poppin tags: part two

♦

today I went to goodwill. We browsed the sweater section for a while, and I found this great large gauge knit sweater in this awesome grey color. 

Here's the sweater. It's super plain and enormous,  and I hate the collar... but i saw its potential.

 When I saw this sweater, it made me think of some awesome Wildfox sweaters I've seen online. Here's one. It's ripped at the bottom and baggy. The only thing is that this retails for around $200! I do not have that kind of budget... So I decided to make my own version.

Gorgeous, right??

You'll need a sweater with thick yarn and a loose knit like this:

 You'll also need a seam ripper. First off, you will rip the vertical threads of the knit however wide you want the hole to be.

Here's what it looks like to rip the vertical threads:

 This is what you're going to get. This is how wide I wanted my hole, but it will end up much longer.

 Next, start to pull the horizontal threads out of the knit. This will create horizontal threads that are loose but attached at either side like this:

 Keep pulling until your hole is as long as you want and repeat until you're satisfied. =)

This is what my sweater turned into... I kinda destroyed the whole thing, but I like it. I think I'll do another one more like the wildfox example i showed you that will be ripped only at the bottom. 

Anyhow, I just wanted to show you one way that you can turn something cheap, plain, and generally ugly into a unique piece of clothing! Also, this sweater was half off which meant it was only $3.50! What a score!

♦

Poppin' tags: part one

♦

I'd like to share with you one of my greatest joys in life: finding a great deal. I refuse to pay full price for just about everything. TLC should seriously do an Extreme Cuponing special on me, but about clothes, not food. I will search the corners of the planet to save a few doll hairs ($) on something I must have; as a broke college student with expensive taste this is a must. I know there are many of you out there who are in the same boat as me... You see that hot Wildfox sweater on Tumblr only to die when you find out it would consume 3 months worth of paychecks... but I have good news for you!

There are many ways to look like your pockets are a bit deeper than they really are. In this series of posts, poppin' tags, I'll fill you in on all the tricks I know. I'd also love to hear yours!! Who knows, with all of our thrifty techniques we may be able to conquer the world of retail... I dream of a better world, haha...

A little sneak peek of what's to come:
Here's an outfit I wore today that cost me a total of $6.50!! (minus the shoes... :/ )
-shirt from the Reno, nv saver's $5 plus $1.50 worth of studs and bleach. (I did a little modification...)
-skirt $free (hand me down from a friend)
-shoes, let's not talk about it...

Let's end this post with a link to a magical video that you all should watch. Prepare yourselves for some thrift shopping! Stay tuned to my poppin tags posts to learn more!!

Macklemore-Thrift Shop

♦