I've finally found it.

"It breaks a man to see what he misses."

I came really close to pinpointing the kind of 90s fashion I wanted to be channeling when I tried black and white florals with combat boots in June, but it wasn't until this outfit that I got a feel for just how frumpy I wanted to look. But, um, yeah. I think I got the frumpy down this time.

Scarf: H&M. Plaid shirt: Field & Stream via Costco. Skirt: cousin's, hand-me-down. Tights: generic. Boots: Steven by Steve Madden.

Minus scarf.

Plus scarf. As a testament to how old these pictures are, as I am writing this, the scarf has been cast off and is awaiting its fringe.

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progress report: cable knit

I attempted to pincurl my hair again, but evidently, it's too long to be really curly rather than wavy now. For which I am thankful but about which I am somewhat vexed. In any event, this is a pretty boring outfit, but there's nothing like feeling like you're floating around in a cloud of your own hair to make you feel cute. I love having straight hair for about the first day and a half after I wash it, when it's swingy and reminds me of rain pouring down in sheets, or when I pull off my hat and my baby hairs are having a tussle around my part, but damn, I wish I could last longer without greasing up so fast. (That's why I curl my hair sometimes. Works like a charm. Like Wingardium Leviosa. Which is a charm. Unlike Lumos, which is a spell.)

Here's a progress report on my cable-knit scarf:

Jacket: gift. Mittens: J. Crew, gift. Jeggings: Forever21. Socks: HotSox. Black and white oxford: Miz Mooz.

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last month's news

Wow, so, uh, this is kind of embarrassing, but the last time I worked on this scarf was August of 2009. I'm making progress, though. You can see how uneven my reversible cables are in this photo, but it's the most color-accurate one I have:

And here's a bow I made for my little cousin's Snow White costume for Halloween. The gathering is a little awkward and my hand-stitching is grotesquely visible, but the overall effect with the rest of her costume was quite good.

Does anyone even eat Almond Joys?

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a short revision

I didn't expect too much from these high-waisted shorts from alloy, considering the fabric on the fabric-covered buttons tore off when I hand-washed them for the first time. But what's a girl to do with an otherwise perfectly good pair of shorts?



Enter my grandmother's stash of buttons. (Everyone's grandma has a stash of buttons, right?)

Five hand stitches later, I had myself a pair of gold-buttoned, high-waisted shorts, looking more nautical than ever. (And more wrinkly than ever, but let's ignore that right now.)

...VICTORY!

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in your lace

Here's my lace shirt with crooked sleeves. I'd actually planned on making a circular shirt (like a circle skirt, but with more seams to make armholes), but I cut the head hole too big and ... this is the result.

Racy. And by "racy," I really mean "lacy" as spoken by a Korean or Japanese ESL speaker since R and L sounds are allophonic in Korean and Japanese RINGUISTICS LEFERENCES FOR THE WIN.

Denim blazer: delia's. Lace top: DIY. Jeans: Levi's. Shoes: Payless.

Seriously, though, am I allowed to wear this to class? I feel kind of inappropriate.

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quaquaquaqua

For reasons unknown (but time will tell), this is my version of dressing down. I think it's the lack of thought that makes this outfit more unremarkable to me than something that looks disastrous:

Beaded cardigan: don't know + DIY. T-shirt: Kohl's + DIY. Skinny jeans: Forever21. Flats: Palladium Freerubber.

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operation: salvage wardrobe

So like every other college student (and every other person right now) I'm trying to cut back on expenses. And by "cut back on expenses," I don't mean "buy more expensive stuff because it lasts longer" or even "clip coupons." I mean 6-month shopping ban #2.

Since my first one was largely successful, I figure this one'll be easy, especially because this year I'm actually looking at how much money I'm spending and draining my family of to pay for food, rent, utilities, tuition, books, and transportation. Clothes don't even fit into that picture.

However, I have a very specific list of exceptions this time, including...

