Chelsie Daily Sewing and Style – Alterations, Sewing and More!

For the past week I have been doing quite a bit of sewing, this week off is a good opportunity to tackle all those projects that take time. I’ve been loving it. I finally finished the third Stieg Larrson book, in audio format, and I did not like it. It was much too long. So I personally would only recommend reading the first book, and I think this is more of a borrow from your local library book than a purchasing book. And this isn’t a light read, nor a book for everyone.

Lets really get into what I’ve been doing for the past week now. I got this dress from Sarah’s Salvation Army pile when she was getting ready to pack it up and move to Asia. A definite vintage dress, but on the small side (In that my arms barely made it, and the waist was so cinched I don’t think it would have held if I sat down – you know what I mean). So I took some black jersey (I got it as a remenant for maybe $1.50 or $2 at my local Fabricland), took apart the side seams, and sewed it in. I cut three inch wide pieces for each side, allowing for a seam allowance of about 5/8. The great thing about this dress being older is that the seam were not finished with a serger so I was able to work with the original form. Note – The empire waist fabric ribbon is a brown colour. Also, I don’t think the empire waist looks ideal on me.

The dress after alterations.

The empire waist sort of sags in the back.

Of course I didn’t want to take in the dress again, and from the side, I just didn’t like how the dress hung on me. So I decided to add a belt. I had been wanting to make an obi style belt for a while, so this was the perfect opportunity. I have seen them online and people make them so they are reversible, but I just couldn’t figure out how. Instead I decided to make mine one-sided, but use different fabrics for the in and outside.

A look at the finished belt. The other side is black, and the bands are purple on one side, black on the other.

You may recognize the purple material as a remnant from the purple dress I made, and the black fabric is the same as that used on the dress. The belt is about 50 inches, with metal boning every 8 inches.

Boning - 6 pieces at $0.35 each.

The result is:

Ta da!

And the side view.

I think this ties it together a bit better (forgive the pun, it was unintentional). What do you think? Do you prefer the dress without the belt?

And a closer look at the fabric. It seems to be a bit Asian inspired, and it seemed to photograph well.

The fabric. Definite polyester.

I know what you are thinking, ‘Seriously Chelsie, could you have done something with your hair?’ To you I say, ‘I wash my hair.’ Also, I am wearing the glasses today because as I was curling myself in the duvets this morning, the corner of one of the duvets I was flinging towards me got me right in the eye. It doesn’t feel weird anymore though, so I think that’s good.

So that is what I made, but not really what I’m wearing today. I’m really wearing this:

Actual Daily Style.

• Shirt – Winners
• Yoga Pants – Winners
• Shredded Jersey Scarf – self made

And on that note, I have included Katie’s requested close up of my first shredded jersey scarf, though I prefer this one.

My first shredded jersey scarf.

And I'm making ribs. (Apologies to the 2 Interrobang Vegetarians)

The recipe.

I notice I also seem to be doing a lot of cooking during my time off. And my new favorite cleaning product, Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Lavender All Purpose Cleaner. Natural ingredients and biodegradable, I love it! And it smells great!

Usually blogging plagues me with writers block, but not today!

Chelsie Daily Style – Altered Vest Belt

I was inspired to make this belt from yesterday’s Etsy email that had a similar belt. I didn’t take a before picture of the vest that I took apart, but S had purchased it from Value Village and it didn’t fit well and he was going to donate it back, so that would be it’s origin, a men’s vest.

• t-shirt – Broken Social Scene
• Short Dress Pants – from Sarah
• Hat – American Outfitters
• Glasses – Clearly Contacts (this online store is amazing! Canada only – now you know how it feels)

Last night I started cutting the vest up while watching episodes of season 1 of 30 Rock, pinned it together in preparation for sewing, and it took about half an hour to an hour to sew it all this morning, including sizing, fitting and refitting.

I think this belt will look good with dress shirts for work because I feel that it is still professional looking. I picked up some boning today for a belt project I’m going to tackle this week during my week off before starting my new new job.

