Full Halloween Ensemble

Here's the rest of what I wore on All Hallow's Eve! After spending so much time on the hat, the rest was really just thrown together from clothes I normally wear, with added dramatic make-up!

What I'm wearing:
Hat: See more in this post
Dress: Titania Dress by All Saints, got it in a mega sale a few years ago, I think it was either £27 or £29. I love this dress but I don't wear it often because it's a tad unflattering in the stomach area! I think I need to get some control pants/tights. However, it has skeletal fairies on it so it had to be worn for this outfit!
Lace Dress Underneath: The Titania Dress is a little low and I wanted more lace at the bottom, I got this from a clothes swap
Crochet Skirt: From a charity shop, also seen in this post.
Lace Waistcoat: Lily J in Camden. I think it was quite expensive, maybe £20.
Shawl: The fabric I tattered to be the over-skirt on my zombie prom outfit!
Necklace: A bunch of vintage keys on a chain
Belt: Primark £3

I'm trying to look mysterious and forbidding in these photos, like I'm about to summon the powers of darkness or something. Not sure it worked, I think I just look a bit miffed! =P

Just a warning, for the rest of November I may be posting sporadically, if at all, because I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year!

Halloween Costume Craziness and Arty Pumpkins

I'm saving my post about Halloween Jumpers for Friday to tie-in with Sophistique Noir's Monthly Theme so until then I'll be showing off my pumpkin and a sneak preview of my Halloween costume.

I went to my friend Olivia's last night to crave pumpkins, drink cocktails and make pumpkin soup. We had so much fun!

Here are our Edward Scissorhands and Bride of Frankenstein pumpkins!

They took so long but it was a lot of fun, we got the templates from this site, free to download =]

I'm going to post a close-up of Edward because I'm so proud of how he turned out! This picture was taken by Ash's sister who was really happy to find this pumpkin in the kitchen this morning!

I spent today working on my Halloween costume. I didn't have any idea of what I wanted to dress as this year at all then I saw someone mention Wil O' The Wisps on tumblr and my mind went into overdrive. So I'm going as a sort of Steampunk style witch who lures unwary travelers into the swamp.

I spent about 5 hours on this hat and whilst it isn't perfect I'm very happy with it anyway, especially as I know nothing at all about plumbing or electronics.

In the dark all you can see is the lantern glowing muhahaha!

Everything is completely detachable so as not to damage my hat. I made it from a paper lantern, plumbing supplies, black card, tracing paper, spray paint, a fake bird and real ivy among other things. I'll post a more detailed description if anyone is interested. Right now though I'm very tired and need to go scrub the spray paint out from under my fingernails!

Slithering by to say hello

This is just a very quick post, I promise to do a bigger update very soon; with haunted house tote bag repairs, new halloween jumpers and progress on my Halloween costume.

In the mean time I'd like to introduce you all the Persephone, a black sock snake with bold pink markings, isn't she a sweet little snake?

 She's available in my Etsy store here, I hope she finds a new home soon. Until then she's sitting on my desk, keeping Pumpkin company =]

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

Of Cats and Haunted Houses

In my last post I showed you a necklace which was inspired by the colours of the outfit I was wearing, this time the inspiration came the other way round!

I made this adorable sock cat a couple of weeks ago for my Etsy shop, I call him Pumpkin. I've only just got round to taking good photographs of him though, just in time for Halloween!

A few days later I spotted this hat in the children's section in a local high-street shop. Finally a cat ear bowler which fits my tiny head! Age 7-10...
For this outfit I wore it with a bow made from bat ribbon and striped Halloween stockings to match the colour scheme of Pumpkin the Sock Cat.

Do excuse the rather silly, poor quality photo!
What I'm wearing:
Dress H&M
Skirt New Look
Stockings Co-op Supermarket £2
Hat Peacocks, I think it was £9.99
Familiar: Pumpkin the Sock Cat available here

I love to wear little touches of Halloween inspiration all throughout October. I've been using my haunted house tote bag a lot, but I noticed yesterday that it's got a hole in it! I'm going to need to patch it I think, but I can't decide whether to try to hide the patch as much as possible or to make a feature of it. Star shaped maybe? Or bat shaped? Contrasting colour + add matching lace and/or additional patches? What do you guys think?

