Day four brought not one, but two outfits! First of all, was my workwear (which as you know is black and white), and I wore the little black shift dress that I picked up at a charity shop a while back. Sadly you can’t see the ace topstitching on the front that drew me to the dress in the first place, but what you can see is that I’ve taken the dress in so it fits me and removed the sleeves altogether. At present, I have a second-hand men’s shirt ripped apart to attempt an Ute shirt to go underneath this particular item, watch this space!

Outfit number #2 was in aid of a girl at work’s birthday night out, which was absolutely bloody ace. We danced and danced and danced, it was all very therapeutic of course and not at all due to the fact that I had been drinking Cosmo out of the jug, no siree. The dress itself is second hand, and I felt bad for wearing an outfit which had nothing self-stitched included – to remedy this, I whipped up the little bow tie thing using this tutorial. It only took me about an hour, I may have to make some more. Certainly felt like I was rocking a bit of geek chic!

With every great party however, comes a hangover. Oh dear. Needless to say, Day Five didn’t involve a great deal of activity beyond some grumbling. Sadly had to skip training as well, I hate those kind of days! There are some benefits to not drinking for a while, you don’t waste days feeling awful for one thing. For the grand occasion, I donned my wonderfully comfortable Port Elizabeth top with a skirt kindly donated to me by Gravy some months ago now.

Thankfully, I was suitably recovered for work this morning! This wasn’t actually the top I wore, I had to steal my Mum’s top from Day 3 because of a bra emergency, but got a chance to change when I got back into a top I refashioned from a large men’s t-shirt despite my hungover state. It’s based on the cowl neck top from IchigoGirl on BurdaStyle, which was super easy to whip up. The edges on the sleeves are still raw at the moment, I’m undecided as to whether I should leave them or not. Sewing stretch fabric is still very much a new area for me, so I feel a little like a fish out of water on that front.

I’d like to point out that my bare legs seem to indicate that the weather here in Wales is all sunshine and flowers – it’s not. While most of the weekend was lovely, today has seen Wales revert to its natural state; soaking. You would have thought a Welsh girl would be more prepared for such downpours, but I’m caught without an umbrella wearing shoes which DEFINITELY aren’t weather appropriate with alarming regularity.

I think I’m still in denial. August was so terrible weather-wise, we deserve a sunny September! If I clap my hands and say I BELIEVE IN SUMMER, do you think it’ll come back?

September is nearly here! We all know what that means… Self-Stitched September is just around the corner!

My sewing activity of late has been mostly on the refashioning side – I haven’t posted about them, because they’ll obviously feature a lot in the Self-Stitched September posts. I’m looking forward to the challenge, but I’ve hit a few snags.

For various reasons, I didn’t get the basics I’d hoped done in time, so my wardrobe is fairly limited in this sense. I’ve been whirring the old cogs as fast as I can to try and figure out a way I can stay true to the ethos of the pledge while being able to maintain an interesting set of outfits.

So as you guys may have seen from previous posts, I’m a bit of a fan of the old charity shop, mainly to buy things to alter and refashion. However, if I find something good in a charity shop that fits well, more often than not it’ll become a wardrobe staple. In fact, I’ve noticed that I wear a lot in the way of hand-me-downs. So, I’m going to alter  my pledge somewhat.

‘I, Len of Can’t Say Strawberry sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-September. I endeavour to wear only handmade, refashioned and second-hand items of clothing every day for the duration of September 2010′.

Basically, anything second hand goes, whether refashioned or not. I hope you guys don’t think I’m being too much of a cop out on this front, but it’s the best way I can think of to maintain the pledge with the lack of self-sewn basics that I have, especially as my job requires me to wear black and white, which I sew surprisingly little of!

Pre-loved clothing is sometimes the best kind, don’t you think? Furthermore, if I do buy clothing as part of the pledge, it all has to come from a charity shop – so my money’s going to an excellent cause as well.

Interestingly, this means that, while my plan was initially to keep Sportswear out of the pledge, ironically, some of it fits in to the new pledge! My gi (the suit that you wear in Karate) bottoms are hand-me-downs from when my brother did Judo, and the black trousers and black t-shirt I have for informal classes are also hand-me-downs from the brief time my brother did Karate! Interesting how these things turn out, no?

My only snag now is a coat! What with the atrocious August weather we’re having here in Wales, I have a feeling I’m certainly going to be needing one.

Thank goodness for Gertie’s Lady Grey sewalong! While I won’t have a me-made coat for the entirety of September, at least I can ensure I’ll be snug and cozy in my own by October! I’ll be sure to post my plans for my Lady Grey in due course.

How are everyone else’s preparations for Self-Stitched September going?

