My Personal Ways to Stay Happy.

Hello, hello! :) Most of the time, I'm a rather positive and really happy person and I have recently been wondering about all the things that make me stay so happy. Of course, the main thing are my favorite people, my mother, Flo, my close friends, my family and the things I do, how I spent my everyday life. But there's even more, things that make me happy that do not all happen automatically. Those are thing I do for a reason, I do them because they make me happy and help me to stay as positive as I am and today I want to share them with you. :)
Color your life
Colors make me happy, so I surround myself with pretty pops of color everywhere I go! Life often is way too grey, so I’m happy when I wear a colorful outfit or look at all the lovely things at home.
Set goals
Making lists helps me to focus on what I want to achieve and after I completed something on my list, I sometimes reward myself. Moreover, setting goals helps keeping an overview over priorities.
Reward yourself
As I already said, after finishing a (boring / exhausting / complicated) goal that was on my list, I tend to reward myself. This is how I keep motivated, even on days when annoying tasks have to be done. For example after finishing my taxes, it feels nice to go on an ice cream date or to reward myself with a tiny material thing from my wishlist.
Enlarge your personal horizon
Simply try out new things! “When was the last time you did something for the first time?” I once heard this quote at the beginning of this year and it really impressed me. Since then, I always keep it in mind and ask myself which completely new thing I’d like to try. Thus, life never gets boring and I always have a new challenge ahead in order to enlarge my horizon.
Don’t be afraid to learn something new
I believe that life only is worth living as long as we are able to keep on learning new things and are willed to learn new skills and gain new knowledge. Otherwise, for me it would be really boring. Maybe there’s a new craft technique you’ve always been interest in (in my case, this is knitting ;)) or maybe there’s another language you want to learn or how to better handle your camera!? Or maybe it’s only this one special recipe you’ve always wanted to try!? Just go for it, afterwards you’ll feel extra special and proud! :)

(photo taken by Fabienne)

Make new friends
Blogging is making new friends – that’s one of the best thing about blogging, all the awesome people I have met! But even without writing a blog, making new friends is a thing I wouldn’t want to miss in my life. It’s always so super exciting to get to know new people and I often have to remind myself to be open-minded concerning strangers and to welcome new people in my life, this can be really refreshing and inspiring.
Be brave and dare something
Being able to dare something you have always been afraid of is a thing which I believe to be super healthy. On the one hand, healthy for one’s self-esteem, on the other hand, this is something which is really essential in moving forward and in developing ones character. Maybe you could make a list with things you have always been wanting to do (but weren’t brave enough) and then pick one thing to do. I think this is a really exciting challenge, no matter whether it is about an issue of your everyday life that challenges you, a big adventure you didn’t dare to start or just a normal goal you weren’t brave enough to achieve!
Do something that nobody would have expected
Most of us tend to live according to certain behavioral patterns we are accustomed to, but sometimes, this can make life really boring. I think from time to time, it can be really nice to do something completely different that nobody else – and especially not you – would have expected. Just as one example: I personally would have never thought I'd write blog posts with fashion advice, DIY projects and sewin tutorial. A few years ago, I would have never thought that I'd be blogging at all. :)
Choose the right friends
Only surround yourself with people who support you, are good for you and lift you higher, those people who are always happy for you and really care about your feelings. Envy is poison for any friendship, so rather avoid people who try to keep you small and are jealous of what you’re doing, even if this is sometimes hard to see.
Take a break and relax
Sometimes you simply should let go and spend time doing nothing at all, being lazy and calm down! For me it’s often difficult to forget everything else and just hang around, but I’m convinced that this is extremely necessary to stay healthy, live a balanced life and fill up your batteries.
Enjoy the little details in life
Something that always makes me smile are the little things in life: a pretty flower next to the street, a favorite song on the radio, a stranger smiling at me, receiving an unexpected gift, getting a thoughtful compliment… I believe that only people who are able to appreciate those things can life a fulfilled life!

