The girl anachronism

wearing: dress - Club Couture via Chictopia rewards bag - c/o Oasap sweater clips - DIY hat - c/o Wholesale socks - c/o Shop with Romi boots - Rubi Shoes Alright, chictopia is awesome. I was able to "buy" this dress because I'd gotten enough points on the website just for posting my outfits! (Also I may have watched the item obsessively to make sure no one else got it before me, haha).  However, I still don't know how you're supposed to pronounce the site, which seems a bit ridiculous. Is it "chick"topia or "sheek"topia?? Anyone want to enlighten me? Also, if anyone out there understood the title and is also a huge fan of the dresden dolls... please comment :) Ahh, one more thing, I just need to note that Girl Anachronism would be such an awesome title for a vintage style blog! (An anachronism is something which is incongruous with the time period in which is exists. Like if a character in Mad Men called someone up on a mobile phone.) Ahh I wish I'd come up with that instead of "Pineneedle Collective"! I don't even know what Pineneedle Collective means. Would you all mind if I suddenly changed the name of my blog...? (Haha, just kidding. Maybe.) xxx Annika

DIY Heart Appliqué on High Waisted Shorts

I saw shorts like these in a store in China Town a couple of months back, and have wanted to DIY them ever since. Now that I'm officially on uni holidays, I finally have the chance to do some sewing! Of course, I decided to begin this at around midnight (I always seem to be most inspired when I'm meant to be sleeping) so the photos are pretty terrible quality. Please bear with me! what you need a pair of shorts a small square of patterned fabric scissors a pen pins (optional) thread and needle OR a sewing machine with a zigzag stitch what you do 1. Cut out two shapes (I did love hearts, of course) from your patterned fabric. Use a stencil like I did, or fold the fabric over itself and cut the shapes out together in order to get the exact same shape for both sides. 2. Once cut out, place the shapes on your shorts and pin them on. 3. Use a zigzag stitch on your sewing machine or, you could hand-sew them as well! Sew onto the edges of the shape, all the way around. (and make sure you are not also sewing the front and back of the shorts together!) 4. Wear your new (updated) shorts and be super proud! wearing shorts - DIY (Paper Scissors) blouse - Lovers & Friends tights - c/o Oasap bag - c/o Mochi Beaucoup shoes - Vintage Dr Martens hat - c/o Wholesale I will be back with some more do-it-yourself tutorials soon! I have a whole list of ideas that I've been saving up for the holidays, so I'm really excited to get started on them all! Much love! xxx Annika

Whale Watching

While we were at the beach a week or so ago, Luciano and I climbed up to the headland to try and spot some whales! We were so lucky, literally the minute we got up there we saw a whale breaching really close to the headland. We followed it along the cliff side and then discovered it was actually two whales swimming really closely (maybe even a mumma whale and its baby)! We were so close that we could see all the barnacles and junk stuck on it's back!  So I zoomed right in with my camera and thought I was taking all of these amazing pictures... but, well... umm... no. This is the best one: Haha. Soo after my whale-fail shots, I did manage to get a shot of the amazing headland that we were standing on including a sneaky photo of camera-shy boyfriend (Luciano doesn't want me to put photos of him on the blog, but this was the back of his head so I figure it totally doesn't count. And you can see how amazing his hair is ;) ) The cliffs stretched all the way out as far as you could see, it was so pretty. I also had to get Luci to snap some outfit photos while we were up there (because it was totes dramatic and windy and totally on a cliff!), so here they are! wearing: dress - c/o Glamorous UK sweater - $10 store on George St necklace - Wholesale hat - c/o Wholesale bag - c/o Oasap belt - Vintage tights - No idea where they're from! shoes - Vintage Have a marvellous Friday everyone! xxx Annika

Seafoam

wearing dress -c/o Wholesale bag - c/o Wholesale hat - c/o Wholesale tights - c/o Oasap belt - Vintage shoes - Dr Martens Yet again, I am attempting to post this off the most irritating internet connection (I have to upload each photo about 7 times. Ackk.) Why wouldn't a mansion have internet?? That's what I want to know. Anyway, I really can't complain, being able to house-sit a mansion is preeeetty good. And if it means no internet for a week, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to deal with that, haha. So, I don't have a favourite colour. I never have. I get mad when people ask me what my favourite colour is, because I think that it's totally dependent on the context and situation. I just don't understand how people have favourite colours that never ever change. Anyway, I'm also pretty much a tragic fashion slave, so that whatever colour is really fashionable, usually becomes my favourite colour for that time. Like minty pastel blue. So at the moment, the kind of blue like in the dress I am wearing, and my bag (both sent to me from Wholesale Dress just a couple of days ago), is my absolute favourite colour. I also really, reaaaaally like this dress because it is both pleated, AND has the most amazing collar. It's a really different take on the classic peter pan collar, and I think it works really well. You can get it from here if you're interested ;) I hope you're all having an awesome Thursday! I am about to head off to a science museum (the Sydney Power House Museum) with my boyfriend for a (what everyone else would most likely consider lame but I consider awesome) little date. I'm pretty excited. (Oh, also, I haven't dyed my hair back to pink, these photos were taken before my hair changed) xxx Annika

DIY Floral Blouse & lavender locks!