Lately I’ve been looking mainly for things that are black and white – i.e things that can double as a work uniform in September as well as something to wear just generally. I found this beauty of a pleated granny skirt today; I know you want to bask in all its ankle length glory! Bask away! As of yet, I’m not sure if I want to keep the pleats, partly because I’m actually making a black pleated skirt as we speak, but also because it was the buttons that drew me to this skirt. I was highly tempted to take some comedy pictures of me wearing this skirt, but I’m currently sat with Henna on my head and a facemask plastering my face… this isn’t something that the world needs to see!

This dress really reminds me of  the Uniform Project’s LBD for Year 1– simple and chic. As it’s from a petite range, the only alteration needed is to take it in at the sides, and bingo! I’ll be pairing this with colourful tights I think. Isn’t the top stitched cross detail adorable?

Finally, I have an actual sewing project to show you! Anyone remember the shirt that I paired my Roses are Red Cynthia Rowley skirt with? Here’s a refresher if you don’t :

While it looked utterly fabulous on my dearly departed mannequin Sally, it was pretty ugly and shapeless on me. This was mostly because it was a size 12, but also I don’t seem to get along very well with long sleeved shirts.

I’ll be sure to get some photos of this paired with the black pleated skirt I’m cracking out at the moment. After removing the collar and the sleeves, I took the shirt in at the sides and cut a new neckline using a vintage shirt pattern I have in my stash, created a simple facing to make a collarless neckline and then cut the sleeves to a cute cap sleeve. Not too shabby! Also means that I have a shirt to wear in September, hurrah!

Coincidentally, BurdaStyle just posted an awesome gingham dress – check me out, following the trend! Anyone else tempted to make up the same dress?

This is a blouse made from the Madison pattern on Burdastyle – ok, so it wasn’t meant to be a blouse, but I didn’t have enough fabric for the whole thing… planned on buying more, but there was none, so, blouse it became! I just have to make sure I wear it with really really high waisted skirts…

Bought this blazer on Etsy, from vintAGELESSbeauty… except it looked more like this :

The sleeves made me look entirely too Pat Butcher for my liking, so chop chop, snip snip, some black bias tape et voila!

Can’t really see this one too well, but it’s the dress from BurdaStyle! Whipped it up using my serger before coming back after Christmas, only just got around to hemming it. Had a fair few issues with the jersey, and I think I cut the  top out in too big a size, but it’s wearable!

Cute pleated skirt that I made which I wear a fair bit nowadays… Has to be paired with a waistbelt though because the waistband is done really badly, especially where the top of the zipper is concerned.

You really can’t see this one that well, but it’s a maroon skirt I got from a second hand shop, shortened and paired with some vintage shoes and a belt for my flat party back in March!

So there’s my little medley post! They’re mostly projects I’ve finished but haven’t felt were really good enough to deserve their own posts or addition to BurdaStyle. Got a few things on the go at the moment, so I hope there’ll be something decent to post soon enough!

I, Len, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2  months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed Len.

Sadly I have no ‘Before’ pictures – I picked up this skirt for 3 Euros at the second hand shop because of its colour. But it was Size 12, straight up and down and meh, despite the gorgeous turquoise. So, I used a pattern from my first ever Burda Magazine (January 2010) to make it into a cute new skirt, and added a bow at the waistband for extra cuteness!

I haven’t really decided what to wear with it yet – the top I’ve pictured it with is Gray’s, and ironically she has the lace top I’m thinking of pairing with it! We’ll see what comes along in the next few weeks!

It took me quite a while because I stitched it all together, was almost done, tried it on… and realised that there was a reason the original skirt had lining. Not just VPL, but you could see the outline of the pockets. Sadly, I’d cut up the original lining for the pockets, d’oh, but managed to find some on sale at Karstadt. Had I figured this out before, I would have used the original lining and would have had scraps of fabric left over – there’s barely any left of the shell, so I’m quite proud that I used my resources well.

The bow was courtesy of a tutorial on Burdastyle, I think it added some extra cuteness! Though this does mean that my standard waistbelt skirt combo cannot be used with this skirt, but oh well, it’s still cute. Also, I noticed earlier that one pocket is bigger than the other due to the taking apart and re-piecing… oops! I don’t think it’s too noticeable, so I won’t worry. I’ll just pretend it was an exercise in asymmetry!

Come to think of it, I really want to make a blouse in the shade of blue the shirt is, they go really well together! Oh, and here’s the song for you too Gotta love a bit of Peter Fox – certainly a big part of the soundtrack for Year Abroad ‘09-‘10!

So I’ve signed myself up for a 2 month pledge over at Wardrobe Refashion…

For those of you that don’t know about Wardrobe Refashion, now’s the time to find out! Wardrobe Refashion is about giving up buying mass-manufactured clothing in favour of crafting your own clothing and refashioning preloved items.  A few of the bloggers that I follow have taken the pledge; Zoe over at So, Zo… has made a lifelong pledge, wow! Not only does she create her own clothes, nowadays she’s even making her own undies! That’s dedication for you! Then there’s Angela from Sew I Thought…, whose refashions are inspiring. I’ve never seen anyone turn a hopeless-case maternity gown into Twiggy-chic – awesome! Then there’s another lifelong pledger Megan Nielsen, who somehow has time to create her own fashion line, write helpful tutorials  and be a Mum, ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Kudos to you Megan! There are plenty more inspiring people at the Wardrobe Refashion blog, go check it out!

