1930s Women's Magazine Print

What I Wore:
Shirt: Thrifted (Talize)
Skirt: Made by me (no pattern)
Belt: Bealls
Shoes: Spring
Collar Clips: Gift from Colin's sister (actually earrings)

I absolutely love the fabric I used for this skirt. The print is pages from a 1930s women's magazine. I love anything newspaper print or that kind of style, and women's magazine's from the 1850s on were pretty neat. I got to look through a lot of them when I was trying to find inspiration for the gown that I made in my third year of university (see my about page). You might remember that I bought this fabric in late February when I went to the Creative Festival with my aunt. I had a lot of other projects to work on before I was able to get to this one, which I finished last week. I think it turned out pretty well. I was thinking originally of making it more of a circle skirt but there wasn't enough fabric to do that so I went with gathers instead. What do you guys think?

Not much going on this week which is nice because the last few weeks have been a little crazy. I am definitely looking forward to going away to my aunt's cottage in two weeks. A whole week off on a beach with a lake is going to be great. We go there every summer, although I missed last year since we were in Halifax. Does anyone else have any fun summer traditions or plans?  

P.S. Sorry this post was late today. Colin and I went to see his sister and her boyfriend play a show last night and we got home super late. We ended up having to walk home from downtown because the buses had stopped running. That was certainly an adventure.

Vintage Ladies With Hats

What I Wore:
Dress: Vintage (re-fashioned by me here)
Shoes: Target

Belt: Bealls

Annnnnd we're back! That was an unexpected but unavoidable hiatus. Colin and I weren't sure when the internet was being cut off at his dad's and it happened rather suddenly last Thursday. Then it was a fun run of trying to find a provider that serviced the area. Lots of tethering our phones and ridiculously long phone calls later we finally got set up yesterday. That was one long week let me tell you. I have become really dependent on the internet the last few years, especially since starting my blog. It is probably a good thing that I was forced tot take a bit of a break because sometimes it can get to be way too much. Anyway, back to blogging as usual once again (I know I keep saying this, but this time I promise it's true!). I have fun posts planned for next week (including a sewing room tour) to make up the week of posts that were lost.

I wore this outfit last weekend to my dad's family's annual BBQ. Not too may people attended this year but it was still a lot of fun. It's always nice to catch up with family that you don't get to see all the time. I am really glad I ended up buying these shoes from Target a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure how much I would actually wear them at the time, but they have seen a lot of use already this summer so that's good (ant they were only $8 so you really can't lose). I love the print on this dress, if you can't tell it has a whole bunch of cartoon faces of ladies, it's pretty awesome. I kind of love weird prints like that though in case you haven't noticed. I hardly own any solid clothing, it can be a problem sometimes when trying to mix and match. Oh well, I have become a lot better at mixing prints so I don't need solid clothes anyway, so there!

Teal Polka Dots & A Vintage Bench

What I Wore:

Dress: Zellers

Headscarf: Thrifted (Goodwill)

Necklace/Earrings/Shoes: Target

It has been way too hot the last few days to do any outdoor outfit pictures so I decided to try my hand at a new location indoors. This is my new closet/sewing room in Colin's dad's house, and I am totally in love with it. The space is really amazing, it has a great set up for storing my clothing, jewellery, shoes etc. I really liek this little bench, which actually sits under a mirror to the left of where the pictures were taken. It is so cute and vintage I thought it went well with this outfit. On the other side of the room I have all my sewing supplies, my machine and my serger. It is nice to have such a bright open space to work in. I know I mentioned this a bit in my last post but I am really excited about it and felt the need to share again (especially since there are pictures this time). 

Today is shaping up to be a good one. I am going to see a friend about volunteering at the museum she works in. I haven't been able to do much museum related work since I graduated so it will be nice to get back into the swing of things. I miss working closely with collections so hopefully I can help her out and get some more experience at the same time. Tonight is a D&D night, my character's story line has took a really interesting turn last week so I am excited to see where that leads to. I hope you guys have some fun stuff to look forward to on this hot Wednesday in July. 

Blue & Red Stripes

What I Wore:
Dress: thrifted (Goodwill)
Belt: Thrifted (Frenchys)
Headscarf: Thrifted (Goodwill)
Shoes: Ardene

I am really pelased with how this outfit came together. I love it when I make an outfit out of things that I have entirely thrifted or made myself. I find it very satisfying for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with finding nice things on the cheap, or the thrill of wearing something relatively unique, who knows. What I do know is that I enjoy the feeling immensely.

Not too much going on since last week. We are starting to get settled in here at Colin'd dad's. I set up the sewing room slash my closet and it looks pretty awesome if I do say so myself. I am excited to spend some quality sewing time in there in the future. The neighbourhood is nice and quiet, and relatively close to my work which is great. Unfortunately I made the mistake of walking to work yesterday when it was 39 degrees out and by the time I got there I was all red and sweaty, awesome. I will definitely be checking the weather report before I decide whether to walk or not in the future. It will be really nice to walk there in the fall though when it is a bit cooler out. I am looking forward to more of a laid-back week coming up. Last week was kind of crazy so it will be nice to have some time to relax and settle into the new place. I hope everyone is having a happy Monday!  

How To Be A Fat Bitch e-course #11: Dealing With Diet Talk

source

Assignment

It might also help you if you write down some responses in your own words to these inevitable encounters so that you feel prepared to get through your next family reunion or workplace potluck. Even if you don't use them you can work through your feelings about it. Blog it, Instagram it, Tweet it (#fatbitchecourse, #nearsightedowl), etc. and share it in the comments below.

