Posts tagged: dress
Dress: $9, Belt: $1 | Charity Thrift shop ; Cardigan + tights bought new
Yet again I’ve fallen into the habit of yoga pants + hoodies. Or even worse, sweatpants and hoodies. Just being lazy, that’s all :p But yesterday I had an event to go to! Of course, I wanted something ‘new’ to wear. My heart was set on a 3/4 sleeve lace dress with a full skirt. However, I couldn’t find one that fit the bill. Some were too short, had no sleeves, not the colour I wanted, too expensive, etc… I was mentally preparing myself that I would have to wear my trusty ol’ LBD to this event. Blergh. Don’t get me wrong, I love my LBD, but it seems like I’ve gotten too much wear out of it, like I’m bringing it out every time I have an event to dress up for. I want variety! Anyhow, I shopped, and shopped, and shopped. Went to multiple malls, strip malls, and thrift stores. Finally, I found 2 dresses in a thrift store that I had not visited before. The first was a navy blue vintage gown, with a beaded lace skirt. It was GORGEOUS!!! Sadly, it was vintage sizing too, meaning an itty bitty waist. I have a pretty small waistline as it is, but this dress was TINY!! Darn. This dress was my second choice. Originally it had a hideous exposed elastic belt. I should’ve taken before shots, but I was in too big a rush to get this dress ready! All I did was take my trusty seam rippers and remove the belt. I had to resew the seams that I unpicked, but it was very straightforward. I picked up this belt from the same thrift shop. I think it looks much more polished than the exposed elastic belt.
Until next time!!
Keep on thrifting :D (ps. Value Village has 50% off clothes on Monday!!! Not sure if it’s just Canada though…)
Fabric $1/m | Hospital thrift shop; Belt $1.50 | Ukrainian church bazaar; Shoes $8.95 | charity shop
It’s always super awesome when you can score cheap fabric at the thrift store! I found about 3m of this printed polyester knit. I used Simplicity 2444 for the bodice, but widened the neckline considerably. The skirt is a basic A-line skirt. The best part? It has pockets! I always thought dresses/skirts with pockets were just a silly novelty, until I realized how handy it is to keep your phone in there. Having your phone so close by is especially handy when in loud places where it’s easy to miss your ringtone.
If I were to actually go out in this outfit I would definitely add tights. Far too cold to head out bare legged this time of year!
Dress: Sally Ann $2.50
Yay! An actual post! Finally!
I was driving by a Sally Ann and noticed it was closing. 75% off all items! The dress was originally priced at $9.99. I wouldn’t have paid regular price for it, because it’s a bit too fancy for everyday wear (I think, at least). However, at 75% off, the price was more than right! It was originally from Target, from one of those _____ for Target collections. The tag fell off in the wash and I didn’t bother sewing it back on. I’ve never been one for labels anyhow.
Oh and excuse the tan lines. We had sun for a grand total of 4 days (2 days one week, 2 days the next week), and I was a beach bum. But now the sun has disappeared so there’s no hope in evening them out!
Dress: $4 hospital thrift shop | Blazer: $1 consignment store going-out-of-business sale
I was told to ‘dress professionally’ for a presentation. From the few posts that I’ve made, it’s easy to see that my style isn’t very professional - I gravitate towards comfy and girly clothes. Sundresses and Keds are my summertime staple! Anyhow, I was grateful that I had just purchased this dress the week prior. It had a blue tag on 50% off blue tag day! Score! At the regular price of $8 I probably wouldn’t have bought it. While it fits perfectly, I’m unsure about the ‘blah’ colour and print. But the consumer in me won. Anyways…
Thrifting is a lot about being at the right place at the right time. I bought the blazer at a stuff-as-much-as-you-can-into-a-bag-for-$10 going out of business sale at a consignment store. I found soooo many goodies at that sale. It was the type of sale that is pretty rare, so I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time!
Dress: homemade from thrifted fabric
Okay, so today’s post is cheating a bit. I spent the day in yoga pants and a hoodie, both of which I bought retail. But it’s the weekend and it was just one of those days!
I made this dress last summer, and it’s one of my favourite things I have sewn. It’s also the second most labour intensive garment I have sewn. I should note here that I am an instant-gratification type of sewer. For this dress I had to draft the collar pattern pieces and modify the bodice pieces. This took a surprisingly long time! (especially for an untrained sewer!) I used the fabulous tutorial here to draft the pattern.
Some people ask if it’s any cheaper to sew your own clothes, when you can buy a retail sundress for $20-$30. It’s true, many gorgeous fabrics are expensive. I limit myself to under $4/m, which is a pretty small budget at the fabric store. Thankfully, thrifting is another source for fabrics! Usually you can get fabric for $1-$2/m, the downside being the lack of selection and usually only small cuts. I’ve actually been sourcing most of my fabrics via thrifting lately. Once summer break starts hopefully I’ll have time to sew some more!
Dress: $2 | Sweater: $0.50 | Both purchased at garage sales!
Outfit of the day!
Fine, I didn’t actually wear this today, but I did wear it the other day. I’m slow with uploading.
I love how spring is was here, which means I can could wear prettier clothes! Obviously the weather got word that I wrote this, and decided to go all cloudy/rainy/windy.
I garage sale-ed both of these pieces. The dress I resized smaller and changed the buttons. The sweater is lambswool! I love finding wool sweaters for excellent prices :D
