As I round out my second month back on the blog, I have to say I’m feeling better than ever about it. 🙂 I never feel quite as “me” as when I’m actively blogging.
All that to say, Thanks for reading it. 🙂
While I love refashioning, I also love scouring thrift stores, antique malls, yard sales, and even auctions for unique and/or vintage threads.
If you want a larger dose of my somewhat quirky thrift store style, as well as pics of Douglas and Benson, make sure to follow me on Instagram!
Last month, I was all about layers.
This month, I was all about orange! Orange is one of my favorite colors, and it’s not just for Halloween, kids!
Here are my favorite outfits from this month!
My New Favorite $1 T-shirt
I found this amazing T-shirt in the boy’s section (never overlook it, friends) and upon wearing it felt transformed & empowered! I paired with a $1 thrifted pair of orange pants, as well as a $1 thrifted duster, my sweet Dr. Martens, and a lovely Nana bag!
I wore my new tee to work, and got loads of compliments on it. Apparently, if you wish to earn the respect and admiration of your colleagues, you should sport a tee with your chosen spirit animal!
Vintage Mr. Boots Dress
A few years ago, a coworker gifted me an amazing vintage haul from her grandmother.
Of all those amazing vintage frocks, this one is my favorite.
I styled it with a vintage scarf (that used to be my grandmother’s), some leopard print wedge booties, and yet another Nana bag (this one non-thrifted)!
$1 Union-Made Vintage Trench Coat
It’s hard to feel glum on a gross rainy day when you have a bright coat like this!
And just look at this:
I always try to buy vintage clothing if it has a union label, as these pieces are just so well made! It’s also nice to buy something that was made right here in the US, rather than China or Bangladesh.
$1 Turtleneck Dress & a Vintage Brooch
I really think I might try to make the #BringingBroochesBack hashtag happen, you guys. Because I just loooove them.
I rocked my basic black turtleneck dress with a faux fur vest gifted to me from my friend, Marcia, along with my $3 thrifted Coach Willis Bag, A $25 pair of cowboy boots I bought back in 2007, a $1 vintage thrifted head scarf, and of course this gorgeous brooch I snagged for $12 at an antique mall.
So there you go! My favorite outfits from this month! I hope these give you a lil zap of inspiration for how you can wear your own thrift store finds!
Let me know which look you liked best (or hated the most) in the comments below!
Happy Thrifting, and I’ll see you on Instagram!
Cheers!
I really love the black dress with orange, but wish I could see it a little better. . . (I think, “Is the orange an edge to an overlay or sewn on? And is the hem a straight one or slightly asymmetrical?”)
So glad you’re back!
I am so glad you are back! I follow a few blogs and I actually read yours from top to bottom … I also have a dachsund Raisin … keep the posts coming!
Jillian, I am elated that you decided to go back to blogging. Ten years ago The Refashionista was my happy place, where I escaped the dread of a pointless office job (would spend hours on end on the internets, as there was very little to do.) The 26-year old me was enchanted and amazed by your sense of style, resourcefulness and vibrant personality. You were the one who convinced me to start cutting clothes apart and make them fit my body (and tastes.) I enjoy refashioning to this day and it proved to be a lifesaver, as the 36-year old me doesn’t fit in most chain store wares anymore anyway. 🙂 I’m so glad that you seem to be happy and quirky as ever! Keep up the good work! Love, Nina from Poland.
Thank you Nina! Ten years ago I was really bored with my job and frustrated that my employer wouldn’t let me get into any of the digital marketing (a new thing back then) aspects of the organization, and that’s why I started my own blog. 🙂 It makes me so happy to hear you took up refashioning and are still at it. 🙂
omg, that orange coat is just too wonderful!! What a find!!
So glad you are blogging again—it makes my day when I see a new post from you in my email!
I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see you back to blogging! You are such an inspiration to looking at thrift finds in a different way. AND I agree, bring back the #broch!
