FITting In At FIT: Day 9, Part 2

If I were to use one word to describe myself at this current moment it would be tired-as-hell. That's one word, guys. I walked approximately a bajillion miles today going in complete circles, more than once. From class to see the Richard Avedon exhibit (it's incredible, by the way; if you're in Chelsea between 10 am and 6 pm until this Friday, you should go see it), back downtown to take the train to Williamsburg, only to get off at the wrong stop and wander aimlessly for around two hours--in the heat, humidity, and rain, mind you--and then take three trains to get home; upon my arrival home I realized that the store I was looking for but couldn't find was two blocks away from the point at which I stopped walking and decided to turn around. Gr8. 

Today was the first day of my final week of FIT, and we got down to business fo' real. I've got my fabric, I've almost got my whole pattern, and I'm all set to whip up a pair of mighty fine pants. Just you wait, they shall be mighty fine. 

Foot exhaustion=brain exhaustion=short post, so it's time for the visuals. 

Photos by me and my handy tools. 

Top: gift from my aunt in France 

Skirt: Sag Harbor via Vice Versa Vintage 

Pearl bracelets: gifts?

Rings: from grandma and Venice Beach

Bindi: Laughing Lotus Yoga Center (phreebeez!)

Sandals: Blowfish via Chictopia 

See how much extra fabric I have here? I could hide a few small people under there, I bet. About seven, I'd say, if I had to guess.

I feel like there's always one photo in every outfit post where I look murderous. Here's your daily dose. 

Look! I can mysteriously hide one half of my arm! The longer you stare at it the weirder it becomes! Ha-HA! 

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FITting In At FIT: Day 8, Part 2

Welp, this is kind of misleading. FIT classes are only Monday through Thursday, but today is Friday and here I am, posting about FIT. Just to clear that up, I got home too late last night to post, but I did have pictures, so I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to share them with you. 

You know the pants I'm working on? They're going swimmingly. I began making the template for them and picked up some swatches yesterday. Expect khaki and red flannel in the best of all possible juxtapositions. That's all the information I'm disclosing for the moment. Speaking of yesterday: we went to the Financial District and South Street Seaport, and I thought that the uncompleted Freedom Tower wasn't as good of a background as some old boats and parts of Brooklyn in the distance. 

Photos by my mother. 

Top: High Maintenance ('twas my mother's)

Pants: CUT LOOSE ('twere my grandmother's)

Shoes: Converse ('twere designed by me)

Necklace: Laura Bobey at VintageJewelryEtc ('twas a birthday gift, even though it's not my birthday yet)

Grimace: courtesy of the wind 

A change of scenery! Let's give our new background a warm welcome, shall we? Hello, old ships! Hello, nasty water! Hello, obnoxiously loud tourists playing duck-duck-goose in the middle of a metropolitan area! 

I was actually feeling pretty awesome walking around yesterday. Those pants have some magical powers, I swear. I bet if I were to look closely on the tag, it would say in fine print: "WARNING: These pants may cause wearer to absorb extra swagger and subsequently feel like a boss all day." 

This necklace has a great story behind it. I don't know when it happened, but at some point on this blog I mentioned that I wanted a beaded-choker-bib-necklace, but I never found one worthy of spending my minimal funds on. Let's rewind to Wednesday night, when I got a baby package in the mail that I did not remember ordering. Naturally, I tore it open with zeal to find this gorgeous little number chilling inside a shizton of bubble wrap. I wonder who it's from? I thought, quoting Steve from Blues Clues (know you see what I meant when I said that I like channeling animated cartoons). Then it hit me: our good family friend had sent it fo' mah birfday. Best present evar. 

That's all for today. Check out the article I posted on here the other day, this time on the Huffington Posts's website. Enjoy the rain. It's Friday. Rejoice. As in read some Joyce.

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FITing in at FIT: Day 5, Part 2

Hello, frenz! Things that happened to me today: I literally almost died on a boat. I mean, it was approximately a million degrees outside, I was on a boat, I was hungry, the boat was rocking... I do not handle these sorts of situations well. Why was I on a boat, you ask? I was headin' to Ellis Island, I answer. Our friend from France is chillin' here all month and we're taking her to as many kewl places we can think of in the tri-state area. This one she chose, not me. Ellis Island is cool and everything, but it was hot outside and there was a higher concentration of tourists in that one place than I've seen in several months. It was a long, long day, so I'm not writing a lot tonight (I have some sewing work to do so I must hop to it), but I did manage to get my mom to take a few quick photos of me before we departed from the island a few hours ago. 

Photos by la mère. 

Dress: New Delhi Jewels Inc. via American Vintage 

Brogues: Giorgio Brutini

Sunglasses: some French store 

Bracelets: my grandma 

Just smizing in front of the Manhattan skyline. 

Le pockets. 

The back is much kewler in person, but it was fairly windy. 

Also, please note the intensely dark spot along my neck; this is due to my really solid sunscreen application skillz. 

