more charity shop and redesigning my old clothes

After getting up at 6.30 for a totally uneccessary hospital appointment, as I half expected, I cheered my self up with another trip to charity shop and the most amazing scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast at my corner cafe.

1. Blue spotted oversized dress, size 12 believe it or not,  in Victoria Becham style, Cos brand worth £50-100 according to Cos website dresses.  - £5

I like VBs style and her collection even if she is a little thin.  Is usually restrained, classic with some edgyness now and then like this dress.

After a good polish, not bad for £5.

2.  Brown leather cloogs by Josef Siegel, worth £60. - £5.  nicely worn in, new soles, just need some polish.

3.  I have managed to take in several of my big trousers.  These black thin cord. were original size 14 straight loose leg, not much shape - it was the thin cord I liked.  I have taken them in 3 times as I lost weight.  This time I used the red skinny gap jeans in previous post as a pattern to take in again.  Just left legs slightly looser than the red ones.  I love them even more now.

4. I have managed to brilliantly save 2 fav 38D/DD bras that had become too big for me.  Fortunately no pics of me wearing them, but you can see my perky boobs in blue tshirt above which i would normally only get with my new smaller bras which i only have one of.  I had to do 3 things:

   1. take in 2" near back hook join

   2. bend underwires so they werent as wide which had keep my boobies spread out near my arms but are now more forward and uplifted

   3. in the centre front, i sewed the cups together up about 2" from the original centre strip/ where underwires come together.  This tightened upper cup looseness.  It has made bra no good for low cut tops but i dont wear low cut anyway.  I cut out this step for second smaller pair as it wasnt needed so they are low in front.

Is great, I feel very supported, comfy and saved about £30-40.

My next projects for next post - VB style trousers made from Js old size 40 trousers.  Have done the waist, now need to shorten legs.   Also saved very baggy jumper from the 'painting clothes' box.  Halfway thru revamping them after inspiration from Vogue site.  So glad I will still get to wear this fav old thing.  It's only symthetic knit and I have had to de-ball it and sew up holes but it will be worth it I think.

6 items at charity shop for £24

my charity shops getting better as area comes up.  All were new or as new.  Got banana blue&green Republic dress worth £70 for £5, yellow Oasis dress £5(not so sure now), red Gap jeans worth £35 for £5.  green George trousers £2  anit label trainers for £4, River Island baggy floral top £3.  I guess it the growing problem of shopaholics never wearing half of what they buy - i have to keep away from the charity shops as i newrly always find something i dont really need.  The red jeans and blue dress are my favs.  I was looking for jeans this shape- tighter lower legs with looser hips in size 8 to have goal to fit into.  Till now i just tried on in store so it was amazing to find these so cheap.  They are supposedly a size 6 but i have worked out that Gap who is owned by BR use very flattering sizing so they are really size 8/10.  That is why the blue BR dress which is suppose to be size 4/0 feels like a loose size 12 on.  

Last night i tried on two size 12 pleated skirts i bought in '89. They fit perfectly.  So, as i read in magazine once, sizing these days means very little.  In fact i have a chart where you can add your measurements to find out what size you are in different stores.

http://sizes.darkgreener.com/

I also tried on old heeled boots which i was going to get rid of bc i couldnt wear heels.  Guess what, I can, for short periods.  Last time i tried them was half way thru weight loss.  It must be the extra loss which makes my feet more comfortable.  Would use walking stick just to be on safe side and only wear when i can drive outside restsurant etc.  Still it feels a little sexy to have them on and its been a long time since i felt that.  Not sure I would wear them like this outside, would need a baggy top or coat to cover up a bit.  The other thing is that long boots, which i have 3 of, i had thought were bad seconds bc the calves were so tight - i could never get them past having a gap of 1-2 inches at the top of the zip, so was also surprised that i now have 1 inch loose gap when closed.  Its things like these that bring home the weight loss when usually, because it has been so slow, that it doesn't feel so much.

