I don't think I ever used to get tired of "dressing up" but now that I work in an office and it's a requirement, my days off look a little more casual than they used to. I think this also may in part be becuase I can't wear my more casual dresses to work, so I end up wearing them on my days off. This can be a problem, but I digress. This outfit is from my day off on Thursday.
Somehow, I've never blogged about these shoes that I made in the fall. Yeah,
I made them. I have long been interested in leatherworking, grew up making leather bracelets and key chains at summer camp and for a few years have been searching for a way to learn the craft of shoemaking. At first I tried to become an apprentice to a local cobbler, a 80-some year old man who has been making and mending shoes since stepping off the boat from Greece as a child. That did not work out (there's a great story there though), but I ended up finding a little place in Ravenswood called
The Chicago School of Shoemaking. I took a two day intensive class, and walked away holding these puppies that I cut, stitched and made by hand. That was my first exposure to
actual shoemaking, and this summer I'm going to attempt to make my second pair (of my own pattern this time)!
And woah, I'm not wearing any vintage in this outfit-- it does happen every now and then! :)
