Coordinating my hair to my clothes

For the next phase in my hair color evolution, I wanted the aqua from my previous color to blend into a pure blue. But when I'm dyeing my hair, I never know quite what I'll get. As it happened, by the time I re-dyed it, the blue-green had faded to a straight-up green; meanwhile the fresh blue dye turned out more purple. Green-to-purple wasn't at all my intent, but it ended up looking totally rad (it is, after all, one of my favorite color combinations!), and is probably my most popular dye job yet (as measured by the number of unsolicited compliments it's received).

One nice thing about this quasi-purple hair color is that it still looks blue in the right lighting and next to the right clothes. The color is open to interpretation. So for today's outfit, it is unequivocally blue!

After all, it has to match my clothes, which are blue to the extreme—the blue jeans that I gussied up with a blue embroidery patch last year, and a long blue flowing split-sleeve top that I've had for quite a while but never blogged.

The outfit is my usual monochrome modus operandi, but the hair makes it special.

It sure was a windy day!

The Perennial Shoes

 

After 7 years of existence, my first pair of white high heels had seen better days. If I didn't love them as much as I do, I'd have tossed them long ago, but instead, I find ways to keep them coming back to life, year after year!

Their first rebirth was when I coated them with strips of old jeans and made them into denim shoes. I was happy with them then, but they never really frayed as I'd hoped they would, and I began to feel that the tricolor look with the narrow pale strip at the toe just didn't work.

 

By that point, they'd had a good two lives, and I wouldn't have been unjustified in throwing them away...but I just loved their shape. That extra-chunky heel wasn't something I wanted to give up on so easily. So in early 2018, I soaked them in water and peeled off the fabric (thank goodness I used water-soluble glue the first time!), then let them sit for a while, while I decided what to do with them next.

 

 

Months later, it came to me! I had just retired a tank top (incidentally, also a previous refashion). No matter what I did to that tank top, I never felt it flattered me. But I adored the floral pattern, so I saved it for repurposing. The purpose ended up being to give a third life to my beloved white shoes! My plan was to wrap the shoe in fabric, much as I did with the denim, but this time use a single solid sheet of fabric rather than a bunch of tiny strips.

A convenient feature of the tank top was that had a lot of overlocked edges rather than finished hems. I could align the overlocked portions with the bottom edge of the shoe, providing a built-in finished look, and saving me from trying to come up with a way to keep the fabric from fraying.

I cut the tank top into two strips per shoe: one that would wrap around the heel, and one that would wrap around the upper.

To attach the fabric to the shoe, this time I used Outdoor Mod Podge. My original plan was to plaster the fabric to the shoe with glue (sort of like papier-mâché), and I thought the outdoor glue would be nice because it would give it a waterproof coating.

I stretched the fabric over the shoes (very laboriously—I only glued down 2 inches or so at a time before stopping to let the glue dry for a few hours). After the fabric was firmly attached to the sides of the shoes, I went back and folded it over at the top, gluing it down on the inside, and cutting off the excess.

For the most part, the fabric stretched enough on the bias to conform to the shape of the shoe. Around the toe, I had to gather the fabric in tiny segments and hold it in position with a binder clip while the glue dried, which took a lot of time (I would say each toe took 5 to 6 glue-and-dry sessions), but ended up looking super cute, if I do say so myself!

 

At the back edge, I folded the very end of the strip over on itself and glued it down. The fabric covering the upper overlapped the fabric covering the heel, which looked neat and tidy thanks to the overlocked edge.

 

In the end, I didn't use the papier-mâché method (that is, put a sealing coat of glue over the fabric) because I was so happy with the shoes and their soft texture and ruffly toes that I didn't want to mess them up with more glue! I'll just have to be careful not to wear them in the rain.

I am really happy with the outcome of this project. The only problem I've had with the shoes so far is that the added fabric on the inside makes them a tight fit, and the glue is kind of sticky, so squeezing into them is quite a challenge now. I've learned to sprinkle my feet with powder before putting them on, to make it easier to slide my toes inside.

