Fabricide

Here are a few of the pictures from today's photo shoot.  Not professional at all, but better than what I had, and they show the clothes to advantage.  The goal is to put them up on Etsy in the next couple of days.  Thanks to Lexie, Megan, and Kezia for modeling for me.

The skirt is 100% mine.  The jacket is second-hand, which I then attacked with the scissors and filled with lace from someone's ex-table-runner, thus making it "Zombie-chic"

This dress was the result of a spell of winter blues and a longing for summer clothes

And hey!  I had extra fabric from the dress, so I made the skirt also, which, I might add, is super comfy.  I did not make the shirt, sadly.  That was someone else's genius creation.

This skirt I had already posted on Etsy, but I wanted better pictures of it.

Another one of my jacket makeovers, though slightly different from the attacked-by-zombies look.

This is the result of my excursion into the world of hat making.  I made it by braiding strips of fabric cut from second-hand lingerie, which I then wrapped, sewed and starched.  I was fairly pleased with the result.

This jacket I had also already posted, but I got much better pictures today.

This is my "Scarlet O'Hara", so-called because I made the skirt from a curtain I found at Value Village.

This butterfly greeted us on our way back to the car, and cooperated wonderfully with having its picture taken.

Adventures in Walmart

First of all let me state that I do not like Walmart.  I really don't.  It seems to stand for everything that is wrong with America: rampant consumerism, general chintziness, sweat-suits, the elevation of mayonnaise as its own food group, etc...  That said, I do go there sometimes, generally out of necessity, since there isn't much else (especially when it comes to costume-making supplies) any nearer than Spokane.


So I went there this morning, with the brilliant notion of making a quick trip (one-stop shopping, as advertised) to take care of my costuming needs, as well as getting some Fontina and White Truffle Oil for the fondue tonight, and some picnic items, so that I could kidnap Aaron on his lunch break and whisk him away to consume said picnic items in a sunny patch at the Colville Park.  


One-stop shopping indeed!  For one thing, they make it impossible to get anything you want in under an hour, bringing me to the conclusion that my sister's old theory about the energy-sucking machine at the heart of Walmart might not be far off the mark.  Then, the cooking oil section which contained nothing but olive oil and PAM.  Not even Sesame Oil.  I went against my tradition of not asking for help and enquired of an employee whether they had any White Truffle Oil.  The look she gave me, along with her, "What is that?" were priceless.  But I'm sounding like a terrible snob.  The thing is, I don't make a regular habit out of buying things like White Truffle Oil (who can afford to?) but one likes to have them available for special occasions.  I mean, few people drink Champagne every day, but every grocery store has at least a few bottles of Cook's.  They also didn't have any Fontina.


I also enjoyed the various reactions of the Walmartites to the outfit I was wearing.  Admittedly, it was a little strange, consisting in part of a polka-dot street tutu, striped knee socks, and lace-up striped fingerless gloves.  But I like wearing interesting things when I don't have to worry about work-wear or anything.  Anyway, it brought on an assortment of different looks, the most prominent of which were the grins of the old ladies who clearly appreciated that I was having a good time, and the double-takes of the old men who seemed to think I must be a recent escapee from Planet Crazy.


However, I was able to make make my purchases and escape (I think Walmart is Planet Crazy) just in time to race into Safeway for the White Truffle Oil and Fontina and still make it to the bank in time for the scheduled kidnapping.  And the sunny park was lovely. All in all a productive and satisfying morning.

Sewing Update

So, I know I've been saying I would post more sewing project photos soon, but I've been waiting to get photos of the clothes being worn by people other than me.  I don't mind having one or two of them with me, but it feels odd to have them all of myself, so the plan is to have some of the girls over one day soon for pictures.  However, I did finally open an Etsy account.  "Reanimated Rags" was already taken, so I (being in a rather odd mood at the time, and inspired by the fact that my sister referred to one of my pieces as "zombie-chic") decided to go with...  Fabricide.  It may be the dumbest idea I've ever had, but I'm getting rather fond of it.


Basically I think clothes should make the wearer feel good, regardless of whether they follow the latest trend or not.  I refuse to pay the price of feeling hideous in order to squeeze myself into a pair of skinny jeans, the return to popularity of which is as inexplicable to me as that of jumpsuits and rompers.  So, I've been having fun creating (or re-creating) my own sort of look.  I only hope other people like it as well.

Reanimated Rags

 

 So, my latest notion is the reinvention of secondhand clothing, which is actually getting some fairly decent feedback, and I actually sold a jacket today to someone who thought I should have charged more than twenty dollars for it, which was pretty sweet.  My biggest fear was that people would look at them and think, "Old clothes, why?" but people actually seemed to like them.  I'm calling them "Reanimated Rags" because that's what they are... also because I have a thing for alliteration.  The next step will be to put some up on Etsy, or at least I think that's where I'm going with it.  I'd like to put up some of the ballet costumes I've been working on too, but we'll see.  It seems arrogant in a way, because I'm really an amateur when it comes to sewing, but I am decently creative and people seem to like what I come up with, so... why not?

The jacket that sold.  It was a great color and fabric, but kind of frumpy with shoulder pads.  I ripped out the shoulder pads and cut big gashes in it which I filled with pink satin from an atrocious pare of pajamas.

This one I actually made in its entirety, so it's not really a rag.