Thrifting for Blue Jeans – a Thrift Upgrade

When was the last time you called your denim “blue jeans”?  

I mentioned here that after many faithful years my Forever 21 jeans were wearing out and I was looking for a thrift upgrade.  The other week I had a chance to thrift; after a quick browse-through for other items on my thrift list came up empty, I decided I had time to devote to an initial round of denim hunting.

The search for jeans can be overwhelming even when you’re shopping retail.  My approach to searching racks and racks of secondhand choices while maintaining my sanity involves keeping in mind two things:

  1. It will likely take multiple visits to find a winner.
  2. Priorities – what features (fit, wash, cut, fabric, brand, etc.) are most important to me?

In this particular search, my priorities were the feel and the wash – I wanted something supple and thick in a darker, richer blue than my current pair.  Color is a quick visual differentiator, so I looked first for the right hue.  Next, with a brief touch I could tell whether a pair I’d spotted in the right color met my “feel” requirement. Only then did I check to see if the size/cut was right.  If you care about pockets, this is also a good time to check whether the pockets are heinous.  (One disadvantage to this method was that I sometimes got excited about a pair only to find it was capri.)

Next: given that sizes vary between brands – and within brands between seasons! – I pulled anything that was my size or one size bigger/smaller.  (It helps here to know what your waist size in inches – e.g. 29/30/31 instead of 8/10/12 – since many brands now size this way.)  I was also flexible about cut, given that I’ve had success getting a wider leg tailored to a slimmer cut.  (If you don’t want to pay for tailoring and have access to a sewing machine, Thriftanista in the City has good tutorials on DIYing a hem or a altering a pant leg at home.)

Here’s what I took to the dressing room:

Pair #1 by Not Your Daughter’s Jeans: too short for pants that are supposed to get me through cold weather. Also I was least impressed with this fabric – fell short of my expectations for NYDJ given rave reviews I had read on retail style blogs.

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Pair #2 by J. Brand: too skinny to even get all the way up mah legs.  I so detest pants you have to literally peel off.  (I have seen this pricey and popular brand several times at the thrift store but have yet to find success with them.)
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Pair #3 by Banana Republic: great cut but didn’t button.  Wanh wannnnh.

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Pair #4 by Banana Republic: same brand AND SIZE as the previous number, and yet they fit perfectly in the waist.  As you can see, the pant leg is just a little more flare than your average bootcut; not my preferred cut.  But it checks off my priorities: the feel is luscious and the color is a gorgeous deep blue with stitching in a great contrasting rust color.  Bonus: the length is already just right, as evidenced by the break.

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Attitude.

Per rule #1 above, I fully expected to leave the thrift store with nothing other than more information about what I would look for next time.  But given my priorities, these last ones were winners.  I haven’t decided yet if I’ll get them tailored; unexpectedly, the wider leg feels like a fresh option to call on amidst a wardrobe of slim fit pants.

Here’s how they look next to my old F21 pair:

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And next to my newly thrifted Pumas LINK – great match in color:

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What do y’all think of the pair I picked?   What do you prioritize when shopping for jeans (thrifted or otherwise)?  Any tips for thrifting for denim?  And most importantly, SHOULD I TAILOR THEM TO A SLIMMER CUT??    Scroll down to comment!

 

 

What I Wore and How I Styled It: Snow Leopard + Wine and Navy

This weekend the morning temperature dipped down below 50 for the first time, so I went looking for a cozy ensemble for church/work.  I often wear something to church on Sunday AM and then redo it for work on Monday since I don’t wear my church clothes hard and the only person who will see me sporting the exact same outfit is my spouse. I figure if an ensemble worked once, I should milk it for all it’s worth, no?  (Fun fact: the first picture is from this morning and the rest are from yesterday.)

Pants: My wine-colored cords were freshly back from the tailors, where they had gone for a little nipping in around the waist, and I was itching to wear them.

Top: It was cold enough for a proper sweater on top so I opened my sweater drawer to see what looked inviting.  Light blue sweater – too lightweight.  Pink/grey/white sweater – wrong color palette; the wine would drown out the blush pink and soft grey.  But the off-white with snow leopard sleeves?  Yes ma’am.