You must understand that I’m having more success with my photographer these days. I have convinced him that taking these pictures is good practice for polishing up his skills with the settings on his SLR. So really, I’m doing it mostly for his own good and so that he becomes an expert photographer.

Close up of the front of the vest belt.

Close up of the back of the vest belt.

Talking to Sarah on Skype, my this morning and her tonight.

Millie Daily Style: Strapless!

Hi internet! It’s been a while since I’ve posted my clothes. After a stint of “I’m nearly in my late twenties, and have two degrees and a surprising number of publications to my name. Why am I STILL studying for midterms?!” I’m done hopefully my last round of midterms ever. Dare I hope? Anyhoo, that’s out of the way, I’m out from under all my notes, and I bought a tripod. Finally! No more fussing around with stack of books, fabric cushions (because the side of my camera couldn’t be flat, could it?) and boxes of soap. No more grumping because all that doesn’t really work, and enlisting A.’s help instead. And no more experiments with knock-off Play-Doh stands! (That really didn’t work.) And plus the tripod was half price. Yay! It remains to be seen whether I can take better pictures now, but it’s certainly much easier.

In other news, Chelsie’s apparently taking a run at being the blog’s resident seamstress, so I feel compelled to post something I’ve made. (I was actually planning on doing this before seeing her previous two posts, but a bit of pseudo-competition’s always good.) So, here’s another sundress and cardigan pairing:

I have quite a penchant for sundresses.

• Cream sundress: self made
• Cranberry cardigan: thrifted
• Belt: hand me down from my mom, recently rediscovered
• Necklace: present from Katie

I apparently also have a penchant for small prints that don’t show up in my pictures, so here’s a close-up of my collarbone:

Ack! The colours got very washed out. The print is a lovely navy blue.

I love the print on this material, and it’s subtle enough that’s it’s not like “Woah! That lady’s wearing stars and planets and stuff! How out of this world!” (Even I groaned at that, but I’m leaving it. I am a cruel woman, bent on inflicting terrible puns on all the land. Also, A.’s been telling Niels Bohr jokes for the past half hour, and it’s too much for one woman to bear.) I like the cream and navy colour pairing (though the navy got washed out by the flash), too; as you can see, my skin is blindingly pale, so white on it’s own doesn’t look so good on me. Cream’s warmer, and works better, though I think it still needs colour for me not to look like a walking linen in need of washing. Navy’s not a colour I wear a lot of, though I’m realizing I like it more than I think I do, so I think for the next bit if I’m inclined to make a black outfit I’ll try navy instead.

Chelsie Daily Style – Purple Dress

This is the purple dress I have been working on for the past week. It has pockets. Without the belt it’s pretty loose looking. The pattern is from the 1970′s. Of course it comes from the proverbial ‘basement.’ I made the shorter version of the dress, seen on the far right of the pattern cover image below.

Butterick 4426 - Betsey Johnson pattern

Chelsie Daily Style – Shirt Before and After

Before

After

This is the red cowboy shirt. Originally a men’s shirt that my brother and S refused to wear because of it’s ‘flashiness.’ It was a size 16, so it was a bit baggy, so I took it apart and altered it.

Katie Daily…Umm…Something…

I mentioned to a coworker that I’ve been experimenting with embroidering paper, and she said, “Oh, like toilet paper?” Luckily the topic of conversation changed, but I went away thinking, even for my office, that was a odd thing to say.

Turns out, it gets odder:

HiBird

I know that toilet paper printed with Hitler’s image was a hit during WWII, but this is just…actually, I have no words.

Katie Daily Pretty – Pocket Full of Posies and a Penchant for Pyromania

The other title I was toying with was “Fancy Flowers and Firestarters.” Oh, alliteration, our love will last forever.

This week has turned out to be an incredibly crafty one, and last night was no exception.

Dandelion Clock Wall Art

Studio 54 Flower Wall Art

Left Over Fabric Flowers Wall Art (I need a better title for this one - any suggestions?)

