A peek inside Adorn. (Pre-order here!)

Wearing: Camel coat – Club Monaco (Similar). Jeans – AG Jeans. Loafers – Hudson Shoes. Bag – L.K.Bennett ‘Rosamund’. Scarf – MiH Jeans. Shirt – Zara.

While it did cross my mind a couple times to use April Fools Day to joke that Adorn is actually just a cardboard box with a cover printed on my inkjet printer, we received the release date for the book from the publishers on that same week and my giggling/tittering set off some kind of record on the Richter scale… and like I do with all my jokes, I was afraid of blurting out the punchline in the midst of telling the joke. Yup, I was that kid that supremely sucked at playing hide-and-seek because I’d crawl under the bed and then giggle so much I’d need to pee. So now you understand why the April Fools joke wouldn’t have worked, it would’ve gone something like: Hey guys, we don’t really have a book coming out, it’s just a cardboard – OMG IT’S COMING OUT ON THE 7TH I NEED TO PEE.

It tickles me very much to finally announce, that  Adorn: 25 Stylish DIY Fashion Projects will be released on the 7th April (UK and Europe), 8th (Online & worldwide) at all major bookstores and online retailers. You can also pre-order one on Amazon if you still want the slurpy internet kisses laced with inappropriate jokes that may or may not earn me a lawsuit. Ah, so is love in the 21st Century.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for snappy updates! #Adorn25

Make sure to follow Adorn on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for snappy updates!

This is something I’ve been wishing to share for a long time now, a special project that had Kit (of Style Slicker blog) and I essentially slapping on a piece of duct-tape across our internet ‘mouths’ and work on solidly for the past year or so. Please allow me to present to you, Adorn: 25 Stylish DIY Fashion Projects, a collection of easy-to-follow DIYs by Kit Lee and yours truly, published by Hardie Grant. It all started with two biscuit tins bursting with nick-nacks – studs and chains from the odd DIY projects on our respective blogs, and then an idea that blossomed over brunch. The following ten months with Kit behind the sewing machine, me practising tai-chi over her with the camera; over 30 Litres of tea inhaled, plus buckets of berries from the Dalston market… then chocolate-chip cookies as the weather grew colder. It was a big undertaking, one that thankfully concluded in a product that we’re both very proud of and happy to share with our readers.

The book will be available at all major bookstores and online retailers from early April – a pre-order link will be available soon (through which brownie points and slurpy internet kisses are also received…). See, I told you I’d find a way into your living room somehow, although my initial approach would’ve been through your bedroom window in a black leotard. But I don’t mind this version at all.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for snappy updates! #Adorn25

Afternoon tea at the Connaught Hotel

Bag – Couronne. Shoes – Zara.

Tropical-print cardigan – COS. Frill crepe bralet – Topshop. Pencil skirt – Next. Heels – Zara. Bag – Couronne. Bar necklace – Kirsten Goss Urban Edge.

“You look like an ambassador’s wife!”, Kit yelled as she found me sitting in a park bench waiting to go for tea at the Connaught. If I had spotted her first I’d have opened with “It’s my birthday, just today PLEASE lie about my how my new hair looks and tomorrow you can tell me I look like I need to pick up my two kids from football practice at 3pm”. Alas, I was immersed in trying to lure a squirrel with a crumb-looking stone and my new hair had curtained over my corner-eye – the first betrayal of many, I anticipate. So then we all went to tea, Honest Kit, an ambassador’s wife and her sidekick, the beautiful turquoise Couronne bag that looks like it could hold any political secrets. I guess today I had legitimate looks for the ‘Do you know who my husband is‘ or ‘I declare war on your café‘ card, if ever the need arose.The deal with the hair is, I’d gotten it permed and cut just over a month ago, but the style was so un-maintainable what with absolutely no blowdry skills whatsoever, I went back in for a shorter length where Mrs Jackie had thrown in a blow dry as well. So, realistically, this style will NEVER appear again on the blog unless I magically give birth to an intern who will just help blow dry at 7:55am before I leave the house at 8. I came home and told the hubby the story about my new title, and he just said “you just look like a ‘wife’ to me”. Well, thanks, you both.

By the way, and it feels wrong of me to push this to the side, but the Afternoon tea was heavenly. What a treat! The Connaught Hotel is no doubt one of my few favourite luxury 5-star hotels in London, and while I’ve been around during cocktail hours (and learning how to make a wicked Old-Fashioned with Editer), I hadn’t tried the afternoon tea at the Espalette. Well, no wonder as around 3-4pm everyday I’m hitting back alleys in search for the fifth and final caffeine fix of the day or a bag of Haribo to inhale. The scones are warm and soft – let that be your reason to go. Butter that scone, if you know what I mean.

DIY Scarf-print kaftan dress, a collaboration project with Styleslicker

Head on here to see the complete tutorial

Kaftan dress – Park & Cube x Styleslicker DIY. Nude shoes – Zara. Bag – Bottega Veneta. Watch – GUESS Rose gold

I realised the only time Kit and I join hands to collaborate is when we’re both hunched over her bowl of phô fishing out red meat so I can gobble it up like a bear. We’re also DIY enthusiasts and happen to share the opinion that if you need glue-gun to attach fabric onto fabric then it’s not DIY – it’s pre-school craft, and don’t get us started with stapling shit to shit. She’s a trained pattern cutter with ninja scissor skills, I’m a webdesigner sensitive to misaligned pixel – in a nutshell we’re both just anal and you wouldn’t want us as mothers or wives (sorry hubz). So we decided to team up to do a few DIY projects that might be educating in terms of garment construction and produce end-results that you might actually wear more than once. Remember this H&M panther scarf? Turns out there’s a lot more ways to transform it with just a few tools at home – for this one you don’t even need a sewing machine – check out the tutorial here to make your own scarf-print kaftan dress!

Check back often or tune in for the next one!

Columbia Road Flower Market

Foldable Liberty-print tote by Catherine Memre

Wearing: Shirt, Libery London. Jeans, Levi’s. Shoes, Friis & Company (similar). Sunglasses, Jeepers Peepers. Straw bag, Chloé; Thank you Kit for the shots!

I don’t know what’s worse, not having a TV or relying on Twitter/Google for current issues, because for a few weeks now I’ve been holed up in my flat eating peanuts out of party size bags (hubby is a compulsive hoarder) and collecting rainwater because apparently there’s a zombie mob out there choking the streets and running down innocent Londoners just trying to get on with life. At least that’s what I made out of all the ‘keep out of London’ tweets by the metropolitan police. Apparently the Olympics is on too. Yesterday I managed to sneak away to my happy place that is Columbia road flower market, one of the many bulletpoints on the Sunday to-do list that gets neglected, the other neglected task being ‘water the plants’ – not sure if this is ironic or logical. Peonies were still out so I happily bagged six bunches while Kit scored an armful of hydrangeas for £5, then we had donuts and coffee while observing an unfriendly pomeranian go nuts over crumbs. What a happy Sunday, and not a zombie in sight, Twitter you liar.