Thrifty Sense -002

Here is a giant, silky, shoulder-padded, office blouse from Value Village. I have a new model, her name is Jamé. This top is now ready for the 2010 office or a day of shopping on 82nd!

Thrifty Sense -001

Yesterday, I bought a fat Ray Liotta button up from Value Village for $4 and turned it into a priceless summer dress! I took off the collar and sleeves, brought it in at the waist, fixed the edges and made a belt. My photographer is in Alaska, so these pics will have to do. Now all I need to do is throw a backyard pachanga! Too bad Portland is still such a hazy shade of winter :P

Dorf Goes Modelling

Here are pics of my first dress to sew all by myself. This was also my first professional photo shoot. We had some techno pumping and lines of blow just to the side. My photographer wanted to remain anonymous. Why? I do not know.

Dressy#One turned out 5 sizes too big but I still like it. The pattern is Cynthia Rowley for Simplicity 2472. This fabric was only 3 dollars a yard in the bargain bin- hard to believe, ehhh?!

NOT GOTH

I won a bag filled with DIY goodies (crap) for posting this t-shirt design on another blog.

Proper Pauper

There are TONS of reasons why I don't often splurge on high priced clothing. Some are obvious like the fact I don't have a real job. Or that I live in Portland, Oregon where the term dress-down was born and every day is casual Friday. Listen up Stumptown, it's not acceptable to wear fleece and birkenstocks to the ballet. I know you're really high and don't care, but quit it. Other reasons stem from my upbringing. Wether it was clothing, jewelry or home decor I was always told, "Leslie, YOU could do THAT!" My Mom was DIY way before it was cool or a known acronym. Then, there was my GranGran who could care less if the sales woman was standing next to us when she'd shout, "you can get this in Mexico for a dollar!"

I could go on and on about my cheapness, but I won't. Today, I wanna talk about online discount shopping clubs. I know that I usually dress like a 14 year old boy, but sometimes I do polish the ol' turd and go out sexing. For that, I need some nice pieces. I can't get EVERYTHING at Forever31! There are tons of these sites, but I stick to these three: Ideeli.com, swirl.com and gilt.com. Ideeli has the best prices on the clothes, but sometimes they'll throw in a poo-poo line from Jessica Simpson or Ed Hardy. Swirl has the hippest clothes and the prices are moderate. Gilt is all couture and usually out of my price range even when it's 80% off. All three of these sites require invites... so holler! Or you can get on a "waiting list" where they always accept you within 10 minutes of sending your request.

I've only bought costume jewelry from Gilt, but I still love to go look around at the clothes I'd buy if I were a successful business woman or Mrs. Doctor. Today, they have Alexander McQueen. Why do the goooooood die young? If only I'd been one of his BFFs. I would have hung out with him and brought over some Dominos (classic recipe of course), some B&G's PhishFood and plenty of muscle relaxers. We could have watched 6 hours of Forensic Files to quench all of our morbid curiosities and 4 hours of Wife Swap or What Not to Wear to remind ourselves that we ARE better than everyone else. That's why they invented reality television! Oh well, RIP Alex. Here are some of his pieces on sale today:

Yesterday, a friend of a friend gave me all her old patterns because she's moving to NY. This caftan is one of my faves. I wish it were in small so I could make one for myself. Can I just say, I LOVE a man in black & white stripes! He must be stuck in façonner la prison.

buns of steel!

My hair is too thin for a nice bun. At least that's what I thought. I just bought these Goody Spin Pins and THEY WORK. I did have to get my wire cutters out and shorten them. This bun is tight. I could head-bang and this baby wouldn't fall out. Now I can be secretary sexy!

SEW cool

First of all, please don't let Bruce, my hot shoes or that hair-band on the ground distract you.

This first skirt was sewn in class at Portland Sewing (which I would highly recommend). I love this fabric -it reminds me of heavenly bodies on muh body. Now I know why hippies love batik fabric! TRIPPY. And here's a close-up of the fabric, Don't fall down that rabbit hole!