I'm also going to use bleach to try and get the stain out from where my apple juice leaked onto my pencil case and stained the bottom of the bag with apple juice and ink. I did wash the bag since then so it is clean, but it looks so grubby with the stain!

I may have the Halloween inspiration flowing strongly in my daily wardrobe but I'm still undecided about my costume for the night itself! I'm sure I'll think of something... How about you, got it all planned?

Gris Gris

Gris - is the word for Grey in Spanish.

Gris Gris - is the name of a voodoo talisman which brings black magic on its 'victim'. They are adaptation of an earlier African Islamic tradition of amulets to ward off evil spirits. In Haiti and some African countries such as Senegal, gris gris still refers to a good talisman.

This post contains things related to both of those definitions.

Do you remember that in this post, I mentioned I was going clubbing in Leeds? Well I didn't get to wear that outfit because it wasn't an ordinary club night at all. It was a Zombie Prom!

I didn't have much time to plan a costume at all, so I simply shredded some old lining fabric I had lying around and make an overskirt for my skeleton cameo dress. I also added a piece of it to the streamer on my top hat and made a tiny axe out of cardboard and paint.

It was such a fun night! The make-up looks very washed out with flash, but everything was darker in real life; especially the blood! I used make-up rather than face-paint (like my friends) because I'm allergic to a lot of stuff and I didn't want to risk a reaction, and made my own fake blood from flour, water and food colouring (red with a few drops of blue and black gives a good colour) so that I could have it around my mouth without worrying about ingesting it when I ate or drank. It goes delightfully scabby looking too! Be warned though it will stain your skin, so I had to wear foundation and red eyeliner underneath it. This photo sort of terrifies me because it looks like I managed to roll my eyes completely back into my head! I might have to get some white eye contacts if I dress up as a zombie again because I think it works well!

By complete coincidence I also got asked to make a prop for a play. It's for my friends production of Witches of Eastwick. I love that she needed someone to make a voodoo doll and thought of me! I thought white would show up best on stage, so he's just made from a pair of socks! I resisted the temptation to make it neat and even too as I think it looks more creepy like this.

I got sent a lovely new jumper by my mum, who wanted me to have a really cosy jumper for my cold office (isn't she the best mum in the world?).

It's so soft and snuggly! I think I'm a tiny bit in love.

What I'm wearing:
Jumper: Dorothy Perkins
Pinafore: Miss Selfridge
White Underskirt: Vintage, my friend Gabby gave it to me because she thought I'd wear it more often than her =]
Tights: Pamela Mann, her tights are so expensive that I never buy them for myself. These were a christmas present from my auntie in 2007. Which just shows that the quality is worth the price really!
Boots: New Look.

I was inspired by the colour scheme of that outfit to make this choker for my Etsy shop. When it was finished, I really wanted to keep it, but I can always make myself something similar =]

Winter Blossom Choker, available here in my Etsy shop.

I've been making a few more things and using the equipment at work to take better quality photos so expect new listings and photo updates soon!

I've also started using Tumblr at last! I've been updating it with my new posts and I'm going to start putting up some old photos too (as well as re-blogging pretty things). I'm always looking for cool new blogs to follow so please send me a links. You can find mine here.

Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!

I've been meaning to post far more regularly so this post feels very overdue! I've been promising an outfit post for ages as well, sorry folks! Also the outfit itself is very Alice in Wonderland inspired so I couldn't resist quoting the White Rabbit in the title =]

Sorry about the unglamorous location and lack of full body shot. Our room is a bit of a mess today and I was in a hurry so I took them on the landing even though it's in the middle of being redecorated (and may stay that way for a while, the plasterer never turned up to finish it off and didn't explain why!) The camera cut my head off in the picture but I was wearing a black ribbon as an Alice band with black rose clips on the side.

