Outfit of the Week: Ankle Booties

I have enjoyed my fellow bloggers' participation in Me-Made-May and Self-Stitched-September, in which the goal is to wear something you've made every day and post about your adventures. Since my life is pretty much the Slapdash Sewist Self-Sewn Style Show (how's *that* for alliteration?) about 362 days a year--there might be 3 weekend days a year in cold weather when I wear RTW jeans and a RTW sweater--there's no real point in designating a month to do exactly what I already do anyway. But I have been getting the urge to do fashion posts lately, so when I have put together something I like, I'll share it.

I'm calling it Outfit of the Week, but I am certain I won't get around to it every week and probably won't do much in summer since I wear a dress every day and dresses don't style *that* differently one time from the next.

These two outfits were designed around my brown Born Gellar booties. I saw these on 6pm.com (if fabric.com is my dealer, 6pm.com is at least my runner) before I left for Turkey and instantly loved them. However, I told myself not to buy them because I never actually wear heels, like ever, and I really did not need them. I have a great pair of black booties (Clark's, totally totally comfortable) and I don't wear brown. But I kept thinking about them the whole trip and decided if they were still available when I came home I'd order them. They were, I did, they were too small and I had another crisis deciding whether to replace them. I did.

There looks to be one pair of black ones left in size 6 (I found them a half-size small) on 6pm. Even though Borns are generally great comfort shoes, these aren't so great. There is absolutely no padding in the forefoot. I put in the thickest forefoot gel pads I could find and it's better, but not great. The heel is as comfortable as a heel can be, though, and they are good quality. They're fine for wearing around the office.



I had a meeting on a Friday, when we are normally allowed to wear jeans. So to cheer myself up I went for bright, bright colors. I keep a variety of jackets on the back of my office door, and wore both these outfits with a green tweed jacket that has been in my wardrobe for about 8 years. I wore my Burda 10-2008-118 print dolman sleeve blouse, made out of a remnant of silk from a Fabric Mart bundle teamed with my lace-trimmed Burda 01-2008-127 green silk princess skirt, and bright orchid tights. The green in the silk print matches the skirt perfectly.

Wearing and looking at photos of this outfit has convinced me that I need to suck it up and fix the fit on the green skirt by taking in the waist. It sits too low and is therefore too long and slightly too large. Especially with the very roomy dolman blouse, the skirt needs to fit.

Well, the people who were supposed to attend the meeting cancelled at the last minute! I was so annoyed. I had dressed up on a Friday for nothing! I left the shoes in my office over the weekend, and wore this outfit the next Tuesday for the rescheduled meeting.

I reviewed my Burda 09-2008-108 lace tulip skirt in 2010 but actually made it on '09. Had I made it in 2010, it would have been hands down my favorite piece of the year in my annual wrap up. I cannot even tell you how much wear I get out of this skirt. I have never been a navy person, but this goes with everything (including the above dolman blouse). Because the lace is tone-on-tone with the under fabric, it is subtle and professional and just adds a little texture, rather than screaming "lingerie."

I teamed it with an oldie but goodie, my McCall 5314 wrap blouse of silk/cotton. I did not sew this blouse with French seams and I did not do a broad back adjustment to the pattern. It really strains and there are only a few wears left in it, unfortunately, before the seams shred. I've already opened the seams and darts to let them out and reinforce with interfacing, but it's not enough to buy me more time. I have been letting this blouse just sit in the closet, knowing it won't last too many more times. Why? I need to wear it up and wear it out!