The Not-Yet-Fabulous Dozen

I can't even begin to tell y'all how much fun I have at Deja Vu in San Angelo. I stay for hours, trying on everything from stuff I love immediately to stuff I know I won't love but that intrigues me because I want to figure out how it's made and how it fits, and stuff that could possibly work with some tweaking and stuff that's so screwed up that only a major overhaul can save it. The women who work there are dolls, including Lana, the owner. Most of her customers are nice folks, too, although I ran into one this part trip who was a total hoot, but not in a good way. You know those women who are completely sure they're the center of the universe, but they were kind of raised in a barn, so they're both loud and obnoxious in their self-centered drama? Yeah, one of those. I stood in my dressing room eavesdropping and giggling to myself. Her poor friend was being led astray in many, many ways, and I wanted to go out and pull her aside and say, "She's lying to you, and you were right: it *does* make you look slutty. Put it back and just walk away."

It's why I shop by myself. I take a long, long time. I try everything on once and then weed it down and try the possibles on again, and then weed again and then try on again. By that time, The EGE has returned from photographing stuff, and he sits on the couch and plays Stupid Zombies or Temple Run, and I try everything on and show him. He makes suggestions as only he can: he knows the kinds of things I do to stuff, and he'll say, "That could be tie-dyed" or "You could cut that off and add one of those bands at the bottom." If he kind of grimaces and says, "Well, you could dye it, and then you could take off the collar and the sleeves and make it shorter, and then you could take off those fluffy things on the front and add something to the back, and maybe cover it with some t-shirt things and then put on different buttons, and then. . . ." then I know it's probably every bit as ugly as I first thought and is going to be more trouble than it's worth to keep it from staying a total disaster.

I have taken a TON of my clothes (not ones I've altered; just clothes I've bought) and shoes and bags (some really nice bags I thought I loved but never used) to Lana. She buys them and resells them, and this works great for me. Then she does some of my altered stuff on consignment--I've shown y'all the stuff she has there. So on Saturday I shopped for hours and found all this great stuff, most of it new-with-tags, and got probably $800 or more worth of clothes I love, all for: nothing. Nada. In fact, after we settled up, I made a little money. That's what I mean by "taken a ton of clothes." She probably cringes now when she sees me coming, bringing her more stuff. At least it's not Out-of-Date Old Lady Clothes, so it could be worse. Of course, if it were, she'd turn me away and I'd have to take them all to some church rummage sale where everything smelt of moth balls and Lily of The Valley.

So here's what I brought home, in the order blogger decided to upload the photos, which is a total mystery to me and Wayne Newton.

There's a lot of black--it's the season for black linen, apparently. This first is Cynthia Ashby:

It's several kinds of linen. I love that it's asymmetrical, although having the sleeves different lengths is weird (I have several pieces of CA with the same odd sleeves)

The neck will have to go: it's hideous and looks terrible on, and it doesn't go with the rest of the tunic and bunches up and is just WRONG. But I can fix that~~

 Then there's this lightweight linen jumper. It's a small, and it's tight, but I love the shape and drape. It just now came out of a chartreuse dye-bath to pump up the green, so it's a little greener than it is in this photo. I'm not familiar with this brand. Grizas, I think.

 Then the only piece, below, she had of my new favorite brand, Completo Lino. I LOVE this stuff--heavy, very drapey. It's the brand of the gray piece I used for O, My Heart 2. These buttons aren't doing it for me, never mind that they're mother-of-pearl-ish ones that have been dyed, which is cool.  They just look clownish. That's OK--I scored a ton of buttons on clearance at Hobby Lobby and think I have some that will be perfect once I decide what else I'm going to do with this.

 Then there's this linen skirt. I'm not sure I can salvage it: the waist is funky. But I love the shape at the bottom, plus that cool hemline pocket. I think I can do something with it without having to re-make the waist. I hate Real Alterations and try to avoid anything more than shortening or taking off sleeves.

 This one is NoBlu

 Then there's this Steel Pony dress that fits into my current obsession with grey. I first tried on Steel Pony--and bought a piece on clearance--on Royal Street in the French Quarter last summer, so I was happy to see more, and at a more affordable price.

