A blog about the things I make and modify, with occasional thrift purchases that I am especially proud of. Some things I make to hopefully sell, others I just want to show off, but the right price will take anything--shoot me an email if you are interested!

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Thrifted Stuff for Sale

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?57921-AAAC-Informal-Trad-Thrift-Store-Exchange&p=1470081#post1470081

Ties, many jackets in the 38-40 range (and some in other sizes), and lots of other stuff. PM on that site, comment here, or email me if you're interested in anything.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

New Ties and Squares

I have finally finished some things, just in time for the season to change and make them all inappropriate. Well, there are a few items for fall/winter, but mostly summery stuff. Bow ties will run you $18 shipped and squares $22, since the edges are all hand-rolled.

The green solid and blue striped are from silk ties, the navy blue from a Citadel tie. The red neat pattern was cut from a silk scarf, along with some of the squares. The pink tie was cut from a polyester tie my brother gave me.








The gingham are from a subtly wavy cotton seersucker, and the blue plaid are a cotton madras.










The pink is a smaller linen up-cycled form some linen pants, the red plaid is cotton madras, and we've just seen the gingham. The red are both from the silk and each have one solid edge.






















Here are some shots of the hand-rolled edges.












Monday, August 12, 2013

Ties for Sale

I need to thin out the herd. Make an offer if you don't like the price, especially for multiples.  photo 100_3032.jpg  photo 100_3033.jpg  photo 100_3034.jpg Wembley: 3" x 56" wool-rayon-poly blend $8 SOLD
Nieman Marcus: 3 3/4" x60" wool-cashmere blend (very thick) BNWT, but with one tiny hole on inside of band ($100 marked down to $67) $30 SOLD
Tommy Hilfiger: 3 3/4" x 57 1/2" BNWT $15
Flying Scotsman: 3" x 58 1/2" $10
 photo 100_3035.jpg
J A Banks: 3 1/4" x 57" Made in USA, some wrinkling at knotting point $15
Polo: 3 1/8" x 56" Hand made in Italy $20 SOLD
BCBG: 3 1/2" x 58 1/2" $8
 photo 100_3036.jpgTommy Hilfiger: 3 3/4" x 59 1/2" contrast back blade $8  photo 100_3039.jpg
Rooster: 3" x 56 1/2" some wrinkling at knotting point $15 SOLD

Things for Sale

I have for some time sold things that I make or find cheaply at thrift stores through this blog. I have decided that this process will be easier if I tag all posts with something available as 'for sale' and then remove the tag when items have sold. This way, I can easily direct someone to the 'for sale' tag on the right hand side, and everything will be easily accessible. I hope you find this helpful.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Upcoming Posts and Selling.

I've been thrifting and eBaying (a bit too much), so I've gotten some nice stuff that I haven't been able to post. I've also made some time for projects, including some Pocket squares with hand-rolled edges and some bow ties, so be on the lookout for those posts.

I'm trying to get rid of some stuff to make room, so If you are looking for camel hair and other sports coats in the 36-40 range, I've probably got something for you. See pics here.

Here are some ties I'm looking to pass on as well, most for a very modest price. Email me if interested:


Finally I listed this pair of sz. 10 Green suede Puma sneakers on eBay.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Stuff on Sale

I got some cheap stuff from a mall brand online with some stacked coupons. The belt I wanted sold out in my size, but I really wanted it, so I bought it in a larger size with the intent to alter it's length. I'd seen this before here.

 At this point I'd cut to the desired length and added tape as I found in the finished end.

 Here it is complete. Unlike the job linked above, I went around twice so there are continuous stitches like a machine would produce. I used a thimble and doubled thread of a standard size to do the job, and I think it was fine.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

I Made a Sermon

I'm doing a year-long pastoral internship, and just gave my first sermon this past Sunday morning. It can be heard here.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

I Cobble Sometimes

I got some used shoes that I liked the styling of, but were in less than ideal condition. The heals and parts of the soles were very worn and basically needed to be replaced. Since the motto of my life seems to be, "If you want something done right (or for little money) you have to do it yourself," I bought some stuff and got to it.