You might remember from this post that I began scouting out second hand shops here in Dortmund already, and I would have posted about the refashioning except IT WENT HORRIBLY WRONG. The wonderful gray skirt that I bought? I shortened it, quickly became my fave… put it in the wash, and it shrank! The label said nothing about it being handwash only, so I was really and truly put out.

Not to be outdone by a stupid old washing machine, I’ve decided to take the skirt apart and re-create a new one, the idea being that I would trace all the pieces as new pattern pieces and then grade them up a size so that it would actually fit me! Not a bad plan if you ask me… No idea when I’ll actually get the damned thing done, everything’s taking me so long to finish lately.

Just as a last boastful tidbit; I entered The Selfish Seamstress’ pattern giveaway comp for a laugh – the brief? An essay of no more than 100 words on why we deserved the patterns up for grabs.

Dirty tactics such as sucking up, snarking, backstabbing, brainwashing, flattery, and lying are strongly encouraged.

I went for flattery, natuerlich,  and I got an Honorable Mention for Unbridled Megalomania! How awesome is that?? OK, so I didn’t win, but I’m ridiculously excited that my entry got noticed – I think it brought out the writer’s pride in me! Anyway, check out my entry and the winners’ entries over here, and while you’re at it, add The Selfish Seamstress to your blogroll or else!

Also : PANCAKE DAY TODAY NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM

Time for an ARDBAAAR* pancake methinks?

*check the ‘About Me’ for explanation for that one haha…

I think any girl will recognise that feeling of dread when they approach a checkout after a mad shopping spree in their favourite clothing store. Just pick up what you want, don’t bother to check the price tag, and leave the cringing for that moment you see the total and hand over your credit card.

The best bit about second hand shops is that this feeling evaporates when your total is tallied up to a pittance of what you would normally pay in your standard high-street retailer.

“That will be two pounds and a button please!” BRILLIANT. (That quote from my friend Cat pretty much sums up the entire feeling)

So, today I went in hunt of second hand stores in Dortmund. Armed with directions courtesy of Google maps, my warmest coat and Winston (my iPod shuffle), I set off in search of the elusive Gebrauchtwarenladen dealing with Kleidung rather than Möbel.

I seem to have found far more in the way of second-hand furniture shops than clothing shops in my general wanderings around Dortmund – Germans love their second-hand furniture because when they move flats, unlike with student accommodation in the U.K, they tend to take all their furniture with them, or sell it all to the next person moving in. In my case I’m renting a room while someone is away, so I didn’t need to buy any furniture.

My mission was, on the most part, successful! The snow did not help matters. I think I was in serious danger of losing some toes.

I did find a lot of things I hadn’t meant to go looking for, such as the Volkshochschule, or Community College, where I’ll be starting my sewing classes this week!

The first place I went into was dire – picture it; completely empty save for the rails of clothing and the two shop workers sitting at the checkout just watching you the entire time while you shrink away from the ridiculously priced items… seriously, they had a jersey top for 12 Euros. It wasn’t vintage, it wasn’t anything special, in fact, it was the type of item you could get at Primark for £2. So I left that place pretty sharpish.

The next place was much, much better. You could tell that it was well-known by locals due to there being a few people in there already, and they also offered an ironing service. This was where I got most of my goodies today!

Just what I needed to be honest, a good old chunky scarf! We’re Bierbiking again this weekend, and I think I’ll sorely need this scarf! I’m thinking of sewing the ends together to make it into a Snood, if only to say, hey look, I own a Snood, isn’t that a silly word?

  The headscarf (I’ve decided it’s a headscarf anyway) was a mere 50 cent, while the bag, a similar sort would fetch at at least 15 Euros, and that’s if you were shopping in H&M, was only 3.50 Euros. I love the shape and the contrast diamond shaped black on the opening.

This one’s a definite refashion! Not normally a big fan of velvet, but this doesn’t look too tacky and, naturally as it’s floral, I love the pattern! The silhouette and length are what I’m hoping to change.

Just love the waistband on this one. It needs a good old chop at the hem, and that’s about it! Although, one thing left me completely baffled with this one – the pockets are sewn up! Initially, I thought that they must be fake pockets, but no, they’re real, usable pockets! So why have they been sewn up? I’m unpicking those stitches pronto…The belt was also a steal – I have far too many waistbelts, but I think I’ve just decided that there’s no such thing as too many waistbelts!

All in all, I’m pretty happy about my first haul – it all came to 16 Euros in the end, not too shabby! I might just take the Wardrobe Refashion pledge after all.