Peter Cottontail

Supplies Used:

NYC: French White Tip

Quo: Free Spirit

Quo: Instant Artist Black

Revlon: Extra LifeTop Coat

Wild Horses

What I Wore:

Dress: Made by yours truly

Cardi: thrifted

Tights: Ardene

Shoes: Payless (online)

Bow: Shoppers

I have to apologize because I have been neglecting my blog since last Wednesday. I worked a lot more than usual last week, and I picked up an extra 8 hours shift, and it was a huge sale and I felt like I was going a mile a minute and had no time to do anything extra. I felt as busy and stretched out as that sentence actually. I really intended to do outfit posts everyday and have a sew-along update and a final assignment post for the Fat Bitch e-course, but it just didn't happen. Sorry for the late post today too, I kind of forgot about it yesterday and I really just needed a day to myself to relax. But, I am back now and I should have some more time this week to catch up and do my regular posting.

I wore this outfit to work last week during the ridiculously busy sale (hence the awful wrinkles, awkward). I was so run off my feet that I spent most of the time without a sweater on, so I decided to post some pictures without a cardigan for a change. I don't know why I never thought to pair this cardigan with this dress because it matches really well. I bought the cardigan a while ago, and before this I only wore it once. It's kind of a shame because it is really soft and comfortable, it just doesn't go with a lot of my clothes. It is also kind of an awkward length, I generally prefer my sweaters to be a wee bit shorter. In my last closet purge I was even contemplating donating it because I hardly wear it. I am really glad I didn't get rid of it though because now that I have found this pairing I think I should try and see what other things it looks good with. I am really trying to work on making more creative pairings and I think that I have been doing a pretty good job lately.     

Covered Buttons

What I Wore:

Shirt: Smart Set

Skirt: Made by yours truly

Leggings: Suzy Shier

Socks: Spring

Boots: ModCloth

I like this shirt and skirt combination a lot. If you haven't figured out by now that I love polka dots than this shirt probably proves it. That's not the only thing I like about it though, I also really enjoy the fake pocket on the front (which is weird because usually fake pockets annoy me and I keep wanting to put things in them and then wonder why it isn't working, but for some reason I find it endearing on this shirt) and the covered buttons at the back of the neck. I like shirts that have buttons up the back, and I love covered buttons so I really can't lose with that combination. I just love buttons in general though and I tend to collect items of clothing with interesting buttons, or I hoard buy buttons to sew onto things at a later date. This dress is an example of something I bought mainly for the buttons. Buttons are just really cool.

I have been experimenting with taking natural lighting pictures for my outfit posts and I think I prefer the results over those taken with a flash. The pictures just look richer and more natural (haha). The only downside is then sometimes you get blurry pictures,or ones where I am moving a lot. Sometimes they look really cool like the last one from this set,but others are not so great. Usually Colin takes my pictures for me (if he isn't here I use a tripod that he got me for my burfday), but the shutter speed has to be pretty low because of the lighting in here and he often has to take a few in a row to get a steady shot. Style blog problems. Overall I prefer taking a few rounds of pictures over fake looking ones. What do you guys think? Yay or nay to natural lighting? 

So far I am enjoying doing outfit posts everyday, but I don't think I could keep up with this every week. It is a lot of work mostly because I am running out of things to say haha!

Air Mail

Supplies: 

Ardene: Vintage Blue

NYC: French Tip White 134

Quo: Instant Artist Black

Revlon: ExtraLife No Chip TopCoat

Vintage Patch Chronicles

How I Applied My Patches from Vintage-Patch:

Step One: I received my patches in the mail. 

 There was even a lovely congratulatory letter!

Step Two: I marked out where my patches would go (while wearing my pants). 

Step Three: I adjusted the placement of the patches on my pants and marked it out with pins. 

Step Four: I ironed on each patch, placing a damp tea towel over them and holding the iron down for about ten seconds on each spot. *Edit* for anyone concerned about the patches looking slightly puckered after ironing with the damp cloth, don't worry, just iron over them with a dry iron once to get the smooth finish back.

Step Five: I let the patches sit for a while so they could set properly. 

 Step Six: I did a lovely blanket stitch around the edge to further secure them and ensure longevity.

I'll Fly Away

What I Wore:

Shirt: H&M

Neckalce: Target

Cardi: Smart Set

Jeans: Zellers

Patches: c/o Vintage-Patch

Shoes: Ardene

I mentioned a while ago that I won the giveaway that was hosted by Vintage-Patch. I had been eyeing some of their products for a while and it came as a surprise when I actually won. I was sooooo excited when my patches arrived in the mail last week! I already had plans on what to do with them and I immediately went to work applying them (I will share that post later today). I love these jeans, and I have worn them a few times on here, but they were actually starting to wear out in the knees (which is weird because that's not where my pants usually begin to wear) so they were the perfect place to put my newly acquired patches. I wore these pants to work today and I got a lot of compliments on the patches. I am really happy with how they look, I am so happy that I won the giveaway, and I am very happy with my experience with Vintage-Patch. I will definitely be ordering from them at some point in the future.   

