A Passion For Fashion: The Thrifted Umbrella Skirt

There are a lot of options for shopping without bending to the pressures of consumerism. One way that I've recently discovered is through thrift store shopping. Obviously this is not a new concept, but it has been more important for me to revive it lately, as I'm currently unemployed. (I should be fully employed within a few weeks, since I recently accepted a job offer.) Not having a steady income and having to rely on savings really makes one look at spending differently. And though I'd like to consider myself on the path to enlightenment when it comes to minimal living, not having an income can certainly speed things along a bit.

I've always enjoyed shopping for clothes and shoes, and there's no denying that the right outfit at the right time can really make the day. But I think sometimes we attach emotional feelings towards clothes...I'm definitely guilty of that, at least. When downsizing for each of our recent moves, I always have the most struggle when trying to glean my clothing collection to fit into smaller and smaller spaces. Even if I haven't worn something for several months, it's difficult for me to give it away; I just keep thinking of (unrealistic) excuses in my head for why I might need it one day.

In reality though, or at least my reality, it's the clothes that fit me really well and that fall into the limited color pallet that I'm drawn to that I tend to wear again and again. And those clothes make up less than 50% of my closet. I've bought clothes in the past that almost fit, that just needed to be hemmed...or tucked...or taken in on the side or whatever, because for me, being really short and thin, it's difficult to find clothes that fit off the rack, so I end up buying something that almost fits and just trying to make it work. Now I realize it's those "make-it-work" clothes that I rarely or never wear, because they just don't look as good as something that fits well. And when I add up what I've spent on all those clothes that I just don't wear, it's horrifying. I've wasted a lot of money.

Once I recognized the error of my ways, I decided that I have a few options to rectify things:

1.  I can learn to sew my own clothes (which I'd love to do, but realistically it would take years to learn to do this).

2.  I can (and will) make better fashion choices in the future, either by not purchasing something that I don't love or by being realistic about the tailoring (and the tailoring expense) that would be needed to make it fit.

3.  I can go through the clothes that I have now, sorting and keeping the ones that only need minor alterations and then actually going to the tailor and getting the alterations.

4.  I can shop in places where a fashion purchase that ends up being a mistake isn't a HUGE financial mistake, i.e. thrift stores, consignment stores.

I'm actually implementing all four of these options in some form...I've decided that once I have an income I'm going to purchase a used sewing machine and take classes to learn some simple alterations. I could save a lot by doing my own alterations and a whole new world will open up to me when I'm not limited by the way clothes fit off the rack. One of my inspirations for this plan comes from Jean of Extra Petite, a blog my friend recommended to me, in which a short, thin girl (Jean) buys, reviews and alters clothes for her frame. She's my hero...I'm already making better in-the-moment purchasing decisions, which are a lot easier now that I don't have much money to spend...I haven't found a tailor yet in Austin (actually I haven't looked), but I plan to when I have the means to invest in some good tailoring for clothes that I want to keep but that don't fit just right yet...And to conclude the implementation of my new resolutions, last week I stopped in at a thrift shop when I had a few hours to kill. I actually ventured in with the intention to look for furniture, as we are in need of several pieces to complete our apartment and I love the idea of old furniture restored to its former glory or, better yet, updated to a modern look. (By the way, I didn't find anything there I couldn't pass up.) But, I wandered into the clothing section for a peek, picked out three or four items and tried them on. Some of them didn't fit and the others I didn't like once I put them on. But there was this one striped umbrella skirt that I loved despite the fact that it was too long. The colors were beautiful and it just looked so cute and retro. Right then and there I decided to take it home and try to hem it.

First of all, I don't have a sewing machine, and while I could have hemmed it by hand, I didn't think that method would hold the shape of the skirt very well, so I decided to do a no-sew hem using some iron-on adhesive that I already had. I'd used it before on a pair of jeans and it worked really well, even holding up after several washings, and I thought it would give the hem a little extra weight which would hold up the shape of the skirt pretty well.

First, I had to determine the length that I wanted the skirt to be. I was initially hoping that the black horizontal stripe would be a good place for the hem visually, but after pinning it and trying it on, it was still too long, hitting just below the knees in an awkward length for my height. So...new plan. Decided to make the bottom horizontal set of stripes the same width as the top/waistband, because it just looked funny and unbalanced when I did it any shorter.

