False alarm on the springtime; it got all cold and snowy again

Do you know what happened last week? It freaking snowed. I do hate to discuss the weather so frequently but it is quite relevant to this thing I do. With the outfits and the sewing and such.
A few posts back, I was talking about a blue dress that I wanted to wear, but could not because the temps were around 60.

Oh god, even the photo editing couldn't save my face here. No makeup=bad

See that dress up there? I got it at one of the last 50% sales at Savers and it's made out of some (artificial?) woolly material. But don't you like the lumberjack plaid? Here's what's wrong:

Those damn sleeves. Why do I keep encountering them? Stop gathering the sleeve holes, you jerks; I don't want poof sleeves ever. Also, the pockets stick out and there are large belt loops with no belt.
Behold: I messed around with the sleeves and added a shiny vinyl belt with matching shoes. 

Look! It's above the knee! By the way, I did nothing with the pockets because they're fine once belt is added to the equation.

Oh, I did this new thing where instead of taking 100 pics and being picky, I just took a few. So, I'm not as happy.
I got mad blue dresses! This post is a two-for! Two dresses in this post. A short post...and this one's a no-sew.

Look at all that thick blue fabric. So warm...every part of me is covered in soft coziness. I can't wear that though.

That's what I took off with a brand new pair of fabric scissors while sitting at my parents' house. That's all? Let's see what it looks like.

I did it! It's a wearable dress, using only scissors. I trimmed additional material off the neckline, btw. Then the obvious: the ol' belt sash made from the trimmed off length.

But, wait! There's a third thing! It's a goddamn three-for! That necklace! It's a button necklace...
I did not make the button necklace. Ring the shame bell.

First, I got that at Hobby Lobby. I am a feminist, and I don't like their anti-birth control stance. My uncle got me a gift card for Christmas and was like, "use at your own risk, it's a bad company!" Deals before beliefs, we say. Look, $.75.
It's the ultimate in slacker DIY! It looks like something awesomely handmade, but isn't. Also, it's only part of the necklace. If you want to wear that thing as a necklace, you gotta DIY. They also sell a ribbon. Which was also on sale. Which I bought and used.
I did however do a little hacking. One of the buttons is vaguely flower shaped and pink. I changed it out for one in a green color!

Ta Da!

A Valentine's Day no-sew

Pardon the interruption from story time, but I wanted to get at least one Valentine's Day outfit posted before the actual holiday.
I actually planned to do several outfits on that theme, specifically for the non-romantics like myself. I also have a hard time wearing red and wanted to show some alternatives to V day outfits without too much of that color.
Guess what else I planned? I had the idea to do a series of "no-sew" refashions for the month. So far, they've mostly been fails. Here's one for both themes that kinda works.

 Eww. It's not even silly ugly. Why do I look even shorter than usual? If you can't tell, it's a plaid print and it features red, but not too much. Red usually doesn't jive with my particular hair color. I'm coloring tomorrow, so it's all toned down for these. Also, it never looks good with my lipstick. Maybe it does, I don't know.
This dress is actually a lightweight material, so it should be easy to work with and might come in handy in the spring. Anyway, how can I make it work without sewing?

That thing. It's an elastic piece with clips on each end. I'm gonna use that thing to gather it in the back.

It might take a little practice getting it straight. I recommend doing what I did and putting the dress on backwards and clipping it in front before turning it around. Let's see:

So, now it fits a little better. Obviously, there are many other ways to make this dress look better, but I was going for fast and simple. Something that says "meh...it's wearable." I figured I could add a sash. Here's the after:

Certain filters make the red tones stand out more. Doesn't my dress look so adequate?

There ya go, it's reddish and it's a no sew. Hopefully, more to come. My god, I'm bad at following through.

Can't hardly focus, here are some thrift scores

Well, I'm seriously behind in my blogging, having neglected both storytelling, projects, and pictures of things I acquired. I don't know how to catch up and I'm pretty sure the quality will suffer.