What I'm wearing:

Alice in Wonderland Socks: Innocent World via egl-comm-sales £10
Black Skirt: A Taobao shop (no label in it) via egl-comm-sales £15 plus ridiculous custom charge of £14!! I hate customs in the UK. Really puts me off ever buying things from outside the EU again!
Belt: Primark £3
Pocketwatch Necklace: Birthday present from Meera =]
Jabot: RQ-BL came with the blouse I got in Camden
Blouse: Forever 21 £18.95, altered by me.
Brooch: Flightless Phoenix Designs available on Etsy

I saw these socks a few weeks ago and just knew I had to get them. They looked pure white in the picture (as they do in my pictures actually...must be the flash) but they are actually an off-white/pale cream colour, so nothing I had really matched them well. I was going to tea dye a cheap white blouse to match but then I was passing through Forever 21 (I like the Costa coffee in there as a place to do uni work, it's quiet and has great views) and spotted this blouse. It's a similar shade of pale cream with grey stripes and a black insignia on the pocket so I thought it would match well. The only problem was the shape. It was so baggy!

I spent last Saturday taking off the sleeves and pocket,  adding bust darts, taking it in at the sides and then reconstructing it! I've never sewn a blouse and it's been about 8 years since I constructed anything with darts or sleeves (Oh my were my GCSEs really THAT long ago?!) so it's not perfect but I sure (re)learned a lot!

Has anyone else noticed how baggy everything is this season? I know the blouse wasn't supposed to be a larger size because of the length and fit of the sleeves but the body was like a men's small not a lady's small... I guess that's what's fashionable at the moment, but it looked very odd on me! Especially as the collar is really tiny; too tight to button up properly and be comfortable, also it sits funny because it overlaps a bit. I decided to leave the top button undone and wear the jabot instead of reconstructing that too.

I made another of the Curiouser and Curiouser brooches to go with this outfit, managed to be a bit neater with the glue this time, but still not perfect. Another thing to keep practicing! At least it doesn't show at all when worn because it's on the back =] Until I get it right I'll be selling them at a slight discount though!

A Special Occasion Of Sorts

This post is very long overdue but it seems to have come at a fortune time, to allow me to participate in Sophistique Noir's monthly theme, albeit in an unconventional way (I know it's been ages since I did an outfit post, I've been so lazy lately).

 

I've finally opened my Etsy shop! I talked about doing so last year when I started making chokers. I would have done this sooner but you used to need a credit card to open an Etsy shop and I can't find mine anywhere (I put it somewhere safe...). Luckily you can now link it to a paypal account instead.

My shop is called Flightless Phoenix Designs, a name I've been using at craft fairs and so on for a few years with my sock animals and other hand-made things.

This is the logo I'm using for now. I know it's very rough but I'm no artist, I drew this on a lunch-break at work and edited it in photoshop. The font is based on a vintage typography sample from The Graphics Fairy. I'm sure I'll have to pay an artist to re-draw it for me if my shop takes off, but fortunately I'm lucky enough to have plenty of friends who'd give me mates rates =]

At the moment there are only a few things in my shop, but I'll try to add more soon, and take better pictures too! If there is anything you'd like to see, please leave a comment below!

As a reward for all my lovely readers I've made a 10% discount code for you. Enter BLOGLOVE1 at checkout to get money off =]

Now I'm off to read the other posts for this monthly theme =]

SOS - Save Our Shoes

It been a long time since I posted a craft project, I've been so lazy lately! I've not done much that wasn't an emergency fix for a while.

These shoes are the ones which I brought when I started my job last summer, seen here.

I'm majorly clumsy though so the toes got wrecked by me tripping over all the time, I can't be trusted to walk even in this kind of heel! The shoes aren't real leather so when they scuffed it revealed that the leather effect surface was only thin and beneath the shoes are grey with a woven fabric appearance. Next time I'll check the label a lot more carefully before I spend £50 on shoes!

