Dress Of The Day with Angela

    Secrets Of The Red Skirt The red skirt has a red drawstring waist.  Elastic is at the back of the waist.   The side slits, as you can see, enable me to move my legs to climb steps. The gap is filled by my full length black slip from Marks & Spencer.  The skirt has two large side pockets. The Red Sleeveless Top with Metal Elephant Embellishments I love the elephants.   The Blue Short-Sleeved 'Silk' top  The blue short-sleeved top is from Patra of London, England. I think of it as a silk top. The top is not actually one hundred per cent silk but 55% silk and 45% cotton. I have several of these in assorted colours. They feel soft. I prefer the ones in deeper colours. Adjustable Sandals The red sandals have three adjustable straps. They are Free-Step by Grosby, size 5. Adjustable straps are useful when travelling if you have to remove shoes and replace them at security. On the plane your feet often swell up. In tropical countries, when yo...

  Pink shoes.  Pink lipstick. YSL. (Yves Saint Laurent.) Rouge Pur, number 49.  For the perfect picture, you can buy flowers to match your best dress, or find a favourite dress to match the flowers. The flowers were Maria pink roses, with light pink geraniums, giant pink lilies, and tall pink snapdragons. Dress 168 is the same style, with the same border. Both bought or made in India, according to the label. Dress 168 is a thick and stiff fabric, altogether classier. This one if flimsy and frays easily, but light to wear, very comfortable. The label says Purple Skies. What could you copy about this design in a home made dress? Pink Colours Pinks vary from pale to intense fuschia. What suits you may depend on your skin colour. If you are Caucasian, a sun tan means you might suit a darker pink. Or your eye colour. Pink cotton suits the beach. Shiny pink satin is good for the evening. Saree Borders The caftan fabric has a picture frame border on three sides, the hem and up b...

Gorgeous Gold for Glamour. Golden Hour: Dress of the Night. Gold, with purple, pink, red and orange assorted evening colour fine blouse by Asos. Asos, based in London, has ranges for women which include curvy, tall, petite and maternity.  Gold shoes. Gold jewellery. Orange mini fabric hair clip has both a clip and a safety pin on the back, enabling it to be worn as a hair clip or a brooch - handy dual use for travelling and packing light. Per Una is a brand from Marks and Spencer. Useful Websites https://www.asos.com/women/ https://www.asos.com/about/ https://www.marksandspencer.com/sg/l/women/per-una/ About the Author Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. She evaluates speeches, judges speech contests and runs language workshops. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts with your colleagues, friends and family. dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com  

For your amusement, this picture is from an in person party last year. the overglasses are a dreadful nuisance, great for a photo. What was I wearing this year?  Jas3 TRADINg. Symbol leaf, siz M. Worn as a vest under silk Sensations blouse to keep the blouse fresh. Five red with peeling red revealing white base. I could chip off all the paint to leave white buttons. The buttons are secured by tiny loops made from rope elastic. What a great idea. They stretch to let in the button, then unstretch to keep the button secure. Red skirt, Platinum, as in previous pictures.  I could not find a website for JAS3 Trading but they are in 810 Geyland Road, #04-24 City Plaza, Singapore 409286.  That means floor four of City Plaza, unit 24. The block is 15 minutes from Paya Lebar MRT. Useful Websites Xmas glasses https://www.amazon.sg/Christmas-Headbands-Glasses-Holiday-Parties Xmas glasses, pack of nine for a party. https://www.amazon.sg/Eokeanon-Christmas-Decoration-Eyeglasses-Decorat...

  A red satin effect skirt, brand label Platinum. The washing label says the fabric is polyester with an acetate lining. They recommend dry cleaning.  Why do they recomment dry cleaning, especially if they say the garment could be hand washed at 30 degrees? Or cold water? One reason is that the garment is lined and the lining fabric is different. When the garment has two fabrics they might shrink different amounts. The result is puckering along the seams, or hanging oddly, with folds, or lop-sided. I have more than two reasons for not wanting to dry clean clohtes. 1 Dry cleaning is expensive. 2 I have to take time off from writing to deliver and collect my clothes. 3 I might forget, or lose the ticket. 4 The shop could lose my garment, spoil it, or go out of business. 5 Dry cleaning could shorten the life of the garment or change its colour. If you cannot be bothered to take clothes to be dry cleaned, if you travel a lot, you could have your garment washed or dry cleaned in a ...