 After carefully measuring and pinning the hem where I wanted it, I ironed it to hold it in place and make my work easier. Then I cut off the extra material, leaving enough to cover the adhesive once the hem was folded over. (After cutting, I realized I should have left a more generous margin, as there were a couple areas where I had to trim the adhesive to prevent exposure above the hemline, which would have made a mess of my iron.) I  turned the garment inside out, placed the adhesive inside the hem and ironed it to adhere it to the fabric, working in 2-3 inch segments at a time, as it's difficult to keep a long piece of adhesive in place while trying to iron it. Working in such small increments made it manageable but it definitely took a while to complete.

Overall, I'm happy with the results, though I'm not sure the shape of the skirt is the most flattering on my figure. The adhesive hem was definitely the way to go, as it did preserve the shape and lay of the skirt in the end. Here's the final project, and also pictured styled with a black sweater, black tights and boots and then with a creme sweater and gray boots. Not my proudest moment, but for a $10 skirt, it's not bad. Now let's see if I actually wear it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with having "a passion for fashion", I plan to keep mine, but with a few tweaks to keep from overflowing my closet and make sure I choose pieces that are wearable and have longevity. It's definitely a learning process...graded on a curve, right? ;-)

450 Square Feet Part 2: The Kitchen

Sorry for the week long hiatus since the last post; a lot has been happening over here, mostly just a lot of changes to the living area, which I'll share soon. But I promised you a kitchen story, so here it is. Also, "critics" have said I need to post more pictures, so I've added several to this one, but they've all been taken using my cell phone camera and they're not great, which is why I was reluctant to add them before. Some is better than none though, I suppose.

Our teeny tiny apartment has a teeny tiny kitchen. No surprise there...but allow me to highlight a few details. I'll start with the good news. We have a full-size refrigerator, a gas stove and a kitchen sink. We even have a dishwasher (half-size), which is useful because there's no counter space for a drying rack. We have a large overhead cabinet and an under-the-sink cabinet, as well as a some small cabinets above the fridge. Seems like plenty of storage, right? Wrong...which brings me to the bad news. At first glance, it would seem that you could "make it work" with the available storage until you consider that there isn't a pantry closet somewhere. Also, I didn't mention any drawers because there are none. Not anywhere in the kitchen. You should also be able to tell from the picture below that there is very limited counter space, and of what we do have, most of it is being taken up by the microwave. Needless to say, there were definitely some challenges to overcome when unpacking the kitchen.

First, I had to find a solution to the "no drawer" problem. The main thing that I needed a drawer for was silverware and cooking utensils. And since the microwave is such a space hog, I decided to just put the filled silverware tray on top of it. I also put the cutting board on top of the silverware tray, mainly because it was the best place to store it for easy access, but it also functions well as a cover to prevent dust, dirt or flying food from getting all over the silverware. Then I put all the cooking utensils that I couldn't throw away (and I threw away a lot, including any duplicates) in a stainless steel canister that sits on top of the counter next to the microwave for now. (It doesn't fit on the stove because of the trivets over the gas burner elements.) It's a little crowded there next to the microwave, since that's also where the paper towel holder, dish soap and cookbooks are, but this seems the best solution for now. I would have liked to anchor a towel bar under a cabinet somewhere, but there's recessed lighting under all of them, so that's not possible. Here's a close-up of the final masterpiece.

Now to figure out how to manage without a pantry. Normally I would just use an extra cabinet or two to store food, spices, etc. but there most definitely were not any cabinets left over after unpacking all the dishes, pots, pans, bowls and cooking appliances. As it was, things were already stacked to the brim, especially since the cabinet under the sink is primarily used to hide the trash and recycle bins, which didn't leave room for much else in there. Fortunately, I had a set of old white stackable shelves that I hadn't given away yet. You can see them here on the left, packed full of food. And whatever didn't fit on the shelves, just ended up on top of the fridge. It works for now, but it's not pretty.

There are a lot of improvements that I want to make to the kitchen area. The first thing I'd like to do is add more storage and counter space. It's pretty tough to cook meals in the kitchen in it's current state because there's so little counter space. We also don't really have a "dining area" right now, because the (rented) table and chairs that we have don't fit in the corner next to the kitchen, and the "pantry" shelving is taking up the space anyway. You can see from the picture on the left that the table is up against the wall and the chairs are tucked underneath it as far as they will go. There's no room to pull them out because the front door and the pantry are both in the way. I've come up with an idea that will solve all three problems (the lack of counter and storage space, and the need for a place to sit and eat). I want to add a free-standing kitchen island across from the main kitchen area. There's plenty of space for it, and if I can extend the countertop a little on the opposite side of the island, two stools could be pushed up next to it, creating a small bar/eating area. This would also allow us to use the corner space, where the dining table currently is, for something else (I already have a few ideas). I love the idea of one piece of furniture being multifunctional, it's the essence of simple living and a great way to create more space.

