Some things are perfect as they are.

The other day I found a gorgeous dress in a street market. I was in love with it. Big flowers, oversize. I was thinking on what to do with it until I saw myself wearing it.

Perfect.

Then it came yesterday. Perfect items just came coming to my hands. A really short skirt, some people would call it top, I call it skirt, is a matter of semantics, or a gorgeous brand new turquoise blazer that I would wear as soon is clean.

But then, as we kept proving items and making photos of them, it came the perfection made dress.

It started like a joke, kinda with the sentence of: Oh my god, Jose, look at this! And following up the laughs the ideas just kept coming to our minds. Like cutting it or something like that. And it was just 1 euro so I thought, whatever, just buy it.

And I did.

The surprise came when I put it on.

Then it was awesome. The dress was like made for me. I just couldn't take it off. I just wanted to sport it. I even had lunch with it. I felt like a princess, like a Prom Queen nominee. Then I came home, and my boyfriend who respects but rarely shares my fashion sense told me that it looked great, and that some maid of honor must had give it to charity.

And then he started calling me Marla Singer, I really don't care. I love the tragedy of the character and Helena so It just made me think on her words, that someone loved that dress and then gave it up. Or some really mean bride forced her best friend to sport it. Because the dress is awesome for just wear it in summer, but not for a wedding in anyway I'm just not touching anything of it. I love it.


Some second hand clothes are perfect as they are. I rarely find something that fits me, I use to have to restore them, which is mostly the reason on why I started this blog and now, in the health of my relationship and my dressing room add some items I think you guys would like to buy in the other blog/shop. They're unique, something I can promise you because I made them. I love second hand clothes, something is truth, they don't use as awesome fabrics as they used back then.

So along this week I would open the shop with new items. You can buy them or you can get the idea of how to make something similar in this blog.
I won't update with anything I hadn't share the making off here first, which is the reason on why I hadn't open the shop yet..

But in my career as expertise in vintage and second hand clothes I must say that some things are perfect as they are. I hope you also had find something you love and can sport without doing anything to it. But if you didn't, I would keep updating with great and easy DIY projects so we loose our fear to buy something that obviously don't fit, but that you would love to wear.

After the last shopping sprees, the whole idea of X gone Y is loosing its point, but I'll keep looking for things to restore, I just love to do it and is also a good exercise for my patterning and sewing classes.

P.S I hadn't forget the pattern of the dress. I would update it soon, just my PC seems to don't want to work the Macromedia applications lately.

Hairextended

Still with DIY (Dye it yourself) projects. I have to love bleach. Is just the best invent ever, how something can look so different with just bleach, and this vest would look even better, or let's hope it does, when Jose and I are done with the idea I have for it.

A couple of days ago I found out that Lulila had nominated me for a meme. I don't really know how does it work, but is kind of cool because reading all of the people that answered you find out things about people you read everyday.

So here are my answers

Un maquillaje(make up): L'Oreal Volume Shocking Mascara

Una prenda de vestir( a piece of cloth): un peto de flores.

Un grupo de música(a music band): Le Tigre

Una marca nacional(a spanish brand): La Casita de Wedy.

Una marca internacional (an international brand): H&M

Un diseñador(A fashion designer): Juan Vidal

Un lugar de veraneo(a place for the summer): San Juan (Ibiza)

Un famoso(a famous person): Pepe Rubianes

Una comida(food): Cualquier cosa con French Mustard

Una bebida (a drink): Café con leche de soja fresquito.

Un hobbie: Leer

Una peli (a movie): The United States Of Leeland

Una serie(A TV series): The Big Bang Theory

Una inspiración o personalidad a copiar(someone you admire): Pilar Rahola

And oh, yeah. I got hair extensions finally. I'm not really used to long hair, but I love it!

X gone Y 3: Is a sunny day in the neighbourhood

I love this weather. One of the multiple good things about living in Valencia is that the good weather comes in March. Is almost spring, we're in holidays, Fallas. I'm having really nice holidays, resting, partying with moderation, which is a point in my New Year's Ressolutions' list; and also sewing and doing tons of projects.

Like I'm kinda driving you crazy with all the sewing I wanted to update an easy tutorial mostly because the guy I'm stealing internet of right now (ONO seems to be also on holidays) seems to start to figure out that he's sharing without knowing, so I need to be quick.

With the sun and party clima around we went to the market on Wednesday morning and we bought some pretty nice spring stuff that I'm already working on.

Tons of denim, for make hot pants for this summer, cause I love them and I love denim. In all of its kinds, acid, dark and dyed, bleached... The latter, is something you must do.

I suppose you had noticed the MUST, I don't want to sound imperative but you MUST do it. I mean, pay 20 bucks more for something just because someone had the brilliant idea to bleach them and make them look old SHOULD BE illegal.

So please, just do it yourself with some old jeans, is funny and an interesting exercise of patience.

I think everybody knows how to bleach something.

Use bleach.

Plain and simple. I remember once in Summer School doing some summer course of sewing when we made hippie style tees. With ropes and all the deal.

Well, I'm not actually going to teach you how to do that, I mean everybody knows how to do that.
Actually I think everybody knows how to fill a cube with water and a glass of bleach and put your jeans in... and wait until the color is gone the following day.

Ok, maybe this tutorial is kind of a lame excuse to show you how this old jacket i bought now looks like a complete different piece of cloth...You got me.

But I just think it looks awesome and that everybody can do it.
You just need bleach, water (Obvio) and sandpaper. I'm sure your dad or boyfriend has some at home if not buy it, is pretty cheap and would last you long. Well, take the sandpaper and pass it in the wrists, hem, neck, pockets. Wherever you feel like make a hole or give it a fray effect.

