Beautiful pictures

I am not going to say much, just let you enjoy a few pictures from all over but mostly from Gujarat, India. The place has the most exquisite range of textiles and jewellery and I can't wait to visit soon. I've spent half my life trying to dress like these women and failed miserably but I will never give up. Hope you love these images and find them as inspiring as I do.





















Photo sources: All over

Army bag I fell in love with and now can't stop wearing

So I've been wanting to post more about my DIY endeavours but when I have an idea I am generally too impatient to take pictures of the process and just want to get to the end result of whatever it is that I want. But for this particular DIY I was a little smarter and here is a DIY post where I am IN LOVE with the finished product.

Army surplus fabric bags are one of my most loved plus used and abused carry-alls but I don't like them looking like twenty thousand other people's, so over the years I've used patches and pins galore to make them more me. But for the past few months I've been itching to take the patchwork penchant to a whole new level of complicated embroidery. Now since I am super impatient I couldn't really do something that was very complicated, that would have taken longer, I quickly sewed all the colours I could find on a red piece of cotton fabric and then proceeded to sew the patch onto the bag. Here are a few pictures of the process, this is what I started with, a simple, non-descript fabric bag:



Hours of furious hand sewing...





Et Voila, a bag that is totally colourful, totally unlike anyone else's and totally me, I am soo happy I can't stop wearing it.

What are you favourite DIY beauties? I would like to look at some inspiration, once the DIY frenzy hits me its hard to stop but I am running out of ideas and this rainy weather is the best time to stay indoors making beautiful things.

Jardin au soliel

Shorts: DIYed Vintage Ralph Laurens, Bikini: Tigerlily and Thrifted embroidered bag

Sorry for the heap of photos but this is more of a 'look at these pretty plants' sort of post, I as usual am wearing ripped denim at the bottom and minimum amount of clothing on the top. Just when I was starting to get my oversize cardigans and jackets out to play, the weather did a complete 180 degrees and it was summer again, not that I am complaining, beach going weather is welcome at all times. Spent a lazy day eating yummy food and walking amongst tropical forest-esque foliage pretending to be on a holiday. I was in heaven around the succulents and cactii, frolicking about in the sun and then promptly lay down for a nap/ day dreaming. The best kind of day! Happy weekend world!

More mirror work madness

A choli is a blouse that one wears with a traditional Indian skirt; the gaghra and this particular choli has been worn year after year for Navaratri, a nine-day festival celebrating a demon killing avatar, Goddess Durga. Now my love for ass kicking Goddesses is well known as is my obsession with mirror work, I mean just look at the banner for this blog but I have recently decided that I am going to make mirror work tops and bottoms a part of my every day attire. I already wear loads of it in small doses, like a patch here a handbag there but now I am going to up the ante.

Its just that I am just so bored looking at the usual blue jeans/ white tee-shirt combination that I have decided to brave any funny looks that might come my way. You know the best part? We just went to get a cup of chocolate milk wearing this and no one, not one person gave me any funny looks, it was awesome. Just goes to show that there is nothing wrong in wearing what one feels like, most people are too busy to pay any negative attention. By the way, I don't have anything against the blue jeans/ white tee-shirt combination, I just don't like wearing too much of it but if that's someone else's thing, I am sure they rock it.

The little red kantha pouch that I am wearing is from Aarong, a fair trade organisation that sources its goods from impoverished local artisans in Bangladesh. Reaching out to weavers, potters, brass workers, jewellers, jute workers, basket weavers, wood carvers, leather workers and more, Aarong represents about 65,000 artisans, 85% of whom are women. I have over the years bought a lot of stuff from them and if you're interested you should definitely check them out. I am only speaking from my personal experience because I love to support businesses that benefit women especially from disadvantaged backgrounds. I have not been asked to write this nor have I been paid for it. Hope everyone's having a great week so far and looking forward to the weekend, its the Sydney GLBTQ Mardi Gras and I can't wait for the parade on Saturday. Rainbow sparkles, sequinned hot pants and wigs, here I come.













Mirror work choli: Gujarat, India, Shorts: Vintage Levi's 501s, Wedges: Wittner, Kantha pouch: Aarong

More needle-work on denim adventures

Lately I've been thinking that just posting pictures of my outfits doesn't really define my idea of what this blog should be. I mean of course I want to post pictures of outfits that I really like but let's face it, most of them are going to involve cut-offs and ripped tees, instead of being repetitive I want to share things that I really really inpire me. One of the things that seriously makes me want to decorate my surroundings plus myself is hand-embroidery/ needle-work, there is just something about colourful sewn designs that makes me go aah! I gotta have it!

