Recycledlovelies.com » Thrift Finds

Recycled Collar Bib Necklace

Deanna — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:06:26 +0000

I have been working on a lot of projects and most are half done, like I have said before, I start something and then stop and then when I go back I start something new, not sure why, but some disconnect in my brain somewhere I am sure. Anyhow I did finish this one but even after finishing it I feel like I need to add something more.

Let me tell you a little about where the materials came from: The half moon material came from a coat that I got from the goodwill. I just seam ripped it apart and took the collar and used the button for the center. The flower is from the jacket and from a silk shirt that I cut apart. And the funky beaded sequin leaf was barely hanging on a tank top. So I put them all together and got this – A beautiful Holiday necklace.

What do you think?

Thrifty Find – Vintage Quilt Blocks

Deanna — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:36:23 +0000

I found a bunch of old quilt blocks in a bag, they are all polyester but they have interesting variety and color. I want to use these for a craft, something for gifts for Christmas but the only two things I have come up with are, pillows or hot pads, and being polyester the hot pads are probably not a good idea. Isn’t polyester highly flammable? Might add interest to a party or dinner with family but not the interest I had in mind. Please help me find some fun ways to use these.

Any suggestions? Or links to sites that have examples would be lovely!

Thank you in advance!

Vintage Embroidered Pillow

Deanna — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 13:59:21 +0000

I fell in love with this pillow the instant I saw it. I have no idea why someone would give it away.

The back is this beautiful lime green velvet.

Someone took some time embroidering this. It reminds me of the colorful stitches that the Mozambican woman would learn in their sewing classes. I love work like this.

Do you embroider? Is it easy? I have always wanted to try it but never gave myself the opportunity.

Vintage Mexican Wedding Dress

Deanna — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:35:16 +0000

I found this dress at the goodwill outlets and googled the description and found that this dress is a vintage crocheted Mexican wedding dress. I love the detail on this dress but would love to turn this into a summer sundress. I am not sure if I should attempt cutting this up or not. What do you think?

Vintage Patterns

Deanna — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:11:22 +0000

I came across a huge box full of patterns at the thrift store the other day and found these beautiful patterns. I am not sure the age but I would think 50′s and 60′s. They are in a larger size but with a little adjustment I would be able to make them work for me.

Aren’t they pretty?

There’s an Elephant in the Room

Deanna — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:00:18 +0000

If you know me, you know that I love elephants. It makes more sense if you know that I spent 3 years in Africa and a favorite past time was visiting Kruger National Park. Elephants are amazing, majestic animals and the fact that they can make cars move out of their way, just because, well I admire that.

My birthday was two weeks ago and my niece and her boyfriend asked to take us out to pizza. We laughed when we sat down to pizza and instead of numbers for your table, you get animals and ours just so happened to be an elephant. And then they asked me to open up my gift and it was an elephant clock that she had found at a thrift store by her house. Such a great find! I love it!

Thanks Heather & Matt!

Isn’t it cute?

My Daughters Vintage Prom Dress

Deanna — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:53:44 +0000

We have gone back and forth on the whole dress ordeal for my daughter and I just felt I didn’t have the knowledge or time to put into a dress like she wanted. So a few weeks back we found a used one and we were excited about it, but it needed some work, even though my daughter liked it, it wasn’t what she really wanted. We had looked for a vintage dress and never found one that suited her, until this past weekend. We were at the coast for a few days and a friend had told me about this cute vintage shop down there. When we finally found the shop and made our way into the store the first thing to catch our eye was this mint green vintage 50′s dress. It was so cute. I expected it to be a few hundred dollars but to our surprise it was only $50. We looked around the shop a bit and we kept being drawn back to the dress, so my daughter finally said, “Im going to try it on”. And it fit perfectly! She walked out of the store with her new prom dress!

Crocheted and Silk Necklace

Deanna — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:59:10 +0000

I was inspired by some pieces of jewelry I saw on Anthropologie and started pulling out all my lace, silk, and vintage crocheted thrift finds and just started playing around with how they would look with different things on them and I came up with this necklace. I quite like it!

I almost sewed this rose on without the black material behind it, I am so glad I put the black, it adds such depth.

I hope you are inspired by things you see. Most of the time its much easier than it looks, so give it a try!

Easy DIY Chiffon Flowers

Deanna — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:12:24 +0000

I love the chiffon flowers you see all over the place, on headbands, hair clips, necklaces, and as brooches. I found a couple soft vintage shirts at the goodwill and have enjoyed cutting them apart for these cute flowers.

1. Cut circles out of chiffon or fabric of choice. How many depends on how large you want your flower.

2. Start by pinching the center of the circle so it looks like the above photo. Continue doing that until you have a bunch.

3. Take your needle and thread and sew the pinched circles together.

4. Using your hot glue gun, glue felt circles onto the bottoms of the flowers.

5. You can sew or hot glue on pins for a brooch or a clip for the hair. You can also add these to headbands or shoes.

Make some flowers for yourself and be creative, there are so many ways to use them.

Altered Silk Tank

Deanna — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 17:32:39 +0000

I found this old silk tank top and I had big plans for it to be cut up, being that its silk, I figured I would use it for more flowers but instead I decided to add something fun to it and I am hoping to add more. I got the idea from an old Anthropologie catalog – the Snowscape Tank.

The Snowscape Tank from Anthropologie

I added buttons from another shirt. I am still looking for some old jewelry to add to it.

Close up of the buttons.

Check back, this project is not done!