Category: life

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 🙂

Many years back, I was walking in Orchard Road, Singapore with Jules where we discovered a closed bag sale. There were loads of beautiful bags there – the classic, the elegant, the modern.

I got my mum a beaded one, something like this except it was in red.

And then I looked around for something that would catch my eye. And at length, across the corner, there it was … it had all the elements that I loved, it was green, it had a cat and a frog, it was unique. But most importantly, it was so adorable.

I held my breath as there was a woman who started to pick it up and examined it for the longest time, and then after an eternity, finally placed it down. I went over, and realised that there was a slight imperfection – a screw from the handles were missing. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to just let this lovely thing go, so I went over to the cashier and pleaded with her, almost hysterically to ask her if there was anything she could do.

Fortunately for me, eventually she came back with a screw she found and I tucked my new purchase under my arms triumphantly. I really did love my cat bag.

</grandfather stories>

In any case, with the years of wear and tear, one of the black fabric attached to the handles broke and I didn’t know where to go to. I really didn’t want to throw my little cat bag away. But I didn’t know of any places to fix it, so it stayed in the cupboard for the longest time.

It was only recently when walking around San Paolo that I found out that there was a cobbler in the area. My goodness, shoe repairing is a dying trade. It was such a rare thing to see, even in Singapore. It was as if I hit the lottery.

So I rushed back home and on the day itself, I brought my beloved cat bag in. They took about two weeks to have it fixed. And then it was as good as new!

I paid 4 euro, which was quite affordable. So much so that Cart’s scrambling to find old shoes that he could have fixed.

So if you’re in Rome and would like to have your favourite shoes and (maybe bags) fixed, you might want to stop by San Paolo. It’s a nice area to explore anyway.

The cobbler is somewhere along Via Corinto, either number 4 or 6. Google maps is a little outdated here, as it shows shops which are not there anymore. Regardless, you could spot it out easily as it’s right next to a vegetable shop.

Do you know of any other cobblers in your area? When was the last time that you went to an old-school cobbler? Do share below 🙂

Have you ever used things out of the kitchen to make your own DIY toiletries? In a lot of instances, it works just as well as the products you buy over the counter. Moreover, since you know what is going in the mix, you risk having less adverse effects on your skin.

When I was about 12 years old, I experimented with making an egg mask and not too long ago, I found out about the benefits of bicarbonate of soda, which I love.

I’ve also been using the mix below as a dry shampoo. You add about a spoonful of corn flour and a spoonful of cocoa powder. Mix together with a few drops of essential oil. You can use a soft fluffy brush to dab it on your dry scalp and then brush it off.

The corn flour is supposed to soak away excess oil, which makes the hair looks greasy. But leaves just enough to keep hair shiny and healthy with it’s natural oils. Which is why there are some people who are all for dry shampoos.

I guess it works. But you have to get over seeing yourself with powder and get used to the smell of cocoa in your hair. Plus it’s quite messy and I tend to see a lot of chocolate powder on the sink as I brush the powder away.

Anyway, to continue with the wonderful no package shop that I visited, I thought that I’d share also some DIY shampoo and conditioner that I learnt how to make at La Citta.

To make your own shampoo, you need :

• A tablespoon of chickpea powder
• A tablespoon of white wine vinegar
• 100 ml of water

Mix the ingredients in a bottle and shake it well. This shampoo lasts for about 2 washes and should be used within the week.

You use it as a regular shampoo – rub it on your scalp and in your hair. It probably feels odd to use as it doesn’t sud and have bubbles like a regular shampoo. And the smell from the vinegar is something that you have to overcome. I have to admit that I was really sceptical that it would work but after two days of washing my hair this way, I have to say that my tresses look really good.

Chickpea powder is supposed to have a good cleansing properties for the scalp and the acidic properties from the vinegar makes the hair shiny.

Next time, I think I’d add some essential oil to make the smell more bearable.

To make your own conditioner/hair masque, you soak some linseed for several hours. Possibly even overnight. After that, you heat it up and then set the timer to 5 minutes once it starts simmering. There should be white bubbles as what you see below.

By then, the consistency of the liquid should be a little bit viscous, slightly gel-like but still watery. At this point, let it cool down and then separate the liquid from the seeds. The part we use is the liquid.

And to use the conditioner, you simply spread it on your scalp and hair, leave it on for a while and wash it off. Or for a deeper conditioning effect, leave it on for several hours while you do your housework, chores or grocery shopping. It’s transparent so no one could really tell if you tied up your hair.

Men could use this too for their beard.

Anyway, this conditioner, I love it a lot! The smell is pleasant hit of sweetcorn and somewhat floral. It’s a little messy to use it from the recycled glass bottle I used, so I reckon it’ll be much easier to get a squeeze bottle to store the conditioner the next time.

Check out how my hair is loving it. Shiny and bouncy! And believe me, I’m not using any other additional products at all the past week. I’m really surprised at how well it works on me.

All in all, I’d still use my regular shampoo once in a while, but after this little experiment, I really don’t mind continuing with the DIY shampoo and conditioner 🙂