what a piece of work is man

I had an insane burst of creative energy yesterday. I woke up and immediately wanted to DO something. So I cut up my clothes. I've been dying to try recreating old, unworn garments, and I finally just did it. (My inspiration comes from this brilliant blogger: New Dress A Day) Of course, I'm far too poor to own a sewing machine, so for this project, I just used some scissors. And a needle and thread when my scissors got too happy.

This first shirt I got from a friend as she was purging her closet. She, in turn, had gotten it as a gift from her sister's semester in Ireland. It had never been worn, for good reason. Neither of us really understood the shape or concept of it, but I took it, thinking I'd try it out (which I never did.) I had it thrown in my Goodwill bag when my cutting insanity began yesterday.

Here's the BEFORE shot:

BEFORE shot. Notice the weird not-quite-a-skirt apron-y thing at the bottom.

It's got some really great detailing up at the top that I didn't get a close-up shot of. Totally worth saving.

And AFTER!

It's sheer, so it's just a great cute overlay that I ended up getting a lot of compliments on. And of course the drawstring at the bottom ripped after a day of wear, so I ended up doing some mending at the end of the day, but it should be able to withstand all sorts of adventures now.

The next piece I cut up was an itchy black dress that I wore maybe once. It's an odd shape, and just so hot and itchy that it, too, was in my Goodwill bag.

Pretty blah.

But check out the great ruffles!

I ended up chopping off the entire bottom of the dress, cutting right up the center seam and removing the tiny buttons on the front, and making a little ruffly shrug. Granted, the inside of the shoulders is still pretty itchy, but with some creativity I can fix that in no time.

My bout of creative energy didn't end there yesterday. I picked up my guitar and found some free lessons online. G maj, A maj, and C maj chords accomplished! Of course, I couldn't do them for you off-hand right now, but give me time! I'll be rockin' and rollin' before you know it.

I tried working on the layout/design of the blog, but nothing really came of it. It will definitely continue to change as inspiration comes to me, but this is good enough for now. My main focus right now has been finding a survival job. Why does it feel so difficult to do things without money? I know there's tons of free stuff in the city, and yet my first three weeks here have mostly been spent on the couch.

I'm off to rehearsal now. Looking forward to a date night with Z, who's been busy with his first week of school. Later, gators.