Sketchbook Sunday #2

On my last birthday, I made a “Two for Two Dozen” list: a little directory of 24 goals to accomplish while I am 24. One desire of mine was to keep a journal again— it’s something I have done on and off since I was a little girl. I realized when I made the list in January that it had been nearly four months since I had done any kind of free writing / journaling / sketching / record keeping and I decided that I wanted to remedy that immediately.

Since I make books, I simply grabbed a discarded journal I had made for a mock up back in college and started sketching. I say discarded because although I love it, it is not a high quality book that I feel is good or interesting enough to let someone else have. When I make books for others, I create them with intent from start to finish for the person in mind. Since this one would never be given away, I decided to fill it myself instead of letting it collect dust on a shelf.

Although I spend a lot of time working with my hands, it felt incredible to use them for sketching again. We spend so much time typing instead of writing these days: papers, text messages, emails, tweets, status updates, even simply using touch screens at the grocery stores creates such a void between humans and the written word.

My writing used to be so crisp and interesting, especially when I studied interior design and literally practiced hand lettering for hours a week. It was such a disappointment to barely even have the ability to scratch out half decent letters on any page (not to mention I practically lost all ability to even draw anything above a second grade level again!).

So even though I am so so happy to be sketching again, I have added another personal goal for myself: I want to make it a point to write / sketch / letter / doodle every single day. Now that I am working towards having a real studio to create in, it would be nice if I could actually create something visually pleasing when I sit down inspired to make something.

I shared the inside of this sketchbook for the first time here and I have since decided to make Sketchbook Sunday a regular feature here on Kitty Cat Stevens. As embarrassing as some of the pages are/will be, I hope to chronicle my progress and maybe even inspire someone else to start doing what they love along the way!

Is there anything you used to love doing that you’re itching to pick up again? Or just something general you want to work towards getting better at? Sometimes I really feel there might be some truth to the phrase, If you don’t use it, you lose it.

Flowers & Cut-outs

I finally had a chance to explore my backyard for the first time since moving! I snapped a few outfit photos and I am excited about them because:

• Nearly everything I am wearing is thrifted!
• I live next door to a park!
• You can see the batman building from my house! (first picture, top left!)

That first picture was initially an outtake but I am so happy about the view of downtown Nashville from our new place that I just had to include it, even if no one else recognizes it!

I love the oversized flowers on this dress but my favorite thing about it has to be the back! Each side comes up to kind of make a “W” shape out of the hemline. It reminds me of the way I used to draw ladybug wings when I was little. Although it’s cute, it is a bit revealing, so I donned a pair of bicycle shorts to ensure full coverage ;-]

dress, sweater, shoes: thrifted / shorts: target

Do you have any favorite views of your city? Now that I live in Nashville, I am on the hunt for the best places and angles to see the city from!

Home Is Where Your Cat Is

I am pretty sure everything that has happened in the last week doesn’t even mathematically fit into 7 days! Besides not having internet, I changed jobs, stayed on a friend’s couch for three days while rental house hunting, watched my partner graduate and start a big boy job (so proud!), moved into a new house in a new city, made 1400 cupcakes in one day, lost my cat for 30 hours, and got so so sick and wiped out from it all.

I’m still a little out of sorts— my head is pretty stuffy, I’m queasy a lot, and I feel like I could literally sleep for days! But the good thing is that I am adjusting to it all and Nashville is finally starting to feel real instead of like a huge dreamy blur.

As I settle in a little more, the best part of every morning has been getting to see my cat, Olive again. Since I graduated a year ago, I have been pretty nomadic which means my cat was living with a friend for a long time. Now that I have a house again, I finally feel like things are getting back to normal. Olive is here, I have a real kitchen, I can bike to work in just ten minutes, I will have a studio to create in again soon— things are finally starting to calm down some and feel promising once more. It’s all so exciting and I’ve said it before but I will always say it again: home is where your cat is.

My (Possibly) Lucky Sweater

I’m not a superstitious person. I’m generally not even a little stitious (ba-dum-chee!) but I can’t help to think that this sweet Old Navy cardigan I thrifted is some sort of good-fortune magnet. Evidence: I’ve worn it to the last three interviews I’ve had and subsequently landed each job— the most recent being offered to me within the first ten minutes of meeting my (now) new boss! 

