Category: female vanities

To continue my under 10 euro project, another great bancarelle location is right next to the Eur-Fermi metro station (the blue line) and it’s wonderful as it is large and opens from the morning all the way till about sunset.

I scored myself this dress for 1 euro! One! I kid you not. As always, I liked the print, and trying it on, I liked how flowy and swishy it is.

Probably an odd thing to notice, but I also admired how neat and well made the stitching is. Very very clean. I am not that skilled yet.

You could tell that someone loved this dress a lot before this was sold at the bancarella, because I noticed quite a fair bit of hand stitching at the sides. So I feel a little torn to have it cut up (Hey, accidental pun!) Heck, it doesn’t even look bad on me as it is!

But I told myself to stop the cycle of collecting clothes, only to feel bad about cutting it, and then stuffing it in the cupboard.

So I strengthened myself, took a pattern from my favourite magazine and put some weights on top of the dress to flatten it …

And here goes nothing! I tell you, as I started cutting, I felt really really bad! But there’s no turning back now!

And here is what’s left of my previously flowy, kinda princess-y dress. Poor thing. I had to constantly remind myself that it’s only 1 euro and I can try to get more of them if I wanted. Better than spending 70 euro.

Then with the cut material, I folded the edges and ironed them, to make stitching more manageable.

Added some quick running-stitching to put the edges in place and started sewing. Here we go (On hindsight, I wish I knew how to do seaming, to prevent the edges from fraying)

And a couple of hours later, I’m done! I don’t think that it’s very well made, but I felt rather happy with my handiwork.

And as always, its camwhore time! Hahaha!

I’m so proud of myself for sewing this!

Below, I call this, the half-half-pigeon yoga pose.

I love how the top has an adjustable neck, so you could tighten the ribbon or loosen it to fit your body. And think it’s great for the hot summer that we are experiencing right now.

Whee!

So what do you think of this upcycling project? Awesome, no? I’m not sure if I’d wear it out much, so I’m contemplating on giving it away.

Nevertheless, I can’t wait to try to do the next one! 🙂

I managed to make a dress all by myself! Sort of. Hahaha! And I’ll explain to you soon.

While my bestie was here in Rome, I took her to see the big mercato near my home. It opens every Wednesday and Friday mornings and here, you could get a lot of household things ranging from fresh produce, kitchen utensils, decorations and whatnots.

The bit that I like a lot would have to be the bancarelle where pre-loved clothes, and sometimes even new branded clothes are sold, usually for 10 euro and below. I got this awesome scarf for example, not too long ago here for 50 cents!

If you’re interested to visit this mercato, it’s located right next to the Tor di Valle stop. And the easiest way of getting here is probably to take the Metro B to Piramide and then take the train heading to Cristoforo Colombo.

So remember the last time when I tried to sew my own skirt, but it turned out to be a disaster? So my plan was to be ala NDAD and experiement with pre-loved clothes. So I was rummaging through the bancarelle when I saw a print that I liked a lot.

Soo purrdy! It looks quite Laura Ashley-ish and it was only 3 euro!

Putting it on, I’m surprised that it actually fits pretty well. so there wasn’t that much adjustments to be done. But it was only later when Cart saw me with the dress on and noticed how roomy the tummy area was and asked, “Is that a maternity dress?”

So I checked the label, and it says, “Something mamma”. Turns out that I got a maternity dress. Hahaha! I’m not pregnant, but no matter. I think the print is really beautiful.

But my only big problem with it was the 80s shoulder pads. So using a seam ripper …

Off it goes! And now I have new pincushions!

I really like the sort of sweetheart neckline, and would like to highlight it. So I got this 5 meter piping for 1.50 euro at the same mercato. Not bad!

Pin it in place before starting to sew …

But sadly all the layers was a tad bit too thick for my sewing machine to handle, so I had to stitch it by hand, and it took a little bit longer than usual. I don’t know if it looks well finished, but you don’t see it anyway from far away! Hahaha!

Some hours later and … Tada! Finished! I can’t wait to put it on!

