Destroy a Maxi Dress (EBEW)

April 12th = Maxi day at everybody everywear.



I thought about not participating, because I really don't have anything maxi length (floor dusting). Well I guess I kinda have one now, yesterday this skirt was actually a dress. Details of the make-it-work moment below...



The longest non-pants item I could think of in my closet was a dress I bought at Goodwill (originally from Target) at the end of last summer. I think I paid 2-3 bucks (50% of Saturday). It probably was not a smart purchase, because I wore it maybe once. I always felt the above the ankle length was awkward and the top was a little too revealing. I took it out of the back of my closet and thought, hmm how can I make this work for EBEW? Out came the scissors.

I hacked off the top of the dress. Here lie the remains. RIP.



Luckily this dress had a band underneath the bust, which now makes for a perfect waist band. The cut job allows me to wear the piece lower on my body, which extends the length.



A maxi-metamorphasis, although I'm not sure we have a butterfly on our hands. I'm not in LOVE, but the skirt is definitely versatile, you can style it three different ways.



I would love to hear what you guys think.

Inspiration Monday

First things first - I just found out that Elissa at Dress with Courage mentioned wrinkled dollar in her recent post about thrifting.

Elissa, THANK YOU for the shout out and kind words!

It is Inspiration Monday over at Two Birds. This week was quite a challenge. I gave up on two other outfits before I decided on this one.

And, here is the inspiration image, Diane Kruger



After I saw this photo I searched my closet for the following:

1. A blouse and a skirt similar in color
2. A wide belt
3. Boots that match the wide belt.

That's about it.



Two things I did as a result of this inspiration image that I typically wouldn't think of:

1. Wear boots and a skirt without tights.
2. Wear the same color for my top and bottom.



I'm mixing blue and black again as well, watch out!

Oh yeah, the featured item.

Short Sleeved Black Cardigan: I found this little cardigan at Goodwill the first Saturday in April...50% off, blah blah, you've all heard it before. If you haven't, you must be a new reader, welcome to wrinkled dollar! But seriously, it was new with tags still attached. The brand is Pink Rose, which I believe is from Macy's. I like having little cardigans like this around for summer evenings.

That's all I've got to say today. I'm going to read now. I'm in the middle of Game of Thrones. I'm trying to get the first book done before HBO premieres the series. I have a long way to go.

Freaks & Geeks and Goodwill Outlet Stores

Check out this sign, totally something the American Picker dudes would buy. It was just chilling behind Salvation Army.


That was Saturday late afternoon, let's start from the beginning.

Our big plans to attend the Ivy Tech community garage sale and then the Farmers Market were ruined because of rain and thunderstorms.



I needed my green army jacket to keep me warm.

Have you guys ever seen Freaks & Geeks (best hour long drama/comedy/coming of age television show ever)? It only aired one season, but is an all time favorite. Anyway, the point is I love my green army jacket (Old Navy), because it reminds me of Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini), the main character in F&G. The jacket appears in pretty much every single episode of the show and is honored in the song Lady L by Nick Andopolis (Jason Segel), "Is your green army jacket the only thing keeping you warm tonight?" Great TV Moment. My striped v-neck (Urban Outfitters) also reminds me of F&G, so I guess you can say my entire outfit is F&G inspired. Sounds like it is about time to re-watch all of the episodes on DVD, again.

Our next adventure took us on a road trip to all three Indianapolis Goodwill Outlet Stores. I read about the outlets online, but never experienced one for myself. They are nuts!



Are you ready for this? At Goodwill Outlet Stores items are sold by the pound! The merchandise has not been pre-sorted and is basically piled into bins, which customers can dig through. The bins are removed from the sales floor and replaced with a completely different selection of merchandise every 2 hours.

Here is the pricing breakdown:

Clothing, housewares, books, toys, DVDs and CDs: 69 cents per pound
Glass: 49 cents per pound
Paired shoes: 99 cents per pound

I quickly identifed the regulars because they were aware of bin rotation times and began to line up where the workers wheeled out the fresh merchandise. The first outlet location we visited seemed to have a strict system where you cannot begin grabbing items until all of the new bins are out. I watched everyone examine the piles of miscellaneous clothing, kinda like watching Dave, Barry or Darrel examine a storage locker on Storage Wars, hilarious. Honestly I kept thinking to myself that they could make a reality show about this shopping experience. Once they were given the go-ahead the shoppers went to town on the bins. I was totally intimidated.

