thrifty bits

I love thrift shopping. It's how I get most of my knick-knacks, picture frames, bedspreads, and all of the fabric I sew with for my Etsy shop! I'm a ridiculously decorative person and am at my happiest when surrounded by quirky and pretty decor. This could get expensive if I did all the shopping through regular retail; I've found that thrifting is not only frugal, but incredibly rewarding. Giving new life to an otherwise discarded item brings me much joy and also makes my wallet very happy indeed.

I usually go to GoodWill here in town atleast two or three times a month as well as the thrift shop in Hadlock about once a month. I'm also a huge fan of the GoodWill and Value Village stores in East Bremerton, but generally only get out there a few times a year. I've heard the new GoodWill in Silverdale is pretty well-stocked, but have yet to see for myself. Soon and very soon.

The Eiffel Tower lamp was purchased many moons ago when I still lived in Port Angeles, sometime in 2002 or 2003. It had an ugly shade that got thrown away almost instantly. Up until 2006, I had put a boxy leopard print shade on it, then the shade that's on it now (which is plain off-white and dull). The scarf thrown over it was bought here in PT for 79 cents! The scarf on the top of the dresser was also bought here for about the same price. The red candle holder is a thrift find from 2006 or 2007 and was 25 cents if I remember correctly. The dresser was $20 at an estate sale in Cape George - I have a feeling I'll never need to buy another dresser for the rest of my life.

This tin lives in the bathroom and contains all of my hair clips, post earrings, and rings. I found in for 50 cents at the Olycap thrift shop in Port Hadlock. I love the fisherman, he looks so friendly.

This is the bookshelf I bought down in Portland and I fall more in love with it every day. I love that the paint job on it is all distressed and weathered. I just bought the hobnail vase last weekend at GoodWill for $1 and yanked some branches off a cherry tree on the way home from the store. This town has so many opportunities to get free wild flowers and things off the side of the road.

These microfiber towels are one of my most prized second hand finds! They were $2 total and I use them for everything from dusting bookshelves to wiping down the counters to drying off dishes to cleaning the computer monitor, the tv, mirrors, windows... they are pretty much perfect. They were the first kitchen towels I bought when I moved out here and every towel I've bought since has had to match or coordinate with these suckers to make the cut.

Fatshion: turn it to the left!

Clothes, clothes, clothes... Goodness gracious, I am officially obsessed. I swear, I don't own that many articles of clothing. The only people I know who have less stuff in their closets are my "jeans & t-shirt" friends. I don't have a very big budget and try to find pieces that can be mixed and matched and aren't stuck in just one outfit; I want to get lots of options out of each item. This top (actually a dress, but I've been wearing it as a long top) is one great example of versatility. It looks good with a variety of scarves and can be worn with my vests or my grandpa sweaters... Now if only I also had it in black, I could pair it with any of my leggings instead of just my black ones.

It's incredibly comfortable, which is a MUST for me. It's the whole reason I ditched jeans - I finally realized (last summer) after wearing them for my entire life, I had NEVER found jeans comfortable. It didn't matter if they had stretch or not or what the fit-style was, I had literally never owned a pair of jeans I felt comfortable in. Even as a thinner person, it just wasn't happening. I had been searching for the "perfect pair", assuming it was just me that had some kind of issue and I just wasn't looking hard enough - I finally realized that what I was looking for didn't exist. The closest thing I found was Lane Bryant's Right Fit jeans. The trouser style was incredibly cute, but the stretch wasn't enough to make them comfortable, while it was certainly enough to give me ass sag and waist gaping after a single wear. Bleh. Plus, those jeans are HOLY EXPENSIVE, Batman. POW!

For awhile it felt incredibly weird to ditch all my jeans and wear other stuff, but as with all things in life, I got used to it. Slowly but surely, I got used to it.

top and boots - Torrid
vest - Etsy
scarf - Forever21
earrings - Target
bracelets - Icing
leggings- OldNavy

Also of interest: Same basic outfit with a different scarf. This doesn't showcase the tops diversity as much as if I had changed the vest or worn a sweater, but still, you get the idea.

yes no maybe - check one

As far as my idea of making my own dresses goes, I was recently advised by a good friend (who also happens to be a proficient seamstress) to consider moving the fabric I bought (but not enough of) on to a different project. Not having purchased enough yardage to work off of my original basic pattern will only breed stress and frustration. I don't have the level of skill to alter the details very much if/when things don't turn out perfect on the first try. I'm not keen to enter into such a complicated endeavor when I know my limits and my chances of failure are high. I'm an easily discouraged crafter and only do well at new projects if I'm confident, ambitious, and willing to experiment - I just don't feel that confident in this specific thing. My beginner-level projects need to be things I can conceivably accomplish without shooting myself in the head or walking around muttering "stupid Jasie, stupid Jasie", ala George Michael Bluth. Someday I'd LOVE to make my own clothes, but for now my focus is on smaller, more do-able things that bring me some of that much-needed instant gratification us children of the 80's so desperately crave.

This same friend has also been inspiring my sewing lately, though I'm not sure if she's aware of it. She's done many recent posts detailing her trek through a particular sewing book (that claims itself to be "for beginners", but SO is not). I helped her cut out and organize the pattern pieces weekend before last and was SO FUCKING OVERWHELMED by their sheer impressiveness and mostly by her drive to CONQUER them. I mean, seriously, I've been around sewing all my life, and while I may not be any good with a machine, I'm fairly adept at hand-sewing and the things I do know - these garments are hard, people. Hard. With a capital H. And bolded. Hard. And that instant gratification stuff? You won't get any of that when making these pieces.

Even though I don't possess the "dive-in" attitude that these projects require (and that Kelly very much so seems to possess) , the attention to detail and pattern mixing really struck a chord with me and I felt compelled to incorporate some basic patchwork into the things I make.

This even led to a new section being added to the shop! So while I totally make sewing promises to myself that I'm not equipped to keep, it's all about the little things and successfully branching out where I can and rocking it.

this is how it works - you're young until you're not, you love until you don't, you try until you can't.

Some things about myself that I've finally fully accepted:

• I am not a dog person. I've never bonded with a dog, don't ever plan to own one, and am totally grossed out by dog hair. If this makes me a bad person, so be it. On the other hand, I LOVE cats. I've had seven cats in my lifetime and have loved five of them deeply as some of my best friends. The other two were passive aggressive assholes. Actually, all but one of them was an asshole, really... but I loved them and they loved me in their special (read: asshole-ish) way.

• I don't operate well on less than 8 hours of sleep. I know I'm spoiled and that most people don't have the opportunity and/or ability to get this much sleep in adulthood - I relish my spoiled-ness and roll around in it like a pig in mud. The times I have gotten less sleep than my body needs and I've tried to compensate with coffee have been... oh let's see... disastrous? That might be an exaggeration. Or not.

• I get anxious easily and it shows in every facet of my non-verbal communication. This is something I'd like to improve about myself, but since it's such an abstract thing, I really don't know how much success I'll have with that.

• I have a severe weakness for a specific "junk food" - Spaghettios & meatballs. I know it's technically disgusting, but it tastes how being 8 felt.
  

We used poisonous gasses (with traces of lead)

Space Station and FOTC from Jasie VanGesen on Vimeo.