 I couldn't afford new shoes for the conferences I recently attended so followed this tutorial, with black cotton fabric and black lace. I also added black lace laces, which I got in Claire's accessories. 

Beware, this process is not really weatherproof, at least not when I did it! Luckily I took some glue with me to make running repairs! I've been patching them up for a month now (because I don't actually need properly smart shoes very often so I spent any money I could have spent on shoes on my lolita stuff instead =P

This is what they look like today:

Not too shabby eh?

I hope this is a useful tip for others too. If it saves you any money on shoes you should donate to Trystan of This Is CorpGoth and help her say F**k You to Cancer! I've made a small donation and hopefully will be able to do so again next month. Here in the UK, the NHS means that no one has to pay for medical insurance or treatment; it's free at the point of use for everyone (paid for by taxes) and I've never felt so lucky; I wish the rest of the world was the same (the NHS has it's faults and inconsistencies but the basic principal is wonderful). 

In the next week I'll hopefully be posting pictures from a recent trip to Wales and the long-awaited results of the photoshoot (once I get over my dumb facial expressions =P).

Winter wanderings

This is just a quick post to warn you all that I'm going away this weekend. I'm off to Cardiff with my other half to do some more cemetery research =] I'll be studying Cathays Cemetery and I'll make sure to take lots of pretty pictures for you all! If I don't freeze to death that is. It's getting awfully cold to be meandering in graveyards, after this I might have to postpone further field-trips until March!

In the meantime here's a picture of some owls:

The one in the middle is called Ezio (OWLditore, can you tell my boyfriend loves Assassin's Creed? He came up with it and I thought it was genius) but I don't have names for the other 2 yet.

Suggestions anyone?

I need your necks my pretties...

First of all I'd like to thank everyone again for their kind comments on my last post about the ribbon chokers I've been making (the post is here).

I am going to try making some more and set up an Etsy shop to sell them. Fortunately I applied for a credit card a few months ago so that I could do that (originally I was thinking of selling my sock animal creations; I'll probably still sell a few of those too).

I need 2 things from you my dear readers:

1. Would you pay £4 (plus p+p) for a ribbon choker, possibly up to £5-6 for some of the more complicated designs I'm picturing, like the cut-throat design in my post (more expensive materials and time to make)?
In USD that's roughly $6.50 or $8-9.50 for the more detailed ones.
Postage costs are likely to be low because they are so light (60p within the UK, £1.66 within europe, £2.38 anywhere else in the world) (plus about 15p for the padded envelop)
Unless people want their items tracked/insured? Opinions about this would be appreciated. It seems silly to make postage more than the cost of the item, but I do understand that it's horrible when things get lost in the post (although it rarely happens).

And here's the really important part:

2. Could you measure your necks for me?
I need to know what sort of size range would be good to make for chokers; they seem to vary anywhere from 12" to 17" on Etsy depending on the seller and that seems a tad impractical. I will of course put extention chains on my chokers (and offer custom sizing by request) but if I have an average neck measurement to work from that would really help me (I have a feeling my own neck is not a good average =P).

Please measure the base of your neck, where you'd want the choker to sit, either with a tape measure or a piece of string (then measure the length of the string with a ruler).

You'll be helping me out enormously and have my eternal gratitude (also I will put up a special discount code for my readers when the Etsy shop opens)! I will also make a custom size choker for anyone who provides a neck measurement and would like a choker (you choose the design of course).

I'm very excited about this! Tomorrow I'm going to go shopping for more ribbon and charms (although I also have some vintage/thrifted/rescued things set aside for one-off designs) =]

*UPDATE: Oh shit I just accidently brought 500 tiny padded envelopes instead of 50 and had to pay for them... I'm so dumb... I hope I sell a lot of chokers... Either that or I'll have to sell the extra envelopes off on ebay myself*

Bats, blood and hollow hearts.

I had an idea a few weeks ago for a necklace, inspired by Jack the Ripper, Marie Antoinette and Vampires. I ordered some bits and pieces from ebay and hunted for the exact right shade of ribbon in my local craft shops and markets.