Shoes: I grabbed my dark grey/white snakeskin ankle boots to echo the off-white/grey palette of my sweater and add some interest, and we were in business:

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Sweater: French Connetion, thrifted
Pants: Style & Co., thrifted and tailored
Boots: Lucky Brand, gift from my sister
Necklace: DIY from Goodwill parts
Blazer (blazer): Haberdashery Collection by Personal, thrifted

Jewelry: I wore cream-colored earrings to complement the sweater and boots.  Did it need a necklace?  Not necessarily, but it would dress up the soft textures a bit.  The pendant with a stylized flower fit better with stylized flower earrings than my large “stone” pendant, so that’s what I chose:

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Note: This is about 20 minutes after pulling it out of the drawer where it had sat, more or less Kondo-folded, since last year.  Not bad wrinkle-wise, eh?

Socks: Since these cords went in for a trim up, they sit where they should on my waist…

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Ahh, fit so much improved!

…which means the short legs are now really short and expose some ankle above the top of my boots.  So I put on my thickest wool socks to give a cozy, chunky little layer there and keep my ankles warm:

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Blazer: Last but not least, I had no idea if I’d be chasing my kid outside for half the service, so I went looking for a topper.  With so much pattern going all already (including the texture of the sweater), my all-navy blazer was a nice neutral option.  Plus the saturation/temperature of the color played really well with the color of the corduroys:

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Initially I cuffed the sleeves because it gives blazers a fresh, modern look – but my sweater arms were long enough to peek out from underneath the blazer sleeves uncuffed and I liked that contrast, so I unrolled ’em.

Ta-da!

What’d y’all wear this weekend?  Do you ever redo an outfit from one day to the next when you know you’ll be in a different context with a different audience?

 

 

Friday ReBlog: When You’re Uncertain How to Style Something Outside Your Comfort Zone

Hey, it’s Veterans Day (aka Armistice Day)!  If you’d like to honor a veteran in your life, consider donating to Justice for Vets to support life-saving and life-changing veterans treatment courts. 

This week’s Friday ReBlog is really just an excuse to talk about an outfit I wore this week.  But it’s my blog so I’ll just go ahead and claim it.

Caroline at Un-Fancy wrote recently about how to style something new to you that’s a little bit outside your style comfort zone.  Essentially, she said: pair it with other slam-dunks in your closet to help the new piece feel less out there and to help you feel more confident.

In somewhat related news, I stared at one of my favorite cardigans this week as it hung, lonely and unworn for much of the last year, in my closet.  Inspired by The Spirited Thrifter’s minimalist closet game, I was weeding out my closet and it was hard to justify keeping something the colors and pattern of which I love but which never gets worn.  (Traditional cardis are hard for me to style without looking like a twinset – which is just not me.)

Then I looked up to where I keep my blazers – a space increasingly filled with statement pieces – and realized I could style my patterned cardigan like a statement blazer to make it fresh.  So I paired it with a pattern like I had done with my plaid blazer earlier in the week and the print-mixing instantly took it from staid (and a little twee?) to visually engaging:

A photo posted by LeahLW (@thriftshopchic) on

 

So that’s my semi-related revelation for how to mix something that doesn’t really seem to be your style anymore back into your wardrobe.  What’s something y’all have been keeping in your closet that doesn’t really fit your current look but that could be re–styled to play along?

 

PS My newest accessory:

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Explanation here.

 

Have a great weekend, Thrifters!

 

New (to me) Pumas!

This has been a rough week in America. When things get tough it can be nice to think about something fun and lighthearted like thrifting – but the last few days it’s felt odd to visit a favorite site and not even see the election mentioned. So I want to acknowledge the pain and grief and division in my country. I am convinced that the way forward lies in listening to one another and in working every day for a more just and compassionate community, country, and world. That ain’t easy but that’s why we have each other – and thrifting, for the days when it’s really hard and you just need a rack of obscene polyester jumpsuits to make you smile. Now back to regularly scheduled programming.

 

I first fell in love with 70s-style sneakers the year I lived in Europe during college.  The market near my apartment had all the great foodstuffs you’d imagine, but what I kept being drawn to was a table full of shoes I associated with a very European (read: nonchalant, utterly cool) style. They looked almost like soccer (football) cleats – minus the cleats of course – and they were just so different from anyt hing I’d seen on American feet in my lifetime, somehow dressed down and chic at the same time. The pair that caught my eye was a subtle gold (is it possible to be subtly gold? with shoes?) and I lusted over them for quite awhile.

