I need a new dress... sooo....

... I make one. Not from scratch this time, but from a shirt a friend of mine gave me (cheers, Bry!). In tune with my principle of trying to consume less in all areas of life to tread more lightly on this earth, I have indeed not been clothes shopping in ages and ages. Conveniently for me, my friend has decided to bide one of his cotton work shirts farewell, as he has been working out lately and now many of his clothes are to big for him; he's really tall as well, so it's perfect dress-material for little me.

 

There are endless of ways of customizing shirts; they are one of the most satisfactory thinks to alter, as usually dress fabrics are nice. If you want to make one yourself, this is how I did mine: 

1. detached sleeves and collar, cut a strip from the sleeves to sew together with collar to create belt

2. cut deeper neckline, front and back. make cord channel with strip from sleeve. insert cord, tack at back to fix rouching

3. detached and re-attached pocket to lower position

4. detached cuffs, reseamed them, buttoned to sleeves as detachable epaulets

5. finish armholes

6. take in side seam under the arm holes and finish side seam

7. attach belt at side seams; rouch at back waist for regular gathering

Transformation completed!

... or almost... I still have a little bit of material left from the sleeves. Now, I am against waste of any sort. So either I will use this to lengthen the hem a bit (more suitable to moslem Indoland) or make rosettes for decoration. Ideas?

I am starting to customize another (short sleeve) shirt in a sunny yellow, as the other one looks lovely. First thing is changing the neckline, although I'm liking the sleeves so far (you can't see if properly on the pic but they are gathered on the top and left to drape underneath.

Fishing for plastic

My close friend Caro Sparrow in Manchester has referred me to her friend who has approached a uni fashion project in a unique and appealing manner using new technologies. 

This inspires me to go plastic fishing in the highly polluted rivers of Bandung and make beautiful trash couture out of my catch. In this country disposing of waste in rivers is common and acceptable; it gets washed away and out of sight (some of it does anyway). That plastic is non-biodegradable is not common knowledge at all. And when you think the smoke from the side walk is form incense, it's actually probably someone burning rubbish (including plastic and rubber); the other common way of disposal.

From ecouterre article:

"Sculpted from recycled and reappropriated plastics, including shower curtains, Bowler’s “Fusion” collection marries the poles-apart aesthetic of the traditional Japanese straw coat and the classic British macintosh. The Royal College of Artgraduate’s process is completely stitch-free, a combination of industrial techniques such as heat-forming and ultrasonic welding. (The latter method involves high-frequency ultrasonic acoustic vibrations to bind materials together.)

At the core of Fusion’s high-tech engineering is Bowler’s belief that recycled products can be luxurious, innovative, and desirable. “Fusion is designed to make plastic fantastic for longer,” she says. “[And] to create a garment that the owner will be reluctant to throw away.”

Bowler believes that recycled products can be luxurious, innovative, and desirable.

In keeping with Bowler’s mantra of reduce and reuse, even the rubber molds she had made are designed to be used again. The result is a series of space-age slickers in burnished metallic hues like gold, bronze, and titanium.
Fusion will be on display at the Royal College of Art’s Upper Gulbenkian Gallery, as part ofLondon Design Week, from September 23 to October 7.

Vintage travel case ...but modern

These cherry, mustard, sand or chocolate coloured soft leather travel cases from the 1950/60/70s are so very much more elegant looking compared to their plastic predecessors which do not look nicer the more worn they are. However the old-fashioned cases are also less practical than the hi tech rolling models or the back-pack option. That is, unless you are creative and add some dee-eye-why to that cool retro case with some shoulder straps!

Found this crafty solution on my friend's blog, who is based in Australia; his comment was: "saw this guy on the train today. he was traveling light in style!check out his home made suitcase / backpack solution.". Ditto, Rob, ditto. http://robert-stuffilike.blogspot.com/

Have a beautiful dark yellow-y one myself actually, one of several small vintage treasures I have recently inherited but which are still in Germany... to be retrieved and shown here as soon as I have collected them.

Raindogs

... is the name of one of amazing Tom Waits' albums (if you like the sound of a gravelly bourbon drenched voices backed with experimental instrumentals, get in). Manchester raindogs living in the rainiest city of the UK make brollies an essential part of life. They are a most underrated accessory. My boyfriend has a beige one of those duck umbrellas.



And in the opposite case, when the sun is frying your brain like last year at Benicassim music festival on the south coast of Spain, a Japanese-style parasol saved my health and my look when passing out on the beach after a long night and then strolling from beach to cafe to beach again. This year I shall do the same but will spray it (as it surprisingly survived last years festival) with waterproof & colourful paint. Just in käse Manchester-y weather should occur.



So, you have actually managed not to leave yous beloved rain shield on a bus/in a cafe/whoknowswhere but then -alas!- an unexpected sudden change of air pressures around you forces air to turn into a forceful wind, in and under you brolly and turn it inside out! You fumble it back, one of the corners has come loose, it's looking very sad and so are you. This happened to an exquisite stable-looking ones of my own (indigo polka dotted, dome shaped, black leather handle). As well as one hand painted by my lovely German friends as a leaving pressie. And a superfavecolourpurple-coloured one.



Simple solution if the metal bits aren't hopelessly bent:



For detailed instructions see http://www.burdastyle.com/howtos/show/1762

And well, if it's broken beyond repairability think of the showerproof fabric! Perfect material for a bag (bike messenger anyone?), shopping tote, a rain poncho or even a taffeta-look skirt (probably using more than one broken brolly). More ideas...??