My Shoe Chronicles — Pink Ankle Boots

Pointy, shiny, pink leather… How can a girl go wrong with these? Okay, so they’re not real comfy to wear, but I did survive an unplanned three-hour shopping trip in them, so they became one of my favorites.

They’re not 80s, but they sure do look retro. And they make me wish I had more pink in my wardrobe so that I’d wear them more often. Especially now that I’ve worn them in so much after that impromptu shopping trip.

Okay, so there you have ’em. They aren’t all my wackiest or all my faves, but they’re a fair representation of what I have to work with and my collection grows every year. These pics were all taken last year. Since then, I’ve added some like totally awesome 80s pumps that I would’ve died for back in the day as well as various other great pairs vintage and modern…including jellies!

There have been a few times where I’ve found the same pair of shoes twice at thrift stores. Once, while I was wearing them! Yeah, what was funny is that I saw them on the shelf and thought, “Ohhhh…those are awesome…Wait. Don’t I already have ones like them?” Then looked down and there they were on my feet! I bought the pair on the rack and donated the ones on my feet. (The rack pair was less worn than the ones I was wearing! The cashier got a kick out of it, too.)

I don’t need to spend a lot of money in order to really enjoy the shoes I find. I think that’s one of the best things about my collection. It’s comprised almost entirely of shoes I found without actively searching. Sure, there are a few that I needed to get for certain applications, but the rest just happened. I know what I like, so I buy them when I see them…as long as they’re less than about $10. Most, I get for $5 or less. If I’m spending more than $5, they’ve gotta be truly stellar and something I don’t already have. That’s pretty hard to do these days, but it does still happen.

A few months ago, I picked up another pair of vintage silver shoes like the ones I posted earlier. They’re a slightly different style, but the same toe shape. I wasn’t gonna get them since I already have a similar pair, but for $2, I just couldn’t pass them up. They’d never been worn. The bottoms are still smooth!

I Need To Build Something

I just posted to the Ashleigh Raine blog about how my last two day’s worth of work mysteriously went up in file-not-found smoke. Yeah…nice, huh?

So, instead of lamenting, I’m trying to figure out something else I can do to take my mind off of it. I’ve got a ton of sewing projects, beading projects, even writing projects, but why is it that at this very moment, I can’t decide which to do?

Perhaps that’s a sign that I should see what I’ve got that needs repaired. Between antique dolls, vintage clothes and jewelry, I’m certain I can get myself occupied.

I think the worst of the whole ordeal is simply that I lost so much time. Generally, when I put 18+ hours into something, I have something to show for it. Even a completely screwed up, ugly dress…something.

File not found… Not “File messed up”, “File misplaced”, “File screwed up beyond recognition”, “File in hiding” or “File doesn’t wanna be worked on at the moment so wait a few hours, days, weeks until it’s in a better mood”.

File. Not. Found. *sigh*

My Shoe Chronicles — Sexy Black Heels

I bought these shoes to go with an equally killer dress. I’m not sure what turned more heads, the shoes or the dress, but wearing these shoes makes me feel unstoppable. These are certainly one of my most attitudinal pairs of shoes.

Yeah, these came into my collection because I couldn’t find what I needed at thrift stores and I just didn’t have a pair of killer black spike heels. Even I was shocked when I discovered that I’d have to actually go out and buy a pair of new shoes. It happens so infrequently for me.

In fact, I don’t even remember the last time I had to actually go shoe shopping. Most of the time, I just check the racks at thrift stores to see if there’s anything I like. Then, it all comes together when I either look through my wardrobe and discover the perfect outfit or when I store the shoes until the perfect outfit comes along second hand…or I make the perfect outfit. (That’s what I’ll be doing soon for a pair of silver boots I acquired a few years back.)

Dreamin’ Big

I posted on the Ashleigh Raine blog about how nervous I am to be doing the Rose Bowl Flea Market this Sunday. During the course of that, I created a new spotlight I’d like to share here, too:

Good golly do I need to keep updating my photos. I got a new camera not too long ago and have been slowly working my way through my huge inventory and redoing all the pictures. I’m a little impatient, but I’m slogging through just fine because I know that when it’s all said and done, it’ll be tons easier to move forward. The new camera (a Canon PowerShot SX200 IS) already enabled me to cut my processing time in half–if not more. Yeah, totally awesome investment.

Anyway, a few weeks back, I posted a pic of my tortoise (his name is Toad) looking like a bathing beauty. My husband snagged it, applied his sense of humor and here we have my Friday fun pic:

I hope you have a fabulous day and a wonderful weekend. If you’re anywhere near Pasadena, come see me at the Rose Bowl!

