I absolutely fell in love with this No.21 sweater after seeing Alex wear it for her Red Magazine photoshoot! Unfortunately it has a MAJOR price tag – $695 here at Nordstrom and $462 at MatchesFashion.com (thank goodness for UK delivery to the US!).

I was really debating ordering it from Matches as I couldn’t shake it from my mind – you know how it is. Then I got chatting with Sue. We all know how ‘crafty’ Sue is with her jean patching and hemming etc. Well she reminded me that I have a sewing machine. At least I remember buying one – I’m pretty sure it is collecting dust in my basement! She suggested that I get crafty too – so here is her thrifty solution to the conundrum of throwing money away vs. achieving the same effect for less than $100!

Meet the striped Mango sweater for $69.99 –

…and here is the ostrich feather trim for $20 from Ebay.com!

There’s actually tonnes of different trims to choose from – some are like the above, others are more like boas, and some have fluffier turkey feathers added too – so you can trim it as you please. Maybe black feathers are more up your street?

I’ll let you know how I get on once I’ve re-learned how to thread my machine:) Thank goodness for those home economics classes!…and thank goodness for thrifty friends like Sue!