Fancy Friday: Red Leopard, Woven Plaid and Space Boots, Plus Crafternoon

Happy Friday, my friends! I hope you're all doing well, and relaxing over your weekends. 

I spent yesterday/Thursday afternoon getting my crafternoon on by finishing up some little projects that I'd forgotten about, and I'll share the results with you after we take a look at my Fancy Friday outfit.

I'm black and white and re(a)d all over! Har har. This skirt had not yet made it into a spring/summer outfit. A little exercise of the creative muscle in the ol' closet paired it with my red leopard suit jacket.

• Suit jacket - Smashed Lemon; last seen here in July with the matching suit pants
• Sweater - Sonia Rykiel, consignment; last worn here in May under the Impractical Rain Coat
• Skirt - Tatum & Olivia, consignment; last seen here in March with ruffles and a frock coat
• Boots - Teleport; last worn here in March in a bad outfit
• Sleeveless coat (below) - Only, thrifted; last seen here in March over my Kezzie-inspired Dr. Who outfit

I popped over to the drug store during my work day, and the woman at the make-up counter exclaimed, "Wow! Look at you! You're so bright!"

Yes, I am! 

I love how the red leopard of the jacket works with the plaid of the skirt. 

Each line of colour in the skirt is actually a strip of fabric, all woven and stitched down to a silk backing. It's amazingly elaborate. 

Without the jacket. I left it on all day as the weather's turned to FALL, as in falling rain. 

I wore grey tights to pick up the grey stripe in the skirt. 

Masked up: 

More pattern! 

• Mask - by Mom

Outerwear shots return! I could not face using my gross, sticky-handled umbrella, so I wore a hat. It works just as well, and my hands are free - and it was thankfully not windy.

My sleeveless wool coat is wonderful for layering over jackets in the spring and fall - it has no buttons or zips, just wraps with that ginormous shawl collar, and ties in the front. It has massive pockets too - hooray! 

Accoutrements: 

I've had this hat for several years - I picked it up at a thrift shop in Vancouver. It got soaked in the rain, but dried out just fine - hooray for wool! - and my hair stayed dry.

• Hat - vintage 80s, thrifted, Vancouver
• Silk scarf - fake Louis (Lewis!) Vuitton, thrifted; purchased here for $3.95
• Leather gloves - vintage, thrifted

And as you can see, I found my stash of gloves - these were picked up for less than $10 a few years ago. They are leather with wool lining. First outing for this new-to-me massive silk scarf and as expected, it was lovely. 

The stuff:

I always keep a few pairs of boots and booties out for the "shoulder" seasons (which we're in right now). I adore these silver boots - I like how the open vamp/lacing shows off whatever legwear I have on.

Black bling: 

I went hunting in my stashed-away fall accessories for my Sziska necklace when I got home from our last Mom-Day Adventure. 

• Necklace - Sziska, gift from Mom
• Cuff - Sziska, purchased here for $34.00
• Bangle - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Sidney
• Silver/crystal ring - Soul Flower
• Silver/onyx ring - Toccara, vintage fair
• Earrings - thrifted
• Kitty pin - Charmaine's

On Thursday, I was up early for the house-cleaners, then walked to town to do my weekly grocery shop, followed by my 7km Mental Health Walk. I'll have to take the camera with me again soon, as the leaves are starting to turn glorious colours in the graveyard.

Crafternoon! 

In the afternoon, I didn't have any plans while I waited for my groceries to be delivered, so I pulled out my mental list of little projects and resolved to start (and hopefully finish) a couple of Things I've Been Meaning To Do. 

Assemble supplies! Broken salamander brooch, useless belt from a vintage dress, a flower clip, gold vintage wool, and some thread, a needle and scissors. 

I started with the broken salamander brooch. I was inspired by the woven belt, and realized if I cut a small piece off, it would fit in the salamander's belly perfectly. 

Heat up the glue gun! I filled the tummy cavity with glue, pressed the small cut-off bit into it, added more glue, stuck it to my fingers, swore a few times...the usual. 

Vizzini was rolling around on the carpet next to me, being very helpful. 

"You should pay attention to meeeeeee..."

Look at that little white toed turkey-leg on him! Aw!

I sewed the "stuffing" to the tail loop securely, then wove stitches through the body to the top loop that connects it to the head. 

If the tail section breaks off, or the glued stuffing falls out, I won't lose the tail that way. 

Considering that I would not have been able to fix this (it's cheap metal, not even worth taking to a jeweler for repair), I think this worked out really well. 

I pinned it to my sweater to test it. It worked! I can wear this again! 

Vizzini lurked around, looking for something to bite. He did find a needle that went missing. 

"Or did I steal it in the first place? I'll never tell."

The brooch tail is a bit looser than it used to be, but it lays flat and you would never be able to tell at a glance that it has been repaired. Yay! Success #1! 

Here's the backside. 

"Let me taste it."

Okay, buddy, time to back away.

Next up: what to do with that big length of belt? It came with this dress, purchased here in July. 

I noted at the time that I wasn't going to wear it with the dress (it doesn't require a belt, and looks better without it), but that maybe I could loop it up into some sort of floral brooch or something. I'm testing my looping technique above, just holding it in place with my fingers. 

I trimmed the black petals off the floral clip in the "supplies" picture, then sewed each loop through itself plus the backing attached to the clip. I continued adding more loops, tightening them up as I went. 

And here's my loopy flower clip! 

See? I can clip it onto my blue fedora - which I will TOTALLY be wearing with that dress once it comes out to play (it's currently residing in the "to be worn in fall/winter" pile stuffed behind my skirts in my closet). 

It's just a simple alligator clip, so I don't even have to bother with a pin. Yay! Success #2!

Lastly, I had the two balls of vintage "Gold Mist" wool that I'd picked up on a thrifting expedition here for $2.95 (for both). 

I think it might have been my grandmother (Mom's mom) who instilled in me that I should re-roll new wool to get a feel for the weight and gauge before working on it, or maybe she just wanted me to roll her wool up? Either way, I've rolled a lot of balls of wool in my time!

Anyway, I had in mind a gold ruffly collar or yoke that I could wear under a coat or over a solid-colour top, so I just started crocheting. 

I don't use a pattern - I'm a free-form kinda gal when it comes to crochet. I started with rows of single crochets, and went from there. I had company while I worked out on the deck.

"You should feed me."

Vizzini looks so handsome there. He followed me around and pawed at the wool. 

I worked on the collar while I watched football in the evening, and got a good chunk of it done. I'm in the process of adding some more "lacework" to the edges. 

That's one full ball of wool I used here - it went a lot further than I thought it would! I'm not finished so I won't count it as a success quite yet.  

And finally, another picture of Mister Kitty. 

"Now? Is it dinner time now?"

I was surprised to see him sitting on this stool, as he's avoided it since we got it! Cats.

Wishing you all a wonderful, peaceful weekend! I'll be back on Sunday with tales of adventure.