Is there anything on my list that you also consider to be important?
Happy day, Lu

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Luloveshandmade on youtube for DaWanda: Social Media Advices for Blogging

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Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeks!!!!!!!!
DaWanda's seller education team has recently invited me to share my experiences and knowledge concerning blogging. In this video I talk about how to successfully use social media - especially a blog - in order to promote a shop and in order to support one's independent business. All the advice I give is based on my personal experiences and all the things I learned in the past years since I have started my blog. This can also be seen on DaWanda's blog where my video is introduced to the community. :)
Last week, Lena of DaWanda visited me at home with her camera and we were making this video, I had lots of fun and it was a totally new experience. Of course, Mogli was part of the video, too, he's such a cute pie with his handmade doggie bow tie! :)
Awwwww, so exciting! Now you can hear me talking and see me sitting in my craft corner! :)
Have fun!
Lu

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How to Shop & Style Vintage Clothing.

Hello everyone!
In the beginning of August, we – Stefanie of Squeaky Swing, Stef of Magnoliaelectric and Lu of Luloveshandmade – have spent one wonderful week with each other and thanks to our blogs, we have become friends in real life. Athough the three of us live in different countries and many hundreds of kilometers are between us, we wanted to work on a project together, a project which includes a passion that we all share. We love beautiful clothes, we love to take photos of our outfits and we love second hand shopping, so why not combine all those things and write a little guide in which we share our experiences and findings? That’s how the idea for this project came into being.
We want to show you where to find awesome vintage clothes, which simple guidelines you should follow and finally how to style those old pieces in a pretty way.
In this post we are going to tell some tricks and you will get to know everything what’s important when you are shopping second hand, especially with regard to clothing from past decades. In the following three weeks there will be outfit posts on all of our three blogs which are about what you can do with vintage clothing, how you can style it with simple means and without much effort and how you can adjust it so that it fits your personal needs.

(1) But what does ‚vintage‘ mean? And what does the term ‘retro’ mean? 

The term ‚vintage‘ has its origin in the English language and literally means ‘year’, ‘year of construction’ or even ‘old-fashioned’ with regard to style. In the context of fashion or furnishings, ‘vintage’ refers to pieces of clothing or objects from the decades of the 1930s to 1970s. Moreover, the 1980s are nowadays often included as well and there are also sources which even include the 1910s. Thus, ‘vintage’ only refers to clothing which is actually old and from past decades, whereas ‘retro’ is used to describe clothes or things which are new, but have intentionally been designed in a way that they look as if they were older and from one of the decades which have just been mentioned. ‘Vintage’ has nowadays become an ‘in’ expression in many respects. It is often used to attach a higher value to things and it is often used synonymously with the term ‘retro’, although both have a completely different meaning.
(2) Decades and distinguishing features.
Here we want to point to some typical features from the different decades from which one can find clothes in vintage shops today.

The 30s: Calf-long dresses with a bell-shaped edge and a narrow shape at the hips. By the way, the famous Peter Pan collar had its origin in the 1920s.

The 40s: Knee-long, high-necked dresses, suits with wide shoulders and plain colors.

The 50s: The time of the petticoats: really wide skirts which accentuated the waist and underlined femininity. Close-fitting pencil skirts were the fashion, many pastel colors and beautiful floral prints.

The 60s: Characteristic for this decade were several different trends, not to mention hair and make-up! The sixties were primarily famous for the miniskirt and at the end of the decade, prints became even more colorful and loud.

The 70s: Just one term: shock trousers! Many square prints, but also lots of single-colored items in clear colors like red, green, yellow and orange. Because of the Hippies, flowing, full-length floral dresses and batik were in vogue.

(3) Why to shop vintage.