Also I got a couple of very sweet emails from some of you asking me for photos of the process and DIY needle work tips instead of just putting pictures of my completed designs. So here goes, now for this particular DIY, the idea was to stitch a patch on my denim vest but the fabric is so thick that I broke a couple of needles trying to poke it into submission. So before I did more damage a decision was taken to try my hand at a denim shirt, I have heaps lying around and they make the most wonderful layering pieces in the colder seasons. Since I am documenting this here, I wanted to challenge myself; therefore instead of just using a combination of stitches that I already know I decided to learn one online and then use it to make my shirt pretty. I will share the tutorial that best helps me learn my chosen style instead of making a repeat tutorial. My chosen art form is Kutchi embroidery.

Kutch is a part of the desert in Western India where the artisans sew intricate colourful designs on fabrics that adorn various people and objects. I have wanted to learn this method forever and I just hope I am half as good as the local artisans. It seems like an elaborate process of first making a grid and then interlacing the grid to form an absolutely beautiful design but as I found it isn't as hard as I first thought it was. Here go the pictures of the shirt in different stages of the process as well as the link to the tutorial that I used to learn the Kutchi border design. Please excuse the pencil drawings you can see on the shirt, I haven't washed it yet, scared to put it in the wash for the fear of the mirrors falling off and also I was excited to take pictures and post them. In case any of you decide to try this DIY send me pictures of your endeavours.

DIY DIY

Since my last post I've been keeping busy working, getting things ready for the holiday and our special guest, gardening, finishing a few DIY projects and I am pleased to present the results of more needlework on denim personalization. After my first few projects went well, I got more confident, a few boxes of mirrors from the craft store and some furious embroidering later I finally had a Mexican day of the dead sugar skull-esque design on my old mink pink skirt and a paisley mirror work patch on my old Levi's 501s. It gives me lots of joy that I am wearing something that I personalized myself, not to mention a whole new fun twist to my old clothes and I am happy to report I haven't been tempted by any new pairs of shorts this summer inspite of greedily eyeing a few things from Ksubi and Insight :D

The best part about this spring/ summer has been our new balcony garden and it is awesome to see things we've planted grow with abandon all over the place. I might have to stop planting new cuttings because it already resembles a mini jungle, has started to attract weird looking insects and heaps of birds and I am afraid of tempting native wildlife (read scary lizards) to pay us a visit. I hope everyone is having a beautiful lead up to the holidays and spending heaps of time with loved ones. Happy Saturday all!

Summer shorts DIYs

Like any other girl I love denim cut offs for summer, baah who am I kidding, I love them all year round, but unlike most other girls who might have a few trusted pairs of jean shorts I have amassed a huge collection over the years. Since they look better with age there is no giving them away and as I re-organized my clothes during the move I realized I have an astounding number of Levis 501s alone and an even greater number of various other brands and leather and suede and various other materials, okay I think you get the picture, I have a lot of shorts. So this year I've decided to refrain from buying more and to avoid getting attracted by shiny new ones I decided to get crafty with my existing pairs.

I've already jumped on the tie-dye bandwagon eons ago, ripped a few babies to reveal their cooler shredded avatars, bleached, dip-dyed etc etc but I knew now was the time to up the ante because I want a pair of personalized denim that no one else would have. So I decided to go the ethnic embroidery route, Gujarati needle work style. Gujarat is a state in Western India that has a long history with textiles especially needle work and tie dye, popularly known locally as Bandhani. The stark monotony of the desert landscape in the region is brightened up by intricate colourful embroidery, bead and mirror work. Now I am not any where close to as talented as the local ladies there are but I still decided to have a go on a pair of shorts in what can be described best as my take on that style.

Here are a few pictures of the various DIYs that I am currently working on, I started small with stitching a ying yang patch on the back pocket of a pair, then embroidered a peace sign on the back of another, then sharpied a Mexican sugar skull-esque design on the front of a 501 and then started some more complicated work on a pair of Wranglers that's almost ready. Outfit posts coming as soon as the November rain lets up. Any DIY+design suggestions are more than welcome :D Happy Wednesday all!