I ♥ Thursday

Today I’m linking up with Ashley’s “I ♥Thursday”!

The Rules (so you can join the fun, too!):

1. Be sure to have I ♥ Thursday in your post title. {You can copy & paste the ♥ into your own post. That is what I do.}

2. Have the button in your post, or link to back to Bramblewood Fashion and have the button in your sidebar.

3. Share anything that you are loving right now. Tutorials, fashion, crafts, music, movies, recipes, quotes, what ever.

4. Have fun visiting everyone's link!

She's also hosting a giveaway for a $10 gift card to places like Amazon, Forever21, Payless, and more (winner's choice)! Check out her blog for details.

So what am I loving lately? Well, I must confess to being a wee bit obsessed with tartan!

MacLean variation Tartan [source]

 I’ve always liked plaids, although I don’t seem to have worn them much growing up. Then I discovered a wee bit of Scottish blood in our family’s background (Great-great-great-grandfather McSpadden) and met the adorable Miss Kellie, whose love of her own (less distant) Scotch roots inspired me to appreciate my own. My search for the McSpadden clan tartan proved to be a bit confusing (although one of the MacLean tartans—pictured above—looks a bit like what was described in this article), but it sparked an interest in other tartans, specifically in skirt form to go with my solid-colored sweater-sets* and/or blouses. Pictured below are my favorite finds on Etsy. Enjoy!

* Sweater-set = A turtlenecked T-shirt with a sweater of the same or similar color.

~Tom’s Dictionary of Whacked-out Terms and Old Family Sayings

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CU of Purple Tartan

It looks blue, but it’s really royal purple! How could I resist? ;-)

 

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Here’s a color you don’t often see in a tartan—robin’s egg blue! Very striking.

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This pretty pink skirt reminds me of one my mom had for years. Mom’s was more of a peach-pink, with grey and white in it. She offered it to me a couple years ago, but at the time I wasn’t into printed skirts of any sort, and I thought I was still allergic to wool. So it went to the thrift shop…and I’m still kicking myself. This skirt is even the same style. Love the minty-greens in it, too!

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Another purple tartan—probably too “warm” for me (even if I could afford it, that is), but it’s a very sharp, classic-looking plaid, notwithstanding.

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 Speaking of classic, what could be more so than this Black Watch-looking tartan (right)? 

EDIT: Having read the listing again, this is actually an authentic MacCallum tartan. So to any of my Gentle Readers who are MacCallums--this is your tartan!

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These two skirts have a similar pattern to them—red plaids on a bluish background— only one is a true blue, whereas the other is more of a teal-blue. The brighter blue has touches of green and purple, too. Both look very smart!

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 Here’s yet another “purple” tartan—although it’s mostly navy- and royal blue. Normally I don’t care for purple and blue in combination—too similar—but this pattern makes them look good together. It’s one of those “I don’t like XYZ… except when I do” moments. :-P The white plaids make it look really snazzy, too!

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While I wouldn’t pair any tartan with, say, a floral print, this grey-and-white combo would go smashingly with any solid-colored top, while still having that classic tartan look to it.

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On the other side of the coin, this bright little frock will go with any number of other colors.

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CU of Blue Tartan

Lastly, we have two tartans with a lot going on in them. The first one is basically baby-blue and dark green, with checks in between of both colors. The blue checks have red lines running through them that form a little grid in the center, and the green checks have red gridlines all over. The blue/green checks also have red gridlines, but in a narrow band across the center of the checks, with single red lines above and below. And all are bordered with lines of white and yellow. Whee!

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CU of Red/Grey Tartan

The second tartan may look a bit drab at first—just red and grey—but a closer look reveals checks of blue and green in a complex pattern, stripes of bright blue, and touches of yellow, black and white, with textured striping between the checks. And those grey ones? A closer inspection reveals they are actually a hound’s-tooth check pattern! Wow!

Mind you, those two drops of Scotch blood (and my poor, starving bank account) prevent me from actually buying these lovelies…unless they were to go on clearance. I can dream, can’t I? ;-) But I’m confident that if God wants me to have them (or something similar and waaaay less pricey), then He’ll provide them, in His time. Until then, I have these:

This is of course my “Scottish Seafoam” skirt, featured here a while back. It’s quickly becoming my favorite skirt, as it looks good with both mary-janes and boots, so theoretically I could wear it in all but the very hottest weather (all two months of it, LOL). Hurrah for versatility!

Christmas 2011

And you all remember my Lassie Skirt, aye? It’s not quite as versatile as the seafoam one, but it’s very elegant—especially under my green velvet dress (christened “Celtic Princess”)!

This smart little number is one I actually picked up at (where else?) the thrift shop earlier this Fall (or was it in Summer?), but as usual, I haven’t been able to feature it on the old blog until now. :-P It’s a size 20, and it has a few “boo-boos” that need fixing. My plan is to take it apart and re-pleat it to fit my own (size 14) waist. This is the most versatile tartan in my current collection, as it will go with green, red and navy-blue, and also my seafoam sweater-set!
What’s really amazing is that it’s a poly-silk-rayon blend, which the label dictates should be Dry Clean Only, yet it came through the washer and dryer with no ill effects! PTL!

