Dress Of The Day with Angela

 I ordered online my red dickey or detachable collar with a fake shirt front. I already have two plain white collars with fake shirt fronts. They are really handy to make a simple tee shirt or top look smarter, more businesslike, or more interesting. This version in red adds jolly colour.  It co-ordinates with red sandals and a red belt and red lipstick to create a unified look.  It brightens up a dress in funereal black. The red makes me feel happy, vibrant.  A great success. I shall wear it a lot. I might order other colours. Angela Lansbury wearing a red fake shirt collar. Photo from Angela Lansbury. Copyright. The technical name is dickey. The name fake collar is misleading. The collar is real, but nothing is attached to the u-shape front except two pieces of elastic under the arms.  Red fake collar from ebay. Other colours offered include useful white, or black. The yellow colour is mustardy, not to my taste. The green is a dark green. They might go with ot...

  Angela wearing red, white and green, the colours of the Italia flag. Photo by Trevor Sharot. For a trip to a dinner at an Italian restaurant, featuring Italian wines, I planned on wearing the colours of the Italian flag, red, white and green. Oops. I am glad I loaded up the flag. It is green, white and red. In my Italian colours outfit, the skirt is green, the shoes are red, the jacket is red, the top is red and white. I don't think anybody except me noticed the significance of the colours. If the Italian tourist board had been there, giving out little Italian flags, they would have noticed. Red Jacket The red jacket is also called a cape blazer. Sometimes described as open sleeve. The label is Be Jealous. The red jacket adds vivid colour to accentuate the red in the red and white top. You can see another view of the red jacket in another outfit in post on dress of the day 586. Red cape blazer. Red and white top with ruched sleeves. Red Free=step sandals. Photo by Angela Lansbury...

  Angela Lansbury wearing a blue eyelet top, over a white camisole with a red belt and red hat. Selfie photo by Angela Lansbury. Blue Is Best Blue is best if you have blue eyes. But brown eyed girls also wear blue. Author Catherine Lim met me for lunch in a slim royal blue dress. She looked terrific. (She always does.) Blue eyelet top Eyelet used to be known in the UK as broderie Anglaise, which is French for English embroidery. Blue top bought via eBay. In a bundle of three eyelet tops. (The other tops and the bundle system are described in previous posts.) Peacocks label. How to Make Collars And Buttons Fasten Flat If your collars spring up at the corners, you can order rounded collars, stand up collars, or button down collars.  If the shirt or blouse or dress develops a gap between the top two buttons, you could add a press stud between the buttons. A small press stud is quick to sew on. Advantages of Camisoles Camisoles are often worn to conceal. They hide bra straps or br...

 Blue and white striped hairband, by Angela Lansbury. Selfie. How to Make a Matching Hairband I looked at my hairbands, rigid hairbands. I planned to cover one with a thin ribbon of fabric cut from my outfit. I chose the thinnest hairband which would take the least material to cover it. Seamed Armholes I had rescued the strangest shirt. It was over large. The skirt or hem was huge and flowing. Contrast with the long tight sleeves which had smart businesslike shirt cuffs with double buttons.  But you could not get your arms into the sleeves. A seam had been sewn right the way up over the armholes. Why? Was it a mistake? Or deliberate?  I had previously had garments with seamed pockets. Seamed Pockets On the internet you can find lots of blog posts and websites about seamed pockets. Some are sewn with secure stitching and without any pocket, just to add decoration. Others are real pockets, as you can see if you hold the garment up to the light to see where the lined fabric ...