Buttercup Fascinator - a gift for a coworker

Fools Rush In Necklace

Fools Rush In Necklace close-up because I can't resist how gorgeous pyrite looks in detail

I have never had a green thumb, but I do have a nicely calloused one from years of sewing so I’ve decided to make myself a garden of fabric flowers. The project began as a whim, and I wasn’t sure how they’d turn out, but I love these ones so far.

For a lot of the flowers, I experimented with different singeing techniques to seal the edges, provide color contrast and, in the case of the fabrics made from synthetic materials, build up some three-dimensionality. By the time I was done the room was a bit hazy with smoke, but the alarm didn’t go off so it worked out (unless, of course, this just means I have a shoddy alarm and I went and inhaled dangerous toxins and when I die someone’s going to have to explain to the coroner why in the x-ray my lungs are covered in silver sparkles).

I also made another pyrite necklace, because I can’t get enough of the stuff. Lately, a lot of the necklaces I’ve been making have been complex and I enjoy the simplicity of this one for a change.

Update: As I look at the photos, I feel like the two flowers on the green polka dot fabric have just run into each other and are about to give each other leaf high-fives ’cause they’re cool flowers like that.

Chelsie Daily Style – Tunics

This is one of my favorite sweaters this winter. It’s nice and long, and super cozy. I enjoy the buttons on the shoulders, a very light militariesque feel. Today I decided to layer it with a black shirt underneath, and I enjoy the effect of the black peeking out. I often wear this with a dark wide belt and that looks good as well.

• Tunic Sweater – Suzy Shier
• Black t-shirt – Smart Set
• Cords – Reitmans
• Moccasins – Get Outside, Laurentian Chief

I really do enjoy the tunics, but yesterday I just shoved more clothes into my side of the closet and realized that I can’t put much more in there. So no tunic shopping for me. I also got some new clothes from S’s aunt, a black dress, a shirt, and an orange silk cotton blend blouse (so soft and silky!). I’m slowly making small alterations, and only have to hem the skirt now, but these things will make their debut later.

Moccasins, slightly soggy.

I picked up this tunic shirt pattern this weekend. There is also an option to make it into a dress.

Tunic pattern. Future project.

Millie Daily Style — Yamamoto Jacket (or Sweater?)

Quite a while ago, I found this pattern by Yohji Yamamoto and sort of scratched my head about it. The pattern originally came with no instructions, and I couldn’t quite figure out how it went together. (This link has the pattern with instructions and printing instructions, if you’re interested in making it. ) I also figured it wouldn’t be anything I’d wear on a regular basis, so it went into the giant folder labelled “Clothes and Patterns” on my computer. It got fished out a couple of years later, and I made it on a lark in gray wool. It’s a neat but awkward shape, so I wear it mostly as a house sweater, but it’s still pretty neat:

This is the way I think it's supposed to be worn.

I didn’t put a fastener on it, because once I made it I realized it could be worn in a bunch of different ways. The pattern calls for a snap about where the brooch is on the inside of each side. This way, the jacket/sweater sort of puckers outwards. This is all fine and good, but I think I made it slightly wrong, because there’s very little arm mobility with it oriented this way:

T. Rex arms! Rarrr!

Is my T. Rex impersonation (insaurination?) not terrifying? Note the slightly different lapel folding, too.

As much fun as it is to run around making silly dinosaur impressions, I sometimes need to be able to lift my arms above elbow height, so I usually wear it upside down:

I wish the collar would stand up more reliably instead of falling over.

No T. Rex arms here, and it sits more comfortably around the waist, too. The collar sort of flops over, but occasionally I can get it to stand upright, which looks nice. There’s a few pinning variations for this orientation too, but in the interest of space I’ll leave them to your imagination. Here’s a shot of the back when it’s worn this way around — it’s got sort of a bulbous shape that traps all sorts of air, making it quite toasty.

It's comfy, but the shape through the back makes it awkward to wear sometimes.

