Inspiration: Sweden

I love clothes.

("Well, duh," you seem to say.)

Mostly, I love clothes in theory, because my whole life shopping for myself has been somewhat of a nightmare.

I grew up in an awful time for fashion.  Things were big.

Really big.

See what I mean?

I had THREE pairs of those pants, people.  THREE PAIRS.

And I only weighed 100 pounds.

The word ridiculous comes to mind.

So I never really learned to buy things that fit.  I was always wearing a hand-me-down or a fashion faux pas and it took me until VERY recently to just say, "HEY - it's ok if my pants fit me.  It does not mean they are skin tight."

*Actually, I may have gone to the other extreme and tried a pair of jeggings, but hey, you were warned that I don't have great sense when dressing myself*


But sometimes, I try on things I like and that actually look pretty cute.

And when I'm really lucky, I try those things and they are from a store known for it's AMAZING prices.  Like one of my favorites, H&M.

Aside - Does anything bad come from Sweden?

H&M.  Ikea.  Alexander Skarsgård.

Apparently not.

But we are talking about clothes.  Skirts, to be precise.

A few weeks ago I went into an H&M on a return trip from my parents' house.  I really liked this little skirt:

But I wasn't *in luuuuuv* with the patterns available.

And after a few minutes of checking it out, I realized, "HEY!  I can make that!!"

So I did.

Cute, right?  This little blue and coral poppy print was much more what I had in mind for s cute and sassy summer skirt.

Using some 2.5 inch wide elastic, I was able to match the H&M Skirt's most prominent feature.

I'll admit, this ended up just a hair shorter than I planned - but that's because I made the whole thing out of one yard of fabric, and without a real pattern, so I lost a little bit in my "trial and error"-ing.  Overall, I am very pleased with the results.  

I wear this with a coral t-shirt and some super strappy camel wedges.

And no one yet has yelled, 

"STOP!  HAMMER TIME!" 

Inspiration: Big O

So, last August, O Magazine had an issue which touted itself as "THE BIG DEALS ISSUE". It was all about rocking the deals (because we are in a recession, y'all) and featured Oprah on the cover, as per usual, rocking an outfit with the headline "EVERYTHING OPRAH'S WEARING IS UNDER $100!" (Emphasis O Mag's) See?

 

What that sounds like is that Oprah's outfit, top to bottom, cost less than $100. But when you look a little closer, you start seeing all the individual prices of things. $80 for pants. $70 each for the shirt and sweater. $69 dollars for her shoes and a whopping $53 for her belt. The total cost for Oprah's look from head to toe?

Right about $600.

Now, I don't know about you, but recession or not, I don't have any $600 outfits at my house. In fact, my two wedding dresses PUT TOGETHER wouldn't even cost $600. Not even close. So last year I got it in my mind that not only was I going to get Oprah's look for less, I was going to get it for WAY less than the big fat lie of a title of being "Under $100."   And I finally decided that today was the day I'd put it all together, because I knew the ladies I work with would think it was hilarious that I had given myself a blog assignment based on an O Magazine cover.  Plus, I needed someone to take the photos. 

So how'd I do? You tell me.

Sweater: Target - $14.99; Shirt: Old Navy - $9.99; Belt:  Poppy Pia - $5.99; Bracelets:  H&M - @$6.99 for a million; Pants:  Old Navy - $7.99 and Shoes:  Payless - $12.99.  My earrings were in my drawer, so they were free.  I don't wear rings or watches, but I have them, so they would be free, too.  So while Oprah's grand total was somewhere around $600,  mine is about $60.  That's right:  I have a 90% savings.

Now THAT is a Big Deal!

Now, why does this belong here, on my craft blog?  Because I had to alter those pants, y'all!!!

You remember when you were in 5th grade and Gitano jeans were out and they had those RADICAL zippers on the sides to make your little elementary school stick legs look even stickier?  Well, Old Navy had apparently been drinking some Kool-Aid and watching Rainbow Brite reruns when they designed these dove gray pants with a zipper leg.  And while I'm so totally down with retro clothes, they are not always down with me.  I am long waisted and short-legged, so what is an awesome zipper ankle feature to some is a ridiculously long problem to me.  So, using my handy, dandy seam ripper, I simply performed a little surgery on my retro, straight leg, zipper ankle having pants!  And let me tell you - it worked like a dang charm.  Once I got the zipper out, all I had to do was put on the pants and measure to where I wanted them, create a seam allowance for the hem, and then I was able to hem them and still get the little vent that Oprah's $80 pants have on the side.

And I go into all this to say that you don't always have to spend haute couture money on items just because Vanity Fair says you should have something.  Find something that's close and make it closer.  I've ended up wearing the heck out of these pants over the last year and I NEVER would have worn them with a zipper!  They would've been delegated to "Inside of boots pants" and never met their full potential.  So go through those closets and drawers today and think of what you don't wear anymore as a blank canvas before you get rid of it.  You might just find that it works perfectly with a little tweaking!