A New Dress A Day
My aunt sent me the link to this inspirational blog, New Dress A Day. The concept, both creative and frugal, is this:
The thing that makes this girl happiest is scouring flea markets, vintage stores and garage sales for the perfect pieces to add to my wardrobe. I love finding vintage goodies that may not fit me perfectly or translate well with the current state of fashion and then make them work on me. (thank you Tim Gunn – “make it work” has become my mantra) I get out my trusty sewing machine to change hems, cut sleeves and tweak to transform a lowbudge piece that had its’ moment back in 1976 and give it another shot today, decades later. I have to say that whenever I wear my handmade pieces, I always get complimented and the best part is that I get to tell everyone that I bought it for $1 and just shortened it, dyed it or cinched it to make it chic and current.
So, that’s where my ode to no traditional shopping begins. This year, I will be foregoing trips to Bloomies and Nordstrom for brand new gear. Goodbye to H&M purchases and accessory grabbing at Forever 21. And seeing the “must have” French Connection dress in People’s Style Watch will just have to suffice as a cut out on my inspiration board.
Instead, the only shopping that I’ll be able to do is that of pieces that have been used and worn already. So long to mall trips and hello to sifting through piles of vintage pieces at flea markets and at neighborhood garage sales. Each day for the entire year, I’m going to introduce a new piece into my existing wardrobe that I’ve found from these places. On top of this, I’m giving myself a budget of $1 a day.
(excerpted from the blog’s “about” page)
I love these dress makeovers! 
Sadly, while I can come up with lots of cool ideas for making over garments, I’m not so fab with the follow-through. That is, I never actually get around to doing anything. Hence, the racks of garments hanging in my studio. It always seems there is ironing or dishes, blogging or painting, and before you know it, there’ll be homework. Someday.
In the meantime, hopefully this will be inspirational for you!
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The $250 Skirt
Ever since last fall, when I pulled out my winter skirts only to discover I didn’t like the fit of one and then promptly ripped the lining of the other the first time I wore it, I’ve been limping and skimping in the Sunday wardrobe department. NONinspirational! Basically, winter alternatives can be reduced to:
- wool trousers, which I love. I have been diligently searching for another pair.
- jeans, which I’d rather not wear to church, but I do in a pinch. And believe me, I’m feeling the pinch now!
- dresses. A winter dress is a rarity in my wardrobe. So rare, in fact, that it doesn’t exist.
- which leaves skirts. And with as many skirt options as there are, why is it so hard for me to find even one that doesn’t leave me feeling frumpy and grumpy?
The skirt in my idiom, and I say this more for myself than for anyone else:
- is tapered, pegged, pencil, whatever you want to call it. I don’t mind a little do-flippy hem, but the full skirt on me is downright awful; A-line is a significant compromise.
- falls BELOW the knee, at the “hemline of supreme elegance”.
- has only tasteful and necessary slit(s).
- doesn’t cling to my legs and bunch up and move around when I walk. Also doesn’t have some dorky clash of sleazy underwear fabric “slipping” out from under it.
In desperation, I have begun collecting thrifted skirts, with the hopes of cannabilizing one or more to somehow piece together something that would work. I’ve found lots of cute prints and fabrics, but somehow when it comes time to actually cut or sew I end up painting or blogging instead! So, while I normally wouldn’t spend $15 on a thrifted skirt, when I found one this week that was lined and below-the-knee and tapered, $15 looked like a bargain.
Closer inspection revealed the bargain it really was: brand-new tags said $250 $100!
Admittedly, the peachy color and cotton/linen fabric make it more of a spring wardrobe staple than winter. But it rather looks like spring is here to stay this year, doesn’t it?
How would you define the perfect skirt in your own idiom?
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Out with the Old (and New) Summer Clothes
Updating my “what I’ve spent on clothes so far this year” page, brought me to the realization that I’m done. I’ve spent this year’s allowance. And then some. From now on, if I need or choose to buy any clothes the money will have to come from somewhere else. Like my “spending money” (which is totally fine, since I mostly shop thrift and spend not much).
Speaking of spending out of my pocket money: when I pulled my shorts out this year, I discovered I had not much that was going to work. Thankfully, this was the year to find lots of “short sleeved pants” for really cheap (which may mean that next year they are going to be officially “out”, but I don’t care). Most of these I bought this year at thrift stores, with my spending money, and I bet I didn’t spend over $30 for all of them together.
Click to view picture big enough to really see
- top row: grey pedal pushers, green/white mini-stripe, tan linen
- front row: light khaki sheeting, khaki twill, green convertible
The better part of my excuse for spending all my clothing money already lies in the fact that this year I bought a bunch of stuff that is expensive and doesn’t have to be replaced often:
- the mother of the bride ensemble
- runners
- swimwear, although I’m still working on filling in some of the subordinate coordinate pieces
From left: what we call “swim underwear”, the real (modest) suit, the necessary one-piece.