My Shoe Chronicles — Vintage Silver

These shoes reminded me of my grandmother. Not the conservative, straight-laced one, the other, bizarre character who would’ve worn these with just about anything…including a polyester pantsuit…

I generally wear them with some of my fancy vintage stuff, but they’re silly enough to wear with just about everything else in my wardrobe. They’re silver. That’s easy to work with.

They’re not the most comfy, but if the funny-factor is in order, they’re perfect. I got them at a thrift store almost 10 years ago now. That was one of the few times where I actually found what I was actively looking for rather than just buying something because it was silly. I’d needed a pair of vintage shoes to go with one of my old dresses. I’d doubted I’d find the right shade of mint green, so I focused on silver or white. Lo and behold there they were at the second store on my rounds.

My Shoe Chronicles — Gold Holographic Heels

I call these my disco shoes even though they’re painful to really dance in. I dunno, something about the fact they’re gold and holographic just makes them fun to wear out for fun.

They’re a little too high and a little too small, but they do peg my weird-o-meter pretty well. I definitely don’t wear them much, but when I do, it’s always memorable… Last time, I got some pretty wicked blisters, but strangely, when I wore other shoes, the blisters weren’t irritated. That’s like both having and not having blisters all at the same time. I suppose I’m a glutton for punishment, but the experience was worth it to me.

Fixing My Brown Fuzzy Monster Coat

Meet my brown fuzzy monster coat:

Not to be confused with my dark brown one, my red one, my gold one or either of my light blue ones. I got this coat from a thrift store and didn’t notice that one of the sleeves had blown out in back until I went to wear it one chilly night and slid my arm right through the lining and everything. Whoops!

It’s understandable. The coat is likely from the 60s or 70s. It’s definitely vintage and has seen a lot of wear. That’s why I like it and most of my others. They’re so worn, they really look like fuzzy monsters or well-loved teddy bears. Kind of matted, but so very comfy and warm.

Anyway, I’ve never sewn fur before (fake or real), so this was a bit of an experiment for me. Rather than be afraid, I just pretended it was like any other fabric and started pinning, starting with the side. Only the seams had busted. The fabric was still intact.

I stitched it back together and then pinned the sleeve:

Sewing it back together was a little tricky, but I made it happen. Plus, it’s fuzzy fur, so it’s quite forgiving as far as showing repairs.

I really wasn’t sure what to do about the lining since it was frayed. There are a few iron-on patches in other spots, but while I do have patches I could use, in a way, I wanted to do this in such a way that when it frays again, I’ll be forced to replace it entirely. There’s a lot of wear on the inside, but the outside still retains its fun.

So, once the lining was stitched up, too, it was time for the moment of truth:

Hooray! Some day I’ll replace the buttons. The plastic is getting cracked and crazed. You can’t tell from far enough away, but up close, those buttons really need to be swapped out. And it’s not like I don’t have a billion buttons waiting for the ‘perfect’ garment to come along when I’ll finally break down and install them.

My Shoe Chronicles — Vintage Gold Buckles

Not much of a story for these. They’re gold. They sparkle. They’re vintage. They’re perfect.

I picked them up at a thrift store and some of the rhinestones had fallen out of the buckles. One day while I was downtown in the garment district, I happened to remember that I needed some pointed-back stones. I had the clerk pull out a few sizes and then just guessed which ones would work.

I’m still amazed that I somehow guessed correctly when I hadn’t actually looked at the shoes for months before I bought the stones.

I Can’t Help It

Whenever I look out my back window, I just have to see where my tortoise is, what he’s up to. Sometimes, he gets himself flipped over and can’t get back upright again because he’s got a flat spot on his shell, so it’s good I’m looking out for him just in case.

And then there are days when I look out, expecting him to be frolicking in the grass or ground cover, but he’s not.

I should caption this “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful!”

How To Make A Ribbon Choker Necklace — Part 3

UPDATE: For a better tutorial, visit ribbonchoker.com.

The ribbon choker necklace is almost done. I’ve laid out everything needed in order to finish it. The ribbon with clamps installed, the jump rings, clasp and extension chain.

Step five: ADDING THE FINDINGS AND FINISHING!

Open a jump ring.

Put the clasp on it and close it.

I put this extra jump ring onto the clasp so that it will lay right when it’s attached to the ribbon clamp and allow a little extra room for your thumb to work the clasp when you wear the necklace.

Open another jump ring and this time join the ribbon clamp to the jump ring on the clasp and close it.

Finally, open the last jump ring and join the extension chain to the other ribbon clamp.

There you have it! A beautiful ribbon choker necklace!

This one doesn’t exactly match what I happened to be wearing that day, but oh well. I had fun making it!

To see more of my work, visit my Etsy Store and my Artfire Store. If you mention my ribbon choker how-to blog series during checkout of any purchase from my shop, I’ll include a free ribbon choker necklace.

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