Who doesn’t want to be dressed individually and who doesn’t want to be dressed like anybody else? When buying vintage clothes, this is easy, because it will hardly ever happen – maybe never – that you’re sitting next to somebody in the subway who wears the same clothes as you. Yay! The only other way for preventing this to happen is wearing handmade clothes. Another important argument is sustainability. Who buys vintage automatically buys second hand and this way automatically does something good for the environment. Like the name itself says, second hand clothing has been worn before, maybe only once, maybe even more often. Now it gets a new purpose and is used again and isn’t just thrown away. Thus, when buying a vintage piece of clothing, one doesn’t support mass industries and you can give an old piece of clothing a new life, that’s fun! Finally, there’s the price. Of course there are many cases in which vintage clothes are sold for the same price as new clothes, but that’s not always the case. If you happen to see really expensive vintage clothes, you should take a closer look and see if those clothes are worth their high price, for example when they have been cleaned in an expensive way or when they have been altered lovingly and actually are a really special piece of clothing. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s the case that they are simply expensive, because the shop which sells them is located in an area where there are lots of tourists who are willed to even pay higher prices. It only takes a bit of research, luck and patience to find some really awesome pieces at a low price (I’m talking here about dresses for 2€-15€ each) and that’s also perfect for the low budget of students.

(4) Where to find and buy awesome vintage clothes. 

There are many possibilities to shop vintage clothes. You can find them on flea markets, in second hand shops and department stores, in grandma’s loft and of course, on the Internet. With a bit of patience, an eye for beautiful, old things and the knowledge where to search best, you’ll find awesome treasures. We put together a few addresses so that you can immediately start your treasure hunt.

Shops in Berlin that we recommend: 

Humana: A second hand department store with many vintage pieces, has many different branches, not only in Berlin, but also in Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig and Halle. Our favorite: the Humana department store in Berlin at the Frankfurter Tor, there are many second hand treasures on several floors, there you can find everything; dresses, shoes, bags, wedding dresses and home textiles, you will just need some time.
Colors: That’s a great second hand shop in Berlin Kreuzberg. The best thing about it: there’s not only clothing with normal prizes, but also a huge section in which you pay for all clothes and accessories per kilo. There it is easy to find a new, highly beloved (old) piece of clothing for which you only have to pay about 2€.

Online shops that we recommend:
Olenka Vintage: That’s a totally awesome shop on DaWanda where you can always find many dresses. A few dresses of Lu’s collection are from this shop.
Vintage and Handmade by Kati: There you do not only find pretty handmade things, but also vintage dresses, Stef owns three of them.
Modcloth: The best retro (and vintage) shop! Unfortunately, it’s from the USA, that’s why you have to pay attention to the shipping prizes and duty fees.

(5) How to find the size that fits best for you.

When shopping second hand clothes, especially vintage, you shouldn’t pay attention to the normal sizes. In the past, the sizes haven’t been the same as they are today. When there’s a label on a dress which says ‘size 42’, this doesn’t automatically mean that you have to hang it back onto the clothes rail, just because you normally wear size 38. How the sizes have changed in the past is a complicated story and is not important at this point, but it is important to try on a piece of clothing anyway. When you’re shopping for vintage clothes online, it’s helpful to know your measurements, because in online shops you mostly only see the size specifications of the pieces of clothing. Therefore, it’s best to know your bust measurement, your waist measurement and to measure up your hip size.
1. Bust measurement: take a measuring tape and measure the girth of your body and breasts at the place where your bust is the widest, best on the height of your nipples. And do this while wearing a bra!
2. Waist measurements: measure the narrowest part of your waits. That’s usually a little bit above the belly button.
3. Hip size: that’s the widest part of your hips, approximately at the middle of your bottom.

(6) What you should pay attention to when shopping vintage clothes. 