Okay, this is where I say à bientôt, so I'll see ya soon.

Stay cool/kewl.

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FITting In At FIT: Day 3, Part 2

Only three days in and I've already missed a day! GOdelia! I figured that at this point quality takes precedence over quantity...right? Plus, yesterday Octavia, our French family friend Mathilde, and I all went up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to check out the exhibit at the Costume Institute, "Prada and Schiaparelli: Impossible Conversations," so pictures were not really a thing. To expand on my previous statement, the show was amazing. To this day I still regret not seeing the Alexander McQueen exhibit last year, so I felt that it was my duty as a blogger, fashion-lover, and a human being to view the cleverly juxtaposed garments of Prada and Schiaparelli together, two of the greatest Italian designers of the past (and current) century. 

Enough about the show. Go see it, dance around the gallery, hum Adele songs under your breath, forcefully grasp the shoulders of innocent passersby to express your appreciation of the utter beauty of each and every piece on display. 

Today in class we continued workin' at the carwash on our pants. We're still at the pattern paper phase, but tomorrow we shall advanced to--holy shiznits!--da muslin!!! Cuttin' and a-sewin' and doin' a lil' jig! Just how I like it. In a few weeks' time, I will be a regular seamstress. Need clothing? Give me a ring at 917-ICA-NSEW! 

This morning while dressing myself I felt the need to channel a different designer from Italy: Valentino. His spring 2012 collection was a perfect combination of romanticism, subtle sexiness and sylph-like beauty. I loved it. And the hair...you know me, I like to have my hurr to be as low maintenance as possible, but those wrap-around braids were a work of art in themselves. Day 3's outfit pays hommage to my homeboiiz/gurrlz Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Photos by me, myself and I. <--This joke is never going to get old  

Dress: Eber via Vice Versa Vintage 

Vest: thrifted and DIY'd 

Socks: courtesy of my childhood 

Snakeskin platforms: BCBG Max Azria via my grandma 

Necklace: granny 

I would have blended right into the Valentino line-up, they would have never noticed. 

Princesses are proper and ladylike. 

And apparently have some some unruly hair. 

Princess goes punk. A pop of the collar, an angry glare at a door that did nothing to harm you except maybe be in your way of getting inside someone's apartment, a flare of the nostrils...you're all set. 

See, I was trying to skip in place to simulate a royal maiden frolicking through the gardens of her estate, but after three tries this was my most successful result. 

I don't know how my arm ended up like that either. 

This is what the front back of my head looks like après le haircut. I'm actually so in love with it. If only it could be this short in the front...wink, wink. Peep the butterfly clip to the right and the cartilage piercin' to the left, the two lovely additions to my head. 

I don't know who did this painting or when it was made or anything, but I saw it at the Met yesterday and was instantly enamored of it. If my elderly friends and I are not this cool when we become people of a certain age, I do not know what I shall do.

If you happen to be in the 'hood, I recommend seeing the current exhibition at the Museum at FIT. It's really rad. The red Helmut Lang dress is like heaven had a nosebleed on 28th Street and 7th Avenue, right inside the MFIT gallery in the form of a synthetic horsehair/chiffon gown.

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FITting In At FIT: Day 1, Part 2

Sorry for just creeping up on you like this. I didn't even give you any warning that FIT was starting, nor did I (probably) tell you that I was attending classes there this summer. Welp, I am! Ta da! I'm taking a course on how to make pants and shorts that fit perfectly. As of this very moment, my goal is to make a pair of khaki chinos made out of a denim-like cotton. They will be, as you say, the bomb. But for right now, I still have to learn how I will accomplish such a fantastic feat. I assure you they shall be purrrfect. 

Keeping with tradition, it was the first day of FIT and I was late. Classiq me. You know how I do, y'all! I guess I'm unconsciously channeling my inner Raven Symone. We've all got one, don't deny it. I digress. I'm not really feeling the whole let-me-tell-you-about-every-single-second-of-my-class-and-remain-oblivious-to-the-fact-that-you-are-dead-because-my-boring-words-slew-you thing tonight, so I will summarize. And we all know how well that turned out last year. 

As I previously stated, I was delayed because of train traffic ahead of us, please be patient, we apologize for any inconvenience, thank you. I finally entered a room with around twenty girls and a professor slightly reminiscent of my freshman English teacher, in the best of all possible ways, for those of you who just had a small heart attack. Basically, she talked. A lot. And we took notes. Sound familiar, fellow 4th period English buddiez? Luckily she spoke of things of the wonderful variety, so my brain was swelling with the happy kind of knowledge. The little boy inside my head was just shoveling the proverbial spaghetti-here-functioning-as-information into his mouth. I learned about the importance of the grain being parallel to the selvage, and observed a remarkably good chalk drawing demonstration of weaving. The last forty-five minutes of class were spent going around the room discussing our dreams and aspirations...and where we go to high school and our age and our name. All of the unimportant facts that strangers have some fascination with. I kid. Just joshin' ya. Funny story, I had a pre-K teacher named Joshua and I always thought when someone said that they were joshing me, Josh was going to come out of no where and say "trick or treat" and pull my leg. It was a package deal, you see. 