So by now you’re probably asking:

“Don’t you think hard work and experience is what gets you a job?” or

“Wait— don’t you already have a job that you love?” or even

“Why is this your third job in eight months?”

To which I would reply:

No. Absolutely not. It is completely reasonable to empower inanimate objects with magic instead of taking credit for your hard work, dedication, and talent. Or

Yes, I do have a job that I love— which is what has inspired me to accept a job I think I will love even more! Or

Because a girl’s gotta live! Duh! Or, more honestly, because I finally decided to pursue what I love full time!

So here’s the details: In a whirlwind of fate, I discovered the Nashville branch of the bakery I work for was hiring. So although I LOVE my current job, I decided to at least entertain the idea of applying/interviewing. (I mean, after my love affair with the city, how could I not?) I put in my resume and everything else is kind of a blur. I talked to my boss about transferring and although she would be sad to see me go, she was extremely helpful and let me know I had her support.

purse: Mom’s from the 90′s 

A few days after that I got a call to setup an interview for the next day. After talking to the manager in person for ten minutes, he offered me a full-time baking position on the spot! I tried not to squeal with delight as I penciled my start date into the calendar, but I am sure I was still beaming from the inside out!

The next day, my partner got offered the job he had been waiting to hear back from. So in one week’s time, my entire world got turned upside down and all our plans went out the window! Now we are furiously trying to tie-up all the loose ends here before we can make our much anticipated move to Music City. 

locket: vintage / gift from my mom 

Even though all of this has been a stressful process the last few weeks, at times I can’t help but think about how lucky I am. But just stating that makes me so upset because it really does negate all of the effort I have put into actively pursuing my dreams. Landing this job was not something that just fell into my lap— it was a conscious decision. I decided I wanted to work at a bakery. I sought out and learned the necessary skills to get an entry level position. I continually asked for feedback and criticism from my boss and coworkers. And then I decided to pursue an opportunity for vocational, personal, and financial growth.

shirt: thrifted / belt: kohl’s / corduroys: GAP / wedges: Ciao Bella from DSW

 Although it can be nice to think that luck has something to do with success, I know this outfit probably only went so far as to influence my confidence when I interviewed. Even if it’s cheesy, the quote “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it” really applies to my life lately. I’m really excited to see what the future holds and I’m ready to own my accomplishments. I’ll just save my “luck” so I can test it on something just as crazy— like the lottery!

Diagnosis: Music City Fever

When I woke up at 4:30 am last Saturday it wasn’t my intention to end the day sweaty, tired, and in disbelief from learning that I can bike 36 miles per hour.

It all started off when Nick and I packed up our bikes and drove to Nashville for some fun with friends. I’ve always had a soft spot for Music City, but I really fell hard this time around. We spent the whole day on bikes: in Centennial Park, seeking out food, cruising the Art Crawl, and then finally attending the Saturday Night Sprints.

I’m pretty much the least competitive person I know, but after seeing my friends and peers consistently bike upwards of 30mph, I just couldn’t leave without testing my own limits. So I signed up and soon found myself perched on a bicycle trainer, waiting to pedal as fast as I could to go absolutely nowhere.

As I waited for the sprint to start, I thought about where I was this time last year: bruised up and hobbling around the house after being hit by a truck while cycling.

That was when my anxiety about biking fast had started. I was always a cautious cyclist, but after that collision, well, let’s just say I rarely biked hard enough to even break a sweat. For the last year I have cruised around town as the slowest cyclist I know— continuously alert and perpetually trying to anticipate every terrible driver’s unpredictable move.

But here I was: alive, healthy, happy, and far away from any moving cars. I was surrounded by my best friends and finally prepared to face my fears. The countdown started and 3. . . 2. . 1! I was off! I have never moved so fast in my life! My legs burned. My chest tightened. My body was covered in sweat. But I was alive. And I was biking. And that’s all that mattered during those 18 seconds.I didn’t think about how I sat on the pavement the night I was hit, screaming about the fact that I couldn’t move my leg. Or how angry I was at the driver who turned left into me. I just looked down at my legs—  amazed with each rapid pedal stroke at how many miles they have carried me the last year. Amazed by how freeing it is to be able to depend on your body to get you where you’re going. I just pedaled my heart out, amazed by the fact that I was even alive.

