Why this old thing?

For years, I have been fascinated by vintage clothes. It probably all started in my youth when my mom first taught me the art of treasure hunting. Few people have the stamina to keep up with my mom in a thrift store--but the art is in the digging. It requires great patience, or better yet, great persistence.

When I was younger, I was embarrassed to say that my clothes came from a second-hand store. But as I grew older, I realized what a talent my mom had shared with me. People would ask her where she got this or that from, and when she would answer that it was from a thrift store, they would always comment how they had tried looking in thrift stores, but never found any real gems like my mom always seemed to discover. At that point I knew it was safe to share my secret, so I tested it out by inviting select friends to the thrift store with me. However, it wasn't long before I realized that the treasure hunt was not everyone's cup of tea.

Most people's shopping habits consist of window shopping. When they see an outfit on a mannequin in the window that they like, they enter the store looking for that very outfit, and buy it. To discover diamonds in the rough, you have to be willing to look through ALL the rough--in a thrift store, that translates to sifting through EVERY piece on EVERY rack and EVERY shelf. If a thrift store junky needs a skirt, they still look at the blouses, jeans, and housewares--you never know if a great skirt might have been left over by the dishes, or a gem of a blouse that you didn't know you needed might be waiting for you.

This love of making old things new again was instilled in me by my mother, and it has since developed into my latest venture, which is also the purpose of this very blog. HoboChic is my new clothing line. It is all about taking "this old thing" and "that old thing" and making new things from them. I hope to post to this blog different adventures in my treasure hunts--projects you can do on your own, stories about great vintage pieces, as well as pictures of my products that you can order. Hope you will enjoy taking trips with me into the past, and feel inspired to take second looks at some of your heirloom pieces.