Manic Pop

  Just a quick update/hello: Ok, so I extra styled this out for photos but I looked in the mirror and thought it looked pretty cute considering I was about to head out to my acupuncture appointment today. I think most people must wear yoga pants or something but I don't own any (perhaps should?) so this skirt is my go-to since you're supposed to wear loose clothing.   This t-shirt is super-old (about 6-7 years) but I am still obsessed with this print. It's probably my favorite t-shirt ever and likely one of the last things I bought from Urban Outfitters... for $7 mind you!  I'm not sure how many readers know, but at one point I suffered from nearly debilitating panic attacks/extreme bouts of anxiety, and of course seasonal depression. I'm talking like, a panic attack a week for about 6 months in the end of 2010, early 2011. It got so bad at one point that I was nearly agoraphobic - too scared to leave the house - for fear something "bad" ...

I finished my Sunrise Panel top! Yay! Here is something to learn from this top: Always add an extra 10 inches (I swear to God) to your sewing pattern! Why? Because then you'll end up with a too-short top like me. I suppose my real fault is not making a muslin before going into fashion fabric, but I'm lazy and impatient when it comes to things I'm making for just me. Although really? I guess it's not that bad. I won't be going out alone looking like this, that's fer damn sure! I get hit on far too much over here and that's not being conceited. Men are pigs around my neighborhood, really. I mostly plan on wearing it like this with my beloved orange Brooklyn Industries skirt from about 3 years ago. And here is the back, if you're curious. Things I learned while making this top:  Like I said, over-add inches to your bodice block after tracing. You'll thank me. I'm now better with zippers, but still not perfect. This...

 Should I buy glasses online? A blog post concerning ordering glasses online VS brick-and-mortar . (Read further for details on how YOU can get a FREE pair of Firmoo eyeglasses from being a reader of this blog! No joke!)  Glasses c/o Firmoo. I've been wearing glasses for a very long time - I'm a veteran of eyewear, if you must. And I am somewhat of a glasses snob - a title which I wear proudly. I'm a fashion designer, so I must have unique frames too! In 5th grade, my grandmother noticed I couldn't read the time on the microwave even though it was about 10 feet away, I asked her what time it was while I was doing my homework. She promptly told me I "needed" my "eyes checked" and off I went a week later where sure enough I was near-sighted and I got my 1st pair of glasses: a pair that can be referred to as the (legendary music producer) " Steve Albini glasses". It was 1996 and I was 10 years old. Here is poor me by 8th grade...

 So this is another find from the other day at Sears - this dress! A whole $10 way on sale. The colors are some of my favorites. I am actually wearing black jeggings underneath yet again. This is something I wouldn't normally recommend aesthetically, however like I mentioned in my last post, my toe won't let me as circulation gets cut off very easily for me with tights. Bizarre, but what are you going to do? I'm attempting to show off my favorite mushroom necklace here... clearly not working. But this worked! I don't know why my grandmother ever had this necklace. By the 70s when this whole thing was popular, she was in her mid to late 30s, possibly early 40s. Hip grandma? My mom was just graduating high school in 1975.   Orange and black can sometimes look a little Halloween-ish but I think this orange isn't so bad because it's not that bright. I tend to wear much brighter colors in the winter due to lack of sunlight here in Chicago. I'm prett...

Is spring here yet? Me and Max trekked over to Sears yesterday because I had seen they had a bunch of jeggings in the juniors department. Ok, so hear me out on this one - I love wearing dresses and skirts. HOWEVER, I have discovered that unfortunately tights literally cut off my circulation on my left 2nd toe. (I almost went to a podiatrist for this issue until I figured out the cause.) The origin where it cuts off seems to be in my thigh somewhere, but that's beside the point. The answer was simple - last year I had a pair of jeggings (hush!) that I wore with everything as if they were tights. I found more than the 2 pairs I bought yesterday, but these are the ones that fit. Therefore, I typically wear jeggings as tights with the right dresses/skirts.  The yellow pair seen here was $10! Sears really surprised me -as a fashion designer, you would think that places like that wouldn't appeal at all to me but I find a bunch of super-cheap things there that no one else...

Here is my latest, crazy idea that I'm on a roll with this week: My own-designed latch hook rug! This thought first came into my head as a reality mid to late December 2012, however I did post this amazing DIY from a 70s book I had back in July:  70s rug hooking. Rug hooking is essentially a lost art if you ask me. Most kits that come in stores are super-dorky -  Tweety bird, Eeyore, a husky face.... I don't know. Odd, vague things like that. It doesn't have to be that way as you can see in the 70s blog post which includes a super-crazy geometric pattern. Me and Max are reorganizing the entire living room sometime next week and I really want a crazy area rug that will go underneath the small dining room table we have. This area rug is planned to be about 5 feet by 3 feet. Here are some photos of some shag rugs/area rugs that got me inspired for this project: And here is me playing with colorways on my own rug design: I think I'm really geared tow...