The result was this, my cut-throat necklace:

I hope it looks like a slit throat and blood dripping down (but in a decorative way) and reminds people of the thin red ribbon Marie Antoinette wore, making the guillotine chic.

I had to buy 100 of the ribbon crimps and I had so much fun making it I've made 2 more ribbon chokers already.

This one was a present for my friend Meera, I added an extension chain because I couldn't measure her neck without spoiling the birthday surprise somewhat!

With the leftover black ribbon I made this necklace for me, just because I found the bat charm in my local craft shop and thought it was cute:

I wore it today with this outfit (sorry about the picture quality, this is the only full length mirror in my lovely boyfriend's house; men just don't see the point of them I think =P).

What I'm wearing:
Stuff you've seen before many times, with my new bat leggings (New Look kid's department for 5.99!)
I've got my boot covers and walking boot socks on ready to pull on my DM's and brave the cold!

Do you like my necklaces? Anyone have any tips for jewellery making? I seem to get the odd jump ring that stubbornly refuses to close properly, so I hope they don't fall apart!

Book of Ideas

Today I made a notebook to record my outfit ideas in. The notebook itself I brought ages ago from the works, then lost in my room (I found it yesterday when I was looking for my spider brooch =P). I added the ribbon and charms to make it fit my theme a little better =]

I know butterflies are very magical but I was going to draw a fairy, did the wings, then realised I'm bad at drawing people/humanoids even in doodle form!

Spiderweb bustle skirt

I got up early this morning and finished making my webby skirt - although it took far longer than it should. My sewing machine really needs to be serviced!

Here it is, I think it looks pretty good for something made from 2 1quid tablecloths, a length of elastic and 2 brooch backs:

I made one of the tablecloths into the bustle by folding it to make 2 layers (one longer than the other) and gathering it, then stitching it to 2 brooch backs.
Then I cut the other one in half, on a slight diagonal in order to made a skirt that was longer at the back than the front. I stitched the 2 halves together, made a hem at the top, leaving a small opening and threaded the elastic through, then stitched the opening closed.

What do you guys think of it?

Life's a stage; introducing the Magique Victorienne

I finally got my ear's pierced yesterday =]

It was less traumatic than expected. (thanks to Joe for letting me sit on his lap so I couldn't run away from the lady with the gun...again =P) Today was more traumatic though; one of the earrings I got put in had a damaged backing and so it kept falling off- I returned it and the ordeal of forcing a properly fitting back onto the swollen ear (I'd had to put the damaged backing back on 6 times because I was scared of the earring falling out, so my ear was a bit mangled) was unpleasant. It doesn't help that I have the world's most non-existent ear lobes so the piercing is actually angled a bit strangely.

I'll post pictures when the swelling goes down again...

It's funny that just last week when I'd finally decided to get them pierced I came across this post by Amanda Palmer about jewellery. Amanda is someone I have a lot of love and respect for (her incredible music and insightful lyrics are a constant source of inspiration) but I disagree with her about this.

She says;

'I will look upon the adorned-in-daylight people - women in mascara with their hair done, men wearing pressed suits - with awe and wonder. I can never understand why people try so hard to look attractive in real life. don’t they know THAT’S WHAT THE STAGE IS FOR?'

And all I can say is:

'All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players' (William Shakespeare; As you like it)

I used to be an actress (of the amateur but utterly devoted teenage variety) and I miss the thrill of performance, the applause, playing people very different from myself and I miss wearing costumes (well some of them; NEVER agree to play a carol singer i.e. full woollen coat, scarf, hat etc. under STAGE LIGHTS in JULY= boiling half to death).

So I still wear costumes.

I know a lot of alternative people from all subcultures get offended when people refer to their outfit as a costume, and I totally understand why but I kind of disagree. I like to have a theme for my outfits, some idea to hold the elements together, which is kind of like a costume. It helps me make the whole world my stage.

