Welcome Winter || Playlist

You might remember at the start of March I made an Autumn Playlist. The season has gone so quickly and the Southern Hemisphere now finds itself staring right down the barrel of winter. I loved taking the time to find songs that reminded me of Autumn back in March, so I've decided to make a new winter playlist, full of songs for this chilly season.

This playlist is full of the perfect songs to listen to while you're snuggled up with a warm cup of tea, watching out the window as the wind dances amongst the world outside. For those of you heading into summer, you'll just have to wait another 6 months to get your summer playlist! (Although by that time you can just listen to this one....) Anyway, enjoy!

x Erin

Welcome Winter. from eza_236 on 8tracks Radio.

Tracklist

1.  I Can't Make You Love Me/Nick of Time - Bon Iver
2. Ghost Town - First Aid Kit
3. Candles - Daughter
4. It's Hard To Get Around The Wind - Alex Turner
5. Home of the Blues - Owl City
6. Winter Winds - Mumford & Sons
7. Echo - Jason Walker
8. You Can Close Your Eyes - Charlie & Stephen Puth
9. Haunt (Demo) - Bastille
10. Youth - Daughter
11. Can't Help Falling In Love - Fleet Foxes
12. Timshel - Mumford & Sons

Once again I'm finishing the playlist with my favourite song. There's something about the song Timshel which just makes me far too emotional. One of my all time favourites.

Sewing || Kimono

Hey everyone!

Today I'm going to try and teach you how to sew your own "kimono"! I've seen these in the shops for crazy amounts of money, so I'm here to try save you and your wallet! The only thing you need to know how to do for this is sew in a straight line. In fact, it might take a bit longer but you could even hand stitch this if you wanted! So let's get on with it.

You will need:

- A large piece of fabric (light fabric is good for a summery kimono or you can use thicker fabrics if you want to use it more as a cardigan. The fabrics I bought were 112cm x 150cm.

- Fabric Scissors

- Sewing Machine (or a needle and thread!)

What to do:

1. Once you have your fabric, lay it all out completely flat. Then fold it in half along the longest sides (So you are putting the two shorter sides together.)

2. Now fold the fabric again so that the new short ends come together.

3. You should be left with a much smaller rectangle of fabric. Position it so that the sides that have all the open edges are on the bottom and right hand sides of the fabric.

4. Now you are going to start cutting. Making sure you're cutting through all the fabric, leave 12 inches of fabric along the bottom and then start cutting straight up until you're about 15 inches from the top. (The higher you cut, the less "flowy" the sleeve will be.) Then from there, cut straight out in a  horizontal line until you reach the edge of the right hand side of the fabric. (It's easier just to look at photo 4)

5. Now carefully unfold the fabric until you see this T shape. You should now sew up both of the right angle cuts that you've made with a simple straight stitch.Your kimono is almost done!

6. Cut up the very centre of this T shape, on one side of the fabric only! Once you reach the top, cut about 5 inches to either side to make a neckline. You can then also cut diagonally from both edges of the neckline to the centre cut you just made, to make the neckline sit nicer.

7. Now the only thing left to do is hem! Make sure there's no raw edges anywhere along your fabric. Once you've done this, your Kimono is finished and ready for use! Now, doesn't having your own unique kimono in your favourite fabric seem so much better than forking out $50 for a badly made one at a store?

Since it's coming into winter here, I've made my kimono a bit thicker, but I can't wait to make some light ones for the spring and summer!

Let me know if you plan on making a kimono!

x Erin

OOTD || Maxi Dress

I wanted to do another outfit post that was less words and more photos today.

The other day I went to a thrift shop and found this dress. At first I had bought it with the intention of shortening it to just below my knees, but when I put it on I found it fit me perfectly and I fell in love with the way it looks long.

Now you may think I'm strange for saying this, but my favourite kinds of clothes are the ones that make me feel like somebody else, and this dress does just that. It reminds me of so many characters from my favourite storybooks and I think that's what I like most about it. It isn't flashy or eye-catching, it's actually really quite simple, but it makes me happy when I'm wearing it, and that's all that matters.