The pattern doesn’t call for it, but I lined it in green satin leftover from a dress I made Katie ages ago to make it less itchy. I tend to wear it with the sleeves rolled up a bit (as all these pictures show) because the cuffs are then not itchy and don’t drag in things. I wasn’t sure if it’d wear it initially, but it’s a staple of my at-home wardrobe now.

• Yamamoto jacket/sweater — self made
• Tank top — Old Navy, I think
• Necklace — long forgotten
• Brooch — Fabricland, of all places

Chelsie Daily Style – Mosaic T-Shirt

Canada Goose Mosaic T-Shirt

• Mosaic Shirt – Self made, t-shirt from Micheal’s
• Long Sleeve Shirt – Roots
• Jeans – Reitmans
• Onyx Necklace

Here is another incarnation of the mosaic t-shirt. It isn’t the cowboy one I thought I would make, and it seems S is all about creating the animals. I am the simple sewer of things onto the shirts.

I’ve started reading at least two books a week now. This week I discovered that Sophie Kinsella (of chicklit fame, aka Madeleine Wickham), has a sister, Gemma Townley. So now I have expanded my chicklit horizon to include all her books. I should be done all of them within a month or so, with other literature interspersed. This week I also read Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, and The Flying Troutman’s by Miriam Toews.

This Sunday afternoon we went to S’s mom’s place for his stepfather’s birthday dinner, and S’s mom, H, made a groundhog cake. She is all about elaborate cakes, and since the birthday falls on groundhog’s day, this is her cake incarnation of a groundhog. I will try to take more cake pictures when we next have a cake at her place, believe me, you’ll want to see this.

Time to go wash my hair.

Groundhog Cake - aka monster cake, aka wild things cake

Tapeworm Love

February 2nd is my second anniversary with The Rocket Scientist. And while most people  know the date as “Groundhog’s Day,” he and I tend to refer to it as “Tapeworm Day.” Settle in for a story, kiddos.

First off, confession time: The Rocket Scientist and I don’t remember when we met. Shocking, I know, and completely violating the romance rule. You know the one.  The first time you see the other person everything else goes into soft focus, and suddenly Cole Porter is next to you with his piano and singing, which would normally be weird since he’s dead but he’s singing “De-Lovely” and everything’s misty so it’s all good (in fact, it’s de-lightful).

Yeah, that didn’t happen with us. We know we met sometime in the fall of 2007 in the bar where we played trivia,  but that’s all we’ve got.

What we do remember is our first big conversation. We were at a fondue party and The Rocket Scientist asked a question about tapeworms. There were two ways the conversation could go after that: (1) Ignore The Rocket Scientist and be able to keep eating our beef and chicken without imagining it full of tapeworms, or (2) Start having that discussion and switch to frozen pizza. While everyone else opted for option 1, I took the road more disgusting and The Rocket Scientist and I had a lovely chat about intestinal parasites.

So, the moral of this Cole Porter-less parasite story is that since The Rocket Scientist and I didn’t have a “meet-cute” to remember, we decided to have a “conversation-cute” instead. So long Groundhog’s Day, hello Tapeworm Day! However, don’t carry that substitution any farther than that. I don’t want to image what hole the tapeworm is emerging out of to see its shadow.

For this anniversary, I wanted to get The Rocket Scientist something tapeworm-themed. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the dearth of tapeworm paraphernalia out there. I was about to give up and get him a plush Viking Kitten (someday, Rocket Scientist, someday), when I was suddenly brilliant and remembered that I have tapeworm diagrams in my undergrad lab books of yore. So I found an image and embroidered over it to make a one-of-a-kind, exceptionally geeky gift that I think The Rocket Scientist will love. I present you with:

Tapeworm Love

Note how I segmented the hearts the same way tapeworm proglottids are segmented, ready and waiting to be expelled from their hosts just like my love is ready and waiting to be expelled from me (metaphorical expulsion, of course). Oh yeah, this is love zoological style.

It’s an Unnecessarily Fancy Skirt Day around here

Any of you ever have days where you go “What today needs is a big swishy skirt?”

