Dress Of The Day with Angela

White cap with sewn on straps. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Why did my cap need straps?  1 It kept falling off. When I looked down. Or when the wind blew. I worried about losing it, leaving it behind on a train. 2 It twisted sideways, looking odd in photos. What should I add? White ribbons? No. They would get dirty quickly, with all the handling.  I sewed pink straps on this white cap. What kind of straps could I add. I hunted in my stache of ribbons. I found what I wanted. The pink in the straps echoed the pink motif. The pink ribbon fabric is matt, matching the hat fabric's look.  The pink ribbon is narrow. But wide enough.  White cap with added red bow. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. The White Cap From Daiso I added wide black ribbon straps to a white cap. The black ribbon is wide. The White Cap (Baseball cap style) The white cap is from Daiso in Singapore. The Japanese chain. One of my favourite cut price chains. Light weight cap, easy to stow in a pocket. But...

  I never wear gray. Isn't it the world's least favourite colour? So why did I wear gray today? I rescued a gray scarf from the dump. Americans call it dumpster diving. It was a long thing bedraggled looking gray scarf. The label is The Venetian Macau. I washed it and unfolded it. It was large.  Large enough to make and over the head shift dress.  I looked on my rail and there was a gray and white skirt, a rescue from a pair of trousers, slit up the centre seam to make a skirt. I now had an outfit. I cut the scarf across the neck using pinking shears. The scarf  was semi-see-though. I added my tote bag with cats, which cost 4 Singapore dollars in Daiso. I tried two different hats. The scarf has speckles of silver on one side. You can wear the plain gray for daytime, the silver speckled side at night. I have bought a set of fabric dye in colours. But not silver nor gold. I have also used gold felt tip pen and gold speckles on a broken porcelain lamp base. Now I am won...

 My regret of the day for my birthday month of March is not buying the Happy Birthday headband in Daiso. A modest cost. Wearing it might get my a free drink, a photo, at very least a smile or two when I wear it on my birthday or the nearest weekend when I am out for a celebratory dinner. Daiso Where is Daiso? All over Singapore and other parts of the world. The company originated in Japan. Dress of the day, undress of the day. I still have time to buy it because my special dinner will be later this month. I save all my birthday items in a bag and box labelled birthday. Let's see some previous birthday pictures and outfits. March 2023, Emmaus Toastmasters International club meeting at the home of a member. Happy birthday headband in Daiso. Phot by Angela Lansbury.

I have changed the belt from a thick scarf to a thin pink ribbons. The ribbon is on a reel I bought from Daiso in Singapore. Daiso is Japanese. The syllable, the word, Dai, is the word big in Chinese-Japanese.  Angela Lansbury wearing dress of the day 577, vintage Comfy top and skirt made by converting matching trousers. Photo edited by Angela with posterize filter. This is how the painting was displayed by us in the first photo we took, with the painting sideways, which neither of us realized. Angela wearing pink Comfy top and trousers converted into a skirt. Dress 575. Photo by Trevor Sharot. The Pink Top  I have another plain top in this colour. The other top is longer which is more flattering as I am short.  However, I like the pattern on this top. I like the leaves in white. They are pretty. They distract from what would otherwise be overwhelming solid colour.  The white enables the outfit to co-ordinate with white accessories. You could wear a white belt and wh...

  blue cap from Daiso. Children's. Photo by Angela Lansbury. I bought several caps from Daiso. I went back to look for more, but could not find them.  Later, on a third visit, I realised they were from the children's section.  They were soft and wrapped up or rolled up easily. Daiso in Changi City Point mall, near Expo MRT railway station, next to the Expo exhibition centre, one train stop from Changi Airport, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Dai is Chinese for big. Japanese company. Ah so. Big value but small prices. But now even bigger because it sells in several countries and continents. Useful Websites WORLDWIDE https://www.daisojapan.com/ UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stationery-Office-Supplies-daiso/s?rh=n%3A192413031%2Cp_4%3Adaiso SINGAPORE https://www.daisosingapore.com.sg/ https://www.changicitypoint.com.sg/store-detail.php?CategoryID=594&StoreID=11733