The whitish stuff is embroidery on some trim I was thinking of using

CU of Tartan pattern

I call it “Highland Kelly.” Why? Because of a blouse I once had (see picture) that was the same deep green as some of the checks in this skirt. The original “Kelly” blouse was a long-sleeved shirtwaist that I altered by removing the too-long cuffs and using the resulting fabric to make sleeve-bindings and a collar-ruffle (which I never got a pic of, sadly). After that, I tailored the sides so it'd fit more nicely…and then promptly outgrew it that Fall. :-( I still miss that blouse…anyway, I plan (Lord willing!) to make another one to go with this skirt.

What are you loving lately?

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~“Tom”~

♥

Outfit: “Bonnie Lassie”/ “Highland Schoolmarm”

Gentle Readers, I must confess that I still have yet to finish my write-up of the delightful Springtime Tea last month (not to mention the Talache Picnic the week before). It would seem the things closest to the heart are the most difficult ones to write about, wot? I do intend to share my thoughts and pictures from those events...but probably not soon, as my life has been rather topsy-turvy of late. I need to get into the groove with my new Summer schedule...once I get my health back. Long-story-short, in the past week and a half I have endured the Mother of All Headaches, a sore throat, fever, runny nose and sinus headache. And I'm still recovering. >:-( Could have been worse, though—it could have been food poisoning instead. >Shudder<

But enough on that head. Today I want to share what has become one of my favorite outfits this Spring. I call it “Bonnie Lassie”...although at first I dubbed it “Scottish (or Highland) Schoolmarm.” It depends on what jewelry I wear with it.

~What I'm Wearing~

Skirt: “Lassie Skirt” Kmart (altered)

Blouse: Pink Shirtwaist hand-me-down from Mom

Pink sleeveless tee (under blouse): Wal*Mart

Brooch: Rose-and-lace Brooch hand-me-down from Mom

Earrings: “Ruby Romance” Wild Rose Designs

Hairstyle: “Edwardian Lace Bun”

Altering the Lassie Skirt: Winter(ish) 2009

Scraps from the Lassie Skirt Treatment

The piece de resistance of this outfit is the red tartan skirt. It's made of poly-rayon but looks and feels like real wool, without the itchiness. :-P The camera doesn't show it very well, but there are metallic gold fibers woven into the pattern, and there is a red velvet ribbon a few inches above the hemline (which you can barely see in the picture at left). The skirt originally started out as two slim A-line skirts (sizes 12 and 14) on clearance at Kmart back in California. I opened them both up and sewed them together into one big skirt, then made a new waistband and pleated the now-huge waist to fit. That looked too bulky, so Mom helped me give the skirt what I now call “the Lassie Skirt Treatment.” She had me put it on, then she pinned up the side seams until they fitted my waist. I then sewed along there she'd pinned, tapering the new seams into the existing ones, so the hem would still be nice and full. I made the skirt a wee bit wider than my actual waist measurement at the time because—it must be confessed—I was a bit freaked out that my waist had expanded to *gasp!* 26” in two years, and I was afraid it would get bigger as the years went by. So I provided for that and pleated in the extra fullness in back, on either side of the invisible zipper, to be let out should I happen to get any “fatter,” LOL. (For the record, my waist is holding at 28”, and the skirt still fits fine, if a wee bit snugly. And I've come to the conclusion that I was too skinny back then anyhow. :-P)

*Sigh* I miss my chin

The blouse—a poly-cotton number from Mom—may be what I call a “plain-vanilla shirtwaist,” but it has some redeeming feminine details—namely, the very rare rounded collar (most shirtwaists have those sharp-pointy things) and the vertical pleats front-and-center, one of which covers the buttons so they don't clank against my necklaces and make them hang crooked, like other button-up blouses do. Plus it's one of my very best colors—always a plus! (Incidentally, it's pretty much the only shade of pink I look good in, as a solid color, anyway.) People say you're not supposed to mix pink and red, but being very pale—almost next-door to white, really—somehow this tint goes very nicely, I think!

And if you're wondering why I wear a sleeveless tee under it, it's because the blouse is on the thin side. Not out-and-out see-through, but still pretty thin. The tee, being cut fairly wide so the edges don't show, and being the same color as the blouse, is practically invisible and therefore provides a nice opacity layer. This gets a bit bulky when worn over my Bodiced Petticoat, but I'm in the process of making a pink one (christened “Eglantine”) to alleviate that problem.

The brooch was a gift from some friends one Christmas several years ago, but Mom doesn't tend to wear brooches, so she gave it to me recently. Being a sucker for roses, I accepted it gladly. :-) I don't wear it often, as I'm not much for brooches myself, but it is nice to have about when I'm in the mood for a more Victorian look.

I made the earrings last year—or was it the year before?—to go with a necklace I'd been working on for a couple years. In the past I haven't been comfortable with dangles, but lately I find myself more drawn to them. Not big-bold-blingy ones, mind you, nor the kind you could practically wrap around your neck; that's not my style. Just something delicate and dainty and a bit more formal than the humble stud. They consist of Sterling earwires hung with a red "quartz" drop and a tiny "Siam" Swarovski bicone.

My hair is the same as in the “Sea Breeze” post, only this time you get to see it with side-curls. :-) Originally I just did my hair in Swedish Braids with this outfit, but this style (which I call “Edwardian Lace Bun”) is more formal. It's quickly becoming my favorite way to do my hair!

I hope y'all have enjoyed this little fashion show, and I'll keep working on those special posts so's you can see my pix!

God bless,

~“Tom”~