Pattern: Easy Skirt WITH POCKETS!

Guys, I love pockets.

So incredibly much. I don't feel quite right without my cell phone and chapstick close to my left thigh. It is just how I am. So when I was thinking about  making skirts I wanted to be sure to include pockets. But I didn't know how to do that, so Google helped me out. Funnily enough the pattern I end up liking was from a blog I already follow- Tania, from What Would a Nerd Wear.

THIS PATTERN that she posted as the one I followed. And yes, I FOLLOWED a pattern. PRECISELY *well, I still didn't measure but...*. This is a huge deal for me. I have NEVER followed a sewing pattern of any kind on my own, but this one I did start to finish all by myself.I sat there at my sewing machine, laptop open in front of me, and step by step I followed that pattern! I feel like such a big girl.

Yesterday afternoon I made not one, but TWO cute skirts, one bright/playful, the other more dressy/classic, but both with pockets. Functional pockets!!!! I may or may not have seam ripped the first skirt 3 times, but eventually I did get the hang of it.

And then I obviously did a photoshoot.

Skirt #1 finished product:

 Outfit details: 

Tanks: Target. Belt: Gifted. Necklace: Thrifted. Shoes: Bongo, via Goodwill. Colorful bracelets: Dandelion Cottage (a local artsy gift shop).Hobo bag: I made it.

Skirt- red flowers and dots fabric $2.99 from Savers. Blue pocket lining was scrap from another project. I already had the thread and elastic, so basically the whole project cost me $3 and a little bit of time.

Skirt #2:

 *please feel free to ignore my awkward bird face and how short this skirt looks when I pull it outwards thus revealing my gym shorts underneath, and instead check out the legitimacy of those there POCKETS!

 *also feel free to ignore the awkward lint situation ...3 cats people. It's a losing battle.

Details: White Button Up: LOFT, via Savers. Jacket: H&M. Belt: Savers. Heels: Target. Earrings: Charlotte Russe. Bracelet: A Renn Faire (yes. truly.).
Skirt: once again, fabric $2.99 at Savers. All other material I already had.

Currently wearing: black polka dot skirt, skull and cross bones button up, leather jacket, black belt, black leggings, polka dotted heels, black hoop earrings. It's versatile!

I'm pretty pleased overall with how they came out. Pattern was easy to follow and the project took less than one hour. Black one got hemmed a bit too short, and the red one's waist is a little lumpy... but hey, good effort. Mistakes happen when you don't measure, but measuring is math and I am on summer break here! BUT I made pockets. That's all that really matters.

Now back to sewing. Not something I normally do for long periods of time but I am feeling inspired, particularly after the season premiere of Project Runway last night. I just gotta got make more STUFF. Potential photo documentation to come.

We are such stuff as dreams are made on...

DREAMS DO COME TRUE!!!!!
I'm living proof right here. (and fifteen points to anyone who can, without Google, give me the source of the quote used in the title).

Dream that came true #1- I FINISHED MY SUMMER CLASSES!

Now I get 3 weeks of summer to myself before I am back to school full time! Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!

Dream that (sort of) came true #2- COWBOY BOOTS! 

But by sort of I mean they are not the ones I want. I really wanted plain brown ones, but due to a lot of  tomfoolery in the store (such an aggravating story I don't even want to type it out!) I had the brown ones I wanted taken away from me and has to settle for black ones until another pair of brown ones can be found elsewhere. But s'all good 'cause they were cheap on clearance!

Even though these are the wrong color they still make me ever so happy. I do not care if it is July in New England. I am thinking about how country roads are going to take home to the place that I belong, my Sweet Home Alabama, and how there I am wanted, Dead or Alive.

 And yes. I just combined 3 songs. And sang them out loud all medleyfied as I typed. Yes I did. Get at me.

 *if the painting THE SCREAM was set on a farm it would look like this... no?

In other news, my dress was a tablecloth until earlier this week. I felt that my boots needed a plaid cowgirl-esk dress. So I made one.
If I were a good blogger I would have posted a tutorial but...it was a very spur of the moment creation and I am clearly not a good blogger, so...
But basically it is a tube with straps. Not much to be told.

Tomorrow I am making skirts (with pockets!) and I will be a well-behaved blogger and put up a tutorial. I promise. Maybe.

Final Stretch...

...al...moooost....th..er..err...errreee....(*pants super dramatically*)

Almost to the end of my summer classes that is. Today I have to edit to papers and then simply show up to school to drop them off today and tomorrow and then FREEDOM SWEET FREEDOM! ...for like 3 weeks.

(I feel like THIS PHOTO perfectly describes the college situation I have gotten myself into.)

What am I going to do with my three weeks of glorious liberty from education, you ask? Well....

*MAKE STUFF.

Like anything at this point. I just need some unrestrained creativity in my life. Immediate plans would be making some skirts (as mentioned in the previous post) and stuff such as that (I started yesterday by making a dress out of a plaid tablecloth...). Going to look all over the internet for inspiration and over priced things I can recreate and then do it. Mental release for me.

*WRITE STUFF

What exactly I am not sure. But I can tell you it will NOT be research papers. I will be research free for 3 weeks. I need some good old venting blog posts and some crazy imaginative fiction right about now. And NONE of it will have a works cited page. NONE I TELL YOU!

*HARASS LITERARY AGENTS

As much as that is not a fun game it is a necessity to my life. Huzzah.

