Weekend Wrap-Up: Denim and Green Lace Flashback; Cat Pictures and Cutting Up Shoes

Hey, my friends! I hope you've all had a wonderfully chill weekend! It's been hot here (28 degrees!), so we've mostly just been hanging out at home, watching telly and playing boardgames.  

Aside from our traditional Saturday brunch, of course. 

We enjoyed our usual (huevos for me, burrito wrap and fries for L), then strolled to town for some errands. No shilly-shallying, though - it was too hot to linger in the sun! 

• Top - Cecil McBee, thrifted; last seen here in April with a blossoming skirt
• Skirt - Alfred Sung, vintage 80s, consignment; last worn here in August 2019 with the jelly-deer sweater
• Shoes - Born, consignment; last seen here in May for birthday shopping for L

With only 6 weeks left in my spring/summer wardrobe, it's time for me to start going through all the things with backwards hangers and get them worn. 

This outfit features one of the older pieces in my wardrobe, this green lame (lah-MAY, darling!) lace skirt. We'll be checking it out in the Flashback below. 

I've never worn this skirt on the weekend, or done a more casual outfit with it, so that was my own mini challenge. 

How to make a fancy item casual? Pair it with denim! 

I like the square cropped shape of this denim pullover top. It has a raw hem...

...and so does the skirt. All kinds of rawness.

Another one of my new masks got an outing - this is a nice navy blue, green and white floral, with a pale yellowy-green. 

It matched my little neon green purse perfectly. 

• Leather purse - Club Monaco, thrifted

The stuff: 

Of course, I have fancier shoes that would elevate this outfit, but I have to go with comfort and function - we did a fair bit of walking. 

Green bling: 

Of all the colour "families" of accessories, I have more green by far than any other colour. This is only the tip of the green iceberg! 

• Hinged bangles - thrifted
• Glass bangle - thrifted
• Necklace - vintage 60s, Mom's
• Silver/aventurine ring - consignment
• Poison ring - Taxco, Mexico, Karen's
• Jade/brass ring - vintage 70s, Mom's

Vizzini has been lying around in the sun all weekend. 

"Are you here to bother me, Woman?"

Indeed I am! 

"Let me sleep in peace."

I can't NOT give him pets! 

"I am rather irresistible, it's true."

Come on, Mr. Kitty, let's take some pictures! 

"I would rather go back in the sun, please."

He's a squirmy blur.

"Down! Down is where I want to be!" 

Flashback! 

I bought this vintage 80s Alfred Sung skirt at Verve Boutique, one of the high-end designer consignment stores in town, back in September 2009 (here) for $45.00. I know it's vintage due to the sizing (a pre-mid-80s Great Size Shift size 12 - a modern size 8). 

It was also made in Canada, something you rarely see in a "name" brand nowadays. Alfred Sung co-founded premium label Club Monaco and was declared Canada's "King of Fashion" in 1983 (about him, here, link 'cause I love). I see a fair bit of his stuff in the thrift stores, but not often something this special. 

You can see the gorgeous shiny lace in the above shot. The lining is a taupe colour, and the scalloped edges are deliberately left ragged - not a typical 80s look. I have carefully trimmed up the edges with scissors many times. 

I first wore it in September 2009 just after I bought it, with a vest/shirt combo and oodles of chains. If you look carefully, you can see that I'm wearing the same necklace as in the current outfit - I've had it for a long time (it was "liberated" from Mom's jewelry box when I was in high school in the mid-80s, and we'll be seeing it a fair bit below).

I went curling in this (the sport curling)! 

I dabbled in "granny chic" looks in the late 00s. 

Same shoes - this was in December 2009. 

I still have the taupe tank style sweater from this outfit in December 2010. 

There's that necklace again! I'm surprised that I didn't wear this skirt for a year. It did feel very dressy to me when I first got it. 

I did a mini-challenge in March 2010, where I wore it twice in one week. 

I doubled up the green necklace in this outfit. I think I've just gotten  my hair cut there - I am not capable of that kind of styling, ha ha. 

Same week, same necklace. 

I've worn this skirt a couple of times with blues, evoking a "mermaid" vibe. 

Working on my stair pose here in June 2011. 

I see I found some green shoes. 

I mixed brown and rust with the green in this look from October 2011. I'm sporting my Grandma J's copper jewelry there. 

I had that blouse forever! It's SO late 00s. 

The skirt was featured twice in May's capsule for my 30 For 30 For 12 wardrobe challenge. 

I remember that I bought this blue sweater because I used to have it in a larger size 5+ years earlier - those back buttons popped open constantly, though, so it didn't last very long the second time either.