Love the all black outfit with the bit of orange… the broach is to die for… the leopard shoes are the cat’s meow and grandmothers are where it’s at… Bravo on being one of a kind and sticking to your own style and fascination… Wowser!
Thanks! I feel lucky to have inherited a lot of really fabulous vintage things from her. When I wear them, I feel like somewhere she’s smiling, and that makes it even better. 🙂
My fav is the orange trench coat. Love brooches too. I have quite a few in my collection
Thank you! Yay brooches! Let’s start #BringingBroochesBack! 🙂
Love the color orange and I like what you did in these outfits. Great job!
Thanks! 🙂
Oklahoma State Cowboys fan here, so I love ALL things Orange! I love that brooch! I am going to did through my vintage box and see what I can find, and bring them out of hiding! Love your blog! Keep up the good work!
So glad you are back!
Now see, I get a bit of the evil eye when I wear orange here in Columbia, SC due to the bitter rivalry between Clemson and UofSC. Yay Sports! 😉
I absolutely love broaches. I have them on my jean jackets and cardigan sweaters. I have turned buttons into broaches and also cheap rings I have crafted into a broaches. I love your ideas, so inspiring!!
Ooooooh! I love the idea of wearing brooches on a pair of jeans! Don’t be surprised if I steal this idea! 🙂 Thank you!
Impossible to choose a favorite!! All are favorites, as are you…..SO happy you are back and congratulations. #BringBroochesBack should definitely be a go!! My perfect day would be to catch a glimpse of you walking down the street in Columbia SC (not in a stalker kind of way) just so that I could scream “There’s the Refashionista!!!”
Hugs!
Jeanna
Whoah. Whoah. Whoah! Don’t scream (I’m easily startled), just come up and say hi! 😀
That orange coat just reminds me of the lyrics to Singing in the Rain. (Grandson and I belt it out on rainy days here in Seattle.) You just have to have a bright raincoat for traffic safety, and so, Orange! The wolf’s eyes just hypnotize me, so that’s my number one, however, everything else is completely inspired and inspiring. Got my ticket for the Brooch Coach. So glad I saved a few from way back when. Now they’re at the top of my thrifting list. Love them on denim and wool.
I thought the SAME THING about the wolf eyes. It’s a powerful T-shirt to be sure! 🙂 Yes! Rock those brooches! #BringingBroochesBack!!!
Hi! I like 4,3,1 and 2. Basically I like all your refashions and styles. I do also refashion, and your creations inspire me a lot. Often when I see the before I find it hopeless, and you turn it in something really good. I have a free store in my town, and it’s a great place for findings of all kinds (for refashion or material).
Wait. Hold up…you have a FREE store?!???!!! My hometown had one of those that my grandmother volunteered at when I was in high school. Volunteers were allowed first dibs on anything that came in, so she’d come back with garbage bags full of awesome vintage stuff for me. That really made a major impact on my style today. 🙂 Thanks for bringing up happy memories. 🙂
Love the wolf shirt. those pants are to die for. A friend just sent me a pic of her hotel room. it has an orange refrigerator. It was the only thing I noticed. It said, “Love me! Love me!” And I DID!
Oh my goodness! Was it one of those funky retro SMEG ones? Mr. Refashionista and I have been coveting one for a while now. 🙂
I will be going on a trip this summer and need to wear a hat in the sun (since skin cancer surgery) so I will decorate my hat with all the vintage brooches that I have saved from my mom. I am going to sew extra padding and white cloth over the head area inside just to repell those sun rays even more and so the pins will actually help keep it in place. Also I’ll add a back drape to the hat to cover my neck area that is exposed.
I also have a vintage cloth purse that I use for special times and some of my brooches are on there. I have a magnificent large peacock one among them.
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy your blog better than any others I get. Always get ideas.
Love thrifting and $1 is my favorite price. Last Thursday got several tops and pants for $1 each at two thrift stores. Came home and ripped my closet apart. Have a bag full of clothes that I didn’t wear, didn’t like, won’t fit, need extreme fixing, and I kept these things thinking that someday I will have time to try on, start to like, get skinny and love extreme sewing to re-work something that I don’t have time to do.
