Layering Over a Lace Jacket for a Fall Outfit with the Thrifty Six

I have recently been welcomed into a wonderful group of fashion and lifestyle bloggers that focuses on styling preloved clothing and accessories in themed monthly posts (third Monday of the month). I hope that this showcase of secondhand items and outfits provides some shopping and style inspiration for anyone who is interested in creating great looks in a way that is sustainable for our planet and our pocketbooks.

Today's topic is Lace Skirt...and this was a Challenge with a capital C! Since I don't have a lace skirt or lace dress from any source (and the thrifting gods were not favoring that purchase for me), I had to go in a somewhat different direction for this challenge - styling my secondhand summer lace jacket for fall with atypical layering. 

This ivory lace jacket is an easy layering piece for warm-but-not-hot spring/summer days that I usually wear over a short-sleeved or sleeveless top. It's not a routine go-to piece, but I do wear it about 3 times each year, and because it's unlike anything else I own, it definitely allows me to create a different kind of look when I wear it. But I've never tried to wear it in cooler weather, so this month's challenge gave me the opportunity to try something new and a more than a bit out of my comfort zone. Getting one more wear out of the jacket for the year also brought my overall cost per wear (CPW) for the piece down to $0.94, below my <$1 CPW target.

Because the jacket's sleeves are just below elbow length, layering long sleeves under it wouldn't look right to me so I tried layering OVER the jacket for the first time. (One of Jodie's mantras for layering is "over or under," and I think I half-heard her in my head when I was pondering my options here.)  I decided to try a thrifted olive open front cardigan over it to create a lace waistcoat look with the jacket, and I was surprised by how much I liked the result! I also layered an olive tank top under the lace jacket so technically it's a three layer outfit.

OOTD 9/10/25

I don't often wear the jacket buttoned up, but I love how waistcoat-like it looked this way - reminiscent of my beloved White Rabbit in his famous waistcoat and pocket watch drawing. (Since I didn't wear a waistcoat when interpreting that artwork for a previous SIA, it was fun to sort of revisit him as inspiration for this challenge.) If I'd thought of it at the time, I could have worn my silky woodland critters scarf in more of a cravat style tucked down into the V of the "waistcoat," but I was pleased enough to wear it biased folded (see steps 1-4 here) and then tied with a square knot at a jaunty angle.

My color palette for this outfit was very limited and neutral, so I leaned into texture to add visual interest to the look. In addition to the t-shirt knit top, lace jacket/"waistcoat," open weave sweater knit cardigan, denim jeans, and silky scarf, my leopard print flats added a calf hair texture. The black in the leopard print also repeated the black background color of the scarf for a bit of subtle bookending.

For my daily bracelet stack, I selected a DIY paper bead bracelet set I had made a couple years ago to coordinate with this scarf and its matching black woodland critters T. (Page to bead examples with Outfit 2 here.) I added the DIY beige wood bead bracelet to lighten up the look of the stack, which has an overall dark value with only bits of ivory/cream in the paper beads. {stretch bracelet tutorial} {bicone paper bead tutorial} {tube paper bead tutorial}

I had fun making another pair of quick earrings to coordinate with the scarf and paper bead bracelet set. Because the scarf (and its matching top) print of woodland critters includes squirrels, I purchased some silver squirrel charms from Bead Box Bargains to make a cute pair of matching earrings. The metal squirrel charms were sizable and a bit heavy, so to keep my ears happy, I used lightweight wood and hollow metal beads in the "stick" portion of the earrings that the charms dangle from. (This is earring design #7 from this post.)

Outfit details:

• Olive tank - CJ Banks - 7/2020 - $8.32 - 15 wears - $0.55 CPW

• Dark wash trouser jeans - thrifted, Lane Bryant - 10/2018 - $7.49 - 43 wears - $0.17 CPW

• Ivory lace jacket (as "waistcoat") - thrifted, Ruby Rd - 4/2020 - $14.99 -16 wears - $0.94 CPW

• Olive cardigan - thrifted, Catherines - 10/2018 - $4.49 - 13 wears - $0.35 CPW

• Black woodland critters scarf - CJ Banks - 12/2020 - $10.20 - 12 wears - $0.85 CPW

• Olive leopard flats - Nordstrom Rack - 5/2015 - $29.97 - 44 wears - $0.68 CPW {30 wears post here}

• Squirrel charm earrings - handmade

• Paper bead bracelet stack - handmade

Total CPW for the outfit: $3.54!

Now let's review the lace skirt outfits that my thrifty friends have styled...

The Thrifty Six:

• Emma of Style Splash

• Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

• Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

• Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

• Sally of Within a World of My Own [me]

• Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

Emma of Style Splash

“I don’t own many lace pieces, and those that I do are not pre-loved. That got me thinking about autumn/winter updates and looking for inspo on Pinterest. Burgundy is a big trend this season and I’m fully embracing it, so when I found quite a few lace skirts in various shades of red and purple on Vinted, I was spoilt for choice. This one from Asos was £3! I’ve created a tonal colour palette with my bright red top and coat.”

Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

“Ethereal lace over shell-pink silk, the epitome of feminine elegance…

…I’m stamping on that with combat boots!

This is Punk Rock – juxtaposition of leather and lace – refinement meets rebellion – beauty sits astride the beast!

‘Lace skirt’ is October’s T6 brief – this is how I do lace skirt!…”

Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

“Just like Shelbee, I didn’t have a lace skirt per se, so I layered over a thrifted lace dress (and even added a lace dress extender under it).I added a fringe scarf around my neck (made by my Aunt Nancy over 10 years ago) so you couldn’t see the top of the dress.”

Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

“This skirt, again, is from the boutique I used to work for. Both Celina and I bought this skirt, and we probably bought it together. I wore it to pieces. Celina had ‘lost’ hers several times. And then she found it again and it did not fit her anymore. She offered the lace skirt to me, and although it’s one size bigger than I am, it fits good. I like it a little loose these days. And I knew immediately how I wanted to wear it.

Although that didn’t work out as I had in my head. I had brown ankle boots in mind but that did not look good at all. And I thought the skirt was a bit longer. So I felt good in this outfit, wore it to a birthday party, but would not style it this way again.”

Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

“Nancy’s lace skirt theme was a huge challenge for me as I don’t have any preloved lace skirts. I have one lace dress that was thrifted that I had considered layering under a sweater for a lace skirt effect, but the dress is short and tight and I just wasn’t feeling it. So I went thrifting. And I found nothing in lace at all, not even a scarf or a curtain that I could fashion into a skirt. I decided to take a different approach and styled a very old white lace skirt that was purchased at retail over a decade ago. I styled it with a recently thrifted shirt dress and preloved ruana as well as a pile of thrift store and flea market necklaces for a fun flowy layered boho look perfect for early autumn. I actually didn’t put much energy into this outfit at all, the pieces sort of just came together effortlessly and I am very fond of the end result.”

And me...

Next month's topic is to be determined...so stay tuned!

In the meantime, visit these lovely bloggers for the details of their thrifted lace skirt outfits and more style inspiration:

• Emma of Style Splash

• Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

• Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

• Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

• Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

Do you own a lace skirt or lace dress? Do you ever style it for fall/winter? Have you ever tried layering OVER a jacket? Do you prefer playing with color mixing, texture mixing, or both when styling an outfit?

Blogs I link up with are listed here.