Big swishy skirt for a dreary Tuesday!

Unfortunately, there's homework to be done. Note the incongruous socks, for an added touch of classiness.

Me too!

• Maroon cardigan – thrifted
• Choir skirt – self made

To be fair, I’m just booting around the house doing homework (numerical integration methods — fun times!) but this is far from the first time I pulled this sort of thing. I adore this skirt, and when overdressing is required it’s my standby. I call it my choir skirt because I made it back in the first year of undergrad when I needed a fancy black skirt for my choir performance; I wore it for six years of choir performances afterwards. I miss my old choir tremendously — the university choirs here are either exasperatingly bad or made entirely of music students. The other neat thing about this skirt is that it’s LOUD. It’s lined in nylon, so when I walk it makes a very distinctive “swish swish swish” sound. I didn’t know any better when I made it, and now it’s a pretty integral part of the skirt. Plus it has nice big pockets! I love it to bits, and it probably cost me all of about $10 to make.

Numerical integration, on the other hand?

ugh.

I’m so fed up with it I can’t even take a good picture of me with it.

Crafty Mosaic T-Shirts

S and I saw some cool t-shirts at a store and decided that we could recreate the look ourselves. Here is the results and then some step by step instructions:

Polar Bear Mosaic T-Shirt

The first step I took was to draw a concept or idea of what I wanted to create.

My concept drawing, a moose and a fox, shaded.

Next I drew the images larger to create a pattern I could cut out and lay over the felt.

Fox pattern.

Moose pattern.

Then I cut out all the felt pieces and arranged them.

All the felt pieces, cut out and ready to sew.

This is what they look like after sewing.

So I finished sewing them but I still haven’t stitched them to a shirt, but you get the idea. I have one more example of the finished product, following the same steps, but with another design.

And of course I’m looking to make some more. My next mosaic t-shirt is going to be a cowboy on a horse, based on a stamped image from a postcard I made when Sarah, Katie and I went to the Denver Art Museum.

Chelsie Daily Style – Vintage Sewing Book

• Tam – Forever 21
• Belt – Forever 21
• Purple Sleeveless Top – RW&Co.
• Brown Corduroys – Reitmans (finally hemmed them this morning)
• Blazer – self made
• Necklace – Gift from Katie

This is the new sewing book I got. I saw it on Ebay last Sunday and then found it on Amazon for cheaper, so I got it. It’s basically a 1940′s reference guide to sewing. Being a librarian and historian how could I pass up that deal, historical fashion plus a reference book?! Awesome! So here are a few shots I thought you’d find interesting:

Like any good fashion book, it lets you know what’s what and how you should change up your wardrobe every month to keep yourself looking classy. Also, at the beginning it tells you what styles you should wear for each shape body, neck, face, arms… the whole shebang! Also teaches you how to made underwear for men and women, and brassieres. Pretty much the basics, gives you all your handstitches, and directions on making old dresses look new, how to make curtains, or how to reupholster furniture. It’s an interesting read, especially the parts where it tries to convince people to leave their Victorian views of sewing behind, and embrace the machine.

I thought these pages would be of interest since they explain how to make collars, and these seem to be becoming all the rage with the bib necklaces and whatnot.

Purple Shirt

pSo I tried a new variation on the first shirt I sewed (see this post), using the same pattern and some remnant material I found at Fabricland. I went for a longer sleeve this time, and the material has a shimmer to it, so it’s a bit more dressy. It’s a nice and comfy loose shirt, without looking like a maternity type shirt. I find the loose fitting style, or trapeze style if you will, does not suit many women. You basically have to be a stick to pull them off as designers intend them, and wear them with the appropriately tight pants to balance the looseness. This all seems like a lot of effort to me, so I tend to stray from this style. I also think it makes me look short. This one fits nicely on it’s own, or with a belt to give it a little bit more shape.

