Guest Post: How to Thrift Vintage

Because I'm currently on a boat somewhere in Alaska, a few of my awesome blogger friends have agreed to help me out by contributing guest posts!  Today, Faith of Sweetened Style is going to give us some tips on hunting down great vintage finds at thrift stores.  Take it away, Faith!

Hello Sew Sew readers!  My name is Faith and I blog over at Sweetened Style.  I also have an Etsy shop where I sell vintage clothing and accessories.  When I was first starting out, I had to ask myself...how does one find the vintage goodness in a modern day thrift store?  I scoured the internet and here’s the tips I found the most helpful:

1. Where was it made?
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If the item was made in the USA, you’re pretty much guaranteed that it’s vintage.  Most of our clothes are made overseas these days, so an American made piece is a great find!  Finding something that was made in a country that doesn’t exist anymore is also something to look for.

2. The Union Label.

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These little red, white, and blue labels mean that the garment you’re holding was made by a clothing union.  If you see this, you know it was made before the 80s.  Check out this article for more info on what each label means!

3. Labels with city names.  

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If you’ve found a piece that says “{Brand Name}, New York/Paris/London”, then congrats...you’ve found yourself another piece of vintage!  The stylish woman of yesteryear took joy in having the latest Parisian fashion or a piece that was modeled on the New York runways.  

That’s just the beginning!  If this has piqued your interest, just do a google search for “how to find vintage” for more info.

Thanks for reading! I’ll hope you’ll hop on over to my blog or Etsy shop and say hi sometime. :-)

Dipping my toes into colored denim

There have been a lot of trends lately that I kind of remember from middle school.  Printed denim.  Vests.  Floral rayon skirts and flowy pants.  I am not ready to sport most of them.  It's too soon!  Middle school was an awkward time for many of us.  I don't care to re-live it through my clothing at this time.  I think these looks are cute on other people.  I'm just not comfortable enough to try most of them.  Still, I've been seeing a quite a bit of colored denim, and thought maybe I could handle that.

  jacket and jeans: Old Navy     tee: Kohl's     rain boots: Wal Mart

I was getting ready to run errands in the rain, hence the boots.  Notice that these jeans are, in fact, colored denim, but they're still blue.  Baby steps.  I found them on the clearance rack and thought, what the heck.  We'll see how it goes.  They also happen to be ankle length, which I am not used to.  Wearing full length pants has been ingrained into me after years of thinking ankle length = high waters.  Maybe next time I'll try some leopard print denim!  Ok, probably not.

What are you wearing?

Back in college (you know, a hundred years ago), my friend Samantha and I would call each other up, and, without identifying ourselves, immediately ask, "What are you wearing?"  Then we'd laugh.  A lot.  Back then we had regular phones in our rooms.  Not a lot of cell phones on campus in the late 90s!  It was the dark ages, I tell you what.  Anyway, to make an on campus call, you didn't have to dial the entire 3 digit prefix, you could just dial 2-whatever the last 4 digits of the phone number were.  Sammy had THE BEST phone number on campus.  The last 4 digits spelled LEGS.  So, whenever someone wanted to call her, they just had to dial 2-LEGS.

Aaaanyway, this is what I'm wearing today:

dress and bag: Target     necklace: Nordstrom Rack     (unseen)wedges: Payless 

I'm not looking at the camera!  And you can't see my shoes!  I need style blogger lessons. 

 The majority of blogs that I follow deal with style and fashion, so I thought I'd throw in an occasional outfit post on my blog.  I had a doctor's appointment today and had to get 2 SHOTS (boooo).  I thought wearing a cute outfit would make me feel better.

In other news, I seem to be growing out my bangs.  It's more, "oops, I keep forgetting to make an appointment for a haircut" than it is actively trying to grow them out. 

New in the shop: Bow Ties!

But, not just any bow ties. Vintage bow ties, of course.  Great for the man in your life with classic tastes, or for yourself!  Rock it like Claudia Kishi!

 

This one might be my favorite.  The little red diamonds are metallic!

 

This is a close second, for sure.  I love all things plaid, and the little embroidered...thingies make it extra retro.  Anyone know what the symbols are?  Or are they just there to look pretty?

Another plaid.  I do love a plaid!

That was just a little sampling.  There are more available in my Etsy shop!  Do stop by and look around.