Before you call an insane asylum hotline and try to get me locked up, I'll just show you the pictures, okay? IF YOU SEND ME TO THE LOONY BIN THE WALLS WILL TURN INTO SPONGEBOB AND START LAUGHING AT ME. WE CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN. 

Photos by me, myself, and I. Quick note: my tripod is now named 'myself' and my remote is hereby named 'I.' This will make things much more fun.

Dress: divya, thrifted then promptly discarded by my sister and given to me

Clogs: Dansko via da granmuddah 

The perfect dress. Printed, long, unflattering, comfortable, pointy-breasted. Just how I like 'em. Oh yeah, I got a hurrcut. Snippity boppity boo, the back of my head is buzzed, too. 

I wanted to give you a little sneak peek of my funky as hayl sunburn on my back from lying on da beaches of Coronado during midday. The sun and I have this symbiotic relationship where she burns the shiznits out of my skin and then it fades into a tan. Frankly, I'd rather stay pale to the point where I turn green in the winter; I couldn't sleep on my back for a week. Correction: I slept on my back for a week anyway and had dreams about fire and sandpaper and evil small children. It all makes sense now. 

And then I got antsy so I started dancing. 

Rings (left to right): Venice Beach, grandma, grandma (this is becoming dangerously close to version of duck-duck-goose)  

Peep the intense bags forming under my eyes. When you set your air conditioner to "energy saver," just know that this translates to "the setting where the machine turns off for approximately four hours, comes on for thirty seconds to wake you up and let you know it's not doing its job, rinse, repeat." 

What would you do without my angry face staring you down while you sit at your computer and eat ice cream? 

I went to a yoga class today, and I needed to do some tree pose. 

Fortunately for me, the heels on these shoes dug right into my leg. 

I'd like to take this time to give a shout-out to my reader Sally, whom I met today at Green Tomato while purchasing my lunch. It was great: I was about to step on line when this girl standing near me goes, "Hey, this might be creepy, but are you Odelia Kaly?" and I was like, "Yeah, that's me," and she was all, "I read your blog all the time and I love it," and I was like, "That's so not creepy! I love creepy!" which was simply not the right thing to say. I believe my intentions were understood. My readers and I are on the same brain wavelength. I see you, Sally. Hollah atchu! (Bless you! ...#sneezingjokes)

This one's for good measure. I was caught a bit off guard but I thought it was too much of a gem not to add in fo' yo' entertainment. 

Tomorrow I'm off to the Met after class with ma homeboy gurl Octavia, aka 'Tavia when my mouth gets lazy, to see the Prada-Schiaparelli exhibit at the Costume Institute. It's gonna be dope with a capital D-O-P. DOPe. 

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FITting In At FIT: Day 12

I realize that 12 doesn't come immediately after 10. I apologize for that. Something else that 12 is? The last day of camp. Meaning the twelfth day of FIT classes is the last one. If that was unclear. Sorry, it's late, and I'm so tired. I can explain. Or maybe not right now. So tired. So many things happened in the past 48 hours it's insane. Having trouble making comprehensible and complete sentences.

1st thing that happened: I cut my hair. Looking a bit more like Kelly Framel from The Glamourai than Arizona Muse and Alexa Chung, but the kool (Greek) kat that cut my hair, Lorenzo, said my hair would take about a week to set. For now, I'm rockin' the Glamourai's 'do. Although, please note that her locks are a bit shorter than mine as she used to have a pixie cut. And I don't. Yet... (!!!???) Also, when I wrote "locks" instead of hair, I felt like one of those cheesy and ridiculously fake writers for those teen and tabloid magazines that just use the worst possible synonyms for words to spice up their sentences, when they're really just using cinnamon on teriyaki chicken (that was a spice reference; I don't care to explain it, yet I'm not sure if it made any sense. Chances are, it didn't. I just mentioned "spice" and thought I'd continue with that.)

2nd thing that happened: I got home at 9:30 pm after a full and stressful day of camp, my haircut and my yoga class in the park (with Edith) and worked nonstop until 12:30 on my sewing for my patternmaking class. Half of it ended up being useless today, which I was so pissed about. I felt like I was on Project Runway (which aired tonight, the season premiere of Season 9, at 9 pm Eastern Time, I saw it and have much commentary and little time/energy to do at the moment. There may be a weekly Project Runway analysis in our futures? Just thought of that right now. Let's do it.), because I was running back and forth from a sewing machine, which there weren't enough of in our room, to the table to rip out seams. I was getting so frustrated, like beyond belief. No one finished, of course, except for one girl who was a beast at sewing. Madd jellin', yo.
This is morphing into the:

3rd thing that happened: Today was my last day of FIT classes, as I've mentioned about 3 times already, and it was kinda crazy. I spent most of my morning class working on my denim shoulder bag, which is now awesome and I will show you it later because it'll be in a lot of my pictures soon, once I get my camera and am in France (my overexcitement is butchering my 10 solid years of study of the English language.). I spent the other most of my class (see what's happening???) socializing. Typiqual Untypiqual. New haircut=more social?? Wut?
FIT was an amazing experience this year. I learned so much and met so many incredible people, and made a lot of good friends. I'm sad it's over, but I'm also glad. It was starting to put a serious strain on my mental capabilities and my back. So basically it sped up the aging process tenfold. Hoping I used that word correctly.

