PHLgurl's thrifty tips and tricks

Learning how to do smocking with elastic thread is a game changer! It's one of those sewing skills that can be a bit tricky to learn at first, but is super useful and easy once you get it down. Personally I was confused when I was trying to learn it via Google search, so hopefully this explanation is helpful.

As you can probably tell from my website, I loooooove sewing with vintage fabric. I'm a total sucker for 60's-90's prints, especially florals! Unfortunately, its hard to find those kind of prints at your local Joann's.  It's especially hard if you're on a broke college student budget. So, here's my list of affordable places I get my fabric from! (Both local to Philly and online) I'm kind of tempted to keep this info to myself...but I suppose I'll be nice and share.

One of the big things I get asked alot is how I know things are vintage/how old items are. Honestly...it's a big ol process. Vintage jeans is a whole different ballgame than vintage dresses! I'll go into all this later, so for now, here's some short general things to watch out for...