Thursday, January 30, 2014

Thursday Thrift Score: Blazers, Part V

This week's Thrift Score includes a bonus Throw Back Thursday, as well as a teaser for my next Sunday Sew-Day. What a deal!

So here's the throw back part. May 2012: I was a third of the way into my weight loss, but hadn't yet discovered the world of refashioning. I picked up this blazer for $5 at my local Goodwill. It fit, it flattered, and it still had the original Nordstrom price tag for $164.99 - qualifying it as a thrift score as well.

Plaid Blazer Refashion Before

Now, roughly 50 pounds lighter, it no longer fits, it no longer flatters, and it would no longer be considered a "score". Time to make some changes! Tune in on Sunday to see what I've got up my refashioned sleeve!

Plaid Blazer Refashion - BeforePlaid Blazer Refashion - Before

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Blazers, Part IV

Hello, kiddies! I beat the sun home from work today and was able to take pics of the blazer-turned-skirt before it got dark. But let's start from the beginning, shall we? On Sunday, I showed you my jumping off point: a perfectly good, though slightly too large blazer. About halfway through my weight loss, I picked up this bad boy for about $10 at Tuesday Morning.

Tweed Peplum Skirt Refashion

It's a decent quality wool blend in a beautiful pale pink and chocolate brown herringbone weave. And believe it or not, I'm going to turn it into a skirt.

Tweed Peplum Skirt Refashion

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Confessions

I have a confession to make. Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew. Sometimes I get myself in way too deep. Sometimes I am far too ambitious in my sewing endeavors, particularly my time allotments.

My next blazer refashion was going to be this pale pink and chocolate brown herringbone tweed number. Originally, I planned to swap out the sleeves for some leather ones, add leather details on the collar and pocket flaps maybe, and call it a day. All week, I'd been surfing Pinterest, pinning tweed-leather-combo jackets. All of them were lovely, and most of them had a boxy Chanel-ish vibe going on. That's all well and good, but my refashionable blazer had lots of darts for shaping and a slightly flared pseudo peplum - not at all the right shape to do a Chanel copycat.

Tweed Peplum Skirt Refashion

Then, Saturday morning, I had an epiphany: who says a blazer has to be a blazer? Why not a skirt? Tweed skirts are cute and classic, and I could work in that peplum. And then my tweed skirt would have pockets too, and if you haven't caught on by now, I loves me some skirts and dresses with pockets. "A skirt it shall be!", I proclaimed (but not aloud because that would be weird).

Tweed Peplum Skirt Refashion

This is where that confession comes into play. I could totally disassemble a blazer and reconstruct it into a skirt in two days, right? With a friend coming over for dinner Saturday night and us going over to another friend's house Sunday afternoon for a card game? Technically, yes, I did. I finished hand-sewing on the last hook-n-eye about an hour ago. Of course, that means it was nowhere near daylight out for decent pictures. So for now, I will leave it to your imagination. Can you picture the above blazer as a skirt? I'll have finished photos up soon so you can see compare your vision to mine.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming...


Hey there! Today I'm visiting the House of Estrela to guest post for her Refashion Month. You should come on over and see how I transformed one of my husband's shirts into a cute sundress!

Mens Shirt Sun Dress

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Sunday Sew-Day: Blazers, Part III

I bought this casual cotton blazer a few years back when I got my first real grown-up job and wanted to dress semi-professionally. I believe it came from Burlington Coat Factory, so it certainly wasn't expensive, but I don't recall the actual price.

Khaki Moto JacketKhaki Moto Jacket

As with last week's remake, I had already used the button relocation trick on this one, but clearly, after further weight loss, it's gonna take something a little more powerful this go 'round.

Khaki Moto Jacket

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Blazers, Part II

This week's been a doozy, my friends. The polar vortex that froze up the United States a couple weeks ago was followed by a bit of a heat wave. Temps reached as high as 70F/21C here in Texas last weekend. It was lovely. I took my Sunday Sew-Day project outside to do some hand-sewing on the patio. Laika basked in the sunshine.

