At Home | Second-Hand Book Haul

On a recent trip to LifeLine I picked up a few very interesting books, mostly in relation to foods. I spotted The Olive Oil Cookbook by Louise Pickford, had a quick flip through before the other two jumped out at me from the shelves. I am hoping that these books serve as very useful additions to my house and life. 

The Complete Book of Herbs: a practical guide to growing & using herbs by Lesley Bemness so far looks to be the most useful. Aside from the detailed list of herbs and how and where to grow them, this book also includes endless uses for them. Herbs have a plethora of functions, from basic use in cooking to utilising their medicinal qualities and cosmetic applications. I will definitely let you know if I use any of the beauty remedy recipes.

My purchase of A Passion for Preserves by Frederica Langeland is an attempt at something I've never pursued but am pushing myself towards. I have always thought it would be great to make my own jams and preserves but never made the effort. I've had someone describe the most delicious strawberry, balsamic and pepper jam to be and wanted to make it ever since. However, after a quick browse of this book, the process is as lengthy as I assumed, so who knows, I may attempt it but might not be soon. 

Loving olives as much as I do, I could hardly leave the cookbook about cooking with olive oil behind. It really is just a compilation of recipes featuring olive oil, all of which look delicious but nothing is overly exciting about it. There is a feature about olives in the front of the book but nothing that couldn't be found at the click of a button today. Its always nice to have additional recipe inspiration though so this book won't go astray. 

Do you ever browse the book sections of your local op shop? What do you seek out?

Happy Wednesday lovelies!

Erin xx

DIY | Tie Dye

You may recall in my last post that I mentioned I had been thrifting recently. Well here is a little more of what I managed to find on that particular journey and what I did with them. For a while now, my gal pal Ruby had been trying to organise an afternoon of tie dying, so whilst we thrifted we looked for white cotton garments to use as our canvas. That afternoon we took to my backyard and tried our hands at the funky art that is tie dye. 

Materials

white fabric to dye (natural fabrics like cotton, linen and rayon work best)

Tie Dye Kit  (we used one from Jacquard but any of similar description will suffice)

rubber gloves

rubber bands

disposable plastic sheet (we used a plastic party table cloth)

large bucket (for soda ash)

plastic bags and/or cling wrap

Now most of the steps you will find in the Tie Dye kit that you purchase. They provide you with exact measurements for the specific products you use so I won't go into too much detail with that.

First step is to dissolve the soda ash power in tepid water in a large container. Soak all the garments you wish to dye in this water for about 20 minutes (again, instructions may differ). During this time it is best to decide how you want your item to look; many kits will have several different designs and instructions for you to follow. I chose 'the brain' design for both of my items because this is my first attempt and I wasn't fussed with specific designs to begin with. 

After your items have soaked, lay them on the plastic sheet and contort into the shape you desire. Mine involved scrunching the fabric with my hands until it resembled a brain shape. Continue the process by securing the item with rubber bands. The bands will hold the item but also semi-protect those lines from soaking in the dye. You can see in the pictures above that Ruby's socks are covered in bands in specific ways where as mine are a lot more random. 

You then proceed to cover your items in dye. Again, I wasn't fussed with specific designs and went a bit crazy with whatever colour I felt like. I was aiming for a bit of a crazy colour and pattern design with just the desire to have a shirt that looked tie dyed. Ruby, more experienced, used specific colours on specific sections of her items. Both are acceptable and both turn out great. There is no wrong way to dye and they all end up looking pretty cool.

Once all your items are shaped and covered in dye, place in a plastic bag or wrap in cling wrap and leave for 12 - 24 hours. 

Take items out of plastic, undo the rubber bands and hang up to dry. Once dry, wash individually in a warm water and hang up to try again. Warm water helps colours to stain the fabric (thats why you normally rinse stained clothes in cold water). 

Once dry your items are done! You should have some pretty snazzy looking tie dyed garments. Again, whatever tie dye kit you have purchased may have different instructions so feel free to follow those against these but this is what worked for me. The most important thing to remember is that there are no rules and even mistakes will turn out looking awesome. 

Have fun and happy dyeing! 

Erin xx

Buy Nothing New Month | Trash or Treasure?

You might remember that at the start of the month Erin and I committed to buying nothing new in the month of October. In case you missed it you can find out about the project in more detail here. 

It probably won't come as much as a surprise to any of you, but I own a lot of clothes. I am also guilty of getting emotionally attached to clothing, even if I no longer wear it. So to avoid being swallowed by my own wardrobe I have recently had a big clean out of my clothing. Here are my steps to letting go of the old and making room for the new.

Buy Nothing New Month | The Pledge Begins

This is a bit of a different blog post today; no review, outfit or recipe. Jess and I are about to embark on a month long journey which involves buying nothing new and will be blogging all the way. Buy Nothing New Month isn't to support a specific charity and doesn't involve getting sponsored to do it. It is a month to promote thinking about where what you buy comes from, how much you need it and alternative ways to attain it. It doesn't mean buy absolutely nothing either. You're still free to buy essentials like food and drink, and hygiene products and medication. You're also encouraged to purchase thing second hand (yay, thrifting!), beg, borrow and swap with friends and family to attain things you want and need. 

"Buy Nothing New Month is the global movement for collective, conscientious consumption" - Buy Nothing New Month

OOTD | Do you want to go to the seaside?

Jacket Levi's via eBay / Tank Thrifted / Skirt ASOS / Shoes UNIF Hellraisers / Backpack Thrifted / Hat Nasty Gal / Necklaces Vintage

For me a shopping outfit must be two things; comfortable and easy to change in and out of. Whilst I'm a big fan of layers negotiating them all off and then back on again whilst inside a tiny cubicle is not my idea of fun. It's my favourite kind of weather this time of year. Erin mentioned it in her previous outfit post, but the skies are clear and there's that slight chill in the air. 

