Here's a new skirt I made back at the beginning of July. It's my take on the high wasit trend seen on shorts and jeans. I might make some shorts or wide legged pants with a similar waist, if I ever find fabric I'd like to make them out of. The waistband on this skirt is high, thick, fitted, and has four little buttons in an upside-down trapezoid shape. I'll wear it again soon and have some better pictures up, but I was spending the day with my friend there since this is right before I moved back from my hometown to my college town.
Hmmm... I do love this skirt though.
Here you can see the buttons on the waistband better while I appear to be being choked by one of the ghosts I adore so much.
Here I like the shape the skirt has before I jump, the beautiful billowing. The fabric was made to be this skirt. It's actually a sheet, I think. I got the material for free from the campus recycling resource center. I might head back over there once fall session starts and see if they're still stalking the fabric there. They were talking about giving the fabric back to the Salvation Army since it was just there.
My outfit: jean vest- mom 70s/80s, orange halter- forever 21, skirt- me made =), shoes-old navy, headband- ross, friend- Highschool
Scarlet O'Hara ain't got nothing on me; although that drape dress was awesome, it wasn't made from sheets,
Edited since on my computer, I couldn't click the hat page for a larger, legible, version. Now, I uploaded it to my flickr so you can click it and view it at a variety of sizes.
Reading Dress A Day and blogger Erin's love for the old sewing books, I can't help but have an affection for them myself. So when I saw this little jem and the Salvation Army, I picked it up.
This would be the 1961 version. While it says it's to encourage women to learn how to sew by showing how easy it is, I think it doesn't exactly achieve that. It doesn't have simple step by step instructions and diagrams that would better achieve that purpose. It's still very helpful though, especially with my about equally retro Fleetwood sewing machine, and perhaps I'll go more into that later.
Today, I'm focusing on my favorite part of this baby, which is the fashion advice. It has a whole chapter devoted to telling you what's acceptable and what is not.
I didn't take a picture of that page, which makes their suggestions seem more like a mandate than a friendly tip, so the above page will have to suffice for now. I'm sure the other page will make an appearance here sometime in the future, while this one is one of my favorites.
If you've been following my flickr, you might have noticed my now ubiquitous big, Forever 21 sun hat I've been wearing practically every day. I love headwear, and since I began my campaign for it's revival in popular clothing, I've begun feeling half-naked without my hair up or something on top of my head.
Since I have such difficulty finding hats, since my hair is so big. And I see no advice in fashion magazines or even the blogs, despite the minor hawking of hats as coming back and pimping out of hats that YOU can wear, unless, you know, your hair swallows it, I was thrilled to find the rules of thumb for hats in the pages of this tome.
Because anything else is just not suitable, dah-link!
There's the attitude I was talking about and there's what the book has to say on hats, complete with examples and diagrams. Apparently my hat doesn't make the grade, being made of straw and metallic thread and not "feathers, flowers, felt, or fur." But the article does strike the nail right on the head with the whole balance thing. They key to a hat is balancing it with the outfit and your silhouette in the outfit. Plus, I think that sentence was just missing a little clause, since they later mention velvet as acceptable.
My outfit: Click the pic for outfit deets and the date I actually wore it.
My love of the East is well documented on this blog, and today that extends to the Chinese movie, Curse of the Golden Flower.
Watch it subtitled, not dubbed. The dub is terrible, I tell you. Terrible!
It's a movie about a beautiful and perfect looking family that is really rotton at the core and falling apart. Kinda depressing, but oh so beautiful!
The costumes are magnificent. I do wonder how they keep their breasts from falling out the top of those gowns; guess they top is just really tight and stiff. But Gong Li's (the Queen's) robe in that scene where the oldest son is injured is awesome. And the Phoenix and dragon costumes for the Chrysathemum festival are nothing short of divine. But what really sparked my imagination were the pins the court ladies (and the Queen, of course) wear in their hair.
Where Marie Atoinette got her inspiration?
They're actual sharp pins and remind me of brooches. So I decided to give it a go with wearing brooches in my hair.
I think it came out nicely. Since my hair is so curly, I decided to give it a go with my hair down.
Yup, my hair could hold it. The weight just felt a little weird. It also makes hair sink since it's heavier, but certainly do-able. Plus, it's something my curly hair is good for. This pin would have fallen straight out of anyone with straight-hair's hair.
