Two New, Plus Sewn Like a Boss

I couldn't resist wearing two of my new-to-me items from yesterday's productive treasure hunt shopping trip: the purple skirt and the cowhide leather coat. 

In support of my decision to limit this skirt to my spring/summer wardrobe, I realized I already have a purple pencil skirt that is a fall/winter: my purple velvet Yves Saint Laurent one here. I even moved that blouse to my spring/summer stuff - it's going to match so well with this skirt. 

• Vest - Religion, consignment; last worn here in October 2020 with my ribcage sweater
• Top - M by Missoni, thrifted; last seen here layered under sequins in December 2020
• Skirt - Diane von Furstenberg, consignment; purchased here for $18.00 yesterday
• Shoes - Mission Monica, Fluevog; last seen here (3rd outfit) for Book Club in September 2020 with this same top
• Coat (below) - Sisley, consignment; purchased here yesterday for $75.00

How did I live without this striped top? It has ever colour in it: black, purple, orange, pink, copper. It goes with everything. And it's sparkly! 

I had a bit of a struggle looking for tops to go with this purple pencil skirt, but thankfully, this top has All The Colours in it! 

It's still too chilly (although sunny, yay!) to not wear another layer, so I added this distressed vest. 

I'm also wearing a camisole under the stripy top for warmth.

 I loved wearing this skirt - it was really comfortable and being a wool knit, it didn't wrinkle a bit. I also think I might have a jacket that matches it exactly...this Tahari one here. That would be cool - I'd have a suit! 

The slits made it awesome for walking - my giant strides were not hampered in any way, you will be happy to know. 

I also liked how the front and back of the skirt flapped around while I walked. 

I was reminded how much I like side-slit skirts. Why are they so rare? 

Masked up - pink with purple splatter. 

This was a fun and comfy outfit.

Outerwear - can you tell I felt totally badass in this leather coat? 

It was amazing to wear, and I don't think it's ever been worn, at least not a lot. It was quite stiff, but softened up really fast - I love leather once it takes on your body shape. Then it's literally Clothing As Armour! 

The technique that removed some of the hair irregularly is really cool on - I enjoyed the feel of it. The hair is quite soft - it's nice to pat. 

All done up - it's a bit squishy with three layers underneath, plus my scarf jammed in there. 

I undid the bottom snap for walking. The pockets are great for storage but not for jamming one's hands into. 

Outerwear stuff: 

I am fond of my pink accoutrements. 

• Fur scarf - thrifted
• Leather gloves - consignment
• Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 

Aren't the shoes groovy? I showed them off to my colleague Ngoc, pointing out the angels on them. It's so nice to have a fashion-appreciating coworker in the office again! I admired her outfit right back! 

Silver bling: 

Tough stuff. 

• Leather studded cuff - vintage 80s
• Silver/Lucite bracelet - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Vancouver
• Silver/onyx ring - Tocarra, vintage fair
• Silver/amethyst ring - vintage mall
• Earrings - c. 1996

While I knew that the trousers I bought yesterday were rough around the edges on the hems, I'd neglected to check the seams on the slits of the skirt (rookie error!). Thanks to my newly-rediscovered ability to hand-sew (as seen here, on my hemming work of a vintage dress), I bought the trousers anyway, feeling confident that I'd be able to fix them. 

When inspected the skirt, I noticed that both side slits were both pulling apart, to the point where a bit of the fabric starting to develop a hole or run. Gotta fix that! 

Here's my work on the purple skirt, just simple little stitches pulling the top of the slits back together and reinforcing them. It's not perfect, but this is highly magnified - those are teeny stitches! 

This will keep the seams from ripping further. Good enough! 

I had a much more involved job on the trousers, I believe that the cuffs are not original, and that the past owner either cuffed them herself or paid to have the extra length made into cuffs. Either way, whoever sewed it did a crap-tastic job! There were loose threads everywhere!

It looked like the sewer tried to stitch both the front and the back side at the same time, probably to save time. It is an odd way to do cuffs (I've looked at the work on L's suits, including the pants), but it does give the hems weight, which keeps them hanging straight. 

The larger size of the stitches they used meant that - in addition to being visible (tch!) - the stitches likely snagged or caught on a shoe or boot buckle, ripping the thread in some places, and bunching it up in others. 

I noticed when I first put them on that my toes went right into the cuffs. No wonder they were marked down by $100! It's amazing how many people - me included! - don't want to buy something they have to repair, but really, this was not that hard to do. 

I took my time last night (nearly an hour), and redid the outside cuffs and the inner cuffs separately with little invisible stitches. I left the old thread in place until I'd stitched the front and back sides of each pant leg, carefully snipping it and pulling all the bits out afterwards to tidy it up. 

Sewing them this way meant I used a lot more thread (I need another spool of black) and it took a long time, but the difference is huge! They really look professional, and I'm quite impressed with my handiwork. I sewed those cuffs like a boss! 

I'm going to look at potentially hand-mending garments when I'm shopping now, whereas in the past, I might have skipped past snagged hems, popped seams or other minor repairs. I got this! 

While I sewed, Vizzini squeezed himself awkwardly down under my arm, on top of the trousers while I worked, and got in the way a lot! He didn't go after the thread at all, though. What a good boy. 

"That's me: Good Boy."

He was allowed out on the deck after work today, just for a few minutes. We're probably still a month away from having the deck open, but he knows spring is in the air!