A Fall Tea Dress

I wasn't planning on doing a sewing project right now, but I have been accumulating so much beautiful fabric for the past year that I thought I would use a day or two from my vacation to start using it.  I began with a fall apron and it inspired me to keep going and finish this Tea Box print dress.  I have loved tea boxes and biscuit tins for most of my life and spent some happy childhood years helping my mom build her collection which now hangs all over her kitchen wall.  I even collected a few for myself along the way and was delighted to see a few of them turn up on this print.  Even though the theme isn't necessarily fall, the colors certainly feel autumnal and fit perfectly with the landscape.

Outfit Info:  Fabric from Hancock's-Paducah. YeMak Cardigan.  Sewing Pattern is Butterick Retro B5748. Bettie Page shoes.  Viviene of Holloway Petticoat.

Style Your Life and Wear Your Attitude

"Fashion you can buy, but style you possess.  The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years.  There's no how-to road map to style.  It's about self-expression, and, above all, attitude."  
Iris Apfel

Style is all about learning who you are, the kind of life you live and the kind of person you want to represent to the world.  The most wonderful thing about style is that it can always change right along with you, especially when the message you're sending to the world isn't what you really want to say anymore.  

A few years ago I remember hearing a fashion mentor of mine say that she didn't like wearing dresses anymore.  She'd hit menopause and was no longer comfortable in the clothes she used to love.  I was a little sad to see her change, but darn if that woman still didn't look great in her trousers and sneakers.  Even though her style had changed, she was still totally chic and stylish.

In the past year of reflection and contemplation, I've noticed my own style preferences changing as my life changes.  I'm getting older and feeling more and more like I'll leave the novelty prints to the younger women of the world.  I still love dresses, but I've been gravitating to more understated prints and lots of natural fabrics like cotton and linen and far away from polyester mini dresses with puffy sleeves.  That's just not me at the moment.

 

While I love and truly appreciate all the well meaning people who respond to such statements with affirmations of "you're never too old; wear whatever you want!"  the very best and most interesting sense of style comes from really knowing who you are and having the attitude to wear it.  I know who I am, who I've been and who I want to be quite well, which is why it I know when it's time to change and it doesn't bother me at all.  Besides, if the quote at the top is true then most of what makes style great is attitude and I've got plenty of that, so no matter how things change, I think I'll be just fine.

Outfit Info:  Sonnet Dress from Ivy City Co.  Heels by Bettie Page.

Puff Possibilities: Much Longer Mucha

I've decided not to buy any more Selkie dresses if I can possibly resist their charms.  I have just done a massive closet cleanout, donating six trash bags filled with dresses to a local organization that gets dresses into the hands of young girls in need and donated a seventh bag to my local charity shop.  

After such a big undertaking, I've decided to press pause and really consider my remaining wardrobe to see which items I love and want to make work, and which I'll give away, so that I don't get the donator's remorse in a manner of speaking.

The puff dress style, really does not look good on me, but I love this fabric and I want to make it work, so I came up with a solution and decided to give it a try.  

1.  I bought a used dress in a larger size

2.  I cut the skirt off, folded it in half, ironed, and cut it in half lengthwise.

3.  Sewed the two narrower lengths of skirt together 

4.  Attached the skirt in sections and then hand gathered

5.  I removed a lining layer to my original dress to make it less full

The result is something that I really love and that feels much more me than a puff dress.  It wasn't easy or fun and it took up the better part of a weekend while Mr. Bleu was working on a house renovation project solo, so I had the time and at the end of it all, I was definitely inspired to keep going on these puff dress transformations.

Shopping Info:  Selkie Mucha Puff Dress, Bettie Page Heels

The Summer I Never Turned Pretty

I recently saw a title on the new release list called, The Summer I Turned Pretty.  My heart sank a little as I looked at the cover and saw a beautiful girl, clearly the envy of every other girl and most definitely every girl who was ever mean to her, flanked by two mesmerized boys. (Full disclosure, I have no idea what the story is actually about; I am 100% judging it by its cover.)  I totally get why girls eat this kind of story up, because I was once one of them.

  

I kept waiting for it: THE glow-up.  I kept waiting to go away for the summer and return to school looking so beautiful that no one recognized me.  I guess I watched too many Disney movies or read too many teen books, because I just knew, fully expected, that one magical summer, I would leave school a duckling and return a swan.  I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And each year I returned from summer still looking the same, still looking like me.  I got a little shyer and a little shyer thinking if I could just wait long enough and hide long enough, eventually I would transform.

To save you the three part novel series, I never turned pretty.  Nope, just kept right on looking like me only older and slightly taller.  Never got the overnight wow-body.  Never got the derpy-to-dream-girl face.  Just didn't.  And, I remember when I realized that the glow-up just wasn't going to happen, that I was in fact fully grown and wouldn't be going through anymore big changes.  This was it.  This was me.  I was 18, school was over, and I was disappointed.  Then I was resigned.  Then I was kind of bitter.  Actually I remember thinking that if I couldn't be the pretty girl I could at least be the smart girl.  (Although how smart could I have possibly been if I didn't realize that beautiful people can also be smart and smart people can also be beautiful.)

