Thrifted Archives - Be Kind, Thrift and Rewind

Several months ago I found this lovely T-Shirt dress (yes that is also the brand name) at St. Luke’s Thrift Shop in the West Village. They are located at 487 Hudson Street. It was on sale for half price and I really liked that it had a mid-1920’s look to it. The drop waist is an attractive twenties feature and I like the twist in the neckline. I was excited that I found myself another Anthropologie-type dress since I really like their website but can rarely afford to buy clothing from them new. Plus the whole idea of something further down the chain of production is great as far as I am concerned. This dress was the second t-shirt dress I found at St. Luke’s Thrift Shop last year. They generally have really good quality donations coming in on a regular basis, so I find the shop to be a great place to find a new outfit. Their shop is very small, which means they have a lot of sales to keep things moving quickly. The T-shirt dresses I bought were under $15 each! When items aren’t on sale expect them to be expensive for a thrift shop since it is the West Village. The quality of their clothing is really worth it though. If you want a real deal just wait for the sales, which is what I generally do!

I changed necklaces a few times for these shots. With a shift dress this simple it is all in the accessories to liven the look up. I didn’t have a super-long, heavier pearl necklace so in one photo I wore two pearl necklaces slightly different from one another, yet close enough in color. I look best in pale pink pearls as opposed to white. They match my skin tone best. I really like grey pearls though! I think they are super- elegant. The lariat necklace that is burgundy is one I made myself many years ago. It is supposed to portray my personality, in the colors and shapes that feel at home in my vision of myself. Of course I was somewhat limited in portraying all that by the shapes, in order to get the necklace to tie. However that was the basic concept behind the design. Lariat necklaces were big in the 1920’s. They were often very long, light and thin so they had the velocity to swing around when the ladies were doing the Charleston. If I had wanted to wear black accessories I could have worn the black Austrian crystal lariat necklace included in the photos for this post. The pearl necklace with white and blue beads I also made for myself years ago. I liked those bluish pearls that are around the center piece, which is an opal-colored teardrop.

The scarf I wore with the sweater is an old April Cornell scarf from when I worked at one of their shops years ago. My honey-brown sweater is from Uniqlo. The shiny beige shoes were from Target. I saved them since I really couldn’t wear them due to my bunion and hammertoe. Now finally I can wear them as long as I don’t walk too far. They don’t have the best support for my foot issues but they’d be fine to wear on occasion. I like that they have that 1920’s look with the little heel.

The flat shoes with four straps were a screaming deal I found at St. Luke’s Thrift Shop a couple of years ago for $25! They are John Fleuvog shoes and usually are very expensive. When I bought them they were practically new. They also have a 1920’s look with the four straps. I first saw shoes like these in the movie The Hours, in a scene where Virginia Woolf was at the train station. I wanted them that instant! It took a while but I finally found them! It took some patience to get them since the manager at the shop had separated the shoes because they were not part of a half-price sale. I kept calling and following up until finally the manager was available and took the other shoe out of hiding! Anyway John Fluevog shoes are wild, funny, zany and super-unique!! I am a big admirer of his shoe and boot designs.

Oh, I have a quick update on my right foot. Now I can run for ten minutes!! I couldn’t do that before my surgery! Those of you following the blog know I had surgery last September. I feel like Forest Gump when he kept shouting “I am running!”

Well I hope you enjoyed this post. I am sure some of you readers are also out looking for vintage or thrifted items and shopping further down the chain of mass production. If you haven’t started thrifting it might be a good goal to learn and discover how much fun it is. It is not only a great way to save some money on clothes but also a way to help out our planet at the same time. Every time you buy something vintage or thrifted it helps cut down on the energy involved in mass manufacturing. Plus I have also discovered that with thrifting it is not that difficult to find items that are made in the United States if you really look for them. This T-shirt dress was made in Los Angeles. If you would like to know more about the whole topic of the effect of mass production on our environment you could read my post about the book, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. Elizabeth Cline writes about her journeys traveling the world and learning about how much it costs our planet to be constantly buying mass-manufactured clothing. If you choose to read the book it really makes you think before you shop.

Well happy thrifting!

photos for blog 031

thrifted T-Shirt Dress 1920's look

Thrifted John Fluevog's

Flickr Photos:Christine592 collection

Black Thrifted Coat and Vintage Grunge Mix

December 22, 2015

12/222015

I found this thrifted wool coat on the Lower East Side of NYC when my daughter Emily was visiting this past May. We saw a sign for a $5 bag sale and headed in that direction soon afterwards. The petite lady who had the stoop sale had some really nice quality dresses, tops, sweaters, bags and my coat. It must have been quite large on her since I couldn’t possibly fit into any of her lovely dresses, or I would have gladly bought one or two. My daughter, Emily, luckily snagged a few of those items. We walked away with two bags full of clothing and I’d spent a mere ten dollars.

