Monday 30 April 2012

Friendly Fashion UK


If any of you are like me, you most likely have tons of clothes, either worn just a few times, or even still with the tags on, and for some unknown reason you know you will never wear that item, even though you once cherished it. most people will just end up throwing it out.

Have any of you heard of the trend of swapping your clothes online? I've thought about it but ive never really looked into doing it. I really like the idea of that the clothes have a story behind them, of which you can imagine yourself! which is probably the reason behind my love for vintage fashion and charity shops, that and the fact that its cheaper than chips!

I've just found a new website just for that! Check it out for your self! it is a bit like an on-line charity shop, where you have to browse to find exactly what your looking for, but isn't that just part of the fun of finding a bargain! 


The aim of the site is to buy into fashion in a more meaningful way. You can either sell your clothes on there (with no charge for listing) or post the item you wish to get rid of, give it away, or swap it with another member.

They are building a community of social shoppers, where you can discuss topics in forums, or directly message and meet other like minded people. 

I think that swapping clothes is a great way of recycling your unwanted clothes, whats that saying? Whats someone's junk is another's treasure, or something like that!

If you are on a budget, on a mission to clear out your wardrobe, or searching for some interesting pieces to experiment with, Friendly Fashion is a great place to start! It costs nothing to have a look around and you might leave with some great finds!

Here are a few of my personal favourites from the site at the moment
Floral Shirt - £1.80
+£3.00 P&P


Handmade Earrings £4
Free P&P 

Selling/Swapping
£4.00
Floral French Connection shirt
£7.00

Until Next time!

Tanya  x




Thursday 26 April 2012

D.I.Y. Tights!

I saw the idea of D.I.Y. Tights from a fellow blogger! at The Pineneedle Collective. She does a lot of great D.I.Y's and makes her own clothes too! you can find all her step by steps on her blog.

The idea of the tights instantly caught my eye and I've been meaning to sort my self out with some of my own D.I.Y. Tights for a while now. I spend so much money on patterned tights (which are overpriced because they have a pattern on them, and rip easily!). You can buy a multi-pack of plain tights for so much cheaper and get creative by painting them with your own unique pattern!

I did my first pair the other day, to make my outfit stand out a bit more for when I went on a night out for my sisters birthday, this was the outcome!


My Outfit
Shirt-Years old-Miss Selfridge
Skirt- Stolen from my sister- H&M
Belt-Years and years old!
Shoes-(Just Seen)-Newlook




You have to paint the shapes onto the tights as you are wearing them, either that or put them on someone else and paint the tights whilst on them, which might be a little easier. I was happy with the outcome of these but rather than using fabric paint I used a fabric pen. 

Using A Fabric Pen

The problem with using a fabric pen is that the paint from the pen instantly sinks through the tights and onto your skin, which whilst its on your skin, the colour of the silhouette on the tight looks really dark, but once the tights have dried, and you take the tights off (and wash your legs off), the colour is quite faded, hence the grey colour of the hearts, which still look nice but aren't as dark as what I would have liked.

You need to keep the tights on for a good while, or use a hair-dryer to dry them completely before removing them, the last thing you want to do is spend forever painting your tights and then to take them off and smudge them all.


The upside to using a fabric pen is that it is a lot easier to control then the paint, and if your a messy person like me, less messy things are better, but the outcome of the tights with a fabric pen are nowhere near as good as the outcome of the tights with paint. Also with the Pebeo Fabric Pens I used, the tights are washable after 24 hours of applying, where as the paint is only washable after fixing with an iron, which is just more hassle if your feeling lazy! :P

I also created these tights with a fabric pen, but I only took photos directly after drawing them on, which is why the colour looks darker here. 



Using Fabric Paint

Although I am quite arty, I am also quite messy, which is why paint wasn't my favourite medium to use, but it did have the best outcome and overall look once finished! but the painted tights do take slightly longer than with the fabric pen.
I found it easier to create a stencil first, just so that the shapes are of the same shape and size, I did a few free hand but they didn't have the same perfect shape as the ones I did with a stencil. 

Do a light layer of paint and then another coat over that, if you lay the paint on too thick it will smudge! 

Have a hair-dryer close at hand, and once you are happy with the coverage of the paint, use the hair dryer to part dry the tights.

After this sit and watch T.V. for a bit, just to make sure that they are fully dried, when the paint is fully dry you can take the tights off, the bits that are painted will feel as if they are stuck to your leg, and you have to peel them off, which is quite fun, kind of like peeling glue off your hands, which I always liked to do as a child!

Unfortunately the craft shop was out of black paint, so I brought some white paint, and tested them on black tights, which look really nice.

Here is the outcome of Fabric paint on tights.






Me getting messy
My handmade stencil!
I can't wait to paint some more tights up now! I need to get some more tights and some more paint! I think I'm going to stick to paint in future, and I'll have to just stop being lazy and get the iron out! If you have any more tips for me, or if you want to know anything else, then just comment XD

LOTS OF LOVE!