  Angela is wearing: A red satin effect skirt, brand label Platinum. A form-fitting red top. Reversed back to front to hide the white cartoon picture. A white cape blazer, brand White bird. (Yes, lower case for bird.) Red shoes with toe post and sparkly diamond effect glass beads and wedge heels, brand Covet. A red wig. (Available from party shops online.) Santa Hats Angela and the doll are wearing red Santa hats, bought from bargain store Daiso in Singapore where everything is 2 dollars. Daiso is Japanese and  also has branches in  many other countries. Rescued Dolly The dolly was rescued and washed. She looked a bit sulky with a small mouth so I drew on her face using a pen. I added a smile line going up both sides of her mouth and small lines either side of her eyes.  You can't see the tiny lines on the photo nor on Zoom. However, making her smile makes me smile back, which improves my mood and the quality of the photos. Prize Winner Dolly has appeared previously ...

The Background Dress of the day 169. Smile with Angela. A selfie. I was looking for a blank wall, no distracting windows, pictures, light switches. The only clear wall was in the shower. So that is where I stood. The Clothes Red silk, Sensations brand, top. Note the name is plural. Size 10. Small. How do you get into it? The Sensations blouse opens with buttons on the shoulder. Three small, flat, pearl-red buttons with four holes. The front has a round neck a pleat sewn down the center. Tiny slit at the bottom of both side seams. No cuffs. Very plain but all the better for it because it goes with everything, every jacket. I have many white blouses with fancy collars, fancy cuffs, fancy fronts, fancy fabrics, and you have to wear them alone or with a plain black skirt, but the skirt has to be the same weight of fabric and the jackets always look wrong. Red Platinum skirt, polyester. Lined. Looks like satin. Shiny. White dickey with embroidered red collar from China on Ebay. White cap...

  The comments I received on Facebook included the words: beautiful, charming exquisite, glam, cracker. 'Bet it's silk.' 'I feel a little envy, on a muddy Welsh farm.'  The scarf was made by cutting the hem off the dress which was too long. I cut the fabric using pinking shears to create a serrated edge which won't fray. The drawstring at the waist is held neatly in place by a row of stitching above and below. This is a useful idea to remember when sewing your own clothes. Caften Fabric If you are using a bought caftan as a template or pattern for your own diy caftan, you can make a simple day caftan in cottom by cutting an old or new bedsheet. A ribbon can be threaded through two small slits at the right and left seams.  Silky Fabric However, if you want a smart evening caftan made of superior cloth, you can copy this idea for a neat drawstring waist from my silver caften. Draw the horizontal lines at the waist of your garment with tailor's chalk.  Why tail...

  Angela is wearing: a red four-tier dress; red toe-post, wedge-heel shoes;  and a red lace glove. Photo by Trevor Sharot. The setting is so realistic that one of Angela's friends thought it was in the UK. The cosy corner with the fireside chair is actually a photo opportunity corner set up by the management of the Tanglin Club in the centre of Singapore. Angela at the Tanglin club, wearing red four-tier dress, with red scarf which is decorated with gold sequins. The shoes are gold. The tote bag is red. The dress has no label which suggests that I bought it on Ebay. The scarf with sequins is large and covers up a lot of clothes. The lace gloves are cheap, available online from party shops from several suppliers. They add elegance to an outfit. The red toe-post shoes have the label COVET. Useful Websites R ed Shoes https://covetshoes.com.au/collections/sale https://www.facebook.com/covetshoes/ Covet shop in Far East Plaza, Singapore https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3...

  I have been saving bolster cases for years. Not that I don't have bolsters. I have several. Some of the covers match nothing else. One of them matches a set of bedding. Two bolster cases match each other.  I was looking for a pillow case when I pulled out the bolster cases. I thought, that's one is pretty. Could I make a dress? I didn't have enough material. I would have to use another bolster as the dress back. I needed a second bolster cover in a similar fabric strength and sheen to the first. It must have similar colours, if not a similar pattern. I made up three matching sets from six bolster covers. But would I ever need those bolster covers? Maybe. I ought to change the bolster case patterns every month. Instead I left them neatly folded, not wanting to spoil them by using them.  Yes, I needed spare bolster cases. But I might die before I ever used them.   Tim's Father's Unworn New Shirts A friend of mine, 'Tim', told me that after his father died, T...

  Angela Lansbury is wearing a Hanukah night dress, 165. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Colours   Looking carefully at the night dress pattern, I notice that it has more than one shade of blue. The  pale blue is the background, with darker blue. Other colours are red, yellow, and lavender.  The Cut Hardly visible is the pocket on the  left breast (on the right of the picture). The night dress is ankle length. The sleeves are short.  The Pattern The first thing you notice is the hanukiah or nine branch candlestick. Eight branches for the eight days of Hanukah; the ninth candle in the middle is for lighting the others.   The dreidls, or four-sided spinning tops, have four Hebrew letters. The circles, which I had not noticed until today, .are in two shades of yellow. The circles represent the Hanukah coins. Nowadays children and adults are given gold covered chocolate coins. I bought this night dress in the USA, in Rockville, Maryland, on the outskirts of W...

