Picture book Monday, redemption

 My picture book for Monday.

Patti is in New York so Visible Monday is all in my head. And in a cage of wood and wire.

Details: Marni sundress, thrifted; teal tights, sample sale; wood/leather platform sandals, Michael Kors, thrifted; graphic turtleneck, thrifted; magic pendant and magic loupe, made for me by O; wool shawl, retail long ago. 

I hope you are all having a Monday that makes you feel visible too.

Just as a reminder, only four days until the VOGOFF submission deadline...

I'm not a seamstress, I'm a sewer

I like to say I'm a sewer rather than a seamstress because the latter title implies the sewing of seams, which I do rather irregularly timewise and faculty-wise. By the way, the word is pronounced "sower" not "su'er," although some of my work does exude the overwhelming air of effluence.

As an example of my extreme slackness with needle and thread may I direct you to the following photo?

I was enamoured with this man's shirt with baby-blue embroidery down the front, which I found at a wonderful thrift shop called F as in Frank on Main Street. Its neck, among all the other parts, was too large so I fixed it like so, sew, sewer...

I did in fact replace all the nicotine-coloured buttons on the shirt with lovely pale blue ones, except for the button which I sewed directly onto the collar in my extreme slackness. Actually, I rather love the end result more than if I had gone the complex route of a professional fix. The neck fits now and I like that delicious pop of nicotine madness mixed in with the lovely pale blues and white. The collar surprisingly does not pucker much with this method. Another reason I like this shirt is that it requires cuff links. Dreamy. They are slightly visible in the photo.

At least I did not use a Button Magic studder on this project, if you know those. I wonder if any of you have had the pleasure of trying one? Do speak out. There is no shame here.

Details of the outfit

• men's oversized shirt, thrifted, F as in Frank
• high-waisted jeans by Grey Ant, new a couple of years ago at Two of a Few
• platform Michael Kors shoes, thrifted, Value Village
• soft brown leather belt, thrifted, Value Village

I hope you're all having a great week. What day is it again?

PS. Below a clip for Button Magic but this seems to be a newer version than I remember when I was a kid. The one when I was young seemed much easier-looking than this!!

Happy maxi skirt with attitude

Hello, everyone! I'm on my way to Visible Monday at Patti's place, Not Dead Yet Style. It's a new week, full of possibilities... I'm ready. Nothing like a zesty lemon maxi skirt to sproing me up. I bought it at - gulp - Joe Fresh...new. (I hang my head in shame.) This skirt very boldly screamed at me as I gawped at it in the window about a month ago. I didn't flinch though - I knew the price would drop. And drop it did. I waltzed in and rescued it late last week for half price. I don't think the store had sold even one; every size was still on the rack. So sad but not surprising. (Where do unwanted skirts go?)

Here it is, the look that says, Don't get in my way or I'll flatten you in my happy skirt. O calls it The Willow Monster with Two Shadows. In fact, I can imagine silently levitating down the sidewalk in this upright position, frighteningly calm and zesty, very Japanime.

This is the best spinnaker sail in my closet! Today was breezy and I just couldn't resist gently holding out the folds to catch the wind. Whenever I'd stop at a walk signal, it would take seconds for the billowing fabric behind me to catch up. I wore the turtleneck to protect my neck from the sun but the fabric is light and breathes. And there was plenty of air-conditioning down below...

Details of the outfit:

• yellow maxi skirt (with pockets!), Joe Fresh, new, $30
• fuchsia silk top and teal silk top, hand-me-overs
• turtleneck, thrifted
• Michael Kors platform sandals, thrifted, Value Village
• sunglasses, new about 15 years ago, Sunglasses Hut?

I also had a kick in my walk because I was feeling energized and to prevent falling flat on my face by tripping over that hem. Did I also say this the longest maxi I own? Tip: People are friendly to women in lemon skirts.

Other News

I took down my art pieces tonight; the Baron Gallery exhibit closed yesterday. What a ride that was!! The people who attended my action painting workshop will be exhibiting their works for a week and the opening is Sunday, July 22, 2-4 p.m. Free refreshments. I'll definitely be there. Everyone is so incredibly talented, I wouldn't miss it. Thanks for your support during this exhibition!! I really appreciated it. 

Outfit that grows up and up

After much deliberation, this is my outfit of choice for Patti's Visible Monday. This past week I have been enjoying wearing each and every one of my outfits so much that I have avoided taking photographs of them or translating the experience into words for fear of dulling the lingering electric edges, if that makes sense. What you see here was one of the most tame of the lot, but what I loved about it was it made me feel positively Brobdingnagian (great word! the giant people from Gulliver's Travels) or, simply, like a very, very tall tree. My trunk was in fact made of wood: Michael Kors thrifted wood platform sandals with leather uppers. The vertical stripes on both layers seemed to roll right past my head and up into the sky.

I thrifted both pieces in one go from the Wildlife Thrift Store, but I never realized at the time that I would be wearing them together. It wasn't until I had done a little closet jamming (layering clothes randomly from hanger to hanger in my closet - you should try it!), that I realized they were exactly the combo I was looking for. 

Details of the outfit

• orange sleeveless maxi, thrifted, Wildlife Thrift Store, $15?
• blue tunic, thrifted, Wildlife Thrift Store, $12?
• Michael Kors sandals, thrifted, $10, Value Village (not D&G as mentioned in an earlier post)
• long string of beads, too old to remember...
• white nylon maxi slip, came with wedding-type dress, Wildlife Thrift Store

In Other News

I finished reading a very, very long book, and while I feel enlightened by the content, I must confess to feeling relieved to be done with it, so I was happy to receive this short poem emailed to me by a friend based on Shakespeare's King Lear, which is my favourite of the Bard's tragedies. 

In case you don't know the story, a silly man, King Lear, asks his three daughters how much they love him. Two of them sickeningly exaggerate their love and the third says plainly how she loves him the way she has always loved him, no more, no less. The king then splits his kingdom between his two false daughters who promptly banish him to the wilds, only to be rescued by his true loving daughter, Cordelia. But what of Lear's wife? Poet W. S. Merwin asks the question in this great poem, "Lear's Wife." 

Have a great week, everyone! See you over at Patti's place.

Blood-thirsty boucle jacket

Pink! Summer pink. I like wearing summer clothes in winter with tights and layering so much that all my clothes are jammed together in the closet now, whereas they used to be segregated by season. This is my outfit for today, which I am showing on Patti's wonderful Visible Monday!

I'm still having trouble figuring out my camera settings indoors, and since my clothes long to breathe outside, I must scout an open air location for self portraits. 

I spotted the boucle jacket at a thrift sale a couple of summers ago. I was on my way home from a long road biking ride (which involved doughnuts) and decided to swing into a groovy neighbourhood on my way back into the city. There is was, shining in its pink goodness, for five bucks, but I had to wear it home on a hot, hot, hot day, dripping with sweat. Hm. Note the BEFORE shoes above. Note the AFTER shoes below.

Hence, the big bag. And I always have a red nose in my photos because I take them when I get home from my inspiration walks. The Michael Kors jeans were passed along by a friend. And that jacket - it had all kinds of fringy bits on it, so I ripped them off one night, and tore out the shoulder pads. The process inspired the cartoon below.

Happy Visible Monday. Thanks, Patti.