Sewing Savant and Possible Psychic

I love this dress:

Love the print, love the fit, love it. 

I mean, look at this thing.  It�s amazing:

It's perfect for swishing about, dramatic walks down spiral staircases, Mama Mia! viewings and casual summer parties.  I'd just add a white blazer for cool nights and I'd be set.  You can see it with a blazer at Everything Just So where the lovely Jill has included my pic with other party pics.

The best thing about this dress though?  It's handmade.  I�m always yelling about how much I love handmade vintage and this dress is a prime example why; it looks like it was made for me.  It wasn�t, of course, unless� Unless my 70s toddler-self sewed it for my future-self, at which point I should probably go on the next season of Project Runway because I�m clearly a sewing savant and possibly psychic!  

Happy Thursday, Everyone!

Gracey

SIA: Woman of Substance

Today, I am linking up to Salazar's blog, 14 Shades of Grey, for this week's SIA Challenge.  As soon as I saw the piece Salazar chose, I knew I had to participate:

Woman of Substance - Octavio Ocampo

In spite of all the blue in the piece, I was drawn most to the combination of cream, green and orange-y yellows.  So, those are the colors I used in my outfit:

For this outfit, I paired my green, knit pencil skirt (vintage via Vintage by the Pound) with a cream blouse (LOFT), yellow sandals (Franco Sarto via Nordstrom Rack) and a yellow necklace (LOFT).  I also added a leopard belt because, well, I'm sure the artist meant to put of leopard in the inspiration piece.  Probably.

?

All in all, I loved the inspiration piece and I love my resultant outfit:

To see everyone else's inspired looks, please stop by 14 Shades of Grey and take a peek.

Happy Tuesday, All!

Gracey

On Repeat

Once again, I am wearing a dress.  And sandals.  I seem to have this combination on repeat this summer:

Thrifted Dress (similar), Enzo Angolini sandals (similar) via Nordstrom Rack & LOFT necklace

Tomorrow I will also probably wear a dress and sandals.  Sometimes I like to wear separates with my sandals, just to shake things up, but it's usually a dress.  I did manage a necklace this time though:

I know, I know; that's pretty fancy for a Monday.  I guess that's just how I roll.

Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Busy or Whiny

This outfit feels busy to me:

I think it's the combination of the printed blouse (Bisou Bisou via JCP) with the pleated skirt (vintage via Goodwill).  I like both pieces well enough on their own but think they may be too much together:

Or, it's just hot out and heat makes me whiny and unable to dress myself.  Ah, well, busy or whiny, this is what I wore.

Happy Tuesday, All!  Stay cool!

Gracey

When Squirrels Attack: Part Deux

For some reason, squirrels hate me.  I don't know if they think I'm a tree and are trying to nest in my admittedly nest-able hair, or what.  But, today, this happened:

What caused such look of terror on my normally smiling face?

Well, I'll tell you.  What happened was I got attacked by this little, blood-thirsty killer:

Notice the straightened tail for maximum aerodynamic attack speed.

First he rushed me from the right, then tried to sneak back up on me from the left.  You can see in this next picture he tries to pretend he's minding his own business, but he is totally eye-ballin' me:

Sneaky little bastard.

But, enough about the killer squirrel.  Let's talk about the clothes.  This is what I wore:

 

Isn't that blouse fun?!!  I love it.  It's bright and colorful and I think the large-scale print is pretty cool.  To balance the delightful brightness of the blouse (thrifted) I decided to wear dark bottoms.  And to balance the wide-leg of the pants (Banana Republic) I decided to wear platform sandals (Franco Sarto via Nordstrom Rack).  I finished the look with black accessories.

Happy Thursday, Everyone!  Watch out for killer squirrels!

Gracey

I Blame Madonna

 

Okay, I realize that some of you make look at today's outfit and say "Sweet baby Jesus, Gracey, more blue?  If I wanted to see this much blue, I'd go stare at the ocean."  To which I say, firstly, that if you have an ocean in staring distance, go have yourself a good stare; it's good for you.

Secondly, I blame Madonna.  After I uploaded that video yesterday I had to watch it a couple of times because 80s Madonna is a national treasure.  And then, of course, the song was stuck in my head and as a result I couldn�t think past the color blue when getting dressed this morning. 