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This is un-related to the patches on my pants, but it happened while I was wearing these clothes and thought I would share. As I mentioned yesterday as part of my assignment for the Fat Bitch e-course this week I am going to do outfit pictures everyday. I think this assignment came at the perfect time because I received an unpleasant comment at work yesterday and I really needed an image boost afterwards, so taking vain pictures was perfect. Someone asked me if I was pregnant yesterday at work and it made me feel a little unhappy (at first). Now this has happened before a couple times in the past, and before it made me feel gross and uncomfortable. But not today. Today my response was "No, that's just my belly." and happily patted it. After they left I started to feel kind of angry, like they had intruded a bit into my life. The person was nice about it, but still is it a stranger's business to know if I am pregnant? No! Should they be asking those kinds of personal questions in a public setting? No! Should they be asking personal questions in general? No! I think the most annoying part is that every time this has happened the person has backed up my response by saying "Good, because I thought you looked too young anyway." Excuse Me?! You don't know how old I am. I could want to be pregnant at a young age (and I am 24, which considering isn't that young. I know a few people who are married and have kids already). And even if it was unplanned, you just don't say that. What if I wanted to get pregnant and couldn't, or I had a miscarriage and you just brought up painful memories? It's just inappropriate  It's my body and my business. And even after that I love my body. I love my round stomach, and a few un-wanted pregnancy comments can't make me hate it. I am fat and I am beautiful and those two things can be synonymous.

Kate Nash & Gratuitous Selfies

What I Wore:

Dress: ModCloth

Cardi: Thrifted (Talize)

Belt: Bealls

Tights: ModCloth

Shoes: Thrifted (Talize)

Brooch: FanExpo booth

This is the outfit that I wore to the Kate Nash concert on Friday night. I took some gratuitous selfies in the mirror, which worked out because this weeks assignment for the Fat Bitch e-course is to be vain and take pictures of ourselves. I apologize for the crappy cell phone pictures but I didn't have a chance to take proper outfit pictures before we left and it was super late when we got back. The concert was so good! She mostly played songs from her latest album which came out on Thursday last week. I had only heard a few of the songs from it before we got to see her, but it was kind of like a fun surprise to hear her new material.  The album kind of has an old school punk feel to it. Colin and I were talking about this over the weekend and there has been a progression since her first album, which was more indie/folk ballads, to her second album which was more rockabilly, and now the third one which is kind of punk. Kate Nash is a very talented musician and I think she pulls off all of these styles very well. She is kind of a bad-ass and has a killer punk voice. I got a couple pictures of the opening band Supercute (who totally lived up to their name) and Kate Nash.

The Horseshoe Tavern stage

Opening band Supercute

Kate Nash! 

Kate Nash and her all girl band singing back up

As part of the Fat Bitch e-course I am going to attempt to post outfit pictures everyday this week, so stay tuned for that! 

How To Be A Fat Bitch e-course Week #4

After a brief hiatus Rachele is back with her blogging and the Fat Bitch e-course. Here is the latest assignment for you all. Enjoy! 

Discussion

How has seeing fat bodies in the media affected you? Like Adele, Gabourey Sidibe, Aidy Bryant from SNL, Beth Ditto, Melissa McCarthy, etc. Do you gravitate towards fat positive music, TV and movies?
We aren't really exposed to beautiful fat bodies in our culture. When we see fat bodies on tv or in movies they usually aren't shown in a positive light. I think this needs to change. All body types need to be shown as being beautiful. Everyone is different and we shouldn't be glorifying just one type of body. But I digress, right now I am writing about fat bodies in particular. I am relatively new to loving fat bodies. Not that I would hate on other people before, but I didn't love my own body and I didn't actively seek out other fat bodies (even as an inspiration to loving my own).  I don't think I tended to gravitate to other fat bodies in the past because I was in denial about my own. I didn't accept and love my fat so I didn't really love other's fat either. I didn't start to love my fat body and other fat bodies until I started reading fat acceptance blogs about a year ago. As a result I don't really have a fat body role model. Probably my first exposures to fat bodies being portrayed as beautiful in the media were America Ferrara in UglyBetty (she's more average than fat but it was a start) and Nikki Blonsky in the remake of Hairspray. I am going to make a more conscious effort now to seek out more media of fat bodies. It is good to have that kind of diverse body imagery in your life. There isn't just one kind of body, one kind of beautiful, and I think I need to educate myself more about fat bodies.

After writing the above I went and watched all of My Mad Fat Diary and I fell in love with the show and with Rae. She is beautiful and that show is amazing and a great inspiration for fat bodies everywhere. I was really struggling with the assignment this week, it went through a few incarnations, but I ended up settling on making a collage of Rae (Sharon Rooney). I hope you like it!

Assignment

Create a tribute to a fat body. Your fat body or somebody else's. Make a papier mache figure, draw a silhouette photograph your rolls, curate a collection of images of bodies similar to yours, etc. Blog it, Instagram it, Tweet it (#fatbitchecourse, #nearsightedowl), etc. and share it in the comments below.

Sharon Rooney from My Mad Fat Diary

P.S. There weren't a lot of full body pictures of anyone from this show so I had to work with what was available.