Hunting: is settling on the not quite right product better than finding the perfect item.

Do you ever get the feeling your want something and then it moves from a “hmm I'd really like to have [random item]” to “I need [random item], Now!” and then the hunting begins.

Sometimes it a normal hunt, you keep your eyes out for it when you happen to be shopping and that is the extent of your looking. But then there are the times when you look in every shop you can thinking of whenever you have a free moment and it becomes quite frenzied. 

I get struck with this more often than I would like. It can range from shoes to jackets and even household goods. Murphy’s law means as soon as I decided to want it I can’t find it anywhere. The longer it takes the more I want it, and my expectations raise as well. Two recent items that sent me slightly nutty were needed for my trip to Japan. One was are a good pair of cute ballet flats for walking, the other was a match everything I own jacket. I started early because I had a deadline, but slowly time slipped away and I hadn’t found either.

I then started to get frantic.  With the shoes, I started to think of alternates to what I had decided I wanted, I looked at outfit photos online and decided I could handle a pair of loafers. This sent me on another whirlwind tour of shops to no avail. In the end I purchased a pair I had seen at the start and at the time of purchase as far as I was concerned I was settling.

The jacket was different again, I found plenty but they were never the right size, shape or colour. Until I saw a photo of exactly what I wanted and when it came in it was perfect. The only drawback was the price, for the make and materials used I felt it was a bit costly. I purchase it anyway because in my eyes it was perfect.

The results ended up being slightly backwards. I love the shoes and live in them, they are the best shoes I own and I will be getting another pair soon, These are the shoes I “settled on”

While the jacket ended up being less adaptable than I felt it should be, I wear it but not in the way or amount I had planned when I imagined it.

It makes me wonder where does this frantic need for something come from? Is it really a good indicator of something I will use frequently or are those random chance finds just as good or better. Did the shoes turn out so wonderfully because I didn't have high expectations for them?

The Cute Mouse gets the Cheese  

     

Why:  It was too cute!

What: It sits on the a shelf, I have used it once or twice but I keep thinking it’s too nice to use. This is a bit weird for me as I think something only has real value when I use it.

When: Feb 2011

Want: YES! Have you seen how cute the mouse is

Hoot Hoot

 

Why:  Because it was cute and it was an owl. I even withheld for a while… then couldn't hold out any more because I loved it so much

What:  It sits next to the stove holding the utensils I find I need all the time, scissors, Tongs, two spatulas... you get the idea.

When:  Feb 2011

Want: YES! 

What happened?

 So after over two months with no update, I thought it was about time to post something.

This blog came to a grinding holt for a few reasons, the first being I got busy. Life took over and Internet time reduced to 5 minutes here and there on etsy or Facebook.

The other was that while the plan to reduce my spending had started with good intentions it was heading down a dark path and I was unhappy.

I know what your thinking, over reacting much? It's just shopping.

But it was like a diet, I was starving myself and only eating grapefruit. So then I would crack eat a whole block of delicious, delicious chocolate(large expensive purchase) and then beat myself up over. I even started to think Michael was really angry at me every time I brought something. In the end I had become a mess of guilt and unhappiness. 

 I had to just let go for a bit, it amounted to a bit of shopping but not as much as expected, it was slower and more controlled but naturally not forced. I still understand my dependence on buying thing to be happy is not a good, but I will work on the over time.

 I also gave myself time to sit down and sew, I was getting hung up on wrecking my nice fabric but I knew there was no point in keeping it around. Once I let go I found making things was fun and rewarding. Some of them have turned out different to how I imagined, everything has turned out too big, but it’s fun to nut out how to fix them. I have 3 new skirts, that cost me under $50. I have a dress and another skirt in the works.  Because of these new skills I now go to a store, and think “I could make that for Under $20 and you want $XXXX for it?”

