Category: Uncategorized
Sheet Shirt
Remember this sheet? It was a kingsize duvet cover which came from the Richard House Hospice shop in Romford (£6).
Yellow and Black
I got this very large, very bright stretchy knit top from the South Woodford branch of Cancer Research for £5. It’s marked XL and as you can see it’s more than a little big on me. When I bought this the Barbara Windsor lookalike behind the counter enquired very suspiciously whether I had tried this on. I told her it wasn’t for me. The flowers were on their own level of awesome but unfortunately one cannot wear such prints so close to one’s face without looking like one got dressed in the dark. This top was going to have to morph into a summer skirt.
Nights in Grey Satin
This remake started out in life as an enormous grey satin nightie.
It came from Scope in Walthamstow for the princely sum of £5.00 and was a UK size 16. Of course when I saw this in the shop, I thought it would make a great summer dress, using the original neckline, taking the sides in and hem up. On trying it on though, the neckline was extremely unflattering and had tacky gemstones glued on in a way that hasn’t been since since 1992. Initial pinning revealed the whole thing was still going to look too much like a nightie. Continue reading
I’m on a boat
Today’s inspiration came from Stylist magazine. I’m not sure if you can read the caption on the image below but it says “Dress, £1,670, Etro”.
Needless to say, one does not have £1670 to spend on a summer dress.
To make my own version of this dress, I bought the below from Scope in Walthamstow for £6.00. The print is really pretty and it caught my eye to the point where I put it in my basket without reading the label. It’s from around 1993 (best guess) and features enormous shoulder pads and four covered buttons on the mid section. Note that the garment label says “8 PETITE”. I failed to notice this and as a result, in the picture of me below I am holding my breath whilst staying extremely still so as not to rip the seam under the bust open.
Smells like teen spirit
Remember these jeans?
Well, because of the economical way I placed my pattern pieces, I was able to save most of the top half to turn into a denim skirt. The look I wanted for this was a bit more 90’s grunge, so I planned to leave the hem open so that the fabric could ravel a bit and look nice and grungy! Continue reading
More Dash than Cash
Ever since they started running it, I’ve been inspired by the ‘More Dash than Cash’ feature in Vogue. In this feature they are supposed to look at good design on the high street, but the stuff is usually still way out of my price range. It usually (though not always) provides some wearable ideas based on the catwalk, but I can’t say I’m too fond of their DIY ideas…
Last month the feature was about denim day dresses, but I didn’t much fancy any of the shapes/cuts featured in the mag, though the light blue denim was lovely.
This page was the main reason I set out looking for denim to be recycled and turned into my own version of a denim day dress.
I didn’t have to look far before coming across the perfect denim item to be cut up. I chose this pair of jeans because (a) they were big ie. plenty of fabric, (2) they were wide, straight leg, again plenty of fabric, and (d) they were light blue and not faded, which is the look I wanted. At £4.99 from Oxfam in Romford they were not cheap – I usually don’t bother with Oxfam as it’s more expensive than the majority of charity shops out there, but I figured it all goes to a good cause anyway. Apparently £4.99 is enough to buy 5 textbooks for a school in Mali.
I can do anything I want… I ain’t lost
Today’s remake came from Scope in Barking and cost £2. I thought £2 was a bargain for a garment featuring such “interesting” fabric. Let’s just say this fabric proved to be “interesting” to work with.
The details: originally a ‘medium’ from Bon Marche, this top is 100% pure polyester and is creased into permanent pleats, each the size of a tiny pin-tuck. The pattern is (again, “interesting”) vaguely floral, as though someone had dripped bleach over the fabric and the bleached areas had somehow manifested themselves into flower shapes.
Ace of Lace
I’m really into lace at the moment. I just love it – and I’m really happy that it’s now possible to wear lace without looking like a 90s throwback thanks to designers like Erdem. Here are a couple of my favourite lace looks from Erdem Spring 2011 RTW.
(Photos from style.com).
For my own version of this look, I grabbed this black and gold lace dress from the Cancer Research shop in Ealing Broadway. This actually cost £6.95 which I think will make it my most expensive remake to date.
Japanese, if you please
On a (charity-)shopping trip to West Ealing recently I saw this t-shirt through the window of the British Heart Foundation and it was love at first sight. That doesn’t often happen to me, but this shirt is pretty special.
Zebra crossing
Next up, a dress with some really lovely fabric. This is 100% polyester, pretty much the cheapest fabric you can imagine, but the colour is classic and it has a woven zebra-pattern which has a slight sheen to it when it catches the light. By far the best thing about this dress is the fabric, so I wanted to keep it as intact as possible. This one came from the St. Francis Hospice shop in Romford and was an absolute bargain at £3.50.
Charity Shop Chic 