A Mary Poppins Halloween

Happy Halloween! Using this post by Keiko Lynn as my inspiration, I was Mary Poppins and Geoff, my boyfriend, was Bert. I fell in love with Keiko's cute pictures and couldn't get Mary Poppins out of my head! Such an easy, fun costume was hard to resist.

And how could I not do a signature Mary Poppins pose or two?

My costume was partially homemade, or at least adjusted. I bought the shirt at St. Vincent de Paul for $1 and refit it to my size and made the bowtie and belt out of red scrap fabric. Everything else I had already. The hat isn't exactly Mary Poppins-authentic, but I think it worked out well enough!

I wish I had a better picture of my handsome Bert and I, but these are pretty cute.

The coat in this picture was also a thrift store find- $3 at Goodwill and it kept me fairly warm while tying in with the costume.

What were you for Halloween? 

Wearing Homemade Clothes: Sorbetto

I haven't had a lot of time to sew recently, so you haven't seen a lot of new projects from me. I thought this lull would be a great time to challenge myself to actually wear some of the clothes I've sewn, since I often...don't. I'm not sure why. Sometimes they fit funny or they feel too seasonal or I'm just sick and tired of them by the time I'm done sewing! Any of you have the same problem?

So now and then, I'm going to make a point to challenge myself to wear at least one item I've sewn myself. Today is the Collette Patterns Sorbetto top, which I sewed earlier this summer.

I always like to see people incorporate garments into outfits anyway- the boxiness of the Sorbetto top made me wonder what people are pairing theirs with. Any input? How do you wear your Sorbetto?

EBEW DIY: Missed it!

Naturally, I missed the Everybody Everywear that I'm most interested in! This month is the DIY challenge, and I totally forgot about it. Today I'm wearing something similar to this, which is quite storebought.

Had I remembered about EBEW, I might have worn one of these DIY creations:

Sweater Dress made from a men's sweater

Summer dress made from a pillowcase

Summer dress made from a thriftstore find

Don't forget to check out Everybody Everwear: DIY for some inspiration!

Fall colors and updates

It's been a crazy fall! This is my second to last semester at UW Madison, and I feel like I'm cramming everything possible into it. I have an hourly job, a practicum, and a project assistanceship...plus class...and very occasionally, a social life. I love everything I'm doing, but sometimes there's just too much to fit into a day.

Luckily, my weekends are free so I can have a little break now and then. Last weekend, I went canoeing with my dad and some friends up in northern Wisconsin.

 How are you guys enjoying the fall weather?

What I Wore Wednesday: 80 Degrees and White After Labor Day

I'm getting this post up a bit late because until quite recently, I was convinced that today is Tuesday. Whoops.

It's been in the high 70s the past few days, and I think that's as good an excuse as any to wear white after Labor Day.

Linking up to The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday

I'm wearing:

White Strapless Eyelet Dress: Plato's Closet, $11

Blue Button-Down: New York and Company, $12

Belt: Goodwill, $1

Purse: Urban Outfitters, $10

Born shoes: DSW, $38

Pinterest vs Delicious

I finally got a Pinterest account a couple weeks ago. I put it off for a while; I was afraid it would be too addictive, and I also didn't feel a need for it since I've been using my Delicious account for some time. Before I used Delicious, I was constantly emailing myself interesting links, which got a bit out of hand and I could never find what I wanted. Social bookmarking is a great alternative.

The problem with Delicious is that it's solely text-based- essentially, it's a list of well organized links with descriptions. This is great for my more "professional" bookmarks- articles and reference tools, for example, but it works less well for blogging, DIY, and fashion bookmarks. In Delicious, if I have twelve links tagged with "skirt tutorial," I often have to click through them all to find the one I want, since there's no image.

Delicious

(Click on images to make larger)

Pinterest definitely solves this, since it's all about images, and is quite eye-appealing to use. While I never used Delicious in a social way, Pinterest seems all about the community aspects, since the images on the main page are so eye-catching and easy to repin. My only dislike is that it's easy to fall into the habit of just repinning other people's images- which is probably why there's so many repeat images on the main page.

Pinterest

Am I addicted to Pinterest? Not yet. The librarian-in-training in me dislikes how haphazard everything appears at first glance, but it's just as easy to organize as Delicious, especially if one avoids the main page. Which I just can't do, since everything looks so pretty!

Conclusion? I'll keep using Delicious for links that are related to school and my career, but as of now, I think my other, more visual interests are better served on Pinterest.

What do you think? Do you use either of these tools? Both? Neither? Leave a comment and let me know!