eShakti

I wanted to share this adorable dress with you today. For this post, I have the pleasure of teaming up with eShakti, an online source for beautiful dresses like this one. This is the pleat neck bird print dress, and I'm in love. 

To be clear, this is a dress, but it's February, and even though this was a particularly nice day, the temperature only got up to about 52 degrees. So I added the black sweater, and used a ponytail holder to cinch it up and keep the shape of the dress.

The biggest benefit of eShakti is all the customizations you can make to their items. I was given the option to customize the length, sleeves, and neckline, and as a teacher, I was so excited to be able to customize the length. For normal wear, I'm happy to wear my dresses above the knee, but at school, I need something a little more modest, unless I want to plan on wearing leggings every time. I'm pretty tall, so it's rare to find a dress that fits correctly and is still long enough. Plus, this length gives the dress such a fun vintage look. I feel like Betty Draper when I wear it.

The dress arrived quickly and has a high quality feel to it. I like that it's lined, so I feel adequately covered and don't have to worry about my underwear showing through. The waist has a bit of stretch to it, so it's flattering on my hourglass shape, both before and after meals.  You know exactly what I mean.

Plus it has pockets. I seem to really love the pockets in every picture.

Dress: c/o eShakti

Shoes: Payless

Sweater: Old Navy

*I want to mention, eShakti provided this dress for me to review. However, the opinions are 100% my own.

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Don Freedman Weaving Inspiration

I've been feeling a bit frustrated with the world of weaving lately. When I first discovered fiber art a few years ago, via The Brick House, it was weird and uncommon. I liked that it was weird as much as I liked the weavings themselves. Now, weavings have become very popular, but not as art. Now they're more of a DIY, where everyone churns out the same crap over and over. I love DIY, but not when it comes to art. Art should be inspired, not created according to a step by step tutorial. Ugh.

Anyway, I haven't been weaving as much lately, because every time I sit down at my loom, I end up feeling like I was just making the same thing everyone else is. Not cool.

I need some fresh inspiration. I want to be different. As my weaving idol Maryanne Moodie says, we need to weave weird. Always be learning new techniques and pushing ourselves to create something different. I want to stand out from the crowd, you know? As I've been searching for fresh ideas, I remembered this amazing post by Morgan Satterfield from years ago. Unfortunately, Morgan has quit blogging, but you should still visit her blog, start at the beginning, and read everything she's ever written. You'll be a way happier person when you're done. 

I discovered weaving from Morgan's blog, and her blog was where I first learned of Don Freedman. He was a fiber artist in the 1970's who created an incredibly unique look. His work has been imitated plenty of times, but his signature style is easily recognizable.  I've been studying his weavings lately, looking for some new techniques I can learn and incorporate in my own weavings. 

Here are some examples of his work. Not all of these are Don Freedman originals, but his style is pretty distinct. I couldn't stand to not include all the images I could find, so there are quite a few here. I want to learn how to do this stuff!

Mmm. I'm seeing poms, short rya, negative space, wacky colors, and funky edges. Also lots of loops. Loops are hard. I need to get better at loops.

Pretty amazing stuff, and so unlike all the copycat crap I'm seeing lately. I'm going to give some of these techniques a try, and see if I can develop something all my own. Someday, I want someone to blog about Layne Eckhardt's signature style. :)

All sources can be found here on my Pinterest board, To Weave or Knot.

A Seventies Sofa for a Minute

Uh-oh. Somebody bought a new sofa and chair set!

Not sure what happened here.

I went a little crazy, I guess. Danavee, Diane and I were out thrifting, and I was supposed to only be buying a desk. I ended up finding a desk, and a peacock chair, and then this set caught my eye.

Mkay, now I know it's not for everyone. It's a little loud, I get it. But in such a retro way! That striped pattern and wood trim looks earthy and bohemian. Plus, that thing is so cushy and nap-inducing. Yummy!

I'm guessing 1970's? 80's? The tag says Benchcraft and looks pretty vintage. My favorite thing about the set is the removable back cushions. It makes them so much softer and it reminds me of the sofa my parents had when I was little.



I got the price down a bit, and reminded myself I could sell my green sectional and definitely cover the cost of this sofa. I made some calls and got someone to haul the sofa, then we stuffed everything else into Diane's mini-van and drove it back to my house. We unloaded everything, got the green sofa out of the way, and put the new sofa in place, and-

Nope.

Spoiler alert! Serious buyer's remorse.

I instantly realized that while I did really like this sofa, I didn't love it enough to part with my green sectional. Plus, with my wood floors and other wood furniture, this room was a total brown town.

Shoot.

Yep, I sold it. I made back what I paid for it, at least. And my living room is not longer packed with furniture, so there's that. But now I owe some apologies. 

Rand, I'm sorry for being insane sometimes about sofas.

Danavee, I'm sorry for taking your entire afternoon to debate the pros and cons of this sofa only to change my mind about the sofa. Thanks for listening to me talk so much about how furniture impacts my life.

Diane, I'm sorry for making you rearrange every seat and item in your mini-van in order to fit a ridiculous amount of thrifted furniture in there. That must have taken a while to put back into place. It was pretty funny, though.

Random guy who helped me move the sofa across town because you owed my brother-in-law a favor, I'm sorry for wasting 40 minutes of your Sunday afternoon. I hope you had the following day off work like I did.

Brother-in-law, I'm sorry I wasted a favor that guy owed you. Now I owe you a favor, although I don't have much to offer you except maybe some furniture.

Glad to clear the air there. I feel better!

I'm linking up with Molly from Still Being Molly and Carly from Lipgloss and Crayons. :)