little red fox

quick and cute DIY

So I got these shoes on sale--a very good sale--the other day. They're super comfortable, even with the hidden 3" platform inside (kinda ideal for a shrimp like me). So I really liked the shoes but not the laces. That fake-leather looked cheapy and not that cute. 

So. Out they went and in came my favorite ribbon--an ivory and black stripey one, about 1/5" wide--cut to the length of the laces (should have gone a couple of inches longer), and some masking tape. Mine happened to be leopard-print but you could use clear scotch tape or regular masking tape, too. Also that fancy Japanese kind would be adorable!

I twisted the ends, taped them to secure, trimmed 'em up and voila...

 

 Comfortable everyday shoes with a bit of flair!

***

Other items for your perusal...

• Readymade featured my black eyed pea tacos! I adore them/that magazine so that was pretty special for me. Also that sounds pretty good right now...
• One of my new goals in life is to get my paws on one of these. I think they bring magic with them. I'll drive across the country for one if I have to, so if you hear of one... :)
• My next project is going to be this one. I am very excited about my color combinations...!
• My next project, that is, after I finish the one I'm working on right now, which is for the shop. Here's a sneak-peek...

 And that's going to be my main goal for this weekend. It's been real busy acting-wise so I was ridiculously excited to hole up for the weekend at home and bury my face in some arts and crafts and delicious food and wine. What are you doing this weekend--do we have any of these things in common?? 

a lace dress three ways

So. I always love when you see fashion bloggers taking one item and remixing it to make more than one outfit. The one I'm thinking of right now is Sally Jane Vintage's recent posts like that--they're so inspiring and fun--and I'm sure lots of other girls do it, too. Do you? I want to see them! Please send them my way!!

Over Christmas, while we were down visiting my family way out in the woods in Mississippi--I had that happen to me--but on accident. Allow me to set this up by saying that I am a terrible packer. I always over-pack. I brought my biggest suitcase for the week-long trip, but since the airlines are charging per bag I could only bring that one and I had to fit a lot of Christmas presents in there, so there was not a lot of room left for a bunch of cute outfits. Just a few cute outfits :) What I ended up taking a lot of were tights, two berets (though I soooooooo wish I had just gone through the trouble of dealing with my cream-colored cloche on the plane...it was missed), and a couple of skirts and tops.

It's very typical in this part of the South, even in areas where you have lots of tiny, tiny towns--that people drive 20 or 30 minutes (or more) through completely flat farm land to a cocktail party or a restaurant 1 or 2 towns over--and often in some old, gorgeous Southern mansion in a town of 100 or so. It's just the coolest thing, in my opinion. Just incredibly old-fashioned and Southern. A lot of these houses were built back in the late 1800s-1930s and they're just beautiful all done up for Christmas.

Anyway. I knew we would be doing all that again this year, but there were a few more outings than I had outfits for. So I had to get creative. I was so happy I brought this little lace dress. It was something my mom bought for me (from French Connection) to wear to my engagement party a few years ago and while I've worn it a few times since, I had kind of forgotten about it until I saw Francesca's post about lace dresses, so out it came and into the suitcase it went!

This was the first incarnation on Christmas Day. 

I LOVE these tights. They are made by Eloise and I bought them at Anthropologie. I am sad to say I am basically anti-pink and have been for a very long time, sort of inexplicably. But this particular pink with the taupe-y brown was too much to resist. The beginning of my pink-therapy? Maybe...

The very next day we went to visit with some family friends in the next little town. It was an afternoon visit, and they're considerably older, so I didn't want to wear something quite so short, but I still needed to look nice, so I came up with this:

Beret: thrifted
dirty hair: laziness
wool pleated skirt: thrifted and hemmed
maroon tights: sock dreams
oxfords: vintage, probably 80s
handbag: vintage

I also was so happy to get to use one of my mom's Christmas presents to me--that sweet little tapestry handbag! I can foresee a lot of usage for that little guy...

Sometimes a pair of tights makes all the difference...

And I loved it with my grandmother's wool coat...

The next day--we ended up going into another little nearby town for lunch and pottery-shopping with some other ladies so I wore this:

 

Striped jumper: UO
scarf: vintage, another gift from mom :)
tights: $3 from some cheapie store in Brooklyn
oxfords: vintage (from the 80s, I think)

Better view of the jumper here...

I was so happy I brought those red tights, because they went perfectly with the vintage scarf my mom gave me--total kismet.

(Thanks for taking pictures, Mr. Wood!)

I love those colors together! And that red-orange is my all-time favorite color. It strangely goes with quite a lot (at least to my eyes)...

