Hello Halloween!

I mean "Goodbye Halloween." It's November, but I wasn't gonna finish a project early just so I can blog about it in a timely fashion.
In my youthful days of joy, I would spend weeks planning a costume. Something sexy and fun, but not totally cliche. Then, I would prepare Halloween themed desserts, sometimes even a cocktail and celebrate the shit out of that holiday at what was always the party of the year.
Now, my sad ass just dresses up for school. I knew what I wanted to wear, whether it was age appropriate or not...

Helloooooo

So, if you read my blog over the summer, you'd know that I like Hello Kitty now. (Waves fist) You better be ok with that! (Why I like Kitty.) It's "kawaii" which means "cute af" in Japanese from what I can gather. The whole Sanrio-Kitty world is just so cute and endearing. The simplicity is what makes her over the top cute.
Oh, and I do remember the news story that came out awhile back declaring Hello Kitty "not a cat" and I declare "bullshit." Paws, whiskers, little cat ears...yeah, that's a cat, you can't pull a fast one on me!

Anyway...my costume. I searched Pinterest and Google images for some inspiration.

I wanted a cross between that strapless dress and that cute baby. She looks so comfy.

Here are some other ideas that could possibly be work appropriate. If I wanted to be recognized I needed the cat ears and bow, which I bought. For the clothing part, Kitty's usual outfit seems to be a jumper; something with shoulder straps like overalls. Her colors seem to have two basic schemes: classic red/blue/yellow or girly red and pink.

I didn't want to go subtle, so I figured I would construct a dress with images of Kitty herself. Even though that's kinda like this:

Milhouse: Check it out Lisa! I’m Radioactive Man!

Lisa: I don’t think the real Radioactive Man wears a plastic smock with a picture of himself on it!

Milhouse: He would on Halloween!

I started with this stupid garment:

I did not waste time modeling a "before" shot because it's not funny looking, it's just one of those terrycloth beachwear things. Obviously not a jumper, but it worked for me. Then I hit up the little girls' department of Savers and found this:

I almost felt bad about destroying it just for the picture of Kitty with the 3D bow. But I cut her out right around the head. The stretchy bathing suit material was kinda worn and pill-y. 

Then I went to Goodwill and found this one:

Oooh, sequined Hello Kitty face! Now, I want that one. Both dresses were $3 each, so...probably not money well spent for scraps. 

The transplant took place and the sparkle head was added to the front of my red "jumper." Then, I looked at the other one and wanted that one too. I made a pocket with it!

I didn't get a real picture, I just zoomed in.
Who has a pair of white leggings? Couldn't find any, until I asked my mom the night before. She said "Yeah, I think I do. And I don't think I've ever worn them. Why do I have them?"
The finishing touch was a really fun Hello Kitty necklace for $1.99. Actually, I drew on some whiskers. That was the finishing touch. 

Just a mirror selfie. My mirror just leans against the wall in my bedroom so I moved it into the kitchen for the white background. Here's one without the white:

The children loved it, and everyone was reminded of my darling little friend AB who attends a different school this year. (Scroll up and click the link in the second paragraph, that will tell you who AB is.) I definitely sent a pic to her Nana's phone so I could say Happy Halloween and remind her of how we all miss her.

Grandma's bathing suit

Everyone laughed when I said I bought a one piece bathing suit. No, they didn't. I just have a complex. Yup, I'm so vintage that I sought out a 1940s style suit. Like this one that I found at Savers for $2.99.

They must have marked it so low, thinking "who's cheap enough to by a used bathing suit?" I'll tell you who is; I am. Actually, it was in great condition (and it was washed in a hot water cycle.) Of course there were a couple issues that I wanted to fix.

It's very low in the back. I feel like it would fit better without that big gap. Also I have back moles. (So embarrassed.)
The other area of concern was one that is affected by cold water. If you need a hint:

It's perfectly sunny; no need to flash the high beams.

Lucky for me, I found this piece at the Goodwill for $1.50.

The bust area is a big bow-like thing! And it has little bra cups in it that I can use! Shut up and take my $1 fitty!
So, yeah, I took what I needed from there and added it to my vintage pin-up suit.

That's the back of the thing and then that's a pic of me standing in the corner in shame. The bow did not hide my back and I employed photo editing to hide any birthmarks.
Ugh...the after pics. I got a few and I'm reluctant to share. But I can't just leave this post hanging.

There's my old timey swimwear! The end.

