Dress Of The Day with Angela

 I haven't got a thing to wear I've bought two wigs, and dyed my hair The real problem's my summer clothes My winter ones are lost in those I can't shop wearing a swimsuit A swim hat looks wrong buying fruit Stained item? Cut, make patch, or rag Lost button! Throw in the sew bag I see my red Christmas jumper Found my old favourite number Sorting your life's good for the soul I'm pleased and proud I'm in control Instead of wasting all my time Browsing to buy more clothes on line I view my spare room as a treasure A home jumble sale of pleasure Would I wear dull old things in grey? I ought to throw them all away No, sell them. Yes, another day I don't have enough time today Stuff summer clothes in spare suitcase To store them in some other place An attic, basement, spare room drawer? Or boxes in a Shurgard store Make sure each suitcase has a label Photograph them if you're able Match up the colours, fold or roll In a cardboard box, tote bag, bowl Sorti...

  I bought this from Ebay. It's second hand, one off. I was searching for red and night dress and up popped this seasonal red garment with a hood. The hood was a plus, So was the slit for the hands.  On the other hand it was too small. As you can see from the creases, It's tight below the waist. I thought, maybe I can cut off the top. I was worried that it would be in poor condition but it was acceptable. Picture Editing On Phones Why am I in silhouette? And how did I do it? I used to do this a long time ago but have nt done it recently. I needed it because the background was unsuitable. Too many items which were unsuitable. Part of a door, a curtain. I tried removing the background by cropping but it still looked ridiculous.  irrelevant, distracting. However, I recently tried clicking on some options in my editing function on my phone and re-discovered something Samsung calls lassoo. You encircle the item you want to keep.  I used to find this very fiddly. If you we...

  Angela Lansbury in orange dress from Primark. Outfit 382. Photo by Trevor Sharot. At the Wriers' Summer School in Swanwick I admired two dresses, one was in green. The other was in orange. Plain simple dresses. Clear colours. Bright colours. Years ago, my mother would not have allowed me to buy a dress which was gathered, or anything with rick-rack braid. She would have said, no dtyling, no cut. Tht is what you put on bsbies. For adults women you need cut to make a fitted dress which enhances the curved or th breadst, wais,t hips and bottom. The Orange Dress Oh, well. I saw the orange dress in Lidl. I loved the colour. I had to have it. The size is ten. Slightly small for me. If you wear a long0sleeves thermal vest under it, the arms feel too tight. Esmara The label is Esmara. This is the Lidl brand. They aim to offer a range of staples such as tee-shirt, plus a few higher priced smart designer items but still at discounts compared to other sources. The orange dress was also avai...

 I had heard of the rule of thirds in photography, but not in clothes. You can look at the rule of thirds up and down or side to side when composing or cropping a photo of yourself or another human body or a landscape. I like to have the head, hair, hands and feet in the picture. Some newspaper editors, on the contrary, crop faces to cut off hair and show eyes to make eyes bigger and a small face photo bigger on the page.  I prefer central interest. Symmetry. I agree that a figure on one side can be arresting, especially if it frames the distant view. Now, what about clothes. Can we apply the rule of thirds? We can make sure that a colour accent is in all thirds of the picture, the hairband, the belt and the shoes. I look at myself in a full length mirror before taking photos. I try front view, sideways, head turned, arms out and in, up or down, forward and back. I add and remove belts. Smaller or larger bags. Complementary or contrasting colours. Finally, we take two or three...

I would simply have slit the t-shirt down the back and linked it with ribbons. Method one. Method 2 is slit it down the side seams and insert a vertical wide ribbon each side. Or link with a pice of horizontal ribbon and wear a camisole to fill the gap visually. Method 3 would be to slit it down the front and wear it like an open front jacket. Agains, you can fill the gap with either vertical or horizontal ribbon. Of a metal joining clip. This video shows you a totally different and more inventive system with a second t shirt and curves. You start with a small tee-shirt you really like.  Take another tee-shirt, then cut a curve for each side and extend to under the arm. Insert on both sides of the smaller tee-shirt. Use spare material from the larger tee chirt to make a matching edging for a v-neck which you cut out. Works best when the larger item has no pattern. .

Angela Lansbury wearing a Dear brand top with overlapping semi-circular panels. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 2022. The top was rescued. Americans call it dumpster diving. I washed it before wearing it, in fact before handling it. The cut is unusual.  The outside has two overlapping semicircles. You don't tie it on like most overlapping wraps. (Which run the risk of coming undone or gapping at the cleavage showing underwear or worse. This garment has a high neck. The wrap effect cannot come undone. It looks flexible and is. But the secret to getting it on and off is the zip at the centre back. The Cut Underneath the front panel is in three vertical sections. But seamed from the lower hem to the waist, then a gap between the two outer piece to the shoulders. However, underneath is a lining in black, with a small vertical bust dart. The Brand They bill themselves - bill is an odd word, perhaps I should say promote or describe - as being clothes for business. The brand is '...

