Trends We Love: Lace Pencil Skirts

This month's Lucky Magazine presented an Arden B. lace pencil skirt that's absolutely gorgeous, yes, but as we recall was also very expensive (and is no longer available, anyhow). Here it is:

We absolutely adore lace in any form, and this silhouette is just awesome. But... since you couldn't have this one even if your wallet said yes, let's turn to Etsy!

$17 at Happy'sVintageCloset, marked size 12P/31" waist
(we might snap this one up, yowza!)



$24 at RetroRenegadeVintage, size small/24" waist



$7.95 at Nuttinover20Vintage, size small/28" waist
(what a price! Major sale in this shop, too...)



$20 at LotusVintageNY, XS/S/26" waist (we die at the hotness)



$24 at ModPod (with matching jacket!) xs/26" waist



$16 at RedoRedux, M/L/30" waist



For the bold, $25 at Yesterdazed, Med/29" waist
(We think this could be very modern if styled a bit differently)

While we are really big on vintage for the obvious reasons of thriftiness and environmental soundness, we did come across a bunch of other inexpensive new options via this site TheFind.com, which we'd never heard of! You can search for anything and sort by price, relevance, etc., and so many options come up... We even found our own Etsy picks here! We're a little bit confused because the prices shown are lower than those when you actually click on the items... something to do with coupons, it appears.

$19.99, BisouBisou at JC Penney


$30.80, NYC Collection at Macy's



$24.99, INC International Concepts at Macy's


$17.99-$24.99, Worthington at JC Penney

$29.99, Newport News

Do you love or hate this trend? Hope you enjoy these picks if you do like it :D

Happy Shopping!

Thrifty at Home: Selling Your Extra Stuff

We set up, at another blogger's encouragement, an amazon.com used bookselling account. Now our addiction to new discount books and used home reference reading can at least pretend to help pay for itself!

We have no idea if anyone will actually want, find, or buy our books, but it's free to list, so why not give it a shot??

Check out our storefront! (Still under construction):

Dez's Discount Books

(Anything that says not currently available is just brand-new- it'll be up within 45 mins)

We basically just want to de-clutter before we move in the Spring, and to share the love of literature (and, uh, distracting trash now and again) with others, so most titles-- unless rare or old-- are selling for pennies, essentially, (Amazon's commission is taken at the time of sale). The mandatory $3.99 shipping cost stinks but still, buying used is environmentally friendly and also cheaper even with shipping cost figured in (can you believe they're charging $30 for hardcovers these days?). We hope your loved ones wouldn't turn their nose up at something pre-owned. If they do, bop them over the head with it and ask if they know what planet they're on.

Happy book-browsing!

Vintage Sweaters and Sweater Dresses on Etsy $30 and Under

Hope you enjoy today's picks of thrifty vintage knits on Etsy that totally rock, in our opinion!

Striped bell-sleeve boatneck with highly unusual pattern at NoCarnations, Medium, $15



Pink ribbed v-neck sweater at SadieLynne, Small, $15

Ruffly Cherry Red "VaVaVoom" v-neck sweater at FireGrog, approx. M/L, $15



Purple cabled v-neck sweaterdress at LorrainesVintage, approx. S/M, $30



Purple crochet "hippie dress" at RedoRedux, Approx. Small, $16

Happy Friday and Happy Etsy shopping!

Vintage Party Dresses $15-$30 on Etsy

We've progressed from just not-ugly into the truly spectacular realm, just by venturing above fifteen dollars... there are so very many more absolutely stunning items in this price range  (although, we concede, still a tremendous amount of crap to wade through! Forty thousand listings, many thousand pages... which is why you let us do it for you ;) )

Truly, we found so much awesomeness that there's no way it will fit into one post. So. We're going to introduce some themes. First up, the holiday party dress. When you're saving your possibly-meager pennies to buy gifts for other people, it hardly makes sense to spend $100-$200 on a brand-new dress, or, goddess forbid, get yourself into debt that will make January bleak! Yet we're sure you lament, as we so often do, that you have absolutely nothing to wear! (OK so we thrifted two velvet dresses and two party dresses this year, so we're probably all set, eh?)

Presenting the most lovely, thrifty vintage party dresses to be found on Etsy for the holiday season (click descriptions under pics for full listing and/or shop homepage). 

Red Satin and Black Lace "Spanish Princess" at CallMeChula, Small, $30

Red Scalloped Velvet "Deck the Halls" at McGregorGirl, 6-8, $30

Red Chiffon Romantic Ruffles at MagicalMirror, 30" waist, $15

Long-sleeved velvet minidress at LOLAVEE, 6-8, $30

Emerald Green Long Velvet at SavoyBetty, XS/S $30 

Hunter Velvet "Under the Mistletoe" also at McGregorGirl, 7/8, $30

Blue Sparkly minidress at BeckyPlantsTrees, S/M, $15

Purple Velvet "Pretty Woman" which we just had to buy while writing this, from IonicRoost (sorry, and please send literature for Shopaholics Anonymous), but check out the rest of the awesomeness.

