Vintage Dress

I found this dress in the Antique Mall across from the actual mall. It's by a Toys R Us in case you still don't know what I'm talking about. Anyways, two friends and I had gone there one rainy afternoon and we started drying on a bunch of dresses for fun. I hadn't immediately loved this dress when I saw it on the hanger, it looked a little old. But once I put it on, I fell in love with it. So once I had sufficient funds, I went back and bought it for $25, which isn't bad for a dress from the 1960s. It's so beautiful, these are pretty bad pictures, you have to see it in person to understand. Now as it's so old, when I tried taking in the darts and fixing the zipper, the lace started to rip after touching it too much. The dress doesn't fit me perfectly because I didn't want to ruin it further, but I still like how it looks. Buying and wearing a vintage outfit has been on my Bucket List for years, and now I can cross it off.

Don't Try This At Home

Alright, it's been awhile. I do have stuff to post...but I'm too lazy to get the pictures off my phone and onto the computer. I recently finished sewing a pair of skinny jeans in my clothing class and I have to say I'm quite disappointed in myself. The jeans turned out alright, but there are plenty of little mistakes that you can see if you look at them up close (and know how to sew). While jeans aren't hard to make from a technical point of view, there are so many little details and I got bored of them....hence the lazy sewing and many mistakes. I do love the embroidery on the back pockets though, courtesy of the embroidery machine, which I someday hope to own, but they're expensive. These jeans took me...I'm going to say a little over a month. Now if you made these at home it would be quicker, but I'm only working on these 5 days a week for 45 minutes a day. I don't think I'll ever make jeans again....or pants for that matter. I'm just not a pants person. I would not recommend jeans for beginners unless you honestly have a passion for pants.

Surprise I'm Asian!

This top was my first project as an Independent Study student!!! Basically, you take Clothing I and II at my high school, then you're in Clothing III and IV, also known as "Independent Study." You make what you want instead following a guideline, so if I wanted to make a catsuit...I could...but I won't.

Anyways, this top took me about a month to make. It was my first time working with brocade fabric, which frays like crazy by the way. I decided not to put on loops and just sewed on shank buttons instead, which I think looks a lot better. I'm so proud of this top! It fits me pretty well.

People who saw me wearing it were like "Dude, my mom has one of those. Are you into Asian culture or something?" And then I answered "I'm half Chinese" and their jaw dropped straight through the floor. Hahahahahaha. I look pretty white, but yes, I am Asian.

FABRIC FABRIC FABRIC and CARDIGAN

I'm sorry! I know it's been ages...but I've been having technical difficulties in getting these pictures my computer and then finally onto this blog. At the beginning of the month, my clothing class took a field trip to Vogue Fabics in Evanston. There I found a beautiful purple knit for my prom dress and some lovely knit/lace fabric that I will make something out of. What I don't know yet. I'm thinking a top or perhaps a dress. I just saw the fabric and it was too beautiful to resist, it almost looks like snakeskin from far away. I also took an old cardigan from the gap (kids size XL, I'm still that tiny) and made the sleeves 3/4 length. Since I don't have a serger, I just overcast the edges and it gave them a nice scalloped effect that I rather like. I'll handwash it so it doesn't ravel. I'll try to update more often! Thanks for reading! (Purple fabric is for prom dress, brown/lacy fabric is for something else, pattern for prom dress is also included.)

I've Recently Fallen in Love....

....with this dress. It's from http://www.poshgirlvintage.com/, which you must check out immediately. I love vintage clothing from the 40's and 50's, I like the elegance that clothes have. This dress has one of my favorite silhouettes of all time, sweetheart neckline, fitted at the waist and then gracefully flowing over the hips. Perfection.

I'm also in love with Carrie Bradshaw's tutu from the opening credits of 'Sex and the City.' I want a tutu like that! I loved taking ballet as a little girl....again, the elegance of it drew me in.

I'm sort of a paradox I suppose. I love old school preppie clothes or elegant gowns, but then I also love crazy and colorful clothes.

Oh, and in case you haven't already been drooling over Alexander Wang, DVF and Marc Jacobs, go ahead and do so. I was on MSN watching clips and looking at pictures from their runway shows and everything was brilliant! Those three are always some of my favorite designers.

Oh, and speaking of brilliance, Christian Siriano now has shoes for Payless! I especially love the booties.

Cats or Owls?