The new shirt

The shirt belted

• Shirt – Sewed
• Jeans – Silver
• Belt – A boutique in Denver

Tour de Scarf

I love scarves. Scarves are a great exercise in textiles, because there’s no structure and no seamstressing to them — it’s just a piece of fabric and some creative wrapping or knotting or pinning. They’re dirt simple to make from scraps, they’re typically inexpensive in thrift stores, and there’s no fussing about whether or not they fit. I love them!

As alluded to in a past post, my wardrobe is in disarray, so I’m trying to tidy it up. I rustled up about ten scarves, but I could’ve sworn I have more, and I can think of a couple I’m pretty sure I still have that are missing in action. I can’t think of where they are, though, so hopefully I’ll rediscover them in my clean-up. But in the mean time, here’s a perusal of my currently accounted for scarves. Here they all are!

They look so nice all hung up together!

A few summers ago, I sublet a room which had a wooden dowel suspended from the ceiling which was normally used as a partial room divider (the usual occupant hung curtains on it). I took over the whole room and hung my scarves from it instead, and it looked wonderful. I’ve always wanted to recreate that, but suspending things form ceilings is very ceiling dependent, and it hasn’t worked so well since then. Enter hangers on the back of my closet door!

The three square scarves.

These are my square scarves, and these I tend not to wear as much. I like to wrap things around my neck and have ends trailing, so long rectangles tend to work better for me. Both brown and white flower pattern and the red silk paisley scarves were thrifted, the blue gauze with metallic stripes was from the lovely Sarah from Spain (I think — she’s been so many places I’m not 100% sure!).

Colours!

These are all long bright rectangles, and I love how bright and cheery they are. The green and white striped scarf is really long and quite wide, and I used to wear it as a head scarf for kicking around the house. I never got the knack of tying it properly, and then chopped all my hair off and it’s got nothing to grab on to anymore. The peach scarf has a neat nubby texture to it, and I have no idea where I got it. The purple and pink scarf is a belt from a dress of my mom’s from the 60′s that I found in my grandparents’ house some years ago. I wanted to keep the dress too, but they all said the dress was too short and I couldn’t have it. I protested that my mom had worn this back in the day, so it should be fine, but I’m a few inches taller than my mom, and apparently the dress was Scandalously Inappropriate. It was itchy purple wool with a sort of standup neckline and cap sleeves, and it was probably not the slightly bit comfortable to wear to do anything, but I was heartily disappointed about the whole thing. The belt was deemed okay, though.

Everyday scarves from various times.

These three scarves are the scarves I have worn (or currently wear) on a daily basis. I tend to take one scarf and wear it non-stop for a fall-winter, and these are them. The orange, blue and green square pattern is the one that started it all — it was, I think, my first scarf. I made it (ineptly) back when I started sewing, and it’s neat material but because I made it a tube, rather than finishing the edges of a rectangle, it folds in half all the time and gets irritating to wear. I haven’t worn it in ages, but I should give it a shot again, because it’s neat. The black and white scarf, shown looped over twice, is (was?) my signature scarf for years. I made it too, and through most of undergrad and my MSc I wore that scarf from about October to March. Indoor, outdoor, under various weights of coats, that scarf was always there. It was distinctive, versatile, and kept me warn in my chilly university building, and it’s my go-to scarf. The stylized sun scarf is my newest scarf, and I’ve been wearing it recently. It’s silk, versus the polyester (I think) of the black and white standby, and so does a much better job of keeping the wind off my neck. Considering that I wait for the bus in somewhat of a wind tunnel, this is important. Plus, wearing the black and white scarf all the time means I wore few other scarves, and I’m trying to branch out and use my wardrobe better.

And finally, there’s that giant purple scarf on the edge of the first picture. It’s huge and made of acrylic, so I use it when I want to wear a sundress around the house but it’s not quite warm enough:

Giving the arched eyebrow to the less than tropical temperature around here

Can’t find me under here, winter chill!

My First Shirt

The first shirt I sewed by myself!

