Handiwork revisited

Nearly two years ago, I wrote a post about a little project I was working on while passing some hours one evening.

Since that post, I'd worn the hand-rolled pocket square several times, and it was only today that I realized I had never properly photographed it in action.

I started a couple other clothing-related projects around the same time (including making a scarf out of a chopped-up tweed jacket with a few moth holes in it), but mostly abandoned them. Time with an infant (and then toddler) got to be much more important, and instead of learning the fine art and sewing and spending time with a needle and thread, I funneled time into other pursuits.

Truth be told, I only finished two edges of the above pocket square, but with some strategic folding and stuffing, it doesn't really matter. Sometimes life interrupts intentions in a good way, and the two rough edges are a good reminder of that when I wear it.

Racing horses and racing dogs

While I've never been a big fan of horse-racing, I can certainly appreciate it from an aesthetic sense. Horses are magnificent beasts, and although it's been years, I've had the pleasure of riding them on more than one occasion. On a recent thrifting adventure, I caught sight of a horse motif (once again, in the women's scarves), and pulled it out only to find that at 13 inches square, it was going to be the newest addition to my slowly-growing pocket square collection.

It's 100% silk, made in France and printed with the name Daniel La Forêt, which, at least based on internet searches, isn't particularly sought-after. That said, the silk is super soft without being flimsy and with hand-rolled edges and a crisp print it seems like the quality on it is above average (and at $1.99, a bargain).

Like a lot of great printed pocket squares, it's one of those pieces that has such a keen level of detail that it's almost frustrating to know that most of the design is going to end up stuffed down into a pocket.

Zooming into completely different territory, it seems that I have a hard time passing up whimsical motifs of just about any nature these days, so when I ran across these socks recently at Target (in a 2-pack with a more staple print at $1.99), I again had to drop 2 bills.

I've already featured our dogs a couple times on this site, and while these socks appear to feature Greyhounds (or possibly Whippets), I couldn't resist. With the bases at least partially covered on birds, whales, lobsters, and the aforementioned horses, it was time to include yet another member of the animal kingdom.

For the birds (pocket square edition)

While I don't run across a lot of newer, designer clothing items during my thrift adventures in the midwest, it seems like I run across more than my fair share of ties with bird motifs. While I haven't hunted in many years, I always grab these items when I see them, and I've taken my pick of the litter, given some to friends, and given some away.

I recently ran across this great pocket square with a duck motif, and of course I had to buy it as well. It's a really nice silk piece with hand-rolled edges and the works. I must admit to not being a very big bird person, and my first thought upon seeing it was, "mallard." After looking at image searches, the red band on the neck is throwing me off, though.

Like a lot of pocket squares, the detail of the print can't really be fully appreciated when in action, but a co-worker of mine showed enough intrigue about it that I happily brought it out of the pocket and showed him the full design. Isn't that sort of what you're hoping for every time you wear a pocket square with something more than a basic pattern?

Non-Discrimination Policy

If you're a thrifter who seeks menswear accessories on a regular basis, you probably already know that one of the best places to find certain items is actually in the women's accessory area. I personally scan through scarves and silk shawls and squares just about every trip out, as there's often something great to be found. In fact, I've run across both of the ascots that I own this way (and passed on several others), and have found a lot of great pocket squares by digging through mounds of polyester discards as well.

Really, though, I'm not super picky when it comes to pocket squares, and even use women's scarves on occasion. I have a couple smaller vintage Vera pieces that pop with color and fit into my breast pocket nicely, and I've even previously posted about a souvenir scarf that sometimes pokes a corner out of my pocket.

It's a good thing I don't discriminate, either, because otherwise I probably would have passed on the following vintage cotton ladies handkerchiefs.

A couple with organic colors and flower prints.

A couple more with brighter colors, and more flowers.

A simple, purple handkerchief, with the most glorious worn texture.

At 13 by 13 inches, they're exactly the sizes they need to be, and depending on whether I'm feeling simple or want a bit more dash of pattern, I can let nothing but block colors and lines peek out, or more of the flowery prints. I've already worn a couple on separate occasions and their lovely colors and unique texture make them new favorites in the collection.

Pinwheel in the pocket

Although I've built a fairly large and vast collection of tie over my years of thrifting and hunting around, one area that I'm still trying to round out a little more are different accessories. I've managed to put together a wide array of very cool belts, and because I don't wear them very often (or frankly, find them very often), I've only purchased a couple very nice ascots over the years. I've managed to put together a small, but solid rotation of pocket squares, but like ties, I'm always on the hunt for something nice.

