June has been a rainy month so far- it started raining on May 31, and I think that today was the first day there weren’t any rain showers. It was the perfect weather for the lilacs, because the blooms lasted for over a week. There are still a few blooms out there even now.
Unfortunately it was also the perfect weather for mosquitoes! I have hardly ventured out for fear of being eaten alive. Even while taking these photos I was completely attacked and you can actually see the mosquitoes in some of the photos!
This is the skirt I was working on in this post. I am glad I persevered and finished that project, because it turned out so much better than I had hoped for. I am really liking this longer length of skirt lately. It’s long enough that it hits below the calf, avoiding that widening effect longer skirts can sometimes give. This was a thrift store find, and for $4 for linen, it was very worth the extra work of altering!
This lovely gold and pearl heart pendant was a Christmas gift from my parents.
These lace shoes are also a recent thrift store find. I’m not sure how practical white shoes will be; too bad the woman who washes my clothes is just…me.
And so that’s it for the lilac blooms this year. Such a short lived season, but a thoroughly enjoyable one.
When lilac season is so short, you just have to bring some blooms inside to enjoy then; even if they only last a day or two, they are worth it! I am reading Anne of Green Gables right now, and while she doesn’t specifically mention lilacs, she is always bringing in apple blossoms and Mayflowers and other flowering branches and arranging them in her room despite Marilla’s protests. I think if Anne had lilacs, she would bring in masses of them as well!
Happy June, dear Readers! I can’t believe we are already 5 months into the year. I actually wore this outfit for Easter which was…8 weeks ago! So, why am I only posting it now? Well, I didn’t get any photos of the outfit that day… and then it snowed… and then I got a hair cut and she cut it so short that I couldn’t put the clip back in my hair for photos, so I had to wait until my hair grew out enough to be able to wear the clip again! But it all worked out since the plum tree was blooming and that made a very nice, coordinating backdrop.
Originally this year I was planning on sewing a new dress for Easter, this one (which I also haven’t photographed yet) but then I rediscovered this tea dress, which hasn’t fit me for the past couple of years, but it fit again, so I couldn’t pass up a chance to wear it. It’s such a dress, with the yards of fabric in the skirt, that really it calls for a special occasion. And I don’t know what’s more of a special occasion than Resurrection Sunday!
For such a statement gown, I have actually worn it quite a few times. I think I made it sometime around 2013 and have worn it something like 6 or 7 times. After wearing it again this year, I am toying with the idea of unpicking it and refashioning it into something new. As much as I love a statement dress, the fabric is too beautiful to languish in my closet, and there is so much of it that I could definitely make a new dress from it- something a little more “wearable”. Well, it’s not at the top of my projects list, I’ve got a lot of other projects to complete first!
For Easter, I paired it with pearl accessories and – shock – no hat! Haha. Pearl hair clips have been trending for the past few years, so I started looking for one, but couldn’t find anything like this. Then I found one in the thrift store, but it was much too large for my bobbed hair, however after taking a look at how it was made, I realized that I could easily make my own with some glass pearl beads. I strung two rows of beads onto wire, bent the ends into a spring barrette and then stitched the two wires in place with invisible thread. So, even though I didn’t wear a hat, the hair accessory was a nice change.
This bracelet is also a little DIY- it’s a broken necklace which I added a little pearl bead charm to.
And these shoes are back in my closet. I decluttered them a few years ago, because even though I love them, they hurt my feet at the time. I tried to sell them, but no one bought them, so I gave them to my sister, but then she gave them back. And they aren’t hurting my feet anymore, so it’s a good thing they didn’t sell after all!
This little wicker bag, made in Hong Kong, is still one of my favourite thrift finds.
So that’s what I wore for Easter.
What do you think? Should I make a new dress out of this one, or keep it as-is for future special occasions?
… and two steps back. I’m in the middle of a sewing alteration project right now, and it’s not going well.
I say the “middle”, I thought it would be the end, but I’ve had to pick out what I did, change the plan and start over a few times already, so maybe I’m even closer to the beginning. It’s the linen skirt with the rose print I shared in this post. The elastic on the back was sewn badly, and so the skirt was really sagging, and I thought if I “just” added a couple more pieces of elastic in channels (like another similar skirt I have) it would be a quick and easy 1 hour project, with a skirt that fits better. Well, here we are a week later (I took a long break!) and I still don’t have a skirt with a waistband. That’s the problem with some projects; one thing leads to another, which leads to another, which leads to another.
I was reminded of a sign I saw on Pinterest that read, “We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.” Well, if that doesn’t just about sum up most of my creative endeavours lately!
And yet, I keep working away, altering things and improving them, despite the fact that I don’t particularly like altering, because I do like the finished and improved garments, when they are finally done.
One of these days this project will be complete…. just in time to start another one!
What are you working on lately? Is that quote a life motto for you too?
