Nifty Thrifty: The Thriftening

Anyone who knows me even a little, or just looks at my Flickr account, can tell I am a big fan of thrifting. It seems it's gaining in popularity, what with vintage fashion experiencing a surge in popularity and also everyone being poor. Prepare for hipsterness; I did it before it was cool. My childhood Saturday mornings, my parents and I would head to the big AmVets thrift store in downtown Fresno. I think the building has since been torn down for baseball stadium parking, which is lame because it was an awesome old building full of little nooks and cranies and hilarious crap. My mom and I would take turns suggesting hideous sweaters to each other and giggling while my dad looked for random junk and the most embarrassing pants he could find. He had a thing for knock off Zumba pants with geckos and chili peppers.  Now you know where I get my fabulous fashion sense. Oh, yeah. 

Since thrifting holds a special place in my cheap little heart and Saturday is my traditional thrifting day, every Saturday is Nifty Thrifty! I'll be showcasing my recent finds and older acquisitions, as well as cool stuff other people have thrifted. I'll also be including tips for thrifting, projects for thrifted goods, and probably some other stuff. Yay stuff!

The first installment of Nifty Thrifty is going to be dedicated to some of my favorite thrifted clothing. Clothing is most of what I thrift, and I have to say it has totally spoiled me when I shop in real stores. I was seriously debating buying a $30 dress at Target. THIRTY WHOLE DOLLARS I CAN GET LIKE 20 SKIRTS FOR THAT. But it was super cute and the last one, so I'll deal.

This outfit is all thrifted and has some of my favorite pieces. I got the summery little dress last year, but the denim vest is a more recent acquisition that I'm predicting will get massive amounts of wear. Want to know why?

Check out the sweet rainbow studs; it's like hardcore adorable. I'm pretty sure this is a little kids vest and I don't care. It's all soft and stretchy and broken in, which is another good thing about thrifted clothes. Also, it makes my boyfriend roll his eyes which I enjoy because we basically live to annoy each other. We're mature.

Speaking of vests, I made this one sort of. I was having trouble finding a vest I liked, and then I remembered vests are just blazers with no sleeves. So I thrfited a blazer and cut off the sleeves. If you want to make a blazer into a vest, cut the sleeves off about an inch below the shoulder seam. Fold a double 1/2" seam and sew. Magic!

These are some more of my favorites. The dress is super cutesy and fun to pair with less girly things like wide belts, black tights, and boots. Here's a better view of the top of the dress. I also wear the crap out of this giant scarf when it's chilly because it's basically like wearing a small blanket around your neck, except you look slighly less crazy.

It seems I'm developing a proclivity for clothing with big birds on it. Two of my all time favorite finds are the owly skirt and the peacock dress. The owl on the owly skirt is a pocket, and skirts with pockets are automatic win. It also has little built in shorts from lining material so I don't flash people when I fall over. Which is often.



Dresses with giant peacocks on them are totally versatile



Then, of course, there is the peacock dress. My cost per wear, even after having to translant the peacock to a new dress, is probably below $1 at this point. If I had to describe my style in one word, that word would be "peacockdress". Because I am a cheater. But also because I love this dress like chocolate cupcakes and adorable piglets and I am going to cry when this poor peacock is too beat up to wear anymore. I might make a montage video with sad music too, we'll see.