 The other major improvement that I'd like to make is to create a better solution for the pantry situation. I don't love all the food being visible, and I don't like the crowding on top of the fridge, which also makes access to the cabinets up there more difficult. I've seen a lot of pantry storage that has doors, and I'm just trying to decide which one I want. Also, since any new storage that I purchase will be taking up part of that corner space, I need to make sure that it all goes together with the "idea" I already have for the space. (I'll share my thoughts/plans on that corner soon in another post.)

I also plan on making some minor changes to the aesthetic of the kitchen, like painting the countertop/backsplash and maybe adding some (removable) wallpaper above the cabinets. I've already gotten the landlord's approval to paint the countertop, which just goes to show you that it doesn't hurt to ask. Turns out she hated the "dusty rose" color as much as I do! For renters that don't have lenient landlords, there are still options if you hate your countertops, such as removable tiles, standard contact paper or even "instant granite" contact paper (even Rachel Ray approves of this one).

The moral of the story is...renting a home should never be an excuse not to decorate; there are multitudes of non-permanent solutions for every kind of update you could imagine and even if you view renting as a short-term living solution, it's still important to have a place you want to come home to. Trust me, you won't regret it. Renters, I'd love to here about things you've done to personalize your space!

Valentine's Day

Today is February the 14th, also known as Valentine's Day. In case you were wondering why it's Valentine's Day instead of Valentines Day (without the apostrophe), guess what? I've been wondering the exact same thing, how crazy is that? Well, I have the answer now, so you don't have to google it. (Should google be capitalized, even though it's now a valid verb? But, I digress). It is certainly a day for many "valentines," giving validity to the claim that the apostrophe is an imposter. However, the true story is that Valentine's Day is actually Saint Valentine's day, as in a day dedicated to an individual saint, is also known as the Feast of Saint Valentine, and therefore the apostrophe appropriately indicates the possessive nature of the official day. Anyway, that's five minutes of my life I'll never get back. Moving on...

Sigh...Valentine's Day is such a polarizing holiday. Like so many others, I don't love the consumerism surrounding the day; the idea that some grand gesture is supposed to be made in the form of ridiculously expensive flowers (that only last a few days), or that a piece of exquisite jewelry is an appropriate symbol of the depth of one's love, is a bit offensive to me. But please don't misunderstand me, I don't think flowers and jewelry are offensive, just the idea that, in order for some fellow to express his affection towards me, he needs to empty his wallet. I just can't seem to wrap my head around why Valentine's Day seems to be so much about money. Isn't it supposed to be about love?

 Since I do not measure love by how much money someone spends on me, I should have no problem letting Valentine's Day go by without a pause. But there's just one little problem...I LOVE CHOCOLATE. (Dark chocolate truffles are my favorite, if anyone's curious. Really dark chocolate anything...except I don't like fruity things in my chocolate, just dark chocolate and maybe sometimes caramel or nuts.) And while I don't think money and love go together, I'm totally fine with the correlation between chocolate and love because, well, I'm in love with chocolate, so it makes sense to me.

In all seriousness though, it is possible to celebrate Valentine's Day in a wholesome way that still reflects the romantic nature of the holiday, you just have to be creative. This is probably something a lot of guys (and some gals) are not great at, which is why they usually fall for the dozen roses/box of chocolates/fancy dinner/jewelry scheme. Just in case you are challenged in this area, I'm going to help by listing a few things that I think would be good alternatives.

Dinner:
I would much rather have a simple, intimate dinner at home with just me and my love then spend tonight in a crowded restaurant looking at the menu and trying to find something that is reasonably priced so that I don't feel bad about eating it. Seriously, maybe I'm weird, but when my dinner is priced at $50 I can't help thinking that I could have bought a week's worth of groceries for the price of one dinner. Now, I'm lucky enough to eat a dinner made at home almost every night with my boyfriend, so I'd want to amp it up a bit to make it special for Valentine's Day, but that's easy. Turn off the lights, light a few candles, pour some champagne and of course, save room for dessert. Picnics are another good option; dinner under the stars is definitely romantic. All you really need is champagne, some food and a blanket. And if the weather doesn't cooperate, just have a picnic in your living room (my sister's idea)! Push the sofa and coffee table against the wall, spread the blanket on the floor, light some candles, open a bottle of champagne. (Notice the champagne theme here?)