Laika

But it's all fun and games until someone eats a light bulb. Or part of one. You see, months ago, before we got the puppy, my husband accidentally broke one of the flood lights on our back patio. He cleaned up the glass, and we went on with our lives. Unfortunately, he missed a piece. A piece the puppy was kind enough to find for us last Sunday. Luckily for her, I was sitting right there when she picked it up and ate it. Luckily for her, I have friends in the dog-fixing business. I called my friend the vet tech for advice, and she suggested we meet her at the clinic, which is actually closed on Sundays, for an x-ray. Upon confirming that yes, indeed, our dog was stupid enough to swallow something that sliced the roof of her mouth up when she bit into it, this friend called her friend and coworker, who just happens to be a former classmate of ours as well as a full-fledged veterinarian. This second friend was good enough to drive into the city from her lovely suburban home far away on her night off just to perform emergency surgery on our dim-witted dog. She removed three shards of glass (and a whole assortment of other objects traditionally considered inedible) from Laika's stomach before they could reach her narrower intestines and start doing some real damage. Plus, while she was under the knife we had them also spay and microchip her, a little ahead of our intended schedule, but hey, two birds with one stone, right? At least, the drugs appear to be effective.

Laika - Post-Op

She stayed at the clinic for two days. Monday evening, we went and visited her immediately after work. Tuesday evening, we went and picked her up immediately after work. And I've been working from home the past two days, interspersing periods of actual work with playing nursemaid. She's on the mend, making gradual improvements daily. She clearly wants to be the playful puppy again, but lingering pain and that blasted collar really put a damper on things. I'm sure she'll be back to normal soon, having hopefully learned a valuable lesson about digestible and indigestible materials.

Needless to say, all this leaves little time for sewing, but I was able to finally finished Sunday's project. So let's get down to it, shall we? I've had this blazer hanging in my closet for a year or so now. It was initially thrifted though I don't recall the price; certainly less than $5 tops. I've only ever worn it a couple times though. It's fine, just a little too plain, with sleeves a little too short, and now it's a little too large as well.

Blinged-Up BlazerBlinged-Up Blazer

Thursday, January 09, 2014

Thursday Thrift Score: Blazers, Part I

For the next series, we turn our attention to a ubiquitous thrift shop garment - the blazer. I could spend hours sifting through the shoulder pads and pre-cuffed sleeves, searching for just the right one. And behold, a couple weeks ago, I found it!

Tweed BlazerTweed Blazer

This beauty's got several things going for it. The black and white wool tweed is a timeless classic, and I find the angled pockets quite flattering. The Jones New York label tells me it good quality; it also tells me it was originally half of a suit, though who knows where the pants ended up. It fits me like a glove (okay, so it's an 8 petite, but let's just pretend the sleeves are meant to be bracelet length). But most of all, I positively adore the little leather snap straps in front.

Tweed BlazerTweed Blazer

I loved it from the moment I pulled it off the rack, so much so I was willing to pay $9.99 for it. However, thanks to a flirtatious cashier, I got it for half off, despite the tag not being the color of the day. Of course, I was too busy obliviously chatting with my shopping buddy to realize it until after we'd left the store. But maybe he wasn't flirting. Maybe they were having a sale on all clothing and I just missed the memo. Or perhaps the poor guy is colorblind, and pointing out his error would have only embarrassed him. Yeah, yeah, that's it. I did him a kindness by not noticing.

Sunday, January 05, 2014

Sunday Sew-Day: Navy Dress Refashion

Ah yes, hectic holidays followed by a hectic return to work. Gotta love the new year! Considering I had to bring some work home to finish up this weekend, there wasn't much time left for sewing. But I've had this dress hanging in my closet for a little while now waiting to be chopped up, and it shouldn't be a terribly time-consuming conversion.

Navy Dress RefashionNavy Dress Refashion

I bought it near the end of my weight loss, so it mostly fits.

Navy Dress Refashion