Gramma's Got It Goin On!

While perusing through one of my many magazines searching for inspiration for fall outfits, I came across the asymmetrical zip tapestry top by Vince Camuto, part of the Two by Vince line. I loved the look of the floral tapestry mixed with the edgy look of leather. However, Vince Camuto clothing is not on a secretary's budget.

So I went in search of a tapestry-something that I could re-style into this cool top. Only I wanted sleeves to my top, unlike the Vince number. For some unknown reason, I like to hide my arms in sleeves.

My thrifting travels that day took me to Gramma's Attic, a cleverly hidden wonder of a thrift store. There, in Gramma's back room of fashion wonder, I found exactly what I was looking for.

Check out this lovely, 1980's tapestry jacket. Pastel in all its glory! Padded shoulders and a beautiful mauve lining. It almost looked like fancy 80s bedroom wallpaper!

The jacket was a bit snug, but the price was so right, Drew Carey couldn't have made me any happier. It went home with me and right onto Olga. I decided to remove the sleeves and make the armholes a bit roomier. I then trimmed off a bottom portion of the jacket so it wasn't so long. The jacket itself would not button around my waist with the button on the far right, so I removed the button and the snaps. Using the old sleeves as a guide, I created new sleeves from faux black leather. I also added the faux leather to the bottom hemline as a trim. When it was done, I didn't think it looked edgy enough and it needed a little something 'extra' on the neckline. So I pulled something off a piece I used last week to create the breaking bad tuff jacket. Remember this guy?

I ripped off the zipper from this jacket and used it as trim around the front openings. It added just the right amount of edge to the jacket and the perfect finishing touch.

I was so pleased with the end result. I can't wait to wear it with a long drapey top underneath and black jeans and boots or even denim and boots. And it was at the bargain price of 4 bucks total to make!

Happy thrifting from your tapestry clad friend in the north!

Zelda's Transformation

Two weeks after I brought her home from Junkfest, Zelda is on the wall and transformed in all of her glory. Here she is before:

I dug through a box of vintage magazines I had picked up at another junk sale a few years back. I found a 1919 September issue of Pictoral Review. The print and the advertisements in the pages were perfect for Zelda's new look. After a quick trip to Michael's to purchase a very large container of Mod Podge, I was ready to go to work.

I covered my table with wax paper because working with Mod Podge is messy, especially when you are using such an amount. I cut my pages out ahead of time and tried to have a variety of shapes as it would look better to have a combination of different ads and text. I used a lot of ads for corsets, soap, toilette water, shoes, cars, baby food and even a wedding dress. 

The process itself was quite messy, but the end result was worth the sticky mess. I had glue all over my arms. One piece of advice if you are doing a decoupage project of this size-wash your hands periodically throughout the entire process. This makes it easier to handle the newsprint. Otherwise it will end up sticking to your fingers and ripping. 

I let her 'cure' on the table for at least 24 hours before I hung her back on the wall. I had planned to cover her with vintage lingerie, but I loved the look of the text so much, I decided to leave her without clothes, for now. But accessories always make the look, so I gave her a flapper headband that had  vintage millinery plumes and some long pearls.

She looks quite cozy and stylish next to my display of vintage hats and purses.

She is also placed right next to my sewing area so she is the perfect 'muse' for future stitching and creating! The boys still think she is creepy with even her new newsprint look, but I think she is smashing, old sport!

Happy thrifting from your mod podging friend of the north!

Breaking Bad Jacket

Everywhere you turn on the web, there is a story or a comment or a post about the final season of Breaking Bad. 'What will happen?' it asks. 'How will it end?' it reads. I have never watched Breaking Bad before. And then two weeks ago, everything changed. Everything.

I subscribed to Netflix so I could see what all the hub-bub was about. All it took was one episode of Walter White in his tightie whities and I was hooked. I haven't slept much. I find myself turning on Netflix whenever a child is not in the room just to get a few minutes in. I find myself ending sentences in the word 'yo.'

I am currently on season 4. I don't foresee it getting any better.

Somehow, my children have managed to have hot meals, the floors have been vacuumed, clothes have been laundered and I have found some time to sew and do re-styles. The latest piece is a combination of  two different jackets.

I have been looking for an old school, loose fitting, slightly oversized denim jacket. Most likely the optimum jacket would be from the 90s. I consulted my thrifting 'finder,' Amanda from Second Impressions. It took a few weeks, but she found the perfect denim jacket for me. Oversized to the point where I had to take it in and just the right cut and color. I was so excited about it that I started ripping it up before I could even get a before picture. I slashed the sleeves off and took in the sides of the jacket so it fit me better, yet still was a bit relaxed and loose in form. Then I let it sit.

Next, I went to work on the second piece. A black leather jacket. I only wanted the sleeves.

