Clothes DIY’s and lovely little Tyler

At the peak of my summer holidays, I think it’s pretty safe to say that I haven’t missed uni that much… but I have missed painting and making things every day 🙁 I have my sketch book and my tool kit with everything I need lying in my house, but its just not the same as painting huge scale theatre sets every day. Or oogling over a designers costume designs, and getting to be the lucky soul that makes the paper version into a real life costume 🙂 So I decided to get wee Jan (my sewing machine) out for a whirl and finally get round to mending and altering the clothes in my wardrobe that were annoying me. Mostly rushed bought sale items that I thought ‘uch I’ll fix that later’, but these bargain buys have then sat for weeks in my wardrobe with the tags still on! So I thought I’d be all fancy/A GREAT BIG POSER and show you the final results 🙂 as I am a complete tit and didn’t do a ‘before’ shot – doh! I’ll try my best to explain anyways.

Okay so first up is a dress from a gorgeous vintage shop in glasgow called Mister Bens. I bought this original 80’s tulip dress for about £25 quid a couple of years ago. It was too big, too long, and looked plain awful on… but persistant me saw some potential with the gorgeous pastel 80’s print and I swore I would bring it back to life one day! So, I chopped the straps off and made it strapless, as you can see. I took it up about 10 inches (seriously!) and hemmed the bottom. Next, I put a dart in either side under the arm as the elasticated bust has loosened over the years and would be too fiddly to replace. I also nipped it in at the back aswell so it has a teeny wee pleat that adds to that overall shortened tulip, or ‘babydoll’ shape. You can’t see here but it’s about down to my knees! Complete with my Raybans, I think this 80’s classic has been given a new life and will be hitting the beach in Portugal next week 🙂

Now, this one is just a wee alteration but its such a pretty dress so I thought I would post a picture anyways! This is from New Look, the straps were too long and it made my bust all baggy so I chopped and shortened them by about half an inch then resew them back onto the top. Lovely!

Would you believe that this top used to be about a third longer than this picture and is a size 14? Im normally a 10-12 so this was too big for me unfortunately, but it was in the Topshop sale for £12 so I couldn’t resist. But again, it was so huge 🙁 I didn’t know what I was gonna do with it. But I just ended up taking a whopping 12 inches off the bottom and hemming it. So rather than being an oversized night dress looking thing, its now shorter but still baggy but I think it looks okay 🙂 yeah? Fits into that whole kinda oversized long tshirt thing we got goin’ on!

Again, this is just a wee mend but such a pretty top! I never really go for one shouldered tops as it makes my tattoos on my chest look odd. But I really liked this one. Topshop sale again, £12 but it was burst right on the shoulder so I mended it without loosing too much fabric, and its still kept its shape so I’m happy.

This little floral number was£9.99 in the sale at New Look! Reduced from like £26. It used to be a dress! And looked horrible super long 🙁 So I took it up, hemmed it, and made it into a funky little tshirt. Much better 🙂 Can’t wait to pair this up with a boyfriend cardi, denim skirt, grey wooly tights and my uggs! Cuuute.

Haha, excuse the state of me in this last picture. In fact, in all of them! Its a sunday night and I’m just home from a little pub called the Fox and Hounds in a local village near mine, it has a beer festival every year and tonight me and Jenn went for a couple hours and enjoyed some Shandies in a marquee in the rain 🙂 So I was pretty tired when I got home,and after putting the kettle on for a cuppa I decided that it would be a good idea to do a blog before bed, beats me why 🙂 So yeah this is my last alteration for the moment. This tee was in the Urban Outfitters sale for £15 reduced from £28 (why, why oh why do their lovely tshirts cost sooo bloody much) I nabbed it last year and then never wore it. I’m an idiot! The sleeves had wee turn ups on them and were just ugly. But I loved the quirky design on the front. So, excusing my fat arms I have turned it into a vest top! Didn’t do a close up of the detail on around the arms, but I’ve done a double line of stitching to the raw fabric edge and left it unhemmed so it will rip/fray with time. Think this top suits a more rock chick finish 😉

Aswell as making my way through my list (see blog below this one) last week I was a busy little bee. I got my first ever smear test – ouch 🙁 But it can save your life ladies, make sure you phone the docs and get one done as soon as you turn twenty! It’s quite uncomfortable but I’m just a big wuss when it comes to stuff like that. I went to see Katy Perry on friday night and she was amazing 🙂 Such a talented performer and singer, I love her style and her down to earth attitude, and I certainly have a girl crush! Haha. Also, my little sister Tyler started primary school this week. She is only 4, and still has short hair and looks like a boy, bless! Here is me, her, and my Little brother Aaron who is 2, in the playground on her first morning.

Such a shame it was raining, but that didn’t dampen anyones mood! Look at how cheesing she is haha 🙂 Half my family turned up to see her off. And my stepdads family. I was an only child for 15 years, my mum and dad broke up a long time ago but are still on amazing terms and I see my dad on a regular basis. My mum had one or two boyfriends while I was growing up. But you can imagine it was a bit of a shock to be told at 15 that her and my stepdad paul were having a baby! Then two years later, little Aaron came along too! They are totally crazy but so hilarious and loving and I wouldn’t change them for the world.

See what I mean about her hair!? When I did facepainting professionally with my old job, I worked with loads of wee kids tylers age, especially little girls who always had lovely long hair! In bunches and all sorts. But hers has just never seemed to have grown haha. She is like a mini version of her dad (below) Makes me giggle 🙂 It will grow with time of course.

This is my stepdad Paul, Tyler and my Mum just as were about to leave her to get settled into the classroom. A few kids were crying but she doesnt seem upset at all! She was fine. I think those cheeky wee eyes darting to the side and not even noticing me take a picture show that she was just eager to play with all the other children and get us boring old farts to pee off! This was my primary school too, being back there really gave me a burst of nostalgia in remembering my first day. Crazy how time flies eh? Well this has been a mega post, but I hope the DIY pics have been of some interest, and the first day at school pics of my sis have made a few folk smile and get all nostagic 🙂