My black wool must have been brushed since it has a slight fake fur look. I didn’t really notice it at first since it is not very raised or furry but then later I asked a dry cleaner and he said it is in fact all wool. Well now that that enigma is figured out I am accustomed to the texture and like it. I like wearing the coat with the vintage brooch pinned on it. I usually don’t wear brooches that large but with it on a coat I feel a larger one does look better. I was attracted to the green colors in the brooch, which I found on eBay.

Thrifting pays in that it helps you retain more of your money for other necessities, plus it is a win-win cycle of reducing mass production’s effects on the environment.

I have been intrigued recently with the concept of mixing my vintage clothing with the grunge look. This type of look was big in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Vivienne Westwood had her punk look of the “Buffalo Girls” with long prairie skirts, plaid and hats. Marc Jacobs in 1992 had the prairie-look dresses mixed with flannel shirts, and combat boots. For a bit about the early 1990’s grunge look, see here. I haven’t mixed in the flannel shirt yet but I wore a baggy grey sweater over my Liberty of London jumper from the early 1990’s. I have been wearing it with my black pirate-looking boots from Steve Madden’s collection a few years ago. The grey sweater I traded for at Buffalo Exchange. I like the mix of shapes in the outfit. When I first put on my Liberty jumper by instinct I reached for my vintage cardigan and dainty jewelry. Then I remembered I was looking for the grunge look so had to change all that. In this photo I am wearing the dress with a vintage Celtic silver cross that was my mother’s in the 1970’s.

Well I am going to experiment with my wardrobe in the next month and try to come up with more grunge/vintage looking outfits. I think it is a fun mix.

I hope you enjoyed this post and are having a happy holiday season. I am headed to visit my daughter in Colorado very soon. I will be there for Christmas! Hopefully I can get some great photos of the mountains and maybe some snow.

I decided to try it with a flannel shirt tied around the waist!

Outfit Details:

Vintage Liberty of London jumper early 1990’s

Sweater- Love 21- traded from Buffalo Exchange

Socks (thigh high’s) Pact Organic Clothing

Boots:Gift- Steve Madden

Simple Black t-shirt

Thrifted and Trashed Art – Another Man’s Treasure

November 11, 2015

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These framed pictures and household pieces are a few of the thrifted art items I have in my apartment. I am sure many folks have found wonderful art through scrounging around thrift shops or garage sales. I enjoy finding pieces that stir up some sort of memory I treasure. For me one of these pieces conjures up memories of going to the farmers market in Germany as a child. I always enjoyed going there, and waiting for my mother to buy vegetables and whatever else she needed for our household. At that time we lived in the center of town, not far from the opera house, the ice-skating rink and the cemetery where we took long walks. I also used to run off by myself sometimes (it was safe in Germany then for me to be alone) and go quietly spy on the sculpture artist who had a small cabin workshop at the cemetery. Don’t ask why I always hid from him. Perhaps I should have gone and talked to him, told him I liked watching him work. I was only about eight at the time. Anyway that whole area is a space I like to remember and this picture reminds me of it.

The smaller picture reminds me of the area up near the Met museum where there are street vendors selling art and books. This picture’s surroundings aren’t as full and hectic as NY but all the same that is what it reminds me of. I also think it looks very European, which I always like. There is something about the coloring in the picture that I find comforting. It isn’t raining, but the balance hangs between a possibly rainy day and the possibility of the sun coming out brighter. It evokes emotion, I like that. My mother was just talking to me about how grey Germany could be at times when we lived there. Perhaps that is what I am remembering when I see it.

I thrifted the small black hand-painted tray, as well as the small hand-painted plate that I have hanging on the wall. The plate has writing on it that says it is Royal Adams Titian Ware made in England. It also says The Wynbrook, established in 1857. Its cheerful colors have lightened up my room for years and I really enjoy seeing them. Both of these pieces have a lovely, European look and they are delicate little antiques that I treasure.

The Gauguin type painting I found in the street and immediately picked up and carted home years ago. It must have been some college student’s class project and they didn’t want it anymore. I think it is great and I really enjoy it hanging in my living room.

The sculpture I made from fallen wood and little tree cones and moss. These pieces of nature’s fallen parts all came from where my cats that I had years ago are buried. I wanted to take something from nature to remember them by. They are buried deep in the forest up in the mountains in Colorado. I will miss them forever, so this is my memory piece to have near me.

