Bytes & Bobbins

This is my outfit of the day.

Shirt- old navy, embellished by me

Pants – j crew, found NWT at the thrift store

Shoes – jcpennys

About 3 weeks ago, I was cruisin the thrift store racks and there they were. I’m speaking, of course, about the pants…the J. Crew pants.  They were new with the tags still on, the tags that still read “$80!!”  I thought I’d hit the jackpot, then I read the other tag, the tag attached by the tift store.   They were asking $30, a price I simply could not pay.  

So I waited, knowing they mark things down weekly. Two weeks later the pants were still there, and so was I.  I paid $5 and the rest is history.

So keep dreaming dear blog-fans because it could happen to you.

Neal & I are leaving for vacation…in about 2 months, but hear me out!  We are going to Charleston, SC at the end of August.  I knew when we planed the trip that we were essentially planning to vacation in an oven.  So my thought was to invest in some strategic pieces of clothing to keep me cool on those HOT HOT HOT days.

Linen is always a safe bet for hot, sticky weather.  From what I’ve read/heard the fibers actually work to wick the moisture away from your skin, so while you’re skin may be covered, you aren’t trapping in heat and moisture.  This is starting to sound like a paper towel commercial!

I was all ready to go out and shop til I dropped…then I remembered that infernal pledge.  DRAT!  So lately, on my trips to the thrift shop I’ve been scouring the racks for anything made of 100% linen or a linen/cotton blend.  About 1.5 weeks ago, I came across a full length berry-colored linen skirt, with two deep pockets on the front (you all know how I feel about a dress and/or skirt with pockets).   It was, sadly a little tight in the waist and, obviously too long.  Typically, a perspective refashion that is too tight is sort of a lost cause.  I mean, you can take stuff in, but depending on how much fabric you have in the seam, you are limited as to how much you can let it out.  UNLESS…..said item has pleats! Yes! Win! Score!

So I just used about 10 sentences to tell you all, dear blog-fans, that I let out some pleats to create more space in my skirt waistline.  Since I had to make a new waistband anyway, I went ahead and made it wider, and of course shortened the length. Perfect southern summer apparel.

And now the reveal:

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I’ve been experimenting with ways to wear my new Dizzy Floral Dress from J.Crew.

J. Crew Dizzy Floral Dress – No. 2 by RDewing07 featuring J Crew

Dizzy Floral J.Crew Dress by RDewing07 featuring J Crew dresses

J. Crew Dizzy Floral Dress – No. 3 by RDewing07 featuring J Crew dresses

You know, I love JCrew, but they are darn expensive. In any given week, I’ll surf their website maybe 3 times looking at the new stuff, hoping to figure out some way to replicate their looks without spending too much dough. Usually it’s not too hard. But there’s one (actually more than one, but for the sake of my argument and the length of this post, just work with me) item of clothing that’s really hard to “fake,” as in hard to find/make a knock off: Bathing suits.
I’ve had a few NICE bathing Suits in my time, I’ve had many more cheap-o bathing suits and from these suits I’ve learned the aforementioned truth. Cheap bathing suits are great, but if you’re looking for something you want to keep past one season, they really can’t be relied upon. The colors fade , the fabric gets “picked” very easily, and it looses it’s stretch all too quickly. It’s one of those wardrobe staples that you know will get put through the wringer and for that reason, I’ve decided to invest this time around.  So after drooling over the jcrew one pieces for about 3 months,  I used the 30% off sales items and purchased this, and just because I had the discount and it’s so cute, I got this.  :)  And now I wait for them to arrive.

Enough Said.  Check out Emma Block on etsy.  She’s  got some great prints.

Throw pillows.

I’ve been looking at pillows a lot lately, as we’ve been “redoing” our living room.  I hope to post some pics of the finished product soon.  Let me temp you with the color swatches we’re using.

The top row of color would be the neutrals and then the bottom 2 rows are the 2 color families  i’ll be working in all over the room.  Now on to the the pillows of my dreams:

1.Umber Dove 2.Joom 3.Olive 4.Alexandra Ferguson 5.Palancahome 6.Fennelstudio 7.Rukkola 8.Nuka 9.Pillow Happy

errr—shopping senses is more like it.  I. LOVE. THIS. NECKLACE.

Find it here.

Parasols!

I love these. Remember it’s not an umbrella! Umbrellas are for rain, parasols are for sun.

Please forgive my lack of posting. Know that is only because we are in the midst of moving this week and the next. I’ve been packing up all my sewing stuff and getting ready for the moving van next weekend!

In the mean time, please enjoy some new photos on my flickr acount from my best friend’s wedding this past weekend!

Congratulations Amanda and Jeremy!