15 years in my closet: Agatha Ruiz de la Prada

When it comes to choosing at-home clothing, I always go for a t-shirt and a pair of leggings or lycra pants. These provide me with maximum comfort, freshness and freedom of movement to go around completing chores. However, as a lady who cannot skip any occasion to wear a dress, I've found that there are certain type of dresses that suit this need, such as beach dresses and t-shirt-like dresses. These garments keep you freshly covered up while allowing you to move around without feeling too overdressed.

Being able to go up and downstairs, kneel down, bend forward, reach out and perform any other task at home is priceless, especially when you can do so as comfortably and fashionably wearing a dress like this one. Believe it or not, my parents got it for me at El Corte Inglés in Spain... fifteen years ago. In that time, designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada was a full hit in Europe, even having her own spotlight with custom products at shops like El Corte Inglés. You could pretty much find anything designed by her: clothing, stationery, stickers, books, dolls, bedsheets; you name it. I adore her style, and that's exactly where I got my dress from.

This is a lightweight dress made of soft cotton jersey, printed with a grasslike pattern and featuring a sewn-on pink flower, one of the main icons repeatedly used by the fashion designer. The dress also has four functional yellow buttons on the back. One of the things I like the most about it is its composition, which makes you feel like you're wearing a long t-shirt. This comfort is achievable thanks to its loose high waist, its short sleeves and the t-shirt like fabric it's made of. Though the piece is a kids' size, I normally tend to buy clothing from the children's section at different stores because they fit me well enough. This explains that I can still get away with wearing this dress after fifteen years of closet existence. 

By the way, since the dress follows a clear inspiration from nature, I paired it with a green headband and a "Best friends" frog necklace from Claire's. The fact that I've been able to wear this piece for such a long time and keep it in an excellent shape makes it a big treasure in my closet. That is why one of my most recent goals is to switch more of my old t-shirts for dresses like this one, so I might be tracing some new patterns to get me going in this new project. I've also decided that when I have a daughter I'll follow Agatha's inspiration and design a whole rack of similar dresses just for her, hoping that she'll also love them as much as I do.

Thanks for reading! Follow me at @edu_and_joy on Instagram and Joy Casas on YouTube for more updates and posts about fashion. 

St. Paddy's green and polka dots

It's been forever since I last posted, given that I was incredibly busy with our wedding plans. But now that we've come back from our honeymoon (at Disney World, by the way), I'm getting back on track!

We spent two amazing and well-deserved weeks at Orlando, and were lucky enough to spend St. Patrick's Day at Universal Studios / Islands of Adventure. Following the "pinch-those-who-don't-wear-green-during-St.-Patrick's", I chose to wear this green peasant dress from Doll Me Up. Since the weather was pretty chilly, I paired it up with a black cardigan (also from Doll Me Up) and a pair of nude stockings. You might also spot my new grey slip-ons (from American Eagle) and my loyal neon pink fanny pack.

The dress is incredibly comfortable and form-flattering, and the fabric is quite sturdy and stretchy. It fits like a glove because it has a conveniently smocked waist and elastic sleeves, which allow it to stretch up one or maybe even two sizes. I normally wear dresses size S but I could only get my hands on the size M, which still fits perfectly. I bet even the L could fit me properly. The skirt is longer than I expected, but it still has a fresh enough length to walk around the parks, dance, and do other activities. The dress also has a flounced edge sewn with the same fabric. It's a very nice touch to make the skirt even prettier.

Since the fabric is quite elastic, this garment features no zipper, buttons, or velcro to open and close. You can get it on and off conveniently. The white polka dot pattern printed over the bright green makes this dress pop out and adds some details to an otherwise simple green dress. I'm not a die-hard fan of monochromatic dresses, but I'm sure that having this dress in solid colors would be a fantastic idea. Doll Me Up's peasant dress was my first and obvious choice when it came to choosing an outfit for St. Paddy's.

By the way: Do you know why people pinch you if you're not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day? This tradition dates back to the 1700s, when people thought that anyone who wore green would become invisible to leprechauns. According to the legend, these Irish creatures typically pinched humans, so people jokingly pinch those not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day to remind them about it.

Doll Me Up sells this dress in different colors with white polka dots (yellow, red, lime, burgundy, black, coral, and kelly green) and in floral prints (blue, pink, and aqua). I went with the kelly green one because it's one of my favorite colors, but I really had a hard time choosing only one to add to my wardrobe. After giving it a test drive and being extremely satisfied with it, I think I will definitely purchase it in other hues.

Lastly, here's a picture of myself soaking wet from our last park day after riding Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls, with my green peasant dress and a life-saving fleece Bubba Gump hoodie.

Check out my previous posts and be on the lookout for newer articles! 

My first serious dress

My passion for fashion started to develop when I was very small, possibly due to the fact that I owned a lot of Barbies and loved to dress them up with an enormous variety of doll-sized clothes. I started crafting clothes for them with fabric and silicone, until I taught myself how to hand-sew. After that, I made some other clothes sewing by hand, until my mother showed me how to use the sewing machine. Some time later, my grandma helped me make the Dorothy Dress (check out my previous post). Even later, I dared to make my first dress from scratch and completely on my own. 

Crafted from an old fabric that my mom had kept within a fabric stash since many years ago, the dress follows almost the same pattern as one of my Ixia dresses. I traced out the pattern directly from a dress and adjusted it to fit some seam allowance and zipper space.

It is made from some kind of white and blue printed curtain or tapestry fabric. It holds up nice and firm, but the fabric is still still somewhat soft. Even though the seams are not perfect, it still has some pencil markings on the reverse side, and it has some fitting mistakes, I am very proud of my first serious dress. I wear it with pride, knowing that it was the start of what has been a wonderful progress as a self-taught seamstress.

Here’s a collage with several shots of the complete dress-making process.

Keep an eye out for more fashion posts! 

New project: 365 Mickey Ears

This month I decided to start a new project that could blend my love for design, Disney and amazing prints. On a daily basis a pair of colorful Mickey ears will be posted on my new Instagram account: @365MickeyEars.

I will be making 365 Mickey ears -one per day of the year- with different motifs, colors, themes and other inspirations. I will try to capture most important holidays worldwide and portray a wide diversity of color combinations, patterns, shapes and styles.

Follow me on Instagram ( @joycasasc & @365MickeyEars for those who don't follow me yet) with the hashtag #365MickeyEars to see the complete collection.

Relaunching the blog: Goodbye to the old, welcome "Joy's Paradise Cove"!

After almost two years of blog barrenness and over a week of lots of hard work and redesign, I'm happy to announce that the blog is back on air! Going through refurbishments, concept changes, style modifications and guideline redefining has definitely produced a better, stronger and more structured blog.

This was the old layout... Maybe we'll meet again someday.

I'm so glad to have started my blogging experience with the original name, layout and concept; but it's time to say farewell and embark on this new challenge.

All that's left to say is... 

I officially welcome you to "Joy's Paradise Cove".

Feel free to follow my social media channels to keep yourself updated.