 I was looking for a red top to wear at a December Xmas theme event. I thought, before I take off my lipstick, I'll try on something new and red. There's a great song, Looking for something in red.  I found a red tee-shirt. I had no recollection of it. I must have rescued it in the days before Covid-19 when I would rescue abandoned 'pre-loved' clothes. This had a silly made up character on the front. No sohpisticated, for a child, or the follower of a cartoon characters, maybe. I turned it over to the plain side, and discovered that it had white stripes on the sleeve. Perfect. The picture on the back would be hidden if I wore it back to front underneath a jacket. Alternatively, hide the back with a wide scarf, pinned onto both shoulders so that it does not slip. The front could be tied or pinned to ensure that the sleeves remain revealed.  You can see from my expression how delighted I am to have a completely new outfit from a tee-shirt which was doing nothing and previ...

Wonderful video on how to sew a cape blazer. Interesting that she adds shoulder pads. And interfacing. I hope I have enlightened and entertained you. Please share links to your favourite posts. Useful Websites travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com About the Author Angela Lansbury is a travel writer, photographer, speaker and author. Books on Amazon and lulu. Also see Angela on Youtube. Or live at Toastmasters International meetings. Come to Braddell Heights on Dec 19 the Saturday afternoon 2 to 5 pm on Learncool.sg  2021 Dates Jan 

Dress of the Day 163. Selfie of Angela wearing her new colourful DIY swimming cap made from an old swimming costume. I arrived back in Singapore from the UK ready to go swimming in the outdoor pool and I found my swimsuit but no swimming cap? Where was it? Luckily nobody was checking and I was able to go swimming in a baseball cap with a brim to keep the sun out of my eyes. I was swimming breast stroke which keeps your head above water, unlike the crawl. The Story of the Search for Swimhats When I reached home, I went online and researched swim hat. I went on google and amazon.com and Ebay - after switching country of delivery to get the true postal address and postal rate.  Swim hat brought up what I would call sun hats, items with large brims, not waterproof. So I tried swim caps. By now, quite tired of this online search, I clicked on a reasonably priced item, from China, not the UK or the USA. If you are in the USA you want a local supplier for free postage and quick delivery. ...

Invited to a party or meeting online in a hurry. Need a hat? Several videos on Youtube show you how to make a hat. Here is the simplest starter. Red paper folded into a cone and stuck down with glue. The really useful tip is to turn it and cut off the hanging triangle. Then fold the other way and keep doing so to cut off any projections. Fold white paper to make roses and stick them around the 'hem' or brim. I saw an even more complicated version involving origami type folding. Useful Websites https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Santa-Hat About the Author About the Author of Books Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Like my pages, share, and follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. See my books on Amazon and Lulu.com. About the Blogger Of This Post Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. She has several blogs.  Please see my other blogs and posts and share with your friends the links to your fa...

  Red Santa outfit. Smile with Angela. Photo by Trevor Sharot. I had to create a red Santa outfit in a hurry for a speech to Tampines Changkat Toastmasters. My speech was entitled, How to enjoy Christmas Customs from around the world. I knew I had at least one red Santa Claus hat saved from the previous year. Fortunately, they were all in a suitcase labelled Seasonal Props and Party Items for Christmas and Valentine's Day. I had all my Xmas stuff in one place, paper plates, banners, hats and so on. Items from a year ago were a complete surprise.  I had bought some in the post-Xmas sales in supermarkets. The jingling bells in my hand were too small to be heard in a large room. However, they could be heard if I stood or sat near a microphone. They created a prop for the photo. I raided my wardrobe. Americans say Closet. I decided to hang all my red clothes together for the month of December. Once I had all the reds together, I found the perfect top. Red. With a bow. This picture...

I am wearing a black cape blazer at a toastmasters meeting. I think a black jacket gives me an air of authority. Here the black cape blazer matches a black skirt, shown to effect on the stage at the Sheraton Towers Hotel in Singapore. The open arms show the wide bell cuffs of the orange top. Angela wearing a black cape blazer, speaking at a Toastmasters meeting. A sleeveless effect enables my arm and hand gestures to be seen clearly. Angela wearing a black cape blazer at Sheraton Towers hotel in Singapore. Red, white and black outfit with a hat with a headband to match.  The straw hat goes with my straw colour hair. I saw this balloon arc or arch set up for another event and decided to take advantage of the frame to enhance the interest of the picture. The double tag on the lanyard is overkill and lopsided. However, I am happy with the way the outstretched arms show the hanging sleeves of the black cape blazer. Angela wearing a white cape blazer, label Mango suit. For details of en...