When I noticed recently that my most-worn white shirt had got a bit stained and yellow under the arms, I decided to experiment with dying it to give it a new lease of life. I chose a medium-pale shade of blue fabric dye (Dylon China Blue) as I wear a lot of blue and thought that would work really well in my wardrobe. I was a bit worried that the blue dye might just cause the yellow stains to turn green, but in the end I figured for the sake of the £3.50 or so that I'd paid for the dye, I wouldn't worry about it if it didn't work. This is the white shirt in question, which I've worn in a number of outfit posts (there's another example here).











Overall I'm definitely likely to try dying my own clothes again, even though I know that the dye might not always cover any staining. Honestly for around £3.50 it's not much to lose if it doesn't work, and if it does work then I'm prolonging the life of some of my clothing and creating less damage to the environment in the process.

Here's another one for those of you who enjoy decaying buildings. This blacksmith's workshop was nearby where I was staying on my recent trip to America (the main reason for my absence of a few weeks!) and I couldn't resist photographing it even though I didn't have my good camera with me. It was small but I still enjoyed looking at all the different little interesting features.

Hello everyone! Today I have a post for you all about some gorgeous accessories from Tegen Accessories. Based in Brighton Lanes (so very local for me!) Tegen Accessories specialises in mostly British-made accessories, and entirely items from small independent designers. Their range covers hair accessories from basics to Bridal, and they also sell other accessories (such as bags, gloves, and hats) and jewellery.

Tegen sent me several different hair accessories to try out, and a couple of brooches. I got a couple of different styles so I can let you know my thoughts on those, and you can see how I decided to wear them as part of my usual vintage outfits, although I think they'd look great with any number of different styles.

The first of the accessories that I tried out is this feather headband (the Crystal Feather Capette in nude). The website suggests wearing this as part of a Gatsby look which I think would be perfect. I'm imagining a delicate chiffon flapper dress - I know I'm following one or two other girls who absolutely rock that style.
 

Here's a closer look at the detail. To me, all the bits feel securely attached so I'm not worried about losing any of the feathers or crystals. Some of the feathers at the base (near the crystals) were slightly crumpled when the headband arrived, I think just from being posted, but they were very easy to smooth back in to place. You can see a bit of the crumpling in the photo below, which I didn't notice at the time, but I just double checked the actual headband and the feathers are definitely laying flat now so I probably photographed it before I'd thought smooth them out.
 

I'm not always very good at wearing headbands as I often find them uncomfortable but I wore this one for a number of hours and didn't find it too pinchy behind my ears. Your mileage may vary.

The next item is this grey rose flower hair clip. I love the splashes of pink and orange on the edges of the petals.
 

Again with this one, everything feels securely attached so I'm not worried about it coming apart. It has a strong crocodile clip to attach it to your hair so I didn't find that it slipped around even in my very thin hair. It also features a brooch pin so that it can be worn as a corsage.



Here's a closer look at the clip by itself.



Next up is the vintage pink rose hair flower. The website describes this as having a subtle rockabilly style with polka dot net overlaying each petal. For these photos I went for a very classic look with my hair and outfit, but my boyfriend pointed out that my current hair colour would work really well for a more rockabilly style, so maybe next time you see me wearing this it will be with some big suicide rolls instead. Don't mind me having fun with some filters on this one!



Here's a better look at the clip from the side of this hairdo:



This clip also has the option to wear it as a corsage, featuring the same pin as on the grey flower.
 



The final hair accessory is this beautiful cream rose hair clip with a crystal centre. It's a pretty and delicate design but is a little less structured than the other flowers and flops a bit so you can't always see the crystals. If this bothers you, you could probably use hair grips to position the petals a bit.



As with the other flowers, this one also features the brooch back so it can be worn as a corsage.





The last items are these two brooches. The first is the rainbow flower brooch which is super fun and colourful. I'm possibly wearing it upside down here (if that even matters?) but only because that's the way it fitted on the collar of this particular blouse. The different colours of crystals on this one make it a great versatile choice that would pair with a great many different outfits.





The second brooch is the crystal crown brooch in gold.





Though I've chosen to wear these as brooches here, they both feature the same type of crocodile clips as the flowers so they can also be worn in the hair or even clipped onto clothing to avoid putting pin holes into the fabric. My only concern with these is that they might be a little heavy for wearing in your hair (especially if your hair is very thin like mine) although I haven't actually tried it yet simply because I really like them as brooches. In fact, the crown brooch has already become a fixture on the jacket I photographed it on here. I think it's the perfect accessory for the autumn.


Let me know in the comments which is your favourite of these accessories and don't forget to check out Tegen Accessories for lots of other lovely accessories. 

Most of the time I get on pretty well with blogger as a blogging platform. However, I've noticed that things occasionally go wrong, for example the formatting of a post might change when I press the 'publish' button, even though it's showing correctly on the preview and in the editing window. Today is apparently not my day because blogger decided to somehow delete my entire post when I pressed publish - literally I pressed the button and the whole lot just disappeared, so this is my second attempt at writing it. I hope I haven't forgotten anything! That will teach me to edit posts in a word document first, I suppose.

Anyway, I know I've been more or less absent for a while but today I am back to show you the lovely Elizabeth dress in blue floral from Dolly and Dotty. It features a slinky sheer mesh neckline and a full box pleated skirt. I accessorised with some vintage shoes and gloves in matching navy blue and added some sparkle with some chandelier earrings. Even though I don't really wear hats any more (for practical reasons rather than because I don't like how they look), I'd love to top this outfit off with a pretty saucer hat. I know you also don't often see me wearing gloves, but let me know what you think. I have several pairs that I was given and never really got into the habit of wearing them but perhaps they add a little something to the outfit?

Now that I'm back on my usual schedule, I have several new blog posts that will be winging their way to you very soon. As always if you have any ideas for posts you'd like to see then please let me know in the comment section below. Otherwise I'll be back very soon with more of my usual content.