Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear?

Because me, that's why!

I'm Wonder Woman. See that hand behind me? Yeah. One knuckle sandwich coming right up!

Who said you could speak to me?

Two recent creations of mine, using that yummy fabric. I saw the fabric in the store and fell in love. It's seriously a lustworthy print. Am I the only one who goes into paroxysms of joy from a fabulous fabric, garment, or print? I get all warm and fuzzy, like I'm being touched by warm patches of sunlight, which is doubly good since I'm a warmth whore. Some like it hot; I like it warm. Twinkly [cat] loves our sunning time in the sunroom--the room I'm standing in in the above pictures-- every weekend. A good book and some warm sunshine has both of us purring. But enough about that; onto the garments with non-optional commentary!

Here I am jumping around with the top in the backyard. Poor dog wonders what I'm doing, especially since he's blind now.

I actually completed the top second, but I'm wearing it as I type, so it gets written up first. This top took me a while to get right, but I'm happy with the result. I just have to take off some things I put on it before I realized elastic was my answer, and cover the tracks with these seriously delicious apple buttons that I've been dying to pair with this fabric.

Once again, I did not use a pattern and have no formal training because I'm cheap, lazy, and love a good puzzle and being able to proclaim these garments all mine. One day, I will learn to make and print my own fabric, and have the funds to do so. Until then, I'll settle for what I can. Making a garment is like a puzzle to me, and I've always loved puzzles. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on SNES is my favorite video game of all time; in fact, I just beat it again but with all the weapons and items found. The best part about the game though is the puzzles that did take years for me to solve. The same is with this garments. Even as I scowl over their problems, like the evil satin I may have unwisely decided to work with on this piece, I'm loving it. Loving the challenge, the thrill of the brain stimulation for me to find a way to make it work.

For this particular top, the first top I've made, I originally planned a design that included puff sleeves. Unfortunately, due to a mess up on the first design of the top, I didn't have enough fabric to do that. I seriously spent my last dollar on the satin fabric, and had non left to do more. I really like my redesign, though, perhaps even better than than the original design. Well, it will be once I add the red apple buttons.

I actually did not know the tunic wasn't down in the back, but I like the effect. It'll be on purpose next time.

How I dreamed of this pencil skirt, with all the little blue birds. Then I made it, patternless, and had trouble wearing it. It fits at the hips, because that's how I pictured it, and I currently prefer the silhouette I get when my skirts are fitted at my natural waist. But this tunic is perfect over it, and I couldn't resist making it a little snobby when I added my sun hat. I was prepared to roll some heads at a store that I was having some difficulty in getting what I needed or rather running my dad's errands. I got a lot of stares at that store...

This skirt also gave me some trouble, and I had to dismantle the completed first version because it was very see thru and I have nothing that could fit under it to solve that problem. So, this one's double layered.

Go for the gold!

The bottom of the top is made from two half circles, so it's nice and flowy. Unfortunately, that also makes it likely to blow up in the wind. But, I usually wear a jacket of some sort when I'm going somewhere, and even if it blows up, the girls are still safely covered.

One last one just for Tyra. Leaning back against the window to make my legs appear longer and leaner.

I have one more skirt that is going through it's final edit, though it's in a different awesome fabric. Look out for that one soon.

My Outfits: If you care about anything in the pictures other than what I made--I mean really, the nerve!-- just click the picture to head to its flickr page where all that good info and then some is.

I hate birds but love them in a print,

Ivy Frozen

Street Fighter

Who else is looking forward to Street Clash? It's a battle of international street style, with cities punching it out photo style to be declared the most stylish city by us internet voters. Looks like it has some great competitors, including some of my favorite street fashion blogs. It starts July 1st, and I'll be routing for my home city San Francisco, as repped by Street Fancy, although personally I think one of the European cities is going to win. You never know though, with the street photographers pulling out their best shots.

It's also a great place to pick up some new street fashion sites and when the clash begins, I hope to see a smoregisboard of awesome street outfits.

My Outfit: My laziness prevails. If ya like something in it, click the pick to head to its flickr page where all the info., which I could have typed in the same amount of time it took me to type this, lays.

Excited and Ready to Rumble, or you know, cheer peeps on,

Ivy Frozen

P.S. I don't actually know what they win if they win other than knowing they won Street Clash. No title, no nothing listed. Just assumed bragging rights.

Sarah Brightman: Hair Idol

Sarah Brightman. Forget the voice; it's all about the hair. She has a wonderful voice, but I'm more envious of those locks of plenty.

Yes, long hair can make you look short. Yes, it can date you, but you see my friends, I don't think that's a bad thing. Plus, take a look at Sarah.

She can go from wonderfully gothic and dramatic.

To wonderfully hippie and butterfly and modern.

I've always longed to have hair like Sarah Brightman's, so long, it doubles as a shawl or cape. Fine, my actual fantasy is hair long enough to give Cousin It a run for his money. Alas, it seems genetics have spoiled all my plans.

I've never really cut my hair, and flat ironed straight it only sits around-ish my shoulder blades, as you can see above in a pic from Spring Break. My cousin who does regulary trim her hair and keeps it straight has the same problem. Curse you genetics!

While we're on beautiful hair fantasies of mine, I share with you a dream I thought was within my grasp.

These pony tails from an Ashish (I think) show. Wonderful on the model, horribly impracticle in real life. Tried it, and the things to wide, and flops about annoyingly. Curse you hair gods, curse you! Now watch as my hair comes out all poodle-ly tommorow...