This is definitely a hot button issue for my family. It comes up pretty frequently at family gatherings so it will be great to have a few go-to responses for when this happens. It will also be nice for work because I have a few co-workers that are not body positive and it is hard to deal with sometimes. Here are some of the responses that I came up with:

"I think people have a right to do what they want with their body. Who are we to judge? How do we know that they aren't perfectly happy as they are?"
"To me fat is not a negative word, it is simply a descriptive word, like happy or tall etc."
"You cannot make assumptions about a person's health based off of their size. There are a way more contributing factors to health besides weight anyway."
"I don't feel comfortable discussing other people's/strangers choices, especially in regards to their body, it's too personal. Let's talk about something else. Have you read any good books lately?"

I think that's a pretty good standard list for most of the situations I have found myself in. Can anyone think of anything else to add?

Discussion

I recently made the decision to either unfriend or filter out online friends that do a lot of diet talking or post fat hate. It wasn't exactly easy and a one didn't understand and lashed out at me. What is your policy on online friends? Have you gone through your friend's list and given people the axe?

When I finished school I went through my Facebook and "axed" quite a few of the people that I had friended over the years. Most of the people didn't get axed because of diet talk (although there were a few). It was mostly people that I only friended because they were in my programs and it was good to have them on there for contact purposes. I make it a personal rule to not friend anyone unless I really know them and their ideals. It's the same for blogs, tumblr, pinterest etc.. I read through their posts and make a decision based off of what I see. If they seem negative in anyway about body positivity or other important issues, then I won't follow them. I definitely filter who I am friends with online, it just makes life more pleasant for everyone involved.

Change Is On The Wind

Remember how in my last post I said that things have been a bit crazy in my life lately? The change of locale for the pictures is one of those crazy things. Colin and I have moved up to his dad's house to look after the place while he is away for a job. It's pretty exciting for a lot of reasons, including the fact that the garden is beautiful and great for taking outfit pictures.

I am pretty exhausted from moving, working and everything else that has been going on this week so I think I will leave it at that for now. I am looking forward to a nice two days off to finish unpacking and relax a little. I hope everyone had a great week, Happy Friday! 

What I Wore:

Shirt: Suzy Shier

Skirt: Made by me (no pattern)

Shoes: Ardene

The King in Purple

What I Wore:

Shirt: Thrifted 

Skirt: Made by me (no pattern)

Necklace: Black Market (Halifax)

Shoes: Ardene

In case you didn't notice I haven't been around on here lately. Things got a bit hectic in life and I just haven't had the time to do any proper blogging. We're moving up to Colin's dad's and have been in the process of sorting out the moving plans. My computer has also been fussy about loading pictures and editing them. I had intended to upload some pictures from Canada Day weekend, but didn't get a chance to because of the problem. Luckily it is all sorted now so that's good. It's also really humid here and my hair is crazy and I need to do something with it so please excuse the mess on my head. Anyway, all of those excuses combined are why I haven't been around much lately.

As I was partway through working on this skirt I realized I should have made it a "how to" post with some step by step pictures because it is pretty simple to construct. I was too far in the process to stop and take any pictures, but here are the instructions anyway. Basically all I did was cut two pieces the length that I wanted (including 5" for the hem and  2" for the waistband). Then I sewed the two pieces together at the side seams. I left a whole 1" down from the top on one side, you'll see why in a minute. I folded down 1" at the waist, pressed it, and then folded it another 1". I sewed that on the machine using a decorative zig-zag.  Once the waistband was sewn down I fed some 3/4" no-roll elastic through the hole I left open in the side seam. I sewed the ends of the elastic together and then hand sewed shut the small opening. Last but not least I pressed up the hem 2 1/2"  and then folded it another 2 1/2". I did a decorative zig-zag to secure the hem. Ta-da! That's it. It's a very easy skirt that you could do without a pattern. I wanted it to be simple enough to show case the awesome Elvis fabric that I bought. It's going to be great for the summer, just throw it on and go!  

P.S. If anyone wants anymore close up shot let me know and I will happily provide them. 

An Apple A Day

What I Wore:

Dress: Made by Me (no pattern)

Belt: Bealls

Shoes: Payless

Earrings: Target

I am really pleased with how a lot of the dresses I made over the winter and spring are transitioning to the summer. Making them sleeveless is great because I can wear a cardi when it’s cool, and then just wear it as is when it is warmer outside. Plus making most things out of cotton has its advantages (and disadvantages, yay wrinkles!) when it comes to keeping cool.  I have been working on a couple skirts over the last few days and then I think I am going to go back to dresses. It is nice to have a good selection of fun prints to spice things up since you can’t add in too many accessories and layers in this heat.

I hope that everyone had a great Canada Day. To any American readers, I bet you are looking forward to the upcoming long weekend! My weekend was pretty good.  Despite being sick with a bad cold on Saturday I had to go to work because we were in high gear for inventory prep.  Sunday was inventory day. I didn’t have to do any of the weighing, but from what I hear it went well. After work a friend, her boyfriend, Colin and I all went down to the waterfront to see the Tall Ships (I didn’t end up going on Friday because that’s when I got sick!). We met up with my parents, had some food, walked around looking at the ships and listened to a few musical acts. The Hamilton Youth Steel Orchestra was really good, and so was Harrison Kennedy.  On Monday we celebrated Colin’s sister’s birthday with a bbq and went to see the fireworks in the evening. All in all it was a pretty good weekend. Did anyone else do anything fun/have plans for this weekend?