Wedding Day Remix

Posted on September 4, 2015March 3, 2016 by Melissa Harrison

When I got married, over four years ago, I was adamant about not over-spending. I didn’t want to cheap out, I wanted everything to be high quality, eco-friendly and ethically produced, like everything I buy, I just didn’t want anything to be over-the-top, over budget or unnecessary. I asked that my bridesmaids pay for their own dresses, so we found some $50 dresses from ModCloth that were actually re-wearable – I bought one for myself in a different colour a few months later. They were also responsible for their own shoes and accessories so they chose their own shoes and I gave each of them a necklace as a bridesmaid gift during the rehearsal dinner. I thought I was a fair and just ruler.

The bridesmaids’ dresses were one of the first choices and purchases made during the wedding planning process and set the trend of reusability. I still have some of the vases we bought for the centrepieces, I have some flowers in one of them right now. I keep sewing supplies in the little jars we used for our wedding favours (and I spotted my mother-in-law using them for spices). I wear my wedding day shoes all the time in the spring and summer, they are starting to get a bit shabby actually.

$Wedding Day Remix \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$

I was quite concerned with the one-time-wear aspect of my wedding dress. Before I made the big choice, I researched the traditions and tricks for re-wearing wedding dresses throughout history. I learned that Queen Victoria repurposed her wedding lace and wore it to special occasions. She even got two more wears out of her wedding veil! Some women were able to dye their dress a different colour and get a few more wears out of it, but that was before the time of extravagant, somewhat anachronistic, dresses. Today, traditional wedding dresses are pretty obvious. There aren’t many opportunities for the average woman to wear sparkly, tulle laden, floor length gowns these days. So I chose a relatively inexpensive dress (my dad was paying so I didn’t want to stress him out with a large bill) and passed it on to another bride on a tight budget after I’d had time to say a proper goodbye.

$Wedding Day Remix \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$

All of my wedding day jewellery fit in to the something old or something borrowed categories. I chose my favourites, so of course I still get lots of daily use out of them.

$Wedding Day Remix \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$

The shoes were my one big splurge. My dad, knowing I had been a shoe lover all my life, offered to pay for them and was the one who told me to “go for it” and get the shoes of my dreams. When I showed up on the day in a tea length dress that really showcased these not-an-obvious pick shoes, my granny was happy to inform me that everyone was quite pleased with how I had managed to stay true to myself with my wedding day style. If I had gone with what was popular at the time I was married – super expensive silver satin shoes with giant blue rhinestones and “I DO” written on the soles – I’d look quite the fool attempting to wear them in the produce aisle.

Dress Sophster-Toaster
Petticoat ModCloth (similar)
Shoes ModCloth (old)
Jewellery very old

That First Maxi Dress

Posted on August 12, 2015August 11, 2015 by Melissa Harrison

It’s been a summer of firsts. I bought my first maxi dress after years of not understanding why women reserve long dresses and skirts for the hot summer months. I became one of those people who owns more than one handbag and frequently switches between them depending on which better matches my outfit, for the first time. I started wearing my hair without bags for the fist time in about five years. I even bought my first summer hat, but it looked weird with this dress.

$That First Maxi Dress \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$

I didn’t really know what to pair with this dress when I first got it. I tried it on with every pair of shoes I owned. Strappy shoes were clearly better than close-toed and heels worked better than flats, but still, nothing I owned seemed to look right. Neither of my two purses matched very well. That hat was a no-go. I have a pearl necklace that sat perfectly, neither too high nor too low on the neckline, but made the look much too formal for the poutine dinner I was on my way to pick up. Then, just as my hunger overcame my patience, I stopped trying so hard. That’s when the look came together.

$That First Maxi Dress \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$ $That First Maxi Dress \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$ $That First Maxi Dress \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$

Dress ModCloth
Shoes ModCloth
Handbag ModCloth (old)
Sunglasses ModCloth
Earrings Claire’s (old)

Maxi dresses had eluded me since college. I didn’t know why the hemlines got lower as the sun rose higher. I still don’t, really. Sure, it’s fun to waltz around the house feeling fancier than I really am and the extra fabric did keep the hot sun off my legs but this isn’t a Bedouin robe, there’s no convection cooling going on under this thing. That being said, there’s just something special about a maxi dress. Pulling it out again next year, after waiting all winter, is going to feel good.

