Hey all!
Please help a girl out and vote for me over at ModCloth’s Facebook contest: http://bit.ly/HbIZt1
If I win, I will get a $75 gift certificate. More importantly, you will save me from an evil stare from the man of the house when another ModCloth box is found at the front door 
And, of course, at some point I’ll share with you what I end up purchasing!
Ahhhh, Spring Break. There is nothing quite like it every single year. After this glorious week of relaxing there are just seven more weeks of school until summer break. With this weather, though, no one would even guess that we are supposed to be just beginning the typical rainy, chilly, spring time Chicago. I’m not going to complain at all…no no no!
Since we are off, I decided to scope out some potential picture taking hot spots for my Stylin’ features and my Sew Weekly features. This one really stood out for me. It’s just off of Milwaukee Ave and there’s a cute shop next door that has a jack russel. I took a picture, but he was mooning me through the window, so no dice. I don’t reward such sassy behavior
I love love love this top. It is a lightweight and so perfect for a warm day as I’m riding my bike around town. Our adventure was a bit impromptu so I just threw on some shorts, but I am really looking forward to future stylings of this top. I have all kinds of ideas!
Shirt: An Open Coloring Book Top, ModCloth
Shorts: Old Navy
Shoes: Toms
The Facts
Fabric: Stretchy Cotton Blend in olive green.
Pattern: Colette’s Clover
Year: Contemporary
Notions: Threads
Time to complete: 3 hours.
First worn: Sunday for drinks on a glorious outdoor patio!
Wear again? Yes!
Total price: $7.50…Yay for coupons!
Hiya, everyone, so nice of you to be here this week! I am excited because on Friday (when I normally start my Sew Weekly projects) I had come to the realization that participation in their week’s challenge was going to be really, really tough. I was going to skip it all together in order to regroup. Then, in true last minute fashion, inspiration struck and I decided that it was worth the try to get something put together. If it was a total failure, then I’d just say I needed a break and return next week. I am so excited to report that everything worked out! I found this stretchy cotton blend in my stash, the weather took a turn for awesome in Chicago, and my first ever attempt at pants presented me with very little in the way of problems. I don’t want to jinx it, but this might be ‘my week’ people…just saying…but not saying…you know. Gods know I am due for a no-problems week some time soon.
So the pants. I’ve read quite a bit that these Colette pants can be quite fickle, so I prepared mentally. My shape is kind of wonky in that I have a larger waist and smaller hips so I cut the waist to size and then attempted my first ‘grading’ down to my hip size. The instructions and sewing went by without any issues due to the wonderful instructions. Then I went to try the pants on. The bulges on my hips were HYSTERICAL! It was like I was part of the British Calvary or Women’s Land Army circa 1914. So I did some tweaking to solve the issues at the hip…success! Then I noticed that the crotch area was pretty low and causing some weird bunching. Back to the machine! I eye-balled it and some how the problem was solved. No more frontal bunching. Excellent! So as not to test my luck, I hemmed the bottoms and got myself ready to meet a friend for an afternoon cocktail. I rode my bike the 1.5 miles to Lincoln Square and felt so sassy the whole time riding! The weather was beautiful and here I was with a new favorite shirt and some self-made hot pants.
I have a Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde type of style. I am a teacher during the day and despite trying to be ‘stylish’ there are some things I am drawn to that just aren’t meant for my school wardrobe. Because I see these pants as a sort of transitional piece, I wanted to style it two ways. The first (pictured above) is definitely something that I can wear to work and it would impress. The second, though is more my style, especially when it comes to riding my bike in fall or early spring. The very feminine fitting pants styled with my favorite steampunk-ish boots and my ribbed hooded shirt. For me, I go with what is practical and comfortable, which means style 2 wins most of the time. Case in point: St. Paddy’s Day. I have a friend who plays in an Irish band (yah, yah, I know) and each year we go to see them play and we dance. And dance. And dance.
This means I need practical dancing attire…
I think they’ll hold up just fine. Now I just need to decide the best way to style a 3rd look for next week’s St. Paddy’s Celebration!
I ordered a pretty decent amount of stuff from ModCloth after they had their ‘Stylish Surprise’ promotion a week or so ago. Since receiving the goods, though, I haven’t found the right time or combination of old and new items to feel feature worthy. That was until Sunday when I was working on the finishing touches of my SewWeekly pants and thinking about how to style things for the pictures. I can’t show the pants or say much more then it was a ‘St. Paddy’s Day’ themed challenge, but I think you can conger up a mental image from that information. What I can show you though is my favorite new blouse!
It is sheer (obviously) and so feminine…probably the most girly thing I own at the moment. The weather turned suddenly awesome on Sunday here in Chicago so I was able to fully appreciate the wonderful cooling effect that a sheer blouse can have…Holy dairy cows! I mean really, how could I not have realized this!?!?! As I rode my bike the 1.5 miles to Lincoln square I forgot that it was March and tomorrow the rains would come. It was blissful. It was a perfect Sunday. And now, it is raining, and I am typing…which is also, some how, just as perfect.