In these first pictures you can see how worn the leather bits of the heel are. I've already used the claw on a hammer to pry them up and remove the nails. 

Altering Jacket Length

I'm too lazy to fix this picture, but you can see how short the sleeves are. Usually you can't lengthen sleeves unless they are new because there will be a wear line where the old hem was, but since this is 100% cotton Madras and in such a big, bright pattern, its not as visible.
So I took them apart. There was an interlining that I removed, ironed, and reattached. 


Then I added an inch in length and started to redo the out placket with the mitered corner.
 Each fold gets an ironing before hand stitching together. I found it too difficult to do the miter on my machine, so I just did a few hand stitches.










Here its ready for stitching.
The inner placket is easy, and once they were all sown up, I put the buttons back, paying attention to placement on the unaltered sleeve. I used masking tape to keep them straight while sewing. Last of all I re-sewed the lining to the edge by hand.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Sewing Projcets

I've had some free time since the semester ended, and I've been using it to get some work done that has needed doing for a while. I've been altering some pants (tapering and hemming) as well as lengthening the sleeves on a Corbin Madras jacket that I'll finally wear after years of owning.

I've begun to notice some things about proportion between various parts of a pair of pants/shorts. The overall look isn't so much a matter of the actual width at any point, for instance, but more so the relationship between the width at several points.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

I Made Layers!

 The little woman hadn't had a haircut in a while, and apparently I'm rubbing off on her, because she decided to try a trim herself. If it turned out poorly, she'd just go in to have it fixed, and be no worse off than she would have in going to the salon in the first place. After giving the overall length the proper correction, she asked me to help add some layers.

Here's what I did. We both liked it:


A Special Birthday Cake

My wife asked for either a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, or an ice cream cake. I hardly do any cooking or baking (I make a mean omelet, but that's the extent of my abilities). I do, however, tend to get a bit carried away with my DIY projects, and this was no different. I decided to make both cakes at once, as a surprise. Erin even asked if I was just making a boxed cake, assuming I might try to go made from scratch, but she guessed wrong!

I went with a box of fudge marble yellow cake mix, chocolate frosting, chocolate peanut butter ice cream (her favorite), with  Reese's (her favorite) and Butterfinger (just to keep the peanut butter theme going).

Since the ice cream was already soft from the hot car-ride, I stuck it right in a cake pan lined with parchment paper then stuck it back in the freezer to harden with a layer of mashed up Reese's on top. This was flipped onto the bottom layer and sandwiched under the top layer to give cake-->Reese's-->ice cream-->cake-->frosting (sprinkled with crushed Butterfinger). Icing the sides with soft ice-cream was hard, but I got it done.

Here are the two cake halves at home before the addition of ice cream.
Here is the finished product. I wish I'd taken a few more pictures in between, but I was a bit busy and doing this all in steps.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Some Great Thift Finds

Here are three pocket squares that I got for a great price! Two are silk and the grey one is a soft cotton (sold). I've been trying to get some new color in my closet since I mostly have shades of blue and red (which are great), so there's a lot of variety I'm missing. The red piece is a silk scarf with a pull (lower right) and a stain which I plan to turn into bow ties and pocket squares. I don't need the blue one and wouldn't miss the grey too much, so they are both up for grabs. $3 for the grey, $8 for the blue silk.

 I also picked up this navy tie.
 It has a really nice texture and some gold stripes.

 Finally, I got some 7.5D  RL Polo Bench Made spectators (two-toned shoes). I'm not sure how much these retail for, but it was probably around $200 or more. The soles have hardly any wear, so I'm hoping to got a decent bit of money for them on eBay or elsewhere. Anyone need them?
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