Take a Bow...blue dress and t shirt

By the way, that title says "take a bow," as in a tied up ribbon, something on top of a present, or that thing on Hello Kitty's head. 
This one isn't exactly exciting. In fact, let's just skip the intro and see the dress:

Yup, that's the end result. That's my finished dress. I wasn't planning on posting about it, so I neglected to take a "before" shot. It's a simple stretchy knit dress in a dark blue color that I really like. I must have liked this garment because I have two of them...

Here it is in black! For some reason, I'm holding the ends of those things that attached to its side that tie in the back. I love those, there has to be a name for them. I'm not exactly modest, but there was a slight over exposed feeling to this dress. It just doesn't seem right to stroll into a grocery store or the thrifts with one's boobs so brazenly on display. Call me old fashioned, but in my day, we only hauled our girls out at the mall or someplace like that ;)
I have a slight rule when it comes to summer clothes: Wear as few garments as possible. Don't layer, stick to one lightweight garment, preferably a dress. Summer school is not air conditioned.
I made the bust line higher with this:

That's a really cute t shirt with a black bow on it. Unfortunately, it has a bunch of letters and numbers on the back. Do not want. I'll just take the bow.

I sewed that t shirt scrap to the front and waved a sad goodbye to my best feature. For a closer look, here are some closeups I took using my brand new fancy phone. I pretty much never replace a phone until the one I'm using breaks. That's what happened in June and with the help of a loyalty program, this broke lady earned a lovely Galaxy S6. The camera has a great selfie mode and is so clear it shows every detail of my face. I'll just edit a few things...

A rare glasses pic! I am a full time glasses wearer, but I rarely wear them in pictures. I just don't think they photograph well.

That one's weird. That doesn't even look like the me I'm used to. But, how do ya like that dress fix? I like it.

The end.

Taking on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl

" Who's that giiiirl? Who's that girl? It's Jess!" theme song from TV's The New Girl

The manic pixie dream girl is the term used to describe a female character in a movie, TV show, or book who is just so quirky, adventurous, wild, and beautiful! The character exists for the purpose of helping the male protagonist (who is a cynical, buttoned up, depressed bore) learn to love and live freely!

 "I brake for birds! I rock a lot of polka dots! I have touched glitter in the past 24 hours! I spent my entire day talking to children! And I find it fundamentally strange that you're not a dessert person; that's just weird and it freaks me out! And I'm sorry I don't talk like Murphy Brown! And I hate your pantsuit. I wish it had ribbons on it or something to make it slightly cuter!" — Zooey Deschanel as Jess on The New Girl
Although this description reeeally doesn't describe any actual women, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that absolutely doesn't describe me. Let's sing that theme song...
"Who's that giiirl? Who's that girl? It's Moody!"

 

Do ya see what I did there? LOLZ, look at the contradiction. hur hur. Well, I can't be a wacky, offbeat, Ramona freakin' Flowers in this dress:

Before

That dress is basically a long, black sack and I have no idea why I have it. I think maybe a thrift store two-for-one? I decided this boring-ass thing might be a good backdrop for this white collar I removed from another dress:

Pinned it right on there. It's not the standard Peter Pan collar worn by Zooey and others of their ilk. Hey, while I'm going wild and quirky I might as well eschew my standard midi length and cut this bitch above the knee!
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Damn it, I thought I took a picture of that groundbreaking moment where I chopped some length off this dress. Either way, I'm pretty sure I took off to much. Because when I went to hem it, I couldn't fold up the raw edge and had to use that lace seam binding crap that I always have for "projects." I neglected my photography too, because I'm all crazy and living in the moment! I got a goddamn micro mini. I don't normally do those.
So, now I have to wear it with leggings. I did a proper photo shoot with some tights, though. They had to be black because those were the only ones flattering.

I added that little sash bow thing, instead of the black one that went with it because that obviously matched too much. The collar and the polka dot bow are pretty cute but I needed to push it into "totes adorbz" territory.

I added that cute-as-kitties bike brooch. Bicycles are a thing, I heard. Well, I've seen this:

Also rounding out outfit: Vintage, old lady carpet bag; green mary jane shoes; a jaunty beret.

 There's my decidedly non-pixie smile. The old-timey bicycle brooch refused to be photographed properly. I wonder if I'll ever have the nerve to wear this thing?