Quality over quantity: Of course you won’t find a second hand shop at every corner, especially not those which are good AND inexpensive. Thus, it often takes a while until you find the perfect piece, not only because the patterns and color combinations sometimes seem strange with regard to what’s ‘in’ today. You need to take some time and be patient to do the rounds of all the clothes rails, looking for pretty clothes. You sometimes need to have a look at the bargain counters in the second hand shops, have to take a closer look and come back to the shops on a regular basis, because there’ll always be new, unique pieces.

Prices: Especially in Switzerland, but also in many German shops, vintage clothes are sold at high prices, as if they were new. This happens because of the current fashion trend. You sometimes have to pay about 50€ (about CHF 60,-) for a dress which is forty years old. Thus, the original purpose of second hand shopping is missed and it sometimes takes good online research to find something for a suitable price or you can have a look at the shops we previously recommended.

Material and condition: Although vintage clothes should normally have been washed before they are sold, you always can immediately smell their characteristic smell which usually disappears after washing them for the first time. You should pay attention to the material of the respective piece of clothing, because many items are made of synthetic materials which begin to smell fast when you’re sweating. That’s why we prefer clothes made of cotton. Moreover, you should take a really close look at an item if you consider buying it, because the fabric might be covered in some old perfume stains which won’t wash out. If you want to use the fabric for another purpose, for example because you totally love the pattern, you could simply cut out the dirty parts before sewing and still recycle the fabric.

Cuts: Some advice for your figure and the perfect cut:
Big bust: It’s better to wear dresses from the 50s and 60s with a narrow bust and waist and wide hips.
Small bust: Every dress where the fabric is gathered at the bust makes is look bigger.
Wide hips and belly: You should better do without unruly patterns and choose plain-colored dresses. Furthermore, A-shaped dresses are suitable, because they have a narrow bust and are perfect for wide hips.
Tall and skinny: Long dresses and conspicuous patterns are perfect. Belts, big patterns and horizontal stripes are ideal, because this interrupts the long silhouette.
Small: Dresses with a vertical silhouette optically stretch the body so that the person looks taller and slim.

(7) Adjustment and alteration.

As you have already read, vintage clothes are from a past decade and are at least 20 years old. Styles change, trends come and go and thus, vintage clothes often have cuts and shapes which we aren’t used to anymore. Many dresses have a really wide cut and seem to look like a sack, other pieces have an extremely narrow waist, but become wider at the hips – variations are endless. Sometimes you need to make a few alterations so that your new piece of clothing fits perfectly and suits your personal needs. We mainly refer to dresses, because what we love most is wearing them. We are no professional dressmakers or tailors who easily can alter a pair of trousers, but with regard to dresses or skirts, this isn’t that difficult: many vintage dresses are extremely long and as long as you rather prefer shorter or knee-length dresses, you have to shorten them. It’s that simple: cut off fabric and stitch up the seam, that’s it. The same applies to skirts which are too long, but what you can also do with them is to wear them as a dress and simply wear them above your bust. If that works well depends on the material of which the skirt is made and it depends on the skirt’s shape. You’ll get to know more about this skirt-to-dress-method in our upcoming outfit posts in the course of the next three weeks… What is more, in case that you find an awesome skirt of dress which is too short, of course you can simply add a piece of fabric at the bottom which colors match the original piece. Clothes which aren’t too long, but simply too wide, can also be made more close-fitting!
As you can see, when you’re shopping vintage clothes, you shouldn’t expect to find the perfect piece immediately – it’s rather important to have a good imagination, a little bit of creativity and to be skilled as a craftswoman, because then, you’ll be able to create the perfect piece of clothing for your own needs out of many awesome dresses that perhaps didn’t fit perfectly and maybe at first sight didn’t completely seem to be what you were looking for.

(8) Advice for styling and how to combine vintage clothes.