And that's it! I learned first-hand (yet again) that its all about the tights/hats/scarves/etc for me. This experience might help my packing issues, since I had to come up with a little fashion ingenuity and it turned out all right :) Perhaps I'll try packing a little less from here on out...perhaps...

a painted skirt tutorial/how-to

A while back I posted about a few items from Lucky magazine that I was taken with, and I haven't gotten over it. I have not moved on. It's still up on my bulletin board by my sewing machine. I see it 87 times a day. No matter that summer has long since past and it's now cold, rainy and gray (which I love, but still). The skirt (bottom center) especially kept popping back up in my head and wouldn't leave me alone. I knew I wouldn't find the exact skirt (for what I could afford anyway), so I thought I could try what I usually do: find something similar and make it myself.

So here's what I did:

A few weeks ago I found this skirt at a thrift store (hello $3.50!). My only requirements were that it be off-white, fit in the waist and have pleats--bingo! So last night I hemmed it to the right length and ironed out the pleats about 4 inches from the hem. I decided to make it a 2-inch stripe 2 inches up from the bottom.

Using my trusty 2-inch ruler (which I use about 16 times a day) and the tailor's crayon-thingy (what is that thing called again?), I marked the top and bottom of the stripe all the way around. Easy.

I happened to have this particular fabric paint around, which I think you can get pretty much anywhere:

When I tested how the paint behaved on a swatch (the left-over hem), it was a bit thicker and more difficult to paint on smoothly than I had anticipated. So, using regular old masking tape, I taped along the lines I had marked--on the top and bottom, all the way around--and painted inside the tape to get an even, straight line. Made it so much easier than just trying to free-hand-follow my drawn-on lines. (How the paint behaves will depend on the fabric you're painting, but you're guaranteed an even edge line when you tape off your design.)

I used a hair-dryer to dry each section I painted, dried it completely, then moved on to paint the next bit, then dried that, and so on all the way around, until it was complete. (The paint did bleed through so you will most likely need a piece of cardboard between the layers of fabric you're working on.) Then, just like when you paint the walls in a room, ripped off the tape to reveal a perfect black stripe with an even edge! So satisfying.

I had hemmed a pleated skirt once before and found the perfect tutorial right here, so I used it again to re-pleat the pleats-- and then wore it immediately feeling very self-proud and thrifty-smart :)

Also--Operation Italian Marie Claire (thank you, Jeffrey) was not completed. I went to buy it yesterday (wearing my lucky painted skirt, no less!) and I found it--but it was $30. I just don't think I can pay that much for a magazine. I'll have to settle for seeing the pictures here, I guess...ugh. They're so beautiful... But that's ok because I have the Circus book which was spun from baby angel hair and dipped in chocolate and gold flecks to keep me company until the end of time.

And so me and the skirt are going to be away for a few days--back to Mississippi for my mom's birthday. We're cooking some exciting new dishes so if they turn out (and they will! Let's be positive!), expect some pictures when I get back...have a wonderful weekend wherever you may be!

(fairly) quick skirt alteration and my first tutorial!

This was a thrifted skirt I bought sometime last year. It was one of those long, shapeless 80s things that just weren't flattering on anybody. But the corduroy fabric and the pattern appealed to me, plus it had pockets! So I bought and hemmed it into a mini. I wore it a few times last year but it still wasn't quite right. So this year--getting so excited about fall clothes--I dug up the remainder of the hem, and from it made the bow and now I feel like it's done. Maybe everything needs a bow :) 

Want to do it? Here's what you'll need:

• around 1/4 yd of fabric for the bow
• ruler
• needle and thread
• 2 snaps (or hook-and-eyes)
• scissors

Here's what I did (click on it to make it larger!):

 
(The pdf of these instsruction can be emailed to you if you need them!)

The long sash parts are just two 6 1/2" by 15" pieces sewn in half, sewn on one end, then hand-stitched to the skirt underneath the bottom of the bow. Also-- this bow 'technique' is the same I've used for the bow-ties I've been making, as well as big hair bows, just scaled down. Let me know if you want specific measurements.

On another note: I've been browsing etsy looking for new vintage patterns and I think I've found some real winners...very excited about that.

BUT FOR NOW-- I am off to get ready to go meet some girlfriends for a sangria happy hour--I already feel like it's the holiday weekend and it's Wednesday! I loooooove that feeling :) Technically, it is for us since we leave in the morning for a little cabin by a little river way up in the mountains of Virginia. There is no computer signal there so I'll be away for a few days. Have a great weekend wheresoever you are!