Paper Party!

Newspaper Fashion from Boulder and the Beautiful

Going to the Reader's 40th Anniversary Party tonight (my husband is one of the few still working there) and thought I'd make a little something to celebrate both facts. 

It's a zippered clutch bag made from the alternative newspaper's front and back pages.

Tweak! Tweak!

Photo from International Antarctic Centre 

Well, it all started with putting nail polish on my glasses.  The center piece always dyed the bridge of my nose red, so I thought some clear nail polish would do the trick on my cheap red reading glasses.  Once I got started...a whole new area of possibilities opened up.  Accessories meet my Art Supplies.   And the red glasses ended up with hot pink stripes and dots.

Which brings me to these shoes I always thought were disturbingly unattractive, but very comfy.  I gathered all my art supplies that rendered things gold and selected deep gold acrylic paint to rub on the multi-surfaced shoes with my finger (heh heh goldfinger).  Now they're still comfy and disturbingly golden!

Life is But a Dream (sh-boom)

from smocking store.com

Yeah, more undergarments:  white lace added to petit pants - I couldn't help myself.  And a super-easy transformation for a plain jane garter belt.

I had some old sport bras which I simply do not wear.  One of those what was I thinking phases I can only assume.  Mine were out of cotton with spandex and had hook & eye front closures.  Well, if you turn it upside down so the straps are dangling downward and the elastic band becomes the waist, you're half way there to making a garter belt!  Just cut the bra straps where they join at what was the top of the shoulder and you've made the garter

Ladies with an Attitude

from Lulu's Vintage

Completed a pair of petit pants last night.  Remember those?  Mine were way too tight - if that's what you call barely getting into them and then not being able to move afterwards. ahem.

Found a stash of heavy stretch lace in a matching color, cut the petit pants in half on what would have been the side seams if they had any, and sewed a strip of the stretch lace on either side (like racing stripes).

Voila, petit pants that are now grande.

Work it, work it good

Sculpture by Michele Oka Doner

These darn pants.  I've been re-working them on and off forevah, like penance, or purgatory, or is it limbo?  Whatevah, here they are done and done.

After taking the pix they don't look half bad, kinda like harem pants, don't ya think...

I'm exhausted and can't say another thing about it.

Re-modeling Drawers

Sculpture by Judson Beaumont

Decided the garter apparatus might need a cover-up of some sort.  Found some taupe color drawers I made previously and got down to work remodeling them into longer, fuller bloomers with lace.

It turned into quite the production:  piecing fabric and lace, threading through ribbon and elastic, and finishing seams due to raveling.

But look, they're so....

One Way or Another

photo by Nina Leen

...I'm gonna getcha, getcha, getcha, getcha.  And that's what I did.

I really needed some garters for all those thigh highs I made when I cut off the legs of my too small tights.  I thought they would just stay up with some elastic stitched together kinda like a rubber band, but no way.  I was walking around with baggy socks, man.  I didn't want to break my no-buying streak of 4 months for something as dumb as garters!  Yet I could not think of any other way to hold up stockings.

Garter Barter was put in motion.  I traded an amber necklace I picked up on a trip to Egypt for...wait for it...mattress garters.  yeah.  Check out my garter apparatus and the stash from whence my necklace came.

Life Laundry - White Wash

installation by Yoshikazu Yamagato

I just realized this afternoon the great metaphor I put into play a few days ago.  Let me set it up.  I decided to try some "White-Wash" laundry treatment by Rit to see what it could do for those baby clothes from my Mom.  It's some kind of non-bleach alternative whitener. 

Poetic Revival

painting by Alex Gross

Re-fashioned an old poet's shirt.  I don't remember ever wearing it, but then I've had the thing for over 30 years...why?  god only knows.  It was so heavily black, so Renaissance Faire.  Well, I got rid of the heavy black lacing, replacing it with something delightful.  Then I short hemmed the front whilst long hemming the back - like I've seen around town. Check it out.

But first, I found a sweet treasure from my latest Mom visit.  This tiny pocket case which I received as a child from my godparents, I decided to make into a necklace. It's just too precious for words.  You'll just have to see it.

It's a Sports Skirt!?

 Levitation Photo Series by Natsumi Hayashi

Took a very comfy skirt made out of sweatshirt material and opened both side seams.  Then looked around for some fabric to use for inserts from waistband to hem which was ankle length.  Eventually I came up with the idea of using old yoga or exercise pants.  I had a pair with stripes down

Embossed Suede with Silver Brocade

Ceramic by Nancy Creech

Not much rehabbing, but still took some time to figure out what to do.  This was a rather striking Asian-esque vest I had made, well fitted with an asymmetrical closure.  Well that didn't work for me anymore, so I removed all eight of the frog closures and finally ended up letting it meet in the center with just one.  Nowhere near as attractive as before, but I can wear it now and the fabric combo is still interesting - embossed black suede with silver satin brocade.  (I say, doesn't that have a nice staccato?...)

Can't Go Wrong with Choco Brown

painting by Frida Kahlo

Finished a chocolate brown bolero last night - just in time to wear to class this morning!  Kris said I looked "arty."  Pretty diplomatic, huh.

Anyway it was something I bought awhile ago and never wore even when it fit cuz it just didn't look good.  Took off the too-high-up, too-pouffy pockets, and removed the one button that clasped it together at the top.  Found the tiniest scrap of chocolate brown chiffon and made use of it for triangular side inserts so the jacket draped nicely and echoed the flow of the sleeves.  Also found a dark brown frog closure in my miscellaneous stash and sewed it right over the button hole, et al.  Perfect.