Now we’re coming to the best part, the actual styling. One of the best characteristics of vintage clothes is that they are so colorful – just think of all the amazing patterns and color schemes! Generally said, you can combine each accessory with your vintage piece whose color can be found in the fabric itself. This way, it looks good anyway. It can also work in a completely different way, but this will follow in one of our upcoming outfit posts. It’s always nice when you use accessories which match the style of the dress, a bag with matching colors, pretty shoes, maybe a hat or a headscarf, and, of course, a matching belt to give a dress a good shape and to cling it to the body. The advantage is that you can use belts for the waist to make a pretty dress out of a piece of clothing which looks like a sack and this is the simple method on which we have concentrated. It’s the simplicity which makes it special.

We can hardly wait to show you more in our upcoming series of blog posts and hopefully we can wake your interest for vintage clothes!

Keep your eyes open, until September 6 you’ll be able to read more entries of this series on our blogs Squeaky Swing, Magnoliaelectric and Luloveshandmade and there you can see which awesome outfits one can put together with vintage dresses!

Have fun!
Stefanie, Stef and Lu

(P.S.: For the German version of this guide, visit the blog of Stefanie and Stef! :))

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Sharing experiences.

Although I’ve already started writing my blog a while earlier and opened my online shop about one and a half year ago, this past year has been my first successful year as an indie biz owner. Not only my sales have increased, but I also made a lot of new contacts and learned a lot, either due to my own experiences, or by getting advice from other bloggers and by exchanging thoughts.

So here are some of the things I learned last year which has been a really special year with regard to the development of my little business.

1.       Everything takes time, so be patient

Don’t become nervous when you don’t sell well in the beginning! Although it’s good to think big and to have goals, don’t forget that everyone has to start small and everything has to be developed and carefully thought over. Don’t expect to immediately sell tons of items and to get lots of new blog followers, better be patient and make small steps – everything good takes some time! You’ll see that the more you work on your products, the better they will become, the more you try out, the more interesting your style will be. When I started sewing (with a machine – I’ve already sewn by hand for some years) two years ago, my sewing skills were a total mess! :) The seams were not straight at all and I didn’t have any clue of my sewing machine’s functions.  Until now, I haven’t visited any sewing lesson, I only taught sewing myself by trying out everything I wanted to and I got useful  advice from friends and since I have worked in a fabric store, I often witness my colleague’s sewing lessons while I’m selling fabric and therefore, I get to know a lot of new sewing techniques, too. What I want to make clear with telling you this is that you should take it easy and accept that you will need some patience in order to develop your skills and talents and that it can take some time until you’re successful with what you’re doing, so don’t feel discouraged when you aren’t honored and admired immediately!

2.       Go with trends you can identify with

Of course, one of the most important things when running an indie biz is finding your own style and being unique, but nevertheless, I think it can still be interesting and worthwhile going with trends you like and can identify with. This way, you attract lots of new customers, you probably work on a project you usually wouldn’t have worked on and maybe you can also increase your sales by including items which are part of a current trend – but only as long as you can identify with the trend and feel comfortable with it, because it has to be authentic and fit your style and concept. As an example, I still love the latest moustache trend and although I haven’t invented this trend myself, I decided to create some products with a mouchtache and these items were in great demand and I sold a lot. What is most important when going with trends is not to copy a product, but to use the trend for yourself and to get inspired.

3.       Try out different techniques, working methods and materials

It’s always good to enlarge one’s personal horizon, also with regard to creativity and inspiration. If you try out different techniques, you will learn more and will see that you have skills about which you haven’t known before. What is more, apart from discovering hidden talents, you can also get to know about working methods you haven’t thought they could fit your style and maybe this offers completely new perspectives for future products and the usage of new materials. This way, not only your personal horizon will enlarge, but also your range of products will widen and this could make your brand more attractive to potential customers.

4.       Develop your own, unique style

Find out what you like, make drafts, sketches, always take notes of your ideas, think about color schemes  and carefully look at other designer’s items and style in order to find out what you find appealing and what not. I think there are so many interesting and unique artists, bloggers, indie biz owners and so on and thus, it’s even more important to be recognized, to have a style which is unique and which reflects one’s own creativity and taste. 