4th thing that happened: I went to Edith's house after classes today, and she did some crazy magiq with her make-up and hair styling skillz, and it was awesome. She's gotten really good at this stuff. She took some pictures as we rushed to the subway station so I wouldn't be late for the Project Runway premiere (I sprinted down the block once I got home, with my huge bags flopping everywhere and got into my apartment at 9:01), so I don't know how well they turned out, but you'll see them here soon. I'll elaborate more on what she did when I have the pictures to show you. I've already washed it all out/off because a)my hair was feelin' extra crunchy and b)my eyes felt really dry and tired, and still do. Eye shadow tends to do that. Even the littlest bit. Which sucks, because several people have told me that I have the right eye shape to put eye shadow on because you can see basically the entire lid. I never take advantage of that though. No skillz in that department.

The 2nd that happened is the reason why I didn't blog yesterday, and the 4th thing that happened is the reason why this one is so late. But to make up for it, here's what my hair looks like and what I wore the last day of camp.

PLEASE NOTE THAT MY HAIR LOOKS BETTER IN PERSON BECAUSE IT LOOKS LESS FLUFFY. IT'S THE STUPID CAMERA. OH QUICKLY BEFORE I CONTINUE, THE SELLER AT AMAZON RESPONDED AND EXPEDITED MY CAMERA. IT SHOULD BE HERE ON MONDAY. SHE SOMEHOW MANAGED TO FIND THE MOST EXPENSIVE SHIPPING ($45), BUT IT'S WORTH IT, RIGHT? (L'OREAL: BECAUSE YOU'RE WORTH IT.) 

 Cutout top: Upson Downes for Urban Outfitters
Shorts: American Rag via Macy's
Belt: Urban Outfitters
Watch: Ben
Shoes: Christian Siriano via Payless

Whaddya think? I dig it. It takes some getting used to, though. It grows on you. Please write any thoughts in the comments--I want to hear your feedback! Any and all comments are appreciated. Getting the email notification from Blogger always makes me really happy.

I like using the "Boost Color" effect on iPhoto because it makes me look tanner than I am. Also, I thought my inspiration would come back when I got my hair cut, but it didn't really. I think that if half my wardrobe weren't in the wash, it would've, but I was slightly limited. That's partly why I didn't take a picture yesterday: I was so uninspired that the outfit wasn't worth posting. And I don't want to waste anyone's time. Just joshin' ya, I waste time all the time. People should stop worrying about wasting natural resources, like oil. Time is the one we gotta watch out for.

There ya are, folkities. I have much more to say, as per usual, but I can't because it's already tomorrow and my eyes are closing as I type. I've heard read people type that all the time, but this is for cereal. Which is what I had for dinner: Multi-grain Cheerios/Kellogg's Granola/Cap'n Crunch. Now I'm just digressing unnecessarily.

FITting In At FIT: Day 10

I have to be quick today, because I have a lot of work to do to finish my patternmaking class project. And I have to go in early to my sewing class tomorrow because I lost a project somehow. Yeah.


In sewing class, we continued work on our shorts. Mine are coming along well. We lost like, half an hour of our class because we had to go down to the computer lab to fill out stupid online surveys, which meant our break wasn't until 11:17, which was kind of annoying. I then went to lunch with a few friends, mostly the same people from yesterday (I don't remember if I mentioned that, and I'm too lazy to check), minus Ashley.


I got to my second class early, and just began working. I worked and worked and worked and worked and then had to go do the online survey for that class (this time the lab was in a different building because I was in A building instead of C, like I am in my morning class), and then came back immediately after and kept working.
And I'm going to continue working in a few minutes. I really want to show you all my sketch, but I don't know if have time. It may show up later on in this post, I don't know yet.


I had my mom take my pictures again today in the morning before camp, but this time inside the apartment, but not by the front door, but by the bathroom door.

 Dress: my grandma's
Vest: Chico's Platinum via Savers (yes, I wore it again today, gotta problem?)
Belt and Boots: Urban Outfitters

 Let's all take a moment to LOL at my hair in all of these pictures.

Oh hay.


Another mid-post update: 
I have officially ordered my camera, a

Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera

It's beautiful, I'm so excited. The only issue is, it may not be here in time, since we leave so soon. We sent the seller an email saying we'd pay for expedited shipping. I REALLY hope she does it. If I have a decent camera and a new haircut in Paris, the sky's the limit. Wow, I just got a physical reaction to how overwhelmed I am. It was like that feeling where a cloud is creeping up your chest and into your jaw. Anyone familiar with this? Please let me know if you are, I need to confirm that I do not need to be checked into St. Mungo's. 

