off the shoulder

So...something people may or may not know about me is that I really like to go dancing. I'm not a fan of alcohol , but I love being able to destress to catchy, bass-pumping music. Not only is it fun to let loose with my friends, dancing is a workout! Burning calories + having tons of fun = win win situation xD (Note: this does NOT mean I'm good at dancing. heh. But no judgment on the dance floor right? :P) Sadly, there aren't a lot of chances to go out this year (aka, when we're not freaking out over exams or dead from an exam, which is almost never), but the times I have gone out have been great.

That brings us to this post. Back in the beginning of September, I went out with some friends to celebrate the end of our first block on Pathology and Pharmacology. We decided to go to Whisper Nightclub, a club that had opened during the summer and gotten pretty good reviews. Unfortunately, I had nothing to wear. Something my wardrobe strongly lacks is 'going out' clothes, due partially to 1) not really going out THAT often...I can usually only afford to post exam, which is like once a month 2) not having any other use for those clothes except going out. I'm a huge believer in making the most out of your clothes, so its hard to get myself to buy something if I'm only going to wear it a couple times.

If you guys have been following my blog, I briefly mentioned going to LA's fashion district when I visited SoCal last spring. Along with the fabric I used in the senior banquet dress, I also got some shimmery brown fabric, some black lace, some turquoise satin, some gorgeous sheer turquoise fabric and some white knit material--all under $3each! The brown fabric was actually a good dress material, so I decided to whip it out and make a one shoulder dress for Whisper.

semi-professional dress~

 Remember the 'fabric' (aka glorified bedsheet) I used as a 'test' in the last traces of summer dress? Well, bed sheets are really big, and I had a lot of fabric leftover after making that dress. I decided to try my hand at another dress, but this time with a more professional look. As a med student, we have to dress up a LOT, and I am always running out of things to wear. I decided to make a conservative, simple dress to help out my wardrobe. Because I didn't have a lot of time, I decided to make the dress similar to the 'skirt' I refashioned last september and use the boxy-ish, t-shirt like look.

hello september!

Short post today because I have to go study, but...

Before:

Another thrift store find :P Boxy weirdly shaped top; really really long; and why is there a random slit in the middle??

The one redeeming factor in this dress was the fabric on the skirt portion--I loved the light, crepe-y material and the color scheme of the floral pattern. 

last-traces-of-summer dress~

What to do if you really need to do laundry and have no clothes left?

a) dig some semi-clean clothes out of the pile and wear them anyways--no one will know
b) wear your professional work clothes to class (hey, it's all you have left, and at least you'll look good. everyone you see just might ask why you are dressed up)
c) do laundry
d) sew new clothes

Ever since moving to our new place, I've tried to put off doing laundry for as long as possible because it isn't the most convenient. Not only do the machines ONLY accept quarters, they are more expensive than the previous machines I've used >__< Unfortunately, I realized late last night that I only have professional clothes left. I didn't feel like venturing outside to the machines (or getting quarters), so I decided to play with some fabric.

Remember that awesome free-fixed pattern site I posted last time? Before I started working on the fabric for the dress for D and J's wedding, I wanted to see how well (or not well) the actual pattern fit and what alterations were necessary. I used an easier pattern from the same site and used bedsheet fabric as practice (it was still fabric! and it free! so no loss if I messed up :P). Unfortunately, this was like 3 days before the wedding, and after cutting out the traced practice pattern and rough guess-timations, I realized I needed to just start working on the actual fabric or else I wouldn't finish in time. So those cut pieces have been laying around in my room for a while...

...Until yesterday!

first attempt at pattern-->dress~!

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to celebrate the joyous wedding of one of my small group leaders from Penn State. Words cannot describe how much of an amazing influence she had on my spiritual walk and growth. Not only were we able to talk about discovering God's role in our lives, discipleship and community on our one-on-ones, we also shared snippets of our lives that included relationships, friendships, and of course, school.

our small group (throwback to freshman year xD) <3

Since leaving PSU, both of us have moved onto other things in our lives--me, medical school in Philly and her, being a blessing to others with the campus ministry in Virginia. When I found about her and J's engagement, I spent a good 10 min screaming in happiness and then another 10 jumping off the walls in anticipation of their wedding (!!).

Fast forward a couple months, and D is now married (AHHH!!). Their wedding was one of most amazing, hilarious and energetic weddings I've ever attended.  I didn't realize how much I missed the AACF community, but the wedding was a reminder of how much I love these brothers and sisters :) It was SO good seeing AACFers again and catch up on each others lives. Eating, laughing, dancing together again--what more could you ask for? 

Members of table 10, who are now SENIORS!! (crazy how time flies)

Anyways, I needed a dress for the wedding and just like senior banquet, I used the event as an excuse to practice my sewing. This time, I wanted to actually sew a dress that wasn't held together only by safety pins, since 1) I knew there would be dancing and much more movement than senior banquet and 2) I had time! 

I found an amazing site that gives you FREE fixed size patterns to print out, and a huge selection of dresses. I'm not the fixed size, but I figured the pattern was a good starting point. 

The pattern with the leftover scraps after I cut the fabric

valu-plus dress

Late last year, I had mentioned getting a bunch of stuff from a Valu-Plus store that was going out of business. Here is another piece from that haul:

Before:

no shape, super long, and side slits?! I look so thrilled haha xD

To justify my decision to get this dress, not only were they super cheap (literally $0.60 each), the fabric was really light and crepe-y. The material was perfect for the summer. I liked the general shift-shape of the dress, but it was way too plain...and long >__<

absolutely stunning

The Arctic Light from TSO Photography on Vimeo.