Joann Fabrics and thrift store hauls!

Joann's stuff:

 

Thrift store stuff:

 

 

 

 

 

Antique store stuff:

 

Hey everyone! Here's a big post of the stuff I got basically throughout July.
I think I've been kind of a shopaholic this past month, which isn't a very good thing right now since I'm not making much money! But luckily most of this stuff was cheap, and I liked all of these purchases.

The Joann's stuff:
- I got the blue plaid fabric to make a skort! I def will make a diy post on that.
- I got the brown paisley fabric for a dress I had been planning for weeks before. I was just waiting for when I was going to be in the vicinity of a Joann's since there isn't one near me. I will probably make a post about the dress. I took lots of pictures except toward the end of making it since it has been kind of annoying. I 'finished' it yesterday night, but one side of the collar is messed up, so I'll probably go back n fix that (grr).
- The brown below the paisley is just the lining fabric for the paisley dress.
- Below that are zippers and thread for those projects I mentioned. I got the elastic for a scrunchie I wanted to make with the red fat quarter in the next picture.

The thrift store stuff:
Most of this stuff I'm keeping as is because they fit my fashion and me already.
I bought the blazer and belt for my future cosplay of Bloody Mary from "The Wolf Among Us," aka "Fables."
The two things I bought to change up are the gray collared shirt and the overalls. I really want some overalls, but these giant things were the only thing I saw. I got the pants sewn to my fit, but now they are turning into a pain so I'm avoiding them. I might make a post about what I did to the polo.

The antique store stuff:
I went to an antique store in downtown Plattsburgh in early July. I was already in the area and didn't have much time to look around because I had to get back home soon. I was able to find this cute bag, which I ended up using at my friend's wedding. You can see it in my selfie with my dress at this post!
I recently went back, looking for some rings and anything else that caught my eye. I found some cute rings and a matching floral shirt and short set. Pretty good finds!

Hope you all enjoyed! Maybe it will also give you all inspiration to check out your local thrift and antique stores :)

Thanks for reading, or just looking.

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#TBT: How I learned to sew

This week, I had an idea suddenly for throwback Thursday! I want to tell the story of how I got into sewing. I'm also using this story to mark the event of me getting a sewing machine from my favorite person, Brynn :), as a gift for my graduation from college. Yes, I'm a graduate now. Almost a two week old graduate (oh, how time flies). 

During my high school career, I was already a crafty youngin'. I was really into knitting my own stuff. I even joined the knitting club at my high school for a short period. Of course, I got kind of bored with every project unless I could finish it in maybe two days tops.

I started to go to thrift stores as a senior in high school, mostly towards the end of my last semester. I also became more fashion conscious and went on Lookbook.nu and Modcloth daily to look at the trends.

Here's me as a senior in high school, wearing one of my first thrifted purchases, a dark velvet vest. I was so young!

College is the place where you an reinvent yourself, so I tried to express myself more through fashion when I entered college.
I got really into crafting with t-shirts. I would draw designs on my them, like "Moo-stache" with a cow drawing, and "Konnichiwa" in hiragana when I started learning Japanese.
I bought this book "108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt" from Generation T, which I used to kick start my learning to sew. In the intro to the book, they include many hand stitches: names and descriptions of what the stitch does and what you should use it for. I used this book to start sewing t-shirts into things. I would buy the color and amount of t-shirts I needed from AC Moore or Michael's, I would cut the shirts up just like you would any fabric, and I would sew the pieces together. It may sounds strange but that's how I did things. It helped to have the base of a t-shirt already so I could just add on to it whatever I wanted.

This happened throughout my freshman year at college and slightly longer. My first actual sewing project was a dress I made out of t-shirts for Semi-formal 2010 at my college.

I think it was good for my first sewing endeavor. It's interesting looking back at it and seeing how much I've gotten better at sewing. I sewed the seam that connects the top to the skirt with a back stitch because I was like "I want a strong seam here," but that was a mistake. The first time I tried it on after I sewed that seam, I realized I could not put it on because that stitch does not stretch at all. Needlesstosay, after all that, I was still proud of it. I handsewed it out of t-shirts in a weeks time! So I was happy.

After this, I started to sew more things, mostly cosplays. I'm still pretty proud of my Mion Sonozaki cosplay I sewed out of all t-shirts, except the tie. That tie was like the first thing I sewed not out of t-shirts. I followed a pattern for the first time with the tie as well

I sewed this in the summer after my freshmen year in college, so I had more experience by then but not much.

Since then, I've sewn some more cosplays, bows, skirts, etc. This year, I got into making circle skirts. Even with all the experience I've gained in handsewing, my first circle skirt didn't turn out the greatest. Sewing is a learning experience! I know that well.

So, I don't know how many people read my stuff, but I'm going to ask you guys anyway.
If you sew too, how'd you get into it? And are any of you interested in cosplay? Because I can totally post more on my cosplays.

Thanks for reading, or just looking :)

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