Back to my hair goddess who should be pimping out hair products left and right, besides her voice, I also love her image. She's Diva-licious on stage, and I do enjoy who she does go from these darker, more gothic looks to these airy, ethereal nymph things. Drama, versitility, and sweet and sour contrasts: you're roottin' toottin' me likey!

As for her music, she did start on the stage and became big for starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, back when she and him were together. After that, she went for a solo pop career. She does a bunch of covers and a few original songs. I really love who she blends more classical sounds with more of a pop beat. She really has a lot of different sounds though, which I love in an artists. Keeps me interested, and I always know which song is which when it starts playing. My favorite album is probably Harem, and then Eden.

A clip show. But I like this version of her song, Eden. It combines two of my favorite musics: Sarah Brightman and Enigma. Plus it has some nice shots of her in it.



Delivery me, another favorite song of mine. Plus, you getta see her live-ish and dig the african imagery.

And for all of my lovely readers:



Beautiful. I love this song. It brings tears to my eyes everytime, because of the chorus. "Do you know/you're beautiful/do you know/you're beautiful/do you know/you're beautiful/you are/yes you are/yes you are" 'Cause I feel like that with a few friends of mine who struggle with self image, and I think they're so beautiful.

Plus, plenty of Sarah hair-uh time in this video, and I'm a sucker for violins.

Okay, I can link to fabulous Sarah Brightman songs in shabby you-tube quality infinitely, but if you like her, check her out and envy her locks.

Suffering from Hair Envy,

Ivy Frozen

My outfit: Sorry nothing new for today, but look-out for some new creation(s) of mine real soon. If ya fancy anything in the picture, clicky it to be carried to it's flickr page where all the info be.

Media Madness: from Lifetime to Heavy Metal

I must confess, I love Lifetime movies. I know, I know, but they do cover women's issues and often provide links for more information or to help/get help. I usually love my corny, lifetime movies, filled with stupid woman, villainized men, and sweet Mr. Right. But I was totally ticked about the ending of their movie, Risky Behavior or Unruly Behavior, whatever it was called.

It was about this girl, who got a little wild on Spring break, and some guy spliced video of her together with other footage to make it look like she had engaged in a porno film. The film was then sold in porno shops everywhere and plastered across the internet. Our heroine, then lost her teaching job and was left out in the cold by her boyfriend, while she gained a creepy stalker. She goes to the police and a lawyer, but they can't do anything because of this and that, and as the lawyer says, "Who knows what kind of laws they have in California!?" Yes, us anarchtic Californians screwed her over. But basicly, this porn is apparently legal. Eventually, her boyfriend quit being a selfish jerk long enough to support her, as she heads out to LA to face these bastards on her own. After the porn distributor glows over her, thinking she came to work for him, and calls her a rare talent, he quickly turns to laughing at her, gloating over his victory, and dismissing her as replaceable as a porn actress, despite his earlier comments indicating the contrary to that last statement. Anywho, our heroine manages to snag the address for the guy who made the video by enlisting the receptionist's help. She then goes to his house, alone, and enters it, alone except for the guy. He threatens her, she laughs at him and smashes all his expensive equipment while he stands there, stares, and semi-yells "Stop!" Then when she's about to leave. he finally moves and steps on broken glass/plastic with his bare feet, and doesn't manage to hobble out to the street until she's already in her car and driving away, musing about how happy she is with the outcome because she still has her integrity. Just not her job. And maybe not a her boyfriend. And she can never go home again.

What was that? What was that? I mean, this is a disturbing movie, if what it says is true. Someone can take your image, and make a porno with it, and make money with it, and it's legal? And more important to those of us who fancy clothes, what about one comment one of the lawyers made, that a guy can stick a camera up a girls skirt at a grocery store and that's legal? What? If that's true, that needs to stop. Where are you lifetime, when we need you to mobilize us, educate us? Telling us we have our dignity, pfft. I always have my dignity. But that's not right, and I will look into if that is true or not.

To balance this post's chi out, kudos to VH1's Rock Documentary, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. It made me think and look at heavy metal in a new way, with more respect. I always knew I liked some metal, but it seems I like a lot more than previously thought. Great interviews; Dee Snider was as entertaining as always when he was recounting his speech on censorship. Clothing related, I enjoyed the documentaries musings on the looks of heavy metal, which go from the very feminine looks of the glam rockers, to the very masculane looks of other metal genres, which are actually kind of homoerotic when you consider that 90% of the audience is male. And despite the attire, metal is considered very heterosexual and masculine. I also loved SlipKnot sitting there, being interviewed and talking all normal and intelligent while in their stage get-ups (maybe they where those for all public appearances; I'm not too up on SlipKnot.) It was just hilarious since in these freaky-zombie get ups, where you can barely see their lips moving when they talk (are those masks, or a combination of mask and make up, or just make-up?) and instead of the sort of gutteral voices and scary thoughts you expect to come out, they're just talking normal. It would have been perfect if they were sipping tea from some dainty little tea cups. I doubt they'd go for it, or maybe they already have...

