Dressing like Ms Frizzle

I have secretly always wanted to be more like Ms. Frizzle. She had the coolest dresses, took her students on the best field trips, and didn't doubt her own awesome for a moment. The Magic School Bus books were amongst my absolute favorites as a kid (esp. Inside the Earth and Lost in the Solar System*. Geo and Astro have always been my most beloved subjects...), so it is only reasonable that Ms. Frizzle become a role model, right? Even if she was never intended to be a fashion diva.

So recently when I was scrolling though my options at Spoonflower, the print-your-own-fabric-design shop, I came across some spectacular options that are screaming to be made into Ms. Frizzle outfits. Skirts, dresses, or blouses? I'm not sure yet. I just hope my mediocre self-taught seamstress skills are able to keep up with this plan.

Sun Surface by Animotaxis

Malachite by Ravynka


Peridot by Paragon_studios_one


Rhodochrosite by Missemor


Nebulae by Tingish

Now I just need to find a couple great dinosaur, insect, and robot options and my nerdy desires will be fulfilled!

*How did I never own In the Time of the Dinosaurs? What a shocking lack in my childhood!

Shopping Bag

My lovely friend C and I recently ventured out into the garment district of LA to find some oilcloth - you know, that plasticy fabric cheesy summer tablecloths are made of? She had a few projects in mind and I was just along for the fun. But the prints we found at Michael Levine's were so darling I couldn't resist getting a few pieces.

I finally figured out my first project with one of the prints - a floral on a lovely ochre green background. I happened to have some leaf green and deep maroon canvas laying around from previous projects and appropriated some to serve as the lining and base of the bag. I attempted to use this diy design by the very talented Renske Solkesz of The Dress I Made. (I've used it before on a different project and it is fast, easy, and looks like it takes more skill than it does.) But because my seamstress skills are subpar, (and I was slightly distracted by reruns of StarTrek on netflix...) I messed up the stitching (because I messed up the cutting and aligning of the lining with the bag) on one of the tabs. So I improvised. I tucked in one tab on itself and hey! instant pocket!


The other tab I folded over and it formed a flap to close the bag. But I still needed to attach a strap, and I like that the original plan holds the bag closed. So I ran the strap through the closing flap (and I may later attach a snap or such to keep it in place), and it holds the bag closed when the strap is held tight.

Not perfect, but I like it. Pretty color combo, useful, and my shoddy skills didn't even mess up the bag beyond help. It didn't turn out as originally intended but that's never stopped me from enjoying something before!

Calculated Costumes

Early next year my dear kiwi and I are moving to New Zealand for a couple years. This involves plans and schemes for various details - things like visas, storage and shipping of belongings, and finding new jobs and a new home. But, being me, I am also setting in motion a plan for one specific aspect of my belongings: my wardrobe.


I have trained as a costumer, in an amateur sense, and since I started doing that as a teenager, the ideas behind planning out a specific character through a series of costumes developed parallel to my sense of personal fashion. Often, when I'm picking out my outfit for the day or trying on new pieces at a shop, I'm asking myself what role I will play. Responsible adult? Quirky teacher? Urban party girl? Whatever the plan for the day, I've got an outfit to make me feel the part.

But moving to a foreign country means having to make some very (hard!) deliberate choices about what comes and what doesn't. Between luggage and shipping, I can only bring so many things. But I also don't know what sort of job I'll have, where we'll be living, and what kinds of new activities I will do in my down time. This means that I need to have a wardrobe that is flexible enough to serve a wide variety of purposes but which is as compact as possible. For me, this sounds like a fantastic challenge/opportunity to plan out an ideal wardrobe and curate my current collection to suit.


This is going to be a bit of an ongoing process for the next few months, as I finalize my written plan and start to sort through what I have, what I need, what I am making, and what is getting tossed. I will do my best to share my process here, from outfit inspiration to drafted plans, to final results. And I will appreciate every bit of advice you have to offer - because it turns out it is much harder to plan for every occasion in life than to plan for a series of scripted scenes. Look for the "Calculated Costumes" label if you want to follow along during this process!

New Zealand

As you may or may not have gathered from previous posts, I happen to be dating a very lovely kiwi fella and we recently (Okay, it was in April. Months ago. Which isn't terribly recent in blog-time.) took a little trip down there. It is everything that people always say about it -- gorgeous landscape, nice people, good food. We spent time with my kiwi's family and friends, seeing places he grew up, drinking delicious local wine and beer, and gorging ourselves on some of the best dairy, produce, and meat I can remember eating. (It helps that his mum is a TERRIFIC cook and we spent much of our time staying with them on the incomparable Marlborough Sounds). Here are a very few of my favorite pictures from the trip. Enjoy.













P.S. More photos can be found at my flickr.

Make, Do, See

I know January is almost over, but I've been honing my list of resolutions and plans for this year and am just finally getting where I want it. I probably should also add "Resist procrastination" to the list, but I am trying to only put realistic expectations on my list. Basically my theme is to make more, do more, see more. As opposed to just watching reruns on Netflix again, or reading that same novel I've already read six times. While both activities are awesome and will not disappear from my repertoire, I'd like to add a little more to my days. So here's my list. I'll try to blog what I manage to make, do, and see so you can share in the fun!

• Explore the bejeezus out of this city -- only one year left!
• Eat real foods, mostly plants, as much as possible!
• Finish that dern novel! Start a new one!
  
• No more plastic bags!
• Floss more!
• Learn something new -- dance, tai chi, calligraphy, knitting, graphic design, martial arts, or something else entirely! Maybe even more than one thing!
  
• Get my life ready to move to a new continent!

Any favorite themes, key words, or plans for 2011?