LOL, Arrested Development J.Walter Weatherman warning meme. Remember, he was employed to teach the Bluth kids important life lessons that involved him losing his prosthetic arm? This will make sense when I get to that part.
So, I'm showing you some cool pictures of things hoarding up my home, with the promise to do more writing when I frackin' feel like it.

Oh, and that's what I look like modeling vintage dresses. Nope, haven't listed it yet. Got it at Goodwill for $2, and I think maybe I'll wear it once or twice then sell it on the cheap. Immediately after taking that picture, I cleared a half an hour from my schedule to get my ass to Supercuts for the fancy hairstyling I deserve. This was followed by some home hair coloring to touch up my roots. #poorpeopleluxury
No more chat, just thrift scores, I gotta make it to the post office.

Vintage travel souvenir bags. I love them. They only go for about a twenty on Etsy, but I buy them whenever I see them because what is wrong with you people, these things are awesome!
As I start typing this sentence, it is day 3 of trying to do this post. Another travel accessory:

It says "grasshopper." I like you plaid, suitcase.

It's like I'm not even trying to make a proper blog post any more. "Just show 'em pictures of things! No time to explain any alleged awesome-ness!" (awesome-ness details here)

Did you see my wool cape? This is my wool cape.

It's a souvenir thing. Up close:

 Made of cloth for god knows what purpose. It's just a large fabric wall tapestry or tablecloth, maybe. The enterprising original owner folded the top over about an inch or two and hand-sewed it, thus turning this into a curtain! It's got that going for it. How about I show one more thing and then call it a night.

I think I showed this already. Hold on, I got a ton of crap...

How's this little handbag catching your eye? (Yes, I'll probably have to do some picture retakes) It's a red plastic basket purse.
I'm out. Next on my to do list is this:

Linking up at Sir Thrift A Lot and a living space.

Thrift Hoard: Half price and full of awesome.

I got out of bed on Monday and treated the day off like a work day. Because I was hitting up the thrift stores like it was my job. (It's not, though. I can't sell for shit!) I went to the Savers holiday half off clothes and accessories sale. I got these items in the Nashua, NH store, which I should visit more often. Let''s just look at the goods.

Does anyone know anything about this planter? It's in two pieces, and that bottom piece has little holes on the side. I got it up in my little shop, but it would be nice to be able to explain it's use. orange-yellow planter

That thing isn't actually for sale. I just took a picture of the vintage (and missing a part) iron/steaming thingie to capture the old timey goodness of it's box.

I asked my dad for help in MacGuyver-ing a makeshift cap for the place you put the water into. I'm just waiting on the glue to dry (crosses fingers).

Check out that awesome file thing! I love those old metal file holders and that one's got the old wood-grain look! metal file case It's just like the one Van of Thrift Core has! (Mine doesn't have the key.)

This Vera Neumann scarf has some cool retro charm, and is in great shape. I've got some other Vera's in my stash that I should list, too. Vera scarf

Wow! Look at the beautiful vintage handbag! Those details and that black plastic thing at the opening are just lovely! $3? Get in my cart, bag!

Oh, come on! How did I miss that?! I haven't listed that, because I have a plan to save the beauty of that old bag with either some ribbon or little bows. I'll clean off the fingerprints, too.
 My favorite thing to hunt for is dresses, and I grabbed a few good ones. Such as this plaid number...

I am really having a hard time with location for these clothing pictures. That's my hallway. It was cold and I had to use the flash. How cute is that dress, though? orange-turquoise plaid dress
But, wait, there's more! And keep waiting, because I'll have to save the rest for next week. It's a school night and I have to get my layers and layers of winter clothes ready for tomorrow.  I also have the box of old timey vintage blocks I picked up to reward a boy with special needs who's behavior was absolutely out of this world last week.. (Knock on wood.) So, come back next week for more dresses, some suspender pants, accessories, and the blocks.
Linking up with a living space and Sir Thrift A Lot.