Flowers: Instead of a vase of fresh-cut flowers that won't last long (and are incredibly overpriced, especially around February 14th), bring home some hand-picked flowers found on the side of the road. (In Texas, this is actually illegal, but has anyone actually gotten a ticket for doing this?) Personally, I would appreciate someone taking the time to stop on the side of the road to pick a few wildflowers much more than if that same person just called up a flower shop, gave his credit card number and ordered flowers to be sent to me. I'm not saying that I wouldn't appreciate it either way, but when comparing the two, I'd definitely rather the wildflowers. A third option would be a potted plant. Much more economical, as it will (hopefully) last a while and bring more natural, organic beauty to your home or office, and can be nurtured.

Jewelry: Maybe it's because I don't often wear jewelry, but this one I just don't get. If diamonds really are a girl's best friend, she must be one lonely girl. I can think of only one occasion where it's acceptable for a man to spend significant money on diamond jewelry, and that's an engagement. Outside of that, it's just weird (for me). I think I'd rather have a homemade gift, like a framed photo of the two of us, with a sweet message written on the back. Or maybe some chocolate brownies fresh from the kitchen. Or how about a handwritten love letter? Now there's an old world romantic gift that can be cherished forever. If you're running out of homemade gift ideas, the internet can be a great inspiration. Try this post on A Beautiful Mess for some DIY valentine inspiration, to start.

I think that keeping mindful living at the forefront of gift giving is also essential. Some trinket that catches your eye in the card store is probably eventually going to end up stored in a box somewhere. Your significant other may not love something that much if it takes up a lot of space or if they have to find a place to put it, especially if they live in a small space. My boyfriend is really good at remembering things I've said in the past that I want or need and then gifting them to me on gift-giving holidays (he's pretty awesome), which is great, because if I already want or need it, I've probably already made a place for it, at least in my head.

To sum up my take on St.Valentine's Day, I don't mind setting aside a day devoted to celebrating love, as long as it's done in a thoughtful and mindful way, and as long as we remember to give and receive love every other day of the year, too. Please share with me your idea of a perfect Valentine's Day, and Happy Valentine's Day to all, thanks for reading!

450 Square Feet Part 1: The Closet

I wanted to show some details about how we're adjusting to living in our "teeny-tiny city apartment." In fact, I wanted to add a picture of the scene one day after move-in, but my cell phone apparently did not, as the picture has conveniently disappeared from its memory card, so I'll just describe it. One word: hoarders. Yes, it was that bad. Things were piled everywhere, we couldn't see the floor, we actually had to make paths to the front door, couch, etc. Here's what happened...

Before we moved, we lived in an apartment nearly twice the size of our current one. It was, of course, outside the city and not in a great neighborhood, and those are the two main reasons why we moved. But before we moved, we got down and dirty with clearing out most of our "stuff," because even though we already prided ourselves on not having a lot of unnecessary things, the reality was that we were facing cutting our living (and storage) space in half, so some additional downsizing needed to happen. And it did. And then we moved. And when all the furniture and all the boxes were finally transported from old place to new, WE COULDN'T SEE THE FLOOR. Gone was the pride we had shared for all the recently accomplished downsizing; instead, sheer horror took over at the sight of the grand mess that was now our new home. Ok, so maybe it wasn't hoarder-like, because we're not dirty and gross and we don't save trash (I looked up photos of hoarders' spaces on the web and realized that wasn't an accurate description), but it was packed to the brim. Just the thought of unpacking and trying to find room for everything was enough to give me anxiety. But eventually I got up the courage to dive in, broke up the task into multiple manageable parts, and over several days of unpacking after work and on the weekends, it was finally done. It took a couple of weeks, a lot more consolidating, and plenty of giving/selling/throwing things away before it was over.

I must have lost faith a dozen times during the process that all that stuff would ever actually fit somewhere, but eventually it did, and quite nicely too. Here's some pictures of our one and only closet and no, we don't have a basement storage space in the building, so this is it...EVERYTHING is in here. Or tucked under the bed (Dan's idea; I had forgotten about the wealth of space under there, having not utilized it since childhood). I'm really happy that we were able to get everything in there, especially since it looks so organized! Feel free to comment on your thoughts about my closet reveal, I'm a sucker for compliments (or complaints) and I'm pretty proud of my handiwork.

More pictures and stories later about how unpacking the kitchen went, including the storage (or lack thereof), countertop layout, "pantry" and more. In the meantime, I'll leave you with one thought to ponder: there are no drawers in the kitchen. None. Zero.