Blogger Secret Santa

I signed up to participate in a Blogger Secret Santa Swap organized by Viktoria (of Viktoria with a K) and Mary (of babble & bloom) thinking it would be a fun way to get acquainted with other bloggers.  My Secret Santa was Heidi of Literate and Stylish, and just look at all of the fun things she sent!

 

Gum (how did she know I had a gum habit?), a cute notebook that will be perfect to carry in my purse, some fun lip gloss to experiment with, and some warm knee socks!  But, that's not all...

 2 thrifted necklaces!  I wear beaded necklaces quite often, so these fit in with my collection perfectly.  How I never visited Heidi's blog before, I will never know.  We have a very similar taste in clothing, and I just love reading about her thrift store finds!  She is now a permanent fixture on my Google reader.

A big thank you to Viktoria and Mary for putting this swap together!  I had fun, and hope to participate again in the future!

Stop the presses...I finished a sewing project.

Oh, hi there.  You'll often find me casually leaning on bookshelves.  Can you tell I'm not a style blogger?  Have I ever posted a a photo of myself here?

Ladies and gents, the first sewing project I've completed in our new place.  This is a super simple top from Simplicity 2188.  No buttons, no zippers, and only 4 patterns pieces.  Easy peasy.  This would be a GREAT project for a beginning sewist.  I used a nice orange cotton blend (I think) from my fabric stash.  I ended up using the wrong side of the fabric.  The right side had a sort of a sheen to it, which is fine, but not really what I wanted for this top.

Pleating detail at the neckline.

Right before we moved, I did a major closet clean-out, and ended up seriously lacking in the shirts/tops/blouses department.  I actually made this to layer under jackets and cardigans, but I kind of like the way it looks on it's own as well.  Not exactly practical for a Chicago winter, but I'll trot it out solo come Spring and Summer.

My Favorite Style Blogs

I have a love-hate relationship with fashion.

I grew up with body image issues (pshh...who didn't?), and not a lot of extra money for clothes.  This isn't a great combination when you are young and desperately want to look awesome.  I wore a LOT of hand-me-downs, many of them coming from my brother or (mostly boy) cousins.  Thrift stores also played a big role in what I wore.  By the time I hit high school, I had embraced a kooky, colorful style.  Lots of vintage, lots of loud patterns, LOTS of polyester (oh Lord...the polyester). 

Nowadays, I like myself a whole lot more than I used to.  I try to keep myself healthy, and not pay as much attention to the size number on my clothing. I go for classic pieces that will help me look neat, pulled together, and will last a long time.  I still shop in thrift and consignment shops, but avoid the wacky polyester prints as much as possible.  I get a lot of good ideas on how to mix colors, layer pieces, etc. from various style and fashion blogs.  These are three of my favorites.

What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear?

I am a big fan of Glee, and Emma Pillsbury is probably my favorite character.  WWEPW  is packed with good things, from how to replicate Emma's outfits at different price points, to hilarious screen caps of the show.  Check out that killer bang swoosh!

academichic

Four busy graduate students who still have time for style.  They look particularly fancy in this photo (I wanted a shot of all four ladies together) because they are celebrating A's wedding.  The outfits they put together look effortless and stylish without being uptight or uncomfortable.  Also, they have got to have the best shoe collection out there (in my eyes, anyway!)

 Smiles Go With Everything

 Style and sustainability for the optimistic soul.  I found Diana's site after searching for a blogger with a similar body type and size to my own.  Her style is close enough to mine that I feel comfortable trying out the looks she puts together, but still different enough to give me some new ideas.  We also share love of natural fibers, and a dislike of polyester.

Pulled Together-ness

I read a really great interview with Laura Bennett yesterday. For those who don't know her, she was a finalist on season 3 of Project Runway. In the interview, Laura talks about her own personal style and how she dresses herself every day.

I've been thinking about how I dress myself lately, and how much better I feel when I put forth the effort to look pulled together. Laura mentions that it doesn't have to take a lot of time to look nice, and she is right. Dressing nicely and neatly makes me feel ready to face the day, and do what needs to be done. Of course, if I plan to spend the day scrubbing toilets or painting walls, then yes, messy clothes are fine.

Also, can I just say that I LOVE that she wears regular old Cover Girl and Maybelline lipstick and cuts her own hair? I've always imagined her as this really fancy person who shops at the Chanel counter and goes to some super swank salon, but no, she's just a normal person. Click the link above to read the whole interview.