Wearing: t-shirt - Made it myself! blouse - Vintage brooch - Ebay shorts - c/o Oasap tights - Romwe hat - c/o Wholesale bag - vintage shoes - vintage Hey guys! I hope that this post reaches you all as I am attempting to post this from a public library with a questionable internet connection (I don't have any internet connection because I am house sitting a mansion in a very posh neighbourhood with a friend at the moment. Which is awesome but they don't seem to have an internet connection for some reason..). I thought I probably shouldn't keep anyone in anticipation of my new hair any longer though, so here's a couple of photos of it! I also made this floral blouse the other day (I promise, promise I will post a DIY on it really soon!) - it's made from this floral material that I picked up from an op shop for 50c. It was all bundled up when I got it so I assumed that it was just a normal rectangle of fabric, but when I unfolded it, I discovered that it was already cut out into two halves of a t-shirt! Obviously someone had gotten to that stage of making a shirt and then given up. So I decided: ah well, I guess this has got to become a t-shirt then. I'm pretty happy with it though! The fabric is just gorgeous and as some of the flowers are a mustardy-colour, they go perfectly with these suspender shorts from Oasap! Alright - fine. One without my hat too (I feel nude without my hat - I think I wear it too much!!) I hope you're all having a splendid Monday morning. xxx Annika

Three Quick Questions with Kathy Noto

It is time for another interview with an up-and-coming blogger! Check out the last "Three Quick Questions" (and the idea behind this series) with Leila Chatti here. This month's gorgeous interviewee is Kathy Noto from My Peach Days. Q. How long do you spend getting ready and putting together an outfit every morning? A. Not that long, I guess. I work from home so I only get the chance to dress up on the weekends. More often than not, I already have an outfit planned. During the week, I plan an outfit and put the clothes up on a hanger so I won't forget (I sometimes even hang the bags and socks I'm going to use). When I do that, it only takes a few minutes to dress up (unless I do something elaborate with my hair, which I don't these days). On the other hand, there are days when I'm no longer in the mood to wear the outfit I planned so I usually have to spend more than 15 minutes, rummaging my closet and mixing and matching clothes. I have a pretty small closet so it's not easy to check out all my stuff because they're all buried in there. I usually end up having a pile of discarded clothes when I’m done. Not a pretty sight.  I recently came up with a solution. These days, whenever I clean my closet, I take photos of ensembles. I put together some outfit ideas before putting them back in my closet and take photos of them. I store the photos in my computer in a folder called "outfit ideas". lol! Q. Do you let runway fashion influence your style at all? Do you care at all about high fashion? A. Truth is, I usually do not go out of my way to check out runway fashion. I do a lot of blog hopping and just check out runway trends featured there. While I do like high fashion like the next girl, I gravitate more towards fashion I can relate to, something wearable and affordable (which is why thrifting works for me). I'd say personal style bloggers influence me more than runway fashion. Q. If you had a bazillion dollars and access to any kind of clothes you wanted... what would you wear? Do you think you would stick with thrifted garments? A. If I have an inexhaustible supply of money, I'd probably wear something like the clothes from the Alice McCall S/S 2012 collection. I was blog hopping once when I saw a feature on their collection. It was breathtaking! But I'd be just as happy wearing garments from ModCloth, Chicwish or The White Pepper. I think I'd spend more money buying stuff from mainstream brands rather than high end brands just because I want my style to be relatable. I don’t mind other people wearing expensive brands but I cringe at the idea of me giving off some sort of elitist vibe. I'd definitely still do a lot of thrifting. Thrifting is more than just saving money. There's a whole load of unique items there - stuff you probably won't see other people wearing. Thrifted garments, to me, have more character. They have a story to tell which makes every ensemble charming. Plus, it's one way to cut back on fossil fuel so I'm good with that. Even if I’m incredibly rich, I’d still be an advocate of thrifting.  Kathy's blog is full of the cutest outfits that she has put together, and has even done a pretty sweet DIY (see those lace shorts in the photo above? She made them!). Go and have a squiz at her super sweet blog if you have the chance! xxx Annika