This dress and I have a long history, so you may want to pull up a chair.
If you're a seamstress or a sewist, you may want to stop now, because some of these pictures may be akin to watching a car crash/horror movie.
Just saying.
I first saw this dress in a hair forum - someone had posted up a thread saying 'I made a dress!' and, intrigued, I clicked my way in. I was stunned. She had done it in a stunning shade of bright yellow and hand sewn it. The others declared her crazy and I had to say, I completely agreed with them, though my skepticism was allayed when she pointed out that there was only one seam.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Monday, 24 October 2011
Sesame Got Glee
I'll admit, I dropped off the Glee bandwagon a little bit.
My recaps stopped in the face of the four to five hours it took to do one and with the burgeoning load of my dissertation and various essays forced me out of it. Plus, there was that Rocky Horror Show episode (sooo inappropriate for so many different reasons) and then the Coach Beiste episode (like, what the heck? Coach Beiste is so awesome and getting a pity kiss off Will Schuester seems more of a punishment than a resolution) and I dropped out of the loop.
I'm debating whether to get back into it this winter or not. I mean, it's difficult to completely cut something you adore out of your life.
In the meanwhile, I found this and think it's genius. If you're a bit of a Gleek like me, then you'll recognise the brilliant quips that are so integral to the show, like Sue's quip about Will (Mr Goo?)'s hair.
And if you're not a Gleek, then you can take a gander at the dance moves of the 'I love my hair' muppet showing some moves whilst considering her career.
My recaps stopped in the face of the four to five hours it took to do one and with the burgeoning load of my dissertation and various essays forced me out of it. Plus, there was that Rocky Horror Show episode (sooo inappropriate for so many different reasons) and then the Coach Beiste episode (like, what the heck? Coach Beiste is so awesome and getting a pity kiss off Will Schuester seems more of a punishment than a resolution) and I dropped out of the loop.
I'm debating whether to get back into it this winter or not. I mean, it's difficult to completely cut something you adore out of your life.
In the meanwhile, I found this and think it's genius. If you're a bit of a Gleek like me, then you'll recognise the brilliant quips that are so integral to the show, like Sue's quip about Will (Mr Goo?)'s hair.
And if you're not a Gleek, then you can take a gander at the dance moves of the 'I love my hair' muppet showing some moves whilst considering her career.
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
The Day of doing the Most: Part 2
Continuing on from Monday's post:
So my hair is wet, quite clean and my guest is downstairs cackling at Secret Garden. I went to join her and decided to try out some Curlformers.
You better believe I jumped on that bandwagon. I've always wanted to try roller setting but the effort seemed far too much. I wanted something simple and easy that I wouldn't constantly need to re-arrange. This was before Curlformers started selling in Sally's in th UK, so I bought some off ebay.
My hair was still damp, so I separated my hair into four sections. I applied some Giovanni's Leave in and my oil mix to the area I was working on and then separated that into two and divided them into smaller sections until I was happy it was small enough to fit, but big enough that I wouldn't be there until time ended. I twisted the roots [to stretch 'em] before putting them into the Curlformers. I realised that
1) If you try and pull the section into the Curlformer and it doesn't fit or gets stuck, your section is almost definitely too big.
2) If you can't even pull the section down after wrapping the hook around the twisted root, you may have the hook too far up near the root of the hair. Slide it down the hair towards the middle until it works better.
It took me two episodes of Secret Garden til I was done, so that's about 2 hours. I'm not sure if the Faerie's insistence on helping me made it shorter or longer. I actually ran out of Curlformers - I think I used 48 in total - so I had just the one lonely section, which I just twisted and pin curled because I was tired. I didn't find that my arms got tired, but that might just be from the netball/because I'm Supergirl.
They weren't completely pain free [my impatience and failure to take my own advice bit me in the butt several times] and some of my hair did get caught in them, but you're touching your hair; breakage happens.
