Category: Thrift Hacks & DIY

A DIY / Thrifted Statement Pendant Necklace

Pendants are one of my favorite kinds of necklaces because that dangling pop of jewelry is dramatic and fun; the length also handily draws your eyes down the entirety of the outfit and won’t crowd your face/neckline.

Luckily for us, pendants are also the easiest kind of necklace to DIY, because you can pop a few beads and baubles together, slip it on a chain you already own, and BAM!  You’re ready to go.  That same chain can be used to showcase different pendants depending on your outfit and your mood.

You can thrift the chain, of course, but you can also thrift the components of the pendant. I did one here that I’ve been wearing a lot this spring, and today I’m going to show you another one I recently created for the winter wardrobe I’ve been revamping this summer – but surprise, it works great for summer, too!

Click through to see what I made and general guidelines for making your own thrifted/DIY pendant. Continue reading “A DIY / Thrifted Statement Pendant Necklace” →

Tailoring a Thrifted Shirt

Tailoring is a tool everyone should have in their pockets because there’s no way mass-manufactured clothing will always fit your body perfectly.  Thrifters need it even moreso to mold priceless-but-not-perfect secondhand finds into an effortlessly chic wardrobe that will leave you looking like (but not spending) a million bucks.

(Story time: I once heard someone recount the experience of a Ghanaian woman who came to the U.S. for college and whose healthy self-image began to deteriorate after long term exposure to mass retail shops where her body always seemed “wrong” for the clothes. In her home culture it was the norm for clothes to be tailored or bespoke, so instead of feeling inferior because they didn’t meet some arbitrary standard, everyone felt fab in clothes made to fit their bods exactly.)

 

I bought this beauty back in the days of chilly weather and knew that its popover style, rollable sleeves, and cotton fabric would be a hit for spring and summer ’round these parts.

The only problem?  It apparently was a shirt dress in another life—one that had an altercation with a pair of scissors: IMG_3182

Wanh-wannnnh: Continue reading “Tailoring a Thrifted Shirt” →

Thrift Hacks: Running Shorts Rehab

Even though I rely on running for my primary exercise, I haven’t been running very much the last, oh, month or so?  (Maybe 6 weeks.)  I blame it on being dark when I get home and sometimes cold.

Lucky me, days are longer and temps are warming up a bit—time to pull out the sports bras and the running shorts!

Only the tie on my lovely thrifted baby blue Adidas shorts was broooooken, which made them a little hard to keep up.  I posted briefly about their rehab previously but thought I’d go into a little more detail now in honor of it being running season again.

IMG_1212
Yes those are POCKETS!

 

These beauties, also thrifted, came with 2 pairs of ridiculously long shoelaces that, when in use, make the poor shoes look like a little girl with one of those GIANT bows in her hair (if you grew up in the South you feel me):

mwFEEetwLiajQHyGUBPP1KQ

I don’t usually keep extras like this sitting around when I know I’m not going to use them (they get donated to keep my house from getting cluttered up), but for some reason I kept these tucked away.

So when my spouse suggested I use the extra laces to fix my broken shorts instead of tossing them in the donate pile, I went for it.

 

The side seams go all the way to the top of the waistband, so the first thing I did (after removing the broken tie) was cut a small slit on either side of the seam so that I could thread the pink laces all the way around.  You can see the slits where the two small sections of pink laces pop through on either side:IMG_1216

Then I tied the two pink laces together (yes I could’ve used the white pair but what fun is that?), attached one end to a safety pin, and scrunched it through the hollow part of the waistband, jumping over the side seams at the slits on either side.

Et voilà!  Shorts back in action.

Now I just have to get *me* back in action, ’cause I got a 5k to run over these serious Atlanta hills in April and it ain’t gonna be pretty if I don’t train.  Wish me luck!

 

Have you ever used one part of a thrift to fix another?  Do you tend to get rid of bits you’re not using right away or store them up for just such an occasion as this?  Do you thrift workout wear? What’s your favorite secret for jump-starting your workout routine?

Scroll down to share!

And click here for tips on thrifting your workout clothes and to check out my (mostly thrifted) workout capsule wardrobe.

 

 

Thrift DIY: Replacing a Lost Button

On Tuesday we rehabbed the spouse’s closet.  You may remember we ended up with a few shirts that were button-deficient:

IMG_1875 IMG_1872

Here are some simple, photo- or video-illustrated, button-restoring tutorials to get your beloved shirt/pant back to its well-deserved spot in your closet of things you love to wear!

How to Sew on a Button: Instructables (includes flat & shank buttons)

Two Easy Ways to Sew a Button: Wiki-how (includes 2-hole and 4-hole)

How to Sew a Button Quickly and Correctly: Art of Manliness

Video: How to Sew a Button on Dress Pants

 

Ta-da: slightly different thread color, but no one (but y’all) will know!
IMG_1876 IMG_1877

Since the regular-sized replacement button had mysteriously disappeared, I had to use the large button from the neck for the shirt front and swap in the tiny replacement button at the neck:IMG_1878

(Yes, my spouse knows how to replace buttons, but since I was going to use this for a blog post I did it myself. :) )

Get amongst this easy fix, Thrifters, and get back to wearing your favorite clothes!

-Leah

 

Thrift Finds: Office Supplies

Thrift stores ain’t just for clothes, ya know!  Home decor, kitchen tools, sports accoutrement, and office supplies are also great things to thrift.   Below are some recently thrifted office supplies that are keeping me sane and on budget.

Delectable ramekin for rubberbands (sadly I will probably never use this for cooking, it’s about 3 levels fancier than my culinary skills care to handle)–$2.92:

wp_20150730_09_18_38_pro

Continue reading “Thrift Finds: Office Supplies” →

Thrifted Finds: Floral Sneaks

I’ve been looking for a pair of sneakers to replace my beloved brown and coral Pumas.  They were thrifted practically brand new at a Salvation Army store about 5 years ago and I have worn the crap* out of ’em–the paint’s coming off the leather, the stitching’s coming out of the suede, and it is time to retire them.

I happened upon these beauts by City Sneaks (a Payless brand) in a Goodwill a few months ago with not one, but two pairs of laces attached–white and fuchsia.  My first reaction was that the laces looked like garish Minnie Mouse bows and they had to go; only then could the shoes could become a casual, fuller-coverage alternative to the sandals I live in during the summer.

mwFEEetwLiajQHyGUBPP1KQ

LACES EXPLOSION.

Continue reading “Thrifted Finds: Floral Sneaks” →