Clearance Dress from Target

Sometimes I am surprised to find some really nice things on the clearance rack. Lately, I've been having a lot of luck with Target clearance. I highly recommend their clearance section.

I am always skeptical of anything found on the discount rack, and for good reason. You shouldn't buy clearance clothes without trying them on--that's my policy. A reason the item might be on clearance in the first place is because it might have a strange fit or weird fabric. You definitely won't know for sure until you see it on yourself!

So when I grabbed this dress off the rack, I didn't have high hopes but I couldn't resist--look at the price, for crying out loud!

 The dress actually fit quite well! It was definitely worth the price.

I wore my new dress with leggings, boots, a tie at the waist, and a long-sleeve shirt layered underneath. Very cozy!

DIY Add Lace to a Cardigan

For today's trick, I'm going to take an old sweater that has been turned into a cardigan and add lace.

Remember this DIY cardigan made from an old sweater? Well, we're going to take that idea and add some embellishment.

 I cut this old sweater down the front to make it a cardigan. It looked fine left that way, but I was wanting more. I grabbed some scraps from a project I'd done with lacy curtains purchased at the thrift store. I cut strips, then began sewing them along the inside of the cardigan....

 And here's the result! Very easy. I went back and added a little more lace to the neckline to make it looked even nicer:

It sure looks fancier than it did in the first place!

DIY Louise Costume

For Halloween, my sister dressed up as Tina, and I dressed up as Louise from the show Bob's Burgers.

It was a major search to get the components of this costume. I ended up getting fabric and sewing the dress myself. It was a pretty makeshift, but it worked. The fabric was like $6.50.

For the hat, I bought a pink hoodie, cut off the hood, and cut out the ear shapes from the rest of the hoodie. I used pipe cleaners to line the ears so they would stay straight. This didn't work as well as I hoped...

If I did this costume over, I would have bought pink fleece to make the hat and just sew it all from scratch rather than using the hood from the hoodie. I don't feel like it saved that much work, and it was more expensive than buying fabric. 

Clashy Red and Pink

So, I guess there's maybe like some idea floating out there that you shouldn't wear pink and red together. I've always loved these colors together, though.

I got this red skirt and this camel blazer at the thrift store. I got the yellow scarf at Wal-Mart like a year ago. I think it was like $3. 

I got this sweater at Target on clearance for like $11. I couldn't resist the sheep!

Here's a cool post that totally supports my love for pink and red. 

Second Chance Halloween: Tina for $20!

Halloween is a WONDERFUL time to give clothes a second chance. It's great to recycle, and also great to save money on a costume. I mean, to get a cheaply made piece of crap costume that's already made, you'll probably shell out close to $50, and even then it might be missing components. This is one reason I love thrifting and looking for deals around Halloween.

Months ago I decided that I wanted to be Tina from Bob's Burgers this year. Over the coming weeks, I collected the various parts for my costume, and I'm happy to say that this costume can be made for $20. Yeah. For real!

Wig: $6, WalMart
Glasses: $5, WalMart, on clearance
Bow: $1, WalMart, on clearance
Shirt: $2, thrifted
Skirt: $4, thrifted
Socks: $2, Target (painted my own stripes)
(Shoes: already had similar ones I could have used, so I'm not counting this as part of what I purchased for the costume, but I did need some new ones so I spent like $15 on them at WalMart.)

Success!