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Kind of like these but with more logos/contrast happening.  Source

I never pulled the trigger on that gold pair – I was a poor student who needed to afford things like wine and Nutella. But I kept an eye out for similar styles and eventually bought a more reasonably priced pair of Pumas in a two-toned lavender that was muted enough to read like a neutral.  The rounded toe and sloping upper recalled what I had loved about the styling of the gold pair – very understated and a bit retro:

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Not my personal pair, but this exact model. Love that color! Source.

When the lavenders finally gave out, I found another pair at the Salvation Army in mint condition (!) – suede chocolate brown with camel stripes and coral piping.  I wore the heck out of those things and eventually the piping started to come undone and the stripes were pretty dingy:

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I probably would have taken this last pair to a cobbler to get cleaned/repaired, but by that point brown had transitioned completely out of my wardrobe and I wanted something that would play better with the rest of my wardrobe, so I donated them in the hopes that someone else might see their potential and fix them up.

Thus, as you may recall, I added to my thrift list a pair of cold-weather sneakers: specifically Pumas since the previous two pairs have worn well and are super comfy – hello, arch support! – and specifically grey or another neutral that would play well with my fall/winter color palette.

I looked all summer and into the fall with no success – all I found were running shoes and canvas sneaks with no cushion.  More than once I was tempted to just buy something close-ish and make do, but my inner thrift conscience reminded me that I usually regret it when I don’t hold out for just the right item.

And then, lo and behold, last week I stumbled on these beauties in my size, with little wear, and featuring a color combo that couldn’t have been more perfect – blue, cream, and a touch of gold:

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The arch support when I put them on was like a chorus of angels singing.  They’re a little wide for my narrow, narrow feet, but that’s the beauty of lace-up sneaks – you can secure ’em to the narrowest of feet.

Just looking down at that little gold puma on the heel makes me happy:

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What’s your favorite kind of sneaker?  When have you held out for the perfect thrift find and been rewarded accordingly?  What thrift find are you currently trying to stay strong on and not give in for a lesser version?  Scroll down to share!

 

Thrift Finds: September & October

So, these past two months were fruitful at the thrift store.  In fact they were so fruitful that you’d be forgiven for thinking I no longer have an “edited”/”minimalist” closet.  But – surprise! – I also gave away a fair number of things and am still at my self-defined acceptable number of hangers….except for two areas: blazers and pants.

For blazers, I’ve been looking to cross a “statement” blazer off my list, and in exchange for the two I’m trying out…

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Snakeskin by Isaac Mizrahi Live!; Plaid by Merona

…I may give up my camel blazer.  It goes with everything but in a way that involves a large swath of what is basically untextured tan – blah.  (And we know how I feel about the necessity of texture or at the very least visual interest.) I do love the contrast lining on the camel blazer but that’s about the only interesting detail on this sucker.  And and, I think the plaid being a size smaller is a better fit than the camel. So I’m sitting on it but it’ll probably get donated and free up some space by the end of the month. <– already in the donation bag

Speaking of texture, my pants drawer is noticeably more full than last time I showed it off (left), and I blame corduroy:

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The photo on the right doesn’t even include the wine cords below which are at the tailor’s. Sheesh.

These two in particular are culprits, having joined the ranks this past month:

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Wine-colored cords by Style & Co.; “Scotch pine” cords by Jessica Simpson

Also joining in the pants department:
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Banana Republic jeans – more on them next week.  Flares, I know!

Here’s a luscious two-texture Joan Vass Studio sweater I wrote more about here and here:

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Still loving this and wearing it regularly.

 

And new (to me) Pumas!

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Also more on them later this week.

And although I just pooh-poohed camel earlier in this post, I did pick up a camel skirt I’d been looking for. I don’t think it made it to a thrift list but it’s been in the back of my mind ever since I got rid of this one – quick recap, I knew I wouldn’t be excited to wear the winter-weight skirt I donated, but I can definitely rock this cotton-based one in fall/spring/summer:

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Pockets!  By Merona.

Looking forward to pairing it with button downs and popovers and maybe even a turtleneck or two! Wild.

 

And throwing it back to a thrift list hole from spring (which was unsatisfactorily filled by this silk first attempt), a blue sheath dress by Ann Taylor:

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Isn’t it lovely? I dig the color and I LOVE the neck; the neckline and the little chain detail at the waist bring some interest without making it overly showy.  It also fits like a glove and is the perfect length.  Can’t wait to wear it (this fall mayyyyybe? If not, definitely spring) and give you better pictures.