 As for where this blog will go, I still like the idea of focusing on things I own,  remembering why I have something was a good lesson. So I think I will keep going but maybe I will post an item a day instead. I also think Daily Outfit post would help remind me of clothing I own and how I have worn something previously. My only problem is I find having my photo taken unpleasant. But we’ll see.

Edit: I should add Michael was not annoyed with me at all, it was all in my head.

Biker Chic... I don't even own a push bike

 

Why:  I had always wanted a leather biker jacket, going to gigs over the years I had seen them on girls and they just looked cool.

What: I think I wore it 3 times in total and one of them was for these photos. Every time I put it on I felt bulky and very masculine, I was already unhappy with the lack of femininity (is that even a word or did I make it up?)  I had with my clothing and this just compounded it. This was a few years ago when I think I owned 2 skirts and maybe a dress. It sat in storage until  the start of this year, when I thought maybe it would be OK over a dress or skirt.  I put it on and it does look ok, but I just still can't bring myself to wear it.

When: Feb 2008

Want: Nope! I think I'm going to put it on eBay, it is a really nice jacket… and will look awesome just on someone else.

Playing around with things I don't wear

One new addition which has been the drive behind all my shopping trips the past few weeks is the shoes in the photos above. With the holiday to Japan approaching soon I realised my trusty brown shoes were not going to cut the trip (the holes gave it away).  I remembered how sore my feet were after each day of walking last time and realised I needed something with support and cushion.

You would think it would be easy to find shoes, but it wasn’t it. Being a size 10-11 already reduces the range, but no matter where I looked, high price range to low, nothing looked good. At one stage I even contemplated getting son CROCS, I know sounds bad but they have one niceish pair.

Then after I just about gave up I realised maybe I was the problem, I had boxed myself into an idea of what shoes would look good on me and didn't try any other style. I live in ballet flats, as aside from being cheap and comfy, they add no extra width or length to my feet.  They also had to have a rounded to, as for some reason I'm drawn to round toed shoes.  With this mindset I had pretty much ruled out a lot of shoes.

So to break out of my comfort zone I picked up pair of shoes which had a chunky feel to them, with a non-rounded toe.  It's been about two weeks, while I wouldn't say I LOVE them, they have been my shoes of choice most days.

  

I'm trying to wear different things in my wardrobe at the moment. I tend to get stuck on the same outfits and wear them to death. Summer never really happened here so a lot of my summer clothing will be following me into winter with layers over the top hopefully without too many new additions.

I had a day at home and picked out some of the some things I don't really wear that often to give them a second (in some cases first) chance to win me over.  Paired with the new shows I don't mind what I came up with. 

Etsy and Ebay

I even after my questioning the whole making my own clothing things, I'm going ahead with it because, it keeps me away from the shops and I already brought about 4 vintage patterns. I started looking on Etsy for vintage patterns after i found a blog (no longer updated) by a girl my size sewing vintage patterns. I had given up hope they come in my size, but in truth i never really looked.

 After i received them I started to wondered what Half-size meant, it was on all the patterns I had picked. A quick look on the Internet and I found out that all the of patterns were for people who were 5ft 3in. Half sizes were for matrons (people over 30 apparently)  the photo below explains it all. I'm 5ft9in or 5ft 10in so while they fit in the measurements, they will be too short in the body.

more details - whatbelongstoafripperie 

I'm going to make them anyway, they seem to have details on how to lengthen them built in. I also have a new pile of fabric as lincraft had 50% off all fabric. I was slightly good, I only got material based on how much I needed for a specific pattern.

and because I shopped

     

Why    I had started to crochet again and I thought it would be cute to make
           Matilda wear a frog hat, the maker also gave me a cute bear one too.
When  Aug 2010
What   I never even started it, but I will one day....
Do      It's a PDF... and Yes I do want it.

Craft Questions

So while trying as hard as I can to not buy anything new, I'm drawn to the idea of making things for myself. Clothing, aprons, blankets etc. using what I already have in my house.