Finding Space

For most of my life I lived with things. By that, I mean that I tended to place a high value on possessions and in doing so, surrounded myself with things that were important to me. A few years ago, after an unexpected upheaval in my personal life, I opted for a career change that would give me the opportunity to travel to different parts of Florida, where I lived at the time. Since I was traveling for work, and staying in new towns for a few months at a time, I gave up the apartment I had been renting, and put almost everything I owned in storage, taking with me only what I could fit in my car. Initially, the process of packing up all my belongings and trying to decide what I could live without for a short while versus what I needed to take with me was difficult. The thought of not having immediate access to all of my things was disconcerting. But after a year of moving from town to town with only the belongings that I could fit in my car, I got used to it and eventually became enlightened. Here's an excerpt from a blog post that I wrote about it:

I realized that I've been living for nearly a year without all that stuff that I left behind in storage, and I haven't missed it or needed it. And if you can live without something for a year, do you really need it at all? Even the things that I take with me to each assignment, the things I thought I absolutely needed and couldn't leave behind, I've begun to consolidate. And I found that once I started to do this, I became more and more energized by the process. I went through clothes, shoes, boxes and boxes of stuff, making piles of all the things I've carted around with me for a year but haven't used. Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it wasn't. But I just kept telling myself that who really needs three white button-down shirts, or twelve pairs of workout shorts, or five pairs of strappy black summer heels. I had to admit, of all this stuff I had, I only really used a small percentage of it. And the mail, all the paperwork, every piece of paper that I thought might be of the most minute importance, I had filed away somewhere. But deep down I knew that I didn't really need the check stubs from three jobs and five years ago. The more I did this, the better I felt. Suddenly, I could breathe again.

This was the beginning of my journey towards living small. It felt so good to get rid of all the extra stuff in my life. I recognized that being less encumbered by possessions made my mind and my heart feel lighter, too. I felt less overwhelmed in other areas of my life, and began to grow as I learned to place more value in intangible things.

Which brings me to today. I went from an apartment full of things to a storage unit full of things three years ago, to an eventual decision a couple of years later to stop traveling and settle down in south Florida near my sister and niece. I rented an apartment there, got all of my things out of storage and sorted through them, giving away what I didn't want and couldn't sell, and throwing out what I couldn't give away. I planned to stay there for a few years, but life is what happens when you're busy planning, isn't it? I stayed in that apartment exactly three months, then uprooted myself again to work/travel in Texas with a good therapist friend of mine. Did that for six months with my friend (who quickly turned into my boyfriend), and then we moved to Austin. Each time I moved/relocated, I downsized a little more, and felt lighter and freer. After four months at a less than desirable location in Austin (yes, even Austin has those), we moved yet again, this time to a teeny-tiny apartment in the city! And that's where I am now, one month into a 450 sq ft downtown apartment that I share with my boyfriend. This is the smallest space I've ever lived in, and I'm sharing it with someone else! I know all you NYC dwellers are probably laughing at me as I adapt to living in what must seem like a perfectly normal sized living space to you, but hey, this is MAJOR progress for me. And there have definitely been some bumps in the road as we adjust, but that's what it's all about in the end. Growing and learning and living...

Mission Statement

Minimal living means different things to different folks. Some sell all their possessions and live the life of a nomad, because that's what they find to be the most liberating.  Others live in homes, but do not allow themselves to be distracted by items or trends that do not hold functional value. Many people find that living in small spaces, designed only to meet basic needs, gives them the freedom to focus their attention elsewhere. The truth as I see it is that living small means different things to each person. And it should. We are individuals, and our paths are not all the same. Our own personal concepts of minimal living should be something that, as we work towards it, helps us to become lighter and freer. It should not feel restrictive or rule-bound, and though in transitions one can at times feel frustrated, the end result should bring peace.

"A Space for Dancing" is designed to be an expression of my personal concept of minimal living. During the creation of this blog, I determined that I needed a blanket statement that accurately described my vision and goals with regards towards minimal living. I hope to reflect back upon this declaration as I continue to make choices that bring me closer to my goals.

"To me, living small means creating space in my home, my heart and my life to allow for self-expression, serenity and growth."

I hope that you love my blog! I hope that it makes you laugh, and makes you think. I hope that it makes you disagree with me sometimes, and that you express this to me, because then we can both learn more. But most of all, I hope that my posts will inspire you to explore your own concept for minimal living, and that in doing so, you discover more of yourself.