I'm Moving Along

I have been so preoccupied with life that I completely forgot to post anything lately. There is much to post about though ... another thrifting adventure filled with even better finds than the last, some projects that are in the works right now, and big big life changes happening as we speak I type. 

It is official, I'm moving along! Moving along from my job, moving along from Seattle and moving towards being with my hubby. The weekend Pete came home from the six week tour we spent a lot of time talking about how to make it possible for me to spend more time on the road with him. After looking at how much $$ we spent on flying me out (only twice!) during the six weeks, we decided it definitely wasn't worth it for me to stay home. Especially because I was able to come out for only two days each time. That's four whole days out of 45 that my husband and I were together! Not fun. 

Ever since we made the decision for me to quit my job and go on the road with the band, each day has been super busy trying to get everything in order for when we both leave on May 4th. This time we will be gone for about six months so there is a lot to get figured out.

I am super excited to not only spend all my time with my hubs but also have much more time to craft and get my Etsy store up and running. In addition to my full size sewing machine, I also have a little mini guy that Pete got me on our first wedding anniversary. It will be perfect to take on the road and work on some projects in the RV.

Isn't he just adorable?! It can be electric or battery operated which makes it even easier to travel with. The hard part in all this is going to be figuring out how to pack for six months... wish me luck! 

These Old Clothes

Due to some recent decisions that were made in this little Wilson family, motivation to get my Etsy store up and running just tripled!! I put my motivation to good use and went thrifting this weekend. I am trying to be as smart as possible with the purchases I make so I took advantage of a super discount day at a thrift store by my house. I was able to get 15 items for a very very small amount of cash! 

I thought I would share with you some of my fantastic finds. (Please excuse the horrible picture quality. They were all taken with my phone since our camera is still missing somewhere in Priscilla, the RV)

Teal green sweater with a slight bat sleeve, cropped in the front and gradually gets longer in the back. (I actually wore this one to work today!)

Blue and white geometric striped sleeveless sweater.

Cream blouse with flying geese print, mid length sleeve with button detailing.

Cropped white sweater in a chevron design.

Royal blue blouse, longer in the front/back with the sides a little shorter and a large front pocket.

Beige lightweight tweed, high waisted A-line skirt with buttons all down the front and slit pockets.

Grey high waisted A-line skirt with side slit pockets.

White elastic waist A-line skirt with front pockets.

Navy blue high waisted pencil skirt with pleated detailing on the front and side slit pockets.

Long denim skirt with buttons up the front and front pockets.

I have big plans for all of these old clothes, some I will alter, some I will sell as is, and some might end up in my closet and just stay there. Out of this bunch the first one I want to work on is the denim skirt. Right now it is a little too long and looks kind of frumpy. My plan is to take it up to the knee and then I know it will be just perfect!

I also have a handful of dresses from a previous thrifting expedition that need to be altered so hopefully this motivation stays around! I plan to stop by on this little gem of a discount day a few more times in the coming weeks and get my collection a little larger before I start listing things on Etsy. Stay tuned to see the progress of my Carole & Clarence collection!

Pin

I took a short sabbatical from blogging since my hubby was home for a quick week. I wanted to soak up all the Pete time I could! I am back now and will try much harder next time he is home to not get so distracted. He is just so handsome so I find it hard to concentrate.

The real reason for this post is to share another big accomplishment in my sewing journey. I was so encouraged with how fast I picked up hemming that I decided to move on to mending. In the past when I would find a little hole or seam that came undone I would do one of two things, 1. absolutely nothing, I would keep wearing the item as is (classy I know) or 2. use a safety pin (probably equally as classy, but I like to think of it as creative). I bought the shirt below new last summer and realized that there was a little hole in the side once I got home. I was too lazy to drive back to the store so I wore it as is for a little while and then added a safety pin to the seam. It actually worked quite well. I would wash and wear the shirt and the safety pin just stayed right where it was. It probably would still be in my shirt right now if I hadn't learned to turn on my sewing machine. 

Right before my little trip to California I decided that the pin had been in my shirt long enough. I sewed up the side and it is as good as new! Or better than new actually since it came new with a hole in it. Then I moved on to a favorite shirt of mine that I picked up at a thrift store last summer. 

The shirt definitely wasn't in perfect condition when I found it. Two of the three buttons were missing, the third fell off a few weeks later, and the seams were a little loose but I still count it as a great find. Gradually the underarms seams came more and more undone and there was no way a safety pin would be able to hold it together. 

I turned the shirt inside out, pinned up the seams as a guide, spent a few minutes trying to figure out what kind of stitch to use, finally picked one, still not sure if I picked the right one, turned it right side out, and decided it looked good so I went to bed. This was all done around 1:00 am, the night before I left for California, with still having to wake up for work the next day and having yet to pack for my trip.

I suppose I no longer have any reason to use safety pins to hold my clothes together. In fact I vow to never wear a safety pin on an item of clothing in public ever again. I should probably clarify that the pins were never actually visible. I pinned the inside seam and from the outside you couldn't even see the outline of the pin. Still ... I know, not very classy and we Wilsons really do aspire to be as classy as possible in all areas of life. 

Classiness proof below.