Button Up.

Okay so today's post is another sewing post. This shirt is another one that I got at the thrift shop on saturday, it was the one item that I kind of bought on a whim, I knew I couldn't possibly wear it as it was so there was some serious altering that needed to be done!

Here's what it looked like at the start:

After a lot of umming and ahhing over what I should actually DO to the shirt, I decided to add some pieces of floral fabric, instead of leaving the whole shirt white. There was already a large piece of white fabric in the same shape as the new one at the back, so I just used it as a template to recreate the shape of it, I also cut the cuff of the sleeves off and the rolled them up about 4 times before sewing the new fabric onto it. I also used the white pocket as a template as well and simply stitched the floral material over the top.

When I purchased the shirt it was wayyy too big for me, so to accommodate for that I put six lines of sherring in the back of the shirt and I also took in the side seams as well as the sleeves, and then I brought
the hem up at the bottom.

Shirt: $4

Please let me know what you think of it! Personally I really love how unique it is and I wore it out to the movies today paired with a black singlet and floral denim pants.

Over and out,
Erin.

Thrift Shopping.

No, this post is not about that annoying song that gets stuck in your head and then never gets out of it again! I actually went to a thrift shop today! wooohoo! And I got some pretty amazing bargains! I just wanted to do a quick post to show you two of the items that I got and how I altered them to suit me:

Spinning pictures are always essential.

I was so excited when I found a gorgeous orangey dress at the thrift shop, it wasn't really a style that suited me so I got it to use the fabric. As soon as I got home I raced to the sewing machine and altered it into this hi-lo skirt. (It's a bit hard to see that it's hi-lo in the pictures). Then when I realised it matched my jelly sandals I as even more excited! Overall it took me about an hour and a half to make. I also got the shirt I am wearing from the thrift store too and the dress/skirt and shirt were both only $4!

I thought I'd quickly mention the jewellery I'm wearing. I got the purple gem ring when I was in Nepal at the end of last year, so it was super cheap, but I can't quite remember the price. The leaf ring was my mum's and I think it's from Avon. My watch is just a really cheapo one from Target, but I love the big face it has on it. My sandals were also really cheap from Big W, about $10.

So overall this outfit cost around about $18! That's amazing when you consider that normally you can hardly buy one item of clothing for that amount.

Please let me know what you think of the skirt, and keep an eye out for the other items of clothing I bought in posts soon.

Over and out,
Erin.

Book Review: Looking For Alaska

Author: John Green

Rating: 5/5

Recently I've become obsessed with all things John Green. His books are so different to any I have read before, and he teaches such life changing lessons in his books that many other authors can only dream of delivering. So far I've been able to get my hands on 'The Fault in our Stars', 'Looking for Alaska' and 'Paper Towns'. All of which are amazing books that I would recommend to anybody, I can't even say which of the three is my favourite. They are all different but at the same time give you the same feeling when you finish reading them. The feeling that you're leaving those new found friends between the pages behind, but at the same time it is for the best because they have taught you lessons you won't forget.

To put it simply, so I don't ruin the book for anyone who might want to read it (which you should). Looking for Alaska is about a boy named Miles Halter who leaves his boring school where he has next to no friends to go and seek a "Great Perhaps." At his new school he meets Chip "The Colonel" Martin, and Alaska. From there they help him to find his great perhaps, and teach him so much about life that he wouldn't have learnt by himself.

For me, Miles is such a relatable character, that as he grew as a person in the story, I felt like I grew as well. Every lesson he learnt was reflected in me. Miles is essentially just a lost teenager trying to work out how to live, and so I think that this book would ring true with a lot of teenagers today.

Alaska epitomises what most people want to be. She is beautiful, but at the same time she is intelligent. Not necessarily in a "school" sense, but in a "life" sense. She sees life on a level that is deeper than most, and she understands it, leaving the reader with a new perspective on life, and how we are, to quote the book "stuck in this labyrinth of suffering"

I don't want to give away the ending of the book, but I would definitely recommend adding it onto your  must read list. You won't regret it.

Over and out, 

Erin.

Stitch Me Up.

So if you read my first post, you will know that I love to sew. Mainly little things like pencil cases or bags, but occasionally I branch out and try sewing something I can wear! A while ago I came across a company known as Damsel In This Dress and I absolutely adored everything they made, so I decided to try and make one of their dresses for myself. And this is how it turned out: (Please ignore my spinning, I seem to love taking photos of me spinning)

Basically, I made this dress without a pattern (which is why it's rough in some places) The top lavender piece is made out of a type of lycra, and the underneath piece of the skirt is also the same material. The main skirt was just a very light fabric and I thought the colours were absolutely beautiful. I loved the idea of the heart buttons and using lace instead of straps.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of it!

Over and out,
Erin.

Blacked Out.

Well what an interesting past few days it has been! I woke up on Monday morning with the full intentions of uploading a sewing blog post, but it turns out I had no power! And I've only just regained the internet now. In Brisbane right now it's been flooding, not as badly as the 2011 floods, but any flood is a bad one. Luckily for me, I live in an area where I'm not really affected by the flood waters, but I did lose power. I just wanted to write a quick update to say sorry for not being online for the past few days! Here's a couple of pictures of the water near me:

My Poetry.

Just came across this poem that I wrote a few years ago. It still rings true.