Yeah! Camwhoring time! I paired my dress with a skinny belt, shoes I got from a sale donkey years ago and a simple bracelet.

The red piping really brings out the dress.

Total cost of dress = 4.50 euro! Yay! I’m so happy!

Of course, I could remove the belt and it’ll still look like a pretty spiffy maternity dress. Although I prefer not to think too much about pregnancy and get my hopes up 🙂

So yeah, what do you think of my upcycling project? Pretty awesome yeah? I’m pretty happy with myself! And let me know if you would like to see more posts like this!

Whee!

Six hundred million people around the world, including me, are allergic to nickel. I have to avoid non pure metals, such as belt buckles, jewellery and watches or else my skin would get ridiculously itchy and I’d scratch non stop and when I finally realise it, it’s too late and I’ve ruined my skin.

My apologies for such a disturbing picture. But oh gosh, yuck! I never realised how severe something was until I take a picture, get myself healed, compare it with before and see it for myself!

My skin is healing a lot better now by the way and I was at the allergologo (doctor specialising in allergies) a while back and apart from telling me what I already know, he also mentioned that there are food that I might have to avoid as they contain nickel.

I was stunned to hear them as he went along the top 5 :

• Chocolate
• Liquorice
• Peanuts
• Hazelnuts
• Spinach / Tomato / Pears

What? Most of them food that I like. Yikes! A life in Italy without pomodoro is a difficult life. I like my pizza rosso. I like my pasta with red sauce. Heck, I even like Riso Pomodoro. VOTEEZDEEZ? Luckily for me though, the doctor mentioned that I don’t have to avoid them completely. Just reduce the intake on the ‘flare up’ days.

Remember this?

Cart and I finally manage to translate the hieroglyphs from the cartamodella (template) when we went to a shop that sells zips and buttons and other finishings. There happened to be a lady-customer that has her own sewing shop and kindly, she showed us how to read the cartamodella. It was quite easy once you’ve got a hang of it.

I’ve already decided on making this skirt.

So happily Cart and I went to a fabric shop which was not too far away and chose some fabrics for my skirt. By the way, FYI shops in Italy tend to be precise. If you need a pair of tailor’s scissors for example, you need to buy them in a specific shop. Or if you need a tracing paper, you need to go to another shop. Even for my car if I have tyre issues I need to visit a gommista for electrical issues an elettrauto etc. I’ve never come across an all-in-one.

Anyway, I told the lady that since I’m just a beginner and am just practising, I don’t want a too expensive fabric. She nodded her head and kept saying, “Si si, capisco”. So I was lulled in a false sense of security. I chose a beautiful brown and light brown fabric, which I thought would look simple, but elegant.

But just before she started to cut the fabric, Cart quickly and wisely asked, “Wait! How much is this?”

To make a long story short, 3.5 meters of the georgette fabric costs 70 euro. My heart sank and I was close to leaving the store. 70 euro for a skirt is rather costly. We were in central Rome not too long back and I was amazed at the prices of the fabrics. But since we were in the city centre, I thought that the prices would normally be jacked up.Thus I couldn’t believe that the price would be like that in the residential area too.

Even the material for making one of my wedding outfits didn’t cost that much. But of course, things costs differently in different parts of the world.

But Cart decided to buy the fabric for me as a gift, which was nice of him. And we had an interesting evening tracing the cartamodella and then cutting the fabric itself. It’s like … +10 exp!!! And in the end, we had 4 separate pieces of cloth that we were supposed to sew together.

But I did a quick stitch before sewing it proper to have a quick preview of it like how my mum tends to do it and this is what happened.

Hmm. Something isn’t right here. How could this be? We followed the entire instructions correctly. In fact, it’s supposed to be very loose even as I’m a size 42 and the template we were using were for 44 (the smallest)

Meh! Suffice to say that I’m giving up on this hobby for now as it’s a tad too expensive for a housewife. And I’m not the only one who is stunned by the prices, even friends from other parts of Italy shared me stories of how costly their materials are for their sewing experiments.

