Threads magazine Editor Deana Tierney May is October's guest judge!
Calling all thrift store connoissseurs!
The folks at Thrift Store Runway are running an online fashion contest where you could win up to $500 by simply sharing your thrift store bought outfits. Just as exciting as the contest itself is this month’s guest judge.
We’re thrilled to announce that October’s guest judge is none other than Threads magazine Editor Deana Tierney May! Deana will be reviewing all of the October entries and will choose a winner at the end of the month.
Head on over to CraftStylish for more details.
Do you shop at thrift stores? How often do you alter your thrift store finds?
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My daughter and I LOVE to shop for clothes at Salvation Army and a local church thrift shop. I look for things for myself which I can embellish with machine embroidery but my daughter looks for items she can wear on our many ship trips for "formal evenings".
If I'm in a thrift store, I usually look at the sweaters because, although I am a good seamstress, I do not knit. Oten they are all wool and handknit, and sometimes they are completely unworn--I suspect these were gift items unappreciated by the recipient. I buy virtually any size and try to block them to fit me. If that's not successful, I'll cut them up and make something interesting!
I often start with a thrift store garment. Recently I bought a linen skirt that had uncomfortable elastic at the waist but was a bit tent-like in the hips. I cut off the elastic, turned the skirt upside down, and made a sarong skirt.
Pat Gardner Roper
I often shop at thrift stores and I alter some outfits. One outfit I made for Spring was very useful. I found a plain fabric straight dress and a flowered A-line skirt. I made a two-piece outfit by making a bolero type jacket from the skirt and coordinating it with the dress. I've used the jacket for another dress, too.
Love, love, love second hand shopping. In fact, it's my favorite way to get a quick new outfit. I most recently took a beaded jacket and turned it into a skirt. I've also done an Alabama Chanin top and skirt made from thrift t-shirts. It's so rewarding:)
About one third of my wardrobe is from thrift store finds, most of which I have altered or repaired in some way. I frequently add pockets to skirts, alter wasit size, and almost always need to decrease skirt length. I have the greatest fun and savings shopping the clearance/free bins and have found many high quality garments (including a fully beaded silk blend formal gown with the $250 price tag still on it that had a broken zipper) whose only problem is being in need of repair. I enjoy replacing zippers, changing buttons, repairing seams, and saving a lot of money.
At last I am reading about people of my own persuasion! Too bad we can't get togehte and have great fun. I love anything that is thrift and combine that with a little imagination (sometimes too much) I am off and running. I love love love to shop at St. Vincent du Paul because all the money received from thrift stays in the community rather than shipping it off someplace else. Remember charity begins at home. I am a rare bird that I like to "fix things" and make them better. I have actually met people who cannot sew on a button. How sad for them but a win for me.
My latest rehab project is making tutus out of gathered strips of colorful teeshirts sewed on an A-shape tee shirt base that is gathered onto a waist. Soooo cute and the four little ones love them.
Remember you are only limited by your imagination!
I often shop the thrift stores, sometimes just for fabrics to fill in a color on a quilt. The last dress I bought for my mother was from the thrift store. It was a long length red linen with random batik style turtle and fish motifs. Since it was too long for her, I altered it by cutting off the bottom and re-hemming. Couldn't bear to throw away the motifs so I saved them and used them as centers for a quilt block. The quilt was a memory quilt (using attic windows pattern) with fabrics acquired on different vacations. So the one block was in memory of mother, with her dates embroidered on it. It gives me pleasure every time I see it on my bed. Reminders of different places we visited.
My best 'find' was a oriental floral silk dress found in a thrift store in St. Croix USVI while on vacation. Made a beautiful "China Girl" costume for my granddaughter. I also find wonderful fabrics for special doll clothing. Like a elegant vinyl leopard rain coat for a 23" fashion doll.
My latest purchase from a thrift shop was a plain silk blouse in a soft olive green. I am in the process of replacing the buttons and adding some subtle machine embroidery swirls in a matching colour to the front panels. I also like to browse the dress patterns and other craft items in thrift stores as I have found some hidden gems for a bargain price.
Hi all. Tell me, do garage sales, estate sales and rummage sales count or does one have to go to an actual thrift store to enter this contest?
If the above categories count as well as thrift stores, step aside girls. I got tons. And they are all contest worthy!
The things people throw out! It shocks me sometimes (although I try not to display shock when I'm handing over the common asking price of $1).
Years ago I paid 25 cents at a rummage sale for a dark teak green/blue all wool hand knitted coat whose lining was shredded and the buttons missing. (I'm sure the rummage sale ladies were happy to unload it.)
I carefully removed and replaced what was left of the lining and made Ultrasuede covered buttons. I wore that coat for a long time since it was so warm. (I remember it had 3/4 sleeves long before they became popular again... which dated that coat from the 50s perhaps?)
At some point I passed it to a friend who wore it for awhile and passed it on once again. I assume that coat still lives with Nancy the Blonde up in tropical Canada. (The teak blue/green looked great with her eyes.)
Deana, let us know if garage, estate and rummage sales also work for this contest. Sue
My hometown is blessed with a plethora of wonderful second hand stores; why shop anywhere else when I can get a Coldwater Creek jacket for $3 and a LandsEnd sweater for $2.50- both in new condition!
I took a fifty cent black velvet bolero jacket with stains under the arms and turned it into a cool gold-trimmed vest that sold at an arts and crafts fair for $15- a bargain for the customer and a nice profit for me. I turned a beautiful little girl's Christmas formal into a Tribal dance costume that sold at a belly dance fair before I had all my merchandise on display; same for a couple of refurbished skirts and a knit top.
One of the shop managers told me, "It's like working in a revolving closet: I buy something for a couple of dollars, wear it a few times, then donate it back and buy somthing else."
LucyJane, St. Vincent de Paul is one of my favorites.