Aussie Curves: Feathers

As some of you may know, I met my partner on an online dating website 18 months ago. My profile picture on that website was this photo:

He has said to me since that he accepted my request because I was wearing the Indian Headdress. He had been getting bored of reading profiles that were all the same, and he liked the quirkiness of my photo. 

To this day, this headdress is one of my favourite things. But since I've already written a blog about it here, I thought I'd better focus on something else for the Aussie Curves Feathers week.

I bought this amazing feather headband at Myer in the Miss Shop section last year. I've worn it to a few music festivals, but that's it. To be honest, the plain black t-shirt here should be the focus of my blog, since I've practically been living in it for a couple of weeks! 

Headband: Miss Shop

T-Shirt: Cotton On Men

Skirt: City Chic

Necklace: Diva

Shoes: Converse Chucks

I rolled up the sleeves of the t-shirt and sealed it with hemming tape so they would stay rolled up. Since the headband is such a stand-out piece, I really liked the idea of keeping the rest of the outfit simple.

I came across this questionaire in FAT!SO? by Marilyn Wann, and this question stood out to me:

Growing up, I can honestly say that my answer would have been 'a'. If a clothing store had nothing that fit me, I did feel worthless and depressed. Now, those feelings of dismay have been replaced with answer 'd'. Obviously I don't actually come back with a flamethrower (Sigourney Weaver Aliens style, yeah!) but I have a sense of anger instead of hopelessness, and I know that everyone who has ever started a fatshion blog has felt that same anger. After all, Sigourney Weaver's anger was so kick ass that she stood smack bang in the middle of an alien nest full of eggs, a deadly queen and hundreds of fully grown alien soldiers and took it down! Anger can be productive! And I know that it's because of that anger that a community of plus size bloggers now exists and continually breaks the fashion rules and questions cultural beauty standards. It's exciting to be a part of!

Giving The Vintage Dress The Chop

Do you ever find yourself sifting through a rack at a thrift store and see a cute vintage dress, only to think, "If only it was shorter..."? This happens to me ALL THE TIME. I suppose if I had a sewing machine and more skills in that area, this wouldn't be an issue. Due to these lack of skills, I have about six dresses in my wardrobe that I love but haven't worn because they need shortening.  However, I have found a way to hem these dresses that requires minimal sewing skills and materials. All you need is thread, scissors and a sewing needle. I'll explain how for those of you who, like myself, are challenged in the ways of the needle. 

 Fold the skirt of the dress in half, being careful to line up the edges as neatly as possible.

 Fold over again.

 Fold over again. I usually fold it over twice, but the number of folds may vary dress to dress.

Cut the excess material to your liking, as straight as you can. You may want to use a ruler or pins to achieve a perfectly straight cut.

I usually use this stitch to hem the dress afterwards because you can't really see the stitches on the other side.

I should probably warn you that sewing the hem can be really time consuming. I watched a couple of episodes of Dawson's Creek getting it done! Alternatively, you could use hemming tape. I've never used it before, but I've heard it's super easy - once applied you just iron it, and it permanently seals the hem. 

Here's how it looked afterward.

Alternatively, you can use hemming web tape, which is so quick and easy. I bought mine for about $4 from BigW. It works best on non-stretchy fabrics and you just iron it down and it melds the fabric.