I made this dress last year while I was at home recovering from surgery....I was bored out of my mind! This dress was actually quite simple to make. All I did was take a big piece of knit fabric, line it with plain white knit fabric, cut the top so it was an inch smaller than my bust and made the bottom an inch smaller than my hips. Then I sewed it up, like a tube, so that there's one side seam and made a few adjustments. Everyone always argues about this dress though, some people think there are cats on the dress, other people say it's owls. So, cats or owls?

I made the vest this year using a Simplicity pattern. It's a very simple vest, I didn't bother adding any little pocket flaps or embellishments. I just needed a plain vest to help jazz up some other outfits. In case you haven't already noticed, I tend to like either really edgy clothes or class old-school preppy clothes.

The key I'm wearing was found at the Antique Mall. If you haven't been, I suggest you go immediately. It's in the little strip mall area right by Fox Valley Mall (Or westfield...whatever it's called nowadays).

Lily Cole

The first time I saw Lily Cole was in a TeenVogue spread of her and Marilyn Manson. I fell in love with her red hair and perfect features, she's like a beautiful porcelain doll. She instantly became one of my favorite models for her good looks, brains, and modeling ability. (Ok, and also for being British). As you can see from the many pictures, she is able to do many different looks. In 2007-2008 she studied at Cambridge, proving that models aren't just a pretty face. She has also stood up for the environment by refusing to appear in any De Beer's diamonds campaigns because the company supposedly creates toxic waste through their mining. She also supports WaterAid, which aims to provide safe, clean water (Rose's 2nd period AP Euro nerds will know all about WaterAid thanks to the brilliance of Moriana, Annie and Laura). Anyways, I just love her, so I thought I'd blog about her.

*Note- picture from Marilyn Manson is from TeenVogue spread. All other pictures found randomly on web.

I <3 Eyelet

Both the dress and top are made from eyelet fabric from JoAnn's. For those of you who don't know, eyelet fabric is fabric with small holes (that are finished and won't fray) and usually has a flower-y design. The top was made from scratch with less than a yard of fabric, and the green dress is made from a free pattern I found at Burdastyle.com (I think). The green dress is actually the same pattern as my World Market dress, just done in different fabrics.

Oh, and the hem on the green dress isn't uneven, it's just a little bunched up at one side...and I was standing awkwardly....

Diseased Swiss

The Swiss aren't really diseased. I made this tunic top for my Mum a little while ago for a Mother's Day gift. Unfortunately it was a couple days late...I was sewing it at school... The material is dotted swiss, which I found at JoAnn's. There's actually OK fabric there sometimes....

Sorry there hasn't been an update for awhile, first my phone broke (and I use to take all these lovely pictures at odd angles) and then I was just too lazy. But now I'm back!

Pioneer

I'm in clothing at my high school, and we only have to make four projects a year....but I finished with them, so basically, I can make whatever I want. So I decided to make a corset out of old magazine pages, fusible interfacing, lining, and tape.

I used a Simplicity pattern. First, I fused interfacing to the magazine pages, then sewed them to lining, and sewed the pieces together in reverse flat felled seams. Then I covered the whole thing with clear packing tape. Yup. There are eyelets in the back and it's laced up with ribbon.

The project was pretty successful, but the eyelets come out and because it's so stiff it doesn't curve in to fit my bust very well. But whatever. According to my teacher, I'm her little pioneer. xD Or I'm just a weirdo.

My Favorite Asian

So this is my little Asian friend Nicole, who's actually not that little since she's my height. I love you darling. At first she DID NOT want me to take a picture of her, but I loved her outfit and hair too much not too. She is the first person I actually know in real life to be on this blog!!!! CONGRATS! More of you will follow later!!!

First of all, I love the two shades of bright blue together. It was brilliant to wear those two things! It gives the whole outfit a sporty edge. The cardigan and necklace pull the look together and keep it from looking like a typical 'sporty outfit'. I also like how the bag is a bold color too, it goes with the blue. And jeans and flip flops are perfect for the nice weather we've been having. Thanks for inspiring us Nicole! ^^ Make sure your Mormon sees this!

Earth Day

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

I firmly believe we are the main cause of global warming. I believe that some of it may be occurring naturally, but we certainly aren't helping. Since we're responsible, we have to try and slow down global warming and atone for our mistakes. I try to use reusable tote bags at the grocery store, take short showers, and I try not to eat meat (except for fish), and I want to buy organic clothing and make up. Someday I'd also like to have a Green clothing line. But we need to do more than that. We need to have a Green attitude. We should appreciate our Earth and not be Green just to be "cool," but because it's something we truly believe in and want to accomplish. Being Green doesn't make us superior to others, it just means we are doing our job as citizens of the Earth. So please, do your job.