Just remember to do it when the cloth is dry. And also after you had bleached it wash the cloth alone a couple of times in the washing machine, just to evite you unconfortable situations with your mom wondering why the hell her favourite jeans have bleach stamps and you pretending it wasn't you but it was obvious it was you because your brand new pair of bleached jeans were in the same laundry basket (True story and also true long time grounded, good old days back in high school... sigh)

Be creative with the sandpaper. That's the trick. I also use it to break jeans. I mean I make a cut and then I pass it a little throw the cuts so some treads come out the fabric. Just don't exceed and don't make the cuts too nearby if you're not pretending them to naturally join after a while and become a really big hole in your tight/knee. (That's what happened to the jeans that spoiled my mom's fav jeans.)

Try the trick of the sandpaper, It would make your holes look great and natural.

Secondly, we speak about features. I was in the Fashionalistas page a couple of weeks ago and also in Autor de Toi. It was awesome, more with all the amazing comments people left in the page and even more when Fashionalistas chose me as the look of the month and appeared in Hello Valencia with some people I really admire, like Laia or my lovelly Jose.

Hello Valencia is a tourism magazine, my mom for example gets it in the bank, but you can buy it in any bookstore, which doesn't really has a point if you're not a tourist, cause we Valencians kinda have the AU (Agènda Urbana)

But again, it was an honor. So thank you, thank you very much to these different sites. I'm going to put them straight in the right of my blog just for maybe in 30 years come back to look at it and say to Jose, who would be totally working with me, or I would be calling him on the phone and telling him: Hey, we were in a magazine once... and then keep sewing whatever we're sewing for some Young Tirane at the same level of Cool Fashion designer with green hair and a tattoed body who would talk Catalanglish because that would be the trend then.

Until then, let's going to enjoy our 15 minutes of fame.


And finally but not least the Great Pilcuis of Oh my Dior nominated me for an award!!!!!
She's a really great girl, with great ideas, who updates tons of interesting stuff in her blog and also always, absolutelly always has good words for everyone.

I was never nominated so I'm just really going to follow the instructions in her blog and copy and paste them here so the nominees know what to do.

And also tell her thanks, tons of thanks for nominate me, that means some people actually reads me and also that actually they enjoy what I write here, which is a joy for me and the whole point of make a blog ;D.

Rules for this award:

1. Put the logo on your blog of within your post.

2. Pass the award on to 12 bloggers.

3. Link to the nominees within your post.

4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and the link to the person from whom you received this award.

The number 5 is done, so I'm going to do the 2 and 3 and I would try ASAP tell the nominees in their blogs that they had been nominated.

Living in a Daily Hell

Cosas de Lulia

A little bit of Shhhhh

Los outfits de Lorena

Let me feel like a doll.

Mademoiselle Pitifu

Lovin' Trash (Trash is truth)

Marcos Batuecas

Jade Purple Brown

Nina's Vintage

Preetandpoor

G r o s s o m o d o

We're the weirdos, mister. Part 2.

This post is a continuation of this other one: http://laumika.blogspot.com/2010/02/were-weirdos-mister.html , so I'm not going to ramble and I'm actually going to start with the cutting and sewing instructions right away:


1. As we said you must cut the pattern of the straight skirt in four pieces// Corta el patron de la falda base en cuatro piezas.

2. Place the patterns over the fabric as we did with the straight skirt. The only difference between these two skirts is that now we have four patterns. //

Coloca los patrones sobre la tela como hicimos con la falda recta, ya que la unica diferencia ahora es que tenemos cuatro patrones en vez de uno, pero que al final resultaran en una falda completa.

3. Now you had cut the patterns. Remember to add the sewing hems up and down. Maybe you had added them while we did the pattern, I actually told you so. But if you didn't, as I obviously didn't, you need to do it now, which would make the whole sewing process more difficult, so my advice is you add the sewing hem to the pattern.

// Ahora has cortado los patrones sobre la tela. Recuerda añadir el margen de costura. Puede que lo añadieras al patron. Muy lista por tu parte. Yo no lo hice y me ha costado mucho mas. Mi consejo es que lo añadas al patron, ya que el proceso de costura sera mucho mas fácil.

4. Sew the pieces together. // Cose las piezas juntas.

5. Sew a side of the skirt. In the other side you must sew the invisible zip. // Cose un costado de la falda, en el otro lado coseras la cremallera invisible.

6. Sew the applique. // Cose el aseo.

The resulting skirt must look something like this.


Remember that in the last piece you must sew a slit, because we're working with a not stretching material, and I suppose you actually would like to be able to walk... I placed it in the back of the skirt so the form of the skirt is not altered.

Recuerda que en la ultima pieza haremos una raja. Estamos utilizando un material que no es elástico por lo que te seria bastante dificil caminar sin ella. Yo la he puesto en la parte de atras, evitando asi que se pierda la forma de la falda.

If you want to do the same but with elastic fabric, remember:

1. You must use an elastic sewing thread for sewing the skirt.

2. You must apply the elasticity equation when you do the pattern.

3. Your skirt won't need the slit, the dart nor the invisible zip...


Si quieres hacer la misma falda pero con material elastico, recuerda:

1. Deberas utilizar hilo elastico para coserla.

2. Deberas aplicar el coeficiente de elasticidad a la hora de hacer el patron.

3. No necesitaras raja, ni pinza, ni cremallera invisible.