I didn't want them as a set - I was only using them for the [pretty awesome] stretch and I thought my hair in my curls were slightly Shirley Temple-esque. I was only seven curlers away from her signature style, so I think my point was valid. The Faerie and my housemate also want to try them out now. Some of my ends were a bit puffy because I confused the sizes - I have a mixture of the long and extra long and the hair at my crown is longer than my hair at the sides. Next time, I'll have to remember to use the right sizes on the right areas.
After all this faffery and activity, what did I do?
Put my hair into a sock bun. And it felt GOOD. It was sleek, but without the inevitable tangling that I know would come if I had done a wet bun. I didn't use any other styling products on it, apart from a little bit more of my oil mix. I was very much enamoured of the effective stretching from Curlformers, because I've tried quite a few techniques - braids, twists, banding, bantu knots - and none of them came close. It's not something I can do on a regular basis though, because it is a lot of mucking about and effort.
Maybe I could get someone else to do it for me...
So my hair is wet, quite clean and my guest is downstairs cackling at Secret Garden. I went to join her and decided to try out some Curlformers.
You better believe I jumped on that bandwagon. I've always wanted to try roller setting but the effort seemed far too much. I wanted something simple and easy that I wouldn't constantly need to re-arrange. This was before Curlformers started selling in Sally's in th UK, so I bought some off ebay.
My hair was still damp, so I separated my hair into four sections. I applied some Giovanni's Leave in and my oil mix to the area I was working on and then separated that into two and divided them into smaller sections until I was happy it was small enough to fit, but big enough that I wouldn't be there until time ended. I twisted the roots [to stretch 'em] before putting them into the Curlformers. I realised that
1) If you try and pull the section into the Curlformer and it doesn't fit or gets stuck, your section is almost definitely too big.
2) If you can't even pull the section down after wrapping the hook around the twisted root, you may have the hook too far up near the root of the hair. Slide it down the hair towards the middle until it works better.
It took me two episodes of Secret Garden til I was done, so that's about 2 hours. I'm not sure if the Faerie's insistence on helping me made it shorter or longer. I actually ran out of Curlformers - I think I used 48 in total - so I had just the one lonely section, which I just twisted and pin curled because I was tired. I didn't find that my arms got tired, but that might just be from the netball/because I'm Supergirl.
 |
| Spot the Odd one out...? |
Sleeping on them wasn't too hard, though I'm a rough sleeper so it wasn't exactly easy either.
I simply separated the Curlformers, so there was a space for my head to get to the pillow and I wasn't lying on a massive wad of plastic.
Every time I rolled about to turn on my side, I remember that in my half conscious state thinking "Ooh. Curlformers." And that's it really.
I have serious, serious problems when it comes to getting all of my hair stretched and I was sure that I would be the exception and would soon be selling these back on ebay.
When I took them out in the morning, my jaw hit the floor, I was shocked. Flabbergasted.
Somehow, they had worked. To prove it, I took multiple [and probably an excessive amount of] pictures.
I didn't want them as a set - I was only using them for the [pretty awesome] stretch and I thought my hair in my curls were slightly Shirley Temple-esque. I was only seven curlers away from her signature style, so I think my point was valid. The Faerie and my housemate also want to try them out now. Some of my ends were a bit puffy because I confused the sizes - I have a mixture of the long and extra long and the hair at my crown is longer than my hair at the sides. Next time, I'll have to remember to use the right sizes on the right areas.
After all this faffery and activity, what did I do?
Put my hair into a sock bun. And it felt GOOD. It was sleek, but without the inevitable tangling that I know would come if I had done a wet bun. I didn't use any other styling products on it, apart from a little bit more of my oil mix. I was very much enamoured of the effective stretching from Curlformers, because I've tried quite a few techniques - braids, twists, banding, bantu knots - and none of them came close. It's not something I can do on a regular basis though, because it is a lot of mucking about and effort.
Maybe I could get someone else to do it for me...
Monday, 10 October 2011
The Day of doing the Most: Part 1
I kind of cheated on my personal quest to put twists in for two weeks straight, since I started taking them out, and then was reminded I had somewhere to go which resulted in this style:
I had originally planned to do the yoghurt treatment as well as a Cassia (yeah, remember those?) but The Faerie was staying over and there's only so much K-drama you can leave a guest to watch by themselves without being extremely rude.
