Op Shop Fabric Finds

Since the first day we arrived, people have been telling me about Dunedin's legendary Op Shop Fabric Sale. Imagine it, table upon table of fabrics, notions, buttons (a whole room full), patterns and whatnot at rock bottom prices. I had to join the masses and check it out. My mission was to have a project in mind for each bit of fabric I bought rather than just, "Oh, look! That's pretty!" I must say I didn't do too badly. Of the eight bundles of fabric that came home with me, I have projects in mind for six of them:

Pretty blue pyjamas for Abner...

Some retro-inspired seat cushions for the kitchen chairs...

A nice comfy stripy dress and maybe a pair of pants or skirt for Abner...

A manly hot water bottle cozy for The Dear Sweet Husband...

...and the impulse buys.

What on earth should I make with those last two? Some dresses for Abner, perhaps? A skirt or two for myself? Got any ideas for me?

The Grasshopper

Have you ever had the fortune of sewing on one of these bad boys? It's an Elna 1 - more commonly known as the Grasshopper. My aunt has one (picked it up for a song at a thrift store, I believe) and she let me try it out a few weeks back.

What you can't see from this picture is that instead of a foot pedal like most of us are familiar with, to make this machine go, you have to press on a metal lever with your knee. Yes, not only were women of the post-war era expected to cook, clean, raise the kids and look pretty - they were also expected to be ultra-coordinated so that they could properly operate their sewing machines. I had a heck of time for the first little bit but eventually even I got the hang of it. I've asked my aunt to be on the lookout for another one for me!

Vintage children's books

My great shopping weakness has got to be used children's books. I simply can't walk past a used bookstore without checking out the children's section. Part of the allure is the campy illustrations and storylines. They just don't write/illustrate children's books the way they used to. Here are a few we picked up recently at the stellar Buy the Book bookstore in Regina's Cathedral neighbourhood.

Out of the blue, Abner has become enamoured with pets. We took our first trip to a pet store a few weeks ago and other than commenting on the smell, she seemed to like it. This book about pets was an obvious choice for Abner. We haven't read it yet, but I'm dying to know why that parakeet is talking into the phone. I'm also wondering if Abner will ask me what that cord coming out of the phone is.

Since she is also so keen on learning to read these days, I picked up a beginner dictionary for her. Nothing like learning to read from The Cat in the Hat! Personally, I find it odd that the first word in the book is a proper noun. Since when do names go in the dictionary?

There's some debate around who this next book is for - me or Abner. It was published in 1958 by the Singer Sewing Machine company. As a resource tool, it's still pretty relevant, but get a load of some of these projects - the ribbon bow belt is actually kind of cute, but I think I'll pass on that frilly lampshade.

Painted glass jars

If you're into crafting, you'll agree that it's pretty much impossible to walk out of Value Village without picking up just a little something to work into a project. No? Well, it is for me. So even though it wasn't what I went in for, it's understandable that I should walk out with an assortment of vintage mason jars on a visit to the Village this past weekend. They were pretty on their own, but don't you think they look so much cuter with their insides painted?

If you'd like to make your own, the process was super easy. I used plain old Martha Stewart multi-surface satin acrylic craft paint and a little water. For these jars, I squeezed most of the bottle into the jar and added just enough water to get the paint flowing a bit. Then I just carefully swirled and tipped the jars until each was fully coated right up to the rim.

Don't get carried away adding too much water - too thin and you won't be able to coat the sides very easily; too thick and it'll seem like you don't have enough paint to finish the job. If you do add too much water, just do your first round of swirling, set the jar aside for an hour or so, then repeat your swirling. You'll have to keep doing that until your thinned out paint stops running back down the sides.

Also, when adding the water be sure to add it slowly otherwise you'll create bubbles in the paint - bubbles are bad; smooth paint is what you want. If you do get bubbles, just set the jar down for a bit to let the bubbles subside, then swirl away!

Around the house: The living room

Continuing our tour around the house, today we're taking a look at the living room. This space really gets a lot of use. Abner loves to climb all over the couch and watch the goings of the neighbourhood. It's the perfect spot to sit and wave to TDSH as he bikes off to work each morning too. Sadly, even after six weeks in the house, we haven't put up any artwork in this room so we are still living with plain off-white walls. Sigh.

Even so, this room has some interesting features like these built-in book cases/room dividers which separate the living room from the entry and hallway. I love the retro feel they give the room and having the built-in shelf space means we've been spared having to replace the wall unit we got rid of in Burnaby.

Nestled in next to one of the bookcase is this fabulous vintage rocker we scored a couple of weeks ago up at the antique shop in Lumsden. The only thing wrong with it was a threadbare seat, so I used a vintage needlepoint pillowcase lined with batting as a little cushion, and voila, it's even cuter than before!