So far, I have packed all the swimwear into a cotton bag, which lives on the top shelf of my tiny closet and packed away my camping clothes in a cardboard box, also on the top shelf of the closet. Currently, I am finalizing the process of making sure all my shorts, tank tops, and white short sleeve shirts are clean, prior to putting them away for the season.
But I’d love to hear how the rest of you deal with off season clothes. Suggestions?
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Fall Wardrobe Planning Begins With a Budget
Going back to this previous post, in which I dealt with a dangling question regarding semi-annual shopping & budgeting, the further question of how to “wrap your spending plan around all the items you need” remains unanswered.
Some thoughts:
- Many years ago, when I did my initial cost per wear calculations, I concluded that half of my spending went toward fashiony uniform template items and the other half toward such necessities as coats, shoes, and under-garments.
If you are going to have to have a new winter coat this year, I would definitely take that money and set it aside. The best sales and selection are available in October.
- Do you have a method for figuring out how many of any wardrobe piece you need? If not, I describe one here.
- Identify your needs. You may find my post Creating the Spring Shopping List helpful.
- Now the hard part: you must assign a portion of your “spending plan” to each item on your shopping list.
One final thought: you could just budget the same amount for each piece. That would work for me, since I buy most of my stuff thrift. But realistically, if you are shopping in a real store, with real money, that method won’t work too well.
Consider that jackets are often double the cost of pants or skirts, and basic tops can be very inexpensive. If you split the money evenly between those three categories, you could potentially buy one jacket, a pant and a skirt, and maybe 5 tops.
Yes, I think I like it.
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Gridding a Picture
Gridding is not cheating. It’s an accepted practice in the field of art. To copy a picture, pencil a grid over it and then (LIGHTLY) pencil a grid on the surface you are transferring the picture to. Copy the shape within each square on the original into the corresponding square on the copy. More explanation and instructions: The Grid Method.
So, why am I thinking (out loud, in writing, on the internet) about this today? A friend is planning a wall mural in a children’s bedroom. While I’ve mainly heard of the grid method being used to replicate a picture in the same size or somewhat bigger, going from 8 x 10 to an 8 foot high wall is easy math. 
Rare sentimental moment: the season of having little children at home can be a lovely time for creative home artistic expression. Any fun projects to share?
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Month of Sundays: August 2009
What do you do when it’s the final day on a $10 off a $10 purchase coupon, 50% off clearance prices, AND another 15% off for using the right card? Get shopping! The truly frugal will hope to find something with a final price of just over $10, making it “so cheap it’s almost free” (a favorite phrase of mine).
I thought I had really done it with this tunic top in my best bright and my favorite fabric. Marked down from $46 to $23, half off, plus the extra 15%, I expected it to be just about $10, but the thing rang up like $5 and something! So I had to go back and get more stuff.
(Last year when I blogged about wearing a dress over shorts, you guys made fun of me. I still like the idea. So this year I’ve been looking for some mid-thigh dresses, but I haven’t found any. While this is way too short to be a dress on me - it’s 30″ long - it’s a similar look.)
What I went back for was this fun top and basic pair of khaki shorts, which coincidentally make an outfit. They weren’t quite as great a deal, HOWEVER, the grand total for all three pieces was - drumroll, please - $13.74 American. Which I can afford (this month and last I have been spending from my “walking around money” for clothing, since I have spent quite a bit already this year).
In filling out what I’ll be wearing to church this August, I found that I can fit into this dress, previously purchased for $1 at Value Village. 
Towards the end of August, it may be cool enough for me to break out my new trouser jeans. That would be good, because I don’t wear jeans with heels all that often. And I’m still shooting for at most 25 cents cost per wear.
What are you wearing to church this August?
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Spokane Thrift Stores: Corbin Senior Center
I may have a new favorite thrift store in Spokane. Did you know that the Corbin Senior Center has one? The Senior Center is where I am going for my drawing class this summer; every Tuesday at 11, the drawing ladies take a break and go shopping. This week I bought something - a pair of nearly new, made in Italy, Classiques Entier, brown patent “croc” (as in reptile) loafers - for $2! Sorry, no camera today.
Just to review, my favorite Spokane thrift stores:
- Value Village on Boone (9 am on Mondays for the real bargains)
- Bobbi’s (formerly BJs), in the Goodwill on Third
- Salvation Army, both the one on Division and the new one out in the Valley
Apparently, this past intense winter, the Volunteers of America thrift store experienced a roof collapse. No word on re-opening.
Any thrifting tips or finds you’d like to share?
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The Wisdom in Identifying Underlying Trends
Reader Sarah left this excellent comment on my post Choose Flattering Over Fads , in response to the idea that “if you only buy clothes that flatter you, you probably won’t look dated. It’s the extreme in clothes that date us” (emphasis added):
I don’t think this is quite as true as I wish it were. Perhaps it’s just me, but I have noticed, at least in regard to skirt lengths, that whether something seems to flatter me depends in part on what is in fashion. I have in my closet a number of skirts from different times that, when I bought them, seemed to me and to stylish individuals I know, to be very flattering. The only trouble is, now they look dreadful and I can’t imagine how I thought they looked good. And it is not that I have put on weight: I weigh the same as I did at the age of 15. This puzzled me greatly until I read something about skirt lengths. Not sure if I read it here or somewhere else, but the point made was that even ‘classic’ clothes can’t be relied upon to be timeless, and that if you keep wearing the same skirt length (or tapered jeans or shoulder pads that seemed to look so good in the ’80s) decade in, decade out, you will end up looking dated, and at least to other people, your clothes will not continue to seem flattering.