It seemed almost cruel to cut the sleeves off of this fine, leather wonder. But I hacked away.

Next, I added the sleeves to the denim jacket, just like I would if I were sewing a jacket from a pattern. The end result was this rough and tough denim/leather jacket.

I love the look of the two fabrics together. The jacket is cool, funky and yet very warm for the fall months. I can picture it with an infinity scarf, jeans and boots. I can even see it with a skirt and boots. Either way, I will get a lot of wear out of this jacket in the coming months. 

But that would mean I would have to quit watching Netflix, yo.

Happy thrifting from your thrifting buddy of the north!

New Fabric +Old Fabric = Fabulousness!!!!

Last April, I received a subscription to Burda Style magazine for my birthday. Every month, I get a new magazine in my mailbox with at least 35 new patterns. It is like a child getting candy in the mail every month.

I find the Burda patterns easy to understand and very true to fit. The patterns have to be traced and it is a bit confusing to see all the different lines and colors at first, but after awhile, the eyes adapt and the tracing comes easily. I traced a pattern for the long oversized cardigan from the July 2013 issue. The pattern picture looked like this.

You can find the pattern available for download here.
I used a boucle knit lace fabric for my cardi. For the contrast I used a long, darker colored, prom-type dress from the 90s that I got at the .99 sale last month. The fabric was great, the tags were still on the dress and there was enough so that I didn't have to purchase any extra yardage of fabric. My end result looked like this.

It is lightweight enough to wear now without a coat. When it gets cooler, it will still fit fine underneath a long, heavy coat. I paired it with a peach colored, sleeveless cowl neck purchased on a clearance rack for $5. The boucle fabric came from www.fabric.com, clearance of course. I ordered it in the beginning months of January when the temps were WAY below zero. Since the fabric cost $6, the entire cost of the cardi came to $12. Not too shabby for something that you won't find in anyone else's closet.

When you are thrifting, pay attention to the fabric of a piece and not just the style. That dress hanging on the rack may be just hideous in style, but the fabric may be useable for another purpose. Apparel fabrics can be costly and as I have found, hard to find in stores anymore. I usually have to resort to online shopping when looking for yardage of fabric. But I always check the thrift stores first.

I may have been working on a pattern from scratch this week rather than re-styling an old piece, but I was still thrifting like a mad woman. My thrift store find of the week is this awesome pair of Doc Marten sandals I found at Second Impressions.

Never worn, not a scratch nor a scuff can be found on these little darlings!  I have a very warm and fuzzy spot in my heart for Doc Martens. And they will go perfect with my 90s throwback outfits I am working on. I found the pieces, I just need to cut and stitch and we are back in the days of grunge and flannel my friends.

Happy thrifting from your stitchin' friend in the north!

Junk Fest Finds!

Last weekend there were two events of enormous importance in North Dakota. On one hand we had a young, blonde, country music performer who rhymes every other word in the songs that she writes and sings about her jilted ex-boyfriends. And on the other, we had a spectacular flea market called Junkfest held in Carrington, ND.

This wasn't my first time at the rodeo/Junkfest. I attended two years ago and the crowd this year was double the size I witnessed my first year in attendance. I dare say it rivaled the little blonde girl's song and dance fest. Well, maybe it was close.

I traveled across the North Dakota countryside with my mom and got to the Carrington fairgrounds 30 minutes before the crowd was let past the yellow tape. You have to get to Junkfest early if you want a good spot in line, the chance at the best stuff and an even better chance at not getting trampled. My first pick was this clever little item I plan to hang on my wall.

Hey, if Cinder-freakin-rella sweeps floors, then I should be all the happier when I do so, right?

I also found this awesome pile of Vera Neumann scarves!

If you're droolin', don't worry. Some will find their way to the Pink Hanger Etsy store.

Next up were some vintage dish towels, never used. 

I found six of them. I think they would make great throw pillows or even chair pad covers. The fabric is so sturdy and the colors are so bright!

Because I never have enough time, I thought I would buy some...

I put this little collection of vintage alarm clocks next to my vintage radios.

Every 'junker' has their find of the day. I went to JunkFest hoping to find a vintage mannequin. You know, one with hair and a face that looked like it stepped out of a 1950's/60s department store window. Or was carried out anyway. And then I saw her. She was propped up in a corner, underneath a tent. She was calling to me. I swear I heard my name..."Kristen, Kristen....you have to take me home."

Her name is Zelda. Her art-deco lines and boldness remind me of the flapper era. So I named her after Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott. She did not look like a Daisy to me. She has no arms and no face, but she is a work of art. She is very tall and there is a round hook behind her neck so that she can be hung on the wall.

When I brought her home, my husband and kids were a bit frightened by her 'creepiness' they said. They just didn't see the beauty or the potential in her. She is getting quite the 'body-lift' this weekend. It will be quite the chore and there will be pictures. And a lot of Mod-Podge...