So, I went along that way for several years, being the plain girl who got straight A's and always had a sarcastic or witty come-back, usually said under her breath because she was too shy to speak up.  No one noticed me and I wasn't surprised.  I felt generally disappointed with myself and the way life was going.  I was waiting to magically transform into something or someone and it didn't happen.  I had no control over that.  And I went along that way until I met a woman who became a role model for me.  I don't know her name, but when she walked into my literature class, every head turned, including mine.  

It was my third year in university and I was still the duckling, still searching.  Then I saw her.  This girl had every guy wanting her and every girl wanting to be her and she was completely oblivious to all of it because she was just living life on her terms.  But, here's the thing that struck me the most--she wasn't pretty.  She went to the gym and had an amazing body to show for it.  She wore clothes that looked absolutely amazing on her and showed off all that hard work in just the right way.  Her hair was always styled, makeup and nails always done.  And her posture!  I don't even notice posture unless it's really good or really bad (ahem, Maggie Gyllenhaal) and believe me when I say, this girl was the whole package.  But, she wasn't pretty.  When I examined her features, and I did because I was as mesmerized as those two teen boys on that book cover, I realized that her features were not what was so lovely about her.

To be honest, and I say this with absolutely no malice, her features were plain to the point of homeliness.  What took her from average to owning the room was the amount of effort she put into her appearance and her life and the way it made her feel about herself.  She was lovely.  A kind person, a determined person, an interesting person.  She played up her best features, down played her flaws and worked hard at molding all she had been given into its best version.  She did the things within her control and those were things I had control over too.

The sum total of what I learned in that literature class has been lost to the ages, but what I learned from that woman I have carried with me, and it is this:  Nearly every person on the planet is a solid 7 if they put in the effort to look nice and be nice.  It is the effort that you do (or don't) put into not just your appearance but everything in your life that will determine how far up or down the scale you move.  So, don't sit around waiting to magically transform into the kind of person or having the kind of life you desire.  Dreams don't come true all on their own.  Put in the work and make the most of what you were given.  There never was a summer I turned pretty, but there was a time when I got healthy and strong, got stylish, got happy with my myself and it happened because I worked to make it happen.  And you can too.

Storybook Dress With a Storybook Ending

Once upon a time I saw a dress that looked like it had so much potential waiting inside that I decided to pay the price and take a risk to make my fairytale dream a reality.  When the Storybook dress in Night in Paris released last year, I immediately liked the print Ok, but not the style.  On Selkie's photographed version, there is so much flourish that it almost looks like one of those tacky blouses in the 1980s that had medals or coins hanging off it.  Do you know the kind I mean?  

It was the kind you'd see on soap operas being worn by rich silver haired women who went yachting for the day.   Flash forward a year to when I saw this dress pop-up on TheRealReal and fell head over heels in love.  The print was perfectly placed with the two pheasants on the center of the bust and all the flowers seemed to have blossomed on the dress.  It felt like an entirely different print, a print that I wanted, a print that I needed.

Now I had a decision to make.  Selkie still had a couple in stock in my size and the one on TRR was two sizes too big, but on TRR I knew exactly what I was getting and with Selkie, I would have a dress that fit with a janky print.  I'm not fond of the Storybook style, there's too much dress there for me.  

The sleeves are too long the collar and the ruffles, it's all just too much.  I knew that no matter which version I purchased I would be doing some alterations to make this dress suit my shape and style.  I decided to go with TRR's dress since I would be guaranteed to get the print as shown and since I would be doing alterations anyway, I figured it couldn't hurt to just add a size adjustment to the list.

The dress arrived in just a few days with tags still attached and exactly as photographed.  I cleared an afternoon to begin work shortening the sleeves, removing the collar, and taking in the dress around the waist and bust.  I briefly considered putting a corset back on the dress instead of a zipper, but since there is a tie around the waist, I decided to leave it as is.  The result, my dear friends is a dress that I am infinitely a happier with!  

Starting alterations without trying a dress on as-is, is like salting your food before you taste it.  So, I did try the dress on as-is and it confirmed what I already thought, which is that the dress would have been wearing me instead of the other way around.

I still have a few things to work out as far as the zipper goes, because it used to zip all the way up the collar and now that the collar is gone, I can either take out the whole zipper, move it down and sew it back in, or fold the top down and move on with my life.  For the moment I have folded the top down, but at some point, I will be setting things right.

I'm getting pretty good at shortening Selkie sleeves, so this job went quickly once I purchased some pre-made casing and re-used the elastic from the sleeves.  I took several inches off and probably could have gone shorter, but I'm content with the way they look now and don't want to chance them being too short.

Ultimately though, the dress was constructed in such a way that it was easy to remove that collar by just cutting it out, it was basically a separate piece.  So, snip, snip, snip and that was done.  I did have to be careful to create my own lines at the back as the collar basically ran all the way down under the apron dress, but it was fairly simple to do that once I had examined the dress and figured out the best way to proceed.  Always look before you cut!

