Holiday clothes can be green (and thrifted), if the camera cooperates

The camera on my tablet has a problem with greens and blues, so this sweater is showing up slightly more blue than it is in real life. Let's just call it teal.

Openwork tunic-length teal sweater, a last-minute find at the thrift store. (Tank top underneath.) Scarf which just happens to match, thrifted awhile ago. Charcoal-grey jeggings, bought two years ago.

This kind of sweater isn't one to keep you toasty on a how-many-degrees-below kind of day. But it's fun for dressing up when you don't want a dress.

Holiday clothes can be purple (and thrifted): why not?

An all-thrifted out-for-dinner outfit: grey tunic, grey jeans, paisley shawl, purple scarf, and a nice pair of dangly earrings.

(Thank you, kind people who donate things to the MCC store!)

Frugal Finds and Fixes: Paisley and Pantry Edition

Recent frugal finds:

A set of three vanilla candles and two fancy rings, half-price at Michael's. They're sitting in a yard-saled pie dish. I liked this set especially because the holiday rings can go away, but the candles can be used anytime.

I also got a frosty-berries pick for half price, and cut it up to put in Mr. Fixit's grandma's goblets. I was looking for some bagged greenery at the thrift store but didn't find any, so new-but-cheap was second best. The most frugal and ecological would be real dried plants, but we have to be careful around allergies.

Mr. Fixit's grandma made the cloth with crocheted trim, about fifty years ago.

A frugal find for Mama Squirrel: this paisley shawl from the thrift store. It can also be worn as a blanket scarf.

 Another frugal find that became a fix: a pair of grey bootcut jeans for a dollar, but they were too long for me, and I think somebody else short wore them first, because the hems were scuffed. I decided to invest a few dollars in getting them hemmed nicely at my favourite local cleaner/fixer shop. (Places like that are disappearing too fast these days.)

I've already posted about the hat, which goes with the shawl, which goes with the jeans (and almost everything else except bright red).

The storage room in our apartment is part tools, part storage, part pantry. The pantry part has been pretty random; things went wherever they fit. Adding Christmas baking ingredients and other holiday things was sending it into overload.

This week I did a KonMari-inspired cleanout, just on the pantry section. I sorted the food and other supplies into large boxes and bins that would fit on the shelves. Because the containers were so random, I covered the fronts of them with flowery giftwrap. It won't last forever, but it's a good-enough fix for now.

This was frugal for more than one reason! Besides using the boxes and paper on hand, getting more organized helps us make better use of our small space, and keeps us from re-buying things we didn't notice we already had.

Plus it makes me happier when I walk in there and see all the colour and flower power.

Let's talk about holiday clothes (I am not Red Riding Hood)

Christmas clothes in my olden days

Christmas clothes now

"Are you going to be Red Riding Hood?" asked the thrift store cashier.

Umm, no...but it's December and this red, buttoned, fringed cape was trying to get my attention all during my volunteer shift. Hello, see me hanging over here? I'd look good with grey clothes, you know? I'm very festive! But warm too!

So when I was done sorting books, I tried on the cape, and bought it along with a navy scarf (photo) and a Frederick Buechner book.

You can always wrap a cape instead of buttoning it.

It will go with pretty much all my skirts and pants, and a couple of dresses, since they're mostly medium to dark grey (plus blue jeans). I won't bother with photos, because all you'd really see is the cape.

What else do I have to wear to church, to a concert, or to a not-too-fancy dinner out? (We are not anticipating "cocktail parties" or anything like that.)

Revolve Dress from Encircled, with a scarf and the heels I thrifted last week

The dress becomes a top to go with the maxi skirt from the thrift store. I would add some beads to this.

And I could add a grey poncho on top of that. Or make it grey dress pants or cords insead of the skirt.

The wine-coloured maxi skirt again, dressed down a little with a pullover and beads

Well, that was fun! And better than "The up-dated Peasant Look [that] features shape-keeping bonded acrylics." (Ghosts of Christmas past, for sure.)

Two thrifted finds and fixes

Found at the thrift store: one wine-coloured rayon maxi skirt, size 14, for two dollars.

The problem: size 14 is about three sizes too big for me. The skirt had an elastic waist, side slits, and pockets. What would it take to make it wearable? Would I have to take in the sides, or hem the bottom? Would the pockets and/or the rayon fabric make it too complicated for my basic skills?

The simplest solution turned out to be the best. I unpicked a bit of the waistband seam, cut the elastic, pinned my own waist-length of new 1-inch elastic (minus two inches for stretch) to one of the ends, and pulled it through the casing, discarding the old piece along the way. There was no extra stitching to interfere. I hand-stitched the ends of the elastic together and re-sewed the waistband.

That's all. Now it fits!

My other find: strap shoes with not-too-high heels. My size this time, luckily.