Full-Time Vixen

A Navy Polka Dot Dream Dress

2011-08-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

I was participating in the Lonsdale sew-along which already ended two weeks ago. I've been dragging my feet on taking photos and finally here they are!

This dress is made from a polyester semi-sheer crepe-y fabric (not sure exactly what it's called) and I underlined the bodice and lined the skirt with Bemberg lining. Added a little bit extra work but all in all, this dress is so simple to sew! I used an invisible zipper instead of a regular one. This dress has two big pockets that you can't really see because of the print and bright lighting but not only is this dress beautiful, it's functional. Perfection. I've worn this dress out several times and always get compliments and admirers.

If you've noticed that I don't blog very often, I've realized for myself that it's not a priority in my life. In the words of the fabulous Rachel Red Lips when commenting on Tilly and the Button's post on sewing productivity:

"I know how hard it is to make time for all things outside of the daily grind, but personally have found that I get more creative projects done when I don't blog."

I find this is so true for myself and I'm not out to become an internet celebrity with this blog or to make money -- it's a blog for my friends and family who are curious about what I actually do in terms of "pursuing sewing" as a passion and life career. And thus, I will blog whenever I can but I am not obligating myself to post on a schedule or very often.

It was so sunny out there on my balcony! It is such a hot day today, perfect for my beautiful polka dot sundress! It did make taking photos a little difficult because it was TOO bright and shadows were all over the place. But I did as best as I could today. :P

Also, I got an industrial piercing on my left ear (your right) and you can see that in this photo. It's healing well although I have to stay vigilant as cartilage piercings take a while to heal completely -- up to one year depending on the individual. And since an industrial is essentially two piercings, my body has to work doubly hard.

Okay! I have to get back to sewing and other necessary tasks -- I've been slacking out of laziness the past two weeks. I am not very proud of myself right now. But I shall set out to change this today!

A Little Black Skirt

2011-07-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

So this is a simple black 6 gored skirt I made back for my waaaay too easy sewing class I took during the winter. It's alright, I picked up a few new tips and tricks although I was bored out of my mind mostly. I whipped up this skirt in no time at all. The belt is separate and bought at Forever 21. I wore this outfit out today! Fabulous in the summer heat that has finally arrived in Vancouver. We were all beginning to wonder where summer had gone to here.

This is Butterick 4136, very homely looking. It was the best out of patterns my class was allowed to choose from...other than a straight skirt which I'd done before. So I decided to do this in black fabric because even if I hated it, I would still be able to pull off black or work into my wardrobe somehow. Turns out now I love it!

The hem had been much too long so last week I started work on re-hemming it. Didn't finish it till today though! Been much too busy. Don't look too carefully at the hem, it's a little wonky. Hemming this was a bit of a pain with the 6 gores...I might do things a little differently next time. But it gives the skirt an interesting tulip shape all the same.

The shoes are from Forever 21. I love them! And they're alright in terms of comfort levels for cheap shoes. I'm addicted to this style of shoe...A cute variation of Mary Janes.

I'm glad to be sewing again. I've got another lovely skirt to work on right now and then I should get started on the dress I'm making for my aunt's wedding in September. Getting my groove back...yay!

Another hiatus

2011-06-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry friends that I have not been blogging much. My reasons are:

1) Moving to a new place in the last month and still settling in, my sewing things had actually been packed for about a week to get ready for the move and then stayed packed for another week during the process of unpacking!

2) Things happening at work and possibly working too much! :S But the money is much needed so alas, I work my butt off.

3) More things happening in my personal life which I won't bother divulging on this blog.

Do not worry friends, I am in the process of finishing one skirt and in the middle of sewing another. And I still need to take photos of the school project I finished oh so long ago!

I have a lot of summer sewing plans which consist of:
- Pendrell blouse and Sorbetto top (both of which many variations can be made!)
- Violet blouse and Ginger skirts
- scalloped waistband skirt
- dresses! of all kinds, made of knit or woven fabrics
- a fancy dress to wear to my aunt's wedding in September
- shorts

And probably many more aspirations but the above are what I am focusing on because it will keep me busy enough as you can see!

Crescent Skirt: A Total Success

2011-06-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

I love my Crescent skirt! I finished it a while ago but haven't had time to take pictures until today. Doing self-photoshoots is still a new thing to me...must learn how to make better poses.


Awesome and roomy pockets!


Check out the back.

Lace detailing!

