La Perla Contest!

I love having nice lingerie. To me, that is simple, delicate, feminine, and elegant. I feel it's one of the most inconspicuous luxuries. La Perla makes some of the most luxurious lingerie in the world. To celebrate Valentine's Day, La Perla has offered to sponsor a contest, the prize is a beautiful black lace mask to give away to two lucky blog readers. To enter, just leave a comment on this post, answering the question; What is the most romantic thing someone has ever done for you? The contest will end February 14th, 2009. No anonymous entries, please!(I will need to contact you by email if you've won!)

Wish list: 100,000 Years of Beauty

This just in, L'Oreal celebrates its 100th anniversary with a five part series of books documenting the history of beauty in the last 100,000 Years. The book commissioned by the L'Oreal Group, the second largest company in France, is a compilation of research done by 60 to 100 authors in each volume. It is said to be the largest documentation of its kind. Looking forward to getting a hold on a copy of this! It's like the Encyclopedia Britanica of beauty!

More on it here.

Still here, just busy...

Yessss, it's bone a whilte since I've last posted. Lots of stuff going on in my other pursuits. But I still love making things and admiring gorgeous things. I've been sewing up some simple silk tops for myself out of old skirts. Recycling clothing that you're never going to wear is fun anf rewarding. Here are some itmes spotted on Style.com that I love. The navy blue dress is Celine, it so simple, yet I can imagine how many ocassions I could wear it (as a day dress with skinny red belt, at night with lots of glittery crystal jewelry). The thousand-something dollar doesn't suit me, though. Luckily, it's an easy dress to make, and any standard pattern making book will give you directions for a dress like this. Built By Wndy has a new book out all about dreses. And then there's this cute little Chanel bag! Always awanted a quited classic Chanel purse. This one is so very cute. I still can't crochet to save my life, btw (maybe I've the patiance for it).


Dress by Celine. Bag by Chanel. via Style.com

Encylopedia of Crats

Received a review copy of Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts. Love it. I've always enjoyed her creat ideas and directions. It's always so classy and sophisticated. This book is no exception. There are ideas for everything from making soaps and candles to etching glass and tile mosaics, flower making, jewelery making, label making, etc. These crafts are fairly easy to do, but they produce an effective result. They mention just about every type of craft except for sewing and knitting (that's ok, there are so many books about those subjects anyways). I found this book to be a refreshing take on crafts-- the inspiration is overwhelming. I can't quite decide which craft I'd like to try yet! Would recommand as a gift for any craft inclined person to expend their horizons.

P/S Forgot to mention that the books is beautifully photographed with craft directions, as expected of a Martha Stewart book.

I Dream Of Paris

I wen to Paris while I was in uni. I made this collage in remembrance; the hearts are cut out of Fauchon choclate wrappers!

Being asked to write about what a dream weekend in Paris would be, I immediately had the song Susan Boyle's "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Misérables popped into my head. My mother received her CD as a gift and it's been playing in the car the past two weeks. She does some jazz numbers and I bet she could sing a version of "Vie En Rose". Anyways, I never really quite made it to Paris while I was living in Britain. Though I've been there about seven years ago.

My recent interest has been studying and making natural cosmetics. I love products from Dr. Hauschka, Weleda and Jurlqiue. I would love to design a product line that could be a North American mainstay like those lines are in their respective countries. Paris is not only the fashion capital of the world, but the perfume capital as well! I would love to make a trip to Paris and hit the spa at Espace Weleda (the first and only Weleda spa of its kind!).

Then I would love to go explore perfumery at Fragonard Perfume Museum. Did you know that up until the industrial revolution, that all perfumes were made from natural essential oils? This meant that perfumes were harder to reproduce because natural oils can vary from batch to bath making it harder to reproduce the same results every time. Once they learned to manipulate molecules of synthetic substances, they were able to create new scents not found in nature and even imitate natural oils! However despite being able to do this, a natural oil's properties cannot be replicated entirely. Something that might smell like lavender does not carry its healing properties with it and nor does the body recognize and properly metabolize a synthetic fragrance! To learn the artistry behind perfumery would be fascinating. I'd go have a look at Le Diptyque. They make fragrant candles and perfumes.

I think because of the first time I went to Paris, I didn't go to see Versailles. After seeing the Sofia Coppola movie, Marie Antoinette, I wished I had gone to see it! If I ever make it to Paris again, I would definitely make the trip out there.

