Result

So I finally got up my courage and went outside my apartment with my crop top.

I did the most demure outfit, just some flats with a high waisted skirt and linen cardigan since my girlfriends and I were just out for dinner and drinks.
I have never gotten so many men into fashion, except maybe when I wear my over the knee boots.

"I love your outfit"
"Cute top"
Or being refferred to as "the girl with the belly"

So we know that the outfit is guy approved anyway.

I'm not sure how I feel about the attention to be honest. I'll have to think about it.

Results

So following through on my goal to SIMPLIFY (in capital letters of course). Here's the results of my purge:

Yup.
That would be my entire wardrobe.
 The only things not pictured are a heavy wool winter peacoat, my red cocktail dress, a pair of riding boots and over the knee boots (those are tucked around the corner) and things like underwear, socks, plain tees ect.
The plastic bin underneath? Work out clothes and pjs.

So I've been living with this wardrobe for a few days now, and the psychological effects are *sigh* relief.

There are a few holes to fill, I wound up tossing most of my flats due to holes in the heels and toes, and I could use a few more pairs of underwear so I don't have to do laundry every week, but in general I feel much better.

Now I'm just trying to get rid of these guys. four bags down, two to go.

The Experiment Part II

In our last experiment we didn't listen to the directions on clothing cleaning tags. This time, we are hemming a leather skirt ourselves even though probably, if we had better judgement, we would go to a tailor. Unfortunately the only tailor nearby offered to hem it for me for $30. Um... NO.
So here's what we're going to do.

You'll need:
your too long leather skirt
scissors
Krazy glue
and to get really crazy professional, an iron. Or a can of peas or other vegetable.

1. Cut it to the desired length + an inch (that extra inch is really important. Don't forget it!)

2. Fold a half of an inch of the leather into a hem, then fold it again. This is called a french seam where no loose edges are shown. Or you can be like me and just roll it until its short enough.

3. Krazy glue that hem like crazy!

4. Unstick fingers

5. Then, to give it a professional look, you can either quickly iron the hem to get a nice crease, or roll a can of peas over the hem while its laying on a hard surface in order to crease it. If you use the can method make sure its not a cheap can from China town that dents the minute you put pressure on it, and then the top pops off spraying peas all over your floor (yeah... maybe I'll stop grocery shopping at China town for a little while).

A Clean Getaway

So you know how sometimes you buy something, THEN you read the tag and it has instructions that read something like:

Professional Dry Clean ONLY (THIS MEANS YOU. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT PUTTING ME IN THAT WASHER)



Or:

handwash in 63 degree water from the fujii mountains

then gently pat dry for the next four hours



Or:

Just don't EVER get this dirty. You cannot clean it. EVER.



or something like that.

and all those instructions make me want to do this:

So I was feeling reckless last night, and I decided not to listen to those tags.

hear me out first. It was a silk blouse that I LOVE, but I never wear because its starting to smell funny, because I wore it too much and it said Professional Dry Clean Only, and well, that's not going to happen. It's 100% silk though, which is a cloth that has been used for thousands of years, and last time I checked the ancient Chinese did not have professional dry cleaners.

So here's what I did:

1. Stare at said blouse and decide if its really worth it. Dunked corner into water, and the blouse did not burst into flames. Decide to proceed.

2. Fill sink with lukewarm water and a tiny dab of woolite. Swish blouse around, rubbing nastier parts together gently with a little more woolite.

3. Empty sink, refill with cold/lukewarm water. Swish blouse around some more to rinse.

4. Squeeze gently to get rid of water.

3. Place flat on a towel and let air dry for a day.

4. Laugh because I have flaunted the tag and won.

The result is that its just a little crinkly, not all neatly pressed from the dry cleaners. But I'm just going to hang it in the bathroom and let all the kinks steam out, and it'll be good as new.

The other experiment I did was for a pair of jeans that have gotten stretched out over the years. Easy solution, just do everything the tag says not to do:

1. wash in boiling hot water

2. dry in broiling hot dryer

VOILA! Pants that fit.

Sometimes not listening to directions pays off.

picture by Alli Jiang