Another blog post I read this week was by Victoria Suzanne of Parfait Doll, also made me think. In it she says her 'theme' for the winter is going to be Barbie. I realised how much fun it would be to have a running theme to my outfits for a whole season so I've decided on:

Magique Victorienne

This theme will combine my love of Victorian clothing styles and my love of magic and fantasy. Expect to see outfits inspired by witches, fairies, magicians and circus folk, spiritualists and the occult, all of course with my usual hint of morbidity and funereal charm. Obviously my work outfits will include subtle hints only but expect my day's off to be full of eccentric and magical clothing and probably OTT make-up, maybe even including swirly eyeliner designs. I used to do that sort of thing a lot (see pictures below) and I'm probably too old to get away with it now, but it's so much fun!

I'm currently making a spiderweb lace over-skirt (with detachable bustle) from 2 Poundland halloween tablecloths and downloading images of tarot cards and ouija boards to make into fabric designs. Expect photos within a week (my sewing machine and printer permitting).

Do any of you like to pick themes for your outfits or the seasons?

Didn't I see you in the last Lord of the Rings film?

The title of this post is actually a question I used to get asked a lot when the LOTR films had just come out. I was young enough then that people assumed I might grew taller, so I suppose so I did resemble a baby elf. In reality I never grew and so I'm actually more hobbit-y in proportion!

Sometimes though I like to dress like a fairy or an elf anyway =]

I've had this hoody for a while; my friend Norma gave it to me and I really like a lot of things about it; especially the hood. It had a heavy zip on it though which pulled the lightweight knit fabric somewhat out of shape. I've been wondering what to do with it for ages, yesterday I decided to remove the zip and just have a single hook and eye fastening, and gather the excess fabric at the back.

What I'm wearing:
Hoody: From Norma =]
Dress: 3.50 from a charity shop
Tights: Primark
Necklace: Present from Gabby =]

Don't forget to comment on my give-away post before next Monday to be in with a chance of winning!

Project uber-frill complete

I have finished the top I started altering earlier in the week.

First I did the second shoulder and lace around the neckline.
Then I  gathered the shoulders so it wouldn't keep slipping and added buttons, purely for decoration. I also added a ton more lace; this time to the bottom of the top.

Finally I had to solve the issue of it being rather too wide. My first two plans failed to materialise (I couldn't find eyelet tape, or even a tool for setting the eyelets myself) so the solution was actually my 3rd idea, but I love the way it turned out.

(Please excuse my hair; I plaited it at 8 o'clock this morning and then just left it... busy working and sewing and my utter lack of make-up, it's been one of those days!)

The holes for the lacing are actually the strip of buttonholes from 2 kids school shirts! I brought age 5-6 because that was the largest size available on the 2 for 3 quid offer and luckily they are just long enough =]. I zip zagged the raw edge but left it looking frayed because I quite like the effect.

I am going away this weekend, to visit my mum in Filey so I won't have internet access again until Monday. Have a good weekend everyone and please let me know what you think of my t-shirt alteration attempt!

Unlocking the craft box

OK so there isn't actually a lock on my box of craft supplies, In fact I have many boxes and bags of random crafting stuff scattered all over my room, hiding in corners, under the bed and in all the cupboards... My name is Phoenix and I'm a craftaholic hoarder =P

The title of the post is actually inspired by the design on this T-shirt and the fact I've not had time to make anything for ages:

I found the t-shirt in the men's department at Primark for 3 quid and really liked the print.
It's way too big and my days of wearing men's baggy clothes are well and truly over so I brought it with the intention of altering it somehow.

It's been sitting in my wardrobe untouched for a month or so waiting for inspiration (which actually isn't very long compared to some of the projects I've been putting off...for like 2 years) but last night I finally decided what I wanted to do with it.

Here's a sneak peek:

I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of the week to show you all. Although getting it completely finished does involve some luck and craft supplies I currently can't find anywhere =[ but at the very least I will have more progress to show!

New shoes and a small craft project!

I meant to post this yesterday but I got caught up in a load of work sorry.

I brought some new shoes!

I've been looking for a pair of shoes like this for so long I'd given up hope entirely!

