Sewing Expo Outfit

Last weekend, I went to the Rocky Mountain Sew Expo. It's billed a "Quilt, Craft and Sewing Festival." That's definitely a descending order description, as the expo was mostly quilting, some crafting, and only a little sewing. The place was filled with quilt creations of every imaginable type, which I enjoyed seeing even though I'm not a quilter. Most of the clothing was what I'd call "wearable art" -- store-bought clothing with appliques, embroidery, decorative stitching and/or other stuff added to it. I like recons as much as the next gal; in fact, I picked up an idea or two to try, but I have to say I was a little disappointed with the lack of booths featuring from-scratch fashion sewing.

I wore my typical outfit -- black tee, homemade skirt, black tights and black boots. Instead of my usual cardigan, I wore a vest because I knew I'd be too hot in a room filled with people.

I thought I might get a compliment or two on my skirt; it was a sewing expo, after all. But I was totally unprepared for all the attention I got. I was barely through the gate when I got the first compliment. Everywhere I went, I could hear people remarking on my skirt or my outfit. At least a dozen people complimented me directly. It was surreal. I was surrounded by people who quilt, craft or sew (or at least have an interest in quilting, crafting or sewing), and they were going nuts over a basic cotton skirt.

Though most of this outfit is in heavy rotation, I rarely wear the vest because (and you'll be shocked to hear this) it's too short in the torso. I know that nobody notices, but it bugs me.

The vest was a chance find at an odd store in the outlet mall. I liked it so much, I bought it despite the fit issue. It's made of a comfortable stretchy fabric that does not wrinkle, and the buttons are nifty. Best of all, it has a detachable white ruffle which is ingeniously attached by a series of buttons inside the vest.

buttons all around the inside of the vest

white ruffle buttoned in

ta-da! vest with ruffle attached

I get the look of a ruffled blouse without an extra layer that would make me too hot.

I should wear this vest more often, but first I need to sew some of the buttons back on. Because the vest is too short, I'm constantly pulling it down. I've managed to yank off the buttons along the bottom, leaving the ruffle hanging unattached. :P

Batty Car

After running errands this past weekend, I treated myself to dinner. Well, it was a plain baked potato from a drive-through... but any food is a treat if I don't have to cook it myself. Anyway... the girl at the drive-through said to me, "Oh, you're the one with the Batman car! My brother was telling me about you! He went on and on about how cool your car is."

my cool car

My reactions to this:
Woo! I'm famous! (Ha ha ha!)
Somebody thinks I'm cool. Or at least my car is. That's quite an accomplishment. ;)
And most importantly -- I need to change my tag so people will stop thinking it's a Batman car.

When I first put the bat decals on my car, I got comments about the bats on my car. But in the last year or so, I have been getting comments about Batman. My tag has my name on it, and people are apparently interpreting that as a nod to the villian Bane in the last Batman movie. I suppose the front mask might evoke Batman as well. ;)

Maybe I should get a "LUVBATS" tag.

Another New Look for Old Canisters

I have a set of square canisters that hold dog food and treats. When I bought them at a thrift store, they were brown and scratched. I gave them a new look with paintable wallpaper.

After redoing my kitchen in black, grey and white, I wanted to add a bit of color (purple, of course) with accessories. The canisters sit out on my counter, so they were a perfect candidate for bepurpling.

First, I pulled off the paintable wallpaper. Next, to give the canisters a smooth surface, I covered them with wall liner (a heavy paper used behind wallpaper). I then rolled on a coat of the purple paint that I used on my dining table.

Inexplicably, the paint went on with a mottled appearance. I rather like it. :)

 

Black Friday

My current style is practically garish compared to the not-too-distant past. For several years, I wore almost exclusively black. These were my wardrobes:

 

Today, for Black Friday, I am back in black.

 

Outfit details:
Lace top: Charlotte Russe
Velvet corset-style vest: Eternal Love
Lace gloves: Claire's
Velvet and lace skirt: The Black Rose
Boots: New Rock via Pennangalan
Hair clips: Claire's
Earrings and pendant: Party City
Lace choker: My remnant stash

Football Fields of Black Lace

While I was unemployed, I occupied much of my free time with sewing. As I worked my way through my stash of fabric making skirts and dresses, I soon ran out of the lace I like to use to finish hems. I began to build a small mountain of nearly-finished garments waiting for their lace.

Finally I was able to order more lace, which arrived today. Woo-hoo, 250 yards of ruffled black lace!  :D

Now, if I were in a country that uses the metric system (so... pretty much the whole world except the United States of Stubborn), I'd say that's about 228 meters. But since I'm in the US, I am obliged to say that's about two football fields.

Huh? Those of you outside the States may not know this, but Americans are obsessed with measuring things in terms of football fields. Anything and everything can be measured in football fields -- the International Space Station, sinkholes, asteroids, sushi, chicken wings. It's absurd. :P

Anyway...

Why did I buy such an insane quantity of lace? Sold wholesale in 50-yard spools, black ruffled lace is about 30 cents per yard. At retail fabric stores, ruffled black lace sells for $3, $4 or even $5 per yard. Talk about markup! :o  Even with a minimum order of $75, buying wholesale is the better option by far.

I'm sure no one will be surprised to see new lace-trimmed skirts featured in upcoming posts. ;)

Purple Owls Dress

My fourth dress success was made from this purple owls and trees print fabric from Hancock Fabrics.

I used my altered McCall's 6027 for the bodice portion and New Look 6020 for the skirt portion.

This successfully produced the A-line shape I was going for.

 

As you can see, I've had another haircut. The previous length felt sort of "in between." I was still putting it up, which rather defeated the purpose of having it cut in the first place. And it was still heavy, without much movement. So I had it cut short enough to swing freely and had more layers added.

It feels less like a drastic change than I'd hoped. But short of pulling out the clippers or bleach, this is about as big a change as I could get. I think my real problem is that no matter what I do to my hair, my face still looks the same. :P

Rejoining the Realm of the Employed

The job decision is made! As you all suggested in your comments to my last post, I chose Job Two, the more challenging position. I will meet with HR Friday to fill out paperwork, then I start work on Monday. I'm a bit nervous, but mostly excited. :)