This is some serious thrifting and I don't recommend it for everyone! But, if you are A. up for a challenge, B. not claustrophobic, C. aggressive (enough) and D. looking for a super amazing deal then I say check it out. Oh, and bring gloves.

All said and done I bought a few accessories - 2 belts, a scarf, leggings and some other items I cannot mention, because they are gifts for an avid reader... ;). I spent a total of $.81 cents, $.33 cents at one location and $.48 cents at another. Big spender right here!



When we got back to Bloomington the rain had stopped and the sun was shining! We made a quick pit stop at Salvation Army. I didn't find any clothing, but we did find a cool photo location!

Purple Vest: This vest (originally from F21) is another purchase from Goodwill's 50% off sale, which takes place the first Saturday of every month. The regular price was $2.99, but I got it for $1.50!

Wearing my $.25 cent shoes again.



The rest of my evening consisted of hanging out on the balcony, reading and chatting with my family & friends on the phone.

WD Spotlight & Vintage John Romain Handbag

Wrinkled dollar spotlight # 6 (finally)!


Miss Rockwell over at Lifestyles of the Thrifty and Shameless is looking mighty cute in this ensemble! She is fantastically frugal and there aint no shame in that! Here is the original post where she featured this outfit, but I recommend you check out all of her posts, because she is always getting good deals and sharing the low low prices.

Miss Rockwell, thanks for participating!

Time to feature my new bag.


Vintage John Romain Handbag: I found this bag at the DAV thrift store when I was in Michigan a couple weeks ago. Initially it was the fabric that caught my eye, but once I started examining I could tell immediately that it was old. Then I noticed the price was marked $7.99, which made me even more curious since the rest of the purses were priced around $1.99-$4.99. I pulled out my trusty smart phone and googled the brand. I couldn't find much, but I saw a few auctions and that was good enough. I pretty much figured it would be worth the buy, the condition is awesome. My first vintage handbag!













I know nothing about vintage bags, but based on my (very little) research John Romain purses were pretty popular in the late 60's - early 70's. eBay has some auctions for different styles, but the wide range of pricing is making it difficult for me to determine whether or not I got a sweet deal.

Any thoughts?

Anyone know anything about these bags, this style?




By the way, this is my new lace skirt from F21 and my $.25 cent shoes.

I had such a busy day today (including my first visit to a Goodwill Outlet). I can't wait to tell you about it tomorrow.

Do I like this skirt? Oui!

Bonjour! Parlez vous Francais? Oui, oui.

Red Patterned Skirt: I found this skirt at Goodwill last Saturday (1st Saturday of the month = 50% off). It was originally $4.29, but I got it for $2.15! Now check this out - I was immedialty drawn to the pattern when I saw it on the rack, but almost put it back when I saw the size, 3 sizes too big! Do NOT trust sizes when thrifting! If you like the piece, take a chance and try it on, it may pay off! Loving this skirt for summer remixing.

INSPIRATION MONDAY (oops Thursday)
I'm about 4 days behind on this outfit. It is an interpretation of an outfit worn by Alexa Chung (pictured on the left), which was prompted by the gals over @ Two Birds. They just started a fun participation link-up called "Inspiration Monday". They post an image of an outfit and then other bloggers are encouraged to put together their own outfit using the image as inspiration. Pretty fun, right? They already posted next week's image. If you want to participate, check it out!

I think it is such a cool idea, because it forces you to look at your clothes in a totally different way. I NEVER would have thought to put this graphic tee with this skirt, but I really like the way it turned out! I think next week will be a bit of a challenge, but hopefully I can come up with something...



It was really windy during this photo shoot!

I got that purse for free at DSW on Black Friday the year before last. Well, free with a $40 purchase.



I had a short 1/2 hour last night to check out Vintage Vogue by GW. Click here to read yesterday's post incase you missed my blab-fest about this place.

