At the halfway point in my fall Project 333, I'm realizing that I need to get my butt in gear if I want to finish the rest of the refashions before the three months are over! So this weekend, I finished a refashion of one of my Pin Up Girl Clothing Jenny skirts.
The skirt features a super cute orange boarder print that I feel in love with when I first saw it! While I'm sure the designers had California in mind when they selected this print, I thought it would be just perfect for sunny Florida. Yummy!
The skirt is made out of a great stretch cotton but the fabric is really thick. In it's original state, this skirt was gathered instead of pleated. It had been pretty much gathered to the maximum allowed by the fabric. Kudos to PUG for not skimping on fabric but it meant taking in the skirt wasn't going to happen without removing some of the width or changing to pleats.
Plus, the skirt just never seemed as flattering on my figure as I thought it should be. Now I know that a slimmer skirt that is pleated is more flattering for me that a very full, gathered skirt.
And after I saw Lauren of American Duchess do just such a refashion on her orange Jenny skirt this summer, I knew mine would meet the same fate someday. And I'm so happy that I finally did it!
Oh, I feel like this skirt is just so much more flattering now! You can check out the original skirt paired with this exact same top here.
I have another Jenny skirt that I can't wait to do the same makeover on. Must refashion all of the gathered skirts!
I adore polka dots! They are so much fun and can really be dressed up or down. Plus polka dots are a hubby approved print so it's a win win in my book.
White with blue polka dots! Navy and white has become my go to color combo. They look great together and since they are both neutrals, you can pair them with pretty much any other color.
This skirt started out as a very cute polka dot dress. But as with any off the rack woven dress, it had some fit issues in the bodice. Between the fit issues and the fact that my bra always showed under the arms, it didn't get worn nearly as much as it should.
So I did a quick refashion to turn it into a skirt! I just needed a waist band which I made from the bodice fabric. I was even able to salvage the original zipper so the only thing I needed was some interfacing for the waist band.
I also decided to take advantage of the fact that I was taking this dress apart and added pockets. Everything is better with pockets! The remainder of the bodice yielded the fabric for the pockets. Pockets take surprisingly a lot of fabric so I did end up having to piece one of the pockets.
Pockets and twirling are full of win! I've actually worn this skirt a ton since finishing the refashion. It feels so good to give something new life in my closet.
And I get loads of compliments when I wear it. I guess everyone else loves polka dots too. :D
I feel like this piece really speaks to my style. The overall shape and length say elegant but the print and pockets are all fun and whimsy! There's nothing like wearing clothes that make you feel like you!
I also added my Star Wars rebel necklace for a bit of nerd flair. While I was at work, it occurred to me that this would be a great R2D2 Disney bound. I just need a pair of R2D2 Mickey ears.
I'll have to keep that in mind for my next Disney adventure. I have gobs of ideas for Disney bounds. It's such a fun thing to do!
What's your thoughts on polka dots? Are they full of win or just too much?
Ah, fall, the most glorious of seasons! Here are some fall trends to get excited about while we enjoy the cooler weather and color changing leaves.
Plaid, plaid and more plaid! Wear just a touch or try head to toe. Plaid is the print of the season.
Wide legged trousers are a classy look for fall. Ladies of the 1930s and 1940s loved this look because they were chic and comfortable.
Fabulous suits are great all year round but there is something about fall that makes me reach for these sharp tailored ensembles in glorious fabrics like wool and velvet.
All things leaf related are fabulous additions to your fall wardrobe. Go subtle with leaf jewelry or go bold with an all over leaf print like this great vintage dress.
Layers are a key feature of fall looks especially as we near the end of the year. This is the perfect time to play with mixing and matching colors, textures and prints. Play around with different combinations and push yourself.
Long before I loved vintage, I loved nerdy things. In fact, if I hadn't discovered vintage, I probably would have started wearing lots of nerdy t-shirts.
But since no longer have regular t-shirts in my wardrobe, I've not been able to show off my nerd spirit in my wardrobe too much. Super nerd undercover as a fashionista!
But nerds have gotten classy and we have our own nerd bling. A lot of pieces are very obvious but I liked the understated elegance of this necklace.
It goes very well with my favorite 1950s vintage dress which I have been wearing a lot lately.
It's oh so perfect for twirling! And I love that it works equally well with a small work appropriate crinoline and a super huge fabulous crinoline.
I don't wear a lot of yellow gold jewelry since I prefer white gold or silver but I dug deep in my jewelry box for these simple gold hops that I've had since high school. I've never gotten rid of them since they are real gold and thus "nice jewelry".
I really don't have a lot of nice jewelry and it sometimes makes me feel nervous wearing it but earrings are up and out of the way so I'm not as worried about them.
This necklace is the symbol of the Rebel Alliance in the original Star Wars trilogy. I like the fact that it's very elegant and looks just like a cool shape to the average person. But fellow nerds will know what it is!