This second skirt I made all by myself. This is NOT goth. The fabric's name is "Midnight Cowboy" y'all. Plus, I have blonde hair right now, so that automatically eliminates any of my clothing from this category. I would also add that I'm 31, but after seeing a "goth family" on Wife Swap, I've learned Hot Topics comes in all ages. I really shouldn't worry about it. A very wise person (Liz) once said, "i would rather be goth than white and nerdy! i hope people think im a witch so they dont fuck with me". So TRUE. Anyways, back to my skirt: cute.

Well, thanks for stopping by to check out the coolest shit ever. ahhahaha. I'm gonna try post once a week. PROMISE!

You must have rain to make a RAINBOW!

This weekend has been a nice preview of the weather to come for Portland. I love the rain and clouds until about February. Then I wonder if I should invest in a sun lamp or drive my car off a bridge. But after the 105 degree heat wave, I'd take this rain any day!

Here's some gear to get you ready for the fall and winter.

1. Marimekko Omena Umbrella $40.00 from Always Mod (everything Marimekko!) Also check out their cute rain ponchos.

2. Totes Rain Poncho in Smoke $8.99 from Target This is what I'll probably get since It folds up into a nice size to throw in my purse...and what a deal!

3. Compass Rain Poncho $295.oo from sevennewyork I love looking at expensive clothing! When I hit that lotto I'll buy us both one.

4. Purple Rain $10 from Amazon This is what I'll watch when I'm too lazy to go out because of the rain.

5. Patagonia Rain Shadow Hat on sale for $35.00 at Back Country Sometimes you just need a hat.

6. Buttercup Rain Chain $119.00 from target. There are tons of styles of these downspout alternatives. I had no idea they were so expensive though. Try RainChains4Less to save some dough. There are a couple of houses in Felony Flats (where I reside) that have these rain chains and it makes their porches look so nice ;)

7. REI Alpental Cap with eVent Fabric $39.50 REI I hate the stitching detail on this, but if it keeps my ears warm and my head dry, I'll wear it anyways!

8. & 9. Arcade Jaune $384 and Station Noir $341 from DoYouVelo OMG! Everything on this site is designed so perfectly for your bike commute in the rain.

10. & 11. Tretorn Plask Cuff and Plask Toggle both on sale for $54.97 (originally $140) on Piperlime This is the treat I'm going to buy myself when I get paid next. I love all of Tretorn's shoes! But if you still want to save some money, they have rain boots in every color imaginable for $24.99 at Target.

Stay dry y'all!

I'm never giving up....

on my dream of finding a sugar daddy. But, until then, I can find awesome, affordable clothes at:

http://www.modcloth.com/

Andrew Wyeth RIP

So, the second member of the Wyeth trinity has died. Andrew Wyeth has always been one of my favorite American artists. He stuck with what he knew and loved during a period of modern art that shunned his realism and archaic medium. While Andy Warhol was pumping out his factory Pop art, Wyeth continued to paint gothic, rural scenes of American life using egg tempera.

I'm heading to Seattle for a short trip this week to check out some of his work at the SAM. Here is one of his more recognizable paintings: Christina's World, 1948

Fun Alert!

I'm taking a beginner beading class this next week. I have tons of ideas, but no skills. I have about 50 things that I think I would be good at, but have never tried. Next on my list: cake decorating. I'm gonna figure out what I wanna be when I grow up real soon!

Tipsy Magee!

Tip # 001

So, I wore my metallic, leather sandals while riding bikes this past weekend and I scuffed them up. I was so sad until I noticed my metallic nail polish matched the color perfectly. I dabbed some on in a couple of spots and you can't even tell. This nailpolish is the Claire's ICING brand nail polish in metallic hazelnut.

don't drink the blackwater

ughhh.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill

I NEED this wallpaper

http://www.flavorleague.com/

I need this wall paper!

Stuff I Like:

Let me upgraaaaaaade ya!

So, I'm not sure anyone will read this, but I see lots of fun stuff I'l like to share with my friends. I also need to set up a mini portfolio up on hurrrr.  Welcome to BlogsMagee! 

leslie