The Style Thing

I have some issues with sewing and creating clothing that I would want to wear out of the house. Here are my (larger) problems with sewing totally awesome clothes for myself:

1. Sense of style. I'm pretty boring. I don't wear the latest trends, it's unlikely to find me in frilly blouses or giant pendant necklaces, I don't wear high-heels, purses make me glaze over. I look good in slacks and a button-down shirt, which is what I wear to work, along with the pair of brown or pair of black, sensible flats. Otherwise it's jeans and t-shirts and my faithful hiking boots. I do know if something fits me well, but I've no idea if an outfit looks good or not. I currently favor the stylings of Anthropologie, ModCloth, Banana Republic, and Boden, but I don't have a handle on knowing whether it fits me or not. Have I ever bought anything from any of the above stores? No. Have I drooled over them? Yes. Well, and I'm also kinda cheap and don't want to pay the prices of some of those shops.
   
2. I'm allergic to wool. This means no lovely woolen trousers, tweed jackets, cashmere sweaters, or mohair scarves for me. Yes, there are lined crisply-creased houndstooth pants, but the hems and waistbands are usually still woolen on the inside, leaving a fantastic red ring around my middle and ankles by the end of the day. Even my beloved woolen peacoat will give my neck a rash unless I wear a scarf. I do love a nice pinstriped suit (which tends to be wool).
   
3. Pink. I despise it. It looks fantastic on a lot of people (women and a few men), and even yours truly, but I hate everything that color stands for and represents. I will not wear pink, other than (possibly) a few stripes or dots in an otherwise-other-colored fabric. Basta.
   

While the pink issue is relatively easy to avoid (except some summers when it replaces red), the other two are harder for me to get around. Wool is all over the place in winter, especially with the fashion industry's recent "discovery" of mohair and cashmere. (Side note: If you find non-wool sweaters that are not ribbed turtlenecks, please let me know!) However, there's enough cable sweaters that will layer over shirts (can't anyone make a thick, warm cotton sweater?!) My biggest problem is the style thing.

The fact that I'm calling my issues "the style thing" just shows how clueless I am. Fashion frankly scares me, but yet, I desire it. I want to look more modern and indie and non... uh.... non-obsolete. At the same time, I don't want to look ridiculous or strange. I also don't want to light myself on fire, which actually is a job hazard for me (this is part of the no-frilly-blouses bit). Plus, there's the whole outfit-making-thing. "Accessories" to me means "stuff you don't need" rather than "stuff to make you look better." For me, you take pants + shirt + shoes = outfit. This apparently is a misnomer when you get into that super cool layering thing, which means at least three shirts of different lengths and decorations, plus maybe a vest or a necklace or something else, and have you thought about your hair? I just don't see it.

What are your suggestions/rules for trying new fashion thingies?

Sewing: In a galaxy far, far away...

Seventh grade's Home Ec (er, Personal and Family Life Sciences, now called Family and Consumer Sciences) requirement did not go very far with me. The teacher had to deal with boys trying to juggle eggs in class, and they hadn't yet learned to juggle. Suffice to say, she hated our class and we weren't terribly fond of her either. The week she introduced sewing, I had a particularly nasty strain of something-or-other, so my mom taught me sewing on her machine, through my flu-induced-haze. Apparently, my canvas tote bag and stuffed chocolate chip cookie pillow were done incorrectly.

Skip ahead a few years. And a few more.

To call me a fashion plate would be laughable and would reflect poorly on the state of your optic nerves. I hate shopping. Mostly because I don't get fashion or couture, and it's probably a jealousy thing on my part (shhh! don't tell anyone!) By the way, pink is one of the worst inventions known to mankind. I know what fits me, but I never know what actually looks good or modern or non-old-fogie-esque. I'd like to be fashionable, but I'm not.

One day, I realized that the curtains I'd just hand-sewed to keep prying eyes out of my first-floor apartment would have been sooo much easier to do if I had a sewing machine. So, I got one.

And then I had nothing to make with it.

Thus began the hacks... dun dun duuuuuuun!

About me

My college background involved running between Science Hall (logic, logic, calculus, chemicals, logic, math, instruments, logic) and Art Hall (throw paint, no rules, solvents for everyone, acids in open containers, inks, stains, metal filings). Sanity lay somewhere between the two, or at least finding a balance between the hours spent in each building. Well, and freaking out the art majors, who were easy to convince that they were going to die from fumes. Ah, Schadenfreude...

I'm now a science-person by trade. On occasion (read: bad days), I need to activate the other half of my brain. This blog will be the art/craft outlet. Past dominions include calligraphy, printmaking, small metal work, collage, and, most recently, sewing.