My only quip was the Dio interviews. Did they really have to air so much of Dio just dissing Gene Simmons. I mean, we got the point, he doesn't like Gene Simmons and considers him very arrogant. I have no particular love for the man, either of them actually, but dude, let's move on. They could have used that airtime on some of the other points I was kind of fuzzy on, like women and metal. They had one women who was glad to have been a groupie and would encourage it in a woman who considered it. They also then had some of the guys talking about what pigs/jerks they were to these women, as they said. That just left me kind of confused. Of course, my cable kept frizzing on me so I missed some of what they said; maybe that would have cleared up my confusion. I also missed some parts since I changed the channel on their hour long commercial breaks. I mean really, I could watch a whole movie on one of those commercial breaks.

Other than that, great rockumentary. Gave some cred to metal by pointing to roots in classical composers like some guy who like his music low and restructured his orchestra by adding extra bases and even some huge cello/base thing that required one person on a ladder to hold the strings and another person on the ground to run the stick-thingy over the strings. I can't remember the name, and I really wanted to check him out. It also pointed to roots in the blues. I would have loved to see them reconcile this Metallica's attitude that all they did was play as loud and as fast as they could, although perhaps the comment by Metallica was taken out of context.

\m/ Rock on, \m/

Ivy Frozen

P.S. How do they keep banging their heads like that? I get a huge headache and the feeling of my head hitting skull. I love the movement of the hair though when the guitarists do it...

My Outfit: Built around my hat. click the pick to head to its flickr page for more details.

Fitting In

Join me in my sitting room and we'll have a little chat today about fitting in. I've been musing over the issue lately, mainly because I tend not to. I know his must come as SUCH a SURPRISE to any of you readers who have taken the time to read a few posts here, but I definitely dance to the beat of my own drum. And I love it.

I mean, take the world outstanding. I mean, "stand out" is in the word. So, standing out, not fitting in, is outstanding!

Actually though, I have both a desire to fit in, as is natural for any community creature, but also almost an aversion to it. I hate ipods, Harry Potter, the Eragon series mainly because everyone else likes it*, and they're just everywhere. Some of my habits are picked up simply because they are a little off, and I love the oddities of other people. I think sometimes people misunderstand my love of their oddities though, since I might tease them/seem like I'm teasing them a little since I love it so much. I'm also simply attracted to things that are weird, since it makes them that much more interesting to me. I loved oxygen when they played those weird movies, like the one with the woman who ended up sharing her husband with her sister, the crazy cello playing genius or the one with the woman who tried to be a lesbian.

So why have I been musing on fitting in? Mainly because I joined this site, StyleMob.



Apparently, if you click that and join, you're automatically my friend. I believe the picture is from the very fabulous sjwhidden. As for the slogan on it, I have no idea what it means but it sounds sounds so aggressive that I just had to use it. Now that I'm done confusing you, StyleMob is another do-it-yourself street fashion site, and we all know I love to post up pictures of me in my pretty, pretty outfits on the internet. This site also allows for feedback, which me likey too, since my hair isn't big enough as it is. (Yes it's my hair that grows, not my head.)StyleMob also hosts contests. It definitely sets them apart from other street fashion sites I've seen, and I'm tickled pink to be able to say that they aren't scams. But what I was apprehensive about when I joined was that this site rates outfits.

I'm not a big fan of that for the selfish reasons I'm sure you can guess from the previous paragraphs in this post alone, but also because people have such different philosophies on what is a good outfit. Therefore the ratings aren't too helpful, especially for the "go big or go home", dramatic types like me. Also, I worry they can be discouraging to others and people may be a little overly negative. I'm all about wear what you want and who cares what anyone thinks; they don't have to wear it. Within reason of course, though. I feel you should respect places and situations. For example, keeping it work appropriate at work, and G-rated to pick up the kiddies at kindergarten. Beyond that though, go for it and don't care what I or anyone else thinks.

But, back on topic, I find though that the more people dislike an outfit according to their new voting thingie, the more I love it. Those outfits make me so happy when I look at them, since they usually include my crazy mixing and gross overuse of bold colors. Stylemob is definitely a community skewed towards certain looks and getting certain things from outfits, but I think any street style/fashion online community will have the same.

As for StyleMob, I'm actually pretty impressed with them since so far they've managed to keep it a positive place. Of course, it is still in friends-only beta mode, which is why you have to be my friend to join. I wonder how it'll fair once it's open to the masses, since there are some pretty cruel jerks out there. But, I will say if you enjoy street style to give StyleMob a go. While obviously I don't care much about the lower ratings, it's still fun to see how people perceive my outfits.

Most of the comments that I've received meant as criticism tell me exactly what I was going for in the outfit. Too busy? Or busy bliss? Skanky? Perfect. And this outfit seems to have spawned a debate over the bow. Love it or hate it? Either way, I adore it.

Anywho, if you like this sort of stuff, get on it. Just clicky the image way back up there and join.
Outstanding,
Ivy Frozen

My outfit: Clicky the picky for any details.


*They're everywhere and it seems everyone's talking about them.

Would you like some racism with your fries?

Kind of a heavy subject for me to talk about after coming back from one of my random hiatuses, but I really only say something when I have something to say. Why many people think I'm cold because I really am not the type of person for small talk. But, let's not stray too far from the subject at hand.

So, Facehunter recently posted a post featuring what appears to be an Asian girl in a suspiciously KKK hood. Thus this post is about delving into rascist symbols for fashion. Certainly, Afrobella's recent post on racist videos had nothing to further my musings on this subject.

