Sunday, 6 May 2012

Ahoy!

So this week I spent two days putting a lot of effort into a fabulous sailor girl costume for my best friends Kats 19th birthday party at the Underground nightclub in Dundee.I thought I would share the magical process with you.
 Bought a cheep tank top with frills from Primark and added ribbon, braid a bow and a button in traditional sailor colours- red,white, blue and gold.
 Full circle net skirt, attach a gathered net frill all around the edge.
 Top layer, baby blue full circle skirt.
 Bonda webbed some gold satin, don't peel off the paper back  because you can trace your motif onto it and then cut them out. Position them where you want them on the skirt then iron on, I threaded parcel string though my anchors like sailor rope! so cute!
 Anchors on, blue layer pined to red net layer, I will make a cream version of the red layer and pin that on too underneath the red. the waist band is going to be made of super thick ribbon folded over with thick elastic running through it.

So here is the finished look, I absolutely love it and I think it might be my favourite costume I have made so far.Hope I have inspired you all to give it a go for your next fancy dress party.



     
Modelicious

The Dundee College fashion show is fast approaching so the modelling auditions were held on Thursday this week, I was really excited at the prospect of strutting my stuff down the catwalk wearing some fab clothes,especially at 5ft, lets be honest I am far too short to be a model really.I put on my Favourite maxi dress with unusual vertical stripes to show off my figure.Everyone who auditioned was selected which I think is great. The show is on the 1st of June so look out for pictures coming soon!

Skulls and Roses


 Here is anther handmade item made by moi.I made fabric roses and put them on a bejewelled felt base, there are little turquoise skulls hiding in the roses. A beautiful combination of blue and coral colours.This necklace is available to buy in my Etsy shop. Heres the link to take a peep! 



Rock Chic

This is my little leather Lipsy number on its first outing. I felt like rocking it up for college this week so I wore my new awsome gold spike earcuff (a must have at the moment) and a statement tartan necklace. This shift dress looks gorgeous loose without the belt but I felt it added to the rocker look I was going for.  


T Ann Cake

http://t-ann-cake.blogspot.co.uk/

The second Hotspot visit was just too cute! We met Ann at her cafe called Tea Ann Cake on Exchange street. I thought the shop was decorated beautifully with a cutesy kitsch look with mismatched teacups and saucers, knitted teapot cosies and oven mits hanging from the ceiling. Ann was just as nice as her cafe, it was a lot less formal talking to Ann the it was with Andy Rice, we asked her lots of questions about why she started a cafe business and why in Dundee and found out that she loved to travel and especially loved her time in New York. She said she had always liked and been interested in food and when walking past all the lovely shops and cafes in New York she had to stop and take pictures of the food and cakes in the windows.Ann decided to move back to Dundee where she had previously lived and studied business commerce at Abertay University. She worked as a barrister to see how to run a food business and started selling her delicious home-made cakes at farmers markets. Ann found the location for her cafe and set up shop in 2010, her business is doing very well and is a lovely place to catch up with a friend and have lunch. I would be proud if I achieved that in the future!
I went with a small group of classmates on hotspot visits to two local designers in Dundee to get interviews and inspiration for our new blogs. First we visited Andy Rice of Not Just Design whom I found very knowledgeable and inspiring. Not Just Design is situated in the DCA and Andy and a small team of designers work there. Andy has done a large variety of projects and has even been to Antarctica to do a project which he said was amazing - what an opportunity! When we met him he was on the last day of a large design project which was a bar and eating establishment called The West House, he had designed the entire look of the bar and had sourced one of a kind items, he took us to see it the day before it opened and although there was the last minute chaos e.g. doors being put on the wrong way! we could see how it was all coming together and looking beautiful. I love the effort he went to to source his materials and the ideas the he had. Andy had so much passion and talked a lot, we hardly had to ask him a question because he was already sharing all his knowledge and clearly was just happy to teach us up and coming designers. I came away overloaded with information and feeling like I could do anything if I tried hard enough and it was definitely possible to be successful in Dundee.

Andy Rice says:

"If you Want it just make it happen" 

Friday, 4 May 2012

Why Blog?

I just wanted to explain to everyone the reason behind my blog. I am a HNC/D Fashion and Textiles student at Dundee College and I also live in Dundee.As part of our course we are making a blog based on Dundee and how it inspires us and our work. I have only lived in dundee 1 year 9 months but I love it here, it is a massive change from the small and not very exciting town that I am from. My blog will be about the creative things I do in dundee, mostly all the lovely things I make at college but also all the sewing I do at home and the handmade items I make for my newly established etsy.com shop. I will also be blogging about my personal style and posting lots of picture of the outfits I love to wear.