DIY :)

Yesterday I had an inset day (a day off school due to teacher training) which gave me a little more time to focus on myself and hobbies, in contrast to the usual coursework-doing. Thank god for that. I decided I'll do something productive. Before in the week, I bought a gorgeous vintagey floral skirt in Primark for a pound, unfortunately it was 3 sizes too big but I bought it anyway - might come in handy one day. Infact on the day of my purchase I was on a hunt for one of those flowy crop tops. I looked everywhere for a fairly cheap one but that was all in vain; the cheapest I found was 25 pounds.  -___- Understandable if it had any sort of applique or at least a colourful pattern but we're talking plain, one coloured short vest here (in other words). I looked at my over sized skirt and zwoooshhh! An idea popped in my head; I though, why pay for one of those when you can just simply make one using an over sized skirt which is most likely to sit in my cupboard in shadow and loneliness? Well, Find out how I went from this:

TO THIS:

Well, This is how: 

I used a 95% polyester and 5% elastane skirt , (3 sizes too big, which was really helpful in this case) and firstly I cut off the waist band because we don't need it, so off it goes, au revoir waistband.

Then, I turned it facing wrong side up and folded in half as you can see

secondly, I got an already purchased crop top and used it as an template

I drew around the top of it because I didn't want the crop top to be in exactly the same shape and size as the already purchased one, so I left the bottom as it is, and because the skirt is quite large and the material is soft and adaptable stays more flowey. Plus the bottom edges of the skirt are already sewn over to stop if from fraying, so leaving it as it is saves me a while of sewing :)

I folded it in half so that when you cut both sides, they will both be fairly even.  Then I cut along the drawn lines

Turn it over to the other side and TaDa. BUT! that's not all. Remember althought it looks complete, you still have to sew the straps together, although  Next step is

sewing over the edges, this way it'll make the top look a bit less scruffy as well as stopping it from fraying

I folded the fabric over about a centimetre all around the very top half, where I cut it and where it's most likely to fray, and then pinned it to keep it in place when sewing

I sewn round all the edges where I have pinned on a straight (normal) stitch.

I kept the pins in when sewing which saved me from tacking but once the pins have been stitched over, they end up a little bent :/

Voila! The edges are over and done with and now all that's left to do is

sewing the strapy-bits together, and nothing could be easier than that

I got the two out of four pieces of strappy bits and vaguely measured out how long the straps I want to be. What's left to do is sew them together on the wrong side,( the image above shows you what it would look like on the right side, so don't get confused by that)

Then I just sew over the two pieces together (horizontally) using the straight stitch

and did the same for the other two pieces left for the straps. Make sure the straps are parallel to each other, you wouldn't want to end up cross-strapped :)

Finished.

 that literally took me 50 min, I hope you try it out sometime, so my mini tutorial doesn't go in vain :)

Is anyone else going winter shopping?

 

I was planning to wear this outfit   this autumn/winter but my plans where shattered by the awful frosty wind (and the horrible weather in general) that has been recently sweeping the nation. grr, I hate weather like this, where its neither snow, rain or sun. It's just dull, cloudy and cold with a bit of drizzle. But then again, don't we all? I normally wear shorts all year round, of course during the cold days I pair them up with tights or leggings, but it's only the beginning November yet it already feel like the middle of winter, here in London, so I'm assuming that I'd most probably freeeeeeze in shorts, even with the thickest pair of tights underneath. So unfortunately I must ditch them and buys some new warm trousers.Infact, must refresh my whole wardrobe with a load of winter clothes  

 which can only mean one thing:

SHOPPING TIME! I'm on a special watch out for a faux fur coat - essential this winter. I'm loving  this one from UO, but its way over my budget :(

 As I won't be squeezing on my shorts anytime soon, I thought I'll make a tribute to them by posting some photos :)

SCARVES. I like scarves :)

A little edit I did with Picnik.

 http://www.picnik.com/

.

What I'm wearing: A scarf from a market in Poland, A coat from Primark, Shorts from a charity shop

Belt from a charity shop. Last two images above: Scarf from a market in Poland,Short denim jacket from a charity shop, a primark vest,  Jeggins from New Look♥

I  bought some military leather"winter shoes" last weekend, from River Island

I love the look of them and they are really comfy.

I wore them recently and I thought my toes where going to accually freeze off.

So I established they won't be able to handle the job of "winter shoes"

which is quite a shame as I do love them.

SKY. random much?

I really liked the sky the other day :)

This is a bit out-of-no-where but ;about two weeks ago, I discovered this little boutique called Terminal D in Covent Garden (although I forgot to include it in my previous post) in which they sell these lovely vintage and floral clothes and accessories, but what mostly stood out to me were these lovely small chain handle box bags (below) and vintage satchels/brief cases (last image)

they're just yummy

what do you think?

love Karo ♥

all my own pictures

Terminal D: Thomas Neal Centre, WC2 9LD

Friday: National Gallery, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus ♥

Exploring Continued.

On Friday, myself and Deanna made a  journey into Central London. We took the train to Piccadilly circus and decided we'll just have a look around. Below, you can see Deanna, looking busy with her 'robot phone' as I like to call; it features so many apps and is almost like a mini portable robot :). Anyway.... 

We ended up in Trocadero, which is mainly a massive three floor arcade. Although fully aware that they are a complete waste of money, we spent almost an hour on the 10p machines, which turned out to be a waste of time, as we left with nothing won . Then we skimmed past Leicester square and somehow arrived at the national gallery. I've never been before but I've heard some really good reviews, so I was looking forward to it. I managed to take a few photos before getting told to put my camera away and almost threatened of being chucked out, which I believe wasn't really fair due to the fact that most of the paintings can be found on the Internet without any trouble. Here's an painting by George Stubbs, which I really admire. It's a painting of a life size pony.

Then we went to Covent Garden in which we found some really cool shops such as Urban Outfitters, The official Doc Marten store and Rokit (pictured below) which has superduper vintage items of all sorts- handbags, shoes, purses and of course clothes-and the prices are reasonable. I highly recommend popping in, especially if your a vintage-lover, like meeeeeeeee ♥

Just as we were going through Covent Garden we popped into the little stores in the Piazza, such as Octopus, David And Goliath and of course the glorious Candy Cakes, which has cupcakes that looked like they had been hand-painted on the spot :)

The entertainment in covent garden is great; stand up comedians, clowns, performers, what more could you want?

A stall with colourful accessories

Covent Garden has it all- the live entertainment, the modern and vintage stores, the loooveely food and of course the market; with jewelery , hats, scarves and pretty accessories. It's so convenient and has a slightly vintage theme to it yet the place is so current and there's that refreshing vibe.

I LOVE LONDON.

PS: Just a quick question.

I found these really gorgeous shoes(below) in a little shop called Tomcat Leather for about 55 pounds (29 Neal Street Covent Garden) although I'm not too sure they would be suitable for the cold winter that's emerging rapidly.

Advice needed QUICK.

Should I get them or leave'em?

x

Love, Karo ♥

all my own pictures