Gloomy morning hall vignette. I do have pumpkins on the front steps --- ceramic ones from the cupboard, because I never got around to buying real ones --- but it's raining, and I can't be bothered going around to take a picture of them.
MUST. REMEMBER. TO. BUY. HALLOWEEN CANDY.
And we're into one of my favorite weeks of the year:
*Halloween
*All Saints
*My older son's 25th birthday, a.k.a. All Souls
*The gateway to an entire month of praying particularly for our beloved dead
*My birthday on the 6th
Feeling better today after a good night's sleep with strange dreams, which I can't remember now. Also feeling triumphant after a day's adventure in redyeing clothing items. I'm currently drinking my coffee, playing Wordle in fits and starts, and waiting for my birthday dress to arrive --- the update says she's out for delivery and should be here by 11:15 a.m. Let us hope they're right! All this patience is killing me.
In the meantime, I'm really happy with my newly redyed cotton Talbots cardigan.
I've been rubbing it with a white cloth and experienced no dye bleeding, which is a good sign. I'm wondering whether the nylon content in my Camellia dress, which I redyed royal blue a couple of months ago, is the reason why the dye didn't hold as well (though it's still fine, and I wear that dress all the time with great pleasure). Or maybe I underestimated the amount of vinegar I'd need for a fixative --- though I did also use Rit's color fixative after dying that dress. At any rate, this 100% cotton cardigan ***seems*** to be holding the color very well. It definitely bled in the wash, so that I won't be washing it with other items, like ever, but didn't fade much at all. And again, now, I've been rubbing it with a white dishrag to test its safety for wearing over dresses, with encouraging results.
I loved it over my gray Sierra yesterday (retread of last night's photo):
This is a fab color combination and actually makes me want more gray dresses, which might just have decided what my next dress purchase will be. At the very least, I know the main ingredient of my Christmas outfit. I don't wear bright reds very well, but this deep raspberry/cranberry red is perfect for my coloring. I don't even mind, for the moment, that the top button is off. The little curled-back collar effect is nice.
So this cardigan has undergone its transformation from an item I wore only infrequently, wanting to like it better than I did, to what I anticipate being an absolute wardrobe staple. I had hung onto it only because the quality was so nice, and the style so lovely, that I could never bring myself to leave it in the outbox --- where would I find something else this great, even if it wasn't quite the right color? Now, that's a perfectly valid reason to outbox an item, because "not quite the right color" is . . . the wrong color. There's no reason to keep something that's not working hard for you. But every time I put this cardigan in the outbox, I got it out again --- and now I'm glad I did. NOW it's a high-quality cardigan in a lovely style in a color that suits me, and I see myself wearing it a lot.
Our next round of utility bills will probably reflect some expense, because I had to run the washing machine numerous times to achieve these results, which was frankly kind of wasteful. If you want sustainable, the bucket or stovetop method is far better. But you get reliably even results in the washing machine, and there's far less risk that you're going to spill or splash dye on yourself (and zero risk that a receptacle you used for dyeing will get used for food preparation by mistake, which is a big deal). If we were on a well, I probably wouldn't have chosen the washing-machine method. If we were in a water shortage in our region, I wouldn't have chosen the washing-machine method. BUT again, the results I've gotten from using this method have been better than my results from dyeing in a bucket.
I keep going to the front door to see if my new dress is here --- because she could be! --- but Reader, she is not. I'm going to have to get dressed in something else to take the dog out.
Outfit while I wait for my new dress:
Wow, I like this. I wouldn't have considered Sierra for a Christmas dress, but now she's in the running. Wool& Sierra + redyed thrifted Talbots cardigan + Snag merino tights in whatever this really dark charcoal-gray is called + Xero Tari boots.
