Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Some resale magic

One thing I feel strongly about is shopping resale and vintage or sewing my clothes as much as possible. I do buy some things new; jeans, shoes (sometimes), and underwear (of course). However, dresses, skirts, blouses, handbags, and even some shoes are largely the purview of resale and my sewing machine.

I am not a talented seamstress, but I have tried my hand at a few things over the last year.


This summer, I made my first circle skirt.  It's fairly simple construction and turned out pretty well.

I wore this out to an enjoyable day of antiquing with my mom and cousin.  Underneath is a crinoline I snagged for six or seven dollars from The Buffalo Exchange.  It's not vintage, but it's super useful.  I'll try and remember to get a picture of it sometime.


Additionally, I tried my hand at a pair of pants based on a 1940s suit pattern.  I very much appreciate pattern companies re-releasing vintage patterns as I am absolute rubbish at following old pattern instructions.

I like how they turned out very much, though I did have to do a certain amount of alteration to account for the fact that I have an unusually large waist to hip ratio.



I've also done a bit of resale shopping lately.  There are a couple of really nice shops in the area. Of course you have to be willing to dig, but I can usually find a few gems.





I found a few delightfully tacky tops from the seventies and a couple of blouses that have the most darling details.














Here are a couple of pictures of some of my most recent outings in my most favorite new pieces.

This is a new blouse, which I love for it's simplicity and the MOST lovely beaded bag I've ever seen.  I found the bag at a great new shop in Corpus Christi called Threads.  It is one of the funkiest little resale shops in the area.







 This skirt is one of several I found at the Goodwill in Portland, TX.  I was terribly surprised to find so many great pieces there as when I walked in, the prospects initially seemed very low.  But, indeed I found that I had to pick and choose what to take home as I was on a $20 budget.  I found a couple of other great pieces, one that needs some alteration, and hope to write about them soon.




This is a little outfit I put together to work as a hostess at the restaurant for an evening.  I had a lot of fun with this, though I made the realization yet again that double knit polyester is a dreadful choice for south Texas summer. Oh well.  I'll just have to wait for October.

I do have to say though, that while I have some outlandish tastes, there are some things that are just a little too much, even for me...




So, the last thing I have to do, is turn it over to you.  I'd love this to be an interactive blog.  So, please tell me, what are some of your favorite clothing pieces?  Do you have something that you inherited and treasure or found in a random, unexpected place?

7 comments:

  1. I love vintage clothing, but I haven't been too any thrift stores in a long time. I have been to Threads and it was cool when I was in college down there. Let's see...my favorite era of clothing is the 20s and 30s, and I love how some stores have brought that back. I have a few pencil skirts that I just love to wear. But my jeans right now are my favorite. I've already had to take them to the shop to get resown (not a sewer at all) and fixed the bottoms, but I love them. They were the only pair that I bought without trying on first...I got them for $15 at TJ Max, because I was out of jeans. And I love tank tops.

    BTW, is that the bike done?

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  2. Also, I put this on my blog in response to your questions since I don't have your email. Sorry for the length. I think it's awesome that you are inspired. Any exercise is good.

    Don't worry. I was an absolute novice. I played basketball and always hated running.

    The first thing is just to get out there and start with a mile. You don't have to run it all. Remember that walking is just as good as running. I think the first time I ever started running, I ran maybe a quarter mile. Over time, I got more and more until I could run a mile without stopping. Also, I really like this book called Complete Book of Women's Running (wished I had it in the beginning when I started (http://www.amazon.com/Runners-World-Complete-Womens-Running/dp/1594867585/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1310475085&sr=8-3).

    The other thing is to find a training guide that suits you. I used Hal Higdon's training for a half marathon, because that's what I was doing. It depends on what you want out of running. Runnersworld.com is a great site with lots of advice. And then if you want to get some events going, check out http://www.runningintheusa.com/Race/Default.aspx, My links page has alot of sites for all sorts of random running stuff.

    But the biggest advice I can give is to trust yourself and listen to your body. Don't ever feel like you need to do more, because someone else is doing more or that you feel like a wuss. Take your time and gradually increase your mileage week by week.

    Okay, I lied one more thing...doing something like boot camp or yoga (this was especially great) on top of the running has really helped with my endurance and strength.

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  3. Cute! Cute! Cute! <3 H

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  4. I ALWAYS enjoyed your style Niki. This is a neat idea!

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  5. I love that you dress up to go places.

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  6. I have seen others that are also drawn to vintage wear, and all things vintage. I personally believe it is very beautiful but at the same time I am very curious about the psychology that is driving this fascination. Have we become so technologically advanced that our younger generations are becoming overwhelmed. Your sense of style is very intriguing. I am enjoying the pictures and I agree with mamma I also love the fact that you enjoy dressing up to go places. I don't get to see it personally, but the pictures are wonderful.

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  7. I do find the vintage phenomenon fascinating, because while, in some ways, it does glorify a period of time that was emblematic of limited rights for women and scores of other groups of people, many of the women I know who are into it are also staunch feminists. I love talking to people about how far they go in their vintage obsessions, just clothes, or culture too.

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