Tutorial: Shirt into Cardigan

 Hola!  I'm Michelle, the baby of the sisters in the "Thriftygirlchallenge" and I live near Charleston, SC.  I'm so excited to be posting on my sis's blog and to be sharing a cool tutorial.  This is the first month of the Thrifty Girl Challenge, and I think it has been a success!  I can't wait to see what we find during the other 11 months.  It hasn't been easy, especially when Target had an extra 15% off their clearance and Free Shipping or Loft outlet had 50% off everything including clearance, but it has been a great exercise in being creative!

One of the best things that happened this month is the clothing swap I went to last weekend.  I came in with 10 items and left with 12 including a Calvin Klien Dress, a Polo Shirt, a curling Iron (not pictured) and a cute red tunic dress.  Take a look at what I got!

At last minute I decided to snag the black and white Ann Taylor Tee.  It was a little short but I knew I could use it somehow.  So, I turned to Pinterest and found a way to turn a shirt into a cardigan with little effort.  So, Sunday night during commercial breaks I made this shirt into a super cute Cardigan.  Below is the Tutorial.

Stuff you need:
scissors
shirt
thread
button (found one laying around the house)
iron
iron bonding (hem tape will work too)

First, cut a straight line down the center, like so.

Next, turn inside out and using the iron bonding stuff (hemming tape could work) fold a half an inch back, put in the iron bonding, and iron.  It sticks!  Repeat on other side.

Turn right side out.  At this point, you can leave it or add a decorative button.  I decided to add a button. *If you want you can sew a small piece of ribbon in a loop on the other side to hook the two sides together.  This was my original plan but the shirt was too tight after I took a half inch out on each side.*

 Voila!  You have a new sharp looking cardigan.  Pair with a tank and your set! 

Guest Blogger~Thrifty finds

So as some of you may remember i am doing the "Thriftygirlchallenge" with my 2 sisters. My older sister has found some pretty good things lately and she is going to share some of them with you! I can honestly say after reading this post I had some MAJOR thrifting envy, so it's ok if you do too!!


Hi! My name is Marie, and I am Renee's big sister. I live in Connecticut, and wanted to provide some finds that I found up here in New England. One thing I will say about Connecticut, is we have amazing thrift stores and consignment shops. I have scored some amazing finds in the past. Here are some of the best that I found on my last trip.

One thing I love to find at thrift store is great workout clothes. These are items that I want, but hate paying the high price for them in the store. Up here, one of my favorite thrift stores is called Savers. I love this place, and I also love that they sponsor Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of Hartford. I love that my money and donations go to help something local. The first outfit is a mint green addidas top, that I was able to pair with a brown pair of yoga pants. The total cost for the outfit was 7 dollars! The second outfit is another addidas shirt that I was able to pair with some BCBG pants, this outfit also cost 7 dollars. So I was able to but two different exercise outfits for what one shirt would cost me on the clearance rack!!

I loved the detail on this grey cardigan that I also scored at Savers for 5 dollars. I think it will look great with  a black pair of pants for work, or a pair of jeans for a more casual look.

My favorite find of the day came from a local Goodwill store. I have been eyeing a hoodie and sweatpants from Victoria Secret. I have been wanting them for a while, and almost ordered them online since they are on clearance, however I stood to my commitment not to buy anything new for one year. Plus I really did not want to spend $ 50 dollars on the set. Well, while browsing the Goodwill, I came across these great sweatpants and hoodie. Now they don't match, but I'm fine with that. I ended up paying $15 for both pieces which is more than I usually pay, but I was glad and excited to do it!

What have you found at your favorite thrift stores?

2012

Denim shirt-Walmart clearance (2 yrs ago) high waist jeans-Old navy clearance (Black Friday)
 clogs-too old to remember where they are from
( pictures done by my wonderful and sometimes cooperative to my crazy ideas ie:please be my photographer on this busy street near this cool building husband). However he wouldn't stop snapping( see the picture of me grabbing the camera?!!)  


As we approached this new year I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. My "want list" was growing with anticipation of the "blow money"( or mad money) the hubs & I get each month. I wondered when I would feel like all the items I buy will be enough? When will I no longer have that need to buy more & more? I became disappointed in the person I was becoming. I mean 2011 saw some tough financial times for us and I learned ALOT of good money lessons! How could I so quickly forget what I had worked so hard to learn?

I really started thinking about resolutions. I didn't want to just do the normal ones I usually make. You know the eat healthy, get in shape or read my bible more. As a woman who loves herself I should already eat healthy and work out. As a Christian who loves God I should already be striving daily to read my bible more. I wanted this year's resolution to be life changing. When my sister first talked about the "Thriftygirlchallenge" I knew it could be life changing, but I think I underestimated how much of a life change it could be.