Now I know, in fashion this stuff is often not intended to be racist. It may be quite the opposite, a statement against racism. Doesn't matter. A message has whatever meaning the receiver of the message takes away. Thus if you say, "Sparkling Wiggles" but everyone hear's something, erm, somthing else, then essentially you did say the something else because that's what we heard, and that's what we're taking away. If you're totally lost on the "sparkling wiggles", check out the Afrobella post. I'd link to the questionable video, but I don't really want to give it more views. Why? Once again, it really doesn't matter that we all think the parents are jerks (or just some of us...) if we give it views. Views are views and views are good. In this case, people aren't united enough for us to bring out the modern version of the torches-- peer pressure and disapproving letters-- for us to get a tearfully fake public apology.

This brings me to the fact that many people find that video funny, and the KKK hood a cool statement, and think that people more of my opinion are overreacting. I do wonder how many of those people have ever been refused service or followed around by security guards, or suffered any of the hundreds of other petty injustices because they didn't look a certain way. And after suffering that, had to listen to people, who look what is apparently the "right" way, pat themselves on the back for totally patronizing or, even worse, insulting you in their misguided attempts at doing the right thing. While I do appreciate the good intentions, I still suffer the damages of these. There's still a huge gap left after the civil rights movements. We've got all these laws, but it never was simply the government that needed to be changed. It's society. Society, that still stamps the token black/ethnic person in every series so it's not racist. A society that needs special race and ethnicity channels, radio stations, publications, movies. A society that is still segregated in many ways.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not all about the melting pot idea, where everybody in America tosses aside their races and ethnicities and becomes simply American, 24/7. I'm simply pushing for more interelation. More communication, and less pretending the racist elephant bomb ticking away in the center of the room isn't there.

I'll also say everyone is so concerned about the media and the size zero debate and promoting public health. What about the media and race/ethnicity? For the whole size zero thing, I say it's all those exercise advertisements and slim down tips that get me. I see those, and find myself planning an exercise regimen and a diet in a way those ads with photoshopped models don't. Really, what the models promote is more disatisfaction with other areas of my looks such as skin and hair. I've mentioned before on this blog that I used to do everything I could to straighten my curls away. Why? Because there was never anything for curly girls. It was all about the straight hair. And of course dolls, those things girls look to so much in their childhood, all had hair quite unlike mine, despite my mother's best efforts to secure me only black dolls.

Now, hair tips in those magazines are still overwhelmingly focused for those with more caucasion locks, but there is the whitewashed token tip for girls with curlier hair. I haven't really found any magazines aimed at the teen girl with darker skin, so if ya know any, point me in it's direction. Dolls are as out of touch with this world as ever. (Anyone else wonder how old Barbie's mysterious mother is that she's still popping out kids 40-50 years after Barbie's birth, while Barbie still hasn't found the time to have some of her own between all the job hopping she's been doing-- vet to lawyer to Scarlet O'Hara to teenager-- and dumping over 30 years with Ken for some Austrailian surfer we've never heard from again named Blaine?) I am pleased with all the products especially for curls on the market now, but it's still all about catering the white America. My AP US History textbook had about two sentences on Malcolm X, one of which made sure to point out that he was a pimp and drug dealer. I think Martin Luther King Jr. managed to snag a whole paragraph.

But I think I've basically covered enough on this issue for today. Why not spend a little energy on positive things, such as Shrek the Third, and it actually relates to the rest of the post. It seems Shrek and the fairy tale villains were also victims of a sort of racism and prejudice, and has some good advice for all of us: trust in yourself. While the world may say you're a monster, trust in yourself to know what you are and aren't and be yourself, not society's idea of yourself.

This post's outfit is actually inspired by Shrek the Third's hippie high school teacher Merlin, even though the image on it features Harry Potter, and worn to go see the movie with friends.

Another kitchy dress made by me from a thifted pillowcase. I may not like Harry Potter, but enjoy the novelty of the print. Besides, I was originally attracted by the owl which now resides on the back of the dress.

BTW, Shrek the Third was hilarious, perhaps even better than the second Shrek. I do love me some Gingy and Puss though...

Outfit: From Thursday. I'm still lazy so click the images to be magically transported to the image's flickr page, which has more info. Be sure you are not currently bidding for the position of comedic relief sidekick animal and have your rival right beside you to avoid a Freaky Friday-esk switcharoo. Oh, and apologies for the typos as I'm writing a lot quite late.

Peace and Victory,

Ivy Frozen

Flip Flops

Flip Flops, oh, flip flops
I don't understand your appeal
The smack, sucking sound
As you beat me on the heel.

As a shoe, you should
beautify and protect my feet
Instead you make them dirty
as I walk down the street.

As an item of clothing
you should enhance my look
Instead you detract from it,
like a petty crook.

Curse you, oh, flip flops
Cashing in on the heat
A true sandle you are not;
You are full of deceit.

I've never hated flip flops more than I do now.* In highschool, I adored them for a while. Soemthing about freedom, ease, and them being against school rules, but everyone wore them anyways until the school was forced to allow them. But being on a college campus, and seeing them rain or shine. Hearing them all day and then all night. (Dorms suck.) It was so (whiny, vally girl voice here) annoying when one of my professors wore flip flops to class. As she walked about lecturing, the pop-pop was annoying the shiznit out of me. (That's right. I'm wit it.) What annoys me more is when I see a cute dress and then the wearer has to wear flip flops. Ugly flip flops. Ugly rubber flip flops. Just ruins the look.

