Knit Throw Pillow DIY

I thrifted this big cable knit sweater last weekend. It was $5, above my usual sweater thrifting quota, but I really wanted to make a throw pillow, there was a lot of cable knit in this, and the buttons were nice. Thus, I hacked it up.

My pillow interior is down filled and 18×18, and this sweater was more like 16×16, but the knit was able to stretch enough. Really it looks more rectangular here, which is true, but it worked out. I had to take the sides in an inch on each side because you can see that I had to hack the top a little above the armpits.

I did a 3 length zigzag stitch for the seams. Knitting goes through the sewing machine pretty slowly, so I think it’s held together quite well. I did all four sides, and the buttons are on the middle of one side of the pillow for opening/closing. I ended up tacking and hand sewing between the buttons because there was a bit of gaping due to stretching the material, but now you can not tell.

P.S. The pillow is on the living room couch now.

Trifting and Upholstering some Mid Century Mod Chair

We found this old chair at the thrift store about a month ago. I always keep my eyes peeled for these. Sometimes I find them and then think, I don’t really need another chair. But chairs are useful. You can sit on them. I can put them in the basement. They are easily re-arrangeable for larger gatherings. You can make them look cool.

I told S that we should get a shopping cart and cart it around while we shop. He thought I was crazy. Lo and behold, some lady started stalking us throughout the store admiring said chair and quizzing us on it. I gave S a ‘see what I mean’ look, and he realized I was right. Sometimes it takes men a little longer to clue into realizing we are right, but this was nice because it was immediate gratification demonstrating my accuracy.

Here is the little metal plate with the chair maker name. Their history is found here.

And thus, I reupholstered it, and here is the result. I wanted to get rid of the upholstering on the back part, but it was riddled with nails from what I believe were previous recovering jobs. The wood is a bit beaten up, but still in good shape, so I opted not to refinish the entire thing (S wanted to).

Right now it is sitting against the wall in the kitchen. We are kind of making a sort of gallery collage on the wall. You can see the chalkboard I gussied up here on the top right.

Chelsie Style and DIY Tray Upgrades

I was always keeping an eye out for a high waisted skirt, but they were always either too cheaply made, or the shape was not flattering. I found this skirt and shirt on the same shopping trip to my local Salvation Army. It is nicely lined, and structured with strong stitching supporting the waist form, and is made from a nice sturdy but soft almost jersey knit. The make is Sandwich and it is quite comfortable.

I find the skirt pairs well with more vibrant button downs that might be more risky on their own. Sometimes just throwing a cardigan or vest over a bright shirt works better than it might have solo. I also like the impact of the strong red paired with the bright purple tights.

I have not been thrifting as much lately because it doesn’t fit as well with my new schedule. Before I could hit all the thrift stores in town during my lunch hour, or during the summer when I was working part time, I would do the rounds after lunch. Now I get home at 5 and all the stores are closed and the Salvation Army is not even open on weekends and closes weekdays at 4!

Luckily I have a bit of a backlog of projects. I got these pretty trays this summer. I wasn’t keen on the dark grainy wood look (this picture makes them look nicer than they were), and was initially thinking of keeping the gold. Unfortunately, a) the metal was looking a bit rough and scratched up, and b) trying to tape it up to avoid spraying it was just too tedious. Thus I sprayed it all. Spray painting took me approximately 2 months – I know, sad.

I was a bad spray painter. Sometimes my coats were too thick. Some days were too windy. I ran out of spray paint for the underside and did not feel like taking my bike across town to get more. Eventually they all dried and I brought them inside. These trays or super handy for putting books on, arranging on the ottoman to make it a more solid coffee table, or setting out snacks and drinks for guests.

 

Katie Style – Butt Buttons

• Dress – thrifted
• Belt – thrifted
• Scarves – thrifted
• Necklace – Millie’d, via a thrift store in France!
• Shoes – Soft Spots

Once upon a time, a shirt dress, a raincoat, and a military flight suit had a tawdry and illicit threesome in a dressing room. Nine months later, this blue number was born and sold for $2. The price might make you think the affair was a cheap one (as most tawdry and illicit sartorial threesomes are), but the dress was made with love. It was just complicated since the raincoat was already seeing some snowpants.

So here I am now, with a dress that has shoulder epaulets, a weird flappy thing over the right shoulder/boob, and buttons up the front and back (!) of the skirt.

Did I mention it has butt buttons?

That is all.

Katie Daily Style – Matriculation in Silk

• Silk shirt – thrifted
• Pants – Gap
• Tank – Target
• Shoes – Softwalk

It’s EBEW Thrift Day!

If there’s one course at Thrifting University I’ve aced, it’s Silk Scarves. With a collection of Chanel, Hermes, Dior, Vera, Liberty and Valentino numbering solidly in the double digits, I’m basically that annoying type-A overachiever who always sits in the front row and raises her hand for every question.

But there’s always more to learn and now that I have one degree under my belt, it’s time for the next. What to study after silk scarves? Why, Silk Shirts, of course!

Enter this beauty:

I snatched this brand new DKNY, 100% silk shirt at Buffalo Exchange for a whopping $5.00 and it’s true love. Not only does is have the most perfect shades of purple, red, cream and gold, but it makes me feel like a giant finger painting. This one definitely gets an “A.”

Here are some other ways I’ve worn my favorite thrifted silk pieces:

Interested in pursuing your own degree in silk thrifting? Check out my post on finding and caring for silk scarves over at My Edit.

And, finally, I have five words for you: Pantsless Flapper-Dude Silk Scarf.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to write my term paper at Goodwill.