Hair do update growing hair out into a Bob, July update

Feb 2013

The above ladies are my Bob 'Mentors'. I admit that I am not a Hollywood star nor nearly as young but I do have hair. I also did not anticipate the effect humidity would have on maintaining this haircut. Mine is a big frizz ball by 11:00 am. I am using anti-frizz shampoo and conditioner and flat-ironing it each morning. I am thinking about going curly because why fight the natural tendency of my hair to curl. Maybe I can do my hair like the last picture. She has a fuller face and about the same volume of hair as me. What would you do?

July 2013

 

Having a split style personality

Fancy on top casual on the bottom. I have seen this mix lately and I like it. I think it breaks up that matchy matchy mentality I have been stuck in for too long. It is a lay over from when I was a kid and I always had to change out of my 'good clothes' after I came home from school. 
So I have been pairing dressier blouses with very casual pants. Normally I would pair the pants with T-shirts not too creative. The photo's below are two incidences where I have done this. 
I have done the opposite as well,I put the dressy skirt on the bottom and put the casual knit top on top. Still a split but I think that option will work too. So do you have a style split personality too?

Closet purge what to get rid of how to plan your looks for the season.

I wanted to organize my clothing for the coming summer months.  I decided to use Imogene Lamport e-book "Five Step Formula for a Fabulous Wardrobe on a Budget" to try her suggested process.
The first step is to know who you are and what your wardrobe needs are. I am retired so I need mostly casual clothing. Some smart casual and a few special occasion outfits. I will not need traditional business or even relaxed business outfits for the most part during the summer. Even if I go to see a lawyer I won't need a suit... 
The next step is to organize your ideas onto an idea board. I like this part of the activity. I cut out pictures from magazines or clothing catalogues and put together my ideas on a poster board. This gives me a visual reference as to what types of outfits I want to wear. This is easier for me to do than to list a bunch of words that I think describe my look. I always can come up with the list but do they really reflect my personality. The idea is to match your personality to your clothing so that they are saying the same thing. 
My list of words were: artsy-creative, dependable, friendly, warm, polished, chic, humerous.
So what would that look like in clothing: that is right I am clueless? So see why cutting out the pictures works better for me.
 In case you are interested I used pictures from, Chico's, J.Jill, Cabi Canary (on line clothing), Pinterest some of the rugged clothing lines as well. 
The purging of the clothing gets so much easier when you have a style direction. 
Since this clothing organization is really for the next 3 months it is going to be very hot and humid here. I have no weddings to go to so I don't need any special occasions outfits either. 
I put all of my jackets and dress slacks in another closet I put all of my long sleeved knit tops folded up and away. I put all of my button down long sleeve shirts temporarily away too. I folded up all of my sweaters after I washed all of them. If I decide I need any of these as a cover for insides air conditioned places I can always add them back.
After I took all of these pieces out I was left with knit tops, short sleeved, sleeveless and cami tops, summer skirts, summer dresses, and numerous cotton pants and shorts. I have one summer weight sleeveless vest. 
I like Imogene's suggestion to first sort your clothing into neutrals and like colors. For me it makes it easier to see what I have that might be put into a clothing capsule (organized group that relates by a color theme).
Once I did all of this I decided that I wanted to visually catalog my looks. My newest step was to use a app. I used Dress box an app I found on my  windows telephone.The software allows you to take pictures of your clothing and to organize them into outfits via the software. I just jumped to taking photos of outfits that I made based upon the pictures I cut out on my inspiration board.

pinterest picture

pinterest picture

cabi canary 2012

My board ended up having skirt looks, rolled up jeans short looks, cargo short looks, boyfriend jeans looks, and colored ankle pants looks and one dress look.
When I color sorted my clothing I came up with three distinct groups. One a neutral group, the other a orange coral group and the last a turquoise/teal group. I now have 3 capsules based upon these colors. Funny how they all neatly fit into these groups. So here are some pictures of my collage inspiration pictures and my first outfit look. 

 
This is a dressy blouse with very casual pants and just some keds in the same tone and the pants. I had not worn this blouse in a while but in this combination I think it works. 
And today I am going visible on  Not Dead Yet Style. 