When I read this, the light bulb went on: without consciously thinking in terms of current fashions, we can be influenced by what is current, and view our appearance in the light of what is current, such that it was possible in the ’80s to be genuinely convinced that a hugely shoulder-padded straight down upper thigh length jacket over a slim skirt hitting a few inches above the knee (like some of the illustrations in my copy of a book mentioned here, Always In Style) was flattering. Similarly, I cannot imagine how I could have thought that my shoulder-padded double-breasted suits with insufficient waist highlighting and mid-calf length long straight skirts flattering, and yet, at the time I worse those suits, not just I, but many others also thought they looked good on me. I am sure I would have thought those suits timeless classics at the time but they are quite dreadful now!
So I personally think it is important, if you don’t want to look very dated and, more importantly, as though your clothes are extremely unflattering, there is no getting around the need to pay at least a little attention to the underlying trends. What I mean by underlying trends is that although things come in and go out season by season, if you take a longer view, there are more slow-moving trends too, that make up the context in which the fast-moving trends come in and go out. If you ignore the fast-moving trends, there is no problem, but if you also ignore the slow-moving trends THAT is what makes you look horribly dated and NOT FLATTERED by your clothes.
There is of course a wider variety of options one can wear now, compared to in previous generations, but I still think that there ARE underlying slow-moving trends that can’t be ignored unless you don’t care in the slightest how you look.
When I was a child, at some point, my mother was still wearing her ’60s short dresses, and I had to take her aside and tell her that it was completely inappropriate to wear those dresses at that time, because at the time of our conversation, the only people wearing such short skirts were … well… let’s just say that my really quite conservative mother did not want to be giving out the message her short dresses were giving out, once I pointed it out to her. Like women who wear what we now call granny pants now, my mother was wearing something that was completely out at the time she was wearing it. It is not that her figure had changed: we have good genes in that respect. It is ONLY that she had failed to notice the change in the underlying skirt length trend at that time.
Comments? Criticisms?
Thanks, Sarah! I think you did a great job explaining what could seem like conflicting principles: choosing what looks good and sticking with it versus watching fashion trends.
My best advice to avoid this dilemma? Don’t own more clothes than you can wear out in seven years.
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July is Jeans Month
July is jeans month if, like me, you want to get the most for your budget by shopping thrift. After all, shoppers are working on their summer wardrobes and won’t start really thinking about jeans until August. (Hey, moms, is this a good time for general back-to-school thrifting too?) Take the time now to inventory your wardrobe of jeans and begin looking for what you need. If you don’t find it thrift, you can take advantage of the fall sales around the corner.
So, how many pairs of jeans do you need? Some of my most glamorous friends have only one, and maybe a back-up pair for laundry day. On the other hand, if your children are still in the spit-up stage, you may need a drawer full (like my friend from the post How Many Jeans Does One Mom Need).
My needs:
- straight-leg jeans for with flats (everyday jeans)
- trouser jeans for with heels (I got both of these first two thrift this week for a total of $13.25)
- a pair to tuck into knee boots (I don’t always need these, but I did this past winter!)
- a back-up pair
In my idiom, all jeans are dark.
Statistically, I’ve heard, most women own 8 - 13 pairs of jeans (and the numbers of pairs owned decreases as the one’s size increases). True confessions: How many jeans do you have? How many do you need?
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Recent Wardrobe Additions (Spring/Summer 2009)
Bringing my 2009 wardrobe spending to a grand total of $474.76, I added the following entries today:
- cashmere polo, grass green tipped navy, Old Navy $10.86. Pictured below with my new - ish navy trousers and my vintage “asparagus shoes”, I bought this after Duchesse suggested that 50 and raining is cashmere.
- 2 pairs of shorts from Goodwill (the boutique side): khaki linen bermudas and short (unfortunately, as opposed to knee-length) swim shorts. Total $9.78.
- paisley cotton dress and brown crochet type cardigan, both from Value Village. $17.35. Somebody told me that was expensive, but I think not - compared to the likelihood I would throw up my hands in despair and skip somebody’s wedding because I have nothing to wear!
- another shirt like this one pictured back here, only this one is a lovely lilac color. Target, $6.24.
- “like new” Levi 505s. Salvation Army, $2.38.
- “like new” Eddie Bauer dark wash trouser jeans and Lifestride paisley pumps. Goodwill Boutique $18.47.
Critics of my simple wardrobe color system, or just proponents of a larger wardrobe than I aspire to, will be happy to see a little more color here. I am happy to see paisley! I’ve asked this before: what print defines your personality?