Shirt- ModCloth: Des Colors Top in Sheer Blossom
Belt- Target
This has been a long time coming, but I am really really excited to say that I’ve been chosen to be a ModCloth Style Ambassador for 2012.
Hiya All!
The business in my life has not subsided, and it has resulted in some pretty sparse blogging on my outfits. I’ve still been working on an outfit to profile each week, but I continue to forget to take pictures :-/
So here’s one from today! It is my favorite winter-time modcloth dress paired with my favorite modcloth boots! Do you need more ‘!!!!’ ? I think you do!!!!!
Cardi: Charter School Cardigan, ModCloth (I love these and have almost all the colors!!!)
Dress: Modcloth…I can’t find the link 
Shoes: Modcloth…I can’t find the link either
Tights: Grey from Target
I cannot explain how comfy I feel while still feeling stylish. My only dilemma now is that I’m bored of just wearing cardigans with it. I need some other long-sleeve or 3/4 sleeve options. Any ideas? I’d love to hear them!
Also, if you recognize the boots/dress name or know the link feel free to drop it in the comments!
The Facts
Fabric: Sew Cherry Floral Dots in Blue, Lace Flourish Off White (both Fabric.com) & White Muslin (Joanne Fabrics)
Pattern: New Look 0152
Year: Contemporary
Notions: I don’t need no stinkin’ notions!
Time to complete: 2 hours.
First worn: Sunday for pictures, but I’d say there’s a good chance that it’ll be worn this week.
Wear again? Absolutely!
Total price: approximately $10.00
When I saw that this challenge was ‘red’ and ‘for valentines day’ I let out a double, ‘Uuuuuugghh’. First, I hate the color red. I’ve always hated it. As a kid if it wasn’t blue then I didn’t wear it (This may or may not still hold true). Second, I am not that huge a fan of Valentines Day. I’m not really sure how that ever came to be; it could’ve been my severe lack of boyfriends during my teens and early 20s. Either I didn’t have one or the one I had was a major dope. Pfffft, boys, who needs ‘em!?!?!
My current man, J, has a thing were he doesn’t conform to society. He hates being told what to do, no matter what it is. It’s like when he’s playing a game I’ve already played and I say, ‘don’t go into that cave, there’s nothing in it but death skeletons that will kill you!’ Where does he go? Death cave. What happens? Death. It’s a good thing he laughs about it rather than being all jerky. It’s pretty much the same deal for Valentine’s Day…TV says that he needs to get flowers, candy, dinner reservations, and something from Jared’s! It is all enough to put J into and anti-conformist coma. The good thing is that I am totally cool with his anti-conformity for Valentine’s Day, and I think it is actually pretty hilarious. It’s a pretty insignificant ‘holiday’ so for it to be that annoying makes me laugh. Just to be funny, I started doing an anti-Valentine’s Day card for him a few years back. Just that little reminder that I love him even if he doesn’t like VD (heheheh).
Anyways, I thought about this challenge for quite some time before finally finding my inspiration. It came in the form of the Sway Cool Skirt from ModCloth. I love it. Yes, despite it’s redness. The goal became to find the perfect pattern and fabric to create for the challenge and complete my look.
I found the Sew Cherry Floral Dots and figured it would make a great summery tank-topy type thing. Super, so easy! Too easy…Then I had to figure out what to do about pictures. It has been way too cold round these parts for me to work my magic in a summertime outfit. A long brainstorming session birthed the idea of making me into a Valentine. I would need a white backdrop, a cardboard heart, balloons…it would be epic! A trip to Joanne Fabric was successful in producing some affordable white muslin. I know I’m going to need it for next week’s challenge (oh baby did I bite off more than I could chew!) and it’ll help get me through the rest of this winter, photo shoot wise. By chance, I saw the New Look pattern and liked the idea of having a simple t-shirt. Done. I had a plan from top to bottom!
I came home, cut the pattern, cut the fabric…great, not enough! Not a problem.There was the lace I bought for an upcoming challenge; sleeves! Oh, I need a neck band too? Again, no problem, I have 25 yards of white muslin. Something weird was happening in my home. No freaking out over all the little issues that would normally make me pack it all up and play SIMS III. When I realized what was happening a wave of excitement took hold. This was the first time that I was not following the ‘rules’. I was not conforming!!! Oh the irony. That’s when things got crazy.
I threw out the directions and decided to test my skills! The shirt pieces went together easy once I figured out that instead of darts, there was some minor gather at the sides of the bust line. Then I sewed those lacy sleeves on without any trouble at all. And even though that neck band took three rounds of fabric and plenty of swearing, I got the lil’ bastard to finally work. It took about an hour or so, and in the end I still felt like the ‘finished’ top needed something…something not called for. Well I don’t know if you heard or not, but I got myself a purdy new digital sewing machine. When examining the different stitching options I noticed that it had a cute little leafy/flowery design. Do it! Neckline AND the hem? Gurl, you crazy! 2 hours and I was finished. I had gone all MIA and stuck my middle finger up to my typical way of sewing and kicked azz. I was am a rebel…in red.