If you're wondering about the wonderful top I'm wearing, it's from Urban Outfitters from the sale section. Look at the print! How could I not purchase it - cute sewing print AND a Peter Pan collar? Perfect, just perfect.

The socks are from Forever 21. Anyways, I'm glad the weather has been nicer around my parts but this means I'm woefully lacking in work appropriate skirts and dresses and blouses. Must get cracking! I'll definitely make this pattern again. It's perfect!

Progress report on a shirt and skirt

2011-05-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

Life is chugging along and I'm trying to keep up. Sewing projects are coming along, take a look.

Shirt is hemmed! Facings tacked and topstitched. The only things left are the cuffs on the sleeves and buttonholes and buttons. I have a week left to do this which should be more than enough time. I hope the cuffs turn out okay, for some reason, the cuffs are smaller than they should be...or the sleeve circumference is larger. Otherwise, I'll just have to figure out how to "make it work!"

Check out this half finished crescent skirt! It isn't pressed yet and there's a lot more sewing to be done on the facing and zipper.

I love the pockets on this! Damn this skirt is turning out to be adorable. Cannot wait to wear it!!!

Unfortunate Hiatus

2011-05-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

I had to take two weeks off working on my blog in order to focus on my personal life which has been...a struggle to say the least. Things are starting to feel better now and for the first week of my hiatus, I hadn't done any sewing actually in order to start recovering. I had to take a few days off work too...This will be a short post just to show you my shirt project for class which is coming along nicely. I'm glad I can still sew right now because the first week was so difficult.

The facing has not been tacked down or sewn down yet but I'm really adoring the shirt! I didn't think it'd be this cute.

The contrast white collar is pretty amazing. There will also be contrasting white cuffs on the sleeves. The sleeves went in so beautfiully...I also got a hair cut last week to help myself feel better. Hoping to get some pics up at some point.

Fabric haul of epic proportions

2011-04-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

I went to a fabric rummage sale yesterday. It was awesome. It was organized by a non-profit here in Vancouver called Our Social Fabric. (Check out their website!) It's a textile recyling organization I came across last year when I was doing some google research on whether there was a way to recycle fabric. They take donations from the public and various other sources like costuming departments of various movies or TV shows shot locally or fabric from clothing manufacturers. There's much more info on their website so check them out! They're undergoing a restructuring so I'm looking forward to seeing their organization grow.

One of the ladies volunteering/working at the sale said that they'll be trying to have fabric sales more often - maybe a monthly basis. I highly recommend the sale! There wasn't that much selection as the sale was in a small room in downtown Gastown (although it seems like the location of their sales depends on what space is available to them so it changes). They do have a warehouse or storage facility where they keep all their fabric donations. It was a "fill-a-bag" type of deal and I got 15 POUNDS of fabric for $40. Here are the goods:

As you can see, I didn't fill the bag all the way up but this was because I was worried I wouldn't be able to carry it all the way home! The sale was downtown and so I had to take the bus to get this all home. The bag was also pretty thin so next time I will bring a backpack and my own bag to shift the fabric into and make carrying easier.The kind of fabric I got was in lengths of several meters! No random scraps, these are real pieces of fabric that I can make dresses out of.

I can't believe I got so much fabric. As you can see, I've chosen bright spring and summery types of colours. And there's a lot of green. This is because it's my favourite colour. But the other fabrics are all so cute as well. I'm thinking of making a dress out of the yellow fabric to wear to my aunt's wedding in September. Just need to decide on a pattern from my stash.

Mr. Vixen bought me this chocolate bunny for Easter. We don't celebrate it and neither does my family (we're so Chinese that we really only celebrate the Chinese holidays). But I love chocolate! Happy Easter!

P.S. I'm going to make my update schedule every Tuesday and Friday. I think this will be easier to manage during this hectic period of my life.

Sequel to pin curls

2011-04-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

I'm always curious to see how my curls turn out the day after. After a night of sleeping with a handkerchief on, this is what they looked like.

The curls near the front fell but the ones in the back were still bouncy. I usually just throw on a headband the day after like I did here. Headbands are so handy! There was a kind of 60's feel to my hair yesterday. Too bad I don't really have any 60's inspired clothing or outfits to go with it. I shall have to rectify this in the near future.

My outfit was a cardigan from Forever 21 and purple pinstripe jeans from True Value Vintage here in Vancouver. The brand is "Wax Jeans" but I don't know if the company is defunct or not as I got the jeans way back in high school. A google search just comes up with "wax coated jeans" which are not relevant.

They are so awesome!