Second update: 

After ordering my camera, I was unlazified, so I scanned my sketch, finally. Here it is: 

Just subtract the sleeves, and add a short black, slip-like skirt underneath the pleated maxi-skirt, and there's what I'm making. This was originally scanned upside down, and iPhoto wouldn't accept the file type, so thank you Photoshop. 

I REALLY have to go now, this took much longer than I wanted it to. 

Must go eat and work and sleep bai

FITting In At FIT: Day 9

This week, the real work begins. Sewing class wasn't too hard or anything. Just a bit more technical than usual. It shouldn't be overwhelmingly difficult. You know what is going to be overwhelmingly difficult? Patternmaking class. I may have told you that I began to drape the front of my shirt on Thursday, and it was going really well. I thought I totally knew what I was doing, and this project wouldn't be as hard as I thought.

I thought wrong. I started draping the back today and got a little confused but not very much so. I then transferred the muslin to pattern paper, and had a few alterations to make, but in the end it was okay. Then I got to the issue of the skirt. I was unable to find the original muslin skirt that I made a week or two ago, so I figured I'd hold off on that until tomorrow (I needed it for the under-skirt part of my design--it's a bit confusing.) Instead, I went to my teacher and asked her how to do the circular skirt for the pleated chiffon fabric I selected, and she said not to do a circular skirt with the pleated fabric because the pleats would go sideways. It makes sense, but it's annoying because circular skirts are the easiest.

She suggested that I make a pencil skirt with a flared bottom--so that's what I did. But that sounds a lot easier than it is, because this skirt is a maxi skirt. Which means I needed a really long piece of pattern paper. And I cut it out too short the first time. And the second time, it was just barely long enough, not long enough for even a quarter inch seam allowance. I'd prefer a half inch seam allowance. I'll just have to add it in on the muslin pattern. * Sigh *

I got most of that paper pattern done, but I'm still a little worried I won't finish in time because some people have already started working in their fabrics. That puts me in a bit of a pickle, I must say.

Anywhoozles (yowza, I haven't said that in a long time) here's what I wore today.

A few notes on today's photographs:
1. This was the first time I was able to wear long pants to FIT, because it was the first time it was not over 90 degrees.
2. I took these pictures in the morning before camp in the hallway of my apartment building because I went to lunch with people other than my sister today (I know, right??), and I didn't want to make them take pictures for me.
3. These were taken by my mom.

 T-shirt: hand-me-down
Denim vest: Chico's Platinum via Savers (it used to be a lot bigger and longer but I cut it and brought the seams in a bit last night)
Pants: Forever 21
Belt: unknown. Macy's?
Necklace: Urban Outfitters
Sandals: Montego Bay Club via Payless

My attempt at showing you my beautiful necklace--this camera sux at close up shots. It's so annoying. I'm working on getting that camera, but right now they're up to $400. I'm waiting until they go down a bit, but I haven't got much time because we leave for France very soon.

WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM FOR A SPECIAL HAIR UPDATE: 
It has been confirmed that I am cutting my hair Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. That's even sooner than I anticipated!! I'm so freaking stoked!!

That's all for tonight. See you back here tomorrow at the same time for another episode of "FITting In At FIT!"

FITting In At FIT: Day 8

I would like to start by apologizing for the post that my idiotic sister put up while I was away from my computer for about a minute. I'm going to delete, but for those of you that were unfortunate enough to read it, I'm sorry. Actually, I'm not the one who should be apologizing. Like, who does that? My stupid sister, that is exactly who.

ANYWAY. Yesterday, I was going to wear the crop top I attempted to make out of my mom's old yellow silk shirt, but seeing as I don't have a proper sewing table, I had to cut the shirt on the floor and my line was not straight. I tried as best as I could to turn it into a hi-low crop top, but it's REALLY short now. Like, I'm-not-comfortable-walking-around-in-this-because-it's-short-in-the-front-and-in-the-back-plus-if-I-pull-the-neckline-up-it's-no-longer-a-shirt-and-more-of-a-loose-bandeau-and-if-I-pull-it-down-there's-basically-no-point-in-wearing-any-shirt-at-all short. So I didn't wear that. But I did wear my quest shorts, typiqually enough.

My 8th day at FIT was highly successful, I must say. I completely finished my peasant blouse, and it turned out pretty nicely. I'll put up a picture once it's been graded and I'm allowed to wear it. We're starting on our shorts on Monday. So stoked, guys! Cotton shorts that aren't actually made of cotton because I didn't bother to ask FTW.

In my patternmaking class, I learned how to make a strapless, empire waist top with shirring at the bust. And then--and here's the best part--I started draping the dress that I designed in muslin!! Well, now it's a shirt and a skirt, because the skirt is going to end up looking like the one I wanted from Urban Outfitters, and why make one into the skirt of a dress and a separate skirt when I can just do it once and have both, sort of? <--Rhetorical question

After classes, I went to the fabric store and got all my fabrics that I need for my shirt/skirt. I found the fabric for the top and the under-skirt easily, but then, when I asked for the pleated fabric, the guy said the entire roll was sold. 