Other finds not quite as spectacular as Zelda included a vintage hat case and a hardcover copy of Valley of the Dolls. 

Nothing like a tawdry story of romance, booze and pills to end a weekend of junking!

A Bag Made for Junking!

This weekend I am heading to an outdoor flea market appropriately called Junkfest. It is a fabulous sale with shabby chic treasures and antiques clustered all over the county fairgrounds in Carrington, ND.

'Junkers' need to pursue serious junking strategy. Get up early, drink lots of coffee to stay awake and have the energy to push through the crowd and wear appropriate, comfortable, cool clothing. Cool as in cool and funky! And because you want your cash close at hand to pay the vendors for the many treasures you will be bringing home and joyfully explaining their value when your husband and children ask you 'why?', you want a cross body purse. This keeps your arms free to look at all the different items and to carry your purchases.

I happened to be without a cross body currently and didn't want a big one. Large cross body bags only get in the way and can often be a safety hazard to fellow junkers. This causes dirty looks and even worse, the occasional "Hey, watch it lady."

Since I was saving all my extra cash for junk purchases, I didn't want to buy a new cross body bag. So I decided to make one myself. From this gorge skirt I got at the recent .99 sale.

It is of the Prabal Gurung line for Target. I love the black and white roses print. So edgy, yet so sweet. I got two of these skirts. Both do not fit me. I have plans for the second that you will see later. This one, I hacked up.

I added faux black leather to the fabric, some black felt for the interfacing and some hot pink jacket fabric for the lining. I used a grommet belt trim from the fabric store as my long strap. For extra edgy-ness, I added some silver studs.

Because of the thickness of the layers, I used a denim sewing needle on my machine. It still was hard to go thru it all on the sides, so I ended up hand stitching the sides at the end. The end result is a very cool,  very edgy, cross body purse perfect for keys, phone, and plenty of cash to bring home vintage treasures!

Happy junking to you!

Thrifter's Paradise

As summer fades off into the sunset and autumn looms in the not so far distance, temperatures start to get a little cooler. Children head back to school, men park in front of the television sets with pigskin anticipation and thrifters scavenge the end of season clearance racks and hit the .99 sales.

.99 sales? What? What is a .99 sale? I'll take your .99 sale and lower you half a buck! I hit the .49 sale baby!!!

What can you buy for .49 these days? Seriously. You can't even get a package of gum or a candy bar anymore. If you are lucky, you can wander the earth in search of that old, days gone by, mom and pop owned gas station that will sell you a cold soda for. 50. But anything for .49? Good luck with that.

Unless you hit an end-of-season .49 sale at the local thrift store. Haul that change jar into the coin fairy type dispenser thing at the grocery store and go crazy!!!!!

A few weeks ago I attended such a sale. I was on a thrifting high for at least 3 days following. I couldn't even fit my entire haul onto the kitchen table for a picture!

Just a small fraction of my haul!

I think I will have enough re-style projects to take me well into winter. There were so many things cast away from Target with the tags still attached. Shoes, purses, scarves, coats, shirts, dresses, pants, jeans, skirts, and so much more! I couldn't decide what to cut up first!!!!

The great thing about end of season sales are that you can get some really cool items that you can stash away and next spring, when you are crazy with spring fever, you can take out of the closet and do the happy dance. And if you are truly suffering from the winter blues, take out some of those items in mid January or February and make yourself a cool, new outfit to wear when the snow melts and you can put away that winter parka. I love to order spring fabric in January. I keep it in a visible spot next to my sewing area for the remainder of the winter and when the hint of spring is right around the corner, I stitch myself up a new spring or summer skirt and re-style a new jacket or top to go with it.

We have very long winters here in North Dakota. They can drag on well into April. You have to find hope wherever you can get it!

However, just in time for autumn and denim shirt weather, I found this lovely little sundress in the coolest print. I am just not a good candidate for a sundress, even in the hottest of temps.

I absolutely loved the colors of this dress. It has a hi-low bottom to it and is the most comfortable, soft cotton fabric. I immediately hacked off the top.

Nice knowin' ya, sundress.

I then folded over the top portion of the now skirt to make an elastic casing. I threaded my elastic through the casing once it was sewn to form my waist band. I spent at total of 30 minutes on this groovy project.  I added a denim shirt and a funky belt and I had a new fall outfit, perfect for the still warm temperatures but yet cool enough to be hanging out with the fall temps. 

The creativity is oozing out of control with my haul! If you find yourself an end of season .99 sale, don't shy away. You will be SOOOO glad you hit it next spring when you have a large pile of new, cool outfits to soak up the sun in!

Now scram!  Go out there and hit those sales!!!!!!!