Shoes are from Aldo and I bought them just a couple of weeks ago. I've been looking for a pair of affordable shoes in this style for years. (Remember, I am on a student's budget :P) It's not a very common style to find in modern shoe stores but nowadays there are more and more vintage inspired styles showing up which is a definite plus for any vintage enthusiast on a budget. Or those who just want a dash of vintage in their wardrobe.

Suprise! Pin Curls!

2011-04-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

I pin curled my hair last night for the first time in a while. I wasn't sure how they'd turn out with the bob I had been growing out for some time now. I wasn't purposefully growing it out...just haven't had time to get a hair cut! But I thought that I'd give it a pin curl first and see how they turn out before deciding if I need to see a hairstylist.

I really like them! I thought they looked pretty good.

This is a shirt that I reconstructed a loooong time ago from a boring plaid shirt I got at the thrift store. I made it accidentally a little too small and then I hit a small growth spurt just after high school where my shoulders, chest and bust got a little wider. So it's even smaller now! But I just wear it open and I had a co-worker think I purposefully did that to get a "baby doll" effect. It has a lace yoke and puff sleeves (instead of boring long sleeves). The cuffs on the puff sleeves are also made of lace, mostly because I ran out of plaid shirt to use!

I included this photo because I look so different...so serious!

This is what I wore to work today. I wear black skinny jeans pretty much every day and also black shoes. They're black leather Vans that are super comfortable and perfect for a day of shelving books. I'd like to make some work appropriate dresses and skirts that won't show people my under-a-roos when I bend over to shelve something on the bottom shelf.

It was interesting going about my day in pin curls today....I don't think I've ever really worn them to work at the lab or library. Men were either more polite or more leery. Women were somewhat more polite but not that much.

Anyways, I'd like to get some hot sticks and/or hot rollers and keep experimenting. I'd also like to try to find a way of doing my hair that is easy enough for daily wear but still has that vintage appeal.

Trying to do Vintage when you're Chinese

2011-04-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

I came across a really cool tumblr today called Of Another Fashion through this post on The Sew Weekly and it has vintage photographs of minority women from past eras. Of course the tumblr is focused on the political message of how "white focused" fashion has always been and still is. You can't think about past eras of history properly (including vintage fashion) if you ignore the racism, sexism, conservatism, etc. However, I do think that we can't just sit on our high horses today and look down on the past. The current decade isn't really so fabulous either and there is just as much racism, sexism, conservatism, etc.

From 1938

But finding this tumblr has been a boon, even if there is the awful political history of the mistreatment of minorities to think about. (Head tax on the Chinese, anyone? Japanese internment camps? Slavery and segregation of African-Americans? I hope these things ring a bell!) Let me tell you, as a full blooded Chinese girl, it's really damn hard to try to find any old resources on what Asians looked like in the past. Often I wonder if Asians adopted the Western styles or stuck to their own styles or blended the two together.

From 1951

I'm also REALLY curious as to how Asian women did their hair because I do have difficulty pin curling my own hair since it's so naturally "stick straight" and wants to stay that way.

From 1950

I haven't pin curled my hair in a loooooong time though...I've been too busy and pin curling takes time since I'm still a newbie at it and it's just so frustrating trying to curl my straight hair! It doesn't really naturally want to curl into a curl even while wet. It just wants to lie there all nice and straight and pointy. *sigh* I'm glad I'm in sewing classes or I wouldn't ever get a chance to sew!

I sewed for hours today

2011-04-04T23:43:00.000-07:00

So today I ended up sewing for 6.5 hours and worked mostly on my coat. I have sleeves now! And I also did the back portion with pleat but that's not nearly as exciting to see. Cutting out wool on my little table was challenging and pinning/cutting out pieces always takes a while. Not really my favourite part of the sewing process but I don't mind it.

This is fabric for two projects I will be starting in April as well. The bright blue fabric with white dots is for the shirt project I will have to do in class for this term. I bought it at Fabricland - Park Royal (which is much more pleasant to go to than the one on Marine Drive in Vancouver.)

I will be doing the style that is the dark blue one with contrasting white cuffs and collar.


This blue linen blend is for the Sewaholic Crescent Skirt sew-along.

I am participating in the Sewaholic Crescent Skirt sew-along and for those not in the know, a sew-along is when a group of people will get together either in person or online to sew the same project together. The idea is that a more experienced sewer will lead the group and do a step-by-step tutorial for sewing the garment from beginning to end. Sew-alongs are learning experiences! And fun. :D It'll be my first one.

