Tuesday 29 March 2011

Thrifted March (and some fabric shopping)

Until I discovered the wonderful of sewing and vintage clothing I wasn't much of a thrifter. I remember that we did go to jumble sales and thrift stores every weekend when I was a child. But for some reason that faded away when I moved on my own. I guess I thought that there just wasn't any good thrift stores about, at least at a walking distance (this for me means 5km). And there really aren't that many in here, but now I've found at least one that always has something to offer, the Salvation Army Thrift Store. There is another thrift store in the centre (the UFF Thrift Store) but it's way too expensive to be one in my opinion. There's also a big thrift store on the other side of town, but since it's such a long way away, I haven't really bothered to go there.  Since the vintage scene has become a bit of a fashion thingy lately there are new vintage stores popping out here and there. They are (at least for now) the only places besides the web that I've found vintage sewing patterns.

The reason I thrift is basically to find affordable fabrics. And it's also an environmentally friendly way to sew, I think. I always look through the linens and curtains. Some stores also have a big pile of abandoned fabric pieces and buttons and buckles. Here are some that I've found this month.


A big pile of buckles. Think of all the belts I'll be able to make! They're on some thrifted lavender satin that I'm thinking of making into this:



Metallic buttons. I just had to have these, they were so lovely:



Leather buttons! Do I need to say more?!:
 

The pattern here is thrifted but the fabric I found at the sale section of the fabric store. It's really light and sweet but I think I have to underline it with some white cotton:






This is a lovely sheer cotton piece that I found for 1 euro! I saw the film "Glorious 39" last week and have been dreaming about the yellow dress that Anne wore at the picnic.This fabric combined with some more yellow cotton would be ideal for this look. The film is filled with stunning pieces, I would gladly take them all home, but for now this would do:


Today I rummaged around the children's section in the thrift store and found these two duvet covers that fould make great shirts: 





Then there was this candy striped cotton that was a sale find. I'm thinking of making this into this:


And since it's always nice to daydream of being a classy lady with gloves I bought a pair of lace beige ones for 1 euro:

I also got some yellow lining and a deep forest green chiffon that will go to my stash for now. Some of the thrifted fabrics are already made into a dress, like the McCall dress. Hopefully the next one will be a success too.

***

Pelastusarmeijasta on tullut se paikka, josta aina löytää jotain uutta ja ihanaa ompeluja varten. Maaliskuun saaliiden jälkeen tarvikkeita on taas muutamia ihanan kevyitä kesämekkoja varten!

2 comments:

  1. I am quite jealous of your finds. I've been thrifting a few times specifically looking for belt buckles, buttons and patterns with no luck. You seem to have stumbled upon a treasure trove.

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  2. I was over the moon when I discovered the buckles and the buttons! The fact that nobody else had found them before me is propably only to do with the fact that sewists here buy their notions in fabric stores. I guess thrifting as a means of finding sewing materials isn't that popular here. Which is great for me of course! :) Patterns on the other hand are really hard to come by here.

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