Quar-Inspo: Outfit Edition

 I went to the office! I dressed up!

Hair - Quarantine Braid

Earrings - Ten Thousand Villages

Necklace - Luther Rose purchased in Namibia during the LWF 12th assembly in 2017

Blazer - something cheap from Amazon, with the zipper ripped out to create somewhat of a pocket, since the blazer is lined. 

Dress - Lularoe Nicole purchased at a deep discount when Bonton went out of business (with pockets that I sewed in)

Shoes - Allbirds "Tree Loungers" SO COMFORTABLE (Full review later) 

Hot .... Pockets!

A dress that won't make you die of sweat in the summer? Yes please! This is another offering from the organic cotton company Pact. This dress is cool and comfortable, especially in the heat of summer, slightly fitted, has a cute cap sleeve and I'm a big fan of a V-neck. If maxis are your jam, it's perfect. It's not really mine, so my brilliant spouse suggested chopping off the bottom and using that to make pockets. Eureka!

I altered this dress to make it perfect (for me), chopping off about 10" of the bottom to make it a midi, hemmed it, and using that fabric to add pockets. I'm pretty pleased with the effect. The process of putting pockets in pants has been discussed in a previous post, but you can check out how to put pockets in dresses and skirts from one of my favorite sewing youtubers HERE. 

*****I also what to note that Pact DOES NOT carry sizes outside of the XS-XL range, which is a huge bummer. Most of what Pact sells are in the t-shirt and yoga pants vibe, so really it shouldn't be that hard???? I have bought a lot of casual garments in the past year for work in Coronatide, but I think for some more "office appropriate" pieces I will likely explore elsewhere. 

Mask Up!

Most of my sewing for the last 5 months have been making masks. I have used a free pattern from the sewing pattern company McCalls. I literally just spent 30 minute straight talking in this mask, in 90+ F degree heat (though we were in the shade) doing a pastoral visit with a couple - one spouse sitting outside with me, masked, and on speakerphone with the other, inside the still-locked-down living facility. That's right, I STILL have to visit through a window in the lobby by calling a special phone number so we can chat and look at each other through the window (Though I am very glad that I can do at least this much). So I talked, prayed, chatted, sweated, then gassed up my car (2nd time in 5 months).... and then it took me about a full minute of driving before I realized I still had my mask on.

It's not that hard.*

Plz excuse my mussed up collar

The McCalls Pattern can be found HERE.

*It is hard for many people for medical and other legitimite reasons. That's why the rest of us who can do it need to do it.

The Short and the Long

During this pandemic and the upheaval it's causing, I become more intentional with what I buy and what I spend money on - companies and products that are ethically sourced, fair trade, "green," or all of the above. I'm going be highlighting the things I have found that I like and I would love to hear about others!

*A brief word on Fast/ Cheap fashion. It's bad. Bad for the workers, bad for the environment, bad quality... just google it. There's lots of information out there now. Good clothes are going to cost money. Which does make ethical clothing less accessible. Which sucks, a lot.*

I found an organic cotton company call PACT. (I actually now have a pretty good min-wardrobe from them, with items that are comfortable and also look good on Zoom calls. I will feature these another time!)

Currently, I LOVE: These Men's Shorts from Pact. You'll notice I'm recommending the men's shorts, and not the women's (which I didn't bother with).  Both are the same price, but the women's shorts have a 3" inseam while the men's have a 9" inseam. Basically, women's shorts = same price, half the fabric. Come on, Pact! Be better than this! (No offence if you prefer short shorts I'm sure they're fine.) I have both blue and green, and will likely buy more.

These shorts are comfortable, cool, and have ALL THE POCKETS. I'm wearing a size small, though I could have gone up to a medium for a looser fit. Full price they are $60, but they very often have sales, and there are also so many codes available for bigger purchases.

I am also wearing a men's Pact shirt, but, that will be another post. I'm discovering that I love cotton, which is way better for my body temp regulation. Nothing is worst than sweating like crazy in synthetic material while social-distancing-hanging-out with friends on a 90 degree day!

Still blogging, still sewing: Shirts

The blog was on a bit of hiatus, but I was not. I've been working on a couple of things since I moved about 6 months ago (including using the new sewing machine my mom got me!) I've been making cute maternity shirts, because apparently there is a lackage of cute options out there. These patterns are not strictly maternity, but are flowy and gathered in the front in some way.

I've learned that I apparently suck at doing button holes on my new machine, so I will be taking a class while I'm with my family in WI to learn how. So in the meantime, I cheat a bit and use snaps, with buttons sewn on the front.

I'll start with the most recently finished (well, almost) first, this is Butterick B5763. I think I will make one of these for myself!

All I have left to do is sew on the snaps!

LLR Hacks

I am probably part of too many LuLaRoe groups! For the uninitiated, LLR is like Tupperware meets Russian roulette for clothes. I saw this shirt in a size or two bigger than I needed, but I loved it so much (because I LOVE white and black patterns) I bought it and added a seam up the back to make it less bulky, which can be seen on the pic on the right. The seam is actually straight though it doesn't look it, it's hard to take a pic of your back! This kind of shirt (called an Irma) has a hi-low hem, which makes it a challenge to layer in the winter with certain sweaters. I thought of a way to fix that using a skinny belt. Blouse the back. Tada!

Appropriate Comments that Women Pastors LOVE to hear about their bodies and what they wear!

(Nothing. The point is that this post is blank.)