Dress: self-made, using BurdaStyle pattern
Also, I love my new camera.
self-made
i don’t want to be shy
This is my cherry blossom silk blouse, finished and styled.
It was frustrating but I am happy with it, as long as I wear it with certain things.
I rather regret not having taken any photos of the blouse without the jacket, since the sleeves are my favorite feature, but alas, the underarms are my least favorite part–all bulge-y and puckered–so I didn’t take the jacket off.
Fortunately, my other favorite thing about the blouse–the silk!–is still there. I shan’t button the jacket since I want the silk to show.
I have a little secret: I had to literally tape this blouse on. It turned out so low-cut (and that was after I modified the pattern) that I can’t wear a bra, and the top slides around rather easily, so I taped it to my chest and shoulders.
I feel it is cheating to tape one’s blouse to oneself–if the garment was well-made tape wouldn’t be necessary, or so my self-critical thought process goes. However, in my Fashion Illustration class last week, our instructor told us models often have to walk down the runway literally holding the clothing together!
Not great, but at least I’m not in the boat alone.
The skirt is also self-made, sort of. It used to be my sister’s A-line bridesmaid skirt from my wedding. She didn’t have plans for it, so I hacked it into a pencil skirt (rather crappily, but I was brand-new to sewing). This marks the first photo shoot I’ve done with more than one item of self-made clothing!
My photos were inspired by the beautiful Anthropologie April 2014 catalog
Petal jacket: Cabi
Pink and velvet heels: Macy’s
Bracelet: boutique on Queen Anne.
— the soft animal of your body —
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes…
…over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination…
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”
― Mary Oliver
Blue silk blouse: self-made
White corduroys: Banana Republic
Shoes: Value Village
Teaspoon ring: farmer’s market on Lopez Island
Yellow pearls: self-strung
Long white pearls: gift from mother-in-law
Short white pearls: gift from mom
Pink cameo earrings: self-made
work in progress: ‘beauregard’ blouse, step 9/27
Project: The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook, blouse, style 1
Phase: Sewing, step 9/27
1/3 of the way finished, woohoo! Not that finishing is the point. Learning is the point! I’m going to keep telling myself that until it’s true.
This was a short simple step: I pinned the front center yoke pieces up, because the next step will have me sewing the front center seam (yay!).
CUP AND PENNY 