In the same outing I found this Virgina Hill shirt dress – after a long drought, apparently it was raining blue dresses:

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Excited about the shirt dress nature of it – it’s basically a dress version of the blouse silhouette I dig.  I also love the gorgeous color and the 3/4 length sleeves (my fave).  The length is a little short for my work/church wardrobe. Since I don’t often wear dresses casually and work/church is 85% of my wardrobe, though, I’m going to have to find a way to wear it regularly – maybe with leggings or maybe out on dates. Thoughts?

And last but not least, by Chico’s – another spring/summer find, inspired by this top I pinned from A Pair and a Spare:
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It’s a popover tunic (my fave!) and has a gorgeous Delft color palette going on.  Now I just have to be patient for several months (or some surprise tropical vacation?) until it’s time to wear it.

 

And now, the rejects!

Mulberry stretch skirt by femme with a cute back zipper detail – love the stretch but it was too tight.

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Textured blazer by… Liz Claiborne I think? Love the texture in there but you can see how big the arms were on me by the funky little pooch on the upper left arm – excess fabric is the culprit:

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Faded Glory 3/4 sleeve striped Henley – loved the colors, the length, and the sleeve, but the buttons made it too casual for my work wardrobe and the pilling made it too lo-fi for my wardrobe, period.  What it taught me, though, was that some tan/gold-ish stripes on cream would work well with the cords-and-blazers look I’m reveling in this fall:

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Oh ps it’s kinda sheer.  Or you just shouldn’t try on your shirts with a darker bra than you plan to wear it with in real life.

 

This was an attempt to carry the cream/tan stripe thing into another shirt, but this shirt – I can’t remember the brand – is definitely too small:

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I love the short hem and gold buttons on this acrylic number from the 80s – it’s very Golden Girls, and would go great over dresses (as modeled below). Aren’t those pockets sassy?  But it had a stain and was too big for me in the shoulders, so back on the rack it goes to be picked up by some deserving bridge-playing lady who needs it for a luncheon out and has better stain-lifting powers than I:
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I loved this top by Pleione (a new-to-me, mid-range Nordstrom brand).  It’s a neutral take on leopard, has an unusual pleat in the middle that gives it good drape and a little swing, and an open collar.  It was too big for me and the drape is not my style, but I think it’d be perfect for Anna from The Anna Edit (basically this plus this):
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Showing off the pleat; a straight-hanging view is on my Instagram.

 

Loved the print on this shirt dress, but body-hugging much??  I think I could make it work if my style was a loooot sexier:
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Loved the diagonal seam on the front of this sweater by Quinn, and the color – but it was sheer and didn’t seem to be high quality, so nope:
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I loved the color on this and the interesting pattern, plus the split t-shirt hem is a great detail.  But it was getting a little close to a tribal motif, it hit me funny in the mid-section (pic on left) and was too tight in the chest (pic on right):

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This great popover tunic by Tiny was, in fact, tiny.  Love the colors, the length, and the pattern (possibly also tribal? I feel like this is a minefield since you don’t know what’s problematic until you know it is) but I am literally holding the top closed over by bosom:
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My favorite kind of business shirt – popover tunic, with great buttons, color detail, and 3/4 length sleeves! – by Express, I think? (Y’all, I’m bad at getting brands on items I’m trying on!) But it was too tight in the midriff as you can tell from the telltale navel dimple shadow just below the placket – like a donut:

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That’s it for this roundup.  What have you thrifted/skipped lately?  Scroll down to comment!

 

Friday ReBlog: A Month’s Worth of Style Challenges

That title is slightly misleading because this post really includes TWO months’ worth of style challenges.  Or one month’s worth of two challenges per day… either way you look at it, there are LOTS of challenges.

First up, Anuschka at Into Mind has a 30 Day Closet Confidence Challenge meant to help you develop your personal style and love your wardrobe (and yourself!) more.  There’s a different prompt/task for each day of the month; if you’re Type A you can hurry up and do the first 4 today and then follow the rest of the prompts one per day for the rest of November. (Or you could start today with #4 and do #1-3 the first 3 days of December.  Or do them all out of order!! Crazy.)

Some of the ones I find personally most helpful for building my style are: wear an outfit 10% outside your comfort zone; write a list of everything that is NOT your style; analyze what exactly you like about your five most-worn items (or in my case a silhouette from another season).  Which sound appealing to you?