Loving my thick jam on everything

Jam making

Forgot to copy text from facebook post so have screen grabbed it instead.  Love screen grab on ipad. So useful.

Favourite old singlet/vest with a stain

It's a quite worn old cotton one but I love the simple cotton and thinness of it and the colour so I wanted to keep it, even if if for just sleeping and lounging.

Took it in on the side and shortened shoulder straps then noticed a pinkish stain on front.  Tried stain remover then bleach.  Bleach left a circle of white so I just dripped bleach outward from the spot.  Now I love it more than ever.

Have brown sports top that I need to reserect too.  Is old bally, black paint stains but it's a fav too.

I may use buttons, my Plan B for covering stains and moth holes etc, to cover the black paint stains, just as I did on my brown blouse.  I have tiny wooden buttons covering the red paint splatters.  Need to add more buttons to get better pattern. Also added button to side pleats to cover crappy sewing of holes I accidently made when cutting thread.

Old jeans I nearly threw out, now very comfy shorts.

I had put them in throwout pile cause i didnt like the type of denim that much but when i wanted comfy shorts i thought i could use them to experiment with.  i was thinking knee length tailored on thighs but left them as baggy as feeling lazy.  They look much better as shorts.  I turned up the hem on the outside like you see on boyfriend style jeans now. .  They are size 14 jeans with the old 'tuck in the pocket' trick. Turned out to be just what i needed and I have worn them all week around the house but could pop to the shops in them if needed - not exactly talking hot pance.  As I said, I didnt bother  taking in the legs.  Will make pair with slightly loose but more tailored thighs one day.  

The beauty of the baggy pockets is twofold - you can actually get hands in when slouching, especially sore arthritic hands, and they hide any tummy buldges seen from side view. 

You can see in the second pic, the little white stitching on the waist band which is the tuck.  Sometimes this is all I do, however with these I sewed tuck flat down to the top of pocket entry which you might just see on the seam in the right side of the pocket.

Sewing/computer room/hallcupboard

Also storage.  big box on table is sewing i am working on.  pink case full of white and stripy beach clothes , much of which needs revamping.  also box of winter stuff like ski pants and jackets that keep me warm without hesting, box of johns shirts for revamping, sheets etc.  Spreads out to hallway when sewing.  Would like table in hallway but no space so when git rid of lot of sewing may fit table on wheels in cupboard that can be wheeled out into hallway when sewing.

Asian Armies

Revamping shirts and 'armies'

First pic is of me wearing black linen shirt with black cotton armie underneath about a year ago and 4 stone heavier.

Then follows pics of armies too big on, then made smaller, the linen shirt made smaller with some complicated darts.  Lastly a couple of shirts made smaller simply by taking in sides 3" each doen to bust or waist then leaving flare out of original size at hip level.

Artist friend Victoria Kiff is now becoming more known - I have bought3 of her works over the last couple of years.

She has now had 3 major magazine articles and increasingly more exhibitions.  I wish her well of course, but I also think my investment was good.  This was in one of the major home decorating magazines.  Hers is the top right mixed media - print/drawing/painting/collage.

Latest DegreeArt gallery, vyner st preview - portraits

I had meant to book 1 hr session to have portrait done but missed it.   U didnt have to buy but at least half were bought, £80, by the time of the preview on Tuesday.  Have been tweeting to get enough people to put name down to get artist, Ellie Young, to come back from Cardiff to do another few days, tho it would have been nice to be part of the original 'event'.  She did all these portraits over a few weeks.  Quite an event.

Fantastic app on Colour

By Yale University Press.  For ipad only i think.  Download free version to see what it is about.  Pay £6.99 for full interactive version.  It's basically the whole of Albers Classic book on colour theory that I was introduced to in my summer school class on colour.  Is going to take a while to get thru but a good reference i think.  Will see my teacher next week and ask his opinion.

It's interactive so u can read text then drag or change colours to apply theory or see how it works.

http://yupnet.org/interactionofcolor/