Skirt by Me

When I was a student I had many grand-plans that involved using all my free time to be crafty and sell things at markets. These were encouraged by friends who also had similar aspirations; we would plan trips to spotlight and spend hour picking out material and different trimmings. Patterns were never on the list as we had the internet which provided us with free printouts, or we figured we could guess.

We would then meet up once or twice with the intention of being super crafty but instead of making anything we would just sit around drinking and chatting. The supplies would go into a storage box for safe keeping as we all because too busy with exams and work.  

I was a bit of a friend-whore with this, I had a few different circles and I did it with a different group each time and in the end I accumulated a lot of sewing supplies.

 So Much Material  

I did make it to one market, with two friends. One of us was already experienced at making toys so she was set, me and the other friend had no idea. We spent one very frustrating but hilarious day trying to help each other learn to sew with no patterns or clue as to what we were doing.  We produced 3 aprons, called it quits and started drinking. In an attempt to fill our table I spent a few days at the uni making fabric covered brooches and on the morning of the market made like 100 mini cupcakes  (thank god for the 50cent cake mix!) . We discovered that day how hard it is to be in the craft business. Not one of our aprons sold, maybe 5 of my brooches went and the creator of the toys had become attached to them and removed them from sales. The only thing we sold out of was the cupcakes.


I still have the aprons and the brooches and I also still own way too much material. I gave a big chunk away to my nieces for Christmas mainly just the odds and ends (I loved the off cuts bin at spotlight $5 bag) along with a book on how to make cute softies. This left me with only material I have a meter or more of.
So far I have made one skirt, and partly made a caplet. Before I started them I looked through my fabric to find what could be used and it turned up nothing suitable for the skirt. Most of it is not something I would wear or more of an upholstery fabric. I was lucky enough to see the fabric I wanted on special for $1.99m so I grab 3 meters. For the caplet I had purchased some material ages ago for this purpose but without have a pattern I ended up with 3 meters of material when I only need one.

Skirt by Me

So I'm faced with the question 

Is making my own clothing any better in the long run, as I have to buy material and a pattern, but may end up with excess material that has no use? I obviously already have too much fabric, which just shows another manifestation of my shopping addiction. 

Why     I didn't buy them, I made them

When   Oct 2007
What   As explained above I made them to sell at a market, but didn't do so well.

Do      I want them, to do to people who want them. I want someone to see them and get excited and 

           wear them all the time. I might get off my butt and sell them on etsy.

Why      For a caplet

When   Oct 2010
What    Left over caplet material see above

Do       I have no use for this, I don't want another caplet, and don't know what else to do with it. So maybe?

La Manna

I was located at the main office last monday. This should have made it simple to not shop, being away from the city and shops, it didn't. I went to lunch at the new supermarket over the road. La Manna is an Italian supermarkets built in an old airport hangar and it is huge. It sells a range of products and it was very tempting to fill up a basket of cooling looking food and kitchen product. I tempted when I came across a range of cute vintage looking baking dishes for $4.80.

I just thought of the cute baking dishes I already own and walked away. But I was very tempted. If you live near by, it's worth a look, not overpriced and has some yummy food woollies and Coles don't stock.

Why   Cute!

When  July 2010

What   It's not being used at the moment, but that is because until two days ago it was filled with little jellies.

           I didn't like the taste so I handed them out to people to eat at a BBQ. It is now empy and can be

          used to store my sewing things.

Do     Yes

I didn't buy anything!

I had to go to Myer to swap my tights over as I had picked up th wrong size. I wandered around took in the sights and window shopped. And thats it. I even tried this on

leona edmiston shelby-shirtdress

it was even reduced to $75 from $149. Its pretty but I thought about all the vintage patterns I can make a dress from and how much more I would love a dress I made myself. 

My new dress, hair and beer

This is the dress I wrote about the other day . Also has my new hair colour


This message is brought too you from my phone at beiro while I wait for friends too show up



This is my beer