Thrift Scores: April Edition

Time to spill on all of my thrift scores this month! I'd been stalking this set all month, just waiting for the half-off sale...and I got it! It's silk ;) and the blouse buttons down the back (looks so cute with just the top button done up and a bandeau-style bra underneath). The skirt fits ok on my waist, has pockets, but definitely needs to be shorter. Refashion and styling posts to come on this :).

$7 for the set!

These next two pieces were also half off. I'll use the top for it's lace and the jeans will go skinny and a bit shorter.

$4.50 for the two.

This vintage dress was my favorite find this month and I'm still wrestling with what to do...keep it and refashion it or sell it. It's so unique and made in Hawaii. What to do?!?!

I grabbed this housecoat for the embroidery and the color and is absolutely in line for a refashion...we'll see which direction I take this one!

$2.50!

This vintage pinafore style piece is about a size large/extra-large and I bought it for it's fabric alone...can't you see this as little girls' sundresses? Reminds me of clothes I had when I was little :).

$2.50

Another vintage dress and this time a floral housedress. I like this fabric and plan a refashion at some point, though it may wait for the fall ;). And the men's shirt will become a skirt...maybe another reversible skirt!

$5.50

This top was bought at the same time as the tops for the reversible mini. I've got a couple of ideas on how I want to rework it...but that'll have to wait for later. This sequined piece is just the front of a top that someone either removed or made but then never attached...so I get to finish it off! I'm thinking some sheer fabric will go great with this for a nice date-night piece :). Love the ombre effect!

$5

Now for some crafting 'supplies'! I snatched up these purse handle things and some doilies...

$5.25

a small woven mat and more doilies! The jewelry is just my style and I've already been wearing these pieces often.

$7...they doilies they threw in free!

All told I spent $39.25 on this (not counting the shirts for the reversible mini). Plus I had a pretty lucky find yesterday that I posted about on FB and Instagram. 

Not a bad month ;) I also did one of my semi-annual purges and donated three large bags of clothing, shoes, and household items. Did you have any great thrift/tip/op shop scores this month? I'd love to see/hear about what you scored and what you plan to do with it :)

Peace,

Andrea

Blue Velvet

Blue velvet...not to be confused with a blue velvet cake or cupcake...mmmmmm, what was I saying? ;) Oh right. Blue velvet. As in dress. I found this blue velvet dress in our building's basement in the "to get rid of" section, not to be confused with garbage! (Lots of goodies to be found there).

I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a girl's dress...probably for 10 to 12 year olds. Wanna know how I know? Check out the seam right across the chest! Yep, and it would probably have been around ankle length whereas on me, it's just below the knee. I liked the fabric, however, and the fact that it's this amazing midnight blue. All I need to do is raise that seam to just above the bust to make it work!

Now, I started out thinking I'd need to remove the sleeves and take the shoulders in, lowering the armholes.....yeeeeah. Good thing my son kept interrupting me, because it gave me the time to realize I was making this way too difficult! All I needed to do, was unpick it at the seam, cut off 2-3 inches from the top, and then reattach the shortened top to the bottom. I used a zigzag stitch to allow for the stretch across the bust.

My next choice involved the neckline and the sleeves. I started off by removing the mock turtleneck. Then, to go sleeveless or not?

Sleeveless it is! I also took the sides in at the waist because I had raised up the bottom half of the dress which threw off the shape just a smidge. All raw edges were finished off with zigzag stitching, and the arm and neck holes I simply folded over once and topstitched. I love how 'basic' this dress now is. Opens up tons of styling opportunities :).

Wanna see of a few of the looks I played around with?

Left: Thrifted gray leather belt, multi-strand necklace (F21), and gold glitter flats (Shopco). Center: Forest green jacket (Marshalls), thrifted belt, "camera" necklace (Urban Outfitters) and thrifted flats. Right: Gold dangly earrings (Payless), thrifted silk sash, and mary-jane heels (Payless).

Left & Center: Thrifted belt, necklace (Urban Outfitters), and thrifted flats. Right: Consignment olive jacket, thrifted belt and booties, and gold dangly earrings (Payless).

Left: Black faux leather jacket (Uniqlo), super-long necklace (Target) and black sparkly heels (Payless). Right: Thrifted silk scarf and sandals (Target).

Now, if you are paying attention, I'm mentioning a lot of fast fashion stores in the breakdown of each outfit. If you've read my My Story page then you know that I started out thrifting and refashioning as a way to get lots of options on the cheap, not because of some altruistic stance on the state of fashion (fashion production). I've since become much more serious about the impact of fast fashion and trying not to be a part of the problem, but I'm still learning and from time to time, find myself drawn in by sparkly, pretty, cheap things. Most of these items are from over a year ago, at least (and some even older), but the black heels and gold dangly earrings are a pretty recent purchase. I've still got a long way to go in my fashion sustainability journey, and I'm only just beginning. :)

Here's a last shot of the before and after:

As well as a collage of all of the looks:

And what's so amazingly cool is that this is just a small portion of the possibilities!!! Yay! This free dress will perhaps become the most versatile item of clothing I own ;).

Quick "Fix" Friday

Another quick "fix" for you all today! As I told you in my recent thrift scores post I also came across a few freebies in our building's community "donation" area. This is a pair of pants that I snatched up:

Can't you see why? ;)

They were definitely a weird length on me for the cut of the legs, but the waist and hips fit just right! So, all I needed to do was to make them more useful for me by skinnifying these bad boys. First, I turned them inside out and laid another pair of well fitting skinny jeans with similar stretch right on top. I then marked how much to take in on each leg and instead of taking them in on both sides of each leg, I decided to take them in on the inseam all the way up to the crotch (but without shortening the crotch as that area didn't need taking in).

You can mark them using pins or chalk (or however you like).

After taking in each leg, I cut off the excess fabric, and finished off the raw edges with an overlocking stitch. Easy peasy lemon squeezey! As long as you use a strong thread, a short straight stitch and reverse stitch when you start at the hems and end (wherever it works best to end) you should have a nice strong seam and some skinny pants with a new lease on life!

Check out that polka dot sock action!

I thought I'd include a pic that better captures the color of these pants as they were hard to capture (I'm still learning about photographing with the right kind of lighting), however, I think that this final "after" shot shows it best.

Pretty plum skinnies! Another pair of awkward pants saved :)

Deep plum is how I'd describe it...hmmm plums sound good! And hopefully you think these pants look good :) Fulfilled my need for a quick "fix" on a pretty busy day where stretchy skinny pants that ARE NOT leggings but just as comfortable were just what the doctor ordered. I have a tendency to live in leggings as I'm home so much ;)

Peace,
Andrea

P.S. I've got a couple (or more) Valentine's day refashions/projects in the works and am excited to share!!! Keep an eye out for those and more fun things in the next weeks <3