Life as a draft

Black and blue (and grey), originally uploaded by Cohabitating_Closet.

In graduate school, my very famous advisor once told us that we need to approach scholarly writing understanding that "everything is a draft," and that things are never "done", they are must "due." This was great advice (and probably explains why my dissertation, publicly available, feels so "drafty.") Like many academics, I need writing motivation and there's nothing like a due date to get me to produce. A group of us in g-school adapted the motto that "life is a draft." There's no finality or need to get obsessed with perfectionism, because we're always learning, evolving, etc.
I thought that this "due date" might work with sewing. As you might remember, I made (drafted?) this 1958 quasi-shirt waist dress in magenta-ish silk/satin crepe (or taffeta? Or shantung?) and it needed fitting work. I did end up getting a bunch of fit books from the library but I was too impatient to fix the top, so I pulled out seams and decided to turn the skirt into a stand along piece, and fiddle with fitting on the top separately. I have a wedding to attend this weekend (Chicago suburbs, maybe I can meet Anne to go to the fair?), so I thought I'd wear it there. It gave me 10 days to create some kind of finished waist seam, and I wanted to add pockets and belt loops. But I should have consulted my new (in 1980 something) Reader's Digest complete guide to sewing instead of veering off into Rad-self-teaching category. Oops.
The invisible zipper and pockets were fine, but the belt loops- why didn't I study my own belt looped clothes. I ran out of steam last night, and decided to wear something else. I am not discouraged, but I think I've learned that sewing should not be treated like academic writing. Sometimes, things are just not done.

The loops are too big and crooked. I'll fix them next time.

(How I imagined the outfit, minus the emo cow hair. It still needs significant hemming)

I am still pretty happy with my progress. That invisible zipper kicked my butt but I ended up victorious in the end (maybe not exactly).
Hope that you have a lovely weekend!

Scarf: originally from discount store (MPLS), DIY into circle scarf
Scoop neck tee: Uniqlo
Black cardigan: Uniqlo
Skirt: DIY, Built by Wendy Pattern, fabric from Modeani
Socks: Target
Shoes: Aerosoles