// #thriftstylethursday // Thrift Swap & Giveaway

I'm pretty excited about today's post, guys. Martyna, one of us Thrift Style Thursday girls who blogs over at Spoolish, had an idea a little while back to set up a swap between us. We'd go thrifting on a budget for our partner, throw in a few extra special gifts and send off our packages after having styled the pieces we chose. I'll start with the items I chose for my partner: Martyna!

She specifically requested long sleeved t-shirts and cute dresses. I was able to find two long sleeved t-shirts in a soft heathered maroon and a soft gray and white polka dot. No luck on the dresses, but I did come across this fun animal print body con skirt that I thought would look awesome on her.

After a bit of playing around, I came up with these three flat lays to style each piece. The first is nice and comfy: long sleeved t-shirt with a black and white scarf, boyfriend jeans and some Chucks. The next look is definitely girls' night out (or date night) with a lacy black top, statement necklace, dangly earrings, and some sparkly heels. Last, but not least is another comfy but cute look: polka dot t-shirt, long necklace, dangly earrings, cutoff jean shorts and beaded mocs.

Can't wait to see how Martyna styles these pieces!!! Now, for my package. First off, Martyna is ridiculously good at this kind of thing and included little notes with super sweet and useful extras :) These buttons are AMAZING and I can't wait to put them to use! Seriously?! Holy Mother of Pearl ;)

She also included some pretty envelopes for my crafting, some of her favorite teas (which I immediately made use of because they arrived when I was sick), and a note sharing a little about each piece. Then, today, I saw this on the back of her card...P.S. Want to be pen pals? YES!!!

Then, there's this. It's a totally cool vintage pillow case that she's been hanging onto thinking she'd make it into something. But now I get to make it into something for both of us!

Ok, to the clothes. The first piece is this bright pink Tommy Hilfiger button-up. I decided to go with the preppy feel of this top and paired it with my diy ombre dyed skirt and a pair of gray and pink flats. Something about the pink top and navy striped skirt just works for me!

The next piece is this floral cardigan. Now, I love me a cardigan, and pretty much anything floral makes me happy. I paired it with this casual jersey knit dress in charcoal gray, and kept the same shoes on because they matched nicely :)

Talk about a happy mail day when this kind of package comes your way...want one of your own? We are hosting a giveaway in which FOUR, yes four, lucky readers will win a thrifted look picked by us! Want to enter? Here's the info...

You can enter up to 36 times by following the participating ladies on any or all forms of their social media. So get to it! We are excited to try out our thrifting skills on some of you :).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now that you've entered, make sure to check out my swap partner, and all the others' posts! Here's a list to make it easier :)

My partner: Martyna of Spoolish

Carissa of Carissa Knits and Miche of Buttons and Birdcages

Zhenya of Being Zhenya and Beth of Bethie the Boo

Kristi of Delightfully Kristi and Brittany of The B Life

Peace,

Andrea

Giveaway Winner and A Collaboration

Time to announce the giveaway winner for last Friday's Blogiversary post. Thank you to everyone who entered, commented, and simply encouraged me on my way! I wrote each name on a piece of paper, put them in a hat, then drew one out!

And the winner is...

I'll be contacting you shortly and a post will follow showing the whole package of little goodies she'll be receiving :) Congratulations!

Also, I've planned to keep up with my Friday Quick 'Fix' posts more regularly and to keep me accountable I've paired up with Agy of Green Issues by Agy who has a regular Friday Fix It feature that I follow. Starting next Friday we'll link up to each other's posts to share mending tips for regular wardrobe fixes, as well as quick refashions on my part. Take a look at Agy's post from today!

Excited for this new partnership, and hope you discover some helpful and creative mending tips along with us :)

Until later, happy refashioning!
Peace,
Andrea

I Won A Giveaway!

Ok, so I actually won the giveaway on Mother's Day last month, and was so surprised and stoked because it was an added surprise to an already lovely day. Leelue Drew (Leah) hosted this Thrifty Outfit Giveaway and informed me through Instagram that I was going to be the lucky recipient of a 'Leelue Drew Style' outfit! Well, early the next morning, I learned of my grandpa's passing, and I went home to Michigan. I had difficulty getting a message through to Leah as my cell service was terrible and had no internet either. Eventually, I was able to let her know what was going on and send my sizes, measurements, address, etc. The package arrived back in Jersey just a day before I did and this is what I came home to find!