This is what the skirt looks like: http://sewaholic.net/sewing-pattern-store/1101-crescent-skirt/

The blue linen above is much nicer in natural daylight - a very light soft blue that will look adorable with cream or white lace trimming which is my plan for the skirt. I am really in love with the colour blue for some reason right now....must be my internal yearnings for summer and nautical inspired fashion.

The blue linen was bought at Designer Fabric Liquidators a.k.a. Atex Fabrics. It's sort of a strange little shop and it was the first time I'd been there even though it's only a block away from Dressew. There are some nice finds to be found there and at discount prices! There's not much selection but there were a few things that caught my eye. I'll be back....hopefully it won't close down! The man inside looked a little bit bored.

Productivity down the drain

2011-04-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

So friends, I have to admit I'm having a difficult time being productive. I can narrow it down to a few things:

- being addicted to my computer
- not eating properly/enough (low energy levels)
- sleeping in too much
- working too much and work related issues
- having family things to deal with

I am definitely going to rein in on my computer/internet usage tomorrow. A good tip I found is to give yourself one or two alloted time periods to be on the computer - say one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon/evening to check emails and do internet housekeeping tasks. I get a ton of pertinent emails from my job at the library so cutting out internet completely is not possible.

I have to work harder at eating properly. And not sleeping in. And maybe that will help deal with needing to work 6 days a week usually. I hope to cut this down to 5 days by the time I leave my job at the laboratory. The lab is a drain! One hour commute to and from and being required to be there in the morning (at my other job I work in the afternoons almost exclusively and I have night classes....) and being required to be there for 7 to 8 hours. T_T

Hopefully I get my family related things over and done with by this Sunday. Blergh.

Here's a Katy Perry music video featuring fantastic vintage garb, make-up, hair, and accoutrements! This cheered me up today. I want to get back on track of things tomorrow.

The fabric for my wool coat

2011-03-29T22:21:00.000-07:00

Here is my grey coat fabric. Let me tell you, it's still chilly in these parts so it'll be nice to have a light Spring coat and if I don't finish it by Summer, I'll have a nice Autumnal coat instead!

This is the wrong side, it's very fuzzy and soft!

It took me a while to figure out what exactly this fabric is. It's a wool blend and I believe it is a wool jersey or knit. Something like that. :P It's fuzzy and soft on one side and smooth on the other. If I am incorrect, please correct me! I love to learn new things. I am pre-shrinking it right now in my dryer with this method:

http://off-the-cuff-style.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-pre-shrink-wool-fast-and-easy-at.html

Anyways, I'm really sorry for such a late update. I've had to pull a couple of double shifts at my two jobs and some crazy stuff has been coming up at work and my personal life. But I think things are going to calm down again. I still think I work too much...but I think I'll be able to sort it out soon.

Mr Vixen has been dealing with some terrible things too and it has been spilling over into my life. It'll be alright but I wish life was less stressful. I still haven't found any appropriate fabric for my pink half-slip but I'll be going to the fabric stores again this week. Yay!

Watercolour Dreams

2011-03-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

For the past 8 weeks, every Wednesday night I attended a fashion illustration class for 2.5 hours. It was a beginner's class and I was taking it to fulfill part of my VSB Continuing Education part-time diploma in Sewing and Fashion Arts. I had a lot of fun. So much fun!

I'm not an artist. I only took one art class in high school, I think, and whatever art experience I had in elementary school. Hahaha! But I spent hours in elementary school and my years in grade 8-10 drawing anime. I think just about every Asian kid does that at some point in their life. By grade 11, I had stopped drawing entirely and focused on creative writing, sewing, and academics. So now years later, about 4 years, I find myself with a pencil and sketch pad again...

I will show you some of my best sketches. And remember, you can click on the photo to see it in a larger resolution.

This was our first assignment! Our teacher just wanted to see where our skills were at.

This is a figure drawn without proper proportions.

This is the assignment we had after we learned the 10 head scale of proportions. Looks better!

We had more assignments in drawing from magazines with an emphasis on fabric rendering.

An original design...

This is one of my preliminary sketches for our final project.

All coloured in!

Everyone in my class did really well! It was a lot of fun to see other people's styles and be inspired. Every week we were showing each other our homework assignments. The instructor, Gabriela Peana was a very nurturing person. I plan to further develop my skills in fashion illustration. So much fun!

Full-Skirts and Trench Coats

2011-03-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

I have a new goal for myself, I will be posting every 2 or 3 days from now on. I think it will help motivate me in terms of keeping on track with my sewing. Now onto something more interesting!