All I wanna do is refashion dresses; like this vintage 80s teal number

This damn blog has had an awful lot of one thing: dress refashions. It's like I'm obsessed or something. I'm not even going to pretend I'm not, all I want to do is make dresses out of other dresses or use other items of clothing to make dresses. Hyper focus is not really a good thing...
But this is:

Look at this vintage dress. It's such a perfect example of the 80s secretary or teacher. As you see, it kind of looks like a blouse tucked into a skirt which was then pulled out so that it spills over one's waistline. No waist necessary! That, plus the high neckline with adorable collar and bow assure those who see you in it,  that "sexy" is not the look you were going for.

But, it's not without it's charm. Coincidentally, almost all of my successful refashions come from the same place. I admired this dress for it's retro factor when I spotted it at OUTfitters in Manchester, but only when it hit that magical $0.50 rack did I take it home.
What it does have going on:
- Peter Pan collar and bow for Manic Pixie Dream Girl outfit
- interesting striped pattern with my favorite teal color
- only $0.50

The first thing I hated about this dress was that built in muffin top design. It was made that way, because there was a lining attached to the waist and connecting at the shoulders and neck. It had to be eradicated, immediately. That's a picture of it, lining free.

As you can see from this picture, the dress's torso area is now about three yards long (my estimate might be exaggerated a but). I removed the sleeves, the collar, and the bow. 

This is how I cut necks, fool. I fold that dress in half lengthwise, ya see? Then, I pretty much just guess and start trimming off the neckline. Because it's folded like that, the left and right sides of the dress are cut at the same time. Symmetry!
As anyone who has seen my work can attest, I like to keep it simple. I don't usually want a whole new dress, I like to work with what  have. In this case, I have a long bodice. I thought this dress would look cool with knotted shoulders.

I skipped a picture, but I'll use photo magic to explain what's probably obvious:

Cut the shoulder straps so that they can be tied together. Oh, after I made those cuts, I went ahead and trimmed down the sides so they weren't so thick.

Then, I did this part. I pinned and sewed the raw edges. I wanted the v neck to sit lower, so I made a cut down the middle and secured the edges. Then, I tested out those shoulder strap knots:

I can't use flash for the selfies, but you see what I did there. I made knots. Easy! This dress was taking no time at all! Since I had a lot of room in that bodice, gathering those straps into knots gave it a nice uh...gather? Pleats? Not sure what word I need.
Then, I had a problem. Those knots were kinda bulky. I had them double knotted, how else was I gonna get them to stay? I tried tying a single know and then sewing in place. Fail. I tried a bunch of other things to make those damn straps look right and keep that gathered look I wanted. Half hour project came to a stop.
Luckily, I used the power of the internets to look for ideas. They didn't work either. But, I accidentally came up with this!

That's the back strap. I folded it under and sewed it like that, making a little loop. I can tie the front strap through that loop and it just works for me.

 

See? Front strap goes through the loop and ties into a double knot which somehow looks better. If you think I've already added too many pics, wait until you see the after party: 

After!

Oh, hello there. You'll have to pardon the gratuitous amounts of cheesy modeling pics, but I find myself slightly gorgeous. Look at that dress. I forgot to add the part where I took up the length an inch or two. Keep scrolling for more of the same.

Filters are fun to use

I'm kind of looking forward to trying out that collar I removed by adding it to something else. I've got ideas.

Yes, more refashions...fifty cent shirt dress!

I really like shirt dresses. You know, the ones that look like a button down shirt, except they're a dress? Weird, because I don't usually wear those type of shirts. I bought this tan dress at the little Family Outfitters thrift store off the sweet $0.50 rack.

 It's tan. I really don't do colors from the brown family, but I had an inspiration...

click for source

That would be Marissa, one of the Interweb's most famous refashioners. Here's her awesome post. I wanted to make that sweet bird print. Novelty prints/swallows on flight are good.
I wanted to make this big sack looking dress fit like a 50s style shirt dress. It's a size 8 petite, and that's too big.

Ooh, it's from Talbots. They're not exactly known for their hip, edgy fashion for the young folks, but their stuff is made well. For instance, these gorgeous cuffs on the sleeve.

 Sadly, I had to hack them off. There was just no way I could properly edit those sleeves at that length. I wanted to go with short sleeves.

By the way, hemming those damn sleeves was freakin hard. They came out kinda puckered and wonky, I don't care.

I

I took in the sides quite a bit, as well as the sleeve. Do you see how I used safety pins for the armpit area? That's to avoid pin injury when I try it on to see if I like it before sewing. There's got to be another way, right?