Preparatory Patriotism

With Independence Day coming up this Friday in the USA, I felt like going a little patriotic this week with some red, white, and blue. Well, just white and blue for now, and we'll throw in some red accessories. I grabbed this navy and white polka dotted skirt at the thrift store last month for $2 because, you know, polka dots.

Although it may appear as those I am wearing a skirt that is too large for me, I am actually holding in front of myself a skirt that is too small for me. But with those pleats, I had no doubt there would be plenty of fabric to make something cute.

Basic Black

You've actually gotten a sneak peak of today's refashion, though you may not realize it. Let's see if you can figure it out, eh? Here's the before:

Not looking familiar? How about now?

Sunday Sew-Day: Send in the Clowns

Sorry for the delay. Rain and/or cloud cover the past couple days has made it difficult to get good photos of this weekend's project. I eventually gave up and took pics inside sans natural light. On the bright side, I got a new gadget - a remote control for my camera! I'm terribly excited about it.

I picked up this blouse at Buffalo Exchange recently, at the same time as last week's thrift score. It was also $4 on the clearance rack.

As disturbing as I find clowns to be, I was strangely drawn to this print with its creepy clowns, juggling ballerinas, unicycling jesters, and prancing ponies.

eShakti Coupon Code & Thursday Thrift Score

First off, I must beg your forgiveness. When I posted about my new eShakti dress a couple weeks ago, I failed to mention the most important part. You see, this morning I found an email from in my spam folder from eShakti's media relations manager... from two weeks ago. How it got in my spam folder, I do not know, but inside I found something special, folks. Something just for you.

It's 10% off at eShakti!

Just use the coupon code "KNITES" at checkout. It's valid until July 3, 2014

Please note:
Code has to be entered in the ‘promotional code’ box. It is not case-sensitive. This discount code is not applicable on clearance/sale, gift cards and overstock categories. Not applicable on previous purchases.



And now, since I seem to have inadvertently begun a series of blouse refashions, I may as well follow suit with this week's thrift score.

I went to Buffalo Exchange a couple weeks ago with a friend. It's one of my favorite places to find gently used, recent trends at better-than-retail-but-not-quite-as-good-as-Goodwill prices. This time, I got pretty lucky too. I found this brand new blouse, with the original tags still attached, for just $4 on the clearance rack.

The back is super low-cut (or as low as possible without showing my bra) and has buttons all the way down.

And the collar is totally cute too, right?

For work, I threw on my white cardigan (thrifted) and some purple flats (Target clearance). Tada!

Sunday Sew-Day: Blue Buttons Blouse

Sorry for the missed Thursday Thrift Score. I literally worked until bedtime three days last week. And just to be clear, I am not the type of person who uses "literally" when I mean "figuratively."

Today's piece began as a $1.50 thrift store find. In its original state, it left something to be desired. Like, pretty much everything.

Sunday Sew-Day: Teal Blouse

I didn't have much time for sewing this weekend (didn't even manage to post it on time!), so another quickie it is! I picked up this lovely polyester blouse for $2 recently. I wasn't keen on the poofy sleeves, and though the big floppy bow tie thing seems to have come back into vogue, I'm not entirely sold on the idea. The teal paisley fabric was great though!

eShakti Review

I was recently contacted by a representative for eShakti, a custom clothing manufacturer, who offered to send me a garment of my choosing in exchange for my honest review of their product. I happily accepted, of course, eager to see what their company can do.

Their mission is simple: budget-friendly clothing customized for your size and taste. Perusing all their beautiful dresses, I had a hard time whittling down my options, but I eventually chose the Birdsong dress in a bright, cheery orange with navy, white, and cornflower blue embroidery on the skirt.

 

I provided my measurements for a custom fit, but they also have a wide selection of standard sizes available (0-36) if you'd like. In addition to sizing, you can choose your neckline (I kept it as shown), sleeve length (kept it sleeveless), and skirt length (above the knee). You can also forgo the embroidery if you'd prefer a simpler style, or you can remove the side seam pockets (but why would you want to do that?). There may be even more options, depending on which garment you choose.

It took about a week for the creation of the dress and only 3 days to ship it halfway around the world. When this lovely gem arrived in the mail this week, I ripped open the package like a kid on Christmas!

The back has a cool exposed black zipper, and there are little bra strap holders in the shoulders. The craftsmanship - the embroidery, top-stitching, everything - is fantastic!

For work today, I paired with a navy cardigan, a wide white belt, and my silver wedge sandals.

So to recap...

Pros
1. Custom sizing
2. Custom styling
3. Wide selection
4. Fast production and shipping
5. High quality work

Cons
1. Fabric wrinkles very easily
2. Decent price for custom, quality clothing, but still on the high end of my budget


Edited to add: GET 10% OFF your eShakti order until July 3, 2014 with the coupon code "KNITES"

Please note:
Code has to be entered in the ‘promotional code’ box. It is not case-sensitive. This discount code is not applicable on clearance/sale, gift cards and overstock categories. Not applicable on previous purchases.

SuperStar!

Guess who's the newest Knit & Crochet SuperStar over at Cut Out + Keep!



Check back each day this week for another one of my featured projects.

Sunday Sew-Day: Seeing Spots

I went to one of my favorite thrift shops for their Memorial Day sale last weekend (half off all clothes!). I've got it in my head recently that I need more nice warm-weather, tattoo-covering tops for work. So I picked up this skirt for $2, among other things.

It's not terrible, but the thin elastic waistband is not comfortable, and I'm not sure this type of skirt is in style right now (but who knows). But sheer polka dots? Seriously loving it!