Photo credit Matt Harrison

Modern Day Version of my Grandmother

Posted on July 3, 2015July 3, 2015 by Melissa Harrison

I had a moment while making the sample for my newest top. I was almost done, carefully hand-sewing the vintage buttons in place, when a strange emotion came over me: I felt connected, for the very first time, to my maternal grandmother.

We were never close when I was young. She lived nearby and I spent a lot of time near her but we never really bonded over anything. There were a lot of us grandchildren growing up and I happened to be number six out of ten, quiet, skittish and “the weird one”. I remember being surrounded by older cousins who were doing more interesting things and younger cousins doing more adorable things while I was just sitting there, in a dress made by my mother, hanging out with the photographer and asking him questions about cameras, birds and the human tongue while he tries to shoo me away long enough to photograph my family. I remember my grandma coming over to make quilts with my mother and aunts. I remember them draping a new quilt between the dining table, the kitchen island and two chairs so they could do the finishing details. I remember getting yelled at for trying too many times to start my new life under the quilt. I don’t remember really spending time with her… only passing time near her.

$Head in the Clouds Top \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$

I was surprised and extremely grateful when my mother and aunt told me I could keep all of my grandma’s sewing supplies that they didn’t want – namely a box of buttons, threads and ribbons – while I was helping them clean her house and get it ready to sell after moving her to a nursing home. I’ve been holding on to these things for a couple of years, trying to find a way to make use of them.

$Vintage Buttons \\ Sopshter-Toaster Blog$

A few weeks ago I had an idea to put them on a top I was thinking up. I thought it would be mighty green of me to re-use these old buttons my grandmother had saved, collected and cut off of her children’s clothes when they were no longer suitable. I was sewing them on by hand, using a needle, thimble and my arm length to measure thread, when I looked down and realized that I had recreated a scene, that I was doing exactly what my grandmother had done 20… 40… 60 years before me. For the first time, I felt connected to this woman that I never really knew. I felt that if she could see me, she would be proud of me – something I didn’t even know I cared about.

$Head in the Clouds Top \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$ $Head in the Clouds Top \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$

Top Sophster-Toaster
Jeans ModCloth
Shoes ModCloth
Necklace gift from my thoughtful brother
Headband handmade

$Head in the Clouds Top \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$ $Head in the Clouds Top \\ Sophster-Toaster Blog$

Plain Jane

Posted on May 20, 2015May 20, 2015 by Melissa Harrison

I’ve never really been into jewellery – costume or real. When new friends see my collection for the first time they are bewildered by the modesty of it. My grandfather made a large wooden jewellery box for me when I was very young. I don’t know if it was meant to house the collection of an adult woman but I haven’t outgrown it in the quarter-century that I’ve owned it. It sits proudly on a shelf in the walk-in closet I share with my husband, a small, up-side-down wooden ‘W’ carefully nailed to the front, not yet half-filled. Most of the pieces it contains are roughly the same age as the box itself.

I was a tom-boy growing up and inherited a nickle (and stainless steel) allergy that has snaked its way through the female line of my family for as long as anyone can remember so I’ve only purchased two or three pieces for myself over the course of my life, the rest were gifts. I can wear gold jewellery, but only have a few pieces – family heirlooms and gifts from my husband mostly – to my name. It seems overpriced anyway, at least in the on-brand, mall chain-stores, and I’ve always worried about the ethics of how it is produced. Etsy has some truly beautiful fine jewellery, but at this point, I kind of like my uncommonly accessory-light style.

$Plain Jane \\ Sophster-Toaster$ $Plain Jane \\ Sophster-Toaster$ $Plain Jane \\ Sophster-Toaster$

It sure makes travelling easier. I’ve never lost an earring in a hotel bathroom or scratched a ring while stacking wood. I don’t have a travel jewellery case, I don’t worry about wear to hide my valuables when I take them off and I’ve never used a hotel safe – is there a fee for using one? I don’t even know.

$Plain Jane \\ Sophster-Toaster$ $Plain Jane \\ Sophster-Toaster$

My simple white gold wedding band is the only jewellery I wear most days.

Top ModCloth (old)
Skirt Sophster-Toaster
Shoes Payless
Bag Bently (similar)
Binoculars family heirloom

$Plain Jane \\ Sophster-Toaster$

I look at a woman perfectly pulling off a statement necklace with envy and intrigue, but every time I try to wear an adult amount of accessories, I just think it looks weird and wrong on me. My mom says my tastes are simple and boring but I love the look of bare skin.