It's spring! In Vancouver, this means rain and flowers as opposed to the rain and snow of wintertime. The one thing I am coveting right now is a "full skirted trench coat". Like this:

The pleating is quite amazing in this cream one! I would love to twirl around in it.

I want to make a pink one like this! Maybe a brighter pink with black highlights. You shall all see soon that pink and black is one of my favourite colour combinations right now.

And I adore the last three photos of what is basically my ideal trench coat. The colour is rich enough to distinguish it from the bland, blah-blah, sendentary khaki that a certain former employer of mine required everyone to wear. *shudders* I would love a pink and black trench coat and a classic coloured one like this.

Full skirted trench coats appeal to me for a few reasons:
1) I am short, only 5 feet tall (shorter than many children!), so I'll do anything to highlight my waist and show off my legs. Anything that has a hem going past my knees tends to swamp me. Also, rectangular shapes (seen in many classic trench coats) does nothing for me as well.
2) I love the idea of wearing full skirts and full skirted dresses with such a trench coat while galumping in the rain!
3) I am young! Not even 21 yet, so I'm going to wear as many cute, adorable styles as I can get away with at my age.

Now the only problem is that trench coat sewing patterns are hard to find and I have yet to come across one that is also full skirted. So I may need to draft my own or modify a trench coat pattern if I manage to find one. I'll be keeping this idea on the back burner...

Vintage Patterns!!

2011-03-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

I just bought three patterns off Etsy from the store Opals Owl Vintage! The top one is has just the loveliest collar. The next two show how CRAZY for scallops I am.

I cannot wait to receive them. The owner of the store is away till March 24th on vacation so I will have to wait even longer to receive them. But that is okay! I am a very patient person when it comes to ordering things online. Also the shop is located in Seattle so that's just a hop and skip away from Vancouver! The first two patterns are just one size off from me and the one on the bottom is exactly my size! Perfecto!

In the meantime, I am going to be making a slip for a pink skirt that I have yet to blog about (but soon!). It was the project from my intro to pattern drafting class last term and I quite love how it turned out. But my instructor did not want us to have to deal with lining our skirts and my skirt is made out of a somewhat thin fabric so I'll have to make a slip for it!

I'll use this tutorial from Gertie and I will also add a scalloped edge to it using this tutorial (also via Gertie). Can you tell I LOVE scallops?

I am also going to make a nice spring coat for that transitional period from rainy, cool early-Spring and into late-Spring/early-Summer. It is this pattern:

I am making the long coat on the right but not in such a bright pink, I'm going to have to find a light grey coloured fabric. I used to have a grey jacket from Urban Behaviour that I bought for $10 which I've worn to heck. The fabric is cheap so the dye has been fading in many areas. I find a light grey jacket/coat works really well with my wardrobe and style.

That's all for now! Can you tell I'm excited for my future projects now that my classes are almost done?

My Sewing Studio!

2011-02-23T22:20:00.001-08:00

So it's been a long time again and I apologize for that. My goal from now on is at least one post per week. For my next posts, I'll take pictures of the projects I'm working on in my classes - Haute Couture Pattern Drafting, Fashion Illustration, and Sewing Level One.

For this post though I took some pictures of my sewing studio. Sure it's really just a room but I like to think of it as my studio, it's got EVERYTHING I could ever need in one room. The only qualm would be a larger table for fabric cutting but the one I have in there right now is quite adequate. No more cutting on the floor!

These are my two dress forms! The one on the right is Peggy Sue, my duct tape double/clone and the one on the left is unnamed at the moment but if you have a suggestion I'm open to one. I named the duct tape one Peggy Sue because I was listening to Buddy Holly one time and I just really loved how he mentions this girl named Peggy Sue in a couple of his songs. The red one is an adjustable one I got from Dressew for $125 + tax which is 50% off the original price! Whooooooooooo! It was during Dressew's 50% off Everything in the store due it being their 50th anniversary recently.

The adjustable one is great for me because I'm not very "shapely" and I actually only need to adjust the waist a little larger, the bust and hips are just fine. Peggy Sue (duct tape dummy) is problematic because she's a whole inch or two larger everywhere due to the nature of duct taping. Also, she's not pinnable. But I can't seem to think of where to put her or if I should just dismantle Peggy Sue. The base is a Christmas tree stand and I used a PVC pipe from Home Depot to mount her. My sewing studio is not very big so she might have to go!