 

If you prefer a little surprise challenge every day, Nicole over at The Spirited Thrifter has adapted a local friend’s minimalism challenge into the Closet Minimalism Game. You need to check her posts on Instagram (no account necessary) to get the prompts, but it’s worth it: her writing is funny and the photos of how she fulfilled each prompt are great inspiration.  Plus, if you need some positive peer pressure, you’ll enjoy knowing there’s a whole community out there, complete with hashtag, playing along.

 

Happy weekend, Thrifters!

 

PS This weekend is your LAST CHANCE to take the ThriftShop Chic Reader Survey and help improve your blog experience!  Under 10 questions in less than 2 minutes.  Many thanks to those who have already taken the survey – y’all have some great post ideas I can’t wait to tackle!

 

Putting Together an Outfit: Cords + Popover Tunic + Duster

Nicole from The Spirited Thrifter wrote a few weeks back about helping a client discern how to put together new outfits from her existing clothes  She included some handy rules and tips along the way, which got me thinking about how *I* put decide what goes into an outfit and whether blogging about it would be useful for others to read about.

So today, I’m going to grab an outfit pic off of Instagram and walk you through how I put it together.  I’m no expert, but I do love clothes and am usually pretty happy with my looks, so if you struggle with how to finish off an outfit, how to pair accessories or top layers with base clothes you’ve already chosen, or what “goes” together,  I hope reading about my thought process is helpful.  And if it works out I’ll do it with some more outfits.  Maybe you can even request faves from my IG!  Whoa, getting carried away here.

The outfit in question:

A photo posted by LeahLW (@thriftshopchic) on

 

And now, how I got there:

Weather? Cool in the morning, warm by afternoon – I’ll need to layer.

Any activities at work that require specific clothes (e.g. big meetings with outside clients or funerals or cleaning out storage rooms requiring a dress (fancier) or pants (more casual/flexible)?  No.

So what do I feel like wearing for my base piece (the skirt/pants/dress I’ll use to build my outfit)?   Yesterday was a dress so today I’ll go with pants for a little variety.  I haven’t worn my newly tapered cream cords yet, let’s bust those out!

What top would go with that?  Hmmm…I haven’t worn my dotted cotton popover tunic in a minute, and that pattern will contrast nicely with the solid cream down below.
Now to add that layer… The shirt’s patterned, so let’s get my one and only solid cardi out – a blue duster.  That matches the darker blue in the top and will keep the outfit from feeling all over the place color-wise.

What shoes do I want to wear with this?  Hey, those blue-grey boat shoes I just painted would be perfect for the  chambray color of the shirt.  Plus this outfit is on the casual-but-put-together side and nice boat shoes can do that.  I’m still wearing them in, though, so I need some socks…these striped ones perfectly marry the colors in my top and cardigan.

Jewelry?  An open neck means a standard-length necklace and I don’t feel like making an earring statement today. But I will choose my cream drop earrings instead of my go-to gold studs because my cream cords are starting to feel lonely; picking up the pants color with my earrings will make the whole composition more harmonious.  Bracelet/rings?  The usual – my grandma’s cuff and my wedding/engagement rings.

One last styling adjustment – pulling the collar and cuffs of my shirt out past the cardigan, then popping/folding them back respectively will add a touch of interesting on the edges of that big block of color that is my duster – and make some room to show off my bracelet.  

Et voilà!  Done.

 

The above process probably took about 5 minutes to decide/put on my body.  Scroll down to tell me if this kind of analysis is helpful, and if so, whether you like reading it in present tense or if that’s just annoying.

 

PS Click here to take the ThriftShop Chic Reader Survey and help improve your blog experience!  Under 10 questions in less than 2 minutes.  Thanks!

A Tale of Two Statement Blazers

One of the things on my fall wardrobe thrift list was a statement blazer.  My inspiration for a statement jacket was this toreador bolero number festooned with ribbons, and – surprise – I have yet to come across anything approaching that amazingness.  Instead I have found both a snakeskin print and a plaid in unexpected colors:

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Snakeskin: Isaac Mizrahi Live! (Why does that sound like a talk show? – Googles… – turns out it’s a QVC brand.  Aha.)
Plaid: Merona – It’s the same blazer I own in camel but a size smaller, which I think is actually a better fit.

