Mellow Yellow

Very little percentage of my wardrobe is made of yellow. Maybe I am not dare enough to experiment with yellow colour. This light yellow floral dress is sweet and adorable to resist. I bought this dress last year and only today I wore it for the first time. I am the type of person who is not so eager to wear new purchases immediately and tend to keep the them for a while or perhaps too long until I might have forgotten about certain items. This goes for gifts as well. I have a lovely journal from my sis which was given about two or three years ago and the journal is untouched. Weird? I think so.

The look:
Vintage dress from Vintage Packstocks (now known as anaabu)
Thrifted belt
Wooden bangles from flea market
Strappy like heels

Hope you are enjoying the weekend. Have a good one!

i heart these...

Photo taken from: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70697182/silver-sailor-broach

Photo taken from: http://www.etsy.com/listing/72895446/vintage-straw-pill-box-hat-with-brown

Photo taken from: http://www.etsy.com/listing/45523267/vintage-macrame-and-bamboo-purse-handbag

Photo taken from: http://www.etsy.com/listing/72695414/vintage-salvatore-ferragamo-peep-toes

I am glad it is Friday and the weekend is just around the corner. Quite a tough week at work. Busy, busy and I missed my gym. Experiencing writer's block, not sure what to post for today. And experiencing stylist's block too, a new term just created referring to styling at polyvore, not in the mood to style outfits. Perhaps it is good to share what I have my eyes on etsy. Admiring these lovelies virtually. Not sure if this is permanent but the exchange rate US$ to RM on etsy is slightly higher than market rate. Sigh....

Vintage wedding dresses

Photo taken from: http://www.vintagewedding.com/gowns.html

Photo taken from: http://thefrock.com/bridal_page2_main.html

Photo taken from: http://thefrock.com/bridal_page16_main.html

The Royal Wedding is like the talk of the globe - on the Internet, over the radio and perhaps on the telly too. The wedding gown will be revealed tomorrow and it would be interesting to see the wedding gown. Anyway, in conjunction with the royal wedding, I thought of doing a bit research of vintage wedding dresses. Then I came across with this website: Buy Vintage Wedding Dresses . It has explanation on wedding gowns based on eras or decades. Here is something to think about: would you wear a vintage wedding dress or your mum's wedding gown on your big day?

It makes me wonder

Half of today, my mind was toying with the question; when enough is enough? The context of the question is not related to fashion at all (do not ask a woman how many pairs of shoes she needs/wants. It is never enough.). This can be related to work, relationship or any particular situation. For me, it is about work. All these while I have been struggling to find the balance between passion and money. Some might have found the job they love and passionate about and earning a good (or at least a reasonable) pay at the same time. How lucky these people. How do you know when enough is enough? What is your deal breaker?

The look:
Vintage dress
Thrifted belt
Thrifted shoes
Bead necklace

Isn't this lovely?

Photo taken from: http://www.housetohome.co.uk/home-office/picture/pretty-home-office

Oh isn't this sewing room/office lovely? How I wish my sewing room is neat and pretty like this. Mine is pretty messy with clothes (waiting to be altered), fabric, paper, thread etc in one room whilst my sewing machine is placed in my bedroom. Too messy to be featured in my blog. Or perhaps some of you would be interested to see my messy sewing / work room?

200th Post

Ready to invade thrift stores and enjoy great lunch with friends!

Stylish at work

I could not believe that this entry marks 200th post! Apologies that there is no special outfit feature for 200th post. But, I have styled two outfits on polyvore. Hope you will like these outfits. No thrifting adventure yesterday and today. I stayed in today to do some of unfinished house chores and also to catch up on my sewing; alteration of thrifted clothes. A quiet day at home.

Hope you have enjoyed the weekend and have a good week ahead!

Go long

Due to the fact that I am petite, most of the time I do not wear long skirt or long dress, unless it is a lovely skirt or dress. I alter my skirts and dresses from below knees to above knees length. However, at times, I thought perhaps it would be good to try to break the 'rule'. This outfit features my lovely vintage brooch and vintage shoes bought from etsy some time ago. The brooch is super cute and the vintage shoes are so lovely - woven leather.

The look:
White shirt, hands-me-down
Olive green cardigan, hands-me-down
Vintage skirt from I'm Your Personal Shopper
Vintage brooch from etsy
Vintage shoes from etsy
Handmade beret
Woven belt

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Just what I needed...