Viva the Dollar Days !
Yes! Stay safe from the sun in style, I say! I’m also a big hat fan when traveling. 🙂
I like 2 and 3. The dress because the zig zag is different, the coat because it jazzes up a wet day. They all look great on you. And yes, I wear brooches and always have.
Thank you so much! Yay! #BringingBroochesBack (Yes, I know hashtags don’t actually work in this context and I’m just being funny).
Number 2 because that dress is a-ma-zing!
I asked my 6-yo son and he said “the wolf” Lol.
#BringingBroochesBack should definitely happen.
Your 6-year-old has a good eye! 😀
Mr. Refashionista severely underestimated his talent on the “angle shot”. Pairing the orange/black dress with the Nana bag is pure genius — they are perfect together. As a result, my vote goes to #2.
Haha! He’s learning. 🙂 Now if I can just get him to take pics without cutting off my feet or the top of my head on a consistent basis…lol
Living in the NW I would have to say the orange raincoat is my favorite. Not only very bight and colorful, but practical too.
Thanks! Major score, right! 🙂
1,2,3, AND 4! They all look great! I found a coach purse like yours for $2.00 at a thrift store (!!?!!!) and love it! You are my refashion hero☺️
Thank you! I wonder how much Thrift Karma we used up on our awesome Coach bags???
I like all the outfits, but in the first one you look better, because the loose hair. So chic! Thank you for sharing!
*Hair toss* Thank you so much!!!
I love #2! And those bags are wonderful. So glad you’re back posting! And a very late congratulations on your nuptials 🙂
Love the brooch and headband in 4. Just a touch of lovely orange. Perfect!
I LOVE bright colors, so I’m going wit #3, the orange coat! You always look fab!
So I saw the union label, and being of a certain age, the union song immediately came to mind. “Look for a union label when you are buying a coat dress or bag, remember somewhere a members working…”. Thank for the the memory!!!
Bring back brooches! I wore them all of the time in the eighties…think blouses with built in scarf…and have recently been digging them out of my jewelry box. Even have a few of my grandmother’s! Made one this week from a gorgeous button I found at Hobby Lobby.
Love the raincoat!
#4 is a great look. I really like #2 but knowing what you’re capable of, it doesn’t quite feel finished to me. I think shortening it a little to just above the knees would make it fantastic for me. I love the orange on you but I think I have shied away from real bright colors the last year. Fun blogs! Thanks.
I’m torn between #1 and #3. Also, I will definitely join the #BringingBroochesBack brigade. (A friend recently wanted to get me a gift from our local antique mall, and I said, “You know what I absolutely don’t need anymore of? Brooches. So that’s what I want.” Now I have a sweet faux-Victorian brooch on my coat.)
#3 . . . LOVE that orange trench coat!
I love your site…..always, always interesting and great…..I’ve used many of your ideas….TYVM!!!
I always look at broaches when i’m out thrifting. I have found a few nice ones
I am very Happy you are back to blogging. I don’t sew, but would love to fix things up. So I live vicariously seeing your posts. I am an avid thrifter, my favorite thing to do. Outfit #2 is my favorite- so sophisticated.
Torn between 3 and 4.
And as you feel happy about being back blogging, I was thrilled when you started again 🙂
I’ve never sewn anything before, but you always inspired me in that “Someday I’ll try…” kind of wistful way.
But this past month I actually started doing my first refashion- turning a men’s button up into the perfect apron that actually covers all of my boobs! It’s been fun and full of mistakes and is taking me way longer than it probably should, lol, but I’m glad I’m finally trying it and putting my perfectionist tendencies to the side :). Maybe I’ll even put a brooch on it!! #bringingbroochesback
Thanks for blogging again!
I love that your back to blogging! I have several brooches that were given to me by my mom. Vintage ones that I’ll never wear. I’d love for you to have them. Is it possible for me to mail them to you?!
