streets of Kuala Lumpur and we found a street stall selling vintage clothes, I think I pretty much just said to Rich "VINTAGE!!!". My excitement was followed by feeling instantly bummed as I was sure nothing would fit me - until I saw this dress on the hanger and I knew I had to have it.

If anything the dress is actually a little on the big side, but that's nothing a belt can't fix. I'm surprised how happy I look in this photo as I had a crown put on one of my teeth today, it hurt my wallet more than my mouth.

But something that didn't hurt my wallet was this dress, it cost me a grand total of ten riggit - that's around $NZ3 - sweet score! I wore it to work today and I got a compliment on my new dress. The fabric is super fun.

So tomorrow is my birthday - because I've just had eleven days of leave from work, I will be going into the office. I don't mind, I actually like my job! Also I have birthday morning tea with my team, lunch with Ria and a play and dinner with Rich in the evening. Plus I'm having friends around for a dessert evening on Wednesday night which will be pretty fun (I'm amazed I really managed to organise any birthday events on such short notice).

Hope you guys have a super week and there are going to be a whole bunch of travel posts to bore you guys with soon!

Emporium Vintage Sale Frock

I haven't really bought many new (by new I mean from an op shop or consignment store) clothes in AGES. But when I heard that the annual Emporium Vintage Sale was on at the weekend,  I thought I'd head down to Mighty Mighty where the event was being held and see if I could find myself a bargain or two. In my head I was going to leave with bags and bags of vintage goodies - but it wasn't to be! Not much really caught my eye, I found a couple of scarves (I ALWAYS do) but I did find this super rad "USA made" dress that made the whole even worthwhile.

I have to admit its not my usual style - but I really do love this frock! Plus it almost looks like a respectable, grown up office dress.

Hope that the start of your week is going well - only three days till the weekend. Hurrah!

Springtime in pink!

The first of September was officially the FIRST day of spring and now its actually starting to feel like spring. There is actually light left at the end of the working day which means we can take outfit photos again!

Yesterday I was in the mood for pink, pink and more pink! I've noticed that since the weather has become nicer again I am taking more care in the way I dress - does anyone else find that?

Nothing in this outfit is made by me - but most of it is second hand, its a mighty "cheap" outfit really.

Cardi - Clothes Swap (originally Glassons)

Skirt - Op shopped at Opportunity for Animals, Newtown (originally Cue)

Beads - Given to me by Chloe (from a bulk lot of jewellery she no longer wanted)

Tights - I don't remeber

Shoes - Avon

Also seen as the sun isn't setting until much later Rich and I headed out for a walk before dinner and even the sky was pink last night - so beautiful.

Have a lovely weekend!

Peg Dress & Petone

As you may have guessed from my earlier post - today is Anzac Day in New Zealand, which is a day of remembrance for those we have lost in war time. I also means we get a public holiday.

Rich and I had a quiet day off - Rich had study and I was intending to do sewing, although to be honest I didn't get much done. I did wear this dress though that I finished making last weekend.

Here's a close up of the fabric - it has pegs all over it. It's kind of a random print, but kind of fun too. I means why not have a dress with pegs on it?

 Rich decided to take a few artsy shots of our building whilst we were taking these photos - as you can see the scaffolding is still up. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever come down, I asked the property manager about it but their answer was at best vague.

In case you were wondering, I did manage to actually get out of the house today. Rich went up to the university library to study and I went to hang out with my friend Nankz. We had a coffee and then went to the beach in Petone.

It feels weird having to go back to work tomorrow after having Thursday off - I guess the up side is I only have one more working day and then its the weekend again.

Aeon Clothing Swap

On Friday night I had a girls night out with Kat and Hiliare at Thistle Hall at the Aeon clothes swap party. Aeon is clothing store on Cuba Street that sells both vintage and new things, its a cool little store so I was looking forward to the swap.

The rules of the swap were pretty basic! I took my unwanted clothes along to the Aeon store about an hour before the swap, got a whole bunch of tokens (puzzle pieces), had dinner with Rich and headed off to meet the girls at Thistle Hall.

Here's a few of the piles of clothes and accessories - I was really hoping to pick up some new shoes, but all the shoes were SO TINY! Oh well, I did manage to pick up plenty of other good stuff.

The clothes swap even had a fashion show which included some rad vintage and handmade items.

So what did I get at the swap? All kinds of rad things - skirts, tops, belts, necklaces, some fabric and a bag. When I went to work today, most of my outfit was stuff that I picked up at the swap and given that it only cost $10 to head along to the swap its a pretty cheap outfit.