  Pink Night dress with infinity scarf made from hem cut off. Selfie photo by Angela Lansbury. Cut night dress. I now see my feet. Photo by Angela Lansbury. My pink night dress from Marks & Spencer which I have worn for years was too long.. I pinned up the hem with large safety pins. The Problem With The Long Skirt i had to cut it. I didn't bother looking for my pinking sheers. I didn't wait to measure it up. I didn't wait until somebody else was around to help me.  I thought, 'I want this done now. I have been meaning to do it for years. The hem is trailing on the ground, threatening to trip me up. The hem gets dirty and permanently stained. 'I just spent hours of my time putting it through soap and nailbrush treatment. That was only partially successful. So I ended up soaking the hem in bleach in a bucket. I don't want it to get dirty again.' The Spare Material I was going to cut the ex-hem to make a belt. Instead, I put the circle around my neck like ...

 Turquoise fitted bed sheet cut into a jacket. Selfie by Angela Lansbury. I looked at a fitted single bed sheet. I want a new outfit.  The single bedsheet is too small for my double bed. It does not match anything else. I could loosen the elastic at the corners and use it as an emergency bed cover sheet, just on my side of the bed,  when sleeping alone in the six foot wide double bed, perhaps when having an afternoon nap, when my large duvet cover, washed first thing in the morning and hung out to dry, is not yet dry from the washing and airing. But it does not match a pillowcase. I have no need to keep it for the bed. I have too many sets of bedding. I have not the energy to change the bedding every day for the novelty. But I do like to wear a new outfit every day. I can never have too many clothes. Yes, I might as well convert the spare fitted sheet into an outfit I can wear. Cutting However, the challenge of converting the item, with the elastic still in it, overwhelms...

  I found a large piece of fine fabric, the size of a small sheet. A bedcover? It looked like a throw to brighten up a faded or threadbare sofa. But a rather thin fabric. Not suitable for sitting on.  What was it for? I bet I bought it from a charity shop in the UK just because of its colours.   Just the thing for a new outfit.  Size Was the fabric large enough for a full length dress? Yes, plenty. When I folded it in half, horizontally, I could see it stretched from my shoulder to my ankles.  If anything, it was too long. The fabric was doubled on the two shorter ends.  I could make a skirt and a top. But why end up with two odd pieces? More sewing. One piece would look neater. Easier to keep in one place than two pieces which kept losing the other half. Less work to make one piece than all that cutting and sewing of edges. Where To Cut I debated with myself for a long time how to cut it. Should I leave the doubled ends, as a neat hem? I would have to...

Angela Lansbury wearing pyjamas, with pyjama bottoms slit to make a skirt. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Why convert trousers into a skirt? I didn't want trousers. In hot weather I like to feel free in a skirt. I hesitated. Would I wear the garment? I told myself, Go on, wear it. My internal dialogue went like this:   No. I am not interested.  In that case, it is just taking up space. You have nothing to lose. You might as well cut the bottom half.  If it goes wrong, I still have lots of fabric Or could sew it back together.  The decision was made. How To Cut? I took the trousers and a pair of pinking shears. The material was catching. I used ordinary sharp large scissor, holding the join of the fabric very carefully a short distance from the blade.  I slit the trousers from the ankles to the crotch. Where to cut the hem? I had previously realised that if you have a large hem it is worthwhile separating the two sides by unravelling the sewing along the join to gain a ...

  Dress of the day 200. Photo by Trevor Sharot.  You can brighten up an old outfit with a new collar. It makes me feel good. I have a new look. I feel it is a way to create variety for the family. Something new for them to see every day. I have made a collar or cape from a child's skirt previously. On one occasion I had to cut a slit to make the collar lay flat. I left the elastic waistband intact. I slit the cape so it would go over my shoulders and allow me to move my arms comfortably. This garment had another design. Matching tights were attached. Clearly I had to remove the tights completely, or slit them to make  hole for my head to get through. I cut cautiously. I try to cut as little as possible. You can always cut more. As the saying goes, measure twice, cut once.  I think, save cutting and save sewing. I cut the slit down one side of the leg seams, only to about a third of the way along. This left me with two hanging tubes of matching material. I tied them t...

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. ...