An all in one bonanza was my only option. I mixed
2 tablespoons (30g) of Cassia
with just enough hot water to form an extremely thick paste and
4 tablespoons of Greek Yoghurt and
2 tablespoons of Apple Cider vinegar.
It smelt like vinegar and looked like pea and mint soup.
Mmmm, yummy!
I slathered my head in this delightful mix and only just had enough stuff to cover my entire head. I leapt around my room for about 10 minutes, throwing things about in the pretense of cleaning my room, before leaping back into the shower and rinsing it all out before conditioning. I forgot how bitty Cassia is when it comes to rinsing it out.
Then I progressed onto the stretching...
But I'm tired now, so that'll have to be in Part 2.
I'd started to remove the braids in the back on the left hand side, so I quickly twisted the loose section, forming a sort of pseudo peacock fan thing.
It looks way less crazy from the front, I promise.
On Friday night, I finally took all the braids out, finger detangling to get rid of shed hair . I was happy. But also tired. I quickly did my hair in the usual lazy style, pre-pooed my entire head with Vatika oil, on with the satin scarf and then off to bed I popped.
I woke up and wanted my hair to have a little sniff of the gentle Saturday morning rain. It was less then drizzling. It was literally like soft, gentle sprinkles of icing sugar.
Wet, cold, icing sugar rain.
I wasn't too worried - If you remember, I had a head full of Vatika Oil.
Anyway. It feels like I've literally been in protective styles since, ooh, February (what with participating in the 3in6 challenge since February and the hilarious lack of sunshine in the summer). Thus, I was a little bit cheeky and let my hair out a little bit in my most favourite style from my childhood: The Minnie Mouse ears.
It looks way less crazy from the front, I promise.
On Friday night, I finally took all the braids out, finger detangling to get rid of shed hair . I was happy. But also tired. I quickly did my hair in the usual lazy style, pre-pooed my entire head with Vatika oil, on with the satin scarf and then off to bed I popped.
I woke up and wanted my hair to have a little sniff of the gentle Saturday morning rain. It was less then drizzling. It was literally like soft, gentle sprinkles of icing sugar.
Wet, cold, icing sugar rain.
I wasn't too worried - If you remember, I had a head full of Vatika Oil.
Anyway. It feels like I've literally been in protective styles since, ooh, February (what with participating in the 3in6 challenge since February and the hilarious lack of sunshine in the summer). Thus, I was a little bit cheeky and let my hair out a little bit in my most favourite style from my childhood: The Minnie Mouse ears.
It's basically my hair split down in half vertically, with each section tied up with a hair band.
The style always used to remind me of Minnie's ears, and the fluffiness of it always appealed me.
Though it's not quite yet up to the standard of Jazmine from Boondocks yet...
 |
| Not now but someday...one day! source |
After jaunting about in the icing sugar rain, buying vegetables, eating falarrrfel (emphasis compulsory ) and then drinking juice with The Faerie at Lady V's, I decided it was time to go home.
I had originally planned to do the yoghurt treatment as well as a Cassia (yeah, remember those?) but The Faerie was staying over and there's only so much K-drama you can leave a guest to watch by themselves without being extremely rude.
An all in one bonanza was my only option. I mixed
2 tablespoons (30g) of Cassia
with just enough hot water to form an extremely thick paste and
4 tablespoons of Greek Yoghurt and
2 tablespoons of Apple Cider vinegar.
It smelt like vinegar and looked like pea and mint soup.
Mmmm, yummy!
I slathered my head in this delightful mix and only just had enough stuff to cover my entire head. I leapt around my room for about 10 minutes, throwing things about in the pretense of cleaning my room, before leaping back into the shower and rinsing it all out before conditioning. I forgot how bitty Cassia is when it comes to rinsing it out.
Then I progressed onto the stretching...
But I'm tired now, so that'll have to be in Part 2.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
The Plaits are out!
Relief. Sheer, sweet, tangled relief.
How my mama would cry if she knew this picture was out on the internets.
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