A couple weeks ago, I ran across this lovely silk piece with hand-rolled edges and a starburst pattern featuring eight different colors and a border and center dot of black. It may seem sort of gimmicky, but other than the obvious nice quality, one of the things I really love about it is its versatility. I've worn it 3 times already, with 3 completely different colored outfits, and based on the way I let it flow, I can work a nice number of color combinations. One day, there were two shades of blue peeking out, and another it was olive and taupe.

Today, I plucked a bit of the burgundy and a small wedge of the silver side (without being too fussy about it, of course) to go with a subdued outfit of color-flecked gray Pendleton sport coat, a merlot-colored merino sweater vest, and a chunky wool fair-isle tie from Lands' End. It's a fairly simple pattern, but darn if it hasn't been a go-to in the past couple weeks.

As if you couldn't tell, the weather is getting colder here, and it's officially into my favorite season in terms of wardrobe. It's also nearing the end of October, and you know what that means...

Halloween officially becomes fun again when you have a child to dress up, and Matilda (who's almost six months!) is shown here in her penguin outfit with a pumpkin we grew in our garden. She's still too little to trick or treat, but that's no excuse to not be festive, right?

Back at it

After a couple week break hanging out with my wife and new baby, I was back in the saddle this week at work and trying to get back into the swing of things sartorially after 14 days of jeans and polo shirts and sometimes wearing the same thing days on end. If you already have a child, you know that just getting a shower during some of those early days seems like a major feat. Fortunately Matilda has settled into at least a loping rhythm, thereby allowing us to again practice proper hygiene and slide into clothes that we'd actually feel comfortable being seen wearing in public.

The temperatures climbed a bit this week, and because it's spring in the plains, the wind has been roaring. I biked to work every day this week, so I've been slowly incorporating summer items back into the wardrobe. This week, I pulled out three separate linen pieces on two different days and got them added to the mix.


First up is this cream-colored linen jacket, which I paired with a baby-blue linen tie and a blue/yellow striped shirt. I found a plain white cotton hanky to stuff in the pocket, and let a little of the blue embroidery pop out the top.


Full shot of the ensemble, as well as the other get-up, which was a bit more traditional.


Standard navy jacket with a bright red vintage Rooster linen tie and a pocket square in a similar color with a flower motif. Lands' End paintbrush button-down to throw some more color in the mix and lighten-up what could be a security-guard style outfit otherwise (given the gray pants and black wingtips).


Close-up of the pocket square because I like it.

Everything is blooming around here, so I might as well try to keep pace with it in terms of what I'm wearing. More color coming soon.

Tweed on the steed

Winter is hanging around these parts, but the weather has been just sunny and dry enough that bicycle commuting is still an option most days.


I tried to pull a little bit more color out of the subtle weave of my trusty tweed, so I went with a purple/blue mercerized cotton v-neck, the flowered cotton Gant tie from this haul, my Florsheim monk strap boots and some chinos.


The nice thing about wearing items that skirt the line between two colors is that they can veer in different directions depending on what they're paired with. Here, my university-stripe oxford in blue and white actually seems to be leaching a bit of the purple from the sweater, along with the navy tie (which also has a similarly vague tone). The pocket square is strictly in the corner of purple and cream, and holds a surprise of its own...


It's actually a women's souvenir scarf, and while it's technically a little on the large size to use as a pocket square, the thin density of it allows it to work without too much thickness in the breast pocket. I actually have several women's scarves that I use in this way; I don't hold a grudge one way or another and actually really prefer some of their colors when I'm feeling like I should let my peacock side fly. In this particular case, I just liked the checkered pattern and colors, so that's all I chose to show. Whatever works, right?

It was actually quite apropos that I rode my bike while tucking away the Mackinac Island scarf, as the resort island has had a ban on nearly all motor vehicles for quite some time. I think retreating there to bike around in its giant state park sounds like a great idea to escape from the blistering summers at some point in the future.

Project: Pocket square(s)

Late last year, I put together a small sewing work area and figured out how to hem pants over the course of a couple evenings. It took me several tries, but I finished up two pairs (both of which will make their debut once it warms up) before the area went into stasis as other projects rightfully pulled my attention away.

I'd been planning other things in the back of my head, though, and every since I read this post on Yankee Whisky Papa's always-informative and endlessly inventive site, I had it in my mind that I'd teach myself to sew hand-rolled edges and whip myself up some pocket squares. Heck, he'd even sent me a piece of lovely rayon crepe (among other pieces that I need to feature here) that was just asking to be turned into a square, and it had simply sat on my dresser for months.


