Last of the Summer Lemonade

Sandy

Sandy: This is unheard of! My outfit is more colorful than Wendy's recent outfits.

Here's a tip how to wear your summer dresses in the Autumn - or is it Winter already.

Wendy: What's the tip?

Sandy: Duh, wear a sweater.

But seriously though, I like wearing dresses underneath. It gives a nice touch to the outfit when the same fabric is showing in two places.

White Stripes

Wendy

Sandy: You look like a cartoon prisoner in that outfit. 

Wendy:This jumper is just long enough to be worn as a dress. I hate tunics that are too short to be skirts and too long to be tops. 

Sandy: and with leggings! Now that is not to say that it somehow bothers me when other people wear them. What bothers me is that stores seem to be full of them. I reach for a nice looking top from the wrack and find its too long. I fall in love with a dress only to find out that they are all too short. 

Wendy: Well often the ones that are meant to be dresses and skirts are also way too short. 

Sandy: Yes, I find myself wearing shorter skirts than I ideally would because I fall in love with the cut or pattern and buy the skirt even though I find it a little too short. 

Wendy: I've seen skirts that are really just belts, they are so short. Not that I do't approve of short skirts, but I just don't want to sit down and not have the skirt between my hiney and the chair.

Halloween Outfit

Wendy

Wendy: I didn't go to any Halloween party this year.

Sandy: Me either. I sort of forgot all about it.

Wendy: I didn't forget but I couldn't go. And it seemed stupid to wear a costume without a party at my age. But I did wear an outfit that was more on the dark side than usual. If you'd throw on a witch hat it could almost be a costume.

Sandy: It would be the kind of costume you look at parties and think "there's someone who didn't make an effort".

Wendy: I think dressing up a little is much nicer that not dressing in costume at all. So you're not in the best costume competition but you don't interfere with the atmosphere.

Anyway, this outfit is my solution to a problem I've had with this shirt. It is so recognizably Marimekko (second hand) that it bothered me. No matter what I tried to wear it with it still looked like Marimekko and not me. But the west teems to take the edge off. I tend to prefer clothes that don't carry a strong brand image. I want people to recognize me in my clothes - not a brand or even a designer.

Speaking of designers the bow is unique hand made by SalSa Design. I ended up not wearing the bow because it was too busy with the sripes and I wanted something more simple this time but it's one of my favorite accessories.

Chicken Legs

Sandy

Sandy: I usually don't wear anything with this Pied de Poule pattern because it's a bit too "rich old lady" but in this case the pattern is so small I figured it's just looks grey from more than a pied away, right? 

I love the buttons on the shoulders. They came handy when I needed to make the straps longer. I just took it apart and re-attached it at a different length. I'm not sure weather this was made for someone much shorter or it is meant to be worn with pants. That not being my look I try to get away with it by wearing shorts or skirt underneath.

London Red II

Sandy Still in Red

Sandy: Still in love with variations of this outfit.
The bag says NDS Airways as if I'm taking off...

London Red

Sandy in Red

Wendy: And you made fun of me for wearing a lot of red! 

Sandy: I never said I don't like red. 

This color makes me think of London. I've never been but I know what I'll be wearing if I go. 

This… I guess you could call it a dress… is second hand and apparently it's french kids wear. Or the french are tiny. It almost fit me so I opened the turns to get the crucial few centimeters and moved the buttons around to make it look almost not-weird. I also cut off the cuffs and reattached them lower. That's a good trick and no-one will ever know.

A couple days back I found this canvas bag that is the exact same colour! The colour bytheway is neon red, I haven't fiddled with the colour in photoshop at all. (My spell check is complaining about my spelling of colour. How sad.)

Maybe it's the colour that's reminding me of london. It's as red as a telephone booth.

Wendy: Or a double decker.

Twins?

Identical!

Sandy

Moomin Bag (Tutorial)

Sandy with Moomin

Sandy: I found this blue mess that once was an umbrella in the ditch. I took it washed it in the tub and threw away the (broken) metal parts. (In the recycling bin, not the ditch.)

So, in the likely event you encounter a similar tossed-away umbrella, here's a tutorial.

1. The plastic had holes in it so I didn't have as much material to use as the picture would suggest. (I didn't take any actual before pictures since it was before I started this blog.)

Before Before

Simply cut out the sides and the strap.

Hei Muumit!

2. Sow the pieces together. You don't have to worry about threading, it's plastic! 

I used the snap from the umbrella to close the bag.

I still had enough material and an old zipper to make a small clutch / pocket book. (I don't know why it looks so shiny and wrinkly in the photo.)

Sandy's Hand