As much as I believe that a good dress should do all the work, especially when it comes with a hefty price tag, sometimes you just have to roll up your sleeves and make a few adjustments so that a garment's true potential can shine through.  Not everyone gets handed a happy ending to their storybook, sometimes you just have to go out and make your own. 

Shopping Info:  Night in Paris Storybook Dress on Selkiecollection.com, TheRealReal.com, Bettie Page Shoes from Amazon.com

Summer to the Fullest

We're not at the hottest time of the year yet, but we have arrived at the hottest week of the year so far, and on the first of these very hot days (over 90°F/32°C) our air conditioner died.  Suddenly.  Tragically.  But, as it was 20 years old, not unexpectedly.  They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and for me, it was only about an hour without a/c that I truly began to appreciate this modern convenience, especially as I had already converted my living room into this makeshift photo studio and all I had planned was organza (read-extra hot) fabrics.

As I write this post, the a/c is still not working, but we are trying to find the parts and fix it ourselves.  In the mean time my inbox has been flooded with ads for "summer essentials" and they all quite frankly look way too hot to wear anywhere except indoors with the a/c blasting.  With so many layers and heavy, synthetic fabrics, I know that we are living in a world that does not truly understand summer anymore, but I as an individual am about to get a refresher course in true summer essentials.

On that first day, we had left our house for a couple of hours, all closed up and trusting our ancient unit to keep things cool.  When we returned it was sweltering inside, and no matter what I put on, it all felt too hot.  The next day, I stood in my knickers and tank, which I'd spent an uncomfortable night attempting to sleep in, trying to decide what to wear.  I finally landed on.......can you guess?  No, not this La Belle Etoile cotton puff from Selkie; I would literally die in fabric this heavy.  No, instead, I chose a very short, very light Popsicle print cotton dress from The Other Sparrows and it kept me quite comfortable for most of the day.

Before there was Selkie, The Other Sparrows was quite an obsession of mine.  I waited for the release of each collection with much anticipation.  They only carried two styles of sundress but much like Selkie, it was the prints that really stole my heart.  Unfortunately, Covid hit TOS pretty hard and I'm afraid they are no longer in business.  But, like Selkie, TOS dresses weren't quite right for me--too short, mostly--so they took a little tailoring and styling to really make them work for me.  To that end, I am determined to wear all my short Selkies this summer, including this heavy cotton dress, but they need a little tweaking.  

I've just finished taking this dress in at the bust and it turned out pretty well.  (I'm practicing for a Secret Garden Abbott Prairie dress that I ordered from Boho-Chic.  But more about that one the way soon!)  I love this dress as-is, but with the print and the empire waist, it really reminds me of a night gown, so I've added a wide lavender wrap belt so that I actually have a waist, and I love this dress even more with just that little touch.  Now it looks like a proper summer dress and I will most definitely be wearing it to any occasion or event that has air conditioning.

Shopping Info: La Belle Etoile Cotton French Puff Dress-$310 from Selkiecollection.com, Wide belt-$5 from Shein.com, Bettie Page Tegan Heels-$35 from Amazon.com

New Year Goals

The new year is here and mine is off to a slow start, Huzzah!  Slow was exactly what I was hoping for.  If 2020 was a disaster, then 2021 was a whirlwind and quite frankly my head is still spinning a little.  I'm ready and hoping for a break from it all.    

Perhaps that's too much to ask, after all, life really never stops moving, but I wouldn't mind just coasting for a while instead of feeling like there's a cosmic foot mashing the accelerator to the floor at all times.  I'd like a break from some things just so I can focus on some other things that have fallen by the wayside for too long.

While I'm out busily attending to things that everyone expects/requires/deems important, all the things that matter to me are gathering dust.  It's a difficult balancing act riding the merry-go-round, especially when you don't even want to be there.  I'd really like to take a year off, although that seems like a rather impossible dream at this moment. 

So, I suppose I'll just have to put my big girl pants on, and try to manage it all.  First things first, I was given a new sewing machine for Christmas, which was a splendid gift, and now I have no excuse not to finish the two dresses and one blouse that I have cut out and sitting on my sewing table.

I also hope that this will be a year we finally start building!  We want a smokehouse, bathhouse, greenhouse/conservatory and finally, once our skills are honed, a new house.  It sounds pretty lofty, but I really think we can do it.  Mr. Bleu and I make a good team on projects like this, I just wish we could start today.

The reason we will have to build all these things ourselves is because unfortunately there is so much mass construction going on it our area that all the contractors we've spoken with say that our little modestly priced home isn't worth their time to build when they can make millions elsewhere.  I don't fault them for that, but we've been waiting for things to taper off for a few years and we don't want to wait anymore.

So, as I endeavor to do more of the things that matter and less of the things that don't, I wish you well in your new year, whether you have made resolutions or not, and I hope that for all of us 2022 is a calmer, quieter, more productive year.

Shopping Info:  Hearts Sweater from Hellbunny, Bettie Page Layla Heels, Dolores Dress from Collectif, Leg Avenue Petticoat