For the moment, I’ll change my game plan : To buy clothes from thrift shops and from bancarelle and adjust it to fit me ala NDAD. I think that makes more cents (geddit geddit?) :p

This is going to sound quite narcissistic, so I apologize in advance. But I like how my skin looks like nowadays. Have a look at this picture of me taken last Friday. Vain me can’t believe at how clear my skin is, even with hardly any mekap.

The only products that I’ve slapped on my face are :

• Olaz Total Effects Touch of MaxFactor
• Mememe Cherub’s Blush
• Lucy Minerals brow Powder and their Ambrosia Lip Dip (for my dry lips)

This means quite a lot to me because I’ve been battling with acne since I was a teenager. Not just the little ones mind you, but the big, angry, pulsating ones. Suffice to say that it made me feel ugly for the longest time.

I’m not proud of this, but hey, this is how I was

I’ve tried a lot of different things. But to make a long story short, the thing that worked the best for me at the time was Diane-35 which is an oral contraceptive. But it also controls your hormones which affects your skin. I’ve stopped using it for about 4 years now since the year I got married. Thankfully, I haven’t had any flare-ups since.

Nevertheless, apart from that, I think that there are several factors that has brought on my better skin. Firstly, the doctor did mention that a woman’s hormonal system tends to stabilize when they reach their 30s. And now that I’m living in Rome, the cold winter effect is making my skin less oily and less prone to zits.

I’ve also been using an app on my phone to remind me to do my facial routine. I keep telling myself that it’s a good habit to wash + tone + eye cream + moisturise. But there are days when I feel super lazy.

So I’ve been using this app called Habit Streak. It’s been very motivating for me, especially how I could look back and see how many days I can go without breaking a chain. So much so that it would be a shame if I did, so I try my hardest not to!

Apart from that, I don’t know what else that I did differently. Perhaps I’ve been reducing in consuming food that I know that triggers my flareups. And maybe I’ve been jogging more? (Although I don’t know how much that affects the skin)

Only thing is, now that I’m in my 30s and my battle with acne is over … but there is a new set of problems that I have to face soon … WRINKLES! So I’ll just enjoy my skin as it is for the moment :p

I went a little overboard last weekend and bought a few sewing magazines.

In Italy, there are a few popular riviste di cucito such as Burda and Modellina. MIL tells me that these are useful as apart from giving sewing ideas and tips, they also include cartamodelli (templates) that I could use for my projects.

Personally, I think that these are great and a little more convenient compared to buying the templates online, since there are a lot of newspaper kiosks in the neighbourhood.

Flipping through the magazines, there are a couple that I would love to start on.

Like this cute sun-dress. Reminds me quite a bit of the one that I have from Mango.

This top I’d definitely wear as outfits such as these are very versatile and never go out of style. Quite perfect for the upcoming spring.

I adore 60s fashion. It is one of the most fashionable decade in my opinion. So this dress really called out to me. Looks really classy doesn’t it?

Sidenote : I just watched Down with love yesterday. And while the storyline was kind of meh, the outfits were just amazing! I love seeing colourful stuff.

But talking to my mum on the phone, she advised me to start with something simple, like a skirt. And so I saw this one which I quite liked. I can pair this with my nice green jacket and my nice boots and my nice bag and my nice blings.

Looks simple enough to make. From what it looks like in the picture, it consists of 4×2 separate segments which I need to sew together. I can do that.

Looking at the instructions though, it starts to get a little challenging. What on earth are all these words? Since it’s in Italian, and I’m not that fluent …I’m a little overwhelmed but never-mind. Looking at this on the positive side, it can be a sort of language practise right?

But that was nothing compared to this below. What on earth is this?! How am I supposed to read this? Where am I even supposed to start? This diagram looks much more complicated than the Advanced Mathematics that I had to learn while in Pre-Uni.

I think I need to lie down.

Even though I don’t really celebrate Xmas, I got this from my inlaws :

A sewing machine!

It’s quite unexpected, as I don’t remember mentioning about this to my in laws. Moreover, it’s been a while since I’ve last sewed, but I really can’t wait to start on new projects – upcycling, making new dresses and crafts. I’ve seen quite a number of ideas online and I think it would be a lot of fun 🙂