The Refashioners 2015

Following the success of the last series of ‘The Refashioners‘, Portia asked me to participate in her refashioning challenge again this year. You can see what I made in the last round of the challenge here.

This year, the raw materials for my refashion were chosen and sent to me by Elisalex from By Hand London. As you can see, naughty Elisalex (never one to play by the rules) selected not one but two shirts in similar sizes and colour schemes.

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One shirt was stripy taupe and white.

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The other was also taupe and white, but a subtle dotted pattern. The fabric was thinner and had an element of stretch to it.

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The Travelling Tablecloth

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It may surprise you to learn that I bought this tablecloth in Lapland. In Arvidsjaur, Sweden, in the Red Cross charity shop, to be precise. I was on a trip up there at the start of the summer and because it rained a fair bit during my stay, the charity shops of northern Västerbotten and Lapland were a good distraction (although my favourite Red Cross shop in Jörn has sadly closed down).

The tablecloth itself is a thick weave often used for placemats, though it’s bigger than a normal placemat, that’s why I think it’s a tablecloth, perhaps from a side table or coffee table. Anyway, I paid SEK 10:- for it (a little under £1). It caught my eye because of its pretty pink, grey and cream colour scheme, so I snapped it up (along with a few other examples of doilies and table linens, which you will be seeing here in due course). Of course, I wanted to wear it here in London – no sense wasting pretty textiles like this on homewares!

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Bamboo vs. Betty Draper

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I bought this men’s cotton shirt in the Save the Children shop in Whitby for £3.49 after I fell in love with the print. At the time, I thought it was palm trees, but now that I look closer, it’s more like bamboo – it’s a green and beige print on a navy background. It’s actually not all that big, despite being a Large. Since the cotton is relatively heavy, I earmarked it for a dress, but then forgot about it for several years. With an upcoming trip to (spoiler alert) Portugal, I dug it out recently to be given a makeover as part of my holiday wardrobe.

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Red Jumper Redux

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Yes… another red jumper! Hope you are not sick of seeing red jumpers…

This particular one is an old one of my Dad’s that I have been wearing around the house. My Mum gave it to me after it shrank in the wash – it’s 100% lambswool so it’s pretty well felted. I caught sight of myself in the mirror and realised how shapeless it is on me. So, I decided to give it a new shape!

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Tie, Take Two

Confession time… it’s been more than 6 months since my last blog post. Hopefully y’all haven’t missed me too much during my unplanned break! I have one more refashion from my US trip that I want to share before I show you some new stuff, though quite frankly I cannot believe it’s been 9 months since I was there. Looking back through these photos made it seem like yesterday. Anyway, here goes…

After the success of my Epic Yale blazer, I wanted to have a go at applying the tie-as-bias-binding technique to another type of garment. This one isn’t a patch on the blazer (no pun intended), but I’m showing you it anyway as it was quite interesting and the photos we took on location were just fabulous.

This one was intended for our trip out to the beaches of Cape Cod, so I wanted a preppy/sporty vibe. I picked up this cream cardigan in the PDSA shop in Orpington (if memory serves…) for £4.99, thinking it looked a bit like a cricket jumper. It’s actually a rather unfortunate polyester item which has clearly been treasured by an elderly lady in its former life. It’s ugly, but the fit of it isn’t too bad, if you like oversized (I do).

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I got this tie at the same time as I got the one I used for the blazer, at the Save the Children shop in Orpington. An amazing find, as it was exactly the right colour, and ties were half price (I think, £1). Unlike the other one though, this is completely synthetic, which made it a good match for the cardigan.

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Outfit: Red Cashmere Jumper

So this post is mostly going to be about a simple red jumper. I bought this in the Age UK shop in Orpington for £4.99. It was a little worn, but crucially, it’s 50% cashmere, 50% silk, so it feels lovely. I thought it would be a great addition to my red, white and blue holiday wardrobe for my trip.

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All I did with this was to gently remove some bobbles and it was good to go.

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Epic Yale

Hi folks! OK, I just got back from a well-deserved holiday, so I hope you are ready for a trillion posts with a gazillion pictures telling you all about it. Sorry, not sorry.

My trip to New England this autumn started with a visit to New Haven, home of Yale University. I was extremely excited to visit this great ivy league institution. But what does one wear around campus, bearing in mind one’s wish to remain stylish while including a nod to one’s academic surroundings?

Of course, I studied all the available cultural references.

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New Haven Can Wait

Natürlich blond! / Legally Blonde

Yes, I know Elle Woods went to Harvard, but it’s realising the reason behind a newly engaged Vanderbilt is ‘first year, Yale law’ that made me think to include her here.

Both Blair and Elle have picked up on the wearing a tie thing, but I’m more enamoured with Serena’s incredible blazer. I believe this is the ‘Goodman’ crested blazer from Ralph Lauren, which I found out courtesy of the lovely Devra over at Puu’s Door of Time. Devra made a beautiful blazer based on this a while back, which I’d encourage you to check out here and here.

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Anyway, I’m going to follow Ms Van Der Woodsen’s lead with a blazer, but combine it with a tie as a twist on the Blair/Elle look.

Here are the blazer and tie I picked up on a trip to Orpington. The blazer was £7.99 from Oxfam while the tie was around £1 from Save the Children, if I remember correctly (ties were half price). The tie is 100% silk and not covered in food stains, which I counted as a win. The blazer was in reasonable condition although it didn’t fit at all.

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