5.       Become familiar with the legal aspects of running a small business

In order to avoid legal conflicts, it’s important to be weel-informed about the legal aspects of running a small business in the country you’re living in. You normally have to register your business and depending on your businesses’ income, you will have to pay certain taxes and have to do some office work and accountancy to avoid legal conflicts.

6.       Don’t be afraid to set new trends you believe in

When you try out something new, you will probably see that you like a product you normally wouldn’t have thought of, but then, don’t be afraid to set a new trend and to introduce a new product others wouldn’t have expected from you. Do what you like, produce what feels good to you and always listen to your heart when you’re making decisions. 

7.       Find out which of your products are most successful

In order to find out which products are most appealing and successful, you can either simply use your online shop’s statistics, or you can sell at markets to see the customer’s reactions yourself. To successfully sell your handmade items, you shouldn’t be afraid to reproduce items that sell well and maybe think about how to further develop these items.

8.       It is all about community, not about competition

Don’t see fellow indie biz owners as competition, but see them as parts of a huge community everybody can learn from. To me, it’s really important to make new contacts, to talk to other bloggers and indie biz owners and to exchange thoughts and experiences.  What is more, guest blogging as only one form of communication is a really great form of supporting other creative people, to get to know each other and to learn more about different projects, style and techniques. Not to forget, it’s even more fun to get to know other bloggers in person. :)

9.       Enlarge your creative horizon all the time

Enlarging one’s own creative horizon all the time may sometimes seem a little bit difficult, but nowadays it’s pretty simple to gain new knowledge (mostly for free) nearly everywhere. Getting to know new things in not only really important in order to stay inspired, but also to develop new ideas and to further develop your skills, knowledge and style and to be creatively fulfilled. I often browse the Internet, read a lot of inspiring blogs, and spend much time on Pinterest to get to know about latest trends and to discover new possibilities. Moreover, because I’m working in a fabric store, I see the prettiest fabrics and patterns nearly every day and this extremely inspires me to work on a new sewing project. When I see pretty fabric, I automatically think about what I could do with it and I imagine the product I could turn the piece of fabric into. :) Furthermore, another way to enlarge your creative horizon is to wander through the city, to have a look at people, what they are wearing and to look at city art and visit different stores. I often go to art supplies stores and when looking at all the different tools and materials, I get tons of ideas concerning what to make with them. In addition, in the course of the last few months, I bought several books with various sewing patterns and therefore, I can widen my product’s range a lot. Finally, not to forget that there are millions of sewing tutorials and DIY ideas on the Internet, so it’s really difficult not to learn something new. :) 

10.   Find ways to stay inspired

My ways to stay inspired are really similar to the methods of enlarging my horizon: I spend a lot of time on the Internet to get to know the endless possibility of practicing creativity and I read books and look at fabrics to get new ideas. What is more, I make lots of notes and sketches so that I don’t forget a good idea I once had. It’s completely normal to feel creatively burnt out from time to time, I then spend some days with doing nothing creative at all and then, after completely switching off my desire for doing something productive, my creativity comes back by itself. As an example, the second half of 2011 I’ve been working really hard, I planned moving to a new home, I thought about the apartment’s interior and décor, I worked on Christmas presents, prepared my online shop for Christmas trade and I even prepared for selling my items at a market. The time just after Christmas, I felt as if somebody had sucked out all of my creativity, inspiration and motivation and after a few days of just hanging around and doing nothing productive at all, I felt the urgent desire to sew something and to be productive. What I want to make clear is that you need to listen you your heart and that you shouldn’t force yourself to be creative; find your personal ways to stay inspired, but don’t forget to reward yourself  with a break! :)

As you can see, I’ve learned a lot during the past few months and I hope that some of my experiences and thoughts will help you! :) Feel free to let me know in the comment section below what your most important experiences as a blogger or indie biz owner are. :)

Thank you for reading,

Lu

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