The curtains I made! Wooden dowel is from Home Depot, fabric and lace from Dressew. It's difficult to see due to my poor photography skills but that is mint fabric with white and pink lace. I love the colour combination of mint and white or cream right now....

My horde of patterns.....I also have a goal of getting through EACH one at least two or three per month after my classes for this term end. Must obtain cute clothing....

Serger! I love her so so much. I think she might need a tune-up although the other day when I was using her, she wasn't doing so bad.

AND THIS PRETTY BABY! I sold my other machine on Craigslist and actually made a little bit more money than I had originally paid for it. And then I put that money towards this sweet pea. She's a BEAUT. The machine of my dreams, does I think 5 different buttonholes, including the highly coveted (by me) keyhole buttonhole.

And my fabric and cone thread stash. I am also starting a mini spools of Gutterman thread stash. My fabric stash is actually not as large as other sewists mostly because I like to work on one project at a time and buy the fabric with a specific project in mind. This means I don't waste money on fabric too! But alas, I cannot control my pattern stashing.

So that's my sewing studio and I love being in it! It's a room I've rented out from Brianne who lives 8 blocks away from me, it's a nice jolly little 10 min walk from my apartment! Very convenient, it'd be more convenient if Mr Vixen and I just moved into a two bedroom but we're kinda attached to our current apartment (despite its many downfalls) and he just doesn't have the money to move.

Finally, an update!

2010-11-18T01:13:00.000-08:00

Hello again! I really apologize for having not updated this for so long, it's been months. This is because Mr Vixen's camera broke and I didn't really have enough money for a new one. I bought a new camera a week or two ago and these are the first batch of photos since the new purchase.

These photos were taken before my first shift at Two of Hearts, a little shop here in Vancouver on Main St. The clothing and accessories sold at this store are almost all (save a few items) made locally and the two owners of the store also design the clothing and run a studio in Vancouver. They are a very little store right now and just opened up in 2008. The recession has been hard on them though but I am glad for them to be here! I am only working there during the weekends until Dec 21 because they are going to be a bit busy with a show they are participating in.

But back to my outfit, the jacket in the photo is something I sewed in high school as my final assignment one year. I am very proud of it, I got 100% on it! I will take better photos of it later when I have more time and show all the little details, like top stitching and the beautiful purple lining.

The little heart medal I'm pinning on the jacket is from Modcloth, it opens up and is a locket. Very military cute!

This dress is my new favourite dress! It was a splurge from an online store called Ruche. The necklace is also from the same store. You can't see it well but here is a picture from the store:

And now for the shoes! I saw them first on Ruche but they didn't have my size to begin with so I bought them from Amazon.com and had my friend help me get them to Canada (they would only ship to a US address.)

Product photo here:

They are quite amazing! I love these shoes! I am developing quite the shoe collection so more shoes to be seen in the future!

Alright, that is all for now. I think I will manage to get a new post up next weekend after all my schooling is done. I should be doing readings right now but........yea.

My first pin curls

2010-07-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

I promised that I would show you guys how I did my pin curls and what they look like. So here goes! First of all, pin curls are curls which are just shaped into a curl shape and then pinned to the head. You can shape the curls with your fingers and pin them, or use a curling iron on dry hair and then pin them down. I did my set as a wet set which means I showered first and curled my hair when it was damp. I have to do this because I have stubborn Asian hair which will naturally go stick straight when drying. While I'm curling, I spray the pieces of hair I'm curling with this setting lotion I got from a beauty supply store in Surrey. It works well! And now some pictures.

I have a head scarf and tied it around my head so I could sleep in the pin curls. It actually wasn't very uncomfortable and I slept fine. Sleeping in pin curls or rollers is really the best way to do it if you want curls that last.

This is how they look after much brushing and some hair spray and pins. My haircut at the moment is not good for trying to recreate 40s or 50s styles but it seems to be great to get that 20s or 30s look! To recreate 40s or 50s styles you need a heavily layered style. There was a particular style called the "middy" which was the ideal cut. My haircut at the moment is not very layered except for the back so it is more like a bob right now. I have to wait for the back to catch up before getting a middy.

I bought this hat from Forever 21, it's a beautiful black boater styled hat. Reminds me of the cartoon Madeline that I watched as a little girl. The dress is from Front & Company, it was a good deal, only $20 for it!

Kendra says I look like Bette Davis here. I'm so flattered. :D Anyways, that's all for now, Mr Vixen's camera is broken so I don't know when I'll be able to post picture heavy posts like this until it gets figured out or we get a new one.