Accepting Autumn, featuring a refashion

So, this is what I wore on Monday of last week (yeah, I don't think I will ever be one of those bloggers who manage to photograph and post on the same day), when I was starting to accept the fact that it was getting to be time for scarves, coats, gloves, legwarmers, boots, etcera. And boy was this a good thing, because toward the end of last week and over the weekend, it got frickin' ridiculously cold for October in Philly. Then it went and got up to 70 degrees today. I'm SO CONFUSED.


But the main reason I photographed this is that I'd like to feature more of the things I refashion or make, and this dress/tunic (the store marketed it as a "dress," but with my legs being so long and with the bottom layer being sheer, they've got to be kidding) is refashioned.


This was its first outing. When I bought it, I knew it was a completely insensible purchase. I failed to get a "before" photo, but here are some "in progress" photos. Try to picture as it was originally, four tiers with no waist or midriff definition, making me look like a dumpy, frumpy box. Take my word for it, it was unflattering.



Elastic to the rescue! It turned the top tier into a fitted bodice rather than a frumpy tier, then I trimmed the fabric that stuck out below it after it was stitched in place. The bow you see above was part of one long strip of fabric that served as the shoulder straps and gathered the neckline. I cut the bow, closed-up the center front slit invisibly, secured the shoulder straps in place, and used the bow fabric to make a belt to cover the ugly elastic.


It's secured at three spots across the back, then hooks and bars under the goofy flower. Since it's not stretchy fabric, I couldn't just stitch it in place over the elastic all around, as I wouldn't be able to put it on then.


I had intended it as an addition to my summer wardrobe, but I guess it's going to have to celebrate its infancy as a layered piece over the winter.

International Wear A Dress A Day Week + Celebrate the Newly-Painted Office Corner Week

Having just completed Jane's Second Annual Capsule Wardrobe Challenge with rather unadventurous results, I jumped right onto the International Wear A Dress A Day Week bandwagon for last week. I also designated it as Celebrate the Newly-Painted Office Corner week, a correlation that becomes obvious in some of these photos. I bet you can't guess what one of my favorite colors is?

Monday:





I purchased this cuff from Etsy artist/crafter TrilbyMade, totally stealing Erin's style. ;-)

Tuesday:


The ladder-matching was totally unplanned, I swear.





Wednesday:





Thursday:





Friday:






I LOVED Wear A Dress A Day Week, can't you tell?

But in truth, the outfit I have worn the most over the past few weeks looks a bit more like this, the painting/cleaning grubbies I keep at work:


The costume build for the next show is unusually small so far, so my students and I have been tackling some costume shop improvement projects that I've had on my wishlist for years. We finished painting the laundry/dye room this week, and I decided I really should clean and repair the laundry vent before we put everything back. This was perhaps the grossest project I have ever tackled in my five-plus years at this job. Should you ever decide to clean out your dryer ventilation pipe... you've been warned!

I'd consider doing a "Celebrate the Newly-Painted Laundry/Dye Room" week, but I don't own very much lime green.

Jane's Capsule Wardrobe Challenge

I'd been thoroughly looking forward to Jane's Capsule Wardrobe Challenge from the moment it was announced. Then life got in the way, and I practically forgot about it until I saw Jane's post of her Day 1 outfit last Monday, when I had already gone to work fully-dressed in one of my stand-by outfits. Fortunately, my stand-buy outfit included lots of basic pieces that go well with many other pieces. Unfortunately, most of those basic pieces were black, meaning that this capsule wardrobe was not likely to be very adventurous...

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[This is the only purse I use on a daily basis. I never show it in pictures, but it goes everywhere with me, like a watch or a wedding ring, along with a black leather tote bag so purely functional that I didn't think it should count as one of my five accessories. I only own one other purse, a black satin one for formal occasions. Crazy, huh?]

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I finished planning my outfits for the week during the bus ride home on Monday, since it was going to be a late night.


I decided I'd let the black jacket serve as my one piece of permitted outerwear, something I regretted when it got really cold around mid-week. I barely took it off for the rest of the week. To these five accessories, one piece of outerwear, and three wardrobe pieces, I added seven more wardrobe pieces:

[boring-but-essential basic black cotton leggings]

And now, the not-very-adventurous results...