I tried everything on, and it all fit perfectly...except the shorts are a bit short for my personal comfort. Super cute choices, and VERY Leelue Drew (just check out her outfit posts on Instagram and her blog for all the cuteness she's able to pull off). I love the color of the crop top, will have no trouble letting the hem of the shorts down to give them the extra length I want, and the sandals are so comfy. I love what you chose, Leah!!!

I decided to separate the pieces a bit, as this outfit shows a lot of skin, and played around with styling the cropped top first. My (thrifted & refashioned) high-waisted polka dot pants made an appearance...

Then I quickly hit the jackpot...midi skirts! Duh ;). I love this color combination. And the skirt is thrifted, of course. Oh, and POCKETS!!! Can I just say that skirts with pockets are kinda my jam...yep. I'm okay with this look and the sandals, though I think I'd actually wear a different pair (think metallic or camel-colored).

I also love the crop top with my new wrap skirt that I posted over on Instagram yesterday. Again, the midi length and the perfect shape.

I pretty much stopped there, because to be quite honest, I will probably wear this top with a midi skirt every. single. time.

I'll be sure to highlight the shorts, sandals and earrings when I get a chance at lengthening/styling/wearing them :). Thank you again, Leah, for hosting such an awesome giveaway!

Peace,
Andrea

April's Giveaway Winner

Time to announce the winner of April's Giveaway: a button bracelet from Betsy of Cute As A Button!  Drumroll please.......

 and the winner is: Becky!!! Becky said, "Adorable, both the clutch with the buttons and your giveaway - button bracelets. I do like the greens."

Well, either this blue or white one will be headed off in your direction, Becky, so CONGRATULATIONS!!! And keep on coming back for more refashions, outfit posts, and a giveaways at the end of each month :)

Peace,
Andrea

The Giveaway Scarf

Yay! I finally finished the giveaway scarf for Lauren :). She initially said that she loved the combination of the mustard yellow scarf with a braided scarf over top. When I asked what type of color combo she'd like, she asked for gray and mustard...but I had a hard time finding mustard! So, upon asking for other colors to go with the gray, she said Tiffany blue or greens. Well, that's more like it! I had the perfect Tiffany blue knit fabric that I'd thrifted 3 years back (I found a huge length at a large thrift store where textile companies donated fabrics and unfinished/damaged new garments).

So, I got started! I had this pair of leggings that I'd found (tagged/brand new) at the thrift store but they were too big and instead of taking them in I figured I'd hold out for the perfect project to remake them. Unfortunately I got excited and took them apart before taking a picture, but leggings are leggings. The only thing 'special' about these is that they had a stretchy lace waistband that I'll be able to use later on :). So, I deconstructed them and opened up each leg along the inner seam.

Now, I wanted to recreate the same shape and drape of the mustard scarf. It used to be a tank top with a drapey front (I basically cut off the top and rounded the drapey part). Laying the legs out I started to work out how I could make this work. I folded the end of the legs over by about 6 inches and cut along the fold.

I flipped the cut bottom portion of the legs so that the angles mirrored the angles of the top portions. I've folded over the edges to meet the smaller pieces here to show where the seams will be.

I just used a straight stitch to sew up each seam, trimmed the raw edges so that they were even and then turned it right side out.

Next I needed to get the shape cut out. I folded the scarf in half and cut a curve leaving as little scrap as possible.

This is what's left! Most of it usable and therefore heading to my stash :). And all I need to do to wear this is to fold the top inward and draping does the rest. No need to finish off raw edges; a good basic lightweight scarf.

Now, to make the braid, I cut the blue knit fabric into long strips and braided them into a plait long enough to wrap around twice. I sewed the ends together and wrapped with more 'yarn' to finish off. The two are separate from one another so that Lauren can adjust and wear them as she wants. Here's how the final product looks!

Anyone else wondering what happened to the other leg (since it only took one to make this scarf)? Well, now I have my own gray scarf to use as a base for all of my different braided scarves :). So, thank you Lauren for liking the scarf you did which prompted me to recreate it and afforded me my own version of your scarf! Oh, and to complete this post, a couple of 'outtakes' so to speak...my husband was talking to me as I got these shots and I just had to share how I look mid-word and mid-blink ;). Enjoy!

Peace,
Andrea

Giveaway Winner

Between FB and the blog, there were 5 entries to win the giveaway scarf...so your chances were good!!! :) In the end Lauren was the winner. She said, "I love all of them but especially the mustard yellow and braid accent. So pretty!!" Well, now we get to work on recreating something like this for you...Congrats!

The good news for those that didn't win, is that I'll be having another giveaway next month! So, stay tuned, and feel free to send me your ideas for things you'd like to see me do. 

