Salmon again

 

Lately, my favorite thing to shop for is festive shorts. Since last summer, I've collected 5 pairs of new shorts in varying styles of ornamentation (this influx of discounted decorative shorts must mean that they were popular 3 or 4 seasons ago, but apparently I didn't catch that trend), from frilly lace ones to ones with stars to neon embroidered ones (wait til I get a chance to show you those!) to these white ones with a bold floral print.

There are so many colors on these shorts, I could wear them with a multitude of tops, but I decided, as always, that the best top was a new top.

This spring, I made a concerted effort to fill out my wardrobe with solid-colored tops in every color. Originally the goal was just to get some T-shirts, but then summer happened and I realized that tank tops were a necessary addition to this endeavor. I almost met my goal in one single thrift store run, during which I acquired sleeveless tops in teal, purple, and even the elusive orange! Of course, no one was surprised when I got home and found that the orange top had a bit of a salmon hue to it. Orange has always been the red-headed stepchild of my closet, and part of the reason for that may be that whenever I try to buy something orange, it often actually isn't—and vice versa.

In any case, despite being slightly more pinkish than I'd expected, this shirt still worked with the florals in my aforementioned shorts.

What didn't work was the fit. This shirt was ruched. I once mentioned, long ago, that while they say ruching can produce a flattering and slimming effect, that only works if the ruched item fits very tightly. If it does not, the ruching just serves to add bulk. In this case, I found that all the ripples in the shirt were piling up around my waist, making me look a bit chunky up top.

A few minutes before I was going to wear this outfit out the door, I decided to take my chances on an alteration, adding a couple of seams to the back of the shirt to reduce some of the volume. 

 

 

Fortunately my last-minute gamble paid off. The seams ended up fairly smooth and evenly placed (on the first try!) and did a bit to improve the fit. The change wasn't as drastic as I would have preferred (the casual observer might not even notice the difference!) but it was just enough to make me feel better about my overall look.

 

I know the blurry mirror-selfie isn't the best basis for comparison, but
I think we can all agree I look thinner in the picture on the right (after I altered it).

 

To finish off the outfit, I wore lace-up brown sandals and orange lips that perfectly matched my shirt!