  Daiso. Photo by Angela Lansbury. The Daiso Japanese shop has many branches, including the central one at Ion and the one by exit F, Downtown line, right next to the MRT for Expo, handy for you or your friends attending exhibitions as visitors or exhibitors. It is also one stop from Changi airport if you are on the way there to leave Singapore and need last minute gifts. Opposite the Daiso store by Expo MRT is Threppy, which has slightly higher prices. Annoyingly and confusingly they don't give the prices. Instead, they colour code the items and you have to check the colour code chart b the cashier on the way in. I photograph it to have a reference to quickly see whether I want to buy something. Angela Lansbury wearing a black detachable, tie-on collar, bought from Daiso, in Singapore. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Black Circular Collar I bought a black large circular collar to put on any garment. It serves two purposes. It makes a round neck tee shirt or top look slightly smarter. It a...

  Angela in blue backgound white flower pattern summer dress outfit 419. Photo by Trevor Sharot. The Blue Summer Dress The old blue summer dress was rescued or recycled, scavenged from my spare room in London, England. Lovely colour, bright blue and crisp, contrasting bright white. But I was not keen on the fabric. The style did not suit me because it had spaghetti straps and a low back. This style meant you needed a jacket, and a bra which would not show at the front, on the shoulders, at the back, a whole nuisance.  However, when packing for my Writers' Summer School, and emptying the room for an overnight visitor who is going to that event, I re-discovered the dress. I thought I would try it on. Maybe now I am thinner it will suit me again.  If not, I could cut it up. What could I do? Turn it into a pillow case? Or an apron? Or a tunic? Would I be able to divide it horizontally into a wearable skirt and top? Or cut the skirt vertically to create a wrap skirt?  The...

  Angela Lansbury at The Tanglin Club, belated birthday lunch. Photo by Trevor Sharot. We had lunch at The Tanglin Club in Singapore. We had told them on booking that it was my birthday. In case they forgot, I had with me both a home made badge with the words happy birthday stuck over it (which sank to the bottom of my tote bag and got forgotten), and my happy birthday hat from Daiso. It is small enough to pack inside a small handbag. it can be seen by serving staff close up, without causing a distraction to others in a restaurant. The Happy Birthday Hat That worked a treat. Firstly, a member of staff wished me happy birthday.  Later, another member of staff wished me happy birthday, and produced a cigarette lighter and asked if I wanted him to light the candle on my hat. (A joke of course. The candle is fabric.) By then, I had forgotten that I was wearing it.  Without prompting they produced a tiny one person cheesecake with a lit candle. Instead of writing the words hap...

I was giving a speech about St Patrick's Day at a Toastmasters International speakers' training club. The previous speaker was evaluated. The evaluator complimented the speaker on being dressed appropriately to match the speech subject.   Oops. I need a suitable hat or scarf to go with my speech. I looked at the outfits online. Not just free tee-shirts. Most of the people worthy of being photographed were wearing high hats, like leprechauns.   How to make a hat? I could take a baseball hat and cover it in green fabric. No green fabric? I could print green and fold the paper. How to fold it? Use the baseball hat as the base, with green paper over the brim and crown. The crown was the wrong shape. I could make a cake shape, circular with a flat top.  I looked at my hats and my eyes discovered my happy birthday Daiso mini hat.  Angela Lansbury in Daiso Happy Birthday hat. Selfie. Much easier to cover in a hurry. I didn't even need fabric. A couple of pieces of gree...

