My $97 Folly. Or Not.

It depends on how you look at it. Even I can see it both ways. On the one hand, $97 for this thing, this Unidentifiable (what, exactly, is it?) Thing, made out of OMIGOD *acrylic* which I do NOT wear, and in this color, which can't be dyed because see above: ACRYLIC. Well. That is, indeed, A Folly (an expensive structure created purely for aesthetic purposes).

But on the other hand, I needed to buy it, and here's why.

Yesterday, Saturday, we went to San Angelo to my favorite stores. I hadn't been in almost 4 months because I said I wasn't going to buy any clothes this year. We see how long that lasted, don't we? But I did pretty well: I bought only 4 garments, one of which I plan to give to a friend (it's the kind of thing for which you get such a great deal that you can't pass it up even if it's So Not You, a Flax linen jacket in new condition that was originally $260).

Side note: I did buy three pair of Birkenstocks. I do not need another pair of Birks for as long as I live. I have given away enough pair so that what I have left fits perfectly in one of those canvas over-the-door shoe holders. But. But! If you find brand-new, still-in-the-box metallic Birkenstocks in exactly your size, and if you even have a choice between the two sizes you can wear because in the Boston you wear a smaller size, for some reason, and if those shoes cost $130 new but, if you buy one of each, you can get them for the unimaginable price of $20 a pair, and if you have a friend who wears your exact size and loves Birks, too, so that you know that if it turns out you don't wear them, you can give them to her. Well. What are you going to do, really? Yes, I justify shopping by the fact that I have friends who like the same things I do and will kindly take them off my hands if I don't want them any more. I think of it as saving things from languishing.

Yes, they are that shiny.

OK, back to the story of why I had to buy That Thing. So I shopped at one place and then went to the other place I shop, only now they have less and less linen and more and more polyester, more stuff that's either way too Mother of The Bride or way too Young & Hip. I didn't see a single thing I would have worn even if it had been given to me, and all this stuff is new and expensive and that's just sad. We were getting ready to leave, and something in The Bad Part of the store caught my eye. The Bad Part is the part where the polyester/acrylic/nylon stuff lives. It must be the brands, I guess, as I'm sure they don't deliberately segregate the shop by fiber content. I don't usually even look over there, seeing as how polyester makes me cringe. But there was This Thing, and I couldn't tell what it was, and I had to go look at it, and then The Ever-Gorgeous Earl, Man of My Dreams, got interested because it was kind of a puzzle thing (it was on the mannikin with the straps in the front, so it was odd-looking), and then I had to try it on to figure it out, never mind the ugly color and fiber. And once I did and saw how cool-ly it draped, my brain started buzzing with how I could make one of these but cooler. You know. You know how your brain always does that? Mine was racing: lightweight linen? Cotton jersey? How drape-y would it have to be? What about Alabama Chanin reverse appliqué?! What about using two of the heavy canvas belts I dyed but that The EGE has never worn, how about using those for straps? Oh, wow!

So you know I had to buy it.

Because of the placement of the straps, that part needed to be pretty exact. And the size is perfect, so the measurements need to be pretty precise. Now, I could have gone into the dressing room and photographed it and taken some measurements, but I couldn't. I know people do it, and I know the people in the shop wouldn't have said anything, and I know spending that much money on something you don't plan to wear is idiotic and beyond foolish. But if I like something well enough to want to copy it (for myself only: let me make that clear. I have no intention of knocking off Free People. This is just for me.) then I can jolly well spend the money and buy it and not feel like a sleaze.

So today I'm going to set up the big table in the front room (no longer a living room because it has two sewing machines and two sewing tables) and see what kind of pattern I can draft without un-stitching the straps. There's one little tweak to the neck in front, and I've got to figure that out (since I know nothing official about making patterns). Wish me luck; I'll report back~~