Since I started the "Thriftygirlchallenge" I already have a new confidence. I had confidence before but this is different. It's like a confidence that I can know I am already on my way to becoming a better version of myself. My eyes are opened in a totally new way. It is amazing when you release yourself from the bondage of buying materialistic things how you really start to appreciate things. You start to appreciate what you have already been blessed with instead of feeling like it's not enough. This appears to be happening in all aspects of my life not just with my clothes!!!!

SO my new quote is" Challenge yourself to do something great! Don't just settle for the normal and ordinary! You never know how "the something great" is going to change you!"
What are your new years resolutions? Are you being successful at those resolutions? I would love to hear what they are and we could motivate each other!!

Clothes Swap

A Clothes Swap

Before my "Thriftygirlchallenge" I had planned a Clothes Swap with some of my friends. Clothes Swaps are a great way to get some new clothes for free!!The coolest thing is being able to get something and style it in a whole new way than the original owner ever thought of. So everyone brings clothes they no longer want and you swap them for each other clothes!!!

 So us girls got together and we had a good time making dinner. To me there is not much better that is good to the soul, than standing around a kitchen with the girls cooking and talking. You know when you get together with your girls it's always a good time when you can eat & gab!  After we ate it was time to start swapping!! We had everything laid out all over Becca's living room. Everyone gets clothes pins with their names on them and you pin them on the items you want. Now there will probably be some double pinning of items. In that case you can arm wrestle pick a number or any other method to decide who gets the item. Once we started trying stuff on we let the item go to the person it looked the best on!

I really lucked out and got many new favorite things! I wanted to show you some of my goodies and some ways I was able to put some outfits together with what I already had!!

 

I got the Blue Gap Cardigan and the Target Black Rosette Tank from the clothing swap. I added a pencil skirt, black tights and black booties for a winter work look. Then I paired the cardi & tank combo with some white shorts for spring & summer!! 

 Cardi- Clothes Swap

Rosette Tank- Clothes Swap

O Gray skirt- Old Navy(5 years ago)

black tights-Ross (1 year ago)

 Black booties-Payless( 4 years ago)

White shorts-Old Navy( 2 years ago)

Total cost of 2 new outfits =$0

My next favorite was an Ann Taylor Loft Green Boyfriend Cardigan. When I saw this cardigan I knew instantly it would look great over my leopard print shirt & some jeggings!! Cardigans are so versatile!
I added a gold belt & some gold buckle flats to give it a more polished look. You could wear it on casual Friday or to a kid's school function.

 Here I just added some very comfy tan suede moccasins for a laid back weekend look!

 Green Cardigan-Clothes Swap   Leopard Print  tee- Goodwill(back in the fall)

 Jeggings-Bealls Outlet (last year)  Gold belt- Charlotte Russe( last summer)
      gold buckle flats-Target ( 4 years ) Tan Suede Moccasins-gift
                                                         Total cost of 2 new outfits =$0

 This Dress is a Sleeveless Merona by Target dress. It has amazing detail at the top. I paired it with a my cardigan and some boots for the winter. I can't wait to wear it in the Spring & Summer with some bare shoulders and some sandals!!!

 Dress-Clothes Swap

 Cardigan-Charlotte Russe( Christmas time)

 Boots-Bass Outlet( 3 years ago)

Total Cost of a new outfit -$0

So I lucked out this week and got countless new items to add to my wardrobe for free!!! Please excuse my lack of photography skills. I am trying to work on that :) I will post some pictures of my friends and their goodies they got too!! No one left empty handed and we were pretty happy with what we took home.

Have you ever been to a Clothing Swap? If so I would love to hear about your goodies you got! If you want to know how to get one started in your town I would love to answer any questions and help you! 

Thrifty Girl Challenge

The Thrifty Girl Challenge was born from a New Year's Resolution my baby sister came up with. She stated that she wasn't going to buy any new clothes, accessories or shoes for the YEAR!! She was only going to shop at Thrift stores for her outfits. She wanted to save money and see how creative she could be with her outfits. So me being the competitive girl I am( I love a good competition), plus my lack of a good New Year's Resolution, I decided to take the challenge too. Then in all of our hype our older sister decided she would join us too. The funny thing is we are all in different states so our experiences are going to be COMPLETELY different!!! We have already started our thrifty shopping and have found some really good buys!!!!

Here are the rules:
1. you can not buy  New clothing, accessories or shoes , you can only buy pre-worn from thrift stores, consignment stores or eBay pre-worn.
2. undergarments & make up are allowed to be bought new( I think that goes with out saying)
3. under tanks & socks can be bought new
4. you can accept & spend gift cards to clothing stores for special occasions( birthdays, mother's day, valentine's day, anniversary, ground hog day, president's day ,ect)



This blog will be about our finds as well as our savings from all of our good finds. I would like to share what I am able to do with my money I am saving!! I have never blogged before so this will all be quite the learning experience for me!