I was devastated. It was so perfect. My dreams were crushed.

JUST KIDDING THAT'S ABSURD. I was just mildly annoyed. Well, a little bit more than mildly annoyed, but I digress.

Bak 2 da stori: After spending 20 minutes looking for a different fabric to use, someone else who works at the store told me that the whole roll was not sold, only 30 yards, so there were like 25 left on the roll to sell. I said I only needed 3 and I got it! Everything's all set. I am so ready.

And here's what I wore in that sweltering heat of yesterday, which has just gotten worse today:

 Shirt and shorts: Urban Outfitters
Scarf: it tumbled out of Edith's locker in 7th grade, and I was like, "Oh, I've always wanted one of those!" and she was like, "You want it?" So now it's mine.
Mocassins: Minnetonka via Zappos
Watch: Ben
Earrings (you can see them better later): my mom's, go figure

 Just for fun. The Man Repeller likes to add in the blooper pictures, so I figured I should.
(You can see that I'm wearing earrings. This was a big week for earrings--I usually only wear small diamond studs. Wutz hapning????!!!!)

 Surprisingly enough, the scarf was not unbearable. It didn't make me really hot or anything. A side note about the earrings: they're like three silver pear-shaped things layered over each other, but they get smaller. Like a smaller pear over a bigger pear over the biggest pear.

The editing job I did here makes me look a little dead, but don't worry about it.

I'll be back later to discuss the movie I watched last night, and other things of that nature. I'm about to hop into my grandparent's pool because it's the hottest day of the year right now.

FITting In At FIT: Day 7

I've almost completed the first piece of my new collection, which will be comprised entirely of peasant blouses. And circular skirts.

JAYKAY I'D DIE FROM THE BOHEMIANINITY OF IT. IT WOULD BE LIKE A BAND OF NOMADIC HIPPIES JUMPED OUT OF MY SEWING MACHINE AND STRANGLED ME WITH THEIR BEADED NECKLACES, TICKLED ME TO DEATH WITH THEIR FEATHERS, AND FORCED ME TO SNEEZE MY BRAIN OUT OF MY EARS BY RUBBING THEIR EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF FLOWERS NEAR MY NOSE.

Just a few of the many reasons why the above statement will never happen.

But for real, I'm almost done with my peasant blouse that I'm making in my sewing class. I screwed up a few small details, but for the most part it's good. I'm still learning, am I right? Yes, I am.
Moving on.

My teacher accepted my sketch, which I was worried about because I had selected a fabric that she said not  to use, which was chiffon. I won't give away any details, but the fabric is, once again, perfect, and I needed to at least see if she'd let me use it. The only thing she changed is the sleeves. We're not allowed to have sleeves. How bogus is that? Am I expected to just make sleeveless garments the rest of my life? I SURE AS HELL HOPE NOT.

On an entirely different subject, we went back to yoga in the park today, and there was no tornado. That's always a good sign. Just one word of advice: never do an hour-long yoga class with a full bladder. Just don't do it.

Now for the part of the post you've all been waiting for...da picz!! Unfortunately for you, these didn't turn out too well in my favor. (See what I did there?...Me neither.) The thing is, whenever I wear this romper, it makes me look a lot wider in circumference than I am. That's never a good thing. They're also just all around unattractive. Try not to let that distract you.
But, I can tell you one good thing that came out of this outfit: I realized that I'm learning how to wear my clothing in more interesting ways. Continue reading for more info-->

Yes, photos taken by Rachel, as per yooj.

 Romper: Urban Outfitters
Tied up top: New York & Company
Watch: Ben's birthday present
Necklace: Urban Outfitters (Hanukah present from Edith)
Shoes: Christian Siriano for Payless
Sunglasses: Venice Beach

 See what I did here? I wore a tied up shirt over the romper. I usually just where it with a cardigan, like I did here, and every other time I've worn it. But this morning, I was having a lot of trouble deciding what to wear, and I had just the romper on and Rachel goes, "Del, you look fine." And then it hit me--fashion and dressing well aren't about looking "fine," they're about looking how you want to and doing something different. I realized today that I have a very specific style that's not quite like anyone else's. Sure, we all draw inspiration from one another, but everyone's style is always a little bit different, once they've developed it. Some people spend their whole lives wearing clothes that aren't really them. I don't know if it's just me, but I can tell when someone isn't dressing like themselves, even if I've never met them and I just see them on the street. It's insane. That would be under the "REALIZED" section on Grouchy Rabbit--props to Ben Korman for introducing me to this grumpy bunny.

Out of focus. My camera has autofocus. Great job, Rach. Keep @ it!!!!!1

I'm off to make a crop top to wear tomorrow, because it's supposed to be record temperatures tomorrow, and I refuse to wear a shirt tucked into my quest shorts. It just can't happen.

