What I Wore: March 12-21, 2018

The Tweaked Formula

E8067AFF-FCA2-4069-88D2-300A57FB9950

This is a very similar silhouette to an outfit I posted last week, which I suppose is a testament to its versatility. Or to my laziness. The cropped jacket is, as last time, by Rebecca Taylor but it fits much better which is why it’s a keeper. (For now. That ominous caveat is necessary given the purge upheaval currently happening in my closet. I was going to make a Stalin joke here but, um, maybe not.) I would love to find some more high-waisted pants – of the non-culottes variety – but they are tricky, tricky things. I like the look of the ones I’ve spotted on ASOS, but I have concerns. One, quality – there is nothing worse than polyester pants that make you feel like you’re wearing a garbage bag that might burst into flames if your thighs rub together for too long. Two, the danger of polterwang. I recently learned that delightful term thanks to FFA on Reddit, and it perfectly captures the awfulness that is an unintentionally baggy crotch.

So.

I have to actually go out there and try high-waisted pants if I want to find a decent pair, and I’ll be honest: unless I find these magical unicorns at the thrift store, it ain’t happening. The thought of going to the mall is exhausting even before I lift a digit off the couch.

The Tweaked Formula, Part 2

AC5D74F8-94F6-4E7F-AFD3-4030A8EB5798

This sweater+dress combo is one of my faves, and my thought process in putting together this outfit was simple: how can I wear this combo to work? Add a blazer, duh. Boom. Done. Did I mention how much I love working in a business-casual office? Before you @ me, please note that the dress is lined to the knee, so the devoré overlay does not actually reveal anything scandalous unless you are a time-travelling Victorian, in which case – welcome to the 21st century, but also, why are you wasting time reading this blog? There are far more exciting things of which to partake these days, like Tinder, sky-diving, and watching Black Panther in 3D.

Rust-ic Casual

63632069-BE3C-48ED-8FE4-727E73F7F2ED

Yeah, ok. There is nothing rustic about this outfit, per se, but it was the only pun that came to mind. Sorry. The outfit is A-OK, though; 10 out of 10, will wear again. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing a shade even remotely close to my hair colour, but times change (see above). This rust/brick red is growing on me. I also dig the deconstructed look of this blazer, so it has that going for it as well. This is almost head-to-toe Anthro, but without a heavy dose of twee which I take as a kind of personal triumph.

The loafers/bag combo is also great, though possibly a little too matchy. But wait! Have we gone all the way back around to the point where matching your shoes to your bag is a cool thing or nah? I guess, sometimes, the more things change (in fashion), the more they stay the same.

I Did A Thing, vol. 3

On an earlier post in this series, someone asked me how I choose the crafts/hobbies that I end up pursuing. A good question. The short answer is that, over the years, I’ve tended to “fall” into hobbies depending on whatever resources I had at hand – watercolour pastels, beads, to name a few. I like making things with my hands, especially if it involves something creative and/or colourful (as opposed to, say, mechanical things). Recently, though, I decided to take up a new hobby on a whim: embroidery.

I all started with something I saw on Instagram; it was a photo of what, at first glance, appeared to be a beautifully beaded dragonfly (hence my initial interest). On closer look, it turned out to be some kind of embroidery using fancy threads, which is very much Craft Level, Super Advanced but it got me thinking. Why haven’t I ever tried embroidery before? I don’t have a good answer to that question, but I do have access to Amazon Prime so the oversight, if you can call it that, was quickly rectified. Isn’t it wonderful to live in an age of instant gratification? Within days, I was ready to embark on my embroidering adventures.

I am very much someone who learns by doing, so I plunged right in without much in the way of preparation. On Amazon, I picked a book which looked like it had some cute but fairly simple designs – this one. Caveat: while the book is good quality, and the designs are indeed lovely, my copy had flaws; there were a number of pages that were duplicated, and a bunch more that were missing. The missing pages included those which, per the table of contents, likely included the instructions on how to make the various stitches indicated in the design. D’oh! I am too lazy to write Amazon, and was able to figure things out thanks to a quick Google, so no real harm done, but be forewarned if you want to order this book. [Edit: I did end up leaving a review which mentioned the issue.]

