Buying Thrift Shoes...

During a recent conversation with my sister Marie, I was telling her about my latest shoe find and how little they cost. She too loves shoes and loved the price but she was concerned that shoes could cause problems that clothing doesn't. With clothes you bring them home and either wash them or dry clean them and anything that might be on them, dirt or otherwise, is washed away. Laundering shoes is okay for sneakers and slippers but no one is going to put their leather pumps in the washer.

Here are some of my tips on buying shoes from the thrift store.

• first off, I only buy shoes from clean, dry, well organized stores I buy from a variety of stores some are cleaner and drier than others (I do live on the Wet Coast after all)
• next look at the inside for wear, if the name is worn off the inner sole these are well loved well worn shoes. As I peruse the shelf I only pick up the ones with little wear inside
• sometimes the previous owner used insoles protecting the inner sole from wear, so next flip the shoes over and check the treads for wear. I only buy shoes that have no wear on the bottom soles
• when you get them home wipe them down with a damp cloth with just a touch of antibacterial dish soap (not too much soap or too damp as it could damage the material or leather)
• last use anti fungal spray or powder inside the shoes and let them sit for a day or two before wearing them
• finally if you spot a pair, like I did on the Naturalizers (below on the right), that still have the store tag on them you can be pretty sure they haven't been worn previously

725 Camo for $5 and Naturalizers for $12

Note the treads on both are still intact and the Naturalizers have the store tag (Note the dirt on the Camo shoes is from me, forgot to take a picture while they were still clean)

London Fog!!!

I am so excited, I just came home with a London Fog trench today. These coats retail anywhere from $100 to $200. I picked mine up for $10 at the same thrift store I bought my $20 retro leather coat.

This coat is ankle length and fits perfectly with a sweater underneath so it will work well for me for the fall and well into winter, with the leather coat for the slightly cooler days.

London Fog Trench for $9.99

Harley is checking the bag with the denim skirt I also picked up. $2.99

Sewing

I love sewing, it is fun and creative. When I was little I would find scraps of fabric and sew stuffed toys by hand.

Now instead of stuffed toys (which are still fun to do) I prefer making clothing and quilts. Making clothes requires some special tools which can be kind of expensive. So I made some of my own like a sleeve roll and a pressing ham. Mine of course are not like the professional ones but they mostly get the job done.

Imagine my surprise when I was strolling through a thrift store, because I was early for an appointment, and I discovered a pressing ham and a sleeve board for $1.75 each. To buy both these items retail it would be over $50. So I saved $46 buying at my local thrift store, where my money is put to good use.

Sleeve Board & Pressing Ham

Dog Toys

Our 9 month old Rottweiler is hard on toys. A standard tennis ball will last about an hour if she puts her mind to finding out what is inside it. When she was spayed recently, the vet told us to keep her calm and quiet for 10 days (we made it to about 5 before she drove us crazy and we had to run around outside). I had noticed stuffed toys with squeakers only dogs can hear so we thought what a great way to keep her quiet and we don't have to listen to the noise.

It lasted an hour or so before the squeaker was chewed to tiny bits. The toy itself lasted about 24 hours before all the stuffing was removed and it was a little shred of red fabric. It cost $15 and did not keep her quiet for nearly long enough.

On my most recent trip to a thrift store I decided that I would take a look at the children's section for stuffed toys. Even though she is hard on them, Harley really loves playing with them. So for $1.50 I found a teddy bear and a lamb toy.

Harley's "new" bear eyes and nose removed.

Please excuse the blurry photos it was
difficult to get her to stay still for a photo.

I gave her the bear and within an hour she had removed the eyes and nose but the rest of the bear remained intact for 3 full days before the stuffing started coming out. Once the stuffing came out I pulled out as much as I could so she wouldn't make a mess and eat it. Even without stuffing she is still playing with it and having fun. Once it is reduced to shreds I will give her the lamb (or until she is testing my patience some day).

Here is my thought on the whole process. Pet toy manufactures are not as worried about getting sued for a pet getting hurt by a toy as children's toy manufactures are. Therefore toys for children are better made and will last longer for dogs than dog toys specifically made for dogs...go figure.

These are some tips on buying children's stuff toys for dogs:

• check the bottom ends for bean bags, they are far messier to clean up than fibre fill stuffing
• don't buy thin or shiny fabrics, they are weak and will have sharp teeth through them first bite
• try to get toys without the button eyes and nose, they will get chewed off quickly and could be a choking hazard
• cut off tags and ribbons before giving to the dog
• remove any doll clothes from the toys
• you may even want to cut a small hole and remove all the stuffing, dogs don't care if they are stuffed or not

Lastest Re-jeans bag...