Tanya  x

Tuesday 24 April 2012

I finally brought a midi dress.

I love midi dresses, I just think they look so different and elegant, but I also find that they just dont look good on me! I've always put it down to being short, that they just make me look odd. so my love for midi's has remained at a distance!.... UNTIL NOW!

I saw this dress when it was full price at Topshop, and saw a few friends of mine wearing it, all of whom are tall and slender. Cows. So I just pushed the love for the dress aside, it was £34 anyway and although I love Topshop, I find it hard to part with that amount of money for one item!!

The dress went in to the sale, and ever since I saw it in the sale, it had been on my mind. It's odd, it's as if I had a crush on the dress, the one day I actually woke up thinking about the dress and that I should go out and try it on. I think I might just be turning crazy now.

I pursuaded my beloved boyfriend to take me to the shop so I could atleast just try it on. and well, this was the outcome.....















YES OKAY I BROUGHT IT! ANOTHER DRESS! AND NOT JUST ONE DRESS NO! THAT'S RIGHT I BROUGHT TWO DRESSES!







 

The only person who truly understands my addiction is my sister Sophie, who shares the same addiction as me. Other people roll there eyes and lecture me on how I don't need any more dresses or any clothes at all, and that I am in fact skint, cheers for reminding me!


I think I need to go on a slight shopping ban, even if its just for a month! Lets see how well that goes, I'm sure my next post will go along the lines of, I BROUGHT A NEW DRESS AGAIN!

I did say a while ago I was going to do a bit of a game, where I would wear a weeks worth of clothes, and then re-wear them the following week but mixing the items up to create a new outfit! I think maybe this will take my mind of shopping and focus me on getting creative with my existing clothes, hopefully...


OUTFIT1-Dress-Topshop-Cardigan-Randomly found under mom's bed with tags still on. nice.-Shoes-Newlook-
Outfit 2-Dress-Topshop-Shirt-Vintage-Tights-D.I.Y.

I will be posting a blog on my D.I.Y. Tights next! So keep checking my blog for updates!

Thanks to everyone who is following me & Leaving comments, It's nice to know that my blog isn't completely useless, so thanks everyone :) <3

Until Next Time!X

Tanya  x


Sunday 22 April 2012

In Some Dreaming State...

The Unveiling of 1 of the items brought on my last shopping trip.

The Floral Dress











I look quite confused and depressed in these photos! I think it was partly because on my first attempt at taking photos down the alleyway, the scrap men came driving down shouting, which kind of scared me so I had to run and hide until they went. I think at this point I was still cautious that they may come back. Looking back over on these photos are probably what made me take the next two overly smiley photos.



THE DRESS- £12 - T.K.Maxx



Detailing on the collar..

Puffy sleeves!




I don't know what the photos of my shoes are doing really. Just proving to myself and everyone that I could probably do with getting some new shoes. I do however refuse to part with these shoes, they aren't THAT old but they have been worn the hell out off, that I'll admit...

I don't quite know whats wrong with me, but I have come to the conclusion that i have a major shopping addiction. Since the shopping trip resulting in 4 items, I have also brought another 2 dresses, which when I showed my boyfriends mom, replied with "Yeah, because you really needed another 2 dresses!" I chose to ignore her.

But I did actually buy a MIDI DRESS! Can you beleive it? finally. So look forward to seeing that on my next blog!

Until next time!! <3

Peace out

Tanya  x

Saturday 21 April 2012

I FOUND A CAMPER VAN!


Look at my new van I've brought! Bah, I wish! You simply cannot even begin to imagine the delight that came to me and my sister as we were walking to town one day and discovered this beauty. It's not very often you see anything slightly "cool" and out of the ordinary in Walsall, but we spotted this baby a mile off! Our faces to passers by must have looked like the kind of faces kids do when the ice-cream van parks right up outside their house and plays its little tune. Much like the one in the above photo.



After having a good 5-10 minute photo shoot with the van of our dreams, we decided to head back on our journey. We half expected the owners of the van to arrive back to their van with us sat on top of it taking even more photos. This could have almost happened with the amount of excitement that came over us!

We originally went down town to get a few presents for my youngest niece, who will be two on the 21st of April, Bless! which we did do... along with some clothes shopping of our own, which we were apparently avoiding.

We brought 2 Dresses, a play-suit & a Skirt, luckily we both liked all of the clothing and couldn't possibly decide on who got  to own each item, so we went halves on all of them! overall the whole 4 items totalled up to £52, so we each only spent £26, which isn't bad for 4 items! I'm sure you shall be seeing these items in future blogs!

On out way to town we took a stop at the ever so eye catching alley way that is just at the end of our road. You can see why I think my area is so amazing... but we made the best of the not so great surroundings!!

Note the utter rubbish graffiti in the background...










note the hidden rubbish in the bushes

Today I Am Wearing


H&MCARDIGANCharityShopBeltTopshopDress