I got this pattern from my mother over the holidays. The pattern is from 1977 and I think she cut the fabric out for it about 30 years ago but never sewed it, similar to the blazer I posted earlier last week. I don’t think it turned out too badly. The biggest thing I need to work on is hemming the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt. I find the hemming can be pretty difficult to do while keeping it all the same length and avoiding puckering. I’m going to try this pattern again later, with a slightly longer sleeve using the purple material I got from Fabricland earlier this week.

Ruffle Collar – Take 2.1

So I went for it and added two more seams. The extra seams make it more ruffly and did give it more structure, while also taking off length. I think it looks a bit more polished, and it was the perfect place to affix my Queen Elizabeth brooch from Katie. Photos courtesy of my laptop’s webcam.

Ruffle Collar – Take 2 (and my Blazer)

I sewed two pieces of fabric together using a zigzag stitch to make the collar longer.

I used this mesh fabric as a middle layer to increase the volume of the scarf.

My three stitched together pieces of fabric laid out, ready to be pinned together.

Three layers of fabric pinned together, with mesh in the middle.

Gather material while sewing.

Sewing ends together.

Sewed the ends together.

Finished ends.

The finished product.

Completed Ruffle Collar

Completed Collar.

I only sewed the material together once in the middle. I’m wondering if maybe I should do two more seams on each side to give the collar more structure. Right now it’s looking rather scarfy, which may make it more practical.

The blazer I sewed with my mother over Christmas.

• Blazer – Sewing Project
• Shirt – Toronto Spring Once of a Kind Show
• Jeans – Reitmans

This was my first sewing project on my new machine. I did the pipping by hand. I still need to make the buttonholes and put on the buttons.

Breakfast - Grilled banana and honey sandwich

I love Fabricland remnants.

I got these pieces of stretchy material for $4.50. You can find interesting stuff in the remnant bins. I’m thinking of making a shirt with this material, and I might have enough for a sleeveless dress. The material almost sparkles.

Winter in the Frozen North

Most of the Interrobangs live in less than tropical climates, but a quick look at the weather forecasts indicates that I live in the coldest (at least this week) by at least 10 degrees.  Having been back to Southern Ontario over the holidays, I suspect I also have the most snow by probably about a half a foot.  It is dreary here, and cold.  Now, my USB cord is still missing in action (or inaction, more accurately) so I can’t actually put any photographic evidence of how I deal with this horrid winter business, but I suspect that there’s room for more than one post on winter dressing.

So, the basics: I have a giant coat, mitts, boots, gloves, hat, and scarf.  The mitts themselves are less than exciting, but wool mitts with lining are crucial.  None of this acrylic stretchy nonsense, and nothing thinner than half an inch.  Same with the hat:  I have a striped toque that makes me look even dorkier than I already do that I inexplicably adore, but I do not adore the subsequent hat hair that I inevitably get.  Five minutes with a toque and my hair is glued to my head for the rest of the day.  So I followed Audi’s advice and got myself a black beret.  I was skeptical, since as much as I love hats, they either look fantastic or awful on me and I thought berets would be in the awful category.  Not so!  I found a classic style with the little stem and everything and it looks fabulous, and it was pretty cheap too.  Again, wool’s essential (but slightly itchy), and while this may be a big fashion faux-pas, but I find the ability to yank it over my ears is crucial, unfashionable or not.

Scarves…. oh how I love scarves.  (Stay tuned for a tour of my scarves once the camera issue is fixed.)  My winter coat is enormous (more on it in a moment), which really limits how huge of a scarf I can fit under it.  Even in the dead of winter, I still wear only a light scarf, but even a thin spring scarf I find is enough to take the edge off the wind, which is all a scarf should nned to do I think. If you need the scarf to keep all of you warm rather than just keeping the wind out, you need a warmer coat!  Bonus points if it’s silk — I find it’s the warmest and most wind-resistant, and plus it’s much a much nicer material than, say, polyester. Just say no to polyester!