OOTD | $15 Outfit

 Shirt $3 Thrifted / Skirt $5 Barkins / Backpack $7 Thrifted / Shoes T.U.K. Mondo Creepers

Hi lovelies! Another day, another outfit post. This time I thought I would try for something a little different. I often can get caught up in the more expensive pieces that I own (and love) and I forget about the thrifty bargains I have snapped up over the years. 

OOTD Blazing a Trail

 Blazer Thrifted / Shirt Thrifted / Necklace Thrifted / Shorts American Apparel / Socks ASOS / Shoes River Island via ASOS

 So there was actually a chill in the air this morning! And rain! So what have I put on? A Hawaiian shirt, duh. In all seriousness I have been longing for the cooler weather. I love a good jacket and also part of me wanted to show off my extreme op shop bargains. Both the blazer and the shirt were $2! And they both had never been worn. Sunshine coast op shops are crazy. So much cheaper than Brisbane. 

OOTD Uniform Via Thrift

Blouse - Thrifted, Tunic - Thrifted and altered, Dr. Marten 1490 Boots - Thrifted, Rings - (from left) Lovisa, Thrifted, Bingo Betty, and Etsy, Bangle - Market stall at Woodford Folk Festival, Lips - Illamasqua 'Spell' medium pencil and Clinique 'Super Moisturising Gloss'

This OOTD accidentally reminds me of Jess and mine's winter uniform. Navy blue tunic and a white button-up blouse (yes, I know this one is cream). And as much as I despised wearing that uniform, it creates something nice and nostalgic about this outfit. Virtually everything is thrifted, which you will learn is not unusual for me. The blouse I dug out for $2 at my favourite thrift store near my old home, and the tunic also thrifted (see Sunday's DIY post). My boots I think I've mentioned before; my Dr. Martens are one of my most treasured and well used possessions. 

Here in Melbourne, the Summer can be unpredictable in its temperature variations. It can range from 12 to 40 degrees within two or three days. I wore this outfit on Saturday on a casual stroll down to the Camberwell shops and was pretty pleased with the fact I could wear boots and a long sleeve shirt in Summer. 

It was also my first day experimenting with styling my new haircut. The first wash after the hairdresser styles it is always interesting. I purchased this snazzy new product called the Miracle Hair Treatment from ELEVEN and so far I've been pretty impressed. With a tousle through my hair and a thorough blow-dry with my hands the result was exactly as expected and desired. Super soft, lacking frizz, and that perfect 'rolled out of bed' look. 

I've been accruing more and more rings of late. However, I have to wear sterling silver as my skin instantly turns green if it's cheap metal. My favourite is the tiny little crown ring on my ring finger (far right). Jess bought me this for my 20th birthday last year. The one next to it is a recent purchase from Bingo Betty just around the corner from my house. I love that it's a square shape. Second from the left, you'll see a ring I found hidden in my mum's collection - aching to see the light of day. The fourth ring was just a cheapie pick-up from Lovisa during its seemingly continuous 3-for-2 sale.  

Have you been grabbed by the recent trendy addiction to rings? I struggle finding sterling silver ones with multiple sizes - any tips?

Erin xx

DIY Tragic to Hip not The Tragically Hip

I found this dress (pictured on the left) at a thrift store for $12. It was midi length, an extremely heavy cotton knit, had a tight t-shirt neckline and was the owner of two extremely unnecessary shoulder pads. And yet, I picked it up. Then I put it down and browsed some more. I went back to look at it again and put it down again. But I couldn't stay away. 

Side note: I do that a lot when I thrift shop. Ask my many, often bored stiff, companions. 

I think I knew though that I had wanted to attempt a cut-out t-shirt DIY for quite some time. The problem was that I don't wear a lot of t-shirts and the ones I like tend to be firm fitting - something about oversized shirts on me seems to scream pijamas. This dress solved the problem. It isn't a modern, thin, crappy cotton knit, which normally turns me off t-shirts. It is quite heavy and I could sense that its raw edge wouldn't roll too much. I also have a soft spot for the simple and homey flower patchwork on it. Too kitch to resist! 

Basically, with simple DIY jobs like this, where all you really need to do is snippity snip snip, patience and small steps is key. Don't cut too much at once because once you've cut it, you can't uncut it. 

All I used were good quality fabric scissors and pins. Oh and a long T-shirt dress to snip, snip and snip. I thought about what I wanted changed and how I would best achieve them by cutting. I cut the neckline out to a shape that framed my collar bones well. I then cut the dress to a length that was short enough but not too short that when the fabric rolled it would become unwearable. Its also important to make it straight along the bottom - even though the fabric will most definitely roll, you want to have some precious to achieve that 'perfect yet shabby' look. 


Above you wil see the process I went through when cutting the sleeves. I started by leaving a fair amount of room for error between the already cut neckline and where I wanted the sleeve to end. When you reach the bottom of the sleeve you want to cut a right angle outwards (like in the second image). This is a basic rule when cutting off t-shirt sleeves. It just looks and fits around your body better. If you're sleeve isn't thin enough once you've tried it on and you want to keep cutting, keep cutting. 

To replicate the perfect sleeve I folded the dress in half and pinned the cut edge - making sure all the other uncut edges matched perfectly. The second sleeve was then cut off.

I then washed it, as you should always do with thrift store purchases before wear. This was also an opportunity to see how much the fabric would roll and so far it has been minimal. I'm sure though, with more washes and wears it will continue to roll up.

And thats it. You'll see the last photo in my next OOTD post. Until then, let me know if you try my sleeve cutting technique or have a better one for cutting up oversized shirts.

Erin xx