Happy Easter!

I am off from work from today until Monday. A nice long weekend to chill out and relax. A good break. Just what I need.

Guess how I spent my day? Thrifting at places that I could not thrift on weekends. First stop was Red Crescent Thrift Store.

What is inside the basket?

These are my finds; Zara top, a plaid vest (don't ask me why I bought it), flare floral skirt and two books.

Next stop is a new place for me. It is Ukwah Charity Shop. The price range here is slightly higher than RC thrift store as I think this maybe due to the rent and its location. The shop is tidy, neat, well-lit and it is air conditioned as well. I found few vintage Bruno Magli shoes and a pair of Bally shoes. As for the clothes, not many vintage pieces. Perhaps no luck for me today.

Have a lovely weekend!

Fashion Project: Bow Shoe Socks

Finding the right of pair vintage shoes is not an easy task. It takes time and patience. Vintage shoes are very limited in terms of sizes and designs. Budget is also another factor that needs to take into consideration.

I have waited and waited and finally decided to take charge of the situation. At first I thought of getting plain white or ivory pumps and bow shoe clips but after much calculation and thought, it is more economical to DIY bow shoe clips instead of getting a pair from etsy. Checked with one haberdashery shop if they sell shoe clips but unfortunately they do not. Well, I guess I had to look for an alternative and I came up with this version, which I do not know how to call it - bow shoe socks?

What you need:
Socks which do not cover the foot totally (sorry for the poor terminology)
White interface
Satin fabric
Scissors
Thread and needle
Pins

Take measurement to know the size of the bow to make. Draw one rectangle of 1.5" X 2" and another one, 0.5" X 2.5" on a piece of paper as the patterns. Place and pin these on folded fabric. Leaving some allowance and cut the rectangles out. Unfold them and place the pieces on white interface and cut accordingly. Use an iron to iron the pieces of fabric (big piece only) and interface together. This makes the fabric more stiff. Pin on the sides and these pieces are ready to be sewn!

Sew the pinned sides. Turn the pieces to bring out the right side of fabric out. For the big piece, stitch the closure. Fold few creases and hold onto the middle of it and stitch few stitches to secure it. Take the other piece (narrower and longer) and place in the middle and wrap around the other piece.

Stitch the strip together onto the bigger piece. The bow is done. Take out the socks and try them on. Pin as to mark the spot to stitch the bow onto the sock. Trim the excess bit of the socks, in this case the lace finishing, leaving some bit for stitching the bow. The bow shoe sock is ready to put to the test. Well, there were some extra bits that still showing. I tucked in the extra bits to hid the sock (somehow).

I was inspired by a shopping review blog which reviewed a similar concept of product. So this does not come from me. I just improvised from what I have seen. The total cost of this project is about RM5 (for the lace socks from Daiso).

Hope you will give this a try - you can make the bows in different colours, different fabrics/prints and also different position.

Happy trying and sewing! Oh Happy Easter too for those who would be celebrating it.

Spring blossoms

I am not really a big fan of floral prints but somehow, certain floral prints are just so irresistible. This flower print is so lovely yet not over girly (not for me). The design is nice as well. I love the batwing sleeves of the dress.

The look:
Vintage dress from flea market
Bead necklace
Belt
Pump shoes

One more day to go! :)

I did it my way...

I have waited anxiously for a parcel lately. An order from etsy. And finally it arrived this afternoon. I could not wait to open it till I got home.

I have not given up hope in getting white or ivory shoes with either gold accents or bows. For this case, I have decided to make the bows myself. I am quite a DIY girl, so I would not stop until I try.

Before

After

What do you think? Not bad, right? Will share how I made the bows soon. So stay tuned!

Fruitful Sunday

Hope you had a great weekend. Mine was good. Did most of the house chores that I wanted to do. Somehow there was an activity managed to sneak onto my to-do-list. And this activity was thrifting.

It has been a while since my last visit to my favourite flea market. Well, it was approximately 30 days. Every time I go there, nine of ten visits, I would not return home empty handed. This visit was no exception at all.

One of my favourite finds is the sailor top inspired dress. I intend to alter the dress to give it a fresh look. The ghostbusters t-shirt was calling me to take it home. And I did. The other blue top I am not sure if it is a kebaya top or just a blouse - hhmm... anyone knows?