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

I wore this skirt as a dress once before, but on that occasion, I simply safety-pinned elastic in place as temporary shoulder-straps because I knew I'd never be taking off the cardigan I was wearing over them (girfriend seriously does not handle strapless dresses well; just take my word for it). This capsule challenge motivated me to again attempt to wear this skirt as a dress, but wishing for a more lasting solution, I refashioned it by assembling straps out of old trim and ribbon.

I permently stitched the straps in place at the back neckline/waistline, and installed hooks at the front neckline/waistline. So it can now be easily converted from a skirt into a dress-with-shoulder-straps within seconds.

Why I've been MIA, and where this blog might go from here:

So, I ended up taking a significant break from blogging. Not just from this blog, but even from my family/friends blog. It just sort-of happened.

In truth, I only took a break from blog-writing, not from blog-commenting, because it's really easy to read and comment on blogs from my iphone on the bus to/from work. But I have been trying VERY hard to cut back on the blog-commenting, and on the number of blogs I frequent... because this blog-reading thing can seriously take over your life, dudes. Struggler and Sallymandy have already expostulated brilliantly on any points I would like to make on the subject, so that's all I'm going to say about that.

I had this huge post prepared in my mind, in which I was going to explain all the events and circumstances leading up to my blogging hiatus, the things that I did during my blogging hiatus, and the stuff I needed to accomplish before I could get back to blogging, but blah, blah, blah... boring. The reasons were numerous (mostly having to do with excessive amounts of work), but no one reason was dramatic enough to be worth delving into. Dang, I hate it when I end a sentence with a preposition, don't you?

The biggest realization to came out of this hiatus is that I didn't really miss posting to Circle of Clothes. I missed posting to my family/friends blog, Tequilatrek (which totally sounds like it's geared toward family and friends, right?), but didn't miss posting to this one. I'm think that's a sure sign that it's time for a change.

So, here are some resolutions/conclusions/reminders that I got out of this realization:

• Circle of Clothes is not, nor has it ever really been, a "daily outfit" blog. Ladies such as these (each word links to a different blog... yeah, totally lame, I know) already do that, and much better than I ever could. I adore and am devoted to their blogs, but I don't want to post my outfits every day. I'd much rather watch them do it.
• But I still want to share outfits that make me feel fabulous, or outfits that achieve new levels of creativity and/or nuttiness.
• I'm no longer going to bother listing where each article in a posted outfit comes from. I started doing that because it seems to be de rigeur for fashion/clothing blogs. But whatever, I don't usually care where stuff comes from, and it's a timesuck. So if you want to know where something I'm wearing came from, just ask.
• I find joy in making clothing and other textile-based articles for myself and others, as well as refashioning old clothing into items new-to-me. I possess mad sewing/patternmaking/designing skills, not just because of what I do for a living, but mainly because, for as long as I can remember, bringing forth new creations with my hands and mind has been a part of who I am. I enjoyed showcasing such projects during my four months as a member of Wardrobe Refashion. Since I chose not to renew my Wardrobe Refashion membership for now, I'm instead going to share posts of that nature here.
• I LOVE fashion/clothing blog challenges, so I'll still be using this space to participate in those. I'd also like to dream up a challenge of my own. That's something I've been thinking about for months now.
• I named this blog "Circle of Clothes" because I love being part of a global community (mostly women) united by a common interest in the art of daily dress. I'd like to find a way to return to that theme. Suggestions are welcome.
• As I originally intended when I started this blog, and as stated in the blurb at the top of this page, I'm going to "share whatever else I feel like sharing." Neener-neener.

So tomorrow, I'll share what I wore this past week for Jane's Capsule Wardrobe Challenge. She graciously extended the deadline for posting, which is great, because it allowed me to put this lengthy self-indulgent message up first. Nothing I came up with for the challenge was even remotely groundbreaking, but it feels like the perfect way to resume my participation in this creative and supportive online community. Plus, I'll get to share a bit of refashioning I did for it.

But for now, I'll leave you with some not-even-remotely-fashionable photo highlights of some happier moments from the past few months.

Sorry about the crotch shot.

You can still see us, right?

Dork-tastic! Sporting my signature superhero pose, I'm wearing the beer-cooling contraption I made for this contest.

That's me in the leopard-print with the American flag, participating in this awesome awareness-raising event.

Hey, there's the other half of that leopard-print. Hours before our departure from Jamaica, you can see how un-tanned we managed to get. No skin cancer here, folks! Maybe my husband's blue hair helped to keep it at bay...