One of the main excitements of our local carnival is catching the colorful necklaces that are thrown from the parade floats (us third worlders are big fans of free stuff, including the plastic forks from Wendy’s or BK). People walk around the streets with dozens of these wrapped around their necks. I, as usual, missed out on the grubbing fest and decided to purchase these instead:

 The beads are quite large, and I figured would make a great addition to my inexpensive jewelry collection. By “purchase” I mean pay 5 lempiras ($0.27) for each one. Found them at a department store, Carrion.

Double wrapped and paired with a simple, brown dress I sketched up and had a local seamstress make for me. She was fast (which I LOVE) but I had to fix a few things myself. It’s always good to know at least the basics of sewing!

Anyway, as you can probably already tell, I’m currently having a love affair with hot pink. I’ve been embarassed to admit it because the first things that come to mind are the Legally Blonde poster (not that I didn’t love the first movie) and the famous Hilton heiress. Cut me some slack, a’right?

Top and skirt: both thrifted. Yey-ah! 

Press-on earring: gift from grandma. 

 I can’t keep this purdy thing from seeing the light of day, despite it’s loner status (grandma only found one). I keep the rest jewelry-free, to avoid 80s overload.

Monochrome, clean lines, white sandals…sounds like a potential hassle-free, summer uniform. Don’t know if I can stay away from my kooky patterns for too long, though. I’m currently sewing an A-line skirt and a maxi dress…wish me luck!

Down here everyone shops at the same fabric stores because we don’t have many to choose from.  As a result, real life “who wore it better” segments abound! In my case, however, curtains and handbags are the competition. Maybe it’s because of this lack of variety that I’m such a sucker for strange prints. Even before the fruity Prada collection, I was already going nuts (ermm, bananas) for fabrics that are traditionally used for curtains in little cafeterias. I didn’t lead myself into buying one until I found one with perfect colors: turquoise and orange!

I made a simple skirt with two seams front and back so the oranges wouldn’t look so “literal”.

Another skirt I wore A LOT last year had a cool print of a less conventional fruit. I found a pumpkin & apple printed dress in a thrift store that was too small to fit, so I cut the bodice off to turn it into a skirt.

And voilá!

Worn here with an 80s dress+thrifted choker and belt.

I don’t think my fascination for tablecloth-y fabrics will die anytime soon…expect to see more!

I’m currently taking the most efficient patternmaking classes I have EVAA taken and I’m sooo excited about sewing more complicated stuff without having to guess how to do things along the way.

Oh, and if you haven’t seen the Prada collection I mentioned above and think I’m insane and delusional and made it up, here’s the video campaign. Keep your eyes open for the bananas!  😉

P.S. Quick updeyt! I’m now writing a blog in Spanish, sponsored by a Honduran department store called Tiendas Carrion.  I’ve been sooo nervous + excited about it. I have lots more to say about why I decided to take on this project, but I will do so on my next post.