You may hear from me again tomorrow, if I survive the heat.

FITting In At FIT: Day 6

Today was a great day.

In my first class, we started working on our peasant blouses, and mine is turning out really well. I could sell that sh*t, no joke. But I won't because I want to wear it. Even though I have been reduced to carrying my cash around in coin form.

In my second class, I did a lot of sketching (I wasn't supposed to, but there was a lot of waiting. I got a head start on my homework and it made swatch-shopping a billion times easier), and I have an idea for an incredible dress. I really hope my teacher lets me do it. If not I'll do it later. And a skirt version of the dress as well, because it's gonna look a lot like this one from Urban that I've been coveting for a few weeks now but is too expensive for my anorexic wallet.

I discussed Harry Potter with some people at my table, and I learned how to make a circular skirt, as well as how to transfer a muslin pattern to pattern paper. I'm gonna be churning out a full 35-piece collection by the time these courses are over.

I'll try and scan my sketches at some point soon, so you can see how awesome they're going to be.

After class, I went to the discount fabric store I discovered yesterday on 25th and 7th (which is right down the street from the Goodwill store I found on 25th between 6th and 7th!! I have been looking for one for ages and I am so freaking pumped to go there) and got 4 free swatches of fabric!! It was a really cramped store, but their selection was great. I found the perfect fabric for the dress I want to make--but it'll decide whether or not my professor will let me make the dress. See, she wants us to use cotton and stuff, but this is like, pleated chiffon. It's beautiful. It's not really chiffon, but it's just perfect and it's pre-pleated and I'm in love.

THEN, and here comes the best part, while I was on 19th street walking up 6th to meet my mom at Sports Authority, a woman stopped me on the street and asked to take my picture. I knew exactly what she was: a street style photographer. I was so pleased that I smiled involuntarily, then asked whether I should smile and was told I should look at the lens as though I wanted to look through the lens. So I stared into the double lens of her beautiful film camera, one unlike I'd ever seen before (well, my friend Ben may have brought one in in 6th grade, but let's pretend this is my first time for the sake of the story) and she took two pictures. She was going to hurry along, but I asked her a few questions first. I think she was used to people being bothered or in a hurry when she took their picture, but I was so flattered and very intrigued. I asked her about what she does and if she'd seen the Bill Cunningham movie, and she said she'd cried five times and was able to quote him. I got her card, and I plan to contact her in the future. Her name is Amy Touchette, and you can check out her website here.

And now, for the outfit that got my picture taken by a street style photographer:

All photos taken by Rachel.

 Blouse: Liz Claiborne via Squan Dry Goods
Shorts: American Rag
Shoes: Urban Outfitters
Bracelet: a birthday present from Edith
Lone earring (which it turns out you can't see in any of these pictures): I found it. Somewhere... Don't ask q's.

 I was trying to show you my one-earring'd-ness, because it was inspired by Andie from Pretty in Pink (4th picture down). And you can see how well that turned out.

There I am!

I'd just like to point out that I am up to 15 followers! Keep telling your friends about this blog, and join my Facebook page, and all that jazz.
[Please note that I tried to write a jazz pun in this space but it did not work. This text is written here as a reminder of the humor that was lost at 9:17 pm on July 19th, 2011. RIP.]

FITting In At FIT: Day 5

Remember how a while ago, while I was in Vegas, I said I felt like Liz from the blog "Late Afternoon?". Well, that was in this post, if you forgot.

Today I felt like her again. I liked this one piece of advice she gave. It was more like me taking a tip from her. It was in this post, and she said: "My uniform has become a varied version of this look. The formula goes something like this: loose bottoms + tied up top + 1 statement piece = out the door." You should check out the pictures of her in this other post as well; it's the same concept.

The reason I brought this up is because I bought this great skirt for $20 at Urban a while ago, and I've worn it a few times, but I've always never gotten pictures, or I did and they turned out too horribly for use. If I were to attempt to pinpoint its color it would be poppy, but sometimes it looks more orange, and others it looks more pink. I also have a shirt that I got at Urban a few years ago--it's just a loose, blue t-shirt (I have another in teal, it was a 2 for $24 deal), but it got stretched out a bit when my cousin borrowed it. So while I was in Manasquan and I wore it on the beach, I decided to tie it up because there was so much excess fabric and it was just too hot for that. 

I was inspired in part by myself, who I guess was inspired by Liz. So this look was inspired by Liz. 

All pictures taken by my sister Rachel. 

 Shirt and Skirt: Urban Outfitters
Socks: New York & Company
Shoes: Christian Siriano for Payless

Notice a change of scenery? Well I hope you like it, because I have a feeling it'll be in my pictures for the next few days at least. It's just some odd sculpture thing outside of E Building on the FIT campus. I saw it when I was walking to the subway with Rachel after class, and I was like, "Quick, Rach, could you just take some pictures?" She was reluctant at first, but eventually gave in.