Boots are essential but a frustrating topic to me.  I’m a vegetarian, and I’m trying to avoid buying any new leather or suede goods, though I’ll still wear the ones I already have because there’s no point in getting rid of perfectly good clothing unless I don’t wear it anymore for other reasons (fit, style, etc).  The problem is is that finding good stylish boots that aren’t leather is… difficult, to say the least. There’s plenty of stuff to discuss about shoes and boots, so again, stay tuned, there’ll be more posts about that.  I have a pair of (unlined) knee high black boots from Novacas that I love, and a pair of those foil insoles make any pair of shoes more cozy.  Knee socks are great, wool socks help too, but I’ve found that wearing a pair of knee socks over a pair of shorter socks is great for commuting — most of my commute is spent on public transit rather than outside.  The two pairs of socks method is great because once I get to my office, I take off the outer pair (and try to be stealthy about it so my office-mate isn’t put off) and go on my merry way indoors.  I overheat easily, so I’m a big fan of quickly (and socially acceptably!) sheddable layers.

The piece de resistance is my coat.  It’s huge, took me over a year of (very sporadic) work to make, is bright green and white and is easily the warmest coat I’ve had.  It’s wool (notice a theme here?*), but I lined the thick wool on all the pieces with flannel, and this seems to make an enormous difference.  It’s hardly doable for the majority of you who aren’t making your own coats, but if you’re ever inclined, flannel flatlining as well as a coating lining (no nylon or acetate — use the stuff with the fuzzy back that I can never remember the name of) is the way to go.  Also, add a hood even if the pattern doesn’t have it.  Most retail wool coats aren’t warm at all, and I actually don’t recommend them.  If you’re bent on it, have a good look at the wool itself and see have dense the fibres are:  denser material will let less wind through and thus be warmer, but also tends to cost more and is harder to find.  Try to get a coat that is at least mid-thigh length and buttons all the way to the bottom.  My coat buttons all the way down, and I’m pretty sure this is the key to my coat’s warmth. Unfortunately, the vast majority of retail coats have buttons only to the waist or slightly lower.  This post is getting rather long, but perhaps I’ll put up another one in a bit about switching the buttons or adding a zipper to make a coat close better, with the caveat that I’ve never actually done it myself because I just make my coats in the first place.

So, in a long-winded nutshell, that’s my take on winter outerwear.  I’m clearly not the only person who lives in a cold climate who is posting about her wardrobe on the internet, and I haven’t said a peep about what I wear underneath.  This post by The Freelancer shows just how elaborate you can need to be! I suspect that as cold as it is here, it’s colder in Helsinki. Her drawings are gorgeous, too. So, how do you deal with winter?

*  For those of you saying “wool and silk are animal products — why aren’t you avoiding them?”, I’m a vegetarian, not a vegan.  I eat eggs, cheese, and milk, and I have no big issue with wool or silk.  My ethics of consumption are sort of a work in progress, so this may change.  I will certainly talk about it here, because I think there’s a lot of interesting things there that are worth discussing, and there’s an awful lot more to it than just “I don’t eat or wear animals”.

Ruffle Collar – Take 1

As suggested by Katie:

I think I need to try it again with a different, lighter, fabric next time though.

• Ruffle Collar – Sewed
• Brooch – from Katie
• Blue shirt – Gap
• Jeans – Reitmans

Fashion Reading and the Basement

For my subway ride today I will be reading “Style Deficit Disorder” by Tiffany Godoy.

My trip to the infamous ‘Basement’ was a partial success. I did want to get that red and green plaid vest, but I forgot. I did return with a black dress, it was floor length but I shorted it to mid calf and a pair of pull on boots. I also found a couple things in my ‘Closet’ from the 90′s! Two dresses and a skirt. The one dress is floor length with a sort of cherub/angelic print going on, sort of Sistine Chapel. The other dress is an asian style, and the skirt gathers in the back to form a sort of small bustle.

I also completed half a jacket with the help of my mother and returned with several vintage sewing patterns and a new sewing machine. Though I will think of getting a new pedal for Old Caste Iron Olive, who I think may just be immortal, especially physically.

Time to go meet Millie.