I purchased this piece at Hollywood Studios in Orlando, FL and I'm not sure if it's available elsewhere. They also had the Empire logo and some other fun things but this is the one I really liked.
There's definitely a lot of excitement in the park due to the upcoming new movie and the Star Wars land. I imagine there will be more Star Wars jewelry coming out as well (and probably also ending up in my wardrobe!).
Do you have any nerd jewelry or outfits? If you've blogged about it, please share a link so we can all see the nerdiness!
This past weekend, I decided to do another wardrobe purge and start another Project 333 capsule wardrobe. The idea behind Project 333 is to pick 33 pieces that make up your wardrobe and wear just those pieces for 3 months. Not included are workout gear, underwear and sentimental jewelry that you wear every day like a wedding ring. I also opted not to include any jewelry because I don't wear much jewelry so it's not as big of an issue for me as clothing is. The rest of your clothes gets boxed up to be revisited after three months.
The first thing I did was to unbox all of my old clothes and pile it all on my bed. After not having it for three months, would I be ready to let go of some stuff? Yes! I also had a better idea of what kinds of pieces I needed more of and which kinds I could have had less of. I really did a great job of building a great mix and match 40s wardrobe in my summer capsule but I really missed having the option to have a more relaxed casual look.
I'm really realizing that my ideal of having a 100% authentic vintage look every single day is not really what I need or want. So I'm going to mix it up a bit and do some vintage with a twist looks. And I'll revisit it all again in three months if I want to swing more towards authentic vintage. The great thing about fashion is that it's not meant to be static.
So here are my 33 things for October, November and December. (I'm starting a few days early because that's when I had the time to come up with it.)
1-8: I have 8 tops three of which carried over from my summer capsule.
9-14: And here are six skirts-three old and three new. The two center ones are going to get refashioned in to pleated rather than gathered skirts and I'm going to take a bit of the fullness out because crazy 50s volume is not great to wear on an everyday basis.
15-19: I've got two sweaters which are the same two from my summer collection. I have added two new jackets. Jackets just say fall to me and even though it's no where near chilly enough to wear them outside right now, where I work is very air conditioned and I'm hoping it will cool off nicely by December. I've been watching a lot of capsule wardrobe videos on youtube and looking at wardrobes on pinterest and I've noticed that a lot of them include scarves, even in the summer. So I've decided to include on in mine even though I don't really wear them except for warmth. If it doesn't work out, it'll be bye bye scarves.
20-24: Four dresses and my 1930s beach pjs because I love them. I decided to include one Christmas dress because I adore Christmas. :D
25-28: These two dresses I love but don't quite fit right. So they will be refashioned into skirts. And I have one pair of jeans and my Freddies capris.
29-33: Four pairs of shoes and one purse. I'm not sure this purse will make it all the way to December but if I switch it out for one later I'll be ok with it. I'm still in the mood for this summery purse right now.
So I'll definitely have a different look from my summer wardrobe. I can tell I'm more into a 50s look but with a modern twist. So yay for spicing things up!
Ah, August! That month which conjures up both thoughts of long summer days and the excitement of back to school. For me, August always means those sweltering, too hot to handle days that plagued Ohio at the peak of summer.
Of course, Florida has months of this type of weather. So I've been sewing up even more summer appropriate pieces to keep up with the heat.
I picked up this appropriately summery printed cotton at JoAnn's earlier this summer and grabbed some red stretch shirting to make coordinating separates.
The blouse is made from Simplicity 3144 which I had originally purchased to make a red shirtwaist dress. I was a bit surprised when it arrived to realize that it was a blouse and skirt pattern, not a dress! Oh, well. It worked out for the best and I did end up making half of the intended project.
The blouse was a pain to make though. I usually stay away from anything with stretch because it can be difficult to wrangle but this fabric was the perfect color and weight so I went against my better judgement. My machine did not appreciate it. In fact, the button holes turned out so bad that I left them closed and just sewed decorative buttons on top. This blouse actually closes with snaps. I have a vintage dress that has the same feature so we'll go with it's "authentic".
The skirt pattern I made from Butterick 6309 which is a suit pattern with a rather asymmetric neckline. Anyways, it has extra volume in the front but is slimmer in the back. The challenge in the skirt was print matching. I was able to do an awesome job print matching on the center front but I had to do some piecing and did not have enough fabric to even attempt print matching on the back.
Note to self: just get ride of the seam next time and save yourself a lot of drama. I had originally planned to also make a blouse from the tropical fabric but I don't have a lot yet. I may be able to squeeze out a crop top. (I've been eyeing the Lana crop top pattern but I have to dig out my leftovers and double check my yardage first.)
I actually felt a bit out of love with this outfit once I finally finished it but a bit of separation was all I needed to fall back in love with it!
Oh, and I dyed my hair black again and I love it! :D I'm just a dark haired person and that's how it is.
Are you squeezing in a few more summer projects before fall truly hits?
