I've Earned (These) Stripes

A real quick outfit post today. This morning I went thrifting at my favourite secret Op Shop and picked up a ridiculous amount of good things. I will show them all off to you in just a while, but as I am trying to study maths (hooray!) today, that will have to wait for a few days. This is a lovely striped & circle skirted dress and belt that I bought today, for $4 and 50c respectively! I'm also wearing: Bag - OASAP Hat - wholesale-dress Bowtie - (really badly done) DIY Thigh-highs - purchased in Osaka Shoes - wholesale-dress This bag from oasap.com has made so many appearances on this blog... it just seems to go with everything! And I could think of no better bag to go with my new black & white stripey dress. Hope you're all having a stunning day! xxx Annika

Giveaway from Mochi Beaucoup: The Cutest Belt Ever!! // CLOSED

Get excited everyone. Because I have a giveaway for you all!!! I'm so excited to give these two amazing items away to ONE of my fabulous blog followers from my brand new sponsor, Mochi Beaucoup! Firstly is this - what I'm sure is actually the cutest belt ever: And secondly, this sweet detachable crochet collar: "ANNIKA, YOU MEAN I CAN WIN THIS?!" Why yes, you can! And it's pretty easy. (And come on, so worth it! All you have to do is click a few buttons, and you can make these PHYSICALLY APPEAR IN YOUR MAILBOX FOR FREE. You've got to love the internet!) Here's what you must do: 1) "Like" MochiBeaucoup.com on Facebook 2) Follow the Pineneedle Collective via Google Friend Connect 3) Register yourself on MochiBeaucoup.com (click here) so they know where to send your prize! 4) Leave a comment below with a link to your favourite item on Mochibeacoup.com 5) Leave your email address so that I can contact you if you win! Extra entries! 1) Follow Mochi Beaucoup on twitter (post your twitter name in the comments so I can verify this entry) 2) Follow Mochi Beaucoup on blogspot via Google Friend Connect 3) Follow the Pineneedle Collective on tumblr (and post your tumblr name in your comment so I can verify this) 4) Pin a Mochi Beaucoup item on Pinterest (and post a link to your pin in the comments below)  Just let me know in the comments section below which ones you have done! You could have up to 5 entries, which makes your chances of winning this look pretty sweet! (Just don't forget to let me know what you did in the comments below! And make sure you've "Liked" Mochi Beaucoup's facebook page, left your email address, and followed my blog... your entry will become invalid if you do not!) This competition is an international one, so anyone can enter! This competition closes in 21 days (the 27th of March). If for some reason you don't feel like entering (I would also ask, WHY!), then you should still check out mochibeaucoup.com. They're really well priced, plus if you Like them on FB you get free shipping! OH, and if you enter the code AVPNMB20 then you get 20% off your first purchase! They have some of the cutest stuff. These are my favourites: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 I am so excited about this!! I hope you are as well! Love, Annika xxx

DIY Velvet Circle Skirt Tutorial

FIND THE UPDATED TUTORIAL HERE. You want to make yourself a velvet circle skirt?? Well read right on! Firstly, here's two formula's you need to have down to make a circle skirt (they'll make sense in a second, I promise): Got it? Good! Here's what you do: 1. Cutout your large circle from your fabric. I get to cheat because I have a table which is perfectly round. If you don't have a round table though, this is how to measure your circle: What size should my circle be? 2. You also need to cutout your waist circle (smaller circle) from the centre of the larger circle. For this, it's good to use a pattern: And then place it onto the centre of your larger circle, pin, and cutout. To get the radius of this smaller circle, you need to divide your waist measurement by 2 x pi. For example, here is what my measurements look like for my waist (27 in) and desired skirt length of 16 in. 3. Now you need hem the outside circle! Circle hems are a little tricky. You do end up with a little bit of ruffling, like this: But it's hardly noticeable, and this is the easiest way to hem your skirt. To hem, you just need to go along the entire outer edge, folding up about half an inch as you go along, lifting the presser foot and readjusting as you go. 4. Waistband (I accidentally stopped taking photos of the black velvet skirt here, so I'll continue here with photos from another circle skirt that I made.) Cut your waistband to about 5 in x your waist measurement + 5 in (ie. my waistband was 5 in by 32 in).  Fold it in half (the wrong way around) and pin together. Sew entirely up one side. Then turn it inside out. Attach to the inner circle of your skirt on the FRONT of the skirt (pin first to ensure the correct placement!) Sew along the entire length of the inner circle, so that that waistband is attached! 5. Zipper/button insertion. If the velvet you used had enough stretch, and you can fit it on without too much difficulty, you can totally skip this step, sew together your waistband, cut off the excess waistband and you're done! If the fabric doesn't have much stretch though, you will need to insert buttons/a zipper following the instructions below. Now you will have a bit of overlap on the waistband. Where this overlap occurs, draw a line vertically downwards either the length of your zip (if you will be inserting a zipper), or the length you desire if you want to add buttons (you'll know when you've got the right length when you can fit it on over your hips!) Follow instructions on how to insert a zipper here, or if you're inserting buttons, fold back both sides down the cut, hem, and insert buttons following tutorial here. Hooray! Now you've made a circle skirt (and I hope I didn't make it seem too complicated, it's really one of the easiest skirts to make!) Check out another circle skirt tutorial here (youtube!) for some inspiration/help! Have a gorgeous day! xxx Annika

DIY Swan Sweater Tutorial

Hello beautiful readers! Here is promised Swan Sweater DIY (velvet circle skirt tutorial later today!) (He looks a little different than yesterday, that's because I gave him a little bowtie after seeing this swan cardigan from Modcloth!) Inspiration: Modcloth's "Swanning Over You" Cardigan Dorothy Perkins Swan Sweater What you do: 1. Get your sweater. Woolen knits work fine for this, as well as more synthetic ones. Too thick though, and you may run into problems.  2. Cut out your swan from white (or any colour!) fabric. Either use a stencil (search swan silhouette in google images perhaps?) or draw by hand!  3. Place it onto the front of your sweater. Pin to sweater, make sure you're pinning ONLY to the front.  4. Put your sweater on carefully to check that the placement is correct. If it all looks good, you can start sewing!  5. Using a small zigzag stitch, go around the edges of your swan, stopping to lift the presser foot occasionally to readjust and make sure it isn't wrinkling! 6. Now you've attached your swan! Add details such as bows, eyes, feathers, little feet... whatever takes your fancy! Get creative! I decided just a little necktie bow was enough for my swan. I used just a small length of white ribbon, tied it in a bow, and sewed it into place by hand using white thread. Come back in a few hours for my velvet circle skirt tutorial! xxx Annika

DIY Swan Sweater & Velvet Skirt!

Hello! This post today has three purposes. The first is to show you this DIY Swan Sweater! The second is to show off this velvet circle skirt I made yesterday! And the third is to show off these gorgeous ballerina tights c/o Oasap! Wearing:  Sweater - DIY (& vintage) Skirt - I made it! Tights - oasap.com (here) Shoes - yesstyle.com (here) Blouse - Vintage Belt - Vintage Hat - here Bag - Vintage A swan sweater, a velvet circle skirt and ballerina tights. Three things that I've  desperately wanted/had my eye on for ages - and now mine! So I threw them all together in an outfit. Hooray! Keep an eye out for the full DIY for both the Swan Sweater and the Circle skirt in the next couple of days! Much love! xxx Annika