So far I have to give this place two thumbs up. It is basically full of what I like to call "great finds". All those items you get super excited to find while thrifting are basically all pulled together in one location! I did a quick spot check for pricing and tops range anywhere from 4.99-10.99. Not too shabby. Plus, I found out that they steam the clothes before selling them, so they are in better condition than your regular Goodwill (they don't stink). Wrinkled dollars in mind I asked an associate about special sales. Good news, they have a 50% off rack that is rotated out every 4 weeks. Once an item has been in the store for 4 weeks it is marked 1/2 off.

Oui!

Vintage Vogue and My Fave Boots

Hey Bloomington, have you heard about Vintage Vogue by GW? If you live in Bloomington and love vintage then you are in luck! Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana just opened a boutique on Kirkwood (422 E. Kirkwood Ave, next door to Chipotle).

Here's the gist, Goodwill takes their vintage, vintage inspired and current brand name items and sells them at prices lower than your average vintage boutique. They typically have over 7,000 items in store including clothing, accessories, housewares, etc. They also have men's clothing.

The good news: If you have trouble sifting through the racks at your regular Goodwill, your struggles are no more! Vintage Vogue will do the dirty work for you!

Now, some of you hardcore thrifters (like myself) may be weary about this boutique. I understand your concern. My initial thought was, "oh great, they are stealing all the good stuff, now I won't find anything on 50% off Saturday and $.99 Sunday". That was until I found this very important information via the Vintage Vogue website.

- Vintage Vogue merchandise comes from selected Goodwill stores outside of the Bloomington area. These stores isolate a small portion of their upscale and vintage donations to send to Vintage Vogue.

- Special items and boutique merchandise can still be found at all of the 46 Goodwill locations in central Indiana.

Phew!

And, you can feel great about shopping at Vintage Vogue because revenues generated help fund employment and educational services in central Indiana!

Vintage Vogue is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m and Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sadly, I had a prior engagement and had to miss the grand opening yesterday. No fear, I'm going tonight and will be back with a full report tomorrow.

Here is some linkage:

Vintage Vogue website
Vintage Vogue facebook
Vintage Vogue tumblr

You can also read this article about Vintage Vogue via the Indiana Daily Student

Ok, now to keep some blog promises. Here's the feature about my favorite boots.

Boots from Urban Outfitters: Ok, $20 dollars is not really wrinkled dollar worthy, but if you knew how many visits I made to Urban Outfitters to stare at these boots you would understand why they are worth the extra cash. They were originally $69.50, waaaay too much for me to spend (I have a reputation to uphold). With that said, I almost broke down and got them.

So one day I went in Urban Outfitters (again) considering paying full price and to my surprise they were on clearance for $39.99. That same visit I saw a sign on the door. The following day was 1/2 off clearance for all Students between the hours of 4pm-10pm. Great right? Well bad news was Joe and had to leave Bloomington at 5pm the next day in order to get to the airport to catch a flight.

Okay this story is long, are you still with me people?



4:00pm the next day Joe and I hop in the car, suitcases packed and drive downtown. We can't find a parking spot so Joe drops me off at the door. There is already a line wrapped around the store. I meandered my way to the back, grabbed the boots (still there luckily) and immediately got in line. Once Joe found a spot (illegally parked) he joined me in line and we proceeded to wait 45 minutes to buy these boots for $20! Afterward we hopped in the car and drove straight to the airport.

Guess what? Our flight was cancelled. The things we do for deals.

This is my linen skirt, but...

this is not my bike...

...but I really wish it was. I want a bike with a basket, but maybe not pink, maybe blue green or yellow.

I'm not sure to whom this bike belongs. I quickly jumped on it for the photo opp and frantically jumped off in fear the owner was approaching.



I then quickly walked away, whistling.



I felt guilty.



Thanks to some mysterious bike owner out there for (unknowingly) letting me use their property for my photo taking pleasures.

Linen Skirt: I paid regular Goodwill price (oohs & aahs) for this Linen skirt. I figured $4.29 was worth it because of the quality and the summer remixing potential. I also like the light blue/gray hue.

A huge THANK YOU to Two Birds for the versatile blogger award. I seriously love these ladies and their blog - a definite must read for me everyday. I wish I could attend their upcoming pop up sale on May 14th and 15th.

Two more things - The next wrinkled dollar spotlight is coming soon, promise. And, those boots I wear everyday of my life and the story of how I got them will (finally) be featured tomorrow. See you then!