But, I know I'm in a minority. Nothing beats flip flops in the casual/summer department. Really, you can at least some nice looking slip on sandles. They look so much better! I'm really into anklestraps now. Since I have tiny ankles, I have no worries about them and they are invaluable at securing shoes on my feet. And look how sweet those sandles look with my new dress. "My new" as in "I made it myself" my new. Just imagine if I had worn a pair of these. Yeah, makes me shiver too. If you must buy your shoes from Old Navy, why not buy any of these? Any of those would look adorable with a sweet dress. My favorite gold espadrilles, which I wear all the time, are from Old Navy last year, so I actually think their shoes are quite cute. Aside from the $2/$3/$5 flip flops, which I probably wouldn't even wear on the beach. I sport something more like this on the beach.

Outfit Specs: Click piccy to be taken to flickr page for details. You'll porobably get a better post on this dress once I add pockets.

For Sandles,
Ivy Frozen

* This bout of anger has nothing to do with the fact that my favorite (and only) pair of flip flops now rub irritatingly between my toes and my favorite pair of sandles in a flip flop style now stab me (they draw blood!) in the toes.

From the Blogasphere Number Equix

So, one of my favorite bloggers, The Bargain Queen, has posted the first ever Fabulous! Festival. It's like the Carnival of Couture, for those who remember that, except this one doesn't have a weekly theme. I totally want a weekly theme or question, but the bloggers hosting it for the week can decide to do that if they want, so yay! I try to participate one week... After finals are over....

But on point, through the Fabulous! Festival line up of posts, I found College Fashion.net College fashion! I thought. I'm a college student! It should be good for me! I totally ignored the fact that most campus fashion involves flip flops, pajama bottoms, and a college sweatshirt. Really though, fashion magazines tend to go from teen to professional woman, totally skipping those cellege years. It's like being a tween all over again. The kid's section or the junior's? The junior's or the misses'?

Anywho, I went through the posts and discovered their Tips for style and fashion. Oh! I thought. Let's see what they have to say. Maybe I'll find something useful. You can never have too many tips... While I'll second the first two, but tips three and four leave me cold.

Number four just really perplexes me:

Fashion and Style Tip #4:
How much money should you spend on a dress?

Since dresses are complete outfits in themselves, add up what you would normally spend on an entire outfit (minus shoes and accessories) to figure out about what you should spend on a dress. For example: jeans + tank + cardigan = dress.

What??? Am I the only one lost? It's kind of like those dictionary entries where you look up a word to find its meaning and then have to look up the words used in the definition of it. Really, the cost of a dress should depend mostly on the dress in question and yourself.
a) How often do you plan to wear the dress?
b) How nice is the dress? Special occasion or casual? Handmade, machine made, or mass made?
c) The craftmanship/construction of the dress. Material, design, stitching.
d) How much is the dress worth to you/How much do you love it?
e) What's your budget? i.e. how much can you spend and still be able to afford food, pay your rent, anything else you want to do, etc.

All those should be considered when deciding how much to spend on a dress. Unless you plan on buying jeans/a tank/a cardi to wear with the dress, I don't see what they have to do with buying a dress. Plus, adding together what you would "normally" spend on an outfit makes no sense to me, since I have no "normal" amount spent and my daily outfits vary heavily. Though hey, if you understand this system and it works for you, far be it from me to stop you. Apparently, I'm the one out of four who thinks that is one of the strangest things she has ever heard.

But then, Shoewawa quipped in with a similar thing, the "two for the price of one" philosophy. I also think that is BS since almost any item of clothing I own should be "two for the price of one" at least, or I won't buy it no matter the price. Items that can only be worn one way are rarly worn in my closet, and therefore it's basically junk preventing me from getting something I'll wear more often.


My problem with tip Number three is that it's not a universal tip.

Fashion and Style Tip #3:Buy your heels 1/2 size too big!

This is one of the first rules of high-heel buying. Since your feet naturally slide forward in heels, buying them a half size larger will make them fit correctly.
Wearing heels that are comfortable and correctly fitted will make you look a
thousand times better while walking in them.

Buying a half size up for me does not equal more comfortable. It equals shoes falling off my feet and possibly me tripping when the shoes do this. Like comenter Ann, I find going a half-size down works better for my feet. My feet then do not slip and slide in the first place and instead fit inside the shoe as if it's a second skin. Really, my actual size, 8N, fits the best, but 7 1/2 M fits a close second. Also not that I don't do pointy toeed shoes; round or almond is my pfreference.

My correction of this tip is to just try on shoes in various sizes. Every shoe and foot is different. Try your normal size plus a size up and a size down. Walk around the store at your normal speed to get a a good feel for how each pair feels on your feet, and buy the size that fits you best and is the most comfortable. Frankly, if shoes cause you a lot of pain, I advicate against buying them. Shoes should be pretty and comfortable, or at least not unbearably painful. I wholeheartedly agree with the last sentence of that tip though.

All the blogs linked to in the post are liked enough by me to:

a) read them
b) post about them
c) link to them


Outfit Specs: Click piccy to be taken to it's flickr page for more information.

The Outlaw,
Ivy Frozen

The Novice Dress Post

What you've all been waiting for, all the dresses I've made together in one post for the first time. Five dresses you know plus one new creation! This post certainly has nothing to do with my sister wanting me to make her a dress. Certainly not so she could see what I've done.

I've been wanting to learn how to sew my own clothing for a while.