Selfie of Angela Lansbury with birthday flowers. Flowers with two Ferrero chocolates on sticks, Ferrero chocolate box, and baloon with the words Happy Birthday, Delivered by Flower Chimp of Singapore. Selfie by Angela Lansbury.  The hat from Daiso is in silver with the words Happy Birthday. The label says Mini Birthday hat. Sparkling with elastic. Made in China. I took a selfie and the words Happy Birthday appeared reversed. I was able to reverse the photo right to left using the edit function on my Samsung mobile phone.  I took another photo and the reverse left to right function had disappeared I must have had the hat lying around for some time. The elastic has gone too stretched so the hat keeps slipping sideways. I could shorten the elastic, change the elastic, or add two ribbons and tie it under my chin at the front or under my hair at the back. I tied a knot in the elastic to shorten it and that did the trick. The family had asked me" What do you want for your birthday?...

  Dress of the Day 285. Green and pink with rainbow ribbon. Selfie photo by Angela Lansbury. Blouse Collar Styles I like contrast colour collars and cuffs. Lively. Smart. The Blouse's Cut Label The label on the blouse has been cut to disguise the maker's name. This is done by the maker when the garment is a reject or last year's fashion being sold off cheaply. The label is cut to prevent the buyer of reduced price goods reselling it at the full price or a reduced price) and another customer thinking they are getting current year's top quality goods when the item is not perfect and up to date. If you like vintage clothes, and cheap prices, that doesn't matter. But if you are hunting for more goods made under the same label it is frustrating. The Ribbon I bought the narrow, silky, rainbow ribbon from Daiso in Plaza Singapura in Singapore. Daiso has branches all over the world. I know the price. Two dollars. Everything was the same price in some branches of Daiso - two...

  Angela going grunge. Photo by Trevor Sharot. The magic of this outfit is the converted too small jeans. The top is the easy bit. If you have a small jacket, just leave it undone. And/or enlarge the sleeve holes. Or slit it down the sides and wear it as a tabard. To hold it in place, my favourite easy adjustment, add two ribbons. All you do is sew on two small pieces of ribbon. Buy ribbons cheaply from a cut price store. Or borrow the rope or fabric handles from paper tote bags which you and other people throw out. The Top Alice Fashion Shop VIP  The label says NTS 400. Pockets It has two small pockets. They do not do up securely. Large enough for a paper hanky or key. Buttons The pockets are both decorated with one button which says JEANS, in capital letters, rivetted on. The metal buttons on the pockets are the same size as the five buttons down the front, which just about go through the cut open buttonholes. Another button is on each epaulette. I had not noticed the epaule...

  Selfie photo by Angela Lansbury. Edited on a mobile phone with cropping and Auto colour enhancer. This red collar from China is applique, a French word meaning applied, or sewn on. Since I hope to use it on several garments, I have added red ribbons to tie it on and I used it as a detachable collar.  The Blue Eyes Often my eyes are a disappointing grey colour. I often wear blue, which seems to improve them, but I thought this was an optical illusion to do with having blue elsewhere in the picture. Then I read an article about blue eyes are colourless like water, lacking the brown pigment, and which are like the blue sea and blue sky and change colour reflecting the surroundings. This is really good news. It means that the blue I wear does get reflected in my eyes which act like a mirror and appear much bluer. In this picture I have the red collar matched by my lipstick. The red does not enhance a red garment but disappears, whilst the see through of the central section shows...

WHERE TO BUY RIBBONS I have three spools of satin ribbon bought from Daiso the Japanese budget one price store.  大創 ( daiso ) = large creation. WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH RIBBONS They are in blue, red and green. I looked at the blue dress and wondered, what have I got that's blue to go with this. My eyes discovered the spool of blue ribbon.  I cut a piece of blue ribbon to tie around the brim of the hat to go with the dress. A shorter piece of the blue ribbon tied around the pigtail helps to co-ordinate.  A further piece could be added to the wrist. Another ribbon, longer, can tie around the waist.  It is a trick you could copy with a length of ribbon. Black and white would be the most useful. If you wear a lot of a colour, such as red, blue, turquoise, or silver and gold for evening, a length of ribbon on a spoon or loose would come in handy. An old tee-shirt or pillow case cut into strips would give you several pieces of ribbon to tie up as belts, headbands, wrist bands,...