Getting back in the Groove

 I know I haven't done an OTD in a while.  My excuse is that I am totally done with Winter clothes but here in the Midwest that damn groundhog cursed us with an extra long snap of cold.  I have been surviving although begrudgingly.  Layering is my best weapon to stay fashionable in these random rain, hail, snow, sun conditions.  My hair has also lengthened quite a bit over this winter, you also may have noticed there are no fun colors in my hair lately.  The lack of color is due to a promise I made my best friend, that I will have "normal" colored hair for her wedding as her Maid of Honor.  Let me tell you that is a lot of love right there.  I'm not even sure I would do that for anyone else in this world. 

 

I am wearing

Mossimo Grey Striped Shirt - Target $15 on sale

Black tulle dress (re-draped by moi) - $15 on sale

ReRock Skinn Jeans - Express $25 with 50% coupon

Betsey Johnson Tartan Heels - DSW $79.99

Curiouser & Curiouser Necklace - Untamed Menegarie on Etsy

Random Swarovski Crystal earrings - made by me

 

I found it sort of amusing that the most expensive thing I am wearing are my shoes which would cover the least amount of my body aside from the accessories.  The dress I am wearing is normally just a straight A-lined skirt.  It had these ties to cinch the back which I found kind of pointless since it is an entirely elastic smocked back.  I use those ties and hiked up bunches of the tulle into a nicely draped bundle and set them in place with a bow.  Amazing how a little pinching and propping can change the look of an entire garment.  I took the cue from some of Style Rookie's own personal wardrobe outfits.  Amazing what these young kids can still teach and remind us in fashion.

Pretty Windows

The only big thing I envy about people living in NYC are the endless possiblities of different kinds of apartments and being up high with gorgeous large windows to let the light in.  I wish I had someplace with a gorgeous gran window for hanging up clothes for the next day leaving lovely silhouettes and shadows across a wooden floor.

Photo from Song of Style

I remember when I was in High School I saw a TV show that showed amazing apartments in NYC and one of them was Betsey Johnson's and I went gaga over it!  I promptly went out and bought rolls and rolls of holiday sparky wired ribbon in blues, greens, and golds and draped them across the ceiling in my room to give me that same decadent feeling.  But if you were taller then 5'6" you had to beware coming into my room or else you would be bumping into baubles of glass ornaments, and ribbon hanging down. I know I have a picture of it somewhere.  It was quite excessive for a High Schooler's room in the mid 90's and when the internet was not such a vast see of information and google. 

Photo is a scan from Gala Darling

Even now as an Adult I see myself picking up lacy slips that I will never wear myself but I just want to hang in front of somg window or use them strung together as a curtain.  Unfortunately my studio is in the basement with tiny Windows and I need all the light I can get, also boy demands that he not live in a princess palace of frilly lace and pastels.  Not that I am really the pastel and frilly type, more the deconstructed creams and greys with shots of bold blues and greens.

Speaking of my Dark Dank Studio here are the most recent pictures of the Hurricane of a dungeon that I sew in.  If you are surprised by this, I'm sorry but it is what it is and reality is often times not very pretty.

This is actually my new little drawing/painting station I set up in a separate section.

Here is a view of some shoes in their boxes stored to the right

 Clothes rack filled with my designs and patterns and garment bags in the middle

On the left is stuffed with fabrics and projects I need to deconstruct

This is my pattern table Covered in pieces of projects the need to be started/finished and patterns in use hanging from various pipes. 

I told you it was a Dark Hurricane Dungeon of a Studio

Lastly my row of Sewing machines.  Well...... Serger, Sewing Machine and Embroidery Machine.

Also stuffed underneath and behind piles of trims, thread racks and my collection of Gingher Scissors.

You might wonder how I can find anything but that table top is glass so I can see everything underneath and grab at it as needed.