Anyway, this was the first design I decided to try:

482AFFA2-2025-4F85-BE00-147241AFDF65

Oh, I also forgot to mention that my Prime order of aria got delayed (don’t get me started), so I decided to use some leftover felt instead. This is the material I use as backing for my beading projects. While ideal for the latter, it did not work as well for embroidering; I’m pretty sure I got some calluses trying to poke the needle through. I rallied to the end, but I also went out and got myself some plain muslin, stat.

Here is my progress:

AD7EA2ED-B695-4639-93C1-D9A9AB299319

I managed to do this without turning to Google for help. Satin stitch is, in some ways, the easiest but you also have to pay attention to keep the edges neat and clean.

3E654147-B7CD-4137-89EE-C0EB797A9997

I had no idea how to do a chain stitch, so I looked it up. I found these instructions to be sufficient:

EA0D24F1-4DF4-4E00-90D3-0A50272B6293

My efforts aren’t great, but they’re acceptable for a first try. As I was struggling with my thread being on the thick side for chain stitching, I realized that the design called for 2 different kinds of thread for the petals (wool) and the leaves (cotton). My thread was cotton, but the thicker floss kind. A few people on IG suggested that I just split it to get a thinner line when needed; not sure why I didn’t think of that, but I duly noted it for future reference.

And here’s the final product – I could not resist adding an Adina touch:

38461041-3A15-40DC-9E84-283BEEBFC09D

And here’s a pic of my second project:

6E48360A-D183-438A-BF28-F2A03F6062D0

I am quite happy with how it turned out, all things considered, though there is obviously room for improvement. It turns out that I love embroidering – like beading, it’s extremely relaxing. Unlike beading, the supplies are relatively inexpensive, which is nice. A huge bag of assorted colours of cotton thread is under $20 on Amazon, and looks like it will last a while. I do need to find a good yet space-efficient way to organize all my threads, especially the loose ones. Bobbins, anyone? I got a second book as well, which has a more naturalistic design approach. This one came in perfect condition and does have a stitch guide at the end — it’s so-so in terms of instructions, but it does include a wider variety of examples.

Next, I want to figure out what to do with my embroidery, because keeping it just lying around seems wasteful. The Simply Stitched book also includes instructions for making (embroidered) fabric totes, pouches, sachets, pillow cases, belts … you name it. I would love to incorporate my embroidery into some useful objects like that, but that will require me to learn to use my sewing machine, which is intimidating as hell. Sigh.

Off to Google “no sew pouch” – wish me luck!

The Community Trading Post

Hey, look: time for another community trading post. I noticed there hasn’t been as much activity on these posts as in the past (though, to be fair, the blog as a whole is quieter in terms of traffic than before) so I am going to invite your feedback again on whether these should stick around or not. Another alternative, would be to use these as a forum for just random discussion in the comments – with me, or among yourselves. If you have questions, rants, whatever – this could be a chance to unload. Let me know what you think!

For now, a reminder of the disclaimers/ground rules for Community Trading:

One, while I believe in the BCRL community, I do not know each of you personally, so I cannot vouch for any person or item. Please use your best discretion, both when buying and trading. While I think this idea has great potential, its success is premised on trust and the honour system – please be fair and respectful of others. If anyone becomes aware of concerns over another poster/reader’s actions, please let me know. I do not have time to police people, but I also don’t want anyone to be using my site to rip others off, so should something of that nature happen, I will shut down these posts immediately.

Two, I would ask that people at least consider international shipping, provided the other party is willing to assume the costs. I say this as a Canadian who often feels shut out of trading sites where the members are predominantly from the US. Of course, I can’t and wouldn’t force anyone to do something they feel comfortable with, but I know there are BCRL readers all over North America (and the world), and I think it would be nice if everyone had the option to participate.

Three, please feel free to include links to specific items you are selling/seeking as long as they are not affiliate ones.

Four, please be clear about the specifics of what you are looking for and/or are offering, including payment, shipping, etc. Alternately, you can include an email address for inquiries, but please note that this would be visible to the public/anyone visiting the blog.

See you in the comments!