A) I could get what I want! My tastes often do not follow that of what is on, and my meager budget limits what I can afford to basically whatever the masses are feeling at the moment.

B) I do love being different. I despise wearing the same thing as someone else at the same event. I'm a spoiled youngest child and a territorial creature. I'm often the odd one out, so I made it my pride.

C) It seems more cost effective. In practice, it's not always.

All the people who sew say the best way to learn is to do it, so I jumped in!

Dress #1

The first dress I created and probably my fav of the bunch. I got the idea from seeing all those trapeze dresses on the runway, and thinking $160 dollars was a lot to pay for something so simple. My version cost about $6 and is so versatile!

It was probably my best fabric find. Clearance aisle, how I love thee! I love the movement of this dress. And to think how inadequate I felt going into the fabric store and being asked about what I was making by all the experienced sewers.

Extreme! Pinned back bustle and belted to emphasize that waist.

Layered for the fall and winter, and belted or not for spring and summer.

This dress is basically a circle skirt with straps and buttons sewn on.

Dress #2:

An a line dress that looks best belted like so on me. On this one, I took time to add pockets. This fabric was free, so this dress simply cost the price of the thread I used. And, I still have lots more left over, of both the thread and fabric. It was also my first attempt at a zipper, which was successful for the most time. I cut the slit for it curved so the zipper curves a bit.

Dress #3:

Same fabric, very different dress.

It's still versatile, though, with where I choose to belt it.

Drop waist working on me! Iit's a miracle!

Dress #4 and #5:

My Batman dresses, included into his post for the sake of completeness. They're also mosre complex dresses I tackled. They're both fitted, unlike my previous dresses, and the first completed one features puff sleeves, a cowl hood. They also show how I've improved with putting zippers in.

Dress #6

My lucky number dress. This dress was actually started either third or forth, but got put on hold for the other dresses, since I was having difficulty with it. This look was inspired by Tori Amos's Bouncing of Clouds--the shoe's model name is in fact "cloud"-- and Father's Son, which I choose to think of as a girl being her father's son since she has no brothers, and thus conjures up images a sporty but sweet girl. I love how she always manages to inspire me, since I like mess up the lyrics to some of her songs to work for me. Mishearings that I refuse to correct, in this case, "So it ends so it begins/I'm my father's son./Plant another seed of hate/in a trusting virgin gun [girl]." I switched "gun" from the original lyrics with "girl" and refuse to switch back since it would ruin all my lovly images of the song, and I'd have to create new ones. Probably why I tend to sing the most depressing songs with the hugest smile on my face... (Come on people, you didn't think I was through obsessing over Tori so soon?) And oo! Linkin Park has a new album coming out on the fifteenth. The snips on their website sound different from their previous albums, but it still sounds like it's Linkin Park. This is officially the best ambiguously defined period of consecutive time ever! I fear the backlash of the worst ambiguously defined period of consecutive time ever, but shall ignore said fear until said backlash occurs.

Back on topic, this fabric features little golf icons. I totally need to go miniture golfing this. It was thrifted, and I think it might be from the '60s since it since it says it's copyright "Custom Fabrics Inc. 1966." I made sure to include that on the hem, even if it's upside down.

I'm not sure if I'm quite happy with this dress. It might get altered again...

Reconstruction number 3...

pictured at top. It started off as a boring forever 21 empire waist dress that made my hips look big and showed EVERY line, and then I cut it at the waist, and took it up there to make it a baby doll. I used elastic thread, which gave the seam a scalloped edge I rather like. Black fabric paint for the design on the dress's left and the author of the book from whence the phrase came. Yes, I'm a nerd, but a pretty cute one, if do say so myself.

Outfit Specs: Click the images to be taken to their flickr pages where the info is and you can also see larger versions.

Dressed,

Ivy Frozen

I'm Batman!

Yes! This big post on super hero style! The batman dresses are complete!




The Batman has always been my favorite super hero because he's not really a super hero. He has no super powers, other than his keen intellect and powerful drive. Plus, he doesn't whine all the time about how about how hard it is to be loved worldwide, unlike some other superheroes. Despite his lack of superhuman powers, Batman is not only able to keep pace with the Man of Steel and other guys who shoot deathrays from their eyes, but he's at the top of the pack, featured with Wonder Woman and Superman as one of D.C.'s big three. Plus, Batman's costume is just plain cool. See what he's upto now on his D.C. site.

This dress was finished first, although I started the other one first. I might take in the band at the bottom a little bit. I used this as a reference and inspiration, but this dress was still pretty much made the same way as my others: make it up as I go along. I know what I want the dress to look like and use educated guessing to assemble it. The tutorial for that dress was pretty much figure it out for yourself, but it is pretty straightforward to make. I didn't use stretchy fabric, so my version has a zipper. The images on the dress are from Batman: The Animated series, and it features Batman, the Joker, and the Penguin. Picture taken at a MiniCon at my school. That's Asagi from Category Freaks beside me (cosplay).



This is the dress I started first, but finished second since I got frustrated that I sewed the top on upside down, and this had to rip out the seam and start again. I also ended up cutting off part of the top from the original design when I sewed it on upside down. So, I altered the design a bit and came up with it as it is now. I still have a bit of work to do on it when I get home, and hence have a sewing machine. That's right people: all the dresses I've made have been sewn by hand as in no machine. Those of you who sew or have attempted such must truly understand my bitter frustration over the upside down top now. Once again, this dress this dress was made patturnless and made up as I went along. The skirt part utilized variation one of the circle skirt tutorial from What the Craft, which I can't direct link to since it uses frames. I didn't use elastic and therefore ruching was horrible!