The problem with this piece is the doilies and the fact that it's a size small: it has to have something under it, but it's too snug for anything but a thin t-shirt, and I don't like those. So I found one of the t-shirts I cut apart for yardage--you know, the ones arranged by color on the shelf over the sewing machine--that's a dark blue that goes well with this. I'll stitch pieces in place under the doilies and then go from there.

 This is the back. Nice shape, but dorky doily.

Another Cynthia Ashby. I have a piece with this closure design, and my first inclination was to remake it, resetting the buttons so it would lie more traditionally draped. But when I tried on this one, I fell in love with the design. I love the ombre dyeing--from chambray on one side to a sea-blue on the other. I just need to tweak the collar/neckline to get it to lie better. Then maybe some beads--it's kind of thin to hold up for much appliquéing, I think.

 Then there's this disaster I couldn't resist. It looks like someone thought it would be cute to sew the facing on the outside and add a band to the bottom of it, and so they did. I hope they took one look and smacked themselves in the forehead, I really do. What a mess. It's no more flattering on me than it is on Ricë.

 I love the shape and the pocket, though, and I couldn't resist the challenge. I LOVE a challenge like this, imagining what I can do to something to make it Fabulous. On this one, I think I'll start by doing a lot of stitching on the top of the bodice up to the shoulders and then open up the side seams and loosen the facing and cut off that band. I may take the whole thing in on the sides, as well--it depends on how it fits after I fix that side seam where the facing it stitched in.

 Just look at this mess:

Hideously sloppy job on the side seams, too.

I have an idea; I'll just have to see if it works out.

Then there's this Flax top, also a challenge. I don't know what I'll do with it, but it seemed a good warm-weather cover-up, maybe. It may end up going back, since I don't love it at all. Just got it for The Challenge of It.

 Another Flax piece, this one part of a set. Lana let me buy the top and leave the pants, which looked exactly like clown pajama pants and made me sad. I think I'll dye it orange--I've got to dye some yardage and can toss it in.

 Linen Flax top, another challenge: looks like nurse's scrubs; how can I remedy that? We'll see; no ideas yet.

 Same thing--linen Flax top, kind of institutional.

 Love the hidden pocket, though. I like good quality (heavy, soft, drapey) black linen because other colors pop on it. If it's not sticky, i.e., the texture to which everything sticks, from fuzz to lint to cat fur to dust, then it's fabulous with embroidery and/or appliqué. I did a Day of The Dead appliqué on black cotton once and loved it. (It was a Journal Skirt and sold to a new home years ago.)

Another Steel Pony. I forgot to take a photo before I began working on it. Each panel in the front had three strips sewn on, like big, misplaced belt loops. I couldn't bear them and ripped them off (i.e., with a seam ripper, very carefully, not RIPPPP, as in tearing loose) immediately, even before I washed it, which is unusual: usually I wash everything before I even handle it, never mind that I tried it on in the shop. Sometimes there will be someone else's long stray hair on something, and it totally gacks me out.  

 The sleeves don't match--linen with silk inserts. I may or may not cut them off midway.

 There were more of these tacky rosette things that I removed before laundering. After I saw how ugly they are post-laundering, I knew I'd have to remove the rest.

 I like the fittedness of the back, too.

On this one, I'll remove the rest of the rosettes and probably cut off some of the length, to right below the knee, and then add an Alabama Chanin style cotton jersey band at the bottom in either purple or that dark charcoal grey, if I have any.  Then, with that out of the way, I can think about what to do next. As it is, it's an unfortunate length that just looks dumpy.

And that's this weekend's haul. Can you see why it's so exciting? The only piece I would wear as it is is the long blue vest. All the rest need lots of help before I wear them, and that's really exciting to me. Of course, meanwhile I'm still totally obsessed with the Jumprons. I have two sewn up, ready to bind the edges. I have one cut out, ready to stay stitch and then sew up. And I have two lengths of fabric I just dyed--one hot pink, one acid green--that are ready to be cut out. I dye the fabric, cut out the Jumpron, stay stitch all the raw edges, sew it together, cut and fold and iron the cotton jersey binding for the hem and neck and sleeves and pockets, and then I pin it and start stitching. Once all that's done, it's a blank canvas. Sometimes I'll get an idea while I'm doing the tedious work, and sometimes it takes a while--I hang it up and look at it and think about what I might do and what other colors would work with it. Because they're so much fun to wear over jeans, I think it will be a while before I get tired of this particular series, and that's OK. Everything else will still be waiting for me~~