I’m Not Going to a Funeral…I Just Like Black

When I go to a thrift shop, I generally don’t have anything specific in mind to buy. I may be keeping an eye out for a pair of jeans or a jacket, but I’m not on a mission of desperation for that one item. I just like seeing whatever’s on the racks and maybe I’ll come across something interesting.

Although there’s a wide array of colors to choose from, I often end up with black garments. I suppose it’s not terribly surprising since black is probably the most popular color for clothing, thus there are just more black garments to choose from. I found two black pieces at two different thrift shops.

The first is a black wool and angora Yarnworks sweater—which is quite warm. It has scallop edging along the collar and some beadwork. It clearly has some decades on it (as there are shoulder pads). I like that it’s a little looser in the bodice but tighter at wrists and waist. This is one of those items that I nearly feel on the fence about, because it could lean frumpy—but in the end I think it’s how you put everything together that makes an outfit work or not. It’s a comfortable sweater and I think it works well with a pair of jeans. I bought it for $9.99.

The second item I got was a pair of black pants from White House Black Market. They’re in a tuxedo style with satin at the waistline, and there’s an additional satin detail on the slits on the side. These pants were $5—a pretty good deal.

Altered: Navy Coat

When I got this navy coat at an estate sale months ago, I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep it. I bought it (along with everything else), mostly on a whim. I think I tried this coat on and thought it fit well enough to get, even though I wasn’t necessarily happy with the entirety of its design. But for 50 cents, I wasn’t going to be super picky. As it was summer, I didn’t have an immediate need for it so it just sat in a corner for a while.

Once the weather started to cool down, I was more motivated to take a look at this coat again. I decided I liked the general shape of the coat, but disliked certain design details that I felt dated it. As is, the coat looked like it’s from the early 1980s. I didn’t like the stitching detail on the collar and the cuffs. In fact, I didn’t like the cuffs at all; I just wanted a straight sleeve, which meant I needed to sew fabric to the ends of the sleeves.

I didn’t want to try and match the navy color of the coat because I thought it was bound to be off, so I decided using a different color would be best. And while I thought a cream color would make an excellent color combination with the navy, I decided to go with black because it’s more practical. I can easily see a cream sleeve brushing against a wet dirty car and getting dark smudges all over it (and no doubt that would happen if I were to wear it). [Sigh.]

I removed the stitching on the collar and removed the cuff part of the sleeves. I just attached the black fabric to the ends of the sleeves in a way that made sense to me. It wasn’t very difficult and took an afternoon to do. Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the result; it’s a small change but I think it makes a large difference.

Altered: Sleeveless Bias Tape Top

I picked a blouse to do my first alteration from the mountain of clothing I got at the last estate sale I went to. I chose this white blouse that I had no desire to wear as-is; it was too large on me and had a slouchy high neck that I didn’t like. Since I wasn’t attached to this blouse (in any way) and had bought it for 50 cents, I didn’t feel bad cutting it up (because usually a part of me will worry that I’ll “ruin” a garment in some way if I try to alter it).

When I looked at this blouse I saw some potential. I liked the lapped front that covered the buttons. I also thought that the polyester material it was made from wasn’t bad. I thought about different altering possibilities and decided to use black satin bias tape (that I’d made a lot of some time ago) to finish my edges.

So first I cut off the sleeves and took out the shoulder pads. Then I cut around the neckline, along the base of the high neck neckline. I cut the sides open and sewed them in and then I finished all my edges with my bias tape. It wasn’t hard (although it did take me longer than I anticipated). But I think the result is pretty good. It’s a very simple black and white top that will work well with a lot of my skirts.