I wanted SCHOOL shoes like this and I could never find them.At least not that actually fitted me; I have really narrow feet which makes shoe shopping my own personal hell on earth.

Yesterday though I walked into Office and there they were; and they fit me!

They are comfy and they make me normal person height without being overly fancy so they are suitable for everyday wear! I'm probably going to swap out the laces for ribbon though just to make them a bit more me =]

Here's what I wore yesterday, it's a bit of a silly outfit because I wanted something that was nothing like work clothes! I did my hair in two French plaits just because I haven't worn them in ages and I think they're cute even though they make me look like a little girl.

What I'm wearing:
Black and white striped top: Primark, it was about 3 quid.
Lace Cardigan: Forever 21, I've featured it before
American Gods T-Shirt: I got it here, you can read what it says on that link too. One of my favourite passages from one of my favourite books by one of my favourite authors.
Black lace Skirt: The one I wear all the time; I just put the white skirt between the lace and the lining.
White Skirt with Lock and key print: H&M, I've featured it before here
Black Dance tights: I've had them since I did ballet when I was 11. It is laundry day so I only had these left!
Shoes: Office. 49.50.

A craft project:
A while ago I featured a pink and black skull print top in this post, where I explain why it is in fact only half a top. This craft project uses one of the left over pieces of fabric.

I had a bag of 100 brooch backs lying around and thought this would look cute with the top. I cut an oval from the fabric which contained a complete skull, it was actually the only small one intact! I used 2 layers of black felt as backing; I glued all of the layers together with PVA, but if I was going to do something like this again I would use superglue or something because it'd be stronger and the PVA took forever to dry. I added lace trim and a pink ribbon bow because I like the cameo effect.

bleached out

I've had this top for years, but for the last 18 months I've only been wearing it around the house or beneath other tops because I spilled some bleach on the front of it while cleaning the bathroom.

When I ruined it I decided I'd try to bleach a design onto it to cover the damage, but it took me a long time to get round to doing it!

On Thursday I finally bit the bullet and had a go:

I put a plastic bag inside the top in order to protect the back and then used a paintbrush to apply the bleach, except for the leaves which I did with a sponge for a lighter effect.
I didn't use proper fabric bleach, I used Grot Buster because I wanted to match the shade of the original stain! I'm sure that it was pretty bad for the fabric, so I'm going to hand wash the top in order to keep it alive as long as possible!

I'm really happy with how it turned out. I might add more to the design to cover some spots of bleach I got on the right side of the top when I was working on it. Perhaps a crescent moon?

What do you do when you ruin clothing you like? Do you try to rescue it in some way?

a crafty weekend and a business idea

I went out on Friday night with some uni friends and somehow managed to stay out until 4am dancing, despite the fact we'd met at 4pm intending to have a 'quiet dinner'...

Consequently I didn't feel all that well on Saturday, especially as I seemed to have gotten a cold from somewhere during the previous night.

So instead of having a wild time I spent Saturday evening with a friend who was also ill watching films and making toys.

This friend introduced me to the wonders of sock animals a while ago. She showed me how to make sock owls =]. I've made a fair few of these since, including these 4 which I sold at a craft fair:

I was hooked. It's such a fun way to make toys- the materials aren't terrible expensive and the only limit is your imagination!

I made this sock dinosaur as a birthday present for a palaeontologist friend of mine:

This weekend I was making more presents. These are birthday presents for 2 other friends. One keeps snakes and the other collects things with moth designs on them:

I'm so happy with how well they turned out! I especially love the gauzey panels in the moth wings! I can't afford to buy expensive presents for my friends at the moment because I'm very poor- but at least these came from the heart.

Speaking of being poor (and believe me I am- now I have to fund my own PhD) I'm considering going into business making and selling things.

Because the dinosaur, moth and snake are all my own designs (I made the patterns myself) I could probably try to sell similar ones on Etsy. Do you think  anyone would buy them?

I'm also considering making kits, with a pattern, instructions and all the materials you need so that people can make their own sock animals from my designs. Do you guys think this is a good idea?