A weekend in Paris is really not enough! But to me, no trip to Paris would be complete without a visit to Colette, the French fashion temple of all things new, novel and cool. Maybe I'd get a customized perfume made by Le Labo. I love their stark packaging and that they make their fragrances from essential oils. Colette carries the latest in womenswaer, menswear, music, beauty, books, an ongoing gallery and a water bar/cafe. To me, this is one of the most inspirational shops to explore.

If you ask me, one can never quite get enough of Paris. One always desires to return once they've left Paris!

The first time I went to Paris, we took the Eurostar from Waterloo station in London. It was a pleasant trip, easy and restful. And with all the hassle of taking a flight nowadays, a train trip is preferred. Check out all the wonderful things you can do in Paris on the Little Break, Big Difference website! It's an excellent guide to just about every aspect of Parisian culture.

Knit Design Experience Workshop from Knit-1, Brighton

This is some of my work from the course!

Some knitting course news from Knit-1! The best training that you can get for machine knitting. Due to popular demand, they have created short 1 week courses. Thinking of taking an experience holiday? This is a cool option to consider. Maybe this is something you want to ask Santa for Christmas! They've sent me this message, details about new courses as follows. Email me at makingthingsblog AT gmail DOT com to get more info.

We are contacting you to tell you about our 2 new one week courses or as we
like to call them knit design experiences. Come and learn in our wonderful premises
in Brighton , UK and make quality designs to fashion industry standards.

Make a stylish fully fashioned Garment in one week

Learn to use Industrial Knitting Machines in one week

Both are full time Monday to Friday 10am- 5pm
All yarns included in the cost.

Dates and Fees

Make Garment 23rd - 27th November 2009 £ 300 + vat
8th - 12th March 2010 £ 300 + vat

Industrial Machine Knitting 15th -19th February 2010 £ 300 + vat
19th -23rd April 2010 £ 300 + vat


Our next 6 week course starts Monday 9th November and further 6 & 12 courses start Monday 11th January 2010

I'm Bored, Let's Make Something

British Vogue, November 2009

It's officially two weeks since I came back from England to Canada. It's taken some time to adjust, such as the time difference, the words we use and even the money (today, I handed a cashier a twenty pound bill without even realizing it until she looked at it funny!). And I kinda miss the soaps I used to watch like Coronation Street and Emmerdale (we're like ten months behind on the episodes over here.

The good news is that I'm back and my room and studio are just as I left them, a bit messy and chaotic. It's time to sort through all the old bits and do a good clearing out. Just as I was leaving England, I had to toss out a lot of things that I would hoard, use up a lot of cosmetics and lotions, give away stuff to charity shops. Clearing out feels good. As they say, a tidy desk lends to a clear mind.

So I've been setting stuff aside for charities that phone up to pick up things. Still a lot of go through, but I intend to make it a regular habit to clear out useless things.

Something I saw on BBC telly before I left was featuring a trend towards "make do and mend". This was the phrase that our grandparents would recall especially in England during the World Wars when rationing was enforced. People used to make everything themselves if they could. It seems that now, we are a dependent society, we don't know how to make or repair anything! In this month's issue of British Vogue, the focus is on "dash cash", more dash than cash, "diy couture"; reporting that sales in the haberashery department at Liberty has doubled in the past year (funny, since they also devote less space to it now). So is DIY finally going mainstream?

Hopefully, maybe. I'm pretty bored of shopping anyways. Shopping for a finished product is instant gratification that can be excessive and the feeling is over in ten minutes or so. Making something allows you to stretch out the gratifying experience of creating something. It's selecting the fabric, buying the notions, cutting a pattern and putting it together, and for some of us showing it off on our blogs or Flickr account. It's a journey, it's a challenge, it's expressive and a lot of fun.


Haberdashery accessories from Liberty via

Rugs by Amy Butler

Just discovered these beautiful rugs by textile print designer, Amy Butler. Every aspect of these rugs are made by hand from 100% New Zea land wool. I love the use of color in these, bright and bold, yet refined and subdued. I wish I was in the market for a rug like these! see more here.

Country Girls- Chanel

Chanel Spring 2010 via Style.com

Remember the Sex and the City episode where Carrie goes to the countryside with Aidan? This Chanel collection reminds me of that. A city girl going country and being totally inappropriate. I find it rather amusing (see the sky scraper clogs), but I can appreciate the beautiful workmanship of the clothing as many pieces featured knitting and crochet.

Cosy Time

I found this photo in French Vogue, September 2009 issue. The sweater is Chanel. I LOVE it.

