windows in the sky

te he, well I'm back from Ireland, with a few more freckles and all the more better

gosh London was getting really claustrophobic, so it was nice to escape into another country, see my family, and say hello to my great uncle Lawrence, who is sadly in hospital.

If you are ever looking for a cheap weekend away, I really would recommend Belfast, its basically London, but so so so much cheaper. And whilst the history of the city is horrific, but also extremely interesting. My dad took me round the city, showing the key places of 'The Troubles', which was quite scary as he used to live almost in the heart of it all. Not many people know about 'the Troubles' so I would recommend wiking it (or doing a kassy, te he)

My yaya being the amazing charity shop shopper she is gave me a tour of the city's vintage and charity shops, and wow. 

Embelished top, £10; Tennis skirt, £4; Heels, £2

Gold chain necklace, £2; Topaz and pearl clip ons, £3; Pearl clip ons, £2

Crocodile skin bag, £10

that bag is amazing, seriously I can fit in so much stuff! Like un-physically possible amounts, take a wallet, phone, fan, sun glasses, a green tea and a whole katsu curry! Trust me, I've tried.

Frida, my lovely crocodile skinned beauty has redefined the meaning of tardis bag.

Seriously the vintage shops are well worth the travel, I visited two, and they were both really cheap, and with lovely owners. The first, Bang Vintage, had a rack of various 80's snazzy jackets, and I'm talking intricate beading and amazing embellishing, each for only £10. The other had a barrel filled with various shoes, each for just £2. Belfast is my true home.

Okay so as I promised, here is a shed load of pictures from around the city

The glass roof was the Victoria center, which housed many different brands, like Topshop, Urban Outfitters and Kurt Geiger along with an observation level, showing a panoramic view of the city. From there you could see the two yellow cranes at the docks, named David and Goliath, also the City Hall (1 & 3) and many other historical buildings.

It was really amazing to see the city which half of me belongs too, I'd visited my grandparents a lot before but had never see the actually city center, so it was lovely, te he, I feel complete. And truly Irish, of course after visiting several different pubs (don't worry I stuck to coke)

It was saddening to leave, but I promised yaya I'd be back so we could travel to Dublin.

He he, so when you mix me, a camera and several different cloud formations,  what do you get? 55 different photos and videos of course! Sorry I couldn't resist.

So I'm back, abit with a faulty internet, but still back on English soil and with another post in  the wings ready and a'waiting, about my trip to see the lovely Grace Kelly and eating two delicious V&A pies. Yum.

te he

xox Eve-Rei

your comments and love are like  beautiful cumulonimbus clouds, supportive and wonderfully uplifting, actually that sounds a bit like a wonder bra, oops

p.s, Also I have recently acquired a flickr account, which you can find here, so if you want to take a look, or comment on a picture individually, please feel free to do so, you know I love it

summer madness

I think its rather unfair that a single magpie has taken up residence in my garden 

I usually wake up at 3/4, look out the window blearily a bit to find my bearings, but seeing as I have the compulsion of saluting at Mr Lonely Wings, I often thwack my head.

So thankyou my dearest feathered friend, but seriously mate go out and get a lady friend and stop bestowing bad luck upon me!

Haha, as you can see the 'holiday' effect has already taken a hold of me, and I am going slightly insane with boredom. I can no longer tell what day it is, what month we are in, but have gained the ability to tell when a microwave is within 3 seconds of going off. Handy!

So  to amuse myself I've been trying to do as much as possible with my new found freedom. For one, I've begun to save up (omg!) started swimming and have try to dress up every day, whether or not I'm going out. 

It was on one of my many lonely shopping trips, which I spied this long, pale beauty. Ignore the disgusting fat faced loser inside it, and rather avert your eyes to my lovely £10 topshop maxi.

white maxi dress ♥ topshop - £10  

chain necklace ♥ m&s 

belt  ♥ primark 

ollie clogs ♥ topshop, £65

 cream lace vest ♥ primark - £3

I thought I should just blast you all with loads of photos, another product of my boredom, thousands of photos. 

But the weather has been lovely, sunny, with a light breeze but not to much heat, i.e just about bearable for us vampires. 

So to counter act the nocturnal effect, I cracked out all of my summer dresses

. 

You remember this dress? 

blue flower summer dress ♥ primark

flower bracket  ♥ topshop - £10

vintage clip on earrings ♥ kingston antique market - £3

ollie clogs ♥ topshop, £65

white knit socks ♥ topshop - £3

I have a new found addiction to clip on earrings! By the end of the summer my earlobes will be nearly as long as my hair!

This will be my last post until, I think next monday, as I'm leaving on wednesday to go back to Belfast.  

