Crop top and culottes outfit

So, about that grey knit crop top in my last post, OMG I LOVE that pattern!!! It comes from one of the last Female magazines that were published in 2013:

You can make it with woven fabrics but something told me that it would be too tight with my big arms and that it would look super boxy so I went with knits and it's excellent! You can't really tell from the picture above but it's a hi-lo design with a curved back hem which makes it easier to wear because, well, it is cropped and therefore much shorter than what I'm used to wearing -I lengthened it by 1 inch just in case by the way^^

 

Decent back length -pheeew

And since it's shorter I had to make a bottom that would have a regular or higher waist and still be comfortable and cute if possible. Culottes sounded great but I was a bit disheartened after failing twice with Megan Nielsen's Tania which was much too poofy, short and therefore unpractical for me. A quick internet search and a link to Petit Main Sauvage's impeccable tutorial appeared. Thanks Lauriana, you're a sewing goddess!

And if you're wondering what's happening with my hair I'm trying to emulate my new favorite anime character Jibanyan using Directions pink dye and henna but maybe this is not the best solution^^ Sigh, the road is still long to that perfect orange shade:

Year of the Ram part 1

There's some sewing at the end of this post but first I'm going to ramble on my passion of Asian folklore so just scroll down if you're not into that!
I love celebrating the Chinese new year, it's such a happy and special time, you can decorate the house with adorable animal images, eat delicious mooncakes and thanks to the astrological predictions you even get to know what the year has in store for you ;) As a bonus I've just come back from Singapore where the whole city was prepped up for the occasion:

I visited Gardens by the Bay and the theme was Chinese signs and dahlia, the flower associated with the Ram:

I learnt that as a Monkey my flower is the chrysanthemum, so excellent because I adore them!

The whole outfit except for the shawl is me-made btw

If the year's animal is good for me^^ I make a little something in honour of it and since the Ram is supposed to be quite my buddy I sewed a top which I have yet to finish (I never have the correct zipper in my stash) and in the meantime here's a cute little necklace I made using hama beads:

The crop top is from a Female magazine pattern, I love it to death, more on this later!

I found the pattern on the internet and thought that white would be too classic so I used the same pink as the chrisanthemums in the pic above :) The chain is long enough to be pulled over so this necklace was really quick and easy to make!