I Do Not Believe This

Seriously. I don't. Blogger bit the big one yesterday, apparently. I had this post, complete with PHOTOGRAPHS, and it said it saved it several times during the process of writing it. And then Blogger stopped working and kept giving with the "so, so sorry" message, and so I figured, well, hey: I'd pick up where I left off with the draft today, add the rest of the photos, and publish."

Silly, silly me. Blogger ate it all. Every bit of it. The text, the photos, everything. I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how grouchy this makes me.

Sigh. (Yes, I just heaved a giant sigh.)
OK. Let me see how much of this I feel like re-creating.

It was about the re-making of the thrifted jacket. I bought a Flax linen jacket from Goodwill. It was a hideous grey-green--I didn't take photos of it before I dyed it, but this is what it looked like after:

 No, this photo is after dyeing, too--it was even uglier than THIS. Whoa.

I liked the back detail and kept it. Also the soft pockets in the front. Everything else had to go.

Here's a more accurate color:

It was truly hideous, and it came with (I'm sorry I have to say this to you) elastic-waisted slacks. Oh. My. God. It was a postively geriatric pant suit.

So first I dyed it, and then I cut off (not ripped out, but just cut off) the collar and sleeves:

Opened up the side seams:

And then I started playing around. I told y'all I bought a bunch of linen blend fabric--much of it Mystery Blend, since it didn't say what was blended with the linen and the women at the fabric store had no clue. I did a burn test and decided it must be cotton. I bought all they had of several colors--it was $1.98 a yard, and it was colors I knew I could dye.

The inspiration for all of this began with Bryn Walker stuff at Dillard's. Go here to see the line--the flash player won't let me save the photos to upload here. I also did that thing everyone else has been doing for years but which never occurred to me until Zom did it, wherein you take the clothes and your cell into the dressing room and try stuff on and take photos of it. See?

Now, the problem is that while I love this stuff, I don't like it. I don't like the color (white, pastel pink, taupe-ish). I don't like the shape (too boxy, and what's up with those big things on the hips?). I don't like the ruffles on the sleeves. I don't like the price (every single piece I've seen is $98, like it comes from the "Everything's $98!" store).

In fact, I wasn't really sure what I *do* like. I think it's the layering possibilties, the drape-iness, the asymetricality. The possibilities.

So I started playing around. This is what it looked like after I did a phone conference and came back to the studio:

Notice she's only pretending to be asleep.

I moved her, and she pouted the rest of the afternoon. Because she's such a good kitten, she hardly ever gets told not to do something, so being picked up and moved was a new experience for her. (Usually when she gets picked up--when we can slow her down long enough to hold her--she gets petted and cooed at. Gah.)

OK. So then I didn't take any more photos because it was a mess and I was jazzed and I didn't want to leave the right-brain mode to do the left-brain taking-of-photos. So now you just get to see the finished piece. Well, almost finished--I made a big fabric rose last night--I may add snaps so I can switch it out with other embellishments. Or not. I don't know. I'd like to add some more pockets, including a dedicated iPhone pocket. But for right now, this is it. I'm making another one today--another base garment, lighter-weight linen, but much the same style, as I wore this to Starbucks last night and LOVE it so much, I want dozens in every color and every weight of linen. Also silk. Silk: now THERE'S something I'm afraid to tackle.

Here you go. (I'm sitting here thinking, "Geez, I hope Zom doesn't yell at me for not taking more process shots. Yikes!")

 To get this effect on the sides, I discovered (I go to Dillard's, our only option here, and check out how stuff is made) you sew a square into the side seams. The size of the square determines the length of the point.

 The gathered part in front is shortest in the middle and then tapers to meet the length of the inset sideseam square.

 In the back, it tapes to a point in the middle. It's kind of long, but the tip of the point can be knotted, which is also cool (we tried it--as long as you don't sit on the big hulkin' knot, you're fine).

I can think of lots of ways to change things a little, which of course will happen as I make more, since of course I didn't have a pattern or take any notes while I was making this. It's a giant pain in the butt because all the seams are finished on the inside--double-folded and stitched. Looks lovely, won't ravel, made me gnash my teeth.

Back to the studio--when I reallyreallyreally want to get something done in a day, I'll tell The EGE, as he's walking out the door, that I'm going to have something finished by the time he gets home. He couldn't care less what I do all day long, but saying it out loud means I'll actually work on it, rather than sitting here in front of the monitor all day long.

Thanks for coming by! XO