Scarf Weather

In my pre-blog days (a few weeks ago) I didn't accessorize much. On a good day I would wear shoes that matched my "outfit." It's just that accessories aren't cheap. You see, I have the problem that a lot of mothers have where, for about the first 3 years of your child's life, you feel super-guilty doing anything except bending over backwards for them. Every time I have a want, I think about how the money could be better spent on Dom. 

Then I realized that he had a much nicer wardrobe than me . 

I'm slowly getting over it.  I'm proud to say that I've bought a few pairs of jeans recently to replace the one's I've been wearing since high school. 

But accessories are still too expensive to me. I don't like spending more on the little details of an outfit than the major components! It's nuts! Scarfs are super trendy now, I like them, and they're easy and CHEAP to make! Double win!

We all have tops that are clinging around our drawers (or hanging out at the thrift store) that we love, but refuse to get rid of. They don't fit, and they're never going to fit... but but but..... 

Hi, I'm too short. 

Too revealing. 

Too much... stuff. 

The process is pretty much the same for all of these:

Chop the top. For the jersey knit tops, this is all you have to do. Since this one is cotton, there's an extra step. 

Rake your nail along the edge, to give it that frayed-fringy look. 

Taa-daa!

If you shirt isn't wide enough to wrap around your neck twice, it helps to make it look fuller by sewing it into a trapezoid shape. Like so:

My dotted line is just accentuating my trapezoid, you would only sew the sides, not the top and bottom. 

Three new scarfs for under a dollar! I can live with that :) 

---CJ 

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Awkward Pants Deserve A Second Chance

I got these pants at the $5 bag sale. I tried them on, and they looked ok! I figured I'd shorten them up and we'd be good to go. Well, I got them home, put them back on, and turned around in front of the mirror...

Hold the phone... That is some really gross bunchy butt action going on. Fixing pants is still kind of uncharted territory for me, and taking them in from the sides wasn't going to cut it this time. I threw them in my pile, disgusted, and figured I'd re-donate them to the Thrift store. 

Well, I got the up courage today to take another stab at fixing these things. I really would like a relaxed pair of kaki pants, and what was the worst that could happen? 

I tried something that I was really unsure of, I pinned up the butt seam all the way from the waistband to the bottom of the zipper. Then I took it in about an inch at the widest part, tapering in at the ends (the waistband and the zipper). I also removed the back pockets, that weren't really pockets anyway, they just added even more butt bulk, so they had to go. 

Here's another view of the butt seam, it's a weird seam to re-sew, so be very careful that both layers are going through the machine and not bunching up. 

After my bum was re-done, I decided to take a little bit in on the inner thighs. Lay everything really flat, and stitch in STRAIGHT lines. A curved line makes weird blobs on your legs. Believe me, I had to re-sew a few times to make sure everything was super straight. I also sewed shut, and snipped off the front pockets. 

Then after the obligatory shortening by about half a foot, they're done! 

...And check that out! Major improvement! 

With it feeling awfully Autumn-y today, I'm excited to have a "new" pair of pants! 

--CJ 

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Crazy Shirt

Hi, remember this guy from the $5 bag sale yesterday?

How could you possibly forget?! It's bizarre! The situation didn't get any better when I put it on, either. 

Picasso-esque?

Hmm, this feels better...

Trace and pin and sew and......

CHOP!

Now, it's still a little bit funky. Which is good because a little is about all I can pull off. I bought one of those Victoria's Secret bras a couple years ago, ya know, the ones with the little Swarovski crystals on the strap (that cost a small fortune) I've never gotten to show them off until now :) 

I got this whole outfit for less than a buck! 57¢ to be exact. (except for the bra, of course...and the necklace) If this isn't enough to convince you to shop thriftily, I don't know what is! 

--CJ 

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