Just one Sorbetto…

Here’s a really ‘interesting’ garment I picked up on a trip to San Diego before Christmas. I paid $1 for it; unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the shop but it was somewhere in the Pacific Beach area…

It’s a summer jumpsuit made from 100% silk in grey, cream and peach (or coral, as we call it these days). I love the colours; the grey and coral combination has a great 80s vibe!

Just $1 for 100% silk?! YES PLEASE! This has been sitting in my stash for the last 6 months waiting for summer to arrive!

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Three days of NEON: Day 3

A fabulous find that combines this season’s trends for neon colours and Hawaiian prints has inspired several projects using neon. This is the final installment in the series.

This third and final installment will be tackling the final piece – that faux-wrap skirt.

Mmm… lovely!

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Three days of NEON: Day 2

A fabulous find that combines this season’s trends for neon colours and Hawaiian prints has inspired several projects using neon. This is the second of three installments. Tune in tomorrow to see the final part in this series.

As a reminder, here’s what we’re working with: this fantastic three piece suit.

Today I’m working with the shirt from the outfit.

I’m going to combine it with part of this black skirt. This has been in my collection for literally years. It originally came from the British Heart Foundation shop in Whitby and cost £3.99, marked down from £4.25. I know this because the tag was still attached!

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Three days of NEON: Day 1

A fabulous find that combines this season’s trends for neon colours and Hawaiian prints has inspired several projects using neon. This is the first of three installments. Tune in tomorrow and the next day to see the others.

When I saw this three-piece suit in the Cancer Research shop in Whitby, it was love at first sight! Neon AND a bold tropical print?! I rushed it to the till and handed over £10.95. It’s a thin, chiffon like material with a slight stripe, 88% viscose, 12% linen. It has a gorgeous print of big, green palm leaves. The high street is full of neon (yellow, pink and blue) items at the moment, and bold digital prints of flowers for summer. The Guardian calls these ‘Hawaiian florals‘. This outfit ticks both boxes.

The first thing I tackled was the vest from the ensemble. It had a rather unflattering high V-neck, but this is easily changed.

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Carrie Bradshaw Month: Part 4 (Grand Finale!)

Here at Charity Shop Chic, April has been renamed ‘Carrie Bradshaw Month’ and I have been attempting a series of remakes in tribute to everyone’s favourite fictional fashionista. This is the final part of the series.

For the Grand Finale of Carrie Bradshaw Month, I wanted to do something a bit special. I picked out this pink Oscar De La Renta dress from season 6 as a beautiful inspiration picture and set off to trawl the charity shops of East London for something large and pink to be turned into it.

I found a sheet with my name all over it – it’s a single fitted sheet in a dusky pink rather than the De La Renta ‘hot’ pink, but it will do nicely..

What’s that you say? Copying high end designer with a £2 sheet? Ambitious, moi?!

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Carrie Bradshaw Month: Part 3

Here at Charity Shop Chic, April has been renamed ‘Carrie Bradshaw Month’ and I am attempting a series of remakes in tribute to everyone’s favourite fictional fashionista. This is part 3 of the series.

The third project in this series starts with a flowery skirt. This came from the Cancer Research shop in Whitby and cost £6.00. It is size UK 14.

Here’s the inspiration picture: Carrie in the SATC movie!

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Carrie Bradshaw Month: Part 2

In case you missed the last post: here at Charity Shop Chic, April has been renamed ‘Carrie Bradshaw Month’ and I will be attempting a series of remakes in tribute to everyone’s favourite fictional fashionista. This is part 2 of the series.

There’s definitely nothing Carrie-like about this out of shape t-shirt I bought for £1.99 from the British Heart Foundation shop in Walthamstow.

Not to worry though, because… next to be recreated is Carrie’s Paris style!

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Carrie Bradshaw Month: Part 1

Here at Charity Shop Chic, April has been renamed ‘Carrie Bradshaw Month’ and I will be attempting a series of remakes in tribute to everyone’s favourite fictional fashionista. This is part 1 of the series.

First up is this white men’s shirt. This was billed as a large but really wasn’t that big. It is slightly stretchy, being 65% cotton, 30% nylon and 5% lycra. I acquired this on a trip to Leyton Green for £3.00.

I’m going attempt to recreate a classic Carrie outfit from this – from Season 4, episode 1 (“The Agony and the Ex-tacy”). It’s this episode in which the girls throw Carrie a birthday party but no-one turns up.

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Mary Katrantzou for Topshop: The refashioned version

Readers, this is a refashion of a refashion (a ‘re-refashion’?).

Remember this dress? I refashioned this last summer for something to wear on a sailing trip.

It’s got a fabulous blue and white print on it. Too fabulous to be stuck at the back of the wardrobe for long! If you’re a fan of prints, then you’re probably already aware of the designer Mary Katrantzou. She’s famous for her incredible digital prints, and importantly, the combinations of her prints in her garments. She’s also famous for the skirt shape the media calls the ‘lampshade’. There was much excitement in blogland (and in the real world too) when she announced a designer diffusion line for Topshop last month. Unfortunately, the collection sold out in about two and half seconds, most of which then reappeared on ebay for double the ticket price. How upsetting! Anyway, I’m going to show you how I re-refashioned this dress with its lovely print, to get a bit of the Mary Katrantzou ‘look’. Continue reading →

Grace Kelly

This is another skirt-to-dress remake with a bit of slapdash pattern cutting thrown in.

This skirt, which is UK size 16, I bought so I could ‘harvest’ the navy material. It is 100% polyester, medium weight, and has a permanent slightly crinkled look all the way through. It came from the Save the Children shop in Whitby and cost £4.49.

But what does this have to do with Grace Kelly?

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