I lost the race that night.

After high-fiving all my friends and drinking about a gallon of water, I climbed on my own bike and headed towards the car. I reveled in the nearly empty city streets and let the evening air cool my face as I pedaled through Nashville as fast as I wanted.

Cycling through Music City that day revived my love for bikes. I let go of my fear of going as fast as I wanted, my automatic grudge against every driver, and my resentment towards each road that wasn’t paved with bikes in mind. It all weighed too much and it was literally slowing me down. I cycled happily through the brisk night and envisioned myself actually living in Nashville someday: learning the streets by bike and navigating on my own. I fell asleep that night with a sense of peace and woke up the next day with a mega crush on Music City and a desire to just pick up and move.

Photos courtesy of Ryan Green
(view all from the sprints here)

See It —> Make It

In case you haven’t noticed, florals are EVERYWHERE right now. Obviously, I am thrilled since this means I don’t have to update my wardrobe! I think it’s a combination of my interior design background, my love for vintage, and my obsession with Elaine from Seinfeld, but I LOVE floral. Chairs, pants, cakes . . . I’ll take it! I even scored miles of custom floral drapes from an estate sale once and considered making a dress out of them. But of course, I hung them proudly instead.
I’ve talked before about my bad habit of thrifting clothes that are “almost” perfect— an extra button here, an altered hemline there. . . I have this problem where I only see the potential of something and not what it is. So I kind of have this little stock pile of clothes that need random “mending” to be wearable. Enter the above dress: a vintage piece, irresistible due to it’s flower print + great collar. The only problem was it’s length. . . so for just a few bucks, I decided to take it home anyway. Then I promptly forgot about it. . . Until I came across the Tea and Scones Dress from ModCloth. I love the overall look, but I am not a fan of elastic waistbands. I’m also on a self-induced shopping restriction, so I knew I would have to do a little upcycling to get what I wanted. I pulled the dress out of hiding and couldn’t be happier with the results!It’s not pink— but it’s darn cute! The main elements are all there: floral, lace collar, sleeves, and buttons up the front. I just made a few alterations to get there. I started by removing the shoulder pads. Most are only attached with just a few stitches, so they are a breeze to get rid of.
After I removed the shoulder pads, I tried the dress on to mark where I needed to cut. I know maxi dresses/skirts are “in” right now, but I am too short to pull them off. Plus, I feel unsafe biking in long things, so I felt no remorse snipping away.
I didn’t worry about cutting it perfectly straight, but I did make sure to leave a good amount for a hem and any mistakes/mind changes about length I had.
After I shortened the dress, I folded over a new hem and ironed it where I wanted. This is the part that makes hemming a dress WAY easier than you ever expected. Seriously: just iron, pin, and try on until it is the right length.

I actually had to  do this part twice because the dress ended up being too short in the back where I had pinned it the first time. So after I tried again, I was ready to stitch. I don’t have a sewing machine, so I decided to hem mine by hand. This is the most intimidating part for a lot of people, but just watch this video and I swear you can do it!

You can practice on the extra piece of fabric you just cut off if you feel really nervous about trying to hem something by hand. As long as you don’t make your stitches too close together then you will be just fine. This is what mine looked like before I realized my stitches were too close together (also, I used a contrasting color on purpose, yours will be more subtle if you use thread that matches):

So I stared spacing them out more, and it looked something like the picture below. You can see where the stitch length changes because I was too lazy to go back:

So eventually my stitch did turn into a blind stitch!

This is the first time I ever hemmed anything by hand, and I am really happy with how it turned out! After you’ve tried it once, you’ll never be able to resist those outdated dresses at the thrift store! So many great patterns and collars just waiting to be turned into something modern again!

dress, broach, belt: thrifted / shoes: Plato’s Closet / purse: gift from a friend

Altering vintage is one of my favorite things to do. Have you ever tried? It’s SO much fun! It’s also quick, cheap, and much easier than you might think! If you give it a try or have in the past, send me a link in the comments! I love to see how others upcycle and alter things!