I only have an awkward indoor photo today as its still raining (not that I'm complaining - we seriously need rain).

Top, belt, skirt & scarf - Aeon Clothes Swap
Tights - Equipt
Shoes - Number 1 Shoes

Upcycling my own creations - Horsing About Skirt!

If you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember the horsing about dress that I made in September of last year. I liked this dress when I finished, even though it was a pretty basic design (I guess you need a basic design when you're making a dress from mad horse fabric) but I literally only wore it once which seemed like such a waste of precious fabric.

I decided I had to do something else with it and as there was quite a lot of fabric in the dress plus a few scraps (just the right size for interfacing) the horse dress was reborn as the horse skirt.

There really is no point in keeping stuff in your wardrobe you're not going to wear right? So upcycling was really the only thing for it!

The theme of these photos kind of ended up being "signs around our apartment" first up - the exit sign by the stairs.

Then it was time for the towing sign in the car park - this sign actually puzzles me a bit, as you have to actually have keys to the apartment block to even get into our car park. So I'm not sure who could actually get into the building to park here, I guess maybe if you parked in the wrong space you could be in trouble.

You know much of New Zealand is suffering from a drought right now, but the weeds in our car park still seem to manage to grow at a prolific rate. Perhaps its all the pigeon poo?

OUTFIT DEETS:

Boots - Bought in Seoul
Tights - Farmers
Skirt - Made by me
Belt & top - Glassons
Necklace - Rose Street Markets, Melbourne

Tropical Skirt!

Hey Folks! Just a short and sweet sewing post tonight - I just wanted to share with you all my latest sewing creation. It's yet another half circle skirt using the same pattern as I did for my sailor skirt and my Singapore skirt.

Although I really do like this style of skirt, I have to admit at times it is NOT the best design for windy Wellington weather! Luckily its been pretty calm lately. Hope you folks all had a lovely weekend xoxo

New job - New skirt

Yesterday I started a new job - I'm still working for the same government department that I've worked for over the past two years. But I have a brand new role in a brand new team and I have so much to learn!

I think that a new job requires something new tow wear - in this case a brand new sailor skirt made by me! This photo is taken in the car park of our building. The body corp doesn't clean the windows and it doesn't kill the weeds in the car park either. I'm glad we are only renting and don't own our apartment - if we did own this apartment I think the body corporate would make me completely crazy.

Here's the print on the skirt - its all lighthouses and boats. I have admired this fabric at Arthur Toye fabric for a long time. When they started one of their famous "half price sales" I couldn't resist picking up a couple of metres.

Here's a few more outfit details:

OUTFIT DEETS:

Shoes & Necklace - Op Shops

Skirt - Made by Me

Shirt - Clothes Swap

Skull Bracelets - Spacesuit

Beaded Bracelet - From Chloe

Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge: This is just what I wore today

I haven't done a Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge for a while - I've just had so much on that I haven't had too much time to think about it. 

So instead of Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge - here's what I wore to work today.

Last night I got my hair cut and I've added a blue streak - but its hard to see in the photos!

Here's a close up of my accessories for the day - it's all about the beads!

Boots and tights.

OUTFIT DEETS:

Boots - Op shopped

Tights - Glassons 

Dress - Made by Me

Necklace & single bead bracelet - From Chloe 

Flower bracelet - From a swap

Bone bracelet - Gift from Rich

Elephant brooch - Bought in Seoul

Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge: Barbarella Goes Back to the Future

So it seems that the regular Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge is back on track - today's challenge was pink and blue.

I could have done that challenge, I have pink and I have blue, I could have done that challenge pretty easily.

But I decided to stick with my original plan, which was to tackle a challenge from Sarah, namely "Barbarella goes back to the future".

image from here

However, a bikini isn't really office wear, so my look is more "Barbarella - Public Servant". 

I thought the bronze pleather skirt and suede look boots are a little bit Barbarella.

I also thought the animal print tights are a little Barbarella.

 Another day wearing fancy accessories made by fancy friends.

I had my smile fixed today - my filling is all repaired. Just as well it was pay day today!

Rich calls this my "Tina Turner" skirt - I think its rad.

So do I pass as Barbarella - Queen of public servants? It's not quite as glamorous as being the Queen of the galaxy I guess.

Outfit Deets:

Boots - Avon

Tights - Equipt

Skirt & Cardi - Glassons

Top - From a friend's wardrobe clear out

Necklace - Made by Meg

Brooch - Made by my friend Grace