Sewing Alteration || Purple Dress

Hello best friends!

How are you all going? I feel like I've been a bit M.I.A recently, even though I only missed one post!

So today I am here to show you a quick alteration I did on a thrift shop dress that I got forever ago.

If you like thrift shopping you'll know what I mean when I say that sometimes you just see items of clothing, and they aren't really what you would wear but you just know that one day you'll find something to do with them. That's exactly what this dress was, it reminded me of a dentists dress haha but I thought it looked too nice just to leave sitting there, so it's now been sitting in my cupboard instead for months on end.

I never had a reason to do anything with the dress before but I recently went to a school reunion of sorts which was not utterly dressy but not casual either, so I thought then would be the perfect time to whip this dress out of hiding.

Like the professional blogger I am, I forgot to take any photos of it before I started altering, so you're just going to have to imagine it without any of the lace. 

 

 I added the flower detailing and the lace around the sleeves to make it look a bit less like a work dress and to make it look a little girlier. I like how it turned out, the lace wasn't too much and it wasn't not enough either. All in all, I really like it!

I ended up pairing it with some low black boots/wedges

So what do you think? Do you like it? It's also great to wear when you're pretending to be a kid and jumping on your bed :)

I hope you've all had a wonderful stress-free week!

Have you altered something recently?

Wire Word Bracelets.

Hello there everyone! How fast is this year going? It's not even funny any more! I feel like I've spent the entire year not doing anything of value...

Anyway, onto this post. A few weeks back (on the day when it was so hot in Brisbane I nearly melted) I rediscovered some wire hiding in the top of my cupboard and decided to make the most of it. For my best friends birthday I had bought her a wire bracelet with her name on it, so I decided I'd give it a go and try my own! They don't look anywhere near as professional as the one I bought did, but I think they're so cute to wear on their own to give a 'minimalistic' look. You can even write any word you want with them, so they would be perfect to give as gifts, or even as friendship bracelets!

My favourite is definitely the one that says smile.

I used 20 gauge wire, and decided to make a bracelet with two small flowers on it. You can bend the wire with your fingers or with pliers to get smaller shapes.

I'd recommend giving them a go! They're fun and easy and so cute!

Which one is your favourite?

Spring Sewing || Floral Pinafore

Hello beautiful people!

Guess what?

Today I have another sewing post for you!

*cue groaning*

But I really like this one and I hope you like it too. I was going to make a "how to" post on how to make this pinafore, but I've decided I'm really bad at making them for more complex sewing, so I thought I'd just show you a few photos (and a quick video at the end). 

That said, if you want to know how to make it I'll be more than happy to explain!

mid-sewing: trying to work out what size to make the "bib"

I decided to use love-heart buttons to make it childish 

Prancing around in the sweltering heat

I'm in love with jelly shoes.

Here's a quick video as promised, sorry the quality is so bad!


sewing from Erin Hanson on Vimeo.

 Do any of you own pinafores? Do you love them or loathe them?

See you on Wednesday!

OOTD || Paprika Dress

Hello lovelies, recently when I asked what sort of posts people liked seeing on my blog a few people told me they'd enjoy some more outfit posts. So here I am answering your prayers. (Not really, if you've been praying for an outfit post from me that probably isn't normal....) So anyway, here you go! 

I got this dress from a thrift shop for $8 and just could not pass it by. I realise it's most likely supposed to be a shirt (it was a size 12, I'm an 8) but who said you have to follow the rules! I'll probably have to wait until it's winter again and then pair it with some stockings underneath, but I absolutely LOVE the sleeves. I feel like they belong to an earlier time period. How would any of you wear this dress???

PS. I've found the magic of collages. You can use MORE pictures??? With LESS space??? Genius.

Thanks for reading and I hope you've all had a beautiful day.

Have any of you ever found something amazing in a thrift store?

How To || Make a Summer Skirt.

Hey everyone! How have your weeks been? Lovely and sunny I hope! A few weeks ago when winter finally gave way to spring I decided to make a spring/summer skirt (instead of doing uni work....) So I thought I would explain how to make it here! It's super easy and quick to do! All you need is:

1. Elastic

2. A long amount of material (the longer it is, the more flowy the skirt!)

3. A sewing machine.

4. Lace (optional)

Method:

1. First of all choose your fabric and make sure you have enough of it! I chose a really light floral material.

 2. If your material isn't long enough you can always sew separate sections onto each other

3. Measure the elastic around your waist and cut to the right size. Make sure you leave a bit of overlap so you can sew the ends together at the end.

 4. (I forgot to take photos of this!) Fold over the top of the fabric (on the long edge) and sew a "tunnel" for the elastic to pass through. Make sure it's wide enough for the elastic

5. Once the elastic is fully threaded sew the two ends together securely so there's no chance of them breaking apart.

6. Hem the skirt

7. Add any extra details you want e.g. Lace

8. The most important step. TAKE HEAPS OF SPINNY PHOTOS.

Have you sewn anything recently?

Amigurumi Adventures || Handmade Teddy

Happy hump day everyone! (In Australia that is, happy Tuesday to most others)

I thought I'd do a really quick post today on something I made on the weekend. If you follow me on instagram you may have already seen it!

So I was looking around instagram and came across one in particular that had all of these absolutely adorable crocheted animals. So right then and there I decided I would learn how to make them! I already knew how to crochet, but basically just stuck to simple things like scarves. I found these creatures were called "Amigurumi" and set about learning the basic techniques to make them. I found this website and it just made everything so easy to understand!

So straight away I dragged my mum to the nearest spotlight and bought some balls of wool and stuffing to get started. Below are some photos I took while I was making my bear and also the finished product.

I would definitely recommend trying amigurumi if you like to crochet! It is much easier than it appears.

What do you think?

Will you/have you ever tried Amigurumi?

Monthly Favourites || SEPTEMBER

Can someone please explain to me how this year seems to be going so unbelievably fast!? 

We're already almost a week into October and September just seems like a warm memory, so I thought it was time to post my monthly favourites for the month of September!

This is my first time doing this kind of "monthly favourites" so let me know what you think and if you want me to continue them into the following months. They're a bit different to the usual "fashion bloggers monthly favourites"

Let's jump right in!

I think this would definitely have to be The Knife of Never Letting Go. I was utterly addicted in the 3 days it took me to read it, and the book takes you on such a journey. I don't want to spoil anything about the book for you, but I would definitely recommend it! Just click on the title to be taken to the goodreads page for the book :)

Blurb:

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

My most wanted item would definitely be this dress and watch:

Isn't it just so perfect! It reminds me of a fairy dress and I am in love with it!

This watch is so gorgeous but unfortunately it's out of stock now :(

My favourite outfit would definitely be this one, which I am doing a full outfit post on soon!

This is a hard one! But I'm going to have to say Team by Lorde

I had to consult my diary for this one because I've already forgotten most of what I did in September! But I'm going to say the day I spontaneously went up to a girl who was struggling to carry some boxes and offered to help her. We walked and talked for ages and it was really nice to have someone new to talk to. She was really nice too and I feel bad for never properly introducing myself!

I'm normally so shy around people I don't know, but I wasn't that day and it made me feel happy inside for the rest of that day :)

Would have to be this post from the wonderful Zali. The photos all look so magical and Zali is just the cutest little blogger! She makes me feel so old and untalented, and I'm only 18!

What is your most favourite thing from September?