The Littlest Princess got married earlier this month and for whatever reason (probably alcohol related) I thought it would be great if I made my dress for the event. Forgetting of course that I haven’t sewn anything ballgown’esque for close to a decade.

Whenever black tie is an option, I take it, so I definitely wanted a floor length, ballgowny something. The MotB was going to be in a strapless cobalt gown and the MotG was going with a one-shoulder cocoa, so I figured I’d avoid both of those styles and aim for something halterish.

The initial design:

Since the moms were in cobalt and cocoa, I figured purple was somewhere in the middle and went with that.

Pinned to my dress form:

Adding the gold striping was actually pretty easy:

But after that point I ran into some problems. I tried it on and it was way too big, which I totally still don’t understand because I have the dress form set at my measurements. Then after I took it in, I realised that even my wee boobies were at risk of nip slipping on account of the open sides. Relying on double sided tape to keep from flashing everyone didn’t seem like the best idea so:

It worked! I had to add a set of darts at the lower waist at the last minute as it was gaping a little bit, but I think it turned out well.

Everything blurry but me!

Everything in focus but me!

Everything in focus – including me!

I made my shoe decision and attacked the weird ‘camel jazz’ shoes with red and black Sharpies. I apologise for the extreme number of photos, but this is as restrained as I could get.

Yay!!!

I bought these shoes and they fit amazing and feel comfortable and are made fabulously, but the yellowy brown snakeskin front was too pale for my colouring and gave me zombie feet. Not weeks dead zombie, more like newly infected, hours old zombie. Still, not the look I aim for in an otherwise awesome designer shoe.

What to do? I went to my art supplies (i.e. markers!).

Oddly, the original shoe is represented pretty accurately in the photo, but the coloured in shoe looks more yellow in the pics while they’re more pinkish in real life.

Yay for markers and staying within the lines!

Over the last few years I’ve been hoping to see more – and keeping my eyes peeled for – men in womenswear. I don’t mean men in drag, I mean the equivalent of women wearing menswear:

These women look like women. They look sexy and beautiful. They don’t look like they’re trying to look like men. I’d love to see men dabbling in the equivalent.

Over the last few months I’ve seen a couple of guys in their mid-twenties wearing skirts, one was a long green kilt as part of a very punk look, and the other guy was in a rosy beige silk a-line knee length skirt. I think he had a snug sweater on and I’m certain he wore a pair of kitten heels. He was with another guy and a girl, both were dressed with a slightly geek/punk edge. So it’s still a very fringe look – and not quite as ‘manly’ as I envision.

I see something along the lines of a fit man in a midi length black straight skirt, grey or black socks and nice men’s dress shoes or clunkier women’s Mary Janes, a white button up shirt with a tie and blazer, a little past 5 o’clock shadow and a messenger bag. I think it could look extremely sexy – there’s no way I’ll manage to convince The Princess to try it – I haven’t been able to get mascara on him more than twice.

My sister and I picked these purses up at least a decade ago, from one of downtown Toronto’s many knick knack stores. You know the ones, they sell everything from Canada flag hats and Toronto t-shirts, to ear muffs, lip gloss, and personal lubricant. I think the bags were something ridiculous, like 2 for $5, and we bought an orange and a red. We were youngins then, and these purses served their ‘money/phone/lipstick’ club purposes well. And then we stashed them in the back of a closet to be forgotten about until Sash moved in with the thin man and had to pare down a few things. The red bag grew pretty battered over the years and likely escaped our clutches ago, but this orange one was still in good condition, just neglected and slightly stained.

I’m not sure that I’ll really find any use for a tiny orange purse, but I’m certain I have no use for a stained tiny orange purse. I used a blue and a dark green Sharpie, and a silver metallic pen, and doodled. I initially thought I’d cover the entire purse, but as I progressed, the idea of just a vertical doodle band seemed like fun. If it sucks, I can always cover the rest of the purse later.

Still not sure if I’ll actually use it, but I like it. Worse case scenario, it’s something cool to add to the donation bag.