Wednesday WW Group - Beech Butt

Today was my first meeting with my Wednesday group, after meeting some of them last week. I was a little sedate (for me) last week. Today, I went "Full Sheila":

Crazy Aunt whackitude! Woo! I felt like some sort of Robin Hood-esque hippie in this, which was fun. It's all about the skirt.

The drama!

Check. Out. That. Skirt. Seriously, isn't that cool? It's Smoking Lily from a season or two ago. I found that in a consignment store for $38.50 (it was on an extra 20% off). Then I walked up the street and found nearly the same skirt in the store for $96. Sweet!

I am planning to include this skirt in the Fourth Annual Capsule Wardrobe Challenge that Jane over at The Small Fabric of My Life is hosting this year. Although there are tons of wardrobe challenges, "diets" and capsules out there (I did my own year of not buying any new clothes or shoes), this has always been my favourite one because it's so few items (10 clothing/shoes, 5 accessories). I've done them all (2008, 2009, 2010)! Are you going to try it?

Oh, and FYI, I'm not getting any kind of kick-backs from Smoking Lily - I just love the quality of their items and own a lot. I have the Chair Skirt, the Dotty Dress, a maroon/grey silk obi, a pink/olive silk obi, and a silk bug scarf by them. Every piece except for the bug scarf was bought on consignment - I even found a black velvet cotton skirt by them with a silk-screened white flower in a thrift shop for $10.50 that I bought for my friend Cat, who shares my love for the Lily.

If you clicked the link for a similar skirt, you'll see that this skirt is actually a cape! Ooh, I can't wait to try that out! Mine is a thick but drapey tweed, and is fully lined in a beautiful, thick pewter satin. I love the uneven hem, the major (may-jah!) zipper, and the silk-screened pattern on my butt:It's a beech tree trunk! While I may never again have a "beach bottom," at least I can have a beech butt, hee hee.

Because of the uneven waist and the fullness of the skirt, I wanted to wear a slim-fitting top with some colour. I started out with the mustard top and trying on jackets over it, but they didn't look quite right. So I layered this long green sweater (last seen here) and loved how it worked. The mustard cuffs peeked out. This was snuggly and warm all day!

It was a bright, crisp day today, weatherwise, so I just wore my suede jacket (last worn in September) over it all:

As you can see my right boot has a habit of slouching, while the left does not (compare in the top picture, which I took first). I wore my brown stripey socks to help it stay up and ensure that even if it didn't (it didn't), I would still have a consistent boot shape there and I wouldn't look uneven. Boots last seen here (4 months ago? that's atrocious!).

Here's a detail of the skirt's pattern:

The name and the flower are silkscreened on the lining at the bottom of the point. For you sewers out there, dig the lovely finish on the lining edges - it's all sewn down all the way around.

The stuff:

These boots are devilish on the bottoms of my feet, and I walked in them more than I thought would have to today, so my poor dogs are howlin'. I put insoles in them when I got home. Low heels tomorrow, I promise, feets.

A close-up:

I've had that necklace for about 7 years - I bought it at Plum. It used to have matching earrings, but they killed my ears so I got rid of them. I also removed the little crochet-covered balls that were in the necklace - they didn't look right.

Coat (B.U.M. Equipment, thrifted), sweater (Max Studio), mustard tee (Mexx), skirt (Smoking Lily, consignment), socks (can't remember, got them at The Bay over a year ago), boots (Le Chateau, consignment), belt, necklace and earrings (Plum).