We've all taken a liking to this particular spot in the room. TDSH loves to sit and read, with a little music and a scotch in hand (as I knew he would). Abner likes to rock herself and was found curled up thumbing through Nelson Mandela's Long Walk To Freedom in there last night! [We actually got her the kids' version of that book a few months ago from the library, so at least she knows the gist of the story. This was during her Important Leaders in History phase which also included reading about Martin Luther King and Ghandi. Seriously.]

Another retro feature of the room...genuine wood panelling. Yes, yes, we are lucky indeed! Actually, I kind of like it. Real wood panelling is soooo much nicer than the fake stuff (which, don't you worry, we have plenty of in the basement!) I can't bring myself to drill into the panelling, so this wall will remain naked. For now, I've got my latest garage sale find set up in the living room to display my quilts and other projects.

The room divider screen came with dingy grey fabric (which I suspect may have been white at some point) stapled on. Once that was torn off, it's become the perfect rack for displaying quilts! If I'd tried to design a rack myself, I don't think I could have done a better job...and certainly not for the $7 I paid for the thing! I already have two quilts on the go, but now I want to sew up a few more just to fill it up a bit more. I figure it can hold up to 15 baby quilts!

That box on the floor is another garage sale find. It's made out of an old Gold Seal canned salmon crate and it's perfect for displaying the fabric boxes I've been working on. I used some remnant scrapbooking paper to line the insides since it was rather slivery (that's a word...right?). Actually, now that I look at this picture, I just remembered I still need to staple the paper down! Oh well, you get the idea.

In case you're wondering, I'm planning to use both display pieces if/when I ever sign up for a craft sale. For now, I am sewing like mad to build up a bit of stock. I am in sewing heaven!

First prairie project

The project :
Take a cheap, used dresser and paint it to match Abner's room. To make it extra challenging, recruit said preschooler to help with the painting.

Before:

During:

After:

2 + 2 = cute

This darling little blouse used to be a bed sheet. Can you believe it? You may remember, I picked up the fabric ages ago at Value Village and it has been sitting patiently waiting to be made into something adorable ever since.

The pattern is the 2 + 2 blouse by Oliver + S. It's the first one I've done by them, and I love it. Nice and easy to follow and beautifully drawn. I'm bummed that I didn't buy the larger size though, this really won't last Abner very long.

My plan is to make this one of Abner's handmade Christmas gifts for this year. I hope she gets a few wears out of it, before we pass it on to someone else...hey, Allie, think this would look cute on Lexi?

Vintage sewing box all gussied up!

A few weeks ago, I got a call at work from my aunt. She was calling in an emergency...a thrifting emergency! Yes, there is such a thing. She found herself staring at multiple vintage sewing boxes and wanted to know if I wanted one. At a whopping $6.50, how could I say no?

The design is a simple one, but it's perfect  for me! I oiled the wood and cut out some cute papers to line the bottom of each section. The result makes me smile each and every time I open it.

There's no photo to prove it, but trust me, the box is now crammed full of lots of little sewing bits and bobs. I love how I can cart it from room to room as I make my way through the stages of a project. At each point, the box holds all the tools I need to cut out, mark, clip, pin, and measure whatever I happen to be working on.

The only items I have left floating around on my shelves are dozens of spools of thread which are driving me CRAZY...perhaps Santa will bring me a wooden thread rack for Christmas?

Guess who else got a new coat?

Coats seem to be a bit of a theme at the moment. In addition to finishing my own new coat, I put some of that thrift store fabric I found this summer to use and made a new hooded jacket for Abner.

The pattern was from a fairly straightforward jogging suit pattern from Burda (9672). However, I did wind up making quite a few adjustments. For one, the original pattern for the full-zip jacket did not include the hood, so I had to add that on by using the hood pattern piece from the half-zip jacket. No sweat!

The original pattern also didn't include a lining. Admittedly, if I'd used polar fleece as the pattern recommended, no lining would be needed. What kid wouldn't want soft, fuzzy polar fleece against their skin? But to use the cute, adorable, yet scratchy polyester fabric I went with, I knew I'd need a lining if I ever wanted Abner to actually wear the thing. The leftover candy striper flannel from her housecoat was just the thing. Making the lining was actually pretty easy, but did require a fair bit of hand sewing. Boo...though I must say, my hand sewing is getting to be quite good these days!

Once I'd already cut out all my fabric, I realized that the recommended zipper length was a bit long, but since zippers only come in even inch lengths, I was stuck because the next size down would have been too short. To make it work, I had to decrease the seam allowance on the hood and at the ribbing (thus lengthening the front a bit). Then I had to stretch the front just a wee bit to get the zipper in. Because I couldn't stretch the lining quite as much as I could stretch the outer fabric, I wound up with a gap where the lining didn't meet the ribbing. To resolve this, I added a little strip of trim I had kicking around. Worked out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Now that it's done and Abner's worn it a few times, I have to admit, I think this is my favourite mama-made project so far! It totally looks like the kind of coat I would have had as a kid back in the day.