The secrets of this dress:

The white panel on the bodice was added because I cut the bodice too tight.

Ruching was horrible because for some reason I always cut the hole for my body too big.

The straps are too big, hence their hanging on the side. I decided to leave them like that because they look better that way than up. Although I might just make tie straps...

I performed my first darts on this dress!

Also note that I'm sporting a batman watch that you probably can't see in both pictures.

I'll probably save the hooded dress for funner occasions, but the grey one I shall wear more often!

Look out for another completed dress soon, and a post displaying my sewed creations! (Really, I forget which dress number I'm on yet... I really need a dress form.) Maybe I'll include why the grey Batman dress needs a bear and crossbones patch on it... Really ambiguous hint.

Specs: you can clicky these photos to be carried to their flickr page, which has the goods

I'm Batman,

Ivy Frozen

American Doll Posse

Rox! Hard. & yes, this is another Tori Amos Rules! Nerdy, fan-girl post, so consider yourself warned.

I don't understand why some people are insinuating that fans are forcing themselves to like certain albums or songs. What is considered one of her weaker albums, Scarlet's Walk, is the album that first introduced me Tori and made me want to hear more from her. This is music, not math. People's likes and dislikes and appreciations vary. Big Wheel is a catchy tune that wormed itself inside my head and I must confess to rather liking it and thinking that it's the perfect song to start the album. I wouldn't say it's the best song on the album, but the first single and first song rarly are. If they were, it usually means the album stinks.

As for American Doll Posse as a whole, it is a return to hardcore, angry Tori and reminds me of Boys for Pele's and From the Choirgirl Hotel's hard rocking child. Ths album seems to have heard American women's cries and given them new voice. Well, she did say she was sparked by two women who told her to tell it like it is.

My Track Picks:

Big Wheel- catchy, upbeat, interesting and quirky. Sets mood for album
Bouncing off Clouds- on of her pretty songs but with a good beat and somewhat harder sound and fantastic images
You Can Bring Your Dog- dig the tune and randomness of this line.
Body and Soul- awesome lyrics and song!
Velvet Revolution- Hilarious! A little fun ditty, like Hello, Mr. Zebra but with more great and relevant lyrics
Dark Side of the Sun- fantastic lyrics! On war, specifically that of Iraq
Smokey Joe- more of and interesting, quirky song, again with Tori-licious lyrics. Imagine Tori doing a cover of Fergilicious. Yeah, I can't either.
Devils and Gods-great lyrics
Mr. Bad Man-the lyrics coupled with the tune

9 out of 23 is not a bad initial favorites or listening trak for me. Typically, I only like around three songs at first, and those are the singles I heard on the radio to prep me for liking them. Tori's always the exception. When I first listen the majority of songs, I'm like "Wtf is this?" Then, I listen a few more times and I'm like, "Genius! That's wtf it is!"

Reasons I love Tori:

Her voice sounds the same on album and live.
She has taken up the habit of including lyrics.
She packs her albums.
She does what she wants/her own thing.
Her songs don't ever sound all the same.
Neither do her albums.
Songs and lyrics seem made for each other, and can induce chicken or the egg type arguments.
Those Tori-licious lyrics.

BTW, I need that image at the top there poster size and hung in my future living room.

I bought the album yesterday, and it's already effecting me...

Today's outift inspired by Big Wheel. Note that I do adore misinterpreting Miss Tori's lyrics and imposing my own image and story over hers. It's more the sound of the song that gave me the colors, pieces, and pattern.

My Outift Specks: jacket- old so I forget, shirt- mom (70s/80s), shorts- kohls, belt- LuLu's fashion Lounge, tights- also forget, shoes- Old Navy, headband- Ross

The Links: The first link is to Tori Amos's official website. The second links to her myspace where you can listen to some songs, including Big Wheel.

I'm not an M-I-L-F; don't you forget,

Ivy Frozen

Are you a Lady?

You Are 76% Lady

Overall, you are a refined lady with excellent manners.But you also know when to relax and not get too serious about etiquette

Are You A Lady?
Am I, now? BouncingOff ofCloudsWe were


It's not as happy

As it seems...

Wrapped in metal

Wrapped in ivy

Painted in mint ice cream

Anyone else not quite understand the picture that goes along with the result? And yes, more Tori/American Doll Posse references. You didn't think you escaped, did you? I couldn't resist select lines from Bouncing Off Clouds.

My Outfits: You should be able to click for larger versions and specks.

76% lady, 100% female,

Ivy Frozen

Kim Harrison, Super Hero in Disguise

The day I celebrated my birthday (it's actually the last day of this month), two of my best and I went to a book signing by Kim Harrison. (Check out the Appearances page. There's a picture of me and Mashi Chan in both the Fistful or Charms tour and the For a Few Demons More tour, the two signings of hers we attended.)

