BACK TO BLACK

Inspite of all the colouring, my wardrobe still mainly consists of black. Black of course works whenever wherever, but especially on a grey and slighlty rainy day like this.(Soft rain is actually ok if it's warm and not windy outside, like now. But it's a no-no for tomorrow, since I'm going for a beach-weekend!)

Pupuppiduu, posing like a bimbo #1

Posing (a little less but still) like a bimbo #2

Jersey cardigan - WESC, sligthly customized by me for a better silhouette
Skirt - the same selfmade one as always (it's oh so comfy)
Wedges- from some cheapy shop some time ago

CHANGING THE COLOUR

I have this red-and white checked skirt that I want to colour. There's nothing wrong with the skirt now or the combination of red and white, it's just that I have quite much of that already. And this skirt, cute as it is, still somewhat reminds me of a kitchen table cloth...

Coloring, or re-coloring is a great way to make an old and dull garment interesting again. You can also color over patterns - the pattern will of course remain, but you can make it less noticeable for example (like when I color this skirt it will still be checked, only sort of less so, depending on what color I choose to color it). But still, remember to think twice before you do color. I have made some decisions too quick before and regret it later (as before I had this problem with wearing white and I colored a lot of my mother's and grandmother's nice old stuff ocra,marron and brown. Damn those hippie years!)

At some point someone asked me about coloring clothes, so I'll give a few hints that are helpful atleast for me; I used to color a lot before and I also made lots of tie-dye too with different methods.
(If you're not interested just scroll down to the end of this post and help me out ok :)

*Coloring at home is easy in general, but it can be a bit hard to get a nice even result. Use a sink/bucket or whatever just as long as it is big enough, so that the garment wont lay wrinkled in the color solution - otherwise you get a tie dye-like result. The whole process can be a bit messy so be sure to use gloves and clean up any spill right away, otherwise it will be very hard to get away!

*If you color right you won't harm the clothes, but you have to use salt during the process and that tears the fabrics on the clothes. I always use fabric softener the first washes after, even if I otherwise don't (since it also wears out fabric faster).

*The cheapest way to color is by using color buttons, those small ones containing powder. It says on the pack that you should boil the clothes but you don't have to. Anyway, how many garments look nice after boiling them!? (But if you on the other hand dye a fabric that you're going to cut and sew later on that's totally different of course). I only mix the powder with boiling water then and add lukewarm water. A tip is to make the colour solution quite strong (=not that much water) and then soak the garment evenly in it, take it out and put it in a plastic bag over night, then wash it up. That way you won't have to keep on moving the garment around in the color mix all the time.

*There are also colors ment for cold hand wash, but I personally don't think they are any better than the color buttons. It's messy as hell anyway... But if you want to color something delicate that can only be washed in cold water this is the solution.

*Nowadays I only use colors for machine wash since that is just so easy. It won't hurt your machine if you do it right - I've even colored in the common machine in my building even though it was forbidden (hihi). I like those kind of colors more that come in a bag that will dissolve during the wash, than the ones where you have to pour the color-powder in the machine. It says 60 degrees C on most color packages but I do it in 40, or according to the washing instructions of the garment. Since I don't color in as warm water as recommended, I sometimes have to color things twice for the right shade of color. After the coloring you wash the clothes once, then you have to run the machine empty on a program warm as possible. (And since I don't like wasting energy like that I usually throw in and wash a couple of dark towels at the same time).

*Remember that you can't color all fabrics - the less natural the fabric, the less the color will attach. Wool and cotton, most cotton-based mixes color easily. Polyester won't really soak up the color pigment but you can receive a change of shade in a piece of clothing still. And you won't be able to color anything dark lighter of course. You can bleach a garment a bit first if you want to receive a slightly lighter shade. For example you can't get dark blue pink (no shit you can't) but you can bleach it and color it with pink color and you'll end up with a purple/lilac shade. It's the basic rules of mixing colors that apply.



Well, back to my skirt. I can't really decide on what color to choose. Green, blue or purple? Or some other colors? Grey? I'm kind of feeling the green. All ideas are welcome so tell me what you think! :)

...AND THE DAY AFTER

Let's get another thing straight.
I wake up with a hangover quite often, due to the fact that I, um, go out quite a lot.

So, I'm most definitely no good example for anyone ok.

But if you happen to wake up all fatigued and toxicated from the night before you might aswell make the best of the day after!

Instead of just ordering pizza why not make yourself pancakes.
I had a lot of them wiht black currants and honey while listening to some of my fav songs from the 40's.


Then, wear something nice and leave the house!
I took my bike and decided to go somewhere in my neighbourhood I hadn't been before.

I biked around Hermanni which is just a bit further away from where I live. It's quite idyllic, you would never know you're under fifteen minutes or seven-eight tram stops away from the centre...


Behind this hill you can see the sea.

(Hermanni isn't all peaches and cream though, the red building behind the trees in the picture above is atually a rather heavy-duty prison.)

Later I went to meet the girls from our burlesque group project for milkshakes (mintchocloate milkshake! I love it!), music- and outfit planning. That's always so inspiring!

Then I biked home, very happy I decied not to just stay in bed all day :)

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS

Ok, lets get things straight first. Inspite of all the skirts and heels I'm not that a girly person, I'm more something like this (yes that's me). Getting togehter with a large group of girls sometimes stresses me out a bit and I start hearing We are family and I'm so excited playing in my head (uh) straight away.

But that doensn't mean it can't still be a lot of fun - I mean, if you've got to do it, you're not only gonna do it but you've got to overdo it!


So,first we started out with sushi and a lot of wine.

Then we went to see you-know-what-movie...

And then we went for drinks.
Alexandra has cinderella-like shoes. She is alwyas so stylish and can pull of any bling bling anytime, anywhere so well.

K always looks like a bag of sweet pastel coloured candy; this time wearing a IVANA Helsinki skirt and a Hanna Sarén bag.

Jen is just so fabulous, here wearing a self-customized vintage dress and selfmade jacket. She's a fashion designer and has just moved back here after some time in Milan, but more about her later in this blog then...

I love the colour combination of the other K's nails, ring and blouse.

The ones of us that are not married or pregnant or live in the suburbs went out for even more drinks and dance and it was all worht the headache the next day!