Rut

I always dress based on my mood.  Lately, it's almost always, I'm exhausted but it's too late to cancel, or, I'm pissed at you but I'm not going for you anyway.  How does that calculate, outfit wise?  Not that great.

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NYFA of Seattle

This past month I took basic sewing classes at New York Fashion Academy in Seattle.  Although I've been sewing by myself for awhile, I wanted to see if I was doing things correctly and get a proper foundation in order to learn more complicated techniques by myself later on.  

NYFA was the only place I could find that offered something other than sew-your-own-pajamas sort of classes.  This is a legitimate fashion school, with graduates going on to start their own lines, constructing for different businesses, etc.  It's not like a major university like FIDM or anything, but it has the essentials, which is still pretty great.

I just really like the space.  There's a constant creative, forward-feeling atmosphere from the students as they master their different levels all in one small space.  Plus, it's located in Ballard, which is a pretty quirky and fun neighborhood and adds to the eccentricity.

Sewing I taught me 20 basic techniques, and showed me a lot of things I was doing wrong.  They had us compile a mini binder to reference later. 

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Random OOTD

Sheath dress - The Limited  /  Military jacket - Rubbish (from Nordstrom) 

Bag - Liz Claiborne  /  Sneakers - Calvin Klein  /  Necklace (seen here)

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The stages of heel pain

1.  Oh, these new heels are pretty comfortable!  I can twirl around in them.  No feet scrunching, gaps, all is good.  I can wear them for the interview day, no problem...

2.  Did my feet get smaller?  Why am I sliding down into the toes?  Why do my heels keep popping out?

3.  Just pretend I'm a ballerina and power through the pain.

4.  My feet are so swollen that the heels fit again.

5.  Take off the shoes, see the ugly results.

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Walking by

Managed to get these two shots during my short trip to Toronto this weekend.  There were a ton of great outfits that I didn't get a chance to capture.  Definitely a place with style.

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Can't afford to stick it to the man

My most immediate confidence boost would come from wearing an edgy, fashion-forward ensemble and styling my hair into Victoria's Secret waves for my interview... but then that would be considered distracting and unprofessional.  Who says doctors can't be expressive with their outfits?  Even then, we're going to have to do a lot of walking around during the tour, and it might be rainy and cold over there.

Inner self vs. outer practicality... not worth the risk at this point.  I guess I'll have to reign in the fashionista this time.

My plan at this point (because I really don't want to wear black slacks...):  

Strict Interview by lea281 

Question : Can you wear tan/brown shoes with black tights?  I can't quite decide.

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Decisions, decisions

"When a woman says 'I have nothing to wear!", what she really means is, 
'There's nothing here for whom I'm supposed to be today.'" 
- Caitlin Moran

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DIY Blazer Upcycle

One local thrift shop has 99 cent clothing Sundays, which is almost as good as free.  I figured it wouldn't hurt if I bought something to experiment on, so I got this oversized blazer.  It was made of nice material and quality construction, but of course the fit was horribly dated.  I'm not sure what brand Paul Stanley is.  I couldn't find anything online except for this old 80's rocker guy from KISS.  Maybe he got into fashion back in the day...?

I wanted something long enough to especially wear with leggings, and was inspired by a lot of "boyfriend blazer" looks such as these:

  

    

  

There was a lot of trial and error.  A LOT of seam ripping and learning as I went.  First while wearing the blazer, I chalked on the sides, shoulders, and arms where I wanted to take them in.  Measured how much I needed to "pinch" in each area, which was about 3 cm all around.  

I took a deep breath, seamripped the inner lining where necessary, and removed the shoulder pads.  I also turned the sleeves inside out and sewed a new seam (on the outer sleeve and the lining) 3cm from the old one, and took 1.5 cm from each seam at the sides (there were two per side).  

After a very frustrating time with trying to fit the shrunken sleeve into the old arm hole (it kept on puckering or poufing, which isn't what I was going for with a menswear blazer), I realized that I would have to shrink the hole at the shoulder seam too, and that it was easier just to simply take the whole sleeve out and realign it, instead of trying to minimize sewing.

(The whole sleeve removed, with lining still attached).

Because the pockets were originally located right at the edges where I took the blazer in, I had to remove the pockets, cut the hole further inward and slide the pockets over.  The blue "right side" that I'm touching was sewn to the bottom flap interfacing side.  The top portion attached to the lining "wrong" side of the pocket would be flipped to the outside of the blazer, and then be sewn to the top flap of the blazer.  That doesn't quite make sense, but you need to plan to keep the pocket open at any rate and you can reason it out that way.

Finally I trimmed and pieced back the lining using a slip stitch (tutorial here).

And viola!  It's a little lopsided (and not very neat on the inside) but when you wear it you can't tell too much.  I'd say a good first attempt!

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