The afternoon light was gorgeous when I took these photos, and I hope you all enjoy my little windowsill garden!

x Erin

Journal || She would sit by its bars, in a gown sewn from tears.

Don't understand the title? Read my journal post titles from first to last to understand :)

(x)

Monthly Favourites || April

It always seems to be around the start of May that I begin to realise that time is actually passing, and the year is slipping through my fingers faster than I intended it to. Every year I tell myself I won't let it happen again, and every single year it does. Maybe now that I've had that realisation I will start to get things together.

April was not a good month for me. I felt drained, emotionally and physically. Despite it starting out absolutely wonderfully it seems to have all slipped down hill, including being let down by friends and losing my job. Alas, I have virtually no favourites so am just going to show you some beautiful things I have stumbled across this month.

1. Quotes

I am a massive logophile and cannot get enough of quotes. I love the way they make you feel, they put into words things your mind knew but didn't know how to say.

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2. Reclaimed by Nature

If there was nothing to stop me, I would spend my entire life looking at these kinds of images. To me they are so so beautiful, and make me feel so happy and peaceful. It's good to know that nature will find a way to fight back after our human touch has been removed from it.

3. Cities Without Lights

As someone utterly enthralled by stars this series of images breaks my heart and mends it all at the same time. These pictures depict what some major cities across the world would be able to see in the sky at night, if all the lights were turned off. The beauty speaks for itself.

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So that is all for this post, sorry it was so short! 

Tell me, what sort of things do you do to get yourself motivated and back on track? I am in desperate need of suggestions right now!

x Erin

DIY || Quick and Easy Notebooks

If you know anything about me, you'll know that I have a love of notebooks that is beginning to err on the side of unhealthy. But that's okay, right? 

I've had this idea in my head for quite a while now of something that I'm going to need a notebook for, and after putting it off for ages simply because I was too lazy to go out and buy a notebook, I realised... why don't I just make one myself!? I'm a strong believer that you shouldn't buy something that you can make yourself, so this fits my philosophy perfectly!

You might remember back in January I made this post on sewing a notebook, but the version I am going to show you today is 10x easier and quicker! Perfect for when you need a notebook quickly. (Or just want to make heaps of them *cough* me *cough*)

You are going to need:

- Thick sewing needle

- Embroidery thread

- Thin paper (notebook paper works best)

- Thin  cardboard (can be from a cereal box etc.)

What to do:

1. Pull however many pages you want out of your notebook and then fold them in half. I used 16 pages of grid paper, giving me 64 pages to write on altogether in the notebook. Don't use too many or it'll be hard to sew it all together! (If you want to make a thicker notebook I'd recommend my other tutorial)

2. Once all your paper is folded in half, put it all together like how it will sit in the notebook, then open it up to the very middle. Draw a series of dots down the centre (crease) of the paper. For mine I drew 4 sets of 2 dots that were 1.3cm apart. Then just spread them evenly along the centre to make sure the book would be strongly bound.

3. Now with your sewing needle, poke it through each hole you just drew, all the way through all the pages.

4. Cut out a piece of cardboard to fit as the cover of your book and fold it in half. (If you're just using a cereal box, you can decorate it however you want!)

5. Repeat step 3 except now go through all the pages again AND the cover. (Going through just the pages first makes it much much easier to do.)

6. Start sewing! Start by going through the bottom hole on the inside, and then tie it off once you come back through the next hole. Continue weaving in and out until you get to the end, then tie off again and you're done!

7. Now's a good time to cut around your cover and make it nice and neat. You can even round the edges if you want.

Now go and fill your beautiful notebook/s with anything your magical heart desires!

I can't wait to start filling my notebooks up! Knowing that you can make new ones whenever you want makes it much easier to get started writing in them! It's also so wonderful knowing that you've created something that's entirely unique to you, my favourite thing about creating things :)

Let me know if you plan on making any!

x Erin