Handmade Outfit

When I wake up, I usually get dressed before anything else. I remember as a kid, seeing people on TV come downstairs and eat their breakfast while they are all dressed for the day and being freaked out. Why would you do that?! Eating breakfast is how you wake up, and then you get dressed when you are all awake. But now that I am a grown up living with real people, I have turned into my childhood enigma. Except that I still make a cup of coffee before I get dressed.

Anyway, what this has to do with today's post is.... nothing. Well, sort of. This morning, after I got my coffee, Iwent back upstairs to get dressed and then came to my kitchen table and started outlining things for my final on Friday. But as I was sitting here I realized that everything I am wearing today is handmade, by yours truly. In the sense that I put all the raw materials together into pieces of wearable piece-ness. God, that sentence didn't make sense, I need another cup of coffee.

But let's go over them.

Ugh, please excuse the crazy hands on the right.

 

Okay, so step one is the dress. I feel like this being a dress is kind of cheating, because it is so easy to make, and it is all one piece to it counts as a two-for-one thing. But whatever. I decided to make it last summer because I was watching Weeds and Mary-Louise Parker was wearing a dress in the same cut. I thought it was really cute and I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I decided I would make one.

 

It was really simple to make; I did all the sewing in probably an hour. It is a silky silk in a midnight blue. I have this iron-on moon applique that I was going to put on the back, but my friend wouldn't let me because he thought it would ruin the dress. Gay people think they know everything...

 

Dirty, messy hair...

 

Okay, this is me showing off the earring. They are small, and kind of boring. But I made them, and I thing the gold goes well with the blue. I rarely get a chance to wear them because I am usually so blinged up (yes, I made that word up) with silver. And I made them, so they work with the outfit.

YESSSS!

These shoes are obviously what I am most proud of. I mean, they are freaking shoes. That I made. And the best part is that the material was 100% free. I went to this give away thing with a fellow crafter friend a couple weeks ago, where all the samples from home design stores get donated when they are done with them. I picked up a square of carpet (for the soles) and some fake leather wall covering (for the straps), plus a bunch of other stuff that I will make stuff with later. I had been looking for huaraches for a while now, and they don't have them in the thrift stores up here. So the best option is obviously to make them myself.

Then there was the cutting. And the hot gluing. And then I tried to wear them out last Sunday and the heel strap broke about a foot out the door. So I tried again last night by adding double straps and a re-enforcing center band, and I think this heel will hold up.

 

The best part is that it is like I am walking on carpet, but actually my shoes are carpet. And because I decided to put the carpet facing the bottom too, they are really comfy, but also slippery. I was spinning around my kitchen (which is hardwood) for like five minutes giggling like a dummy, and then my roommate said something from the living room. Which is awkward, because I thought he was gone.

Anyway, I hope this inspires someone somewhere to make something to wear for themselves. I mean, you know what you want to wear better than anyone else, am I right? Check out P.S.- I made this for some awesome step by step directions to make yourself some fashionable, awesome, fun items to kick-start your inspiration.