Easter is the season of pastels

Every time that Easter comes near, it seems as every store fills its shelves and shopfront with colorful pastel tones. Chocolates and candies, balloons, flowers, Easter egg baskets and candles are only some of the products offered in these hues. However, we can also easily find season-appropriate kinds of clothes, shoes and accessories tinted in powder blue, baby pink, light yellow, aqua, lavender, lilac, pale orange, mint, or other pastel colors.

For example, I recently came across these beautiful wedges at Payless Shoe Source, especially designed for this brand by Christian Siriano. They are everything you could wish for when searching for an ideal Easter outfit: the braided wicker platforms that remind you of woven baskets, the exquisite floral pattern reminiscent of Spring, the use of pastel tones like cream, lavender, light blue and lilac, and lastly the evidently fresh and delicate strap design, again resembling a slight weave.

I chose these shoes as the base for my Easter ensemble. The next item I selected was my "A hint of Spring" skirt, which I confectioned out of an old fabric rectangle that my aunt gave to me. Naturally I chose the skirt because of its nice volume, colors and flower pattern. The difference between this skirt and the other gathered skirts I've sewn is that this one has no zipper. Instead, it has a completely elastic waistband which provides it with a better fit and comfort (plus, it can size up or down on its own).

To complete the look I went with a 3/4 length sleeve unicolor shirt made of lavender tinted cotton. The piece has a small pocket on the left, and decorative button straps on the edge of each sleeve. This shirt is perfect to balance out the floral patterns and match one of the most prominent colors of the wedges.

I also accessorized the outfit with a heart-and-pompom pendant hanging from a golden chain, a floral-printed ball bracelet in pastel hues, and a second bracelet with real tiny flowers covered in resin (a perfect finishing touch for Spring!). Finally, I used some cool pastel-colored hair twists (by Avon) to weave my wavy hair into a fun and easy hairdo.

Spring has always been one of my favorite seasons because it's the time when flowers bloom with beautiful colors and textures. For some reason I feel a deep admiration for flowers and can't hold myself from contemplating these beautiful beings. So, seeing as it's a perfect occasion, I want to wish you all a happy Earth Day!

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Ssssstripe two!

As I said on my first outfit post, stripes are a recurring theme in my clothes. I simply cannot get enough of them.

In this case I'm wearing a scarlet red and green striped dress. When I made this dress I had already been sewing for a few months, so the project felt easier to complete. My aunt gave me the fabric, which she had bought many years ago to make a beach outfit for herself. I think the fabric gives a sensation of gypsy inspiration, due to its bright color mix and pattern choice.

I paired it with green heels with small bows (by Zabumba) and a rectangle-shaped stone necklace. The halter straps were made exactly to fit the width of the green stripes, and the complete ensemble was carefully matched to remain symmetrical. Here are some quick snaps back from when I sewed the dress.

 Stick around for more fashion posts and fun findings! 

We're not in Kansas anymore (Dorothy's dress)

Whenever you think about "The Wizard of Oz" many key elements might come to your mind... Emerald City, the yellow brick road, "I'm melting, I'm melting!", the red slippers, flying monkeys, and of course Dorothy's iconic blue gingham pinafore dress.

Here's a short story: when I was a little girl my mother made me a Dorothy costume to dress up like her for Halloween, and she made my brother a Tin Man costume to match. I adored that dress, but eventually outgrew it. Many, many years later, as my interest for sewing was developing, the first big sewing project that I planned for myself was replicating Dorothy's dress for myself. I remember going to a fabric store and buying 2 or 3 meters of blue gingham/vichy. That was the first time I ever bought fabric for me to sew.

Back then I was on vacations, so I went a few days a week to my grandmother's house, who was teaching me how to trace, edit and cut patterns, as well as helping me out to make my dress possible. Sadly I have no pictures of the process, which took a lot of patience, work and my grandmother sewing the zipper because I was no good at it. However, I have the beautiful outcome to remember those wonderful moments.

                 

This is not a replica of Dorothy's dress. I designed it to look more modern, but keeping the essence of her original dress. Here I am pairing it with blue bracelets, blue-and-white earrings, a heart-shaped cookie cutter necklace (from the book The Queen of Hearts), and yellow and khaki wedge sandals (by Naturale'z).

 Get ready for more fashion posts! 

Restoring a pair of heels - an unnecessary oddisey

A long time ago I bought some really unexpensive purple heels from a shoe store. I really loved the velvety fringe on the back of the shoes, and I most certainly needed a pair of purple heels.

A couple of months went by without me wearing the shoes. One day, as I took them out of the box, I realized they were peeling and had some stains on them  -and they were still brand new!    I was horrified about this and failed to plan what to do with them. I thought about covering them with purple fabric, but it didn't seem as such a good idea. Meanwhile, the pair rested on its box waiting for me to find a solution.

Some time later I came across a small business that sold glitter heels and sandals. That gave me the idea of covering the peeled parts of my shoes with purple glitter, saving them in a brilliant -pun intended- way. In the meantime, I peeled everything off and gave them a skimpy coat of purple paint.

My search for packs of purple glitter began, only to find out that apparently every craft shop, stationary store and other school supply businesses in town had ran out of purple glitter. Perfect. Just perfect. I kept looking for purple glitter occasionally, failing to succeed in my quest. I eventually found one or two places that had purple glitter, but frankly it was a hideous shade of color.

About one month ago I finally found the cherished packs of purple glitter. I went ahead and bought four of them just to make sure I would have enough to cover the whole pair. When I got home I decided to give a paint job to the heels first. I proceeded to prepare a mix using one part of shiny magenta fabric paint, one part of metallic blue acrylic paint, and a bit of black fabric paint.

I could not believe the amazing purple color that now rested on the cup after blending in all the colors. It was so dreamy, reminiscent of galaxy shades of purple. I started painting the shoes with a small brush and immediately fell in love with how they looked. I was even feeling the need of not coating them with glitter after they had dried. So I finished painting them and left them to dry for a whole day.

The heels looked so fabulous that I finally decided to skip the glitter. I gave them two coats of hairspray and left them outside to dry. That day, it rained. I got really sad because I thought all my work was probably damaged, only to discover that the shoes had survived epically and the paint remained as good as ever.

So if you have a pair of peeling or worn-off pleather shoes, I would definitely recommend taking off all the damaged material and finding a nice paint blend to restore them. You can also DIY them with glitter, but make sure to paint them with a base coat before covering them completely in sparkles.

 More posts will be coming up next week! 

Crazy about stripes

There are few times when I can resist striped clothing items. I have a clear weakness for them, and you will see that recurringly in my wardrobe. Since some time ago I've thought that I must have been a zebra in my past life, because I'm crazy about stripes.

This is a white and violet striped tee that I purchased at a very small shop near my home. I remember I'd been eyeing it for a couple of weeks, until one day it was gone from the display window. About a month later I was running some errands nearby and remembered about the shirt. I decided to pass by the shop and try my luck with the tee. Bingo!  They still had it; so I quickly tried it on and fell more in love with it. I obviously got it on the spot!

In the pictures I am pairing the tee (it is brandless -only says "made in Peru"-) with a black gathered skirt made by yours truly, black sunglasses, a heart-shaped necklace and black sandal wedges (by Vic Matie). The skirt is made of black stretch gabardine. Later on I will post a tutorial on how to make one like this.

 Stay tuned for more fashion posts!