Thursday, March 21, 2019

Green and Blue and New


The next phase in my hair color evolution is aquamarine (currently blended with the green from my previous dye job). Fittingly for new beginnings, I colored it thusly on the first day of spring (yesterday), and, fittingly for the beginning of spring in particular, today I wore the new colors over a brand-new green cardigan with cute floral buttons.
 
 
The entire outfit followed suit tonally, as I wore a blue camisole under the sweater, blue-green shoes, and turquoise earrings.

What a relief to finally be excited about my clothing again! The entire month of March, I had absolutely nothing interesting to wear (except those blue pants that provided me a brief reprieve from boredom last Friday), and I was in the middle of some serious sartorial doldrums.

But then while I was visiting my hometown of Toledo last weekend, I ran across a Gabe's (sibling store to my beloved Rugged Wearhouse, which permanently closed a few months ago!) that hadn't existed when I lived there. I stopped in for a quick shop around and found this sweater for a mere two dollars! Score! I also found a dress that should be suitable for the upcoming weather, so at least I have a few more days before I must once again start complaining that I have nothing to wear.

Friday, March 15, 2019

Free as a fish


I'm about to leave for a trip to visit family in Ohio. I don't have much time for a monologue, but I couldn't help but want to share today's outfit. I haven't been excited about my wardrobe in a while, but thanks to a new pair of printed wide-leg pants and a wave of pleasant weather, I'm feeling inspired!

I paired the water-colored trousers with a white T-shirt and shoes, then topped it all off with a blue-green cardigan belted at the waist. With all these aquatic colors in my outfit, it's only natural that I used my oversized fish earrings to finish off the look.

I think my outfit feels put-together for my last day at work, but also creative and free-spirited at the same time. The perfect attitude for beginning a road trip! And even better, the outfit is loose and comfy all around, making it ideal for a long evening of driving. I don't even have to change before I hit the road!

Sunday, March 3, 2019

No more pointy hips

Sometimes I buy used clothing online that utterly mystifies me. Take the case of this red tunic from Swap.com.
 
 

On the mannequin, it looked like it was going to be a lovely drapey top that would conveniently cover my nether regions for use with leggings.

On a real body with legs, however, it was quite the opposite. Instead of all the folds falling towards the center, it split down the middle and draped to either side. Although it failed the crotch criteria, I felt I could still wear it with pants, but it still was too weird for me. The side seams flared out from the waist, came to a point, and then continued down at a right angle. This resulted in a lot of extra fabric that caused the pretty draping, but it also produced a pointy blob-like shape over each hip if the draping wasn't arranged just so.

 
I wore the tunic one time to work and decided that was quite enough until I had found a way to rid my top of hip tumors.

The solution? I just sewed down each side in an arbitrarily positioned curve, so that the sides of the tunic would take on a more human shape. 
 
 
The fit is slightly tighter now, but the overall appearance is basically the same, minus the pointy hips.

In another alteration, I raised the shoulder seams by about an inch at the center, because the crossover neckline was just too revealing.


This top was absolutely the last of the red items I had yet to wear (I know I said the red pants were, but they were just the last work-appropriate item. I decided this top was too Spandex-y for work, so I designated it for after-hours-only activities, which meant it could conceivably wait months before even having an opportunity to be worn, which meant I didn't factor it into my calculations). But then I wore it!


No more pointy hips!