I had never worn this cardigan with my Sierra dress before, because the cardigan was dark brown, and while you absolutely can wear gray and dark brown together, it was never a combination that appealed to me all that much. So I was missing out on just. how. great. the shape of this cardigan is with the shape of this dress. It really transforms it --- the bolero length gives you a good Rule of Thirds proportion (especially if you're shortish and kind of pear-shaped), with that vertical sliver of dress that widens into a flared skirt. I love the pop of cranberry red with the tonal grays, and the way that my boot contrasts with both my tights and my lowest hem. I didn't mean to dress up for a normal rainy Monday, when I'm going to be walking the dog and doing laundry and working --- yet here I am, looking dressed up, at least for the time being . . .
BUT.
*********STAY TUNED*********
UPDATE:
NOW they've told me "by 6:15 p.m." Nooooooooooo. Must be patient, must be patient, must be patient.
Might as well go out and take a picture of the front steps, which are not that impressively decorated.
The rain is on the (ceramic) punkin . . . I guess if it's not actively raining tonight, I'll put some big votive candles out, too.
And MUST REMEMBER CANDY. BUY CANDY!
AAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDD
They didn't make me wait until 6:15.
Here she is:
FIONA, in teal.
The fact that I like my Maggie belted prompted me to consider whether I'd like my next wool dress to have a waist. I already knew I wanted longer sleeves for the cold weather. And I knew I was very attracted to teal. All the styles that feature Ocean Teal seem to be sold out in that color; the Ocean Teal Rowena and Willow are both set to ship in February. So my eye kept being drawn to the regular teal, which I honestly think is dark and bright enough for me. It's a beautiful color!
Definitely in my color palette. And I like the scoop neck, which will make her really nice to wear as a top with skirts --- another thing I had in mind after wearing my Maggie that way. I have here both a dress and a longer-sleeved tee with a graceful neckline.
As for the dress overall . . .
I think I like her a lot. As with Maggie, I debate whether I could have worn a small, mostly because my shoulders are narrow. Everything else fits well, but the shoulders are a little weird:
This might well be something (as with Maggie) that a tumble in the dryer would help with, as well as general wear. Otherwise I think the dress fits well. The waist hits at a pretty good spot, and I don't think I'd want the skirt any shorter. I also wouldn't want a pull across the bustline. That might not be an issue, but this dress is a good fit in that area, and I'd hate to risk it by sizing down. I also wouldn't want it any tighter under the arms. One reason why I've held off on buying a dress with sleeves has been that the long-sleeved dresses really seem to thin out in the armpits. Granted, I haven't seen this effect so much in the Fiona (maybe because fewer people wear her for their 100-day challenge), but sizing down does seem to up your chances of stretching/wearing/thinning. Again, don't want to risk it.
I like that I can move the waist up some to blouse the top, or wear it more at my natural waist. It hits quite comfortably at the bottom of my ribcage, which feels about right. There's some blousiness and motion there, because it's definitely not a fitted bodice, but that's okay.
She looks nice with my newly redyed cardigan (better buttoned, but I didn't button it here):
. . . as well as with my beloved aqua alpaca:
With a belt:
I'll look forward to cycling through all my cardigans, pullovers, skirts, etc., with this dress. I think she'll be fantastic with knee boots, which I still haven't gotten around to wearing yet this year. She'll look great with all my tights, in all their many colors. Red Mary Janes will be very cute. She'll work with The Shawl, which was another reason why I wanted a teal dress with long sleeves.
Heels: yes.
Birkenstocks: yes.
Blazers: yes
My husband says yes to the dress, so I guess she's a keeper. As much as I adore swing dresses, it's fun to have a different silhouette. I'm looking forward to figuring out new ways to wear her in the coming days. While I don't think I'm going to do a 30-day challenge, it's nice to know that I could.
Anyway, happy early birthday to meeeeee!
UPDATE: I did buy the candy.
What you do when the last-minute selection is lame, but you remember that you have a big bag of jelly bellies you've hidden from yourself in the deep freeze. They are thawed out now, so nobody will break their teeth. I plan to serve this Witches' Mix with a ladle, so no grimy hands need touch it. I did also score gummi worms on the candy aisle, a big bag of them, so I can replenish the supply with those, plus more pumpkins and candy corn, as needed.