Cheap Imitations vol.1: Pants; also more plaid

I've been meaning to do this post for a while, but ya know...It's allegedly going to be a series of posts in which I see something cool on another blog or on Pinterest or maybe even a 3 dimensional human on the streets and attempt to duplicate it at a thrift store. Because if you can't be original; copy something good.
I was wasting time looking at cute outfits on Pinterest (because is good to keep one's mind sharp...) and I saw these sweet pants from ModCloth.

 

They're on here 

I've made it no secret that I recently got down with this high waist pants and shorts trend. I've heard conflicting reports about the effects of high paints on short (5'), hip-py gals, and the concept of tucked in shirts is a little hard to get used to. because I am short, shirts tend to come a little lower on me than they might on a regular sized person, so it seems like a lot to tuck in. I cannot have any bunching in my clothes, I say in a dead serious tone. It will bother and distract me all day. Let's just look at pics!
I found a pair of Liz Claiborne, black, pleated, high waist pants at Goodwill for $2.50. Just saying "pleated pants" is making me do a double take. Aren't those bad? Those are mom pants!  The sketch

 I'm guessing that at this point, if any men were reading, they've stopped. Here's the thing: I felt kinda like I was carrying a little extra weight that week. (whispers) you know; menstrual fat feeling! After tucking in the top, those size 2 pants were at max. capacity.

I looked up a pair on Etsy.

source

I'm telling you, the first time I wore these pants, they were super cute. I'll do a few crunches or whatever. I think I managed to get the look I was going for with my thrift store pants. More pics:

That top is also a little snug. Camera has the guts to tell me what my mirror couldn't say.

I Like Plaid part 2; Not Sure it's Plaid

I bought this dress over the summer, when I was in full on dress hoarding mode. I remember it was at Goodwill marked $7.99 and it was half price. I was looking forward to wearing it to school in the fall, but I never got around to it, because of the high temps in the classroom. I still haven't worn it to school, due to it's lack of "move-ability.' It doesn't stay in place, right, and that's just not practical for all day wear.

I'm just not sure the print qualifies as plaid

That handbag is probably my favorite. I don't remember buying it, probably at TJ Maxx. It wasn't expensive, I know the handles are gonna break, eventually. Don't remember buying that studded belt, either. It wasn't made to cinch waists; it's more of a hip belt because it doesn't have the necessary notches to pull it tight. The buckle is just barely holding the belt on in back.

That's why I don't smile much for my pics, even that half-happy upturn of the eyes looks bizarre. I edited the image, ok? Oh, you know what's lame? I put that sparrow necklace (that every rockabilly appreciating chick has) on my neck to make the dress look a little more fun and you can't even see it. Look at how well worn those vintage 90's (lol) maryjane shoes look.

I Like Plaid Now: part 1

In addition to my new "thing" of liking full skirts, I also decided to embrace plaid as part of my cold weather wardrobe. Old timey looking stuff, like thick, woolly fabrics with a possible punk/goth edge. Imma try and pull that look off. Some inspirations:

(from Pinterest, look here: inspiration)

The first thing I bought was this green and navy wool/polyester skirt from Goodwill for $2.50.

So, it's a size 10, but I bought it anyway, figuring I could do that easy waistband fix like I did with the green skirt that I'm all in love with. Of course it couldn't be freakin' easy like that. The garment is kinda cheesy, not great quality like the last one, and the elastic waist was all spent. When I pinned the darts in place, I couldn't pull the skirt off, due to lack of stretch. No stretch...what's the easiest fix? I don't know how I came to this conclusion, but I added an external zipper and sewed the darts just like I planned.

Easier than buying something that actually fits! I'm sarcastic. I just pinned a zipper; cut between it's teeth; gave it a few stitches and some fabric glue; then sewed two darts in front, two in the back. Then I covered my shoddy work with a belt. Just look at it, k?

Oh, that's a blue belt that I decided to wear for most of the pictures. I actually got it at Marshalls for about $5. Marshalls and TJ Maxx have a habit of carrying belts from Express on the cheap.