An all-green look later in May 2012. 

I mixed a little turquoise in there too, with the belt and the aqua stones on my Kermit shoes. 

And this is St. Patrick's Day in March 2013.

Those tights were actually teal. I'm wearing my grandmother's lemon-lime crystal brooch and earring set. 

This was a fabulous yellow jacket that I think Yvonne has now. This was in April 2014.

Same lemon-lime jewelry! 

I recall not liking this outfit from September 2014. 

That lace top was just not right (this was its last wearing) and those shoes destroyed my feet. 

On the other hand, I remember loving this peach and green mix from July 2015. There's that necklace again! 

I think my style changed a lot around this time - this is more like how I dress now. 

I dressed to show off my awesome Desigual coat in this outfit from January 2016.

I don't remember where I went, but I probably didn't take the jacket off. 

I only wore this silky pajama top a few times. 

It went so well with the skirt! This was in August 2016.

It was such a good match, I wore it again in February 2017. 

"No one cares about your skirt. What's in this closet, that's what I want to know."

The shirt was ultimately too blousy so off it went to a new home. 

I have yet to wear this flamingo/carp top yet this season - this outfit is from July 2017.

I was deliberately going for a mermaid look here. 

I love this tonal look from June 2018. I spy a green necklace! 

Who'd have thought that emerald and chartreuse would go together so well? 

And here's the last time I wore it, in August 2019. 

I do tend to wear it once a year these days, but it's an incredibly lovely piece, and I don't see it leaving my closet any time soon. 

Mathy stuff: Including the current outfit, I have now worn this skirt 20 times since 2009, which brings me to $2.25 per wear. That's awesome! 

When we got home from town, Vizzini was snoozing out on the deck. 

"Still blathering on about your skirt, Woman?"

Yeah, I am, bud. 

"How about a snooze in the sun with me?"

Oh, that sounds fabulous! 

Later that night, we spotted Vizzini sitting with his friend, Blocky, which is what we call the piece of carpet-covered wood on the elastic that dangles from his post. He likes to sit with Blocky resting on his back. Vizzini likes the security of having something resting on his back (I often fall asleep in bed with my arm across him), so I guess Blocky fulfills that need too. 

"Blocky loves me."

Cutting Up My Shoes

A few of you wondered about what I actually did to these shoes that I wore last week, so here are some pictures of my exacto blade artistry. 

Cautionary note: Do not do anything I do. Cut your shoes at your own risk. I do not take responsibility for your decisions. I only do this when I have weighed the risk of ruining my shoes vs. having wearable shoes. I only paid $15.00 for these shoes, so I didn't care too much if I f**ked them up. 

The heels on these shoes cut into the back of my heel - owie! I needed just a few millimeters' give to make them comfier, so I got out my trusty blade.

Don't cut the vertical seam! This is the middle seam at the back of the heel as outlined in red - most shoes have a vertical seam from top to bottom. If you cut through that, the back of the shoe can split open (I haven't had this happen, but it seems very high-risk). I am cutting on either side of the middle seam, which is covered by a separate piece of leather on these particular shoes. 

I have a sharp exacto blade, and I gentle saw it back and forth until I cut through (the flat line below) the horizontal stitching (as circled). 

See how much extra room I have now on one side? Perfect! It's better to do two on either side of the middle seam to get more control over how much extra "stretch" you need. 

I'm not concerned that the leather will rip - it's very difficult to rip thick leather. I would NOT recommend this "fix" on non-leather shoes. 

Here's the other side. 

I've given myself an extra 5-6 mm (half an inch) at the heel - no more rubbing! 

And this is probably why these shoes got marked down to $15.00 - the inside tongue, under the zipper, has been sewn in wrong, or the piece of leather is the wrong shape, and it made a very large, finger-sized roll/lump of leather right on the side of my foot. I couldn't even take two steps in these without them hurting. 

The red line is where the tongue is stitched to the top part of the shoe. The blue line is how much leather I removed - I essentially cut out the "finger roll". This was harder to cut, as I had to push the blade through the thick leather (without cutting myself! very important!), and then saw to the edge. I made several small cuts, removing small strips, until I had cut away the section outlined by the blue line above. Now, I have only a very small area that pushes on the top of my foot (I might make further adjustments to this still), and they are wearable and comfortable! 

There you have it. Questions? 

I'm going to leave you with one last cat picture. 

"Buzz off, Woman."

L and I loved how Vizzini's back foot is poked up there - little black toe pads, aw! I see one half-open eye glaring at me, heh heh. 

Thank you all so much for stopping by! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!