// I made it

Posted on | September 8, 2011 | 5 Comments

Yeah, I finally made it! Actually knitting this sweater was a snap — but those about five million yarn ends and particularly tedious finishing job with laceweight mohair almost demolished my working ethic.

The giant tube shape, bold stripes and the material are all nods to my first knits in the end of 80’s and beginning of 90’s (mohair, giant, unflattering). That yarn has a touch of luxury, it is baby soft kid-mohair — and a strand of pure silk runs through it, keeping the delicate thing together. It is so lightweight that in spite of that size the sweater can easily be layered under jackets and coats. It is long and can be worn as a dress (I doubt I will do that, though) — but the shape allows it to be gathered to the shoulders — and the hem rises up. The funnel neck is large enough to be worn as a hood. I’ve knit my safe haven for upcoming winter.

THE CURE — Lullaby by Caro69

Posted on | September 8, 2011 | 5 Comments

// DIY fashion statement(s)

Posted on | August 15, 2011 | 5 Comments

Organic raspberry buttercream. My favorite batch so far was with peanut butter buttercream, planning to add some fleur de sel on top of them for personal touch. And pistachio was quite rad as well.

I suck on piping the batter to even little buttons, thus my macarons are always slightly irregular. But taste and texturewise the homemade ones are unbeatable. Everything you need to know about baking macarons with french meringue batter here.

Posted on | August 15, 2011 | 5 Comments

// Still a knitter

Posted on | May 31, 2011 | 2 Comments

My needles are still clicking — there are maybe three sweaters on active production line — and at least one cardigan at idea level.

I have a thing for mohair yarns, it’s part of the eighties vibe I like, part just that lovely texture. The black and white one is dress length, loose, with giant funnel neck, big enough to wear as a hood. This would be ready in a snap… …but I have lost the sleeve I was knitting… ..yeah, that’s right…

From the shade shifting gray I was about to make a plain sweater with ballet neck — but I tried out this simple texture stitch and loved the result. Well, it will probably still be a simple ballet neck sweater. Ebony needles = ultimate knitting snobbishness…

Posted on | May 31, 2011 | 2 Comments

// Suspending a geod

Posted on | March 20, 2011 | 3 Comments

My DIY department has been pretty quiet — more so than I would like.

I love to work with metal and stones. Unfortunately I have no decent workspace and no access to such, so my jewelry making is limited to combining standard jewelry making supplies. Those supplies tend to be slightly too standardized for exciting results… …so I was really happy to discover that there is a spiritual stone shop just around the corner of my home. I’m not interested in that kind of stuff in general… …but the place is a treasury of uncut crystals and such — less processed, bit rougher stuff than in your regular beads store. Plus I just love stones, I even collected them when I was a kid — so the little shop truly was like a candy store for me!

Four slices of agate just had to come home with me. One of them is a beautiful blue slice of hollow geod — so I just suspended it to pile of gunmetal chain of two weights, arranging and attaching the chains semi haphazardly. The large stone looks pretty good against the not too dainty arrangement of dangling dark chains. My images of the finished necklace were utter crap — so excuse the “artistic” take on “product picture”.

My other idea involves some drilling of stones — and I forgot that we lost our drilling machine in the last move, so I have no idea when I can actually execute it.

Posted on | March 20, 2011 | 3 Comments

// Recycled lace

Posted on | July 20, 2010 | 4 Comments

I made this quick fix for my vintage lace addiction from quite mundane garments: a second hand crocheted cardigan and a piece of bobbin lace which originally adorned a piece of bedlinen. The cardigan I got for 2 euros from the local charity shop — it was broken, slightly stained and the shape of it was not particularly fetching. But I liked the lightweight crochet with subtly 3d flower motif — and the fact that the years of use had given the fabric certain softness, often lacking from crocheted items. I’m happy how the two shades of white combined look like and how the front turned out — but the back is not perfect, I run about 15 cm short of the bobbin lace to finish it as I had planned. The construction idea is stolen directly from this Magda Berliner top I saw in wonderful Res Pulchrae blog — but the body is slightly longer.

It is not at its best over just a lightweight bikini top (that gives almost zero support and no flattening for my chest), but I’ll bet that it will be an useful layering piece. And I promise that I will not play with the Poladroid all the time — but the pictures were utter crap so I did what I could… (yeah, excuses… =))

Posted on | July 20, 2010 | 4 Comments

// Jewelry DIY:s

Posted on | July 14, 2010 | 7 Comments

Crocheted earring utilizing regular jewelry wire. I need more of it to make a pair. This took about 10 meters — and it is quite large, sweeping my shoulder when I’m wearing it.

