Inspiration Tuesday: Winter Fashion

Happy Tuesday my lovelies!

Even though I have a zillion and a half things to show you, I thought I'd take a little break today and show you what I've been looking at lately, and what has been inspiring some of my upcoming projects.

I love fashion. Oh, so very much. I'm not super knowledgeable about it. I didn't go to school and take a history of fashion class. I can't tell you what the fundamental differences are between Valentino and Oscar de la Renta. But I love looking at clothes, and letting their form and function make my brain go places it's never gone before.

I spent alllll day on Saturday looking at pictures from this past February's Autumn/Winter 2014 New York Fashion Week shows, and I ended up staying awake until almost 4:30 in the morning because my brain would. Not. Shut. Up. I NEVER stay awake until 4:30 in the morning!

Anyway, just after the jump you'll see a handful of pics from each of my favorite designers, who may have shown these collections almost a year ago, but have predicted what kinds of things will be fashionable...right now!

Gap to No Gap Recon!

Last week I showed you this awesome shirt I got at Goodwill: 

I loved the pattern and the fit - and the silky smoothness of the fabric feels so luxurious! But those shoulder pads...

And that gap! Ugh - my fellow compatriots in the "huge tracts of land" club can relate. I have avoided button-up shirts like the plague because of this very issue. Sure, sure, you can "safety pin" the gap closed. But who wants to fuss with a safety pin every time you put on your shirt? I can tell you right now - if I had to attach a safety pin every time I wanted to wear this shirt? That would be a reason I'd give myself not to wear it.

Luckily, this shirt surprisingly provided me with everything I needed to fix this issue...click "Read More" to find out how!

The Hell Family's Halloween Costumes!

Happy Halloween! (FINALLY!)

We have been a BUSY Handmade Hell family this week. I don't know how the month got away from me already, but I found that my kids were essentially COSTUME-LESS as of the beginning of this week.

GOD NO!

Any good crafty mom worth her salt would DIE before allowing such a travesty to befall her offspring! The vicious side of my maternal instincts kicked into high gear and I spent hours...and hours...and hours planning, cutting, re-cutting, gluing, sewing, and assembling these costumes.

I even managed to throw one together for myself. :)

Click Read More for full pictures and some fun mini-tutorials!

10 Ways to Wear a Brooch

I was going through my jewelry stash the other day and realized that holy crap, I have a lot of awesome brooches!

It could be that my parents are antique dealers and my mom sometimes finds me little unique pieces to add to my collection. It could be that a few years back I went on a fabric-flower-making rampage and just stuck pin backs on all of them. It's probably a combination of these reasons. Nonetheless I have a bunch. 

"Why," I wondered to myself, "do I never, ever wear any of these??" I realized it was because I hadn't given it a single bit of creative thought. So I did. And here is the result of that brainstorm.