Flyday

 

Friday has thus far been the hardest day of the week to get a clever name for. While all the other days boasted multiple possibilities, there was only one variation on "Fri" that made even a slight amount of sense for my clothing collection: "Fly."

Back in July, when I came up with "Flyday", I had no shortage of aerial creatures in my wardrobe, with huge flocks of bird dresses and bee sandals, so I had infinite possibilities for a flight-themed outfit!

Now that it's winter (in weather, if not in scientific fact), my clothing collection sings a much sadder tune, with not a single winged animal in sight. Sure, there are other things that fly – Superman, kites, airplanes, UFO's, boomerangs, dandelion fluff, clouds, the Fickle Finger of Fate...but I don't have any of those on my clothing either! In order to make today's outfit, I had to dig around in my "Transitional" clothing storage tote until I found something with wings. The first suitable garment I uncovered was my pink butterfly poncho. Not a bad choice, considering I had wanted to blog about it last season but never got the chance.

This poncho was the second of two that I had gotten at the same time and needed to improve upon with a little bit of stitchery. Just like the first one, I cut the neck hole larger and finished it with some lace hem tape. Unlike that one, I decided to make the neck opening perfectly circular instead of oval, which accidentally made it much too big! To fix it, I pinched together two points on its perimeter and sewed them together. The resulting loop of excess fabric can be tucked to the inside, or folded over on the outside and secured with a pin—a convenient way to add another butterfly to an outfit! Sadly, my antique butterfly brooch lost a wing around 11 this morning, turning what had been the focal point of my top into a shabby embarrassment.

I thought this was a misfortune, but it actually enabled me to meet the theme in a more metaphorical way, as it forced me to make some adjustments to my look "on the fly." Since I could no longer close my poncho with a cute butterfly pin, I used a safety pin hidden on the back side. This left more room for butterfly jewelry, so I traded my tiny stud earrings for some huge silver butterfly danglers (I'd brought them to work with me just in case). I always feel happier when wearing statement earrings, so the day was not a total loss.

The theme was "Flyday," not "Butterflyday," so I kind of wanted to include other things that fly instead of just sticking to Lepidoptera. But I played around with some bird jewelry and found that the total effect of so many barely related animals looked more like a "Flying Circus" than any cohesive unit. Even adding too many butterflies launched me into tacky territory, so I limited myself to the aforementioned earrings and just one bracelet. I did make sure to wear pants with a fly, so I guess that counts for something!

A final challenge: while trying on the poncho last night, I quickly realized that it was no match for the dry air of December. It grew more and more staticky with each passing minute. Since I had a whole night before I needed to wear it and was confident it would dry quickly, I soaked it in a bowl of water mixed with hair conditioner, then laid it out to dry on the floor. That did seem to help somewhat with the static, but I still had to spray it liberally with water throughout the day, to keep it from clinging to my clothes. I feel safe to say that, unless you're in a Fashion Challenge, you should save the chiffon for summer!