Why most of my recent updates have been apparel and thrift finds

 

• Why most of my recent updates have been apparel and thrift finds.
• I don't post on social media anymore. I used to post photos in new outfits and feel good about engagement from friends and family, but I don't feel like doing that anymore.
• I might look a little too materialistic with these posts, and maybe I am. I hope to look at these posts 5 years down the lane and think about either how cringe they are or reflect on how my sense of style evolved after I moved to Canada.
• I remember buying from malls and discount outlets in India, and my sense of style was generally seen as sharp if comments from friends and colleagues were to go by. But after moving to Canada, I realized I started thrifting and going down the rabbit hole of quality clothing, and realized that my previous style may have been limited by mall apparel and a comparably less sophisticated selection of materials.
• So right now I'm riding the rush of quality leather, natural fibers like cashmere and wool, and owning items from luxury brands that I can't afford with three month's worth of salary.  
• Now I want to be clear: I'm not looking to be a fashion influencer at this age, especially with my body physique, but as they say, clothes do give you confidence, and I certainly want to feel good wearing good clothes.
• I want to use my blog to post updates on my evolving style journey, capture all my thrift hauls that I'm proud of but have no audience to share them with, and make this a snapshot in time of what things were like.
• Again, I don't want this to go in the direction of a style blog at all - there will be no production value to anything I post.
• The only expected audience for my content at the moment is ME.
• I have accumulated, or shall I say hoarded, a lot of things in the last 5 years of thrifting -
  shoes, suits, sweaters, electronics, etc. and have an elaborate spreadsheet that I maintain, which breaks down which thrift stores I frequent, what categories take up most of my expenses, the ratio to average retail prices, etc.
• Thrifting is a hobby that may have run into hoarding territory that needs active management and boundaries.
• This is also something that I wish to reflect on as I document my journeys, although I will say in the last few months I have been telling myself I'm doing arguably better than two years ago, when my expenses were significantly affecting my pocket.
• I expect to write about style checks, updates of collections, musings on how I'm dealing with thrifting addiction, changes in perceptions on thrift stores, etc., in further posts.
• I will use the keyword "thrifting" in the labels so they are all organized for better findability.

Life Events and Suits

 

Jeans Upgrades

 - Growing up my idea of good denim was a pair of Levi's and I got my first pair in 2006. Before that it was local brands and hand downs. 

- Other names that come to mind from the 2010s include Pepe, United Colors of Benetton, and Lee. They all had great products and I wore them for years 

- After moving to Canada I was introduced to the idea of high quality denim (selvedge, organic cotton etc) thanks to the numerous mens fashion blogs I started following (esp during the pandemic)

- I limited my indulgence in this hobby to thrift stores and fb marketplace as I started acquiring new pairs of jeans

- Denim heads as they're called are just like any other enthusiast - obsessed about fading, loom heritage, blow-outs (why is that a good thing?) etc etc

- I choose to only focus on good quality denim that feels comfortable and looks good although I will admit the subtle fading of the dye in high stress areas does look nice.

- I'm also not hung up on Made in Japan/US etc but do pick up unique ones when I see them.

- I have managed to acquire a sizeable collection ij the last 5 years and these should last me several years. 

- Not all fit well - some are way too tight and some two sizes too big. Holding on to them all for now.

Photos below:

Update on leather accessory holder

 - The accessory holder I posted about sometime ago is doing quite well

- I'm able to attach my toques, baseball caps, and even the umbrella on bus and metro rides 

- I now have enough horween leather scraps to make several of these. Will start making them soon for family.

Back to Urban Sketching after almost 3 years

 

Airport Outfit Check

 

- Preferred apparel for short trips to the US/in Canada.

- I use thicker layers for long haul. 

Wet-molding leather for the first time: Phone cover for Pixel 10

 - I have always wanted to try wet-molding leather to make stuff and a phone cover was one of the things I wanted to try. 

- Having a dummy phone is essential though and a couple of youtube videos I saw long ago appeared to use aluminium blocks of the phone model. 

- It struck me recently to use a 3d printed model instead and I was lucky to find an STL file for my model (Google Pixel 10) online.

- I printed it with a 20% infill for more strength (to be able to withstand hammering)

- Soaked a natural veg tan leather piece I bought from Lonsdale leather (Vancouver) last year and used zip ties to stretch the leather over the mold.

- Used zip ties over the camera area which was a mistake. They left permanent imprints on the leather.

- Corners were tricky and this is where the amateur work is obvious. 

- Waited for the leather to dry for 24 hours before removing the zip ties and cutting the front bits.

- Was very shoddy with the corners and edges and almost put the whole thing in the garbage before realizing I don't need perfection this project. Flaws are fine.

- Used edge coat to cover up the bad cuts and also used some tokonole on the inside surfaces hoping to add some rigidity to the cover. Didn't help much but oh well.

- End result looks great from the back but is okay (for me) from the front.

 

Second Holder for Sunglasses

- The sunglass holder I made last year has been doing great but I realized the 5 holder capacity is not enough for my current collection that has grown to over 10

- Since I don't have the measurements or templates for it, I took rough measurements using a ruler, made a paper template and recreated it using leather scraps from my collection 

- Had to go with different rivets because I ran out of the bronze ones

- Project done in about 3 hours from start to finish

- No precision cuts, beveling, or burnishing

Simple Cable Organizer

Made this simple cable Organizer for my extra long phone charging using scrap pieces of leather. The last one was good but the all-leather closure mechanism was quite cumbersome to get working. The snap closure on this one (picked up a whole pack of these from a thrift store three years ago) works like a charm.