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.

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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!

Finds from the Fair

I spent some quality time this weekend with my dear mother by visiting the Arts and Antiquities Fair that was held at the Turku Fair and Congress Center this weekend. There were lots of vintage sellers, handicrafts and vintage toys to go about. There was so much that I would've wanted to take home with me- just to think of all the vintage dresses and shoes!- but luckily for me the shoes were too small and the dresses too expensive. And since now I know how to sew vintage dresses (at least somehow) I tried to focus on the vintage sewing patterns. There were only two booths I could find that had vintage patterns and most of them were from the 70's. But since we went to the fair on Sunday who knows what treasures there were on Saturday! Better not think about that too much though, sigh... But not to worry! I took some patterns home with me and a pair of some adorable earrings!

Stil 6224 A wrap dress/apron from the 50's.

Simplicity 2823 Skirt, blouse and waist coat from 1979.

Stil 8777 Dress and an apron from the 70's.

Stil 8310 Wiggle dress with scalloped pockets from the 60's.

Stil 4055 A sheath dress from the 60's.

Stil 4033 Skirt suit from the 60's.

The pattern from the 50's was the only one without an envelope. Still it's never been used and in perfect condition! All the other patterns were in factory folds too and had no tears or wears on them. And all were in wearable sizes! (Well, not the 50's skirt, lol) Talk about some good luck! I'm already planning to make a nice cotton summer dress from the Stil 8777 and the Simplicity pattern will become a part of my fall lookbook. I think it has a resemplance to the 1940's skirt and blouse patterns like this one that I've hunted but not managed to find yet.

There were a lot of antique and vintage broches and some earrings too at the fair but I fell in love with the earrings and necklaces made by Anna Karppinen. She handpaints the earrings and uses lace to create the beautiful forms on the pieces. I bought these round seagreen lovelies but I think I must get my hands on some red ones too! You can find these from www.korumetsa.net. The site is in Finnish but just click on the Korut-tab to get a look at the jewels.

Lace patterned earrings. LOVE!

Mum had an urge to clear out some of her closets so I volunteered to take the old fabric remnants from past sewing projects of her hands (a real sacrifice on my part that was! lol). What I got was old sheets (great for muslins!), a piece of lace and an old lace collar and some purple shell fabric. And now I have a terrible urge to go rummage around thrift stores for some more fabrics! Or maybe I'll just stay inside and out of the blizzard (spring! where are you?!) and trace some patterns. Have a great week!

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Kävin viikonloppuna Turussa järjestyillä Taide- ja Antiikkimessuilla, jonka yhteydessä oli myös Kädentaitomessut sekä vanhojen lelujen osasto. Numismaatikoiden pöydillä oli lisäksi mahdottomat määrät vanhoja rahoja, myös niitä ihania Paavo Nurmia ja Väinö Linnoja, nyyh.. Mutta todelliset aarteet löytyivät messujen vintageosastoilta. Mekkoja, kenkiä, laukkuja ja korsetteja oli vