Day 8 MMM'19: Layered Views

Yes, it was quite chilly out, so I put on layers.

~ wide open ~

~ and wide shut ~

Raincoat seen previously here.

~ kimono minus the raincoat ~

Kimono seen previously here.

~ underneath, side view ~

Stretch mesh top was adapted from Vogue 8450 pattern.

~ yep, looking down ~

Worn with stretch knit pants adapted from Sandra Betzina's Vogue 1355 pattern.

~ and that's about it ~

Well, except for the grand finale:

~ yeah, bay-bee, matching satin dotted Docs from ebay ~

Until tomorrow...

Oh, I do believe I spot a bit of floral on the ole kimono.  Must join Spy Girl's May Floral link-up!

Day 3 MMM'19: Attack of the Florals

You know, it's still cold in May, even with the occasional sunburst.

~ suppressing all that flower power ~

In my plain ole hooded red fleece sweatshirt from Butterick 6253 pattern. 

~ Abstract Florals Galore ~

 Starting with my kimono made from Simplicity 4291

~ layer after layer ~

A chiffon remix shirt from Vogue 9040 as well as the stretch jersey pants from who knows what pattern.  All with a quasi-Asianesque vibe, I do believe.

~ not to be outdone, here are my Doc Martens from ebay ~

This was today's workout outfit, by the way...

And off to link up with Spy Girls Florals for the Month of May.  While I'm at it, let's go for Style Crone's May Hat Attack! too. 

See you tomorrow.

Me and Kimono Hanging Out at the Church

on MeMadeMay'18, Day 24

~ yep ~

Actually I'm next to the church, at the rectory.  The whole establishment is huge and a few doors down from my house.  (In fact, you can see some of the edifice in the background of my backyard pix.) 

~ all aglow ~

 It was such a lovely day in the neighborhood (again), a walk was warranted.

~ no, I'm not being arrested ~

I've worn this before, but with different stuff.    I luv this kimono and how it accidentally came about.  You can see and read about it here, if you'd like.  Meanwhile, it's from a failed Tina Givens Meri pattern.

The pantaloons were self-drafted out of organza and attached to old yoga shorts.

~ black jersey and organza pantaloon ~

~ made with french seams and tucks ~

~ and very sheer ~

They were definitely influenced by this style icon:

~ Debra Rapaport, as seen on Advanced Style blog ~

~ newly received sandals from ebay ~

They are so comfortable and I never, never where thongs.  But when I saw how they were made and the heel/sole, I just couldn't resist.  Plus they were going for $15 and no one else bid on them. (?!)  The brand is Akaishi which was unknown to me before.

From Flop to Frippery

By way of a Tina Givens Meri dress pattern, no doubt.  You'll never know the places you'll go when diving into one of these adventures.

~ But I never thought I'd end up here! ~

Oh my.  You wouldn't either if you checked out the pattern picture.  But then again, if you've worked with these patterns, you probably know modifications, alterations and (for me) way out remedies are the name of the game.  Which is kind of why I like them.

~ I'm feel so liberated now ~

I started out with the least favorite fabric I had on hand in case it turns out to be a dud.  This is a double border ITY knit, of all things.   I try to figure out what size to use, but sometimes its rather difficult to do based on the pattern pieces when they're not consistent.  This dress used one piece from center front to center back.  In other words, there's no side seams.

~ just hanging out here ~

Shoulder seams didn't line up, the usual stuff.  I took up the shoulder seams 4 inches on each side because both the underarms and the neckline were soooo low.   The pattern photograph shows a high neckline.  So much for that.

~ another ready for take-off picture ~

It was supposed to be sleeveless, but since the armholes were wonky, I decided to use the leftover angled pieces as sleeves.  They were already perfectly cut for kimono sleeves.  So voila, on they went.  That was a surprise.  Now I had a tribal kaftan, kimono-esque dress.

I'm starting to like this thing.  It just needs something for that weird neckline, plus I don't like the way the center front flares out with excess fabric.  hmmm.

~ cruising ~

After a couple false starts on necklines, I found two long narrow triangular scraps of the fabric that fit together perfectly to form a neckline with ties.  I attached it like you would a bias binding and then finagled a way to sew the tie ends inside out, yada, yada, yada.  So there we are.

This thing is so much fun to wear, especially on a breezy day.  It's like instant drama.

And wouldn't ya know it.  I had the perfect shoes to wear with it.

~ screaming orange and magenta XOXO shoes from ebay ~

I'll be joining Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style (finally), Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like and Cherie's Shoe and Tell when they all go live.  Hope to see you there.

Deep Velvet & The 3 Tops

First Showing:

~ me freezing ~

Yeah, it's a sunny day and 6 below zero again.   So we'll be quick.

I made this deep blue velvet kimono (they call it that on the pattern, Shelley) Simplicity 4134 and self-drafted the skirt a couple months ago. 

~ SEE? ~

And I can't find anything to wear with it!  This is my third attempt at making a shirt/ top/ blouse for it.

~ Okay, that's it, I'm going inside ~

But wait, let me show you each and every one of the 3 Tops I labored over.

Kimono on the Cityscapes

~ Yes, here we all are ~

The Kimono is from Koos of Vogue patterns 1493
and the Dress is from The Sewing Workshop Collection Cityscapes pattern.

I made the dress awhile ago and never wore it in public.  The original pattern calls for a jumper to go over it.  I tried, but it didn't work out at all.  But when I finished the Kimono and tried it on over the dress, I liked the vibe, especially with the dusty pink boots. 

~ I mean I'm having a flashback, man ~

 

~ check out that sleeve action ~

Okay, now this is something you don't see everyday.  In fact, this is something you never see on the likes of me.  Totally XXX rated.

It's a Fait Accompli Dress

I finished that dress for the Mother of the Groom with time to spare.  How did I get there, you ask?  Well, it all started with...we're friends and I like to sew...

Sara tried on some of the dresses I already have and decided on a certain style.  The Mizono Vogue 1410.   With modifications, of course.  And an added bolero. 

Actually, I wore mine recently with my pink scooter buddy, here.  It's a pretty easy pattern to make up.

But we decided on silk, silk chiffon, for the fabric.  yeah.  Fool that I am, I've never worked with silk before (too expensive for one thing).  So being a cautious sort of person, I suggested we do a test run first with polyester chiffon. 

And we did.

That's when we discovered a slip was going to be necessary.  For the silk one, I suggested I could make a silk charmeuse slip.   I mean you wouldn't want to go with anything other than silk with a silk dress, right?  It follows that some polyester charmeuse was purchased for a test slip for the polyester chiffon test dress.

I was able to put together the poly chiffon dress and bolero with no problemo.  A couple fittings during the process where we decided on dart placement, bustle placement, etc.  And done.


To see pix of the polyester test dress, go here.

In the meantime, she had bought perfectly lovely slips to go with each dress...

Did I mention the silk chiffon was so light and airy that I decided it needed to be lined with yet more silk chiffon?  eiyiyiyi.  It weighs nothing and I found it (next to) impossible to sew or even cut out the fabric.  Thank goodness it was a simple pattern. 

Note:  Poly chiffon compared to silk chiffon is as tastee-freeze is compared to gelato in Florence.  Different species, I tell ya. 

Nevertheless, here's Sara and the dress.

~ long version with hand sewn kimono top ~

~ bustled version without kimono ~

 ~ bustled and kimono-ed ~

les shoes, sox and fabric print ~

Yesterday I was offered a free Craftsy class.  I chose The Essential Guide to Sewing With Sheers.  Better late than never.  Who knows, make I'll make a silk something for myself...


I'm sending Sara and my her dress over to Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style, Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like, Cherie's Shoe and Tell, and Anne's 52 Pick me up: Completion, yeah.

What to Wear in a Bog Dress

or a swamp thang

~ maybe substitute the velvet fake docs ~

or maybe not

This is so comfortable I fell asleep in it and found myself wearing it this morning.  And you can't tell the difference!  Now that's how I like my clothes, bay-bee.

~ hey look! it's 2, 2, 2 dresses in 1 ~

The pattern is from Tina Givens, called the Poppy Slip and Shirt.  The fabrics are thin stretch knits/ mesh abstract prints from Fabricmart.com. 

~ le back view ~

And as I always say, 2 sheers make it right.  You know what I mean?

~ the obligatory shoe shot ~

That's blue velvet fake Docs from ebay and space-dyed sox from Soxdreams.com.


Now it's off to the big parties for the week.  Whenever they go live, that is.  Patti's Not Dead Yet Style with all the Visibles, Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like, and Cherie's Shoe and Tell.  See you there!

Brown Prints...Can They Be Fun?

 That is the question.

~ Sure, if you mix them all up with a dash of pink! ~

~ yaa ~

I'm wearing a chiffon print kimono top with satin lapels (oop Vogue pattern), stretch mesh animal print dress (Vogue 1217 heavily modified),  light weight flannel full slip (Vogue 7837 modified).  Cloth flower pin (made by Suzanne Carillo) and old beaded necklace (?).

~ whoo-hoo ~

What's this chair doing here?!

~ over the knee sox (Sock Dreams) and groovy shoes (from ebay) ~

Am I too matchy, though?  Anyway, I'm off to join the Visibles at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style.  And the Shoe and Tell with Cherie of Style Nudge.  Come on over and join in the festivities.

Salmon, Coral, Peach, You Name It.

Hot in Chicago this last week.  Just like those colors.  And I'm wearing all of them, together.

~ As I get down to the bongo beat in the tot lot park ~

~ yeah, I was so bongoing that I chimed the xylophone behind me with my arse ~

This brought some attention my way.

 you know, all good things must come to an end, yadda, yadda, yadda.

~ but first my bow during the encore ~

~ and posing for photos by the fans ~

~ hmm, now what? ~

~ of yeah, the centerfold shot ~

I believe this is a continuation of our "This is not my house" series wherein Sara takes my ensemble photos as we stumble upon a site after our Stella's cafe routine on Sunday afternoons.

What I'm wearing, ladies:

• sunglasses from the $1 store
• some mash-up of various linen pieces (including tablecloth) and some hand-stitching kimono vest thing
• white tissue linen long shirt from Tina Givens, Gina pattern with modifications 
• salmon, coral, peach, you name it linen pants from Tina Givens, Greta pattern
• yellow leather tennis shoe clogs from ebay

As luck would have it, Spy Girls 52 pick-me-up: salmon is on for Monday and guess who'll be at the party?!  yep.  See you there.

Luxe Up

Slid back into Winter temps in Chicago today.  So here I am lounging about in some luxurious fabrics that I've turned into stuff.  Ready?

Let me set the stage.  That's Tree Bark Women peaking over my shoulder and Albertine strutting past.

I'm wearing velvet, satin, suede, "gold" and slinky knit

Phoebe velvet bloomers, Ophelia knit top (both Tina Givens patterns), Simplicity suede & satin kimono top.

gives us a twirl...

and the ole Doc Martins, of course

Also made the jewelry, but you really can't see the two necklaces and bracelet...

And...the best is yet to come:  Patti's Not Dead Yet Style for Visible Monday!  Check it out.