Spring Scarf Tutorial: The Finale

Update: The Giveaway is now closed!

Yeah, you read right, a giveaway! I totally missed February's giveaway, so I'll make this month a good one :). But first, let's get down to business with all of these scarves! What on earth am I going to do with so many? Well, I'd planned on spending the morning going 'style' crazy, but plans came up (yay for time spent with other adults!!!) and my time got cut short. So, here are a few of the looks I came up with for some of these scarves, and a round of mixing and matching.

Let's start with the mix-n-match, shall we? I started out with this gray silk (thrifted) top as a base. Basic, easy, perfect for brightening up. I threw on a mustard 'scarf' that I'd made by cutting off the neck and armholes of an old top, and paired it with the sweater turned scarf. I love this, and will wear this combo in the fall.

Then I got going with my braided/t-shirt yarn scarves. I love the lavender and pale pink together (so pretty) as well as the two floral silk scarves! Another fave combo is the lavender braid over this purple scarf seen on the right...

Or is it a scarf? Nope! I thrifted this nightgown brand new but never wear it...though I'm liking it belted and bloused. I think I love it more as a scarf, though ;).

Then I got to styling. I started with the lavender and polka-dot mix and decided I should throw another print in there with this thrifted floral maxi. An army green jacket tones it down for cool days, or I can go bare arms in the summer and let the scarves stand out!

Next, I put on this thrifted silk dress...in my favorite color!!!! But, I didn't love the scarves as much with this one. I threw on the cobalt blue, which was fine, another bold silk scarf layered with polka-dots, and then the mustard and blue floral braid. Meh. I think I'd love the floral silk scarves with this, but I didn't try that combo.

This next scarf will be less conducive for the mix-n-match aspect as it already has so much going on. And I like it just as it is with this silk coral top (thrifted and refashioned).

As I ran out of time, I threw on a pair of jeans I'd bleach tie-dyed, a blush sweater that I thrifted this week, and the sweater/braid/lace scarf, then the tribal/lace infinity scarf. I'm kind of in love with this sweater...the loose knit makes it perfect for the days that are cool but warming up, the color is just so pretty and scarves bring it all to life :).

And now, for the giveaway!!! Ok, so all you need to do is leave a comment letting me know what you liked, didn't like, whatever (though, make it constructive, please) ;) and you will be entered to win your very own scarf! You can pick a certain style, or mix-n-match a couple of pieces that you like and give me specifics on colors/patterns/prints that you like. And I'll custom make a scarf for ya! This is only open to readers in the U.S. (for now, I'll go international eventually, promise!) and you have until Tuesday, March 18th at 9 a.m. EST to enter. Good luck!

Peace,
Andrea

The Giveaway Top

I had a giveaway over on my FB page last week when I reached 200 likes. If you didn't get to enter, don't worry, I'll have more to come! The lucky winner, Carey, chose to have me refashion a thrift find for her...she is a teacher and needed whatever I made to be appropriate for the classroom, easily paired with many things and layered under sweaters/cardis. Among other colors, she indicated that she liked pinks and on my foray to find the perfect piece I came across this beauty:

Love those buttons!

At half price I only paid $2.50 and it is a size 12. It was so similar to the green granny silk blouse that I recently refashioned and I envisioned a very similar outcome for this one, as well.

I started out by removing the shoulder pads, seam ripping the sleeves and cutting down the length by a couple of inches or so:

Can you tell I had a hard time capturing the color just right? Four different shades, all one top ;) (I've definitely got more learning to do...next lesson will be how to capture colors and darks)

Moving on...I then took the collar off with my seam ripper:

I didn't like the neckline as it was sans collar so I decided to give it a different shape. I slimmed down the sleeves and cut out my new neckline. After cutting off the extra, I overlocked the edges and to finish off the collar I simply folded over the finished edge and topstitched a tiny hem:

Upon reattaching the sleeves I also took the sides of the top in from the armpit and curved out to the hip leaving it loose but giving it shape. Again, cut off the excess and finished off all raw edges. And here's how it came out! 

I like the opened up neckline, the pin tucks are beautiful and the color really pops! It is simple and can be worn with jeans and flats, or dressed up for school with trousers, skirts, etc. Carey is a similar size to me (actually thinner) so it should fit her just fine :), which is why I am modeling the final product for you all to get an idea of how it looks.

She's already seen it, approved it heartily, and it is on its way to her in the mail! Hope you love this piece and are inspired to transform your own pieces to work better for you!

Here's one last look at the before and after:

Peace,

Andrea