Thriftwashing

... is when I buy something used that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole at the shop it started out in.

Ananda jeans from GVF. Anything from Forever 21. Hobby Lobby. Gap. Torrid. Either can't afford them or dislike them or nothing fits me properly. 

I let someone else buy them, break them in, get tired of them, and donate them. And then I buy them. 

Someone got paid for their first job to sort through them. Maybe the company isn't as charitable as they present themselves to be. Value Village combines their charitable funds and their for-profit funds in a way that muddies their nonprofit status (the short version of this: you keep those piles separate and well accounted for, or you don't get the benefits at tax time). At present, they and the Attorney General of Washington are suing each other over their charitable status. But they have the stuff and they put it out on the shelves everyday. If you follow my IG feed, you know they have sold me (and you) some sweet sweet things, from that honey of a Singer Slant to those 69 cent Vogue patterns (the Givenchy McQueen and that autographed Edith Head, just to mention two more notable ones)  Goodwill pays their CEO and upper management redonculous salaries and puts the good stuff online on Ebay and Amazon, where I can bid on it at my peril. 

I bought a pretty sweet military style winter coat, Forever 21, that needed new buttons and mending (all the parts were there, just not sewn on very well), but for $5, it was worth it as a gift for my pal JPo. Yes, $5 and over $60 for new buttons from Nancy's Sewing Basket. It took over a month for the Button Orderer to see the order on her desk, but eventually it happened.

Friends, she's worth it!

And speaking of buttons and Nancy's

This sign was posted in Nancy's. And this my friends is why Amazon and Joanns and Home Depot and Walmart all suck it if you produce an item; they demand all your business exclusively, or they won't buy from you at all.

Nancy's is still closed and the space is up for lease, but mid-December, there was still a lot of stock and furniture in there.

As for sewing, I am working on a winter coat (posting process on IG), and attending to the almost 21 year old son home from college. There's going to be a time when he doesn't come home here, and I'm enjoying his company while I still have it.
See you in the new year. Hopefully in a new coat!

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https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington/articles/2017-12-12/value-village-sues-washington-attorney-general-over-demands

http://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-s-lawsuit-reveals-comcast-deceived-customers-charged-service-plans

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/business/thrift-chain-said-to-pocket-money-meant-for-charity.html?_r=0

The Refashioners 2017 - Suits You Edition

Well, none of this thinking got used. 

Ah....The Refashioners!

one of the many Joseph Beuys felt suits in the world. My personal Dressed To Match journey starts here.

I should mention the Felt Suit will get done this year, probably December.

But if you're going to refashion some thing, you need to go get that thing.

I know, some prefer Goodwill's politics, but I prefer the Village of Values' selection. It's not broken and I can buy it RIGHT HERE and fondle the goods.

So many contestants! 

The cream one rode the cart for awhile, but it lacked details.

Tape from inside of a jacket on that rack. Indeed. I figured a picture would suffice.

A full suit, in decent shape, with some sloppy alterations: can't carve that up for my amusement.

Our victim

Dissection tools

I started putting the pieces on the dress form to keep them in order.

Also started safety pinning the sections to keep the lining/fabric together

I assume that the seam allowances were slightly bigger than this, but probably not more than 1/2" anywhere that I found. Anywhere.

All parts

Front

Inside out front. This photo was from Inside/Out day on House of Pineiro's SewPhotoHop. 

And check out that pick stitching.

I could not hang it back the other way.

I think we have an idea here.

My problem with the Refashioner challenge has been making something I can wear. Something I WILL wear. And you probably already know what I will wear is fairly gaudy.

But the sleeves fit into coats. The coats fit over shirts.

I can WEAR them.

And I need a new vest. A 'ties an outfit together' vest. The old one lives with the Blond One, as I have ....outgrown it.

So I know where I'm going here.

Safety pin for stability

Reassemble on the dress form

Admire the sleeve head. More here than on that Armani.

I doubt that Armani.....

And I'll need bias trim. Never made wool bias trim before.

There's a sleeve. And there's a sleeve's worth of bias trim.

Cut armscyes to fit my shoulders

Transfer one to the other to cut

 As we know, nothing happens in a vacumn, and Heather Closet Case puts up her vest

and I like it, but I realize I can't wear a long vest with any of the coats I have. And while I am going to finish the raincoat, I've got those choir dresses.....I want to finish this now....

so in a irrevocable act of saucy serging, I cut off the bottom half 

It's a little naughty

And now I have more bias material making. Plus the nifty suede tabs at the bottom back vents are now available.

  

Sewing on the bias trim.

And I have to extol the virtues of wool here. It's a deeply forgiving material. It's very satisfying to handsew, it will moosh and stretch and (it will fray) curve and steam into a shape.

I cannot wear it next to my skin, but that's why we have linings.

And I don't wear a vest by itself.

I put the tag on the back lower hem.

There's where the tabs went. These are useless pockets except for theater ticket holders.

So I wore it to the theater last night.

Proof I wore it in public. See, there's ACT Seattle in the background.

Though I think it looks much better over the 2015 Refashioners Quad Popped Collar shirt.

September 30, 2017: done.

Six Napoleons Actual Draping With ... Drapery (tags included)

The thrifted original materials. A stretch bodysuit and two poly organza curtain liners. About $18 all told. Thank you Value Village.

So, now it's time to actually do some draping.

Need something to stitch this skirt to.

Used my jeans pattern to make a fitted half skirt base (zipper on right side seam)

Cut some thin painter's tape strips

Ya think? Nah.

I don't want to block a lot of zipper. I will want to get this off and on. Because of this issue, my angles are not as acute as Marianne's

Eh, okay

NO, I still can't unzip a dress or anything on my right, so zip's on my left. 

Yes, that does mess up the angle of the skirt. And I do think it loses some of its charm.

Sigh. Moving on....

It will be the same angle on the front as the back. Did a pin mark and flipped it.

 Flair pen!

So I noticed something about this skirt. It's a double layer all around, and given that, it's about the same length except for that dip in the front.

I am draping for the hem, not the v-shape. The v-shape of the bodice is going to get stitched over this piece anyway.

I honestly was going to measure out what i needed, but I had itchy fingers.

Starting at the side seam was too obvious for me. Gotta hide the join between two pieces of sheer fabric in a fold. That big off center one.

Start at this end. 

No

Start at this end. Huh.

Huh. This isn't...working.

And then it hit me.

And this was the brainstorm. The fabric is draped doubled up. If I slice the corner piece and unfold a square of it, leaving the rest folded, I have a seamless godet in the middle, a double layer on the right side, and an underlayer on the left side.  

So the single layer square goes on FIRST. I repeat this on the other side, single layer first.

See the tag? 

 And then I pinned the double end off to the right, over the single layer. 
Repeated for second piece.

And I pleated and repleated and on and on and I had to stop and go be a mom. It was all of Sunday.

I will finish it up in a day, but I think I'm on the right track. Steamed out a little, it's better than this now. Given a little more hang time, even better.

Not as soft as the original, but it's not silk either. It won't hang the same, I'm not stupid. But that's not the point. 

I am the cheapest toiler I know. And that is the point.