Making The Cut...

“Cut it out! We can’t afford that Patricia”.

“But Mom…pleeezzeeee…I’ll do the dishes, I’ll mow the lawn, I’ll…”

“Let me stop you right there….you can mop the floors until the cows come home….that ain’t bringin’ in any greenbacks, no matter how you milk it”!

My mama had a sense of humor…and she was VERY PRACTICAL…..feeding ten plus mouths on a waitress’s tips was no easy feat!

The thing is, she never said NO…

“I have every faith in you Patricia, that you can find a way to make that happen if you think hard and stretch wide”.

So…I did…

Off I went to take two buses, in the winter, from our small town to a larger small town, two cities over…to my fav dream maker spot…THE GOODWILL…it rarely let me down. And today, was no exception.

I found it….hanging amongst the winter coats…(in the wrong section, one of my tricks to finding something special, that someone else put back in whatever section they were in when the new sparkle caught their fancy).

It hung there…peach against the white walls and black winter parkas….peach with a high ruffle, too high and bulky for my taste, and a bit too big, but I had a plan…and, it was perfect for Spring…perfect for the new me…perfectly, imperfect…especially the price…FIVE BUCKS! SCORE! I had ten from singing at the retirement home….so that gives me five left over to create a little more of my own happy!

I found a dress clip, a gold bracelet, a pair of sandals in size eight medium, and the coup de grace a pair of LEFT HANDED SCISSORS!!!!

OMG…..ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Finally, I can suffer less, doing what I love…maybe even better now. This is “truly meant to be” as my momma would say…as I, am a leftie.

This confidant leftie negotiated with the register girl, with whom I shared my end goal, and was out the door for seven bucks total for the take!

Now, I had one month until the snow melted, and THE MISS PITTSBURGH TEENAGER PAGEANT began, to create the new me, with my fab finds!

Left Handed Scissors…here we go!

I scoured my fav, Seventeen Magazine for inspiration…oh yes, Thrifty Trish was ‘on it’. I often re-created the looks I’d find in the fashion section…Pittsburgh style…and parade down our street for the neighbors. I included accessories, especially for the hair (it was the 80’s, and big hair was in…perfect for stuffing in feathers, ribbons, rhinestones, and anything else I could cut & glue onto a hair comb :) I even started a little side hustle, selling my creations right off my back!

My passion is and has always been, repurposing.

Just like the font, in these love filled letters.

Creating something new and desired from the old and discarded.

I am a treasure hunter of sorts, infusing my own vision, with that of a mysterious past, to set off on a new course!

This is what my left handed scissors and I, do.

It brings to mind, a saying that always puts me into action!

“Ask for what you want. Take what you get. Use what you get, to get what you want.”

And, in this case, it’s using my imagination, and my lefties, to do just that!

Now, back to the project that started it all…

I already asked The American Legion to sponsor my entrance fee, and they said yes! I tutored some of the member’s kids with their schoolwork in exchange.

Now, all I needed, was to make the most ‘unique to me’ dress that I could with my ‘will of good’ find.

“If you can’t join ‘em, be your unique self”, my momma would say…and that’s what I intended to do.

The first thing I did was take my lefties to the neckline and snip, snip, snip…a little below the collar bone, rounded, softer with the ruffle…a few stitches to hide the cuts…then, on to the shoulders, two ties, to easily adjust for the shoes I just bought without needing a bottom hem, then cut and glue two miniature roses to the dress clip ends and clip the excess, hidden, but pretty, under the back ruffle and waaalaaa! I was so proud of my creation. It made me feel so pretty, and powerful…finding a way to create my happiness with my own two hands holding my ‘lefties’ of course.

We had a local florist next to The American Legion. I loved popping in to Dietz Florist and collecting the fallen rose petals Mr. Dietz would normally throw away. I would take them home to our tiny, lovingly crowded row house, and cut and glue them to everything I could get my hands on (picture frames, table legs, purses). I could make anything pretty, unique, and smell good! I would even float the rose petals in our ‘bathtub with the claw feet’ at night, like I saw in an old movie.

But today, pageant day, I needed one whole one for my hair, fresh and fragrant, with babies breath and a perfectly bow tied ribbon…just a little sumthin’ to express myself, and to remind me that no matter what happens, I will “come out smelling like a rose”!

It was a little unusual, I admit to stick a live rose that might normally go on a boy’s lapel for prom, in my big 80’s hair. Of course, I was no stranger to the unusual….most people didn’t get this Peppermint Patty, and that was okay…I was used to being the odd ball, the reject, much like the thrift store finds I rescue and renew.

The big night came….I stepped out on the stage. I felt beautiful and completely myself…no need for approval, or acceptance, or the win. I had already won. I created my own happiness….one cut, one stitch, one smelly rose at a time….. FOR UNDER TEN BUCKS!!!

BTW…I did win…..Miss Pittsburgh and Miss Pennsylvania Teen…..both, in Goodwill Gowns, with my own personal fashion twist…I lost Peppermint Patty…but what I found….what I found was something so much more….I found the true me…..Thrifty Trish was born, and never looked back.

Guess I made the cut ;0…