I’ve never had an aptitude much for bar games. You know, things like darts or pinball. I always had high hopes for pool, given I fancied myself a science nerd (and we know pool is allll about the physics). But, no matter how many evenings were spent over a pint and a cue stick, I just never seemed to manage to do much more besides click the cue around the table (and occasionally off the table, as the case may be).
It’s definitely been a hot minute or two since I posted here. But I’ve found myself in that magical, nebulous period in between Christmas and New Year’s. You know what I mean – where we all seem content to turn into piles of goo and have a collective agreement to get nothing done. You can browse the sales, rewatch cute cat videos in your pajamas, hand sew a hem or two, and feel apathy towards anything productive.
Truth be told, I’ve always been a little intimidated by hats. For years I’ve struggled to find ones that suited me (and I still say I have an abnormally large head). When I do venture into the Land of the Great Chapeau, I tend more towards fascinators and headbands, which feel like the perfect mix of whimsey and glam (especially if they involve glitter).
If you’ve been following for awhile, you know I tend to avoid things that are trending. Usually if something appears on a tv show (hello Carrie Bradshaw blue wedding heels) or is on every Influencer (ie, whatever the new It Girl handbag is), I avoid it like the plague. Perhaps it’s some form of reverse snobbery, but I definitely have an aversion to anything even slightly approaching popular, so deep is my commitment to an original style.
There is no rhyme or reason for it, but I have been ALL about the separates lately. Not that making skirts is necessarily a new thing for me, but I’ve been completely enamored with making skirts and a matching top that can masquerade as a dress, but can also be split to mix and match to my heart’s content. With time at a premium these days, I am all for tricks that make my wardrobe serve double duty…
My eyes are definitely always on the lookout for color. I feel most people’s wardrobes are full of basics – the perfect black pant. The simple nude pump. Mine is overflowing with the exact opposite: the statement shoe. The print you can see from space. Call it years of being a wallflower or someone who struggled with confidence for a long time, but I hit a point after college and grad school where I was ready to be seen.
I’ve always had a bit of a “Life Imitating Art” fascination, especially when it comes to fashion. I don’t know why, but I will forever be enamored with handbags that look like storefronts, or necklaces that look like rhinestone bagels, and shoes designed to mimic cake. Be it edible or not, I can’t get enough of a comestible lifestyle.
Have you ever met a dress pattern and fallen in love at first sight? Some just speak to me, and such was my first encounter with Simplicity S8873. It’s crisp and clean, but has a bit of sass in the shoulder ties. Plus, it looked like a pretty straightforward make. Truly, sometimes simplicity really is best.
Despite the fact that a calendar year is really an arbitrary block of time, there is something about an impending new year that gets me motivated to check things off the list. Be it a sewing project or the never ending To Do list at work, I always try to make that final push to put projects behind me, add one more tick in the Done Column. Almost as if, in doing so, I will truly feel as if I deserve a break. (Note to self: You deserve a break anyway)
Have you ever had an idea that, when thinking about it in retrospect, you realize if you had known then what you know now, you never would have started it? (the wave skirt comes to mind…) That’s a long winded way of saying my latest sewing project started as a sketch that seemed very doable, and yet took more hours and more steps than should ever be humanly possible.