Of course thats when the streets of Belfast decided to erupt into riots with pipe bombs and bricks. Fun.

But never fear,  I will be armed with my camera, so expect a torrent of concrete filled photos coming your way this time next week

wish me luck!

xox Eve-Rei

Your love and comments are like little whispery kitten whiskers, utterly ticklish and a remedy to everything.

P.s 143 followers! Oh my gosh. Guys! Seriously wow. The support you have given me since November, has been amazing, and if it weren;t for all of you I'd have no reason to blog, so thankyou. Hopefully by the end of this summer I'll have even more to thank!

P.p.s Due to the heat also, my insomnia is roaring its ugly head, and now is progressing from transient to chronic, does anyone have any sleep remedies, really anything, I'm allergic to lavender and my weight doesn't let me have enough sleeping pills, so I ready to try anything now, I finally thinking that after 12 years its just not going to go away.

Though did you know there's a rabbit on the moon?

te he

week o'work

I am in love

l o v e

Look at her, the most beautiful heat presser in the whole wide world!

So as you can see, read and spidey sense  for the past week, I haven't been in the blogosphere, or anywhere near it to be honest. 

Pour Quoi? 

Parce-que I have been at work experience. And with it being at a fashion design studio, my life for the past week has been nothing short of perfect.

Monday 

My work placement was at Tom Cody designs, a company specializing in print and fashion design, perfect! So traveling into deepest darkest Bethnal Green (fun!) Especially as the dress code was anything you can get messy. I basically got to wear what ever I wanted, so first day I wore my knee length bleached denim dress with my green bolero. My first task was to start making details for this vest, so velvet flowers and piled up blue hued fabrics, along with green chiffon ruffles, as see below. This was also the day that began my addiction to Radio 1, I just can't stop now!

Tuesday

I continued detailing the vest, and also made white strips into ruffles, using a blanket and long running stitch for Mel, my supervisor, who was so lovely, actually everyone there, about 15 women, were all wonderfully helpful and kind to me, it was such a inspiring atmosphere in which to have my first tastes of work in. I also, along with Alice, one of the other two interns, designed some background prints for a tweed section, onto tracing paper. We then scanned these into photoshop and edited them to make a continuous print.

Wednesday

We then finished editing the designs and printed them onto acetate paper for printing. I then learnt how the printing process worked, the first step being washing the screens, this was using a cleaning fluid and then blasting the screens with a pressurized water gun, which had a real kick to it, but was so fun to use, and I got to put my deck cleaning skills to practice. After they had dried using a hairdryer which was possessed on sucking in all of my hair, we added a thin layer of green emulsion to both sides of the screen. These screens then had to be dried again, after which the acetates were taped into position on the outer side, which books weighting the other down onto the light box. With a flip of a switch, the screen was then photo-exposed for exactly 3 minutes and 10 seconds. After which the 'white' parts were blasted off the screen using the water gun. Confusing I know but absolutely amazing.

 

Thursday

Continuing on from the day before, Mel then taught me how to print on the ink. I've only used stencils with screens before so to being using the emulsion instead was very fun. I also got to try out discharge printing, which looks as it sounds hehe. This then bleached the fabric, but in the print, how cool is that? It allowed for a wider range of colours, and because Mel has chosen browns, gave a antique golden hue. Below are Mel's final prints, she let me keeps the off cuts, aren't they just stunning prints? 

I also got to do some dying, which being me was messy, namely me pouring dye into my gloves and then reaching my hand up, pouring the liquid down my arm, basically turning me into a smurf. In the afternoon I was tasked with styling some of the pieces, which involved cutting, pinning and sewing, allowing me to effectively spend a whole afternoon on a sewing machine, fantastic!

Friday

Meh fr. Today I was given my own set to make using the wonderful heat press. By using transfer inks on cartridge paper I created my print using deep reds, purples and rich yellows, almost in a homage to London sun sets, but really it was just me splattering paint around. Then placing the sheets and crumpled silk jersey, we created the 'sexy' print inside the heat press for exactly a minute. Afterwards with which I was able to make two vest, one high neck the other a deep scoop, but both with ruffles. To finish what was an amazing experience, I brought in a chocolate mousse cake, which we all ate together along with their resident cat.

My mum half way through the week suddenly said, well what if this makes you realize that this isn't what you want to do. But that final day, the whole week actually just suddenly made my whole dream tangible. To actually be able to make clothes  for a living, have a job, travel to work, find other transport when someone goes under your tube. All that grown up shizzle. 

xox Eve-Rei

your kind comments and love are like a Lost marathon, worth a million dollars and always making me want more!

p.s may I just say, that if my designs I made at Tom Cody, which I doubt it ever will, are sold on, I just made em, I don't own them. Sadly.