The feathers used to be on a dream catcher, and when it fell apart I attached them to jump rings and put them on earrings. I'm also wearing second-hand jeans and bleached them by myself. The tank top is from JoAnn's, I painted it, but forgot to handwash it, so the tree is faded.

Bling

So these rings are made out of buttons and elastic cord. I used a crochet hook, made a chain of stitches, slipped on the button (ones with a shank...I believe that's what that's called) and finished the chain. Ta da! I took the pictures while my eyes were dialated...so I couldn't really see what I was doing.....

SOB

Paint splattered sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off. It used to be my Dad's. He was horrified after seeing what I'd done to it, but he did give it to me....First I cut off the sleeves and the finished edge on the pockets, then I also made the armpit holes a little wider. I had to work out in the garage, and my Dad's car was in the garage, so I had to cover it with newspapers. Some of the paint is actually water color paint mixed with acrylic...I was running out of paint. It's an old university sweatshirt, so on the front it says "BOS", which is son of a bitch backwards...I laugh everytime I look at it. :)

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Jeans are originally from Old Navy, but I bought them at Plato's Closet for $8.00. Ha.


Anyways, I tried bleaching them. I had to bleach and rinse 'em about 3 times, and the back still isn't very bleach-y. But I'm happy with the results. I feel more satisfied than if I bought them at Nordstrom Rack for $100. Yikes.


Maybe I should try bleaching used jeans? These ones are new, the tags were still on them. Or maybe a lighter wash? Or black? I've bleached other black material before, and it turned a pretty red orange. Any suggestions?

This Made Me Smile

Normally I prefer more edgy, dark stuff, but after seeing an article about Swash in Elle, I had to find out more. Sarah Swash and her boyfriend Toshio Yamanaka graduated from Central Saint Martins and are known for their beautiful clothes and scarves featuring their dog and nature. I love the whimsical air the clothes have. Everything's so beautiful and carefree! Swash has definitely managed to capture the essence of spring in their clothes. And they're both so adorable looking. Grrr. I need to find a cutie to design a line with me!






Sarah Swash and Toshio Yamanaka.








Pictures from their Spring Ready to Wear Collection 2005 below. I must have the first dress. I swear, I will be happy for the rest of my life if I have that dress. The week has been rather...uh...difficult to say the least, and that dress is the only thing that's made me really smile in a loooong time. The model's not too bad either!

Thank Prada for World Market

So this used to be a sarong I got from the World Market for about $10. Mmmhmmm. That's right.

I made this dress in one day. I didn't have enough fabric to line it though...so it is a little see through. Oh well. I got the pattern from Burda...I think....there were a couple free patterns....and I thought it was cute. I've also made a green and white eyelet dress from the same pattern.

I'm so glad it's spring! I definitely want to get more ethnic/hippie type clothes. Now if only the weather would warm up....it snowed today. In March. I almost died from shock.

Tokyo Fashion Week So Far

Oh how I wish I could be there.....


AGURI SAGIMORI





KAMISHIMA CHINAMI





MOTONARI ONO





THEATRE PRODUCTS








YUMA KOSHINO





YUKI TORII








I <3 crazy. I <3 out of the box. I <3 Japanese Fashion. I loved the crazy patterns I saw and a lot of the silhouettes. With some designers, I just wonder about the outfit. With others, I only wonder about the model. With all of these designers, I wondered about the outfit and the girl behind it. Who's their target customer? Where does she shop? What's she like? Can I date her, or at least get to know her? Hahahaha. More pics later, after I've come back from fashion heaven.


Oh, and it's not just about the clothes ok? It's about the message behind the clothes.

My Inner Child

So one day my inner child had a Lego craving. And my inner fashionista had a I-need-a-new-belt craving. I put the two together and....

First, I found an old belt. It was one of those belts with the flat metal thing that you slide the other part of the belt into. Uh...yeah...I realize how vague that was.....but I don't know how else to explain it. Anyways, I took some Legos, glued them together, then glued the block of Legos to the belt. Yes, it was that simple. Removing the super glue from my hands (Me + Super glue = Sticky painful disaster). I think I made this belt last year? I just didn't have this blog back then, so that's why I'm writing about it now. :D