I found an interesting contest on Craftsy to make a beach bag with fabric from Spoonflower. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to make a Re-jeans bag with this fabric. Unfortunately I received the fabric from Spoonflower several days after the contest closed.

This did not stop me from make a fun new bag and trying something new.

As usual, I love the contrast of the pretty bag with the seemingly pretty fabric until you look closer and realize the fabric is skulls and snakes. Thank you to Whimzwhirled for the gorgeous pattern on the fabric, its perfectly me, colourful contrast.

Dressing for summer....

I found my closet was lacking in summer clothes for work this year. Most likely because my last office job was in an office that was icy cold summer and winter to keep the printing machines at the correct temperature.

Here are some of my finds. The light cotton blouse with the cotton/linen blend, black skirt is a bit whimsical and a lot of fun. The dress needs to be fixed up a bit before it becomes a work dress but the other 2 outfits fit the bill. The green, cotton top with a long denim skirt is a nice classic.

Denim...

I think denim is my favourite fabric. I love how it gets softer with wear and washings (there is nothing more comfortable than a broken in pair of jeans). If it gets torn it or cut it frays in such away as to enhance the fabric. You can do many distresses on it because it is very strong.

You can wear it casual, dressed up or for working in the garden. Its always fashionable.

When I came across this fantastic find at Salvation Army in Courtenay last week I couldn't resist buying it. A portion of it is already slated for a suit made from a pair of jeans and some fabric.

Check it out 5.5 meters of 64" wide denim for $20. It is usually $15-$20 per meter at the fabric store.

Quilting

I thought this was kind of fun, it is self updating as each block is complete.

As I am completing each block I started to think about how to use recycled clothing as cloth for blocks. This is how quilts were originally made. History of Quilting in Canada

Perhaps I will start to look for cotton shirts on my next shopping trip....

...the rest of the shopping trip

Here are the other things I bought yesterday. The cotton tie up pants for bumming around home, the black and white lace to go under the crushed velvet vest and the merino sweater that I am not sure if it will be slippers or hats because it is quite thin.

cute outfit

I met a friend for coffee today and asked her if she would like to check out a thrift store I hadn't been to before. We were both surprised that the prices were a bit high for a Salvation Army Thrift store but we did find many things to try on.

Here is the outfit I came out with for a grand total of $10:

please excuse the wrinkles I haven't washed them yet

The skirt is cotton and the top is linen, both look to be almost new. That is until I was setting up for the photo above when I discovered this:

The CA07043 is a sticker which means this top is new never washed. A big score in thrift shopping.

Besides these scores I also found a merino sweater that will look great as slippers, a lacy top to wear under the crushed velvet vest from the other day and a pair of flowery capris for bumming around home. These are pictures for another day.

more sweater slippers

My cousin Michelle requested a pair of sweater slippers; so here they are decorated with a purple rosette.

The turquoise ones are an experiment in using the bottom ribbing from the sweater to create the cuff. They turned out okay but I think the ribbing may have stretched a bit giving the slippers a wider opening than I like. I need to see how they wash up anyway so I am going to try on those ones first.

I have been wearing the first ones I made around the house. The floors in our house are always cool even in summer (could be a slight lack of insulation...) so having a light slipper is perfect. My next adventure is a pair for Roger, he isn't a slipper guy but maybe if they are light and easy to wash he will like them more.

sweaters and jeans

I decided to go shopping at Value Village today in hopes of finding those elusive wool sweaters I need for my new project of sweater slippers. The reason I haven't been to Value Village in recent years is because their prices have gone up and the are double or more what other thrift stores are. On the other hand it is a different thrift experience. Here in Courtenay our store looks more like a department store than a thrift store it is freshly built, open less than a year, the aisles are orderly with everything in its place. On the other hand they have a bigger selection than the others because they are a chain and instead of relying on donations they buy from organizations like the Canadian Diabetes Association.

My shopping adventure was successful as you might imagine from the photo posted above. The red and grey sweaters were already partially felted and the green one has a bunch of holes in it but once it is felted I just have to work around them.

I also found a couple pairs of jeans. The bright red ones are going to make a great bag but I am especially interested in the other pair because they have silver thread woven into the denim. They will make a particularly sparkly and pretty bag.

cashmere shrug

Several years ago I found this gorgeous dark pink cashmere V-neck sweater. Unfortunately it was way to big on me so I would wear it around the house on cool days but never wore it out anywhere.

Over the last few months I have been taking classes on a site named Craftsy. You learn at your own pace with video instruction. If you have questions you can email the instructor. The classes are very well done and you can learn at your own pace. I have made several things including a fully tailored suit, 2 blouses and I am half way through a couture made dress. Then I discovered Project Upcycle by Betz White! She Recycles or rather Upcycles clothes and one of her projects is turning a cashmere sweater into a shrug.