It's been raining for three days straight here in Brighton. I suppose it was about time it rained since we had such gloriously outstanding weather in September. This type of cold, wet weather warrants staying in and staying cozy in cashmere and drinking tea. I'm just about packed up to move home now.

Dr. Hauschka- London

Dr. Hauschka, 12 Needham Rd, London

I made a visit to the Elysia Shop in Noting Hill. They've recently changed the signage to say Dr. Hauschka, but they also sell other product ranges such as their Liv organic clothing line, beautiful organic cotton basics and house linens. I went there to get the Biodynamic Growing DVD. A good video reference if you are interested in the subject. I plan to try some of the techniques when I get home.

Essential Skin Care

Dr. Hauschka muslin cloths and Cleansing Cream via

When I wored as a shop manager selling natural and organic skin care products, I get to try out a lot of products as a result. While there are many great products out there, nothing compares to Dr. Hauschka's Cleansing Cream. I've been on and off their products, and all I can say is that nothing works better for blemish prone skin. I've tried other non-grainy cleansers and found that impurities would get trapped and build up in the skin, later resulting in break outs. I went back to using the Cleansing Cream and found that it resolved this problem. The other product that I would say is essential for me is the Sage Bath used in a hot and cold compress during cleansing. Sage is known to draw out impurities and help to detoxify. These two products really make an immense difference spot prone skin, in conjunction with the other recommanded products. But basically, what I mean to say is that cleansing properly is vital to healthy skin.

Virginia Johnson

Virginia Johnson print dress via. Illustration by Virginia Johnson via.

I love beautifully printed textiles. I learned about Virginia Johnson about 5 years ago when she illustrated for the series of Kate Spade books. She's a Canadian based textiles designer specialising in prints. I love how her prints look like water color paintings.


Virginia Johnson

The Icecreamists, Selfridges- London

via

I'm leaving UK in less than two weeks. My days are filled with packing and strategically deciiding what is the best way to get my stuff home. Oh, I'm still tempted to buy more things!

I've also been making trips to London, trying to visit all the places I never quite got around to. I still haven't gotten around to everything...



I did make it to The Icecreamists' ice cream bar at Selfridges. They've got lovely unusual flavors of ice cream, ice cream sandwiches, and alcoholic ice cream. The walls are painted black and furnished with black vinyl sofas, tables and ghost chairs. They've got a stage for special performances. A cool hang out to break away from all that London hustle and bustle! So what flavor did I try? Well, I just had to try their English Rose ice cream. The rose flavor is subtle, and there are actual rose petals in it! They serve the ice cream is these modern looking ice cube shaped cups and little ice cream picts. It's something you just have to go do for the novelty.

MOVING SALE!

I'm moving back to Canada in two weeks time. So to lighten my load, I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop. Everything has been reduced by 50% or more! Shop now! Sale ends October 10th, 2009.

More items to be added, so keep checking back. Some gorgeous yarns greatly reduced

Marimekko Shop- London

I first learned about Marimekko when I stopped by in Helsinki on a Baltic Sea cruise. Markimekko is a Finnish textile design company and they produce their own line of products featuring their famous pop prints. I visited the shop in London, 16-17 St. Christopher's Place (go through the alley way from Oxford St where H&M is).

I got a copy of this Marimekko magazine. You can also view a fill copy of it online at their website. There is an interesting photo essay explaining the textile printing process at Marimekko.

They also sell the beatuiful Marimekko print fabrics by the metre. They are printed on a medium weight cotton, most appropriate for home furnishings (you can sort of see the bolts of fabric in the last photo below).

The Meaning of Color- Aura Soma

At Aloka in Brighton, 14 East St

Go on, pick a bottle, go with your instinct, what catches your eye. These dual colored bottles of organic oil, plant and crystal essences are from Aura Soma. Each bottle has a name, a number and an explanation for it. What you choose is intuitively what you need. The theory is that color is associated with the Chakra energies. When we have too much or too little of one energy, we may feel drained or unbalanced. Shake up the bottle so that the colors are mixed and apply to the body.



I love the beautiful colors in the bottles. They remind me of Dan Flavin's light installations like the one seen below.

You're Got Mail!

YSL cuff, via

Do you miss receiving a hand written letter? I used to revel in receiving a letter from across the world, reading about the life of friends and family in a foreign country. In a world of email and Facebook, letters have become a rarity. And now it's a fashion statement. See here, postcards and envelopes used as a motif.