Hope you will have a good week ahead. I am looking forward to Easter break. Three more days to go :-)

Red = Hope

My outfit for chictopia: wear red wear hope entry as part of their campaign to raise awareness and fund for Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims. Donate if you can. If not, pray for things to get better soon. Big or small effort does not matter. What matters the most is that the people care and willing to help in whatever ways.

Red has a new meaning. Red is hope. Hope for Japan.

Have a great weekend everyone!

New addition

This adorable and lovely vintage brooch is my latest purchase from etsy, at a very good deal. The brooch cost US$1 while the shipping cost was US$1.50. Less than RM10. The best deal ever on etsy! I love everything about the brooch - the colour, the design and most of the heart shaped locket! The package arrived on last Monday, just in time to cure my Monday blues...

Weekend is just around the corner. What are you plans? I hope I would be able to catch up on my sewing. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Mystery solved

Remember that I mentioned that somehow my mobile phone went kaput in Monday's post? Apparently, I am the silly sausage (I picked up this expression from a colleague of mine), because I set the year on the date setting to 2010! How silly of me, right? So, any photos, messages, incoming call records, were found in older folder.

Anyway, mystery phone issue is solved finally. Here are photos of Flea What? fashion bazaar:

Shop, shop, shop...

A participating stall

thr5t stall :-)

I will try to be more careful in the future to avoid anymore silly mistakes. Anyway, Friday is around the corner. Yay! Have a great evening/day.

One of those days...

It rained early this morning. I did not want to get up because it was so cozy in bed. Dragged myself out of my bed and headed to bathroom anyway. I am on my third day without coffee or my own recipe of neslo (nescafe coffee with milo). Feeling blah like one of those days...

I am not sure if my blahness affected my outfit for today. Anyway, fashion is all about experimenting. Added a tied bow using a scarf. The overall look is geeky in someways.

The look:
Vintage dress
Thrifted belt
Scarf
Thrifted shoes from Memory Lane flea market, Ipoh

Two more days to the weekend! Yay!!!

Colourful Buttons turns two

It has been a wonderful and amazing journey over these two years. I remember that Colourful Buttons is actually a trial-and-error blog which fortunately turned out to be my main blog, ever since I made my first entry on this day, way back in 2009. The other desired blog has been abandoned.

The initial purpose of blogging is to share my styling ideas and also to share some information on fashion. I treat my blog is my platform for me to write about fashion and styles as I wanted to become a fashion writer or fashion stylist at that time. Now, if you asked me if I wanted to pursue this, I would say no. Now, I would like to focus on learning to make vintage related things such as pillbox hat, vintage inspired clothes to name one or two things that are on my mind right now. At some point, it crosses my mind that I would like to get involve in selling vintage items, mainly clothes. But this is yet to be confirmed.

I never thought I could make friends in the blogging world. Gladly I did. I have got to know very inspiring and driven young ladies from thr5t. Wish you gals all the best with your endeavour! And also other stylish fashion bloggers from different parts of the world.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my entries as much as I have posted them. Suggestions or feedback in order to make Colourful Buttons a more interesting blog are welcome very much. Feel free to leave your comments.

Thank you for following my humble blog and checking out my posts! Have a great evening/day...

An almost shopping spree Sunday

It was truly an almost shopping spree last Sunday. Still had to look after my wallet or piggy bank though. Had to control myself. First stop was Kutu Market at Bistro 69, Metropolitan Square. If I am not mistaken, I think there were two vintage stalls, which I bought these items:

I know, I know, I bought a similar sailor top last month, with white stripes. I love sailor top and here is a little secret, I like man in uniform especially in navy uniform or sailor uniform :-) Perhaps this is the reason why I love sailor top so much...

After that, I went home to continue doing my house chores (most probably the most boring chores- ironing clothes, cleaning etc). Lah' Lah' Land: Flea What? fashion bazaar was on my to-go-flea market for the day. Somehow, my phone went kaput after dropping it (ouch....). Well, not totally kaput but somehow it is not the same as before. Took few photos of the bazaar but I could not locate them inside my phone. Sigh.

Anyway, it was good to catch up a bit with Ana and Tirah. Oh, I bought a vintage blazer from anaabu at a good deal - 50% of the price. Ana had a price slash on that day and it would be a shame for those who have missed this.

On another note, remember I mentioned about my pre-loved clothes? Well, I hope I was able to thank the buyers personally on that day but unfortunately I could not. Thanks to Ana for your kind assistance too. Thanks again!

Hope everyone will have a very good week ahead!