Pyrex love

Remember me mentioning that I was on the look out for a set of Pyrex bowls? Well, I happened to mention it to my aunt a few weeks ago while we were vacationing near Castlegar. She shares my obsession with thrift stores so we've started sharing some of our thrift wish list items so we can be on the look out for each other. She really came through this time when she found me these pretty much the very next day:

What you are looking at is a set of butterprint turquoise cinderella mixing bowls. It's not the complete set I'd been hoping for, but this is actually better! Now I have the rather enjoyable task of looking for the missing bowl!

If you'd care to help me in this quest, I'm looking for the 1 1/2 quart (#442) bowl that should fit between the two white bowls. I already know it's readily available on Ebay, but I think I'll try my luck in thrift stores first. According to Pyrex Love, it's not a very rare pattern, so it should be relatively easy to find.

Within days of getting these fabulous beauties home, I'd already gotten rid of my crappy old plastic bowls and was putting these to use for just about any reason I could come up with.

Fabric finds

I spent our whole trip to and from the Kootenays looking for thrift stores. It's becoming a wee bit of an addiction. Sadly, I missed out on most because Abner was sleeping and we couldn't stop the car (she's the lightest sleeper in the world!). I did manage to hit a great shop in Hope just as the drive was (finally) coming to a close. I don't think I spent more than five minutes in the store, but it was a very productive five minutes!

I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to make with this one, but I absolutely love these colours. Perhaps this cute little top?

This stuff is actually a really stretchy, thick polyester which is not something I'm normally drawn to, but when cute puppies are involved...all bets are off. My plan is to attempt a hoodie for fall for Abner, though I imagine I'll have to line it with something soft like flannel.

I'm also throwing these pics in because I picked up this fabric ages ago and haven't posted about it yet. The same day I bought this sheet remnant at Value Village, I found the exact same sheet - uncut - for half the price at a thrift store in PoCo! Argh. No plans as of yet for this one...got any ideas?

Thrifty finds

There aren't many things more enjoyable than having an entire afternoon to oneself. It happens from time to time for me and the older I get, the more I relish the occasion. When I was younger I was quick to waste those precious opportunities napping or watching TV...nowadays I'm sure to tackle activities that are best handled without a toddler in tow. Thrifting is just such an activity.

I had occasion recently to hit the thrift/consignment/new and used shops along Hastings and came back with one of my better thrifting hauls.

For a mere pittance at the Sally Ann I was able to pick up a toy for Abner to practice her fine motor skills (zippers, snaps, buttons, etc.)  and a few pillow cases to make more dresses.

For slightly more money at Consign Home, I was able to grab a cute glass pitcher, a milk glass bottle from Portugal, and a glass measuring bowl. I've been on a mission to replace all of the plastic in our kitchen with glass or stainless steel. Finding these items was a big step in going plastic-free. Buh-bye plastic juice jug!

My ultimate score right now would be finding a complete set of vintage nesting mixing bowls...something like these ones I found over at Pyrex Love (incidentally, I never would have imagined there would be an entire site devoted to all things Pyrex...who knew!). I've also got my eye on the refrigerator sets which would come in handy for storing leftovers.

Since I've mentioned my desire to go plastic-free, this is also a good opportunity to tell you about the cool little Abeego Wrap I picked up at a craft fair last month. If you haven't seen these things before, they're a handmade, all-natural alternative to plastic wrap. Made from hemp/cotton fabric infused with a blend of beeswax and plant extracts they are the perfect thing to wrap sandwiches and other lunch items in. No more plastic baggies or container.

New and used and awesome

I have recently discovered the awesomeness that is a used building supply store. Aisle upon aisle jam-packed with practical and beautiful items ripped from homes undergoing restoration. Seriously, there's everything from ripped up floor boards, to stained glass windows, to cabinets and even kitchen sinks!

In my neighbourhood, we're lucky enough to have two of these places just spitting distance away. Closest is the ReStore which is operated by Habitat For Humanity. I literally drive by this place every day on my way to work and I've never gone in until last week. One of the best items I spotted was a giant bin of burlap sacks - each for just 25 cents! Sadly, I couldn't think of a good project for them so I had to walk on by.

We also have Jack's New and Used a bit further down the road. It looks like the kind of place that has guard dogs roaming the lot after dark, but it's such an amazing place to explore in the daylight.

Most items are arranged all willy-nilly out in the open, but they also have a selection of finer items kept safely under cover. Obviously their stock changes all the time, but I was drooling over a set of corbels (that I have absolutely no need for) and a pile of brass doorknobs that another customer was buying. 

If you need to bring the kids along, be sure to bring a second adult along to help wrangle them. While the exploration prospects are huge at a place like this, so too are the dangers.

On the day we went, we were on the look out for a few very specific items and came away with exactly what we were looking for...what we bought will have to remain a secret for another post (or two) though! Stay tuned!