Kim Harrison writes The Hollows series which follows Rachel Morgan and her journey to find happiness, something I'm sure many of us can relate to. She's sort of a cross between a private eye and cop. Ergh, it's hard to explain, but the hero of our tale is a witch, who's partners with a living vampire and a pixie, and who's legally part of a two person werewolf pack (for insurance purposes). If that doesn't get you, perhaps the villainous cast of demons, dead vampires, and smooth talking business men will. How about all the fun it pokes at Disney with curses like, "Damn it all to Disneyland!" and "Tink's panties!" and "Tink is a Disney whore!" Or how about the killer, genetically altered tomatoes that decimated about half of the world's human population? Humans getting tomatoe products on the down low? Illegal human genetic manipulation? Line dancing vampires? Come on, this series is just a whole lotta awesome! It's awesome prime! While I doubt it will be featured in the literature section of the bookstore anytime soon, this series is a great fun read. While it has plenty of serious and dark plots going on, Ms. Harrison injects so much fun into it that you never feel like slitting your wrist after reading it. You should hear her read it aloud too; her fun tone is very evident. Already on the fifth book in her series (I think), each book is just as good and if not better than the previous one and I have high hopes that she can keep the series up, unlike those series that tend to go downhill after a few books. Keeping my fingers crossed for the sixth book, although perhaps I should finish number 5 first. Dead Witch Walking is the first book in the series, so check it out if you need some light and lite reading and don't let the whole it being in the horror section thing scare you away.

But, this post isn't really to pimp her books out to you, this is about Ms. Harrison's style and her green-eyed dragon conjuring ability at looking good in photos.

Exhibit A) Pick up For a Few Demons More, her latest novel and first hardcover. Flip it over and look at the back of the cover where her author picture is. She made herself look amazingly tall with those black pants and the fun pose.

Exhibit B) At the book signing I went to, she had the coolest jacket. Unfortunately, this is the only photo I got with the jacket in it, and you can't see the awesomeness that is the back of it. It has a little bounce and a jagged hem. Now while that has little to do with the whole photogenic thing, I just had to mention it.

Exhibit C) Look at the picture at the top. She reminds me of a superhero. I think it's the flippy hair. And the stance.

Exhibit D) Doesn't she just remind you of a black rose here?


Here's a better look at my dress for the signing.



It's a Forever 21 dress. It had this annoyingly ugly, decorative and non-functional shoe-lace bow on the front, which I cut off. The length was also a little long for my preference, since it made the dress look like a lazy swimwear cover up, which the dress very well may have been. With the way it showed ALL lines south the bustline, I hope it was. You might be able to tell that's so not me if you've read even the teeniest portion of this blog. My solution? I ripped out the seem below the best (and cut the back which lacked the waist band) and cut a few inches off from the bottom portion of my cut, and then sewed it back up with elastic thread. I had to use elastic since I had to hand sew it quickly as the machine wasn't coorperating. I kind of like the scalloped edge effect the elastic thread produced.

As for the design, I used black fabric paint to post a line from one of the character's of the Hollows series, "For the love of Tink!" on it and then painted tiny foot prints since the character is a pixie.

In the picture on the top, Mashi Chan has a line by the same character on her shirt, which says, "Sweet Mpther of Tink!" She's also sporting a red bandanna as the character does at a point in the story as a simple of peace.

The Sabre Kitty right next to me in that photo is sporting a shirt that says, "Kissed by Kist," another character from the book. I swear she convinced all of Oakland we were gay lovers, by hanging on to me, giving evil glares, and enticing me to join her in Ipod Karaoke (which was actually really fun because it's totally what I want to do when listening to my mp3 but fear doing because I'm convinced I'll be stoned for it) because of all the attention I received for wearing my minidress. I mean, have the people of Oakland never seen a minidress before? On the BART this one guy just seemed mesmerized by me as I stood (coming into his view for the first time) and exited the train. If I notice it and can't argue it as something else, you're really bad at subtlty.

Anywho, back on track, the tee I'm holding up says, "It's All Part of my Master Plan," which is a reference to more of a theme in the book. Many of the characters have plans going on, but the original intent of the tee was to make it for Ivy, the character who gets screwed the most by Harrison. You know, the character who everything bad seems to happen to. I felt her pain, plus her first name is the same as my internet first name, while my full internet name wouldn't be out of place on her for the same reasons it applies to me. So, some Ivy Tamwood love, peoples!

The back of all the shirts (not including the dress) say "Go Turn Yourself!" A wonderfully fun curse from the book that I won't explain so as to not spoil the books for you anymore. You must understand why Ms. Harrison loved it so much she gave me and the friends charms.



The star fell on the ground and the guy that the friends and I assumed was a bodyguard (nice guy =) said it was bad luck. He told us to take one charm each, but I had picked up the star and tried to give it back, but my attempts kinda failed... (You know how stuff just kinda goes fast and you're just like, "Okay.") So I kept the star and the heart. I don't fear the bad luck though, since bad luck tends to turn into good luck around me. It's kind of odd; as Midoriko is for demon souls, I am for bad luck. So far, it just seems to give me an odd attraction to cats (one which followed me to the best stop this morning, demanding I pet it directly after running away from two other people who tried to pet it) and a general feeling of happiness. Kim Harrison must be some sort of super hero witch (No relation to Tarot), since she's always handing out charms and wearing cool that witch-chic coat... Maybe that's why her pictures are all so awesome!

Pictures: Click for larger versions and more info. The shoes in my outfit are these payless spray painted a softed yellow than they appear in the picture. Bakers has a slightly more expensive option in bold patent yellow (as well as other colors such a red) with a more almond toe than round.

"I'm going to be the master of disguise,"
Ivy Frozen