Brick Road

OUTFIT: Coat was my great grandmothers, it's a London Fog vintage wool. Love it sooo much. The shirt was a strange tunic type top (thrifted of course, for a few dollars), but I loved the colors and the neat collar so I had to have it. It is "Robbie Bee" brand. It was this strange length though--kind of "mumu-ish". So I hemmed it to be a shorter dress/shirt to wear with leggings or jeans, and I like it much better this way! Boots are Walmart...they have been circling around a few other entries (God, I'm cheap!) and jeans are Lee. I actually bought these at Dots for $10. The belt and the purse were both new purchases (Merona for Target) totaling about $25. The red/orange handwarmers were another Target find--clearanced for $2 at the end of the season last year! I love the brick color. Honestly, they were part of the main inspiration for this outfit!

Bracelet was a clearance "Falls Creek" item at Walmart for $3. Earrings were a thrifted for one dollar.

Makeup was fun today; I did a smoky eye with a goldish brick color, a dark brown, and a frosted sage. Lips were neutral.

Hey! I curl my hair by wrapping it around the barrel. If you like that look--wavy, not traditional curling iron curls--here's a great tutorial for you! Let me add that this year I FINALLY got a professional curling iron (thrifted ofcourse) and it changed my life. If you curl your hair often, get a super hot iron (pro or ceramic) because they rock.

Perfect Mermaid Curls

DIY Hat and Armwarmers from a thrifted cardigan sweater!

I love fingerless gloves and armwarmers. They are so adorable and functional. Last year, my lovely friend Jenna (who pops up in my blog often) bought me some adorable Micheal Kors arm warmers in navy and grey wool. They are awesome...warm and stylish! I will have to throw them in an outfit very soon. It got me thinking about how much I love this look and then it hit me...why not upcycle a cardigan sweater to make some armwarmers and a hat? Advanced seamstresses out there might note that even AFTER chopping it up, if you do it just right...you could also get a "shrug" or cropped sweater out of the deal. SWEET! So here's what I did, following my own patterns. But naturally...as soon as I "had" the idea, I figured I couldn't be the first. I looked it up and BAM...There are lots of tutorials out there on this subject! I linked them below. I'm making two more tonight and plan on giving one away to a lucky email subscriber. :D Don't forget to subscribe and please stop by and visit on Facebook!

I chose a cardigan...because I wanted the buttons to use as an embellishment. I cut the arms off right above the elbows, hemmed them down a bit, and folded the top with elastic before hemming so that they would stretch across my upper forearms snugly. After that was done, I sewed into the handhole an inch or so on each side where my thumb would go. Now there was a thumbhole on each arm warmer! I embellished with some black and white buttons. (My instructions are drawn below).

For the hat, I cut out a double rectangle that matched the diameter of my noggin, hemmed it inside out, and then gathered and sewed the ends.

My directions! But don't worry--people who are actually GOOD at tutorials have already posted great info on how to do this.

I like to gather my hats on one side and throw a little embellishment on them. I guess that's cause I'm funky. :D

See some cute ideas here--you don't have to do long warmers, what about short rolled ones with embellishment? If you don't care about the hat...just do the gloves. Then you could always use the excess sweater material for something else.

Cute fingerless gloves and arm warmers

Arm Warmer Tutorial One

Arm Warmer Tutorial Two

Arm Warmer Tutorial Three

Lots of search results

Did I mention I only paid $1.59 for the sweater? Check out a local thrift store for an awesome selection of old sweaters to choose from!

NO-SEW TIP: Make just the armwarmers from a children's sweater. The forearm area will already fit snuggly. You can cut them and leave a frayed edge on the upper forearms and wear them as is or roll them. Just cut a small hole on the side of either arm for your thumb to pop through. Awe yeah. No-sew armwarmers.