Posts Tagged ‘vintage’

Thrifty: Floral Jersey

April 6th, 2012
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I found this floral jersey some time ago, perhaps about a year ago, for about 50¢ a yard (a major steal), but I hadn’t made anything until just recently.

I wanted to make some progress on my project run and play outfits, but my fabric wasn’t scheduled to arrive until Monday (it came today, yay!). So I prototyped one of the many pieces I’m making for the competition in this fabric. Unfortunately for Penelope, the pattern was much to small for her. Fortunately for our little neighbor, it fit her perfectly. I just adore how it turned out on her!

I added pintuck detailing in the back and a high-low hemline to the bottom. It looks so sweet on her (especially with those super hip purple skinnies).

She was such a cute little model, but a little bit more camera shy than Penelope. I think my camera might have traumatized her a bit, the poor girl. But I was able to snap enough pictures of the detail of the shirt, you get the jist. Now I need to make one for Penelope. Then maybe one for me. I think it turned out too darn cute.

I also broke out the twin needles for this project. I’m not sure I’ll be going back when it comes to using knits! I found out about the glories of twin needles from Make it and Love it. Do you use twin needles? Have you ever? It’s so easy, but you’ll feel so professional.

Thrifty: Penelope’s Darling Dress

March 9th, 2012
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I can’t believe it’s the weekend already. Seriously this week has just flown right by. Chris and I are making serious progress on the calligraphy site (sign up for the newsletter here). I can’t begin to describe to you how excited I am for this class!! I hope you are, too.

Last weekend, Penelope and I went thrift shopping for the first time in a long while. We found so many awesome treasures, like the mommy/daughter clogs, I’ve been thinking of going again everyday this week. The thing about thrift shopping, once you find good stuff, then you want to go all the time and because everything is so cheap I either end up spending way more than I thought I would and/or come home with stuff that I don’t actually need.

So, I’m not purchasing a whole lot of home goods on my thrift excursions and I’m being more picky than ever. However, clothes are very easy to justify, especially for Penelope and Felix. They’re both growing like weeds, so they really can’t have enough. Especially Penelope, who’s dresses are all more like shirts these days.

I picked up this sweet little dress for Penelope (she was so excited when I showed it to her). It was $2. For serious. I love the gingham print and the peter pan collar. It’s just so stinking adorable and perfect for winter with the color palette and perfect for the summer with it being sleeveless and all. Score all around.

Refashioned: $8 Wool Coat

January 13th, 2012
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One of the best thrift-shopping excursions I had in a while was when I led a thrifting excursion back in October with a few Sewing Summit Peeps. There I scored tons of awesome stuff, among them: this coat. It’s nearly impossible for me to find awesome vintage winter coats that fit. Usually they’re too short in the arms or too wide in the shoulders & sleeves. It’s not a bad problem to have, but it forces me to always be on the lookout for a coat that actually fits. Even when it’s not coat weather.

I love this coat! It’s 100% awesome wool with a 100% silk lining. Oh yeah, you heard me, this coat is legit. Not even Anthro provides coats this nice at their $300 premium. The only problems I had with this coat straight off the rack were the short sleeves and the trench-like length. The sleeves were just about a half inch too short & the length about 8 inches too long. It took me a long while to figure out how I would adjust this coat & thought I would share with you my thought process & how I came up with the final refashion.

  1. Originally I thought I would lengthen the sleeves by adding the equivalent to a sleeve dickie, but as the sleeves had button enclosures, I didn’t really see how that would work in my favor.
  2. Then Liz gave me the brilliant idea to add fur cuffs to the coat. I found some inspiration & I even bought some killer zebra fur, but it quickly became a giant hot mess as I got to sewing. Real fur is a giant mess to work with. Yuck.
  3. After seeing a giant hot mess of my awesome coat I really wanted to give up, but I still had 6 inches of wool that I cut off the bottom left to use as scrap. I used every last bit of those scraps to make new cuffs and sewed some linear details on the cuffs to match the collar.

So, once I finally figured out the vision, the coat didn’t take a whole lot to revamp. Here’s the list of final alterations:

  • shortened hem by 8 inches
  • hemmed the silk lining, didn’t need to hem the wool part, though (YAY!)
  • removed old cuff & used as a pattern template for longer sleeves
  • bought brass buttons for a double button closure on the sleeves
Overall this alteration took 9-10 hours to complete. I’m sure it would’ve been faster if my studio were remotely organized & I didn’t watch so much tv while doing the refashion. So, what do you think? Good fix? I do. I’m really excited to sport my fancy coat at Alt next week!

Thrifty & Chic: White Boots

January 6th, 2012
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Happy Friday! I feel like this week has just flewn by. There are officially 10 days left until Altitude Summit starts. I’m in full-blown crunch mode, finishing business cards (for me & others), class curriculum and wardrobe choices to name a few.

One of the most stressful parts of the wardrobe situation is that they’re hosting a winter whites party. Everyone is to wear white. AAAAHHH! I guess I could wear my wedding dress (If I can track it down), but that’s hardly appropriate. I bought a white dress from Asos, which is totally gorgeous, but I’m not entirely sure I want it in white. I ordered it in Peacock as well so I’ll decide which one to keep once the delivery arrives. If I decide I don’t want to go with the white dress, I’ve got some off white items: This shirt, this skirt and the above boots. The skirt isn’t really white, but it’s close enough. I guess.

I am excited about wearing the boots, though! I love these babies. I found them in Provo where thrift shopping is insane. Insane in a bad way. When I bought these boots I was wearing a vintage yellow jacket of mine & another girl in the store asked if I was planning on buying it.

“Excuse me? This is my jacket. I wore it in here.”

“Oh. Oh, my mistake. Sorry.”

In some cases it’s like day-after-thanksgiving shopping with ravenous sharks. Pretty darn hilarious. In any case, that makes this find even more miraculous. I didn’t have to fight anyone or rip them off anyone’s feet. They were just sitting on the shelf all by themselves in practically unworn condition for $8 (I’ve added scuffs & dirt since then). Did I mention thrift stores are more expensive where we’re living, too?!? Crazy.

Handmade Geometric Top

October 27th, 2011
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I made this top last night while trying to figure out a pattern for a dress I’m working on. I’d say it turned out pretty well. I still need to hem the sleeves, neckline & bottom.

  • top: handmade, $2 (fabric on sale at JoAnn’s)
  • belt: vintage, $15
  • cuff: Wet Seal, don’t remember
  • jeans: Ross?, $15
  • shoes: thrifted, $5

TOTAl: $37

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