Now is only I could go around in sumputous robes and wrapped in 40 + lbs or fabric, my life would be complete.
My outfit: Same deal as usual. Click the pic for outfit deets.
It seems I've been tagged by that rockin' lady over at Punky Style. So get ready, ladies and gents, for 7 random things about me, even more random than my usual randomness. But first, I must wax on about the rules of this little game, as copy and pasted from Punky:
Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.
Aight! Here we go!
Uno: I think almost everything is better in a foreign language. I'll watch foreign soap operas, but can't stand American ones; I like more foreign pop songs than American. I guess the foreign language factor just ups their interest factor for me, and cultural differences have always interested me.
Dos: I apologize to dolls, stuffed animals, action figures, and any other toy I step on, sit on, knock over, etc. Curse you Rudolph, with your Island of Toys that No One Wanted, and Toy Story.
Tres: I never cut my finger nails because I hate the feeling of when my nails are cut. They break off naturally before they start that creepy curve thing, and I keep them clean.
Quatro: I'm addicted to those shows where they talk about and/or investigate hauntings, but I hate most horror movies.
Cinco: I wish Fantasia and lived up to Walt Disney's original vision, where it would be continually updated and changed featuring new segments alongside old favorites.
Seis: Six is my favorite number and lucky too.
Siete: I love the first Pokemon theme song.
I have the CD and listen to it when I need a boost.
So there you have it, seven random things about me.
But wait!
It seems it took me so long to complete my first tag, that I have also been tagged by lovely The Happy Hippie.
I believe the idea is to post 5 little-known facts about yourself, and then tag 5 more people?
So, here's five little-known facts to go along with the seven random facts to make thirteen facts in all. But we'll just say the thirteenth is actually the fourteenth, to avoid the bad luck stigma and have something in common with hotel floor numbering. But, on to the facts:
1. When I was a little girl, I looked just like my mother when she was my age. Seriously. She showed me a picture once of her at my age and I thought it was a picture of me. Now that I've grown, I favor my father more in the looks department, although I'm still often told that I'm the perfect combination of my parents, both in looks and personality.
2. I do my best creative work after nine or ten at night. For some reason, all becomes clear to me at that point and work as one in a trance. On schoolnights, this is often around my bedtime, which makes it hard for me to sleep, since my brain is so active.
3. I don't smile in pictures because in previous pictures (mostly school pictures), I've been tired which causesmy muscles to freak out. So when I'd smile for the picture, my cheek muscles would visably freak out. As a result, I formed a habit of not smiling in pictures, especially when I'm tired. My eyelid also twitches when I'm tired, as do my calf muscles.
4. I hope to open up an online shop, selling my original creations and refashioned clothing, and I just got a new sewing machine. ::insert mischievous look here:: I still need a dress form though. Anyone know where I can get a good one for a good price?
5. I've never been kissed.
There you have it. Now, since I've been tagged twice, and I really don't feel like tagging thirteen blogs--remember the unlucky thing!--, I'm going to tag six blogs--it being my lucky number and all-- because it's right in between the two. All ye tag can choose which of the two tags you wish to complete, if you wish to complete any at all. But beware, for he who breaks the blog tag chain suffers a 1,000 years of-- ergh, what? You won't live that long? Well, complete it or not. 'Tis your choice.
No, just without my own internet, so I have to bum campus's. Outside. In the heat. And it is hot. So, I'm not able to spend as much time on the internet right now, and much of the time I do spend is on searching for a job, and doing things for my new condo. But, fear not, for I shall return. Internet is scheduled to go in on the 21st, and I'll pass on my internet tag then.
You see it! It stands out even squeezed between all the other clothes on the rack. You wrinkle your in confusion, disgust, and yet, you are drawn to it. You pull it out and get a good look at it; it doean't look any better hanging from the rack. You have an urge to try it on. It's just so bizarre you must put it on just to clown around. On you, it's still bizzarre. You hop out of the dressing room and pose with impish lisense for your friends. When you return to the dressing room, you find it hard to take off. Not because it's complicated or too small, but the more you look at yourself in the mirror, the more you love it. Everyone will make fun of you; you're likely to be scoffed at by popular society. But you love it. So just wear it.
