Paisley is my favourite...

I've been busy this last sorting through my wardrobe in preparation for moving to France. In doing so I've uncovered quite a few things that I had sort of forgotten about. Today I bring you the transformation of this gem of my wardrobe that has been sadly ignored, namely this dress...

I bought this on a trip to France because once I tried it on I simply couldn't leave the country without it. You see I have something of an obsession for paisley. A large portion of my wardrobe is composed of various different paisley prints in all kinds of colour combinations. I wore the dress for New Year's Eve last year, but sadly its a bit too tight and low cut on the chest to be comfortable for everyday wearing (why I didn't notice this when I tried it on I don't know). I was thinking of saving it for another occasion, but really paisley print this pretty is too good to be shut away in the land of Wardr Obe (Spare Oom) and should be worn everyday. Look at the upclose details of this amazing print!

To make that happen, I decided to transform it into a skirt using my new favourite trick - creating an elastic waistband (as seen here)!. And so I snipped the dress in half at the waist, using another skirt as guidance for the length (this bit was scary - taking scissors to something means the point of no return - eek!). Then I measured out a length of elastic, folded the fabric down at the waist and sewed around it, creating a tube for the elastic to be threaded through. Once the elastic was in it all got sewed up and TA DA! A fab new skirt....

Here's a close up of the new waistband...

I love it! No longer will this be a sad discarded dress, unable to fulfill its destiny. From now on, it'll be shimmying around in all its paisley glory on a regular basis! I won't, however, be carrying this peacock feather with me wherever I go - that's just a prop I picked up for my impromtu photo shoot because I thought holding something might make me feel a little less awkward about taking photos of myself. (It didn't)...

Why not transform something you love but never wear? It's like going shopping in your wardrobe, which is perhaps not quite as fun as getting to Narnia in your wardrobe, but it is free and you get to be creative and sew!
x

A haiku a day...

I've been writing these little haikus every day for over 6 months now, which is quite hard to believe as I'm usually rubbish at sticking to things like this. I doubt that anybody else really enjoys reading them, but the weekly ritual of typing them and putting them on here has certainly helped me to keep on writing them. I love how they capture random little snippets of things, like the changing seasons, weird little observations I've had during my days, pretty flowers, frustrated moments, dreams, runs in the rain, snow, autumn etc. It's funny sometimes the way that inspiration strikes me and I think - ooh! that's definitely the subject of my haiku today! Maybe at the end of a year's worth I will print them all out in a little book and it will be one of the most concise and yet strangely evocative diaries I've ever kept. Anyway, here's this week's worth, served up this time with a healthy sprinkling of snow....

Friday
On this cold night we
shut out the world and sip wine,
convivially.

Saturday
Creaky snow footsteps
through a freshly coated world,
a blank page tonight.

Sunday
Confused birds singing
at street light reflections on
snow: a fake dawn glow.

Monday
Drip drop, melting snow,
the great thaw's started, perhaps
Aslan's on the move?

Tuesday
Treacherous pathway,
Snow sparkles a warning that
I'm running on ice.

Wednesday
A nun, a ginger
beard, school children, you and me,
huddled on the tube.

Thursday
I'll miss the way that
Distant trains sound strange at night,
like boiling kettles.

ps. If anybody is reading, I invite you to leave a haiku of your own in the comments :)

x