I didn't want to ruin the lovely piece of fabric that YWP graciously sent my way, so I started out with something I could live with errors on, an old Brooks Brothers oxford with an un-salvageable hole and a blood stain (yes!). After cutting it into appropriately-sized pieces, I decided to go with some red contrast stitching, figuring it would force me to be more mindful of my mistakes and possibly even look a bit nicer if I managed to finish it without major issues.


As it turns out, doing hand-rolled edges is a little more difficult than I thought it would be. It probably doesn't help that I have the hands of an ogre, when thin, nimble digits would probably make for an easier time. And yet, despite the roll being a bit too thick and a little uneven to look truly professional, I'm pretty happy with how the first edge (which took nearly 45 minutes) turned out.

I will get faster, and I will finish this one and more. This one scissored oxford alone has enough material for 4 pieces, so I'll start with that and move forward. It probably won't hurt to have another quiet project I can work on here in the near future.

A dollar goes a long way

During this past holiday weekend, one of the local thrift stores in our town had one of their righteous, stock-clearing days where every clothing item was marked $1. Some celebrate the holiday by blowing stuff up. Our idea was a little different, as my wife and I set the alarm clock and raided the sale, grabbing a huge bundle of clothes for something like $22 total. What did I snag?

Nice pants! Pity they're too short.

First up is a vintage (note the non-scripty tag) pair of Brooks Brothers red khakis. These stuck out like a beautiful sore thumb on the pants rack at the store, and I was amazed to find that they were my size in the waist (!) only to be saddened that they were about 3 inches too short in the inseam, with nothing left to be let out (insert sad face here).

So, I now have a dilemma. Do I chop them off into some shorts (despite my self-conscious issues about wearing shorts?) or what?

Can't beat those 70s tags!

Next up is a pair of dark chocolate brown vintage Wrangler corduroys in exactly my size. New with tags, even. Many will scoff at these, but they're actually made quite well (in the United States, no less) and sharp looking. These will become staples of my wardrobe when the weather turns colder.



In the accessories department, my wife (who loves the thrift as much as I) found these lovely (also new, old stock) men's handkerchiefs stocked in the women's section. Made by Lehner in Switzerland, a stamp on the back states:

Exclusive Import of

Holder Menswear Inc.

1265 Broadway

New York, New York 10001

In searching the internet, it appears that store is defunct, as I could find no mention of it. That said, these are some sharp numbers that will certainly make a nice pocket square.



One of my finds was a pair of new old stock Chess King (anyone remember that brand and/or store?) pants that were rather unremarkable in and of themselves. However, the pants were the kind that came with their own belt, and that belt was the above number which just rocks my socks. Bright braided red and green with real leather. The pants will be re-donated (they're way too short anyway), but the belt is mine! All mine!

In addition to the aforementioned scores, I got a killer 100% wool sweater (I'll post a picture when the heat isn't so oppressive), a semi-gaudy Ben Sherman shirt, a super nice pair of L.L. Bean wool pants, and a couple other random things that aren't quite as exciting (except for the new, old stock fluorescent green soccer socks, but those probably deserve their own entry).

Oh, and speaking of green, these were another grab...



Navy green suspenders with green dots, new in the original packaging (again). They even have their own set of buttons, which is nice considering I have a pair of project pants I was going to add suspender buttons to anyway. Thrift store serendipity strikes again!

It's easy being green

It seems that the theme of the past week has been green, and perhaps that's fitting considering the grass is turning quickly and everything is starting to bloom. I've run across no less than three beautiful accessory items (albeit quite different in style) in the past week, and all of them have shared the aforementioned color.

First off, a totally rocking L.L. Bean tie ($2) with embroidered lobsters on it.



It's very similar to the tie that Giuseppe scored in a recent batch, but slightly different. Oh, and lets see a closeup of those lobsters, shall we?



Next up is a very sharp diagonal stripe from Ralph Lauren in fiery red and emerald ($1). Oh, and it even has an embroidered polo horse and mallets on it. I think Scott at The Cable Knit Collegian would approve.



Lastly (but certainly not least) is this Italian-made 100% cotton pocket square that really is just too subtle and beautiful for words. Delicious creamy cotton with some nice little rounded-off green squares that really give it a clean but organic feel.



Here's to spring. For real this time.