More unfinished projects:guilt resolution

June is my month to finish up old unfinished projects. There I said it. For some reason it bugs me when I don't finish what I started. No one other than me would know but I get to a point where I actually feel anxiety for not finishing something I started; good- bad or indifferent about how I will like it once it is done. I guess you'd say I like closure... So here is the place-mat bag that I finished. (I rather like this project.) I was given the parts for this bag and the idea from a class I took at Jenny's sewing studio.

It was a class on how to use my Singer XL550 sewing/embroidery machine. I thought the class was very informative and Jenny is quite a good teacher.
Note to self the chalk marks need to be removed as to the naked eye they aren't really that visible. The camera really picks up on these details.... 
So do you need to finish projects or can you let them go??

What to do when you need a creative inspiration: make something different.

Today my style inspiration is potholders. Yes not clothing. I have recently discovered a type of insulation fabric that allows you to make fabric potholders that actually are insulated. So I have been using up my extra fabric stash and utilizing decorative thread and stitches to make some.
I realized that technology has changed a lot in my life but I still need potholders to remove stuff from the oven or microwave. I am making some for gifts just because....
I would like to recommend to you Superior threads needles and threads. Superior Threads I have been doing the courses in Superior University and can say I recommend their products. That is where I got the idea to make some potholders. It is course 109.

Have you ever digressed in order to get re inspired?

Sewing:My dog has a hat and I do too.

I made a hat to wear when I am walking my dog. I wanted a lightweight one that wont blow off of my head when I am strolling with my corgi. Then I saw this pattern that had a hat for a dog... OKay the dog does not like the hat and shakes it off but it does look cute.... I added a lining to the pattern just because I could. I used a Simplicity pattern 4316

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  It was copyrighted in 2005 so it is an older one now. The pink hat in the upper right picture is funny looking because the hat is too small for the models head. It is supposed to sit down on the head without the pointy part at the top sticking up. Someone who doesn't know about hat sizes just stuck this on her head. The sizing on the pattern was funny. Size medium was 22 inches head size. That is a British standard head size. American standard head size is 22.5 , a good number of us even have 23inch head size.  I made the large version (23inch). The pattern has a 1/4 inch seam. The seaming was tricky because you had to ease a curved seam onto a straight seam for the crown part of the hat. The bias binding that they ask you to use. They don't specify how wide it is to be. They give you a guide but the guide is 1.25 wide. They don't tell you if this is the finish width or the opened up width you are supposed to use. So I just made mine 1.5 wide and folded it to make double fold bias tape.
The other disappointing thing is the sizing is for very small dog head and a small dog head.They didn't include  a version for a bigger dog. I am going to try to rework the pattern for my bigger dogs head.

inside out

close up of the print

tear away stabilizer residue on underside

My new style description Generic Chic...WHAT????

I love exercises whereby I need to come up with descriptive words that describe my style. I always come up with words that I like but do they really describe ME. The answer is actually no they do not. Flamboyant Natural, Classic colorful glamorous, Textural whimsey, Modern girl next door, Equestrian Safari, Tribal meet suburban, Edgy classic, Cargo junkie, Pre-sixty sex goddess... and the descriptors go on and on. 
So I had this epiphany while at the grocery store. I was thinking about the classic Chanel purse 2.25 the one with the chain handle. Would I ever really feel comfortable about spending 2,000.00 to 3,000.00 dollars on this purse. Would I not feel guilty for such an indulgence. I admit it is a beautifully crafted accessory. I don't dispute it's value but would I really be that happy by owing one. I am not sure that the happiness factor would be that high. I probably would be happier to give the $2000.00 to $3000.00 to a worthy college student to help them off set some expenses. Now that would definitely give me a higher happiness factor. 
So why do I claim to be a fashionable person if I wouldn't really own a Chanel bag.
Back to the style statement. I have it Generic Chic. -Generic (Noun) meaning a product having no brand name or registered trademark

-Chic (Adjective) Elegantly and stylishly fashionable. Noun Stylishness and elegance, typically of a specified kind. Synonyms adjective.   stylish - elegant - smart - posh - fashionable - dressy noun.   style - elegance - smartness

I want to be stylish and elegant but with the non label stuff.  There I said it. I don't need the real expensive stuff. The copies are good enough for me.
So here it is guys Generic Chic. The styles that are current without the expense of the designer originals. I am happy with copies.
By the way this in no way is a judgement of those who want to spend the money on the originals. That is okay I am not judging it just isn't right for me.