Still blue.  Still true (sure, why not?).  This time in the form of a thrifted silk blazer (via Salvation Army).  But, this time with a printed maxi dress (eight sixty via Nordstrom Rack) and some boots (Gap) to mix it up.  So, you see, this is nothing like what I wore yesterday.  Additionally, these aren't the droids you're looking for.

And that, folks, is how you pretend you didn�t accidentally repeat the same color palette two days in a row.   Smoke and mirrors and Jedi mind tricks.  Works every time.

Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey

Lucky Lamb

This outfit was directly inspired by an outfit that I saw in Lucky Magazine a couple of months ago.  And by a trick of Catherine�s at Not Dressed as Lamb:

A couple of months ago, Lucky suggested pairing a super-full skirt with a turtleneck layered under a printed shirt.  I knew immediately that I wanted to try to recreate the look but didn�t have a suitable skirt.  And then, a couple of weeks later, I found this skirt so I thought I�d give it a whirl:

And I love how it turned out.  In spite of it�s awkward length, this skirt has become one of my favorites to wear and today�s outfit is no exception.  I paired the skirt (Ralph Lauren via Goodwill) with a burgundy turtleneck (Gap) layered under a houndstooth shirt (vintage via Vintage by the Pound).  I also added a tie belt (DIY with belts from St. Vincent de Paul), tights (Hue via Nordstrom Rack), booties (Nine West Darsy) and a neon necklace (Target).

Although I do love the skirt, I was a bit iffy about the shirt.  It�s vintage and therefore has an appropriately crazy collar.  Which is where Catherine�s trick comes in; in this post here, she pins the collar of a shirt into a stand-up collar.  I did something similar with today�s shirt.  My collar wasn�t robust enough to pin behind my neck, so I folded the collar inside the shirt and used a stick pin to keep in place, creating a sort of mandarin collar:

And I think it worked.

So, thank you, Lucky.  And thank you, Catherine.  Also, a special thanks to my friend, Jeanne from I Dream of...{by Jeanne}.  She was with me when I bought this shirt and swore I could rock it.  Best enabler ever.

Happy Tuesday, All!

Gracey

Slightly Sweater Obsessed

Although I have reduced my shopping (yes, even my thrifting) quite a bit, I can�t seem to stop buying sweaters.  Like this one:

I guess you could say that I�m slightly sweater obsessed.

The good news is that I really love the sweaters I buy.  And today�s sweater is no exception:

I just think this sweater is so cool.  I love the pattern and I even like the subdued colors.  But, the best part is that the front and the back are different: 

front

 

back

Yes, that�s right, I look awesome both coming and going. 

Because this sweater (nic + zoe via Nordstrom Rack) is so interesting, I kept the rest of the outfit fairly simple, pairing it with black skinny jeans (a.n.a via JC Penny) and houndstooth flats (Old Navy via Goodwill).  The addition of the houndstooth being, of course, the difference between simpleand fairly simple.

So, yes, I probably do need to stop buying sweaters.  But this one was less than $20 at Nordstrom Rack and it usually retails for $130.00.  Surely no one expects me to pass up a sweater when it�s both cool and inexpensive.  Right?

Happy Monday, Everyone!

Gracey

Shop the Look:

Other Nic + Zoe Sweaters (here and here)

Exact black skinnies

Similar houndstooth flats

** Disclosure: Actions taken from the hyperlinks in this blog post may yield commission/compensation for the writer. Please see the Disclosure tab for more details.

Secretly Awesome

This sweater has a gold, snake print up the front, like it was slithered on by a giant, gold covered anaconda.  It�s pretty cool, but you can�t really see it in these photos:

Guess you�re just going to have to take my word for it.  Because heaven forbid I actually take a photo that shows detail.

In addition to my secretly awesome sweater (a.n.a via JC Penney), I also wore my very favorite pleated skirt (thrifted via Goodwill), tights (Hue via Nordstrom Rack), boots (Vince Camuto via Nordstrom) and my new favorite scarf (Betsey Johnson via Nordstrom).

I just realized that I wear an awful lot of snake.  I wonder if that means the Sorting Hat will put me in Slytherin when Hogwarts finally calls.  I hope not!

Happy Friday, Everyone!  Like most, I have a three-day weekend, so I�ll see you all on Tuesday!

Gracey

Shop the Look:

As similar a snake sweater as I could find

Similar black pleated skirt

Similar black boots

Betsey Johnson scarf (in cream)

** Disclosure: Actions taken from the hyperlinks in this blog post may yield commission/compensation for the writer. Please see the Disclosure tab for more details.