Frock on Friday

I’m actually doing a blog post on a Friday and I’m wearing a frock. What are the chances? So, this is my very first Frock on Friday post!

I had curled my hair again, so I was looking to wear something floaty and romantic to go with the curls.

I bought this not-vintage dress at TRAID in Camden when I was in London in the spring. I liked the color and the art nouveau-ish type design. Even though the skirt was too poofy on me, I thought I could make it work.

Uttam London dress, £2, TRAID, London. Black cotton tunic from a clothing swap 20 years ago, free. 1970s purse from the Rock and Roll Yard Sale, $7. Silver necklace purchased in Turkey in 1999. Silver and carnelian (?) necklace from Cultural Survival bazaar. Bangles from India. Vegan sandals purchased new from MooShoes, New York.The skirt still sticks out too much, even with a lightweight cotton sleeveless tunic over it, so I may alter it someday.

Swapped the jewelry for earrings purchased at Cultural Survival Bazaar and a couple thrifted beaded necklace In other news, I am still taking care of my friend’s cat Tigro, who likes to sleep with his face pressed into the side of his bed.

I don’t know how he breathes. Is it just me, or does he look like a garden slug?

So as not to leave you with an image of a slug, I’ll post my latest thrift find -- a stunning panné velvet maxi skirt. It has the most vibrant fuchsia, purple, green and orange flowers on a black background.

late 1960s-early 1970s F.A. Chatta skirt, Goodwill, $3.75 Panné velvet is impossible to photograph –neither photo does it justice. The skirt has a 24-inch waist, and I don’t, so it will go into the pile of clothes purchased for their fabric, to be made into something. I now realize that the print and colors are similar to the chenille velvet of the purse in the photo above.

I am going on a daytrip tomorrow to a town where I hear there is a great vintage clothing store with reasonable prices. Not that I need to buy anything. I'll just look...

New tricks and cat in the sack

I decided to re-fashion the Indian block-printed top that I thrifted a few weeks ago.

Purchased at Goodwill, $4.99It appears to have been stitched in India and is covered with embroidered mirrorwork. I took it apart and added bust darts to give it some shape. Then I had to re-hem the front and back, which were now different lengths because of the darts. I removed the sleeves and cut down the armholes. The sleeves were wide but I decided to use that extra width to make slightly puffy sleeves by gathering the top before setting the sleeves in and adding three small tucks at the sleeve hem.

I have no idea why I'm looking up. I have no idea why I'm laughing.Of course, come cooler weather, I’ll layer this over a long-sleeve t-shirt or blouse to give it my favorite double sleeve look.

I’m cat-sitting for Tigro for the next 2 weeks (he stayed with me in April). He hates being in his carrier and yowled the whole way from his home to mine. He seems to have recovered from the trauma of the transport and made himself right at home.

Linking up to Ta-Dah! Tuesday for the shirt re-fashion. Tigro has no ta-dahs to offer. Lazy cat.

Revelations about a dress form

Last night I was looking at  all the fabulous creations submitted to the We Sew Reto blog and it led me to Polka Dot Overload, where I got all excited by a post about “large-busted sewing” (blogger’s own term) because 1) bust alterations are my biggest dress-making obstacle and this post has great info and links, and 2) it had an image of an ad for the “My Double” dress form.

I own one of these dress forms.

It was given to me by a neighbor and has proved handy for photographing vintage clothing for my Etsy shop. It is about a size 4. I knew the wire mesh was meant to be manipulated, but, duh, it never occurred to me that it could be stretched enough to fit me.

So, when I saw this ad last night, I started playing around trying to get the dress form to fit my shape. Turns out it does expand quite a bit. I will just need another person to help fine tune the shape to my body. I was planning to make a duct tape dress form, but it would be so much easier if I could make this one work for me. After making the form wider, it was now too wide to fit back on the stand, so I put it, with the front unsnapped and open, on the floor.

It now has another purpose – cat meditation pod.

I’ve taken in my friend's cat Tigro, while my friend  recovers from being injured in a motorcycle accident. I went out today and when I came home, I found Tigro sitting in the dress form.

Later, he was there again. Who knows, maybe he thinks it is a force field or a fortress. Cats are weird.