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.
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?
Hello Dear Readers, and happy Friday! I hope your week has been a good one. Lately I have been…
Reading:
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. This story was written in 1909, and the edition I got from our local library was an anniversary edition printed in 1959- look how lovely it is! The illustrations are by Ernest H. Shepard (the same artist as Winnie the Pooh) and they are so sweet. The story was too. Toad was, of course, the best character.
Loving:
Tulip bulbs, crocuses and new leaves are bursting forth! I can’t wait for them to bloom.
Making:
I made a pressed flower magnet with another one of those rings I got from the thrift store.
Working on:
Altering the sleeves on some t-shirts. They didn’t have any colours I liked in the short sleeve tees, so I bought some of the long sleeve ones (on clearance) and shortened the sleeves to the length I like, using a twin needle. Sometimes knowing how to sew is nice.
We’ve also got a new sewing room set-up. The sewing space used to be in what is now my office/craft room, but it got moved into the spare room a couple of years ago. We were “temporarily” using a writing desk for over a year. Recently this desk came up in our church’s free group, and while were weren’t originally going to use it in the sewing room, it fits perfectly into the space!
Eating:
This weekend for Mother’s Day, we’re going to do a hot pot and cheesecake. Yum!
Finding:
….and passing on the “perfect” dress at Winners last week, since it didn’t fit properly (the armholes were too low and gaped). I was so sad it didn’t fit, but it’s given me some inspiration to sew something similar. Again, it’s a good skill to be able to sew and not have to rely on the way off-the-rack clothing fits!
One day it was Winter, and then we skipped right over Spring into Summer…at least that is what it feels like! It’s that weird time of year when you’ll have a blizzard with 6″ of snow, like we did last Saturday, and then a few days later, the snow is gone and it’s +20 out. And just where did the month of April go? Did it zip past you too?
The weather swings do make it a bit difficult to plan outfits, as well as deciding what to keep out and what to pack away for the season. My closet is a little full at the moment with multiple seasons of clothing out.
This outfit was a fairly good mix; a nod to the cooler temperatures with the sweater and oxford shoes, and then the flower ring and the quilted fabric bag have a more summer weather feel to them.
Every time I try to add “more colour” into my wardrobe, I always end up pairing it back to these more muted tones. This outfit is the perfect match to the colours of nature at the moment, though; brown trees with catkins, grass starting turn green and blue skies.
This is a new thrifted ring I got, mentioned in this post. It is not comfortable in the slightest, but I absolutely love it, and it’s totally worth it for fashion.
The grass is starting to turn green, the sun is shining and the tulips and irises are starting to come up…and I am so ready for it! Happy May 1st!
Are you in Spring where you live, or did you jump right into Summer? Do you struggle with seasonal wardrobe transitions?
