Sac Magique

Like a lot of females, I love accessories. 

One particular accessory I would find it very difficult to live without is the bag. Handbag, backpack, tote, shopper, clutch, suitcase; I'm always on the look out for a new bag. If I can get my hands on a bag that's especially unique and interesting, then all the better.

Here's a selection of handbags I'm currently lusting after. Unfortunately, the majority are way out of my price range. 

Anthony David

ASOS sequin panda bag

ASOS shopper

ASOS mouse shoulder bag

Fred Flare

Fred Flare

Fred Flare

Judith Leiber

Katherine Haumann

Love Moschino Cow box bag

Lulu Guinness Lily Cat shopper

Lulu Guinness perspex clutch

Moschino Cheap and Chic Forecast bag

Moschino Cheap and Chic Lady Love

Moschino Cheap and Chic Sailor Chic

Peter Jensen

Sasaki

The Rodnik Band Snappy Fish bag

Timmy Woods

Yoshimi Ezura

Dye My Darling

I'm not usually one for following fashion trends, but this is one I've always had a soft spot for, and it looks like it's currently all the rage with the current fashionista crowd...

Grunge.

I used to dress grungy when I was a kid, when it was made popular by the likes of Nirvana, Babes in Toyland and L7. Though I didn't realise then that I was a child at the forefront of fashion. They were just the kind of clothes I owned and felt comfortable in. Ripped jeans, black DMs, lumberjack shirts, floppy velvet hats, denim shorts with cropped knitted jumpers...

Since then, a bit of grunge has always remained in my wardrobe. Whether that be short short denim shorts, ripped tights and jeans, black boots, or tie-dye t-shirts.

I recently decided to dye a batch of t-shirts I hadn't worn for a long while. I'm always customising my clothes, trying to breathe a little more life in to them. I got mixed results, some I was more pleased with than others.

 Apologies for the creases, I don't really do ironing!

For this batch, I used Dylon hand dye in Flamingo Pink and Bahama Blue. I used two old jugs to make the dye up in, keeping it much more concentrated than the instructions advised. I twisted the tops up and chucked varying amounts of the dye all over them. Since it was a lovely sunny day, I hung them out to dry. Once dry (and very crusty, due to the salt), I gave them a rinse in cold water. Straight away the majority of the vivid dye colour was lost down the plug hole. And I know that much more of the colour will be lost after their first proper wash.

The above top is one I did over two years ago now, though with pale blue and pink Dylon hand dyes. It's had plenty of washes so has faded quite a lot. Is there any way this can be avoided I wonder?

Maybe trying a different make of dye would give me the results I'm after? Bright, vivid colours. Or perhaps using one of the many tie-dye kits out there would give better results? 

I plan to do plenty more dying of tired old clothes, so if anyone out there has any quality dying tips, I'd love to hear from you!