YSL and Lul Guinness bags, via

Silver Business Car Case, SJ Stodel, £350.00 via Liberty

Win A Signed Copy Of Lace Knitting To Go

Win a signed copy of Lace Knitting To Go from yours truly. All you have to do is visit my Twitter homepage and start following me! Let me know by leaving me an @andreatung twitter message for a chance to to win! When I get 500 followers on my Twitter, I will randomly select five winners, so get your friends to join in as well!

Lace knitting To Go is available on Amazon.com.

Don't Forget The Trimmings! VV Rouleaux- London

VV Rouleaux is a beautiful trimmings shop in London (get off at Sloane Square tube station and it's around the corner, 54 Sloane Square). They sell beatitude ribbons of every kind, including 100% silk ribbons and gorgeously luscious velvet ribbons of every color. They also have an atelier service that makes hats, mask and interior design accessories. If you need something to make that extra special touch for a craft project, you'll find something here that strikes your fancy.

All That Glitters At Swarovski

Exclusive fashion exhibition at Swarovski

Something I think jewelry enthusiasts should check out in London is the Swarovski CRYSTALLIZE shop. This store is different than all the other Swarovski stores in that it's a concept store and it's about creating your own style with Swarovski. The shop features these pull out drawers that are lit up and display glittering crystal elements that you can purchase on its own . Or you can have your own jewellry ideas made up by one of their designers. It doesn't stop there, get upstairs and there are special displays of Swarovski encrusted fashions by well-known designers and take a break in their lounge. If you make a purchase, join their free membership and receive a free drink voucher for the lounge!


Swarovski CRYS|TALLIZED lounge


Green tea in beautiful Swarovski dishware

Sartorialist Book Signing, London: The Most Fasmous Fashion Blogger

Scott Schuman is probably the most famous fashion blogger in the world. So it shouldn't come as a shock if people line up for two hours to get thei book signed by him. Why is he so popular? It's because his blog isn't really about himself. It's about you and me, and the poeple around us. It's about style and not really about "fashion" (style being timeless and fashion being of the moment). I read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and if he were to explain it, The Sartorialist's phenomennon fits into the Power of Context, it's many small movements happening together that creates an epidemic. Schumen focuses on style-- he photographs people of all sorts, and it's about the people in the photo expressing personal style. And that's something everybody can relate to.

Attended The Sartorialist book signing at Liberty on Monday night. Unexpectedly, they ran out of books and had to get more delivered during the signing. I managed to buy my copy there when the delivery arrived. When I go out of the signing room, the line stretched out the door! What a turn out! The book is a great addition to any fashion addict's library.


Me at the signing



If you missed the signing, you can still check out their display in the Men's department at Liberty and purchase the book.

What is Kitsuné?

A/W 2009 Kitsuné collection

So I get an invite to a party for something I admittedly don't know about. I get to Bluebird almost unknowingly because I don't know the area very well and I ask for 350 Kings Road. Turns out I've arrived (I ended up walking too far and running into Vivienne Westwood's shop). The party was for Kitsuné. They've opened a pop up shop at Bluebird. But what is Kitsuné? I asked the staff and ended up speaking to one of the Kitsuné founders. It's a brand based in Paris. It started out as a music label seven years ago, and they expended into a clothing label. It's a lifestyle brand. Cool music, cool, simple, well made clothes. Well made was something I definetly noticed about the clothes. They are sold in concession stands at high end department stoes throughout the world, mostly in Japan, Barney's and Bergdorf Goodman in NY, and Dover Street Market in the UK. And for the time being at Bluebird.

I love the coat in the photo above, and the scarf!


Kitsuné pop up shop at Bluebird

Wonderland...

Sometimes a really simple outfit could use a giant bow on it. Just added my latest design on Etsy, Wonderland Silk Bow Hair Band. The bow is made with a gorgeous silk taffeta. I love the light blue color of the fabric. It has a luminous sheen to it. The stiffness of the fabric adds shape and volume, which give it a sort of cartoon effect. The inspiration was Alice In Wonderland meets Minnie Mouse. I was also thinking about an iconic Yves Saint Laurent bow dress

My Liberty Purchase Arrives!

Yay! Someone finally called me back to get my payment details on Tuesday. My purchase arrived this morning. They included a free Liberty Eco Bag for the inconvenience caused, and sent it for next day delivery. I'm glad that when they do mess up, they do their best to make it right. Really happy with the combination of prints I chose.