Outfit: "Sea Breeze"

A little peek at my recently-finished blouse:

Pretty frock...dorky smile :-P

~What I'm Wearing~
Blouse: "Sea Breeze" (made by me)
Trousers: Seafoam Cropped Pants (Green Cross)
Necklace: "Diamond" (cubic zirconia) Pendant, hinged bail & fine Figaro chain (assembled by me)
Earrings: Silver Ball-studs (gift)

I wore this ensemble sometime last month--the 14th, I think. The Panhandle Symphony (the orchestra Mom and Peter are in) had their Spring Concert on the 10th, and they traditionally have a post-concert potluck supper and business meeting during the following week. Normally I'd have worn jeans and a Hawaiian shirt or something, but this was a special occasion. Part of the business meeting would include officially voting in my mother as a member of the Board of Directors (or something like that), so I decided to dress up a little. The weather then was in the 70s, just right for short sleeves, and since I had recently finished sewing this blouse, I decided to debut it then. So now you get to see what it looks like on me!

These are not the capris I mentioned in my previous post about this blouse. Those are the same color (and fabric) as the trim along the "waist"...and have yet to be finished. *Halo* These were rescued from the Green Cross* barrel at work, and as you can see, they blend beautifully! They have some very slight stains on the legs, but not noticeable unless you know where to look, and are about an inch away, so they'll do just fine. In the end, however, I swapped them out for my light grey trousers (not shown) because these are a bit too loose at the waist, and I didn't want to be hiking up my pants all evening. :-P

 * Green Cross = An organization that take our stained, torn, yucky-nasty and/or just plain "tired" donations and recycle them. Keeps stuff out of landfills that way.

 ...and gets me free clothes when the faults are minimal! ;-)

Edwardian-esque Updo

I wore my hair lace-braided again like in this post, only instead of the two coils, I did one tight coil and then wound the other braid around that. And pinned the stuffin's out if 'em, of course. ;-) I really like this style--it's fairly easy to do, very becoming and only takes roughly ten minutes to do (fifteen, tops). I've done it several times now, and I can see it becoming a staple for special events this Summer. :-)
But it definitely looks best with softening curls at the temples.

The blouse itself needs major tweaking still. The neckline ended up lower than I thought it would, so unless I stand or sit straight as a poker, it dips down rather dangerously. O.O I found myself fussing with it most of the time--not fun! So I need to take up 1/2" to 1" in the shoulder seams of the neckband/yoke and gather up the blouse to fit (the blouse's neckline is just sandwiched between the yoke and its lining). Also, the thing has a bit of a "maternity top" vibe to it because of the gathers in front. Exactly what I was trying to avoid. *Sigh* The trim needs to be higher, too, as its current height looks a bit dumpy. :-P Probably what I'll end up doing is cutting the top off at the Empire line and gathering it onto either the trim or the top of the lower bodice, which will be slimmed down so it's flared and flat at the top, rather than being gathered and puffy. Probably put a zipper in the side, too, for ease of getting it over my broad shoulders. That will eliminate the need for the elastic in the "waist," so I can put the trim all the way around, rather than having it tie in back like it does now.
But all that can wait till I get a few more projects finished....

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it or anything. I'm pretty pleased with the blouse, really. It's just not quite to my liking...yet! ;-)

Until next time, Gentle Readers,
God bless,
~"Tom"~