This is my result, I am very happy with it and can't wait to wear it to work this week!

upcycled shrug

Today's great finds...

Today was my errands day. I went to the thrift store, fabric store, Walmart, the hardware store, garden store and gas station. It was a busy trip but when you live 1/2 hour from town you tend to want to do all stops at one time.

t-shirts to make bags

I had the best thrift shopping though, I went for sweaters (still very hard to find, only found one) and t-shirts (for shopping and hand bags).

summer tops and a hoodie

Then I found these great tops for summer. I just love the crushed velvet with the cream cami under it. The hoodie looks like its never been worn and the green cotton tank is just my colour.

25 cent rack

Now for the topper.... both of these were on the 25 cent clearance rack. The French Dressing jeans are going to make a lovely hand bag and the blue tank is so summery and pretty.

Sweater Slippers

My latest adventure has been hunting down old wool sweaters and remaking them into new things. I like to think of it as saving the environment one ugly sweater at a time.

The process requires felting the wool (washing in hot water in the washer) so that it becomes a very dense material. I have to add that it usually isn't difficult to find wool sweaters, especially felted wool, in the thrift stores. What I wasn't expecting was how hard it would be to find sweaters of any kind let alone those with a mostly animal fibre content. I searched all my favourite stores and came up with 3 sweaters and a sweater vest.

The picture above features the second pair of slippers I made today of one of the sweaters and the burgundy sweater vest. They are really fun to make and the first pair are currently residing on my feet and I must say that felted wool is very cozy and toasty.

Jeans

Most people I know dread shopping for new jeans. I used to be one of them. When you walk into a store there are rows and rows of jeans that all look mostly the same until you start really looking at them. After a long search you find one that appeals to you find the size that you think will fit and go try them on only to be disappointed that they don't look or feel quite right. The whole process begins again... The worst part of this whole experience is finding out one pair of jeans is $100 or more.

Because I now buy jeans for Re-Jeans as well as for myself my process is a bit easier. I pick out jeans that will look cute as a bag then buy them. Once home I try on the ones that look to be my size and keep them if I like them the rest become bags.
I know this won't work for most people but I am willing to help others find jeans in thrift shops, and yes the experience of finding that perfect fit and style is still difficult but you have the comfort of only needing to pay $5 or $10 for designer jeans.

Not Quite My Style...

I bought a sweater a few days ago that is not quite my style. I generally don't wear animal prints. Since the sweater was only a few dollars and really quite pretty I decided to buy it anyway.

It isn't my usual style but it is really cute!

This is one of the aspects of thrift shopping that I love. I can try new things and go outside my comfort zone a little and if I really don't like it I didn't waste my hard earned cash on something I will not wear again.

Shoes, a girl can never have too many...

After my shoe remark in the last post I thought a shoe discussion was in order. I don't usually buy shoes at thrift stores. Most often I pass by my size and see if there is anything that catches my eye but isn't too worn and I don't buy any.  Lately though I have been having the best shoe luck. In the last month I have found 4 pairs that are all in perfect shape and fit very well. All of them are under 2 were under $5 and the other 2 were under $10.

My shoe finds.

The Nine West Pumps are my favourite of all these. My last Nine West shoes lasted for many years and I wore them until they were too scuffed and scratched to wear anymore. The Sam & Libby green sandals are my second favourite just because they are my favourite colour and go with 1/2 my closet.

1930's Catalogue

My neighbour sent these pages from a 1930's catalogue. Talk about ultra feminine suits and skirts. The styles are beautiful.Not so sure I love the shoes though.

These prices are a little better than thrift stores but we can still get good deals too.

Consulting Services

I took a friend out shopping the other day for outfits for work. She had recently lost some weight and wanted better fitting clothes but didn't have much to spend. When I mentioned that she could get good quality clothes for very little money she was very excited to try thrift shopping.

We only had time for 2 places but I decided to show her my favourite place in Courtenay as well as another store that is a little less pretty. By the time we were done she had several new outfits that will mix and match well including a cute little sheer black shrug that will go with everything.

This was when I had the idea that there may be others out there who would like to learn how to shop thrift and consignment. Seeing as I have done this for the last 15 years or more I started thinking that I should use my knowledge and techniques to help others do the same.

Pink, cotton, floral dress by Cleo $6

Welcome to Re-Chic!!

I have been shopping Thrift and Consignment for more than 15 years. I started out as most people do by needing clothes but not having much cash to spend on them.

It started out as a necessity and became a passion when I discovered I could own a far better wardrobe this way than I ever could buying retail and it was extremely affordable. What I mean by this is that I could buy much better quality materials and designer; neither of which was within my reach otherwise.

Leather coat: $20