The first one feels like something a Jersey snowbird would wear to the casino, while the second gives off the vibe of a school blazer featuring oddly chosen spirit colors.  Or maybe your grandpa’s sport coat ca. 1973:

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Why yes, that’s orange, pink, and green all competing on a blue background.

I think I’m more into the ugly-chic of the second one, particularly since it adds more color to my closet than the snakeskin version (see this post on needing more color in my neutral-heavy fall/winter wardrobe).  Although I don’t own any pink of the variety featured in the plaid (or any orange – at all), I DO have that snazzy green in pants!  And I definitely have lots of that blue.  I’m excited to experiment and see how it wears with the rest of  my wardrobe.

The snakeskin version is meant to be kind of a neutral topper vis-a-vis my blue and grey turtlenecks and blue/grey/colorful pants.  (If leopard can be a neutral, so can snakeskin, darnit!)  I’m not sold yet, though: it’s suuuuper soft in that unstructured blazer way I love, but the area where the side seams meet the hem pooches out a little bit (you can kind of see it in the picture) and I can’t decide if getting it tailored will be worth it.  Does anyone have an idea of how expensive that would be?  Currently the seam doesn’t continue all the way into the hem so I think it will involve more Frankensteining than I care to pay for.

 

What do you think of these “statement” blazers?  Do you own any bold, printed jackets like this, and if so, how do you style them?  If not, may I suggest the thrift store as a great way to inexpensively try out the concept?  They always have a wide range of options, from subtly interesting to downright wacky depending on how crazy you want to get.

 

PS Click here to take the ThriftShop Chic Reader Survey and help improve your blog experience!  Under 10 questions in less than 2 minutes.  Thanks!

 

Reader Survey + Thrift Tips

I’ve whipped up a quick survey geared towards helping me understand more of what you want to read here at Thriftshop Chic.  It’s under 10 questions and, depending on how loquacious you want to be, it could easily take you under 2 minutes.

Click here if you’d like to take it – I’d be supremely grateful!

And as a thank you, a quick appetizer of thrifting tips to chew on as you head into the week:

  • Look outside the plus-sized section for plus-size clothes.  They’re often mixed in with everything else.
  • Same goes for maternity clothes – often thrift store employees don’t recognize maternity brands to sort them out.
  • Line for the dressing room?  Wear a close-fitting tank top or undershirt to be able to try on tops in public (thanks Nicole for that tip!)
  • Trying on a dress but don’t want to take your shoes, socks, and pants off again?  Just unbutton and drop trou like you’re using the toilet, then try the dress on over your head.  If your imagination can’t remove the pants from the ensuing visual, well, just go ahead and take ’em off.
  • If you have the luxury of a fitting room with more than one hook, set up a quick system to help you sort your finds: NOs on one hook, YESes on another hook, and MAYBEs on a third hook (or on the YES hook if you only have two hooks).  Another option, particularly if you only have one hook?  As you hang your tryons back on the hook, face all your YESes forward and your NOs backwards, tucking each NO at the back of the batch.

One more link to the survey, if you’re so inclined.

Happy Halloween!  (If my toddler wanted anything to do with putting on a costume, I would’ve gone as Shere Khan with a side of skulls.  You?)

 

Friday ReBlog: Thrifting with a Tape Measure

Sheila over at Ephemera had a great tip embedded in a funky outfit post (which in and of itself will be good inspiration for anyone wanting to rock bright colors and skirts but stay warm).  She scored the featured skirt without trying it on but it fit like a glove.  Her secret?  Shopping with a tape measure!

Knowing your clothing measurements in inches/cm allows you to figure out if a piece you can’t (or don’t have time to) try on will match your body.  Vanity sizing combined with the vast range of brands/eras represented at the thrift store also makes this a very handy tool when those pants look suspiciously like a great fit even though they’re not labeled as your size…

I inherited a bright blue portable tape measure from my mom that I often tuck in my bag when I’m thrifting photo frames or furniture, but it hadn’t occurred to me to use a tape measure for clothing (duh).  This obviously requires a little bit of homework – namely measuring yourself at home and writing down (or memorizing) your measurements.  I suppose if you don’t mind marking it up, you could even record your measurements on said tape measure case with a fine tip permanent marker for quick reference.  Waist or bust size may need re-inscribing as size fluctuates, but inseam isn’t likely to budge much.

 

What are your favorite tools for thrifting?  Happy weekend, Thrifters!