A few things I should apologize for: 

1. my facial expression 

2. the slight blurriness of this photo. Rachel is taking an intermediate traditional darkroom class at FIT yet she can't keep the camera still. Looking at my feet (my photo feet) while I type this is giving me a headache. 

If you haven't noticed yet, I've been wearing my bangs clipped back a lot recently. That's because I'm growing out my bangs. I've had them for 2 years, and they're just such a hassle, especially in the summer. I'm also going to cut my hair short. Soon. Like, before we leave for France, which is in early August. 

I must go for dinner now, I'm starving. VEGGIE BURGERS FTW

FITting In At FIT: Day 3

Where to start.
Well, I have to be quick today because I'm on a very tight schedule.

Classes were good today.

I have an outfit to show you, but I'd just like you to know that I'd already changed out of it twice before getting back into it when I got home at 9:30 so my mom could take pictures. This was all after we'd gone to the gym, then to 15th and 10th to do yoga in the park, where it started hailing/tornado-ing 10 minutes in, and my mom, sister and I ran barefoot across the street to wait it out, and then after some bipolar-ness ensued (courtesy of my mom and sister, my view did not waver), I went back in to the park to continue my yoga class by myself (my sister and mom went to a bathroom, then came back after the good part) with maybe two dozen other hard core yogis and our awesome instructor named Justin, and while doing triangle pose, we saw a double rainbow, and Justin helped me do a headstand on a grassy, slippery incline and without a wall, and my hair was insane but it was awesome. I had a great time. That's possibly the longest sentence I've ever written but at least I got it all out right?

So now you know why my hair looks crazy in these pictures.
And you can't even see the frizz from here.

 Nice backdrop, eh?

Shirt: my mom's, you must recognize it by now
Shortalls (overall shorts, if you will): London London via Saver's
Socks: Urban Outfitters
Platform wedges: DV by Dolce Vita via Zappo's
Necklace: you can't see it, but it's a Spongebob necklace. It was a present from my cousin Emma. She gives the best gifts.

Gettin' mah creep on.
Also please see the hair. Cute, huh?

The reason I'm on a tight schedule is because I finished the last Harry Potter book last night, which means I've got to watch the 7th movie tonight, and not tomorrow, because we won't be home in time tomorrow, because we're meeting Mich so we can HP it up together and such. I need to eat now bye

FITting In At FIT: Day 2

The good thing about this whole camp series thing is that I don't have to worry about coming up with punny good titles.

Day 2: pretty good stuff.

In my sewing class (morning), we started practicing straight stitching on the industrial machines, which is a lot harder than it sounds. Those things move like lightning. It's scary. I actually jumped a little one time and closed my eyes. Did I think it was going to eat me, and that closing my eyes would help? Maybe. Was closing my eyes while trying to handle a very fast-moving needle? Not at all.

We also practiced using the reverse switch, which is also a little scary, because that's one less hand to guide the fabric with, which equals more possibility that the line won't end up straight, which was the point of the whole exercise. I got the hang of it pretty quickly though.

Next we worked on seams and seam finishes. We just had to sew together 6 panels (which means 5 seams) with 1 inch seam allowance, and then do a different seam finish on each one. Our teacher showed us how to do them, it's not like I just knew or anything. I even got to use an overlock machine, which is the thing they use to make all the seams inside our clothing have those crazy stitches on the ends, the little triangle-square pattern. Lucky for me, my sewing machine at home has that as a stitch, so I don't have to worry about a)getting one and b)chopping my fingers off with the built in blade that is supposed to cut of excess fabric but could easily catch an extremity.

My second class was quite similar to yesterday's class, because we worked on the basic shirt back to go with our front. It took less time than it did yesterday, so we got to move on (after pinning them together and putting them on our dress forms and seeing how well they fit, all thanks  to our trusty darts). We were informed about our next project, which is a halter top. I'm pretty excited. I also am now in possession of four yards of my own muslin.

And to this 2nd day of camp, I wore this:
(I feel like I'm making a lot of blog excuses lately, but today the quality of these pictures is owed to the fact that literally no one could take my picture today. I usually think selfies in da mirror are despicable, but if the Man Repeller can get away with it, I figured I can give it a shot. I'd give you the link to when she did it, but I can't find it.)

 Dress: Urban Outfitters
Blazer: Hamlet's Vintage (I wore it here as well)
Sandals: Montego Bay Club
Necklace: an Italian street vendor
Earrings: hand-me-downs from my mom

 I tried to show you my necklace a little closer up, but I guess it didn't work. This is one of my two owl necklaces, which may seem like a lot of nocturnal bird related neckwear, but I like owls. Actually, all of my friends say I look like an owl when I open my eyes really wide, which happens when I get mad or when I want something (that last one was discovered yesterday by my sister, so I can't really attest to it). And we've also decided that my Patronus would be an owl.

There's my shoes. Wait they're's  THREE???? JK, they're's only one. Think about it for a moment.

That's all for now, folks.
Toddly doodly doo!