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.
When I was little, one of the biggest treats was getting to visit my Mimere (our name for grandmother). She called it our “bonding time” and always made me feel so special. The pantry was always stocked with my favorite cereal (Cinnamon Toast Crunch – dubbed a “sugar cereal” and therefore forbidden in my house), let me watch Pretty Woman (though put a pillow over my face during the rude bits), and would stroke my hair until I fell asleep.
I don’t know what it is about summer, but I swear the months conspire to move at different speeds. I always seem to glide lazily through June, sipping mules from copper mugs and meeting friends for outdoor BBQs. July is always on a mission, moving forward with a blink-and-I’ll-miss-it ferocity, and August barely even seems to exist, her eyes already on autumn and the start of a new school year.