My daughter Emily has been creating a lot of photos of “Trashed Art.” She is making use of the natural environment and opening her vision to the possibilities. These three photos are from her latest collection of photos called “Trashed.”

http://www.hellogoodbyelofi.com/mnamombj0e8ktlpypwrhciii7qww5h

It all comes down to “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” The trash in the street is only trash as long as you intend to see it only that way. There is something wonderful to the concept of waba-sabi. In the book Waba-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers, the waba-sabi state of mind is described as “acceptance of the inevitable. Waba-sabi is an aesthetic appreciation of the evanescence of life. The luxuriant tree of summer is now only branches under a winter sky. All that remains of a splendid mansion is a crumbled foundation overgrown with weeds and moss. Waba-sabi images force us to contemplate our own mortality, and they evoke an existential loneliness and tender sadness. They also stir a mingled bittersweet comfort, since we know all existence shares the same fate.” (1) Emily has embraced waba-sabi in her photographs. That is a great thing since not everything is as it seems originally. Looking deeper is often a gift.

Emily Owens’s Trashed Art

Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren pg. 54

Tote Bag Made From Upcycled Men’s Shirt Collars

August 20, 2015

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I made this tote bag from nine men’s shirt collars and two button plackets. The design came from KoKo Yamase’s Cut-Up Couture book. In her book it does not have the button plackets I added. The reason I added them was one collar has a sweat stain on it, so I cut the placket with the buttons and added it to cover up the stain. I used one other button placket to create a shoulder strap. I did add one more layer of fabric underneath the button placket just to make the strap stronger.

It took a lot of patience to make this bag. I am not used to sewing denim and therefore even though I had denim needles for my old Singer sewing machine from the seventies, I managed to break three needles. Sewing over the layered collars was tricky and some of the collar corners I sewed down by hand to finish out the small details of the bag. I also did not notice until I had sewed my layers together that in the book Koko designed it so that the layers of collars get reversed when they are joined, so instead of collars being aligned when the sets join to create a tube, one side goes with the collars facing the other direction. Mine had the collar edges sticking up on both sides, which meant the little collar midpoints, where they usually button also stuck out a bit, so I hand sewed most of those down. So many of the directions in her book are visual; I have found it easy to miss something! Anyway I am a rather patient woman and this project really tried my patience. I have found it is one of the good things about crafts though, it does help one develop more patience. If you really want to finish something you just have to get through it!

It took me quite a while I get enough collars. I was slowly gathering them together the past year from various projects, but I added four more shirts to my collection by visiting a Goodwill Outlet in Long Island City that sells thrifted clothing by the pound. Its location is at 47-47 Van Dam Street. Buying from there was a real learning experience in terms of boundaries and space. It was a slightly crazy scene out there once they refill the bins, which appears as if it happens every two hours. I had only selected a few items to place in my grocery cart. When they refill the bins one has to leave ones cart against the wall and wait while they refill the bins. Then the manager comes out and talks to the shoppers as if we were a bunch of children, explaining the meaning of “walking to the bins”, versus running. It felt ridiculous but it was obvious why they go through this once they let us loose to go back to the bins. People were running, slowly but running and it became a mad scene. It was not possible to get my cart back into the narrow aisles with all those people so I left it against the wall and checked on it twice. When I went back for it a few minutes later someone had taken my handful of items and either thrown it elsewhere and taken my cart, or taken my stuff. Anyway after that I was emotionally tired of the experience and decided to just find some shirts for upcycling. I wouldn’t say they were as good quality shirts as I find when I shop slowly at garage sales or piece by piece at thrift store sales, but they came out to one dollar each and I was able to leave there with five shirts for five dollar. I will return there another time but next time I will know that I must guard my basket better, or if I only have a handful of items remove them from the cart. I would say that this place is really great if one has a handful of growing children to provide clothing for and is on a serious budget. They sell the clothing for about $1.69 a pound so if you really need some low priced thrifted clothing and are willing to dig it is a good place. Plus if you need clothing for upcycling it is good. I had found a black water fall skirt that was really nice quality. I was eager to keep it and take it home to see if it fit but easy come, easy go, it disappeared with those items that were taken. Plus I had found a lovely handmade Italian tie and a little vintage purse. Anyway next time I will see what I find! Plus guard more carefully!

I am close to finishing a skirt made from a vintage pillowcase and another upcycling project for a dress, from a vintage Liberty of London linen top and a silk skirt from a Thai dress. I will post those later once I finish them.

I hope you are enjoying the rest of summer. I have been getting out for some biking and kayaking whenever I get a chance. I will continue slowly working on various projects from this Cut-Up Couture book, since I like Koko Yamase’s designs very much. Whenever I do another I will share it with you.

Be Kind, Thrift and Rewind

To be conscious of recycling

Category: Thrifted

Thrifted T-Shirt Dress With a 1920’s Look

Black Thrifted Coat and Vintage Grunge Mix

Thrifted and Trashed Art – Another Man’s Treasure

Tote Bag Made From Upcycled Men’s Shirt Collars