A simple chainmail cuff with four to one weave. Just wanted to practice the technique with a very simple item — but I think that I ended up with quite usable piece! Closed with seven parrot locks — but I’m considering making it just a bit larger so I can just pull it to my wrist. And maybe a bit wider, too. But I need more jump rings!

Posted on | July 14, 2010 | 7 Comments

// DIY: before and after

Posted on | March 23, 2010 | 5 Comments

Today the sun kept shining — and I had excellent thrifting karma! At Fida Hämeentie I scored this white blouse for couple of euros. It’s organic cotton, super soft and looks almost unworn. The design was… …eh… …blah… …but when I saw it I instantly thought adding bit weight to that ruffle part…

The simple DIY involved two times three meters of cotton lace, in slightly different shades to give the lace cascade more depth. I sew them together first, then ruched the combination and attached it to the edge of front ruffle. Working time: just under 30 min. I think I’m actually going to use this… …the leather pants want to make friends with it… …and the golden leather shorts are second in line…

Posted on | March 23, 2010 | 5 Comments

// The magpie does what the magpie does…

Posted on | March 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

Being a Scandinavian I should be natural born minimalist. But no… …I have healthy appetite for all things bright and shiny. And that appetite is well served with this current DIY project: the shameless knockoff of Dolce & Cabbana trinket belt. Unfortunately I ran out of silk satin ribbon before the elastic of the base belt was fully covered — and embroidering the crystals to the grosgrain ribbon is really painstaking work — so it will be a while before I’m actually sporting this. Sew-on rhinestones are awfully expensive — but fortunately I remembered having two rhinestone bracelets, both with broken locks so I just dissassembled them and now I’m reusing the stones in this belt.

Oh, and on my last visit to the local thrift store I picked up something that a belly dancer might wear. Lovers knot might be the least hip technique ever… …but somehow it works for this garment. Back to that later…

Posted on | March 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

// The hazmat T

Posted on | March 13, 2010 | 10 Comments

I’ve had too little time for crafts lately, plus I’m knitting a scarf that takes ages to get finished — so I was truly in a need of instant reward type of DIY project. So I took a cheapie lightweight H&M striped T, poured some chlorine on it, went to cook something and let the stuff to do its trick meanwhile. Naturally that was hazardous for the color but it even created some tiny holes to the material… …I quite like it, it is probably not the most obvious home bleach job.

I would love to wear some stitched and padded leather on the bottom… …but unfortunately don’t have any. Now it’s just my old Lee jeans, Rützou wedges, second hand fur and leather cuffs from some cheapie accessory shop. The slightly too short sleeves of the fur leave them nicely on display.

DIY instructions

You need
chlorine; regular domestic bleach, for example Clorox
a (striped) cotton T
plastic protection for the surface

Other natural fibers might work as well — but be careful with the time and don’t be surprised of funky color changes — and note that chlorine does not bleach synthetics.

Protect the surface you are planning to use (if you do this on bathroom tiles it is not necessary). Place the t-shirt on top of the plastic. Pour and sprinkle some chlorine on it — you probably want some nice splatter patterns so don’t rub the substance on the material — just let it be where it goes. Let the chlorine bleach the poured areas from 20 min to about an hour. Rinse the garment well and wash it.

Posted on | March 13, 2010 | 10 Comments

// Cheapy cheap

Posted on | December 13, 2009 | 9 Comments

suede4 suede1 suede3 suede2

These gray suede boots are my bargain found from Berlin. My old pair was in such a sad condition. These are bit flashier and higher, but they are still quite decent to walk in — and easy to wear up and down, property I give great value after the old, bit too casual pair. Not actually the best boot for winter… …but who cares, I have enough actual winter boots. Wearing them with tie-dye hosiery from Doré & Doré, old H&M silk cotton dress, old linen coat and DIY bib-necklace (and of course you can make it yourself).

Charlie-Chaplin-in-Modern-Times-Wallpaper-classic-movies-5867990-1024-768

Sometimes the inspiration for the outfit does not come from the actual clothing, but rather the setting… …I would love to sit on top of these giant cogwheels wearing these clothes… (image from Fanpop)

The weather starts to turn cold and it is snowing today. I guess that it is time to pack this wrinkly little coat to winter storage…

Posted on | December 13, 2009 | 9 Comments

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About

Location: Helsinki, Finland

Contact: kamicha (a) gmail dot com

I'm especially interested in young designers creations, non-established labels and indie fashion. So if you have something interesting to show, feel free to contact!

You can find Finnish design from both specific and some outfit posts - but both are tagged.

You might be also interested in DIY posts, How-to posts, DIY ideas - or my adventures in Etsy =).

More about me and this blog.