How to “Fake Tuck” a Sweater

sweater over dress, monochrome outfit, how to winterize a summer dress, tall boots with long skirt

When: early December // Weather: 30s // Real life: work

sweater over dress, monochrome outfit, how to winterize a summer dress, tall boots with long skirt
sweater over dress, monochrome outfit, how to winterize a summer dress, tall boots with long skirt
sweater over dress, monochrome outfit, how to winterize a summer dress, tall boots with long skirt
sweater over dress, monochrome outfit, how to winterize a summer dress, tall boots with long skirt
sweater over dress, monochrome outfit, how to winterize a summer dress, tall boots with long skirt

I’m not usually one to bring you “life hacks,” but hot damn do I have a good one so I have to share. I’m sure I’m not the first person to do this, but I did come up with it independently, so I’m pretty proud of myself.

Here was my dilemma: I like to layer sweaters over dresses, but as a vertically challenged person with a small frame, it can look frumpy, especially with a longer dress. Now if the sweater is cropped, magical optical illusions happen and I look tall and fabulous. (This is my life goal.)

But how do you make a non-cropped sweater looked cropped when you can’t tuck it in to anything? (Imagine me saying this into the camera in black and white, infomercial-style.)

Here’s what I did – I took an old pair of tights with runs in it, and cut off just the waistband. Boom. Instant belt already snugly fitted to my waist. I put that over the dress, then tucked the sweater up and under. This also works when you have a skirt that’s too thin or fitted to tuck normally.

Hey, I didn’t say it was fancy, just that it was good. It might work with a “regular” belt but you’d have to make a belt pretty tight for it to hold, which wouldn’t be very comfortable. And it wouldn’t be as cool and resourceful.

So there it is – my one and only life hack. Hope you enjoyed.

similar Dress // similar Sweater // Boots // similar Bag // Earrings

The Bee’s Knees

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20121112-180906.jpgI really love the look of socks peeking out above knee-high boots, especially with bare legs and a skirt. But if we’re being practical (and we are for once), there really is a small temperature range where this combo is wearable. Too hot, and you have swamp calves. Too cold, and you get frost bite only on your knees, which I imagine being more awkward than just having straight up frost bite everywhere.

But lucky for me and my lucky knees, this past Saturday had a high in the upper 60s, and I was comfortable wearing this on my field trip to the apple orchard even as the sun went down. Success! And I was having a great hair day. DOUBLE SUCCESS!

Sweater: Target, old (similar)

Skirt: Webster Miami for Target (similar)

Boots: Matisse, old (similar)

Watch: Anne Klein (similar)

Oh! And if you didn’t catch it yesterday, my very first (and very awesome) giveaway is going on now. See yesterday’s post to enter for a chance to win $20 worth of super cute and unique vintage jewelry, accessories, and housewares from Gems and Jam.