For their very special first public appearance, I planned an outfit days in advance. I went with my grey cropped flares and a new-to-me short-sleeved pink sweater. While looking for a necklace or something to break of the vast expanse of shirt, it occurred to me that I might be able to make a little scarf or neckerchief from some of the scrap fabric left over from making the shoes. Well, I didn't have quite enough fabric to accomplish that, but I did have enough to make a headband!

This is my first homemade fabric headband, and I just designed it on the fly. It's a rectangle of fabric, folded in half, sewed along the edges, and turned inside-out.

I gathered it to a point at each end, and attached a scrap of elastic.

I'm pretty happy with my headband, too, but if I were going to do it again, I think I'd taper the ends slightly so it fits better on my tiny head!

The dark side of spring

Spring has arrived, springtimey weather is slowly trickling in, and that means it's time for spring outfits! Lots of greens and pinks and pastel flowers galore—you know, the kind of stuff I like to wear in September and December. Perversely, now that spring is actually here, I'm gravitating toward the somber palettes usually reserved for winter attire.

Today, it was forecast to reach 66 degrees, so I in turn reached into my closet and pulled out a pair of cropped pants I recently got at the thrift store. Green they certainly are, but not the celery green or grass green of spring. No, they are a dark forest green that's just a few shades away from black. The boots I wore with them are black, but covered with leaves and flowers, which is what makes them semi-seasonally-appropriate, even if the red and yellow of the roses is a more autumnal color scheme.

Now, I could have rounded out this look with any number of bright shades of green or yellow on top, but I was in a black mood. After trying all the options, I decided I preferred the unbroken darkness of a black camisole and black cardigan. Originally, I picked out a mid-length 3/4 sleeve one, but when I was getting dressed, I swung even more extreme and switched to this long-sleeved, long-tailed, inky cape of a sweater.

I liked the gothic vibes I was putting out, but I still needed a little color, so I accessorized with a ruby bracelet and a silver rose necklace. They don't match each other, but they both match the boots, so I hope they tie everything together.

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.

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!

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!

I can be a rainbow

Usually the first day of a new dye job, I wear an outfit specifically to highlight my hair. But, the outfit I planned for my first day with this green-yellow gradient was such a disaster that I scuttled home in shame and spent the next few days hiding behind dark neutrals. We all love a good disaster story, so naturally I'll tell you how it went down: I wore a yellow T-shirt to match the bottom half of my hair and an aqua cardigan to complement the top. I wore pink shoes to make it a real explosion of spring colors. Then I forgot the cardigan at home, and had to spend the whole day skulking around in my biking hoodie, which now has had the patches removed and is nothing more than a grungy brown jacket with some white flecks near the top. I felt hideous.

After a few days to regroup (and let the intensity of the hair color settle a bit), I was ready to try again. This time I decided to continue the gradient of my hair down the entire length of my body. Green hair fades to yellow, which transitions to some gold-hued earrings, which just brush the collar of my orange shirt, which tops my red pants, all worn over some maroon shoes. I could have gone with brighter purple shoes, but I already felt like a striped flag, so I decided to tone it down. This way, if you ignore the color of my hair, my clothing choices look like nothing more than one of those tonal color schemes I love so much—and not a silly, overly thought-out rainbow.

But just between you and me, this outfit really is a silly overly thought-out rainbow, and it needs to be complete! The one color that was missing from the look is blue, so I integrated that into my ensemble in a subtle way...and coincidentally, effected the return of an accessory I don't think I've worn in the last 18 years: my high school class ring!

There's just one more topic of discussion regarding this outfit, and that's the pants. These pants are (finally!) the last of all the red things I had queued up to wear. I got them at Swap.com, and I had hoped for a crimson pair to replace my ever-fading red jeans. These were more of a brick red – and an undesired velvet texture to boot! – but I kept them because I'd paid so little for them. (So you see how red pants keep piling up in my collection!)

They were also really unflattering in a baggy, shapeless way. I made a few attempts at slimming them down, but it didn't result in improvement, so in the end I just hemmed them to achieve a more contemporary above-the-ankle fit and called it a day. Lately it seems like shapeless trousers are a fairly fashionable option, but I don't feel like I pull it off, so I doubt these pants will stay part of my wardrobe for long.