  Angela Lansbury in red and blue DIY dress, with red ribbon belt and red ribbon bow. Photo by Trevor Sharot. The dress came from a wide skirt. I cut off the belt and was left with an oblong large enough and long enough for a dress. Blue suits my complexion and goes with my blue eyes. I love the red. I added a wide red ribbon belt, and a narrower red ribbon tied in a bow at the neck. I thought of having both the neck bow and the belt the same width of ribbon. Would that look more co-ordinated?  However, I was not sure that I had enough of either width.  A wider ribbon looks better as a belt. A smaller bow is less distracting from your face. With enough ribbon, I could leave the ribbons attached to the outfit.  Storing Ribbons and Belts At first I had ribbons stored in boxes on my sewing table. Then I decided that the wide black ribbon used as a belt was frequently needed. It could be found more quickly if I placed it on the rack with my belts on the wall behind the b...

  Dress of the day 331. Photo by Trevor Sharot. I slit the shorts from the crotch to both knee hems. The turn-up was large, so I let it down to make a longer skirt. The Green Top By Ralph Lauren The man's top was long. I did not like the casual sporty neck with a skirt. So I added a dickey or false shirt front with a collar in  plain white which matched the plain white pattern. Navy blue, or white, would also have been good combination colours. The label is Polo by Ralph Lauren. Size medium. Feel very hot in Singapore, especially when worn under a belted skirt or shorts, instead of hanging loose on top. The Polo Player Logo The logo is tiny, a polo player on horseback, astride a galloping horse. The rider has his stick raised above his head prior to striking the invisible ball. The logo is dark orange. If I had realized that, I would have worn my orange Crocs. Size Medium. White Cotton Half Slip White Cape Blazer Blue and Green Flip-flops For once the casual footwear of flip-f...

 In order to get a supplier for a white dickey, I typed in ebay and white dickey. Up came one at US S10.95, link below. From seller jsbay88. I know you can get them at half that price if you want to spend time searching. The cheaper ones might be thinner fabric, or they could be identical.  You might want to buy one from each supplier each, maybe both white, or one white and one black, or one with a pointy collar and one with a round collar, or have two identical styles so one can be washed and drying whilst the other is ready to wear next day. That way you compare the quality. Re-order from the more expensive supplier if it is a better product. Re-order from the other one if not. Or re-order from whoever supplies fastest if you are in a hurry. Useful Websites https://www.ebay.com/itm/303377906341 About the Author Angela Lansbury BIOGRAPHY Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5  The Author of several books, including:  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding ...

  Cross-eyed character tee-shirt, with added orange accessories. Dress 315. Silly. Photo by Trevor Sharot. The oranges items are all different shades. But my husband thought that was interesting. On my Samsung mobile phone I used the photo editing app to pasteurize. The white circle echoing the orange parasol worked well. The Tee-Shirt The tee-shirt is the basis of this outfit. I chose the orange skirt to match it. I could have chosen black or white. But I wanted something bright and jolly. The mouth of the character is a bow. The ears are applique, added, standing out from the base fabric. I cannot find it online. A lot of people just wear tee-shirts with jeans, when they could get many more outfits from one tee-shirt. The main lesson for you to copy is how to adapt a tee-shirt, even a discarded child's tee-shirt, or something daft, to create different effects. The accessories are: An orange cowgirl hat.  Order from party suppliers online, from Amazon.  The orange paper ...

  Burgundy top. Dress 296. Selfie by Angela .

  Angela is wearing a four piece Ann Balon outfit, consisting of a skirt, top with ruler width shoulder straps, a jacket and a long oblong scarf. This view shows the satiny effect back of the jacket. The long thin scarf is worn as a headband. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Here you can see clearly the collar as well as the scarf. Photo selfie by Angela Lansbury. Head scarf to Conceal Hair The headscarf can be used to hide the roots of your hair if they need dyeing. To add elegance. To look jaunty. For a special occasion of course I would not have greasy hair. I washed my hair. Too much washing or too much shampoo can result in dry fly-away hair. The solution is conditioner. If you have none, sometimes a dab of  moisturizer from your own bathroom or a hotel or club wash room will do the trick. Failing all else, water. Hiding A Bra Strap With A Dickey At a Toastmasters meeting we were treated to a workshop on looking good on camera. The speaker, patricia Lum, showed several pictures of...