two kitties/small city

Simple Messy Hair Updo Bun You Can Do By Yourself.

I found this via Pinterest, and tried it this morning. I'm always looking to upgrade my 'do on the days I don't want to wash my hair before I go running. Weirdly, it worked for me. I didn't curl my hair first (I have plenty of natural wave) and I forgot to put hairspray in first. I did not manage to roll the second part the way she did. Still? It looks pretty cute. Try it!

Modest is Hottest: Memorial Day Sales, cont'd.

This is a photo from my trip to Seattle.

So, I did go out and do a little shopping. Having sorted down to a deeper layer of my closet (and then listing some things for sale )

Shopping for summer - I dread it. In summer I am not allowed the protective layers of fall and winter. In winter it is possible and perfectly appropriate to wrap yourself in cashmere over silk with bits of fur and a sweeping wool overcoat or...or...and it's not that you're hiding, it's just that it drapes and it feels delicious. It feels safe.

A decade past, I walked into my office at the Urban Institute and my colleague dropped her papers and asked, "Heidi, how many winter coats do you have?" I'm not sure what I said. I was under the gun. Easily thirty. That was post-Scotland, pre-Florida so my number may have been even higher than whatever I said. She replied, "You see, I have one winter coat and I wear it every day. With everything."

I'm proud to tell you I've just sold my vintage 1950s hot-pink velvet swing coat to that same woman via etsy.

Summer? Summer is all about drape. At least on my body. But the fabrics have hidden threats. I walk the aisles chanting my summer mantra, "Lovely and cool; Look at her - she looks lovely and cool; Lovely and cool." A reminder to myself not to buy anything that isn't cool - no polyester; nothing lined with polyester - feels like you're wearing a dolphin costume when you ride the DC Metro. I don't ride the Metro anymore but I won't forget that feeling. I get Seasonal Affective Disorder in the summer.

Can't be linen - it's cool but I always feel sloppy in it. Can't be light blue or light grey - shows sweat - and then it can't be white, usually, because white is usually too sheer for the big girl bras I'm sporting. The Fantasie Molded Balcony Bra 4520 puts a little distance between them and you. Seems weird to add 1/4" of foam but I can't explain it. Absolutely necessary at my age or you'll know too much.

 And though I saw a beautiful white linen skirt with a linen/lurex/cotton tank sweater, I knew it couldn't be a cotton sweater. I hate cotton sweaters. They lose their shape. They always lose their shape. Summer still has to drape. Because of my body. Skirts yes, pleated skirts, no.

It has to have a deep v-neck so my wall of breastus won't look like two pigs fighting under a blanket. All those cute racer back tank dresses are out. They don't make bras for girls like me in a racer back. They tell you that they do but they don't. A flat-chested sales woman suggested wearing a cami underneath to cover the old school bra straps. No. I won't wear a cami under anything because the whole point was to be lovely and cool. Not fat and hot. Also? I hate the word 'cami.'

I am at my best in a dark silk crepe de chine.Where can I find that? I know where.

But I need things to just kick around in. The house is old and hard to cool.  Shorts. Maybe even a t-shirt. A casual skirt or dress.

So I made myself do it. I didn't feel like driving into the city so I went to my local and bought two pairs of these, in black. I first picked up a size 14 but bought size 10. I managed not to be happy about it, that's the way I am.

I wanted to go to Old Navy to buy t-shirts (even though I don't believe in Old Navy) but got lost and wound up at the fabric store.

Sewing clothing is not for the dyslexic. I spent a solid ten minutes trying to find a pattern in the drawer before the sales associate helped me understand I'd transposed the pattern numbers. Not a great beginning. Still, I kept on.

I went for the German patterns -they understand my body.  I'm built to farm. Cows. That means Burda. The designers of Munich understand me. 40" bust with a 32" ribcage? No problem. Germans git'r'done. They actually have a regular-size pattern that fits me as if I was a regular-size woman. You don't understand how hard that is.

I bought three sleeveless dress patterns - on my best day I couldn't sew a dress with sleeves to save my life. I found two fabrics with amazing drape. I wisely decided to sew the first dress in a cheap cotton I had in my stash - what happened to the fifteen yards of linen I thought I had?! - so far, it looks like a really amazing cotton trash bag. With a belt. I forgot about the belt. The dress looks like a cotton trash bag with a belt.

Upside? It's the first time I've ever done invisible pockets without completely f***ing them up. So maybe there's hope for me. Not a sew-a-sleeved dress kind-of-hope but...? And the fabric makes a big difference - the cotton I chose for the bin bag dress just has too much body. Fair enough.I'll try again tomorrow with something softer.The whole point of the cotton was just to see and learn. And I learned. In my Ann Taylor Loft shorts, I learned.

All the same, I ordered this not long ago and it should arrive tomorrow. Just in time.

Michael Kors' Green Garden Shrub Skirt: How to Make Your Own Ruffled Skirt

Michael Kors dresses you like a bush for just $7,995. Swear to G-d.

Needless Markup won't let me steal/use the large size photo - sorry. Here's the straight version; from the Spring 2011 runway. Sadly - not as bushy.

The skirt was on Neiman Marcus' Midday Dash sale today. Guess the store had a few left over.To me, this kind of couture is the sign of a designer who won't accept any honest feedback.

And not to be a bitch, but I feel like Michael Kors should just have a pneumatic tube installed that sucks the apparel right from the studio straight to TJ Maxx.

Ok. I'm a bitch when it comes to Michael Kors. And Cynthia Rowley.

The taupe version of the skirt is more interesting and the lighter fabric probably has a lot of movement. That movement with the slight sheen of the silk is probably pretty cool. It reminds me a little of the McQueen Oyster dress. It reminds me *alot* of the gills of a mushroom.

 

I can tell you how to make it. You need a universal ruffle foot attachment. I bought one at Sears for about $20 - fits most machines.

You need a deckle edge blade for your rotary cutter. Michael Kors probably cut his with a laser cutter.

If you're smart, you'll probably make all this up in muslin, first. But I never do that. Which is why I get frustrated and hardly ever sew clothing.

So - with that caveat in mind - you need a whole bunch of taffeta or silk cut into long strips. If you want them stretchy, you might try cutting the strips on the bias. Check out Bias 101.

Yeah, you might get fray, but the deckle edge on the rotary cutter will help that, just like pinking shears greatly reduce the fray of a raw edge. But if you're going to make and wear a skirt that looks like a bush, why do you care?

Kors' "shrub" skirt is taffeta and that gives the ruffles a little more body - makes them thicker; fluffier, poofier. The taupe skirt is probably a lightweight silk and it looks like multiple strips were sewn on top of one another to give it that feathery look.

Find a skirt pattern that works for you - this will be a base layer - either A-line or straight. Make it up in the same fabric you've chosen for the ruffles. Ruffle the strips. Sew the ruffled strips on top using a straight stitch.

Ta-da! You're wearing a bush.

But seriously, the ruffle foot/fabric strips can make lots of things more interesting. Bedding, for example.

 

 

Rei Kawakubo for Commes des Garcons