In The Pink, refashioned thrift skirt

 I am pleased (tickled pink) to share my newly refashioned thrift skirt.

At Last.

Here it is, as promised for the last two Saturdays…Finished  and photographed yesterday.  The skirt was easy enough; more of an alteration than a refashion (though really, we went from a subtle a-line to a pencil skirt).   I’ll post my “how I did it” notes later;   for today, I’m just eager to post pictures!  I love how this skirt turned out, and how it plays well with other pieces I’ve refashioned, thrifted, or… borrowed indefinitely from my mother’s closet (Thank You Mom!).  More details below…

(Remember the photo from the “Saturday Special, the First” post?)

I must pay tribute to a couple of themes in this post.  First, Connection.  As I assembled elements to create outfits around the new skirt, sweet connections surfaced.

For instance.  The nude suede sandals.  I bought them with my sister, Leah, two days before her daughter’s wedding in August.  We’d gone shopping for last minute wedding odds and ends (and, I think, to decompress), and discovered the sandals together at Penney’s, on clearance ($12).  Giddy and silly, we talked each other into the (very irrelevant) splurge.  Even though both of us had garden stains on our toes.  Somewhere in the heart of Oregon, my sister has the exact same pair of sandals.  I love the memory.

The ecru blouse.  I bought it for one of my daughters for Christmas one year.  I didn’t have time (this theme consistently haunts me); it sat in my project pile til I spied it a couple of days ago, rummaging for something to go with my skirt.  I embellished it, took it in, made it mine.

The necklaces.  The long vintage-style necklace was a gift from Frank, selected by Maurya.  It was one of those gifts where I felt seen by the givers…they got me.  The other black-spangled choker necklace I found on an outing with my cousins at Gardiner’s Village. Merribeth cheered me on when I stopped dithering and bought it.  I remember having a lot of fun with the ladies that day.

Especially, the black velvet jacket.  My grandparents gave it to my mother when she was seventeen.  She let me wear it once or twice in high school (though wearing vintage was not trendy at that time and place, a world apart from Molly Ringwald in “Pretty in Pink”).  It went with me to college, has been in my closet ever since.  I asked Mom awhile ago if it was ok that I still had it; she looked a little wry and said well it doesn’t fit me anymore anyway….and so, it remains in my closet and gets worn two or three times each winter, though I’m not entirely sure it really belongs to me.   I love it; I love the glimpse it gives me of her girlhood.  Besides my DNA and a boatload of history, it is the only thing that has passed from my grandparent’s hands to my own.  And consistent with my history with my grandparents, my hold on it is rather tenuous.

The other theme: serendipity.  All of the supporting parts of the pink skirt outfits were just randomly collected, randomly altered, with no other end in sight than “wow!  I think this could look really great!”.    I had a lot of fun pulling everything together.  Frank had fun taking the photos (I have a lot to learn about being comfortable in front of the camera).

(Pink skirt: thrifted, refashioned.  Ecru lace blouse: Costco, embellished.  Lace tights: cute aren’t they (=.  Suede sandals:  Penney’s.  Pink cardigan: thrifted.  White blouse: thrifted and refashioned.  Scarf: Target.  Black velvet jacket: vintage, heirloom.  Black tights: Target.  Black loafer-heels: thrifted.  Jewelry: thank you darlings)