*MUSIC.

Mostly involving my keyboard and my voice. I need to play. I need to sing. I need to bang keys and release notes. I don't care what it is. I just need to make music.

*PHOTOS.

I plan on doing a couple photoshoots with friend or inanimate objects. There is an abandoned mill that has been beckoning to me for months now. I can only keep myself away for so long...

*OUTDOORS.

I need to be outside. As nice as my air conditioned school and nice cool bedroom are I need some nature in my life. Last week in August my family is going to spend a week at the beach, but until then I need to frolic in the woods and roll around in some grass or something. Being inside is horrible awful.

*GYM.

It is hard to motivate myself to go when I have papers to write. But now I have no excuses and I refuse to be the college kid who sleeps all day in the summer. PRODUCTIVIIIITTTTYYY!

* THINK ABOUT REALITY.

Yeah...yucky stuff. But required to being a functional adult. I need to get texts books for my classes in the fall. Also need to think about another part time job. Dust Assassining is great, but you can only clean houses for so many hours in a day.  Don't know where I am going to try and work, but I think I would prefer retail over a restaurant. I refuse to do that because extensive people skills are required and I extensively lack those. Or maybe I can be a roofer. That would be the most fun.

That is about all I have for now... but I think that is enough to keep myself busy for the time span of three weeks. I will for sure be doing SOMETHING as relaxation is not something I really enjoy. Posts on my progress to come, I promise! 

What's wrong with this picture...

Save for the headlessness of it all, does everything look to be in order? Well, let me give you a clue. My shirt is a shirt, but so is my skirt.

Meaning, yes, I am wearing a shirt as a skirt. What is even better is that I made the shirt a couple years ago.
When worn properly it looks something like this:

(fantastic armpit shot by my mom, on last year's beach vacation).

(shot from Awakening Conference 2011- me and my friend Rachael doing vocals.
Credit to Danielle Crosby)

So not only am I one of those "weird" people who makes their own closer, I also do things like wear them on the wrong part of my body.  Apparently is functions as lower body wear as well when I slap a belt on it. Good stuff, eh?

outfit details: gray tee= target. skirt=shirt I made with fabric from JoAnn's. belt=gift. monstrous wooden heels=bongo, but bought at goodwill. necklaces=handmade from bullets and vintage keys.

As soon as I am done with school for the summer (oxymoronically paradoxical, yes?)- NEXT WEDNESDAY- I am going to be making stuff. Skirts (real ones, not shirts) are on the list. Wicked easy too. Tutorial to come!

Britishness. And humor.

We all know I have an affinity for all things British...so obviously I found this to be funny.

*Dagsson, via A Cup of Jo

And for the record? I love tea.

This is what love and acceptance looks like....

 Example 1: Customary kiss attacking ritual. 2 little girls and their big brother.

 

(someone might not have wanted me to post this photo but... I love it. It is quite possibly one of my favorites ever.

Sorry JoJo)

Example 2: same two little girls and ME! 

*I am very proud of this moment. It took me about 8 months to get a kiss from the littlest sister, but now she does so voluntarily. And I'm quite happy about it!)

happy birthday to...

 

happy 22nd, JoJo!

love, Bella

what to do with horrendously blue frosting...

Step 1: first you must obtain the ghastly blue stuff. Yup. It comes this way.

 

Step 2: make some cupcakes

Step 3: find some children (such as your boyfriends adorable little sisters!) and taste test the frosting while the cupcakes bake.

Step 4: frost 'dem cupcakes (adding sprinkles required!) in honor of the my boyfriend/ their brother's up- coming birthday!

 Step 5: them consume the sugarydeliciousness that is the cupcakes, as mailing them to an Airman in Mississippi is very tricky. It's the thought that counts, right?

Can you wear cowboy boots in New England?

Who cares? I am going to. I am on a quest.

This is what the goal looks like...

*click for sources*

Brown, size 7.5, cowboy/girl boots to add to my expansive boot collection.

(believe it or not, finding cowgirl boots in a small New England state in the month of July is harder than one would think...and one would think it is hard to begin with. Can't find a single reasonable looking pair. Instead I found rubberized rainbow leopard ones. Of course I did. Blarg. I WILL find some. Imma rock this look all fall.)

Maxi Dresses for Teapots...

Whats a maxi dress? One of those long,  typically jersey fabric, spaghetti strapped summer dresses.
What's a teapot, other than the obvious? I am. Well...no, not really. But remember the nursery rhyme? "I'm a little teapot, short and stout?" Yes. I am short. (barely five three!) Not truly stout, but I have incredibly stubby, not so long and model like legs.True fact: I'd be be like 4 feet tall if I didn't have a long torso. (This is fine, unless I want to wear something long. Then it's a problem.)

Anyway. Maxi dresses. I thought they were cute, but I had been avoiding them for the last couple years, due to the fact I am not 6 feet tall, even with my tallest heels on, and I figured I would just look horrendous in one. But today after school, in celebration of finishing my math final and being done with mathematics for the summer, I stopped at a store I like that was having a 50% off sale. And I came out with this dress for $4.

Apparently I don't look that short in it. I was skeptical of the horizontal stripes (notorious for making you look broader than you are, no matter what size).With heels, a belt, and my hair up I actually look ...like...TALL. Or ...Close enough.

It's a miracle, I tell you what.