Fabulously Unique Lavender at WillowCreekSparrow, approx. M, $29

We do lament the lack of vintage in not-modern-Small-sizes. We apologize that everything here is so teeny, but we do hope that someone finds the dress here or in one of the featured shops. 

In any case, Etsy is still a great place to find gorgeous, affordable vintage. We'll keep sharing our finds as long as you keep readin' about 'em. Possibly longer ;)

Happy browsing and hot-party-dress-selectin'!

Totally Not-Ugly Vintage on Etsy Under $15

We love vintage, as you know... and the idea of vintage, and the thrill of thrifting. Online vintage isn't nearly as exciting as browsing a real brick and mortar store, oftentimes, and there's the risk of things not fitting, too, and wasting time and money shipping things back (if the seller will even take returns)...

There is also, apparently, a plethora of absolutely hideous silhouettes and colors to choose from, should you want them... (seriously, was the blouson-waist secretary dress, or the pleated skirt, or the double-breasted blazer EVER a good look for anyone?)... We fully admit that the search function on Etsy can be extremely frustrating, but our use of the 'advanced search' function managed to weed out most of the dress patterns and into actual clothes, and get us into the general price range we were looking for (don't forget you can sort by low to high price within any search, as well). We are here to do all of that hard work of slogging through the ugly for you, though, so today we are presenting some beautiful clothes found amidst a sea of hideousness (er, no offense intended, vintage seller readers; we're sure all of the fugly was in others' shops), all $15 or under.

We seem to be in a pink dress sort of a mood today! Here are some of the lovelies that caught our eye:

Pink scoopneck with wrap-tie detail, $5 at MaryGoodness

Pink with magenta banding trim and pearl buttons, $6.99 at LoveLoves2LoveLove

Pink floral with smocked bodice, $9.99 at RandomStuff

Pink and white floral sundress with lace-up bodice detail, $12 at TheRustySuitcase

If you're a regular reader you'll know that purple always attracts us, perhaps to a fault! But how could you pass either of these awesome tops up?

Pure silk single-breasted 4-button blazer in deep indigo, $8 at VintageJetPatterns



Short-sleeved sweater in beautiful plum decorative knit, $7 at MyStrawberryTart

We are pretty much weeping over here that this amazing piece wouldn't fit us in a million years with a trillion sit-ups, but we hope one of our tiny readers snaps it up. It is just too adorable and too cheap to sit alone in that shop! GO!

XS/S plaid shift dress in greys and purple, $10 at EnchantedFuture

The little black dress tends to be a piece that holds up well through the changes in fashion over the years, especially with simple, feminine details like these pretties:

Black microfiber eyelet-trim sheath, $8 at MyWagonette

Black stretchy-bodice a-line, $9.99 at XHereLiesBootsX

Blue is purported to be the most popular "favorite color" in the world, and it's no wonder with hues like these:

Royal blue 1950s silk chiffon, $15 at oMARITo

Light blue ruffly 70s-era two-piece-look, $6.99 at FancyCatVintage

The last of our finds today are in lovely winter white, a gorgeous, crisp look at any time of year, really:

Stretchy cotton lace-up long boho-style, $10 at DirtyBettyVintage


Cotton tie-front cardigan, $15 at WillowCreekSparrow

We hope you enjoy these picks and that if you're shopping online this Cyber Monday, you remember to support small, independent suppliers, crafters and artists and vintage purveyors, rather than just bumping up the profit margins of the big box stores! Happy thrifting!

Obsession with Wool Skirts on Etsy Continues...

We really can't get enough of this topic. Theoretically plaid is hot right now, if you go in for that trend thing, and so is vintage, if you're being green, which we all should be, so it only makes sense to at least look into your options, right? We are seeking out super-thrifty selections on Etsy tonight.

First up, we're kind of staggering at the bargains offered in GittaMarie's shop, including this cutie, $4!


...And this kilt-style (way cuter than our childhood ones) in pastels, from MyVintageCloset, $5!



And this lovely from GrayBirdVintage, $5!:


If you're a red kind of girl, this blended number would do you well, from ThriftyBirdVintage, $8.50:


If you do well with some pleating and a longer length, this color palette is gorgeous (from CloseYourEyesVintage, $12):


..Or maybe you prefer stripes to plaid? Gorgeous hues here too, from kabibiextras, $12:


Love the button detailing in this Gap number, $13, from ButterCupMom:

She also has this gorgeous circle skirt for sale, also $13:


...and this pencil skirt, also $13:



This adorable gingham-type minty green version is only $14 from SweetSugarBoutique:


This one is also only $14, from ThePlaypen, and is tagged Burberry- whether that's "-inspired" or genuine, we're not sure:


Then there's this lovely from QuiteSimply, $17:


Hope that helps you to stay warm this winter! Happy Shopping!