I love all the orange! I can not wear black as it is too heavy and harsh for me but ORANGE! I bought 2 beautiful Orange Vintage lamps at a 2nd hand store a while back! Love them like an orange popsicle! As a fun color person – I can not name a favorite color – Orange, Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Red – all my favorite in lots of bright shades. My vintage 1997 Barbie Doll Jeep Wrangler is HOT PINK! I love that you are back – I look forward to your post!
4 is my favorite! I like them all though.
I´m with Susan A, Royal, I love the vintage black dress with the orange stripe. I also like the nana bag
I’m so, so happy you are back to blogging! I love brooches and love seeing your thrifting finds, whether you change them or not. Reading your blog had encouraged me to do more thrifting!
As usual, you are right! The orange is gorgeous! I love them all— but my heart keeps returning to that dress! And the purse with it——-
Love them but #4 is my favorite. Keep thrifting I love to see what is coming next.
I also love brooches but they’re often so heavy that they weigh down a lightweight shirt or sweater and can cause damage and a permanent hole in a tee-shirt or a fine garment. For the same reason, I would never put one on a scarf or shawl. I think putting them on a denim jacket, a purse/bag, or on a chain like Jenny Billings suggested in her comment, is a great idea.
I’m having a really hard time picking just one favorite. Love the wolf tee, the sassiness of the orange on the frock, the raincoat is scrumptious, and the fur coat paired with the boots is gorgeous. I have a whole box of brooches from the 70’s that I wore all the time. I must go through them and add them to my outfits.
Love the Nana bags you’ve found. Great looks! 🙂
I am all about brooches, too! I wear them whither they are fashionable or not. Love your wolfie T. 🙂
I looove orange. A couple of years ago I ‘had my colours done’ (what a blessing and a curse that turned out to be!) and I discovered that pink (my previous fave) made me look ill but orange was my friend, soooo, orange is the new pink!!
My reply ended up as a comment, but whatevs, I’m flexible… It makes more sense if you read it here…
On a bag, headscarf or headband? As a scarf fastener (silky or woolen)? Do you have a plain chain (long or short)? Depending on the fastening you could turn it into a pendant (permanent or temporary), or add it to a beaded necklace as a side or centre embellishment? On a coat or jacket lapel?
(Okay, I feel I’ve overused question marks in my reply, so I’ll leave it there… )
On a bag, or on a headscarf or headband? As a scarf fastener (silky or woollen)? Do you have a plain chain (long or short)? Depending on the fastening you could turn it into a pendant (permanent or temporary), or add it to a beaded necklace as a side or centre embellishment? On a coat or jacket lapel?
(Okay, I feel I’ve overused question marks in my reply, so I’ll leave it there… )
#2 is wonderful! I love brooches but I forget to take them off again…
I have a huge amount of brooches and I mix them together with enamel pins and cheap band pins on my denim jackets! They are like my little works of art..sometimes I use a theme, animals or hearts. Sometimes i think of it more like fashion graffiti!
You can also put brooches on your headscarves, purses or clutches, or your tshirts! Think outside the box on this..cause they are a really versatile accessory!
Love them all!! So thankful you are back!! 🙂
I love your orange trench!! And vintage brooches are my fave, you can’t have too many ❤️
I can’t sew, at all but I read your blog just to see what magic you will make! From one creative to another, you rock!
The Queen of England never goes out without a brooch, no matter how many pearls or other jewelry she’s wearing. We should just all follow her example…
Okay full disclosure, I hate the color orange however it looks amazing on you! I like number two the best but I’m digging that brooch I’m all for bringing back the brooch!
Love them all of course, but #1 is my fave!
I love brooches too, but I’m not a fancy dresser, jeans and t shirts so I find it hard to wear them. Any ideas?
I like #1 the best ☺️
The black dress with the orange stripe is my favorite! And I love brooches, too. Accessories can make the outfit!
Great ideas! Keep them coming!