• a serious trench coat (because wet thighs are really uncomfortable, and a good trench should last forever)
• shorts to wear under skirts (because mine are from my uniformed Catholic school days, and they're in tatters)
• washable shorts in winter materials (for rainy days when I don't feel like a skirt)
• a hat that looks good (because my hair looks like death, and because I haven't found a hat that looks good on me yet)

I'm also extending the shopping ban to non-replacement cosmetics because I have been surprisingly spendy lately, and makeup is so perishable.

So no spending money on clothing, accessories, or makeup until July 25, 2010, with the listed exceptions. Oh, am I going to regret this.

Unfortunately, in conjunction with my shopping ban, I decided to ruthlessly clean out my closet, which left me with this:

A large portion of which are pajamas. So I went back to my To Dump pile and am now trying to salvage everything I can, lest my wardrobe become so small I can't go more than a week without doing laundry. The first victims of Operation: Salvage Wardrobe are this small pile of Clothes I Am Not Enthused With:

I'm still trying to think of different ways to style or repurpose them. In the meantime, I'm beading this cardigan:

And I have made these three skirts 8392753 times more wearable and 198735 times less likely to get caught between my legs while I'm walking by adding linings:

Avert your eyes, children! This is RISQUÉ!

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white elephant

This is what I wore to a blogger potluck/white elephant hosted by Katie. In attendance were Christina of profreshstyle, Jennie of Going West, Erin of calivintage, Liz of Late Afternoon, Xtina of candybox, Ami of Song of Style, Brittany of Work It, Berk, and Helen of Chictopia. Liz has some pictures up here (where you can see Erin modeling my atrocious white elephant gift).

I had my two linguistics finals the day before, and my scene due before that, and my term paper before that, sooo the night before the party I was scrambling to find a gift and a vegan cupcake recipe. (Now that I know what goes into these, I don't think I could ever go vegan.)

Above, vegan cupcakes + powdered sugar, artfully sprinkled by my roomie. Theyhad been rolling around in their Pyrex container for several hours when this picture was taken. Also I ran out of flour halfway through the recipe and had to ask our neighbors for some.

This is the gift I ended up bringing. Unfortunately I didn't have enough foresight to photograph what I made before wrapping it, but Liz has a picture of Erin (sportfully) sporting the ugliest hair bow in existence.

Look how happy my little snowman is in his mini scarf!

That hairy/tinsel-esque fabric swatch on the outside of the package was supposed to be a preview of what was inside.

Basically I went into my craft box and found the ugliest fabric I owned, to sew into an unreasonably large hair bow, which I sewed and glued to a hair clip. I actually took this fabric from my high school's drama department when I worked on costumes there for tech in sophomore year. I recall my co-sweatshop-workers saying in response to "Hey do we need this or can I take it?" something like "I don't think - OH MY GOD, SAM! What are you going to do with that, build a space suit?!"

Yeah, not the most cooperative fabric. Our living room carpet was a hot hairy silver mess afterward:

I also rediscovered my Perler beads (yeah, baby) and made myself a double-C Chanel logo because I am the epitome of class:

Above, I probably left it under the iron for too long. I've never seen Perler beads melted so thin they become translucent like this.

I then attached my extra-classy fake logo to some ribbons and voila, CLASS!

Above, okay, a chunk of it fell off during the party so these pictures look sad. I can't even counterfeit properly!

Anyway, here's what I wore. (It was raining, and I don't know what that little chunk of hair is doing in the back of my head. Just chillin, probably.)

Totally fake Chanel necklace: ribbons + Perler beads, DIY. Black dress with pockets (!): Old Navy. White thermal: Old Navy. Bright red tights: H&M. Black flats: Steve Madden.

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sequined chanel shirt: progress report

I tend to craft when I'm stressed. Thus, a post-finals progress report on the sequined Chanel logo shirt:

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Who loves orange soda?

I don't know how many times I can say I love this craftster tutorial for paper snowflakes, but I DO, I DO, I DO-OOH! (Ahhh, the 90s.)

Above, Minnie's.

Above, mine.

Above, ours.

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