Customising Clothes.

Happy Sunday my lovelies! I hope you’re enjoying the four day weekend as much as I am; I celebrated my third blogiversary (post coming soon), have been creating a miniature greenhouse and have been customising some clothes!

You see, I absolutely love fashion and art, so it’s pretty natural for me to customise and create my own clothes. In the past I have customised a few pieces with embroidery (you can check them out here) but more recently I’ve been delving more into tailoring clothes to fit my style so they aren’t just sat in the back of my wardrobe.

Something I love doing to different pieces is drawing or painting my own design onto them to give them a bit of a pattern and personality. One of my favourite things I’ve done with fabric pens is draw line art faces all over a pair of mom jeans that I hadn’t worn in a long time, but now I wear them all the time!

I also had an old oversized mens simple white t-shirt that I had cropped in the past and wore as pyjamas, so I made the decision to chop off its sleeves, put in some darts to make it fit a little better, opened up the sides and added some small ties as the method of doing it up and then finally I drew similar faces to the jeans all over it. It’s gone from a boring old t-shirt to a completely new and shaped top perfect for summer.

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As well as customising clothes with fabric pens and paint, I also have slowly been personalising a denim jacket I picked up a while back with patches and pins, with the plan of covering it as much as I can!

Here’s what it looks like so far:

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And finally, the project I undertook today, customising a very long summer dress I picked up so it would be a bit more me; and the good news is that not only did it take a mere 30s minutes from start to finish, but I also documented the process so you can do the same to any dresses you may want to shorten and change up a bit!

For this dress I decided that I wanted to shorten it to around knee length (I’m 5ft 3 for reference) since it looked a bit like it was drowning me with it being full length and then adding in a thigh split to give it that extra little pop.

So, here’s what we were starting with:

As you can see, the hem of the dress landed just above my ankle, so I made the decision to take off about 8-10 inches from it to get it around knee length for me.

So, here’s what you’re going to need:

• Fabric scissors
• Sewing Machine or needle and thread (and a lot of patience)
• Pins
• Something to mark your fabric with – I used a white gel pen but most pens/pencils will work
• Measuring tape or ruler

Now that you know what you’ll need, onto some instructions!

Step 1: Measure from the bottom of the hem how much fabric you want to take off, for me this ended up being 8 inches. And remember to add your seam allowance to the bottom of this so you get the length you want, for me I was happy with anywhere in between 8 and 10 inches being cut off so I just cut at 8 inches. Then cut off the bottom of the dress.

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Step 2 : Fold over the new bottom edge of the dress and pin it down, I didn’t bother to iron the hem down but you can always do that if you want to be extra sure you’ve got a crisp edge.

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Step 3 : Sew down your hem, and try on you new dress! (Told you this was a quick way to change up and customise a dress)

I personally decided to style my new dress with a cute black belt to accentuate my waist and a pair of combat boots and that was that! I love this dress so much more now compared to before; I feel like it suits my personality a lot better too.

Here’s a before and after comparison for you!

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Compared to my white t-shirt transformation this probably doesn’t seem like a huge transformation but the small subtle changes make a difference making this dress feel younger and more my style.

And those are some of my customised pieces! I’m constantly thinking of new ways I’d like to personalise and change up my clothes and accessories, so if you like this post or try out some of these methods of customising pieces let me know and I’ll create more posts like this!

Do you like to customise your clothes? If so, what do you like to do to personalise them? Let me know in the comments!

Have a great weekend and Easter my lovelies!

Love,

Why You Shouldn’t Care If Your Clothes Are Designed For Men or Women.

Happy Saturday lovelies! Who’s enjoying pride month? I know I am! I love all of the expression that comes with pride month, especially the fashion we see!

So, this week I did a bit of shopping and it occurred to me that I rarely see people looking for clothes in every section of the store, just because they’re labelled either for ‘men’ or ‘women’. But those labels never really seemed to both me, until now.

You see, I will shop in every part of a clothes shop. Not because I love to shop (and you know I do) but because you’d be surprised at some of the amazing clothes and shoes people are missing out on just because they’ve been labelled for the other gender.

I’d say about a quarter of my wardrobe is technically for ‘men’, and I have a few pieces which are for ‘kids’ or ‘teens’ (because I’m petite, I can get away with some kids clothes). Which is why I decided I’d show you some of my pieces that were made for ‘men’!

 

Here’s a red tee that I picked up at Peacocks, to be honest, I love them for their men’s clothes more than their women’s! This top is an xl too, which means I can wear it three ways!

I love this tee so so much, and it’s another one from Peacocks! I always feel great in this top, and it’s perfect paired with jeans and trainers for a day look or heels for a night look!

If you’re looking for cheap clothes that are a good quality, then Tk Maxx is the place to go. Pairing this top with my thrifted Gucci bag (read more about my thrifting here!) and some slip on trainers is such a cute outfit you can wear for days out and about because it’s so comfy and cool.

I wear this jumper probably at least once a week. I picked this up at Tesco (f&f) in a size xxl because it was there was only one left and I just can’t resist a baggy jumper! I french tuck this into jeans or I wear it with leggings and boots. You can’t go wrong with either of those ideas!

Here’s another top from Tk Maxx and it was a bargain at £4.99! This might be my favourite top out of all my men’s tops. And I think this would look great on anyone!

And last but not least for this little collection is my super oversized tartan shirt from f&f which I think is a size xl. This one is great used as a cardigan with a vest top and jeans or as an oversized shirt tied up with jeans. This one is great for all seasons too!

And those are a few of my clothes that were supposed to be for men, that look damn good on everyone.

I always get a few weird looks when I’m looking for clothes in the ‘men’s’ section, but who cares?! At the end of the day, clothes are just fabric, why does that need to be gendered and labelled? It doesn’t. I wish clothes shops would just have one one label or sign: ‘Clothes for people’ in all sizes, shapes and colours. People shouldn’t feel restricted with what they’re wearing just because it’s ‘supposed’ to be for the other gender.

Fashion is an expression, just like makeup, and we should all feel able to wear and buy whatever we want to wear.

Have a great weekend everyone! And wear whatever you want to wear, no matter how weird it is, because

weird is wonderful!!

Love,

Packing For A Weekend Away

Who doesn’t love a trip away for a long weekend! Especially over the Summer holidays! Well next week I’m off to some gorgeous lodges in a forest for 4 days and I can’t wait. If you are going away anytime soon, and if you love being organised like me, I bet you’re already thinking about what to pack and what cute outfits you want to wear whilst you’re there. Which means I’ve already started writing my packing list for it.

I love writing lists about what I should pack and what I need to bring with me; I practically live my life by writing lists for everything. One list first thing in my bullet journal about what I need to do for the day, another list when I get to work for what I need to get done whilst I’m there, and then another list for what I need to get done by the weekend and then lists for when I’m off away anywhere.

Also, I need lists to function, I’ll forget way too much if I haven’t made a list. Oh and I’m naturally an over packer, I always have been, probably always will be. Which means: no list = everything I own will be coming with me on holiday. And I’ll forget the essential things.. like underwear. (It’s happened before.. haha)

Since weekends away in England have unpredictable weather, it can be difficult to know what to wear, so that’s why I’m going to make a list of all the essentials I’ll be taking with me!

Here’s the outfits I’ll be taking inspiration from!

I love cozy jumpers, leggings, jeans and scarves! Because I’m so indecisive and will want to pack my entire wardrobe, and partly because I love having options when I’m getting dressed in the morning, here’s what I’ll be packing for 4 days away:

The dungarees, both dresses, stone biker jacket, grey shirt and the scarf are all from New Look! The shoes, accessories, black jumper, waterfall coat, striped long sleeve top, white t-shirt, collared jumper and the two pairs of jeans are all from Primark!

Here’s the basic list of items I usually bring with me whenever I’m off for a weekend away, or any holiday! You can download it here and use it to help you remember everything you need!

What do you like packing for when you go away? What’s that one thing you can’t leave without? For me, it’s my medication for a start, and then my hair straighteners! One thing I love about planning what I’m bringing away with me is all of the cute outfits I’ll be able to come up with! Also, by planning what I’m packing, I’ll be able to actually be a bit more decisive about what I’m bringing with me.

Here’s just a few of the outfits I can make with what I plan on packing:

So that’s what I’m going to be bringing with me on my little mini break! Hope this helps any of you who love to over-pack like me! And let me know if you buy any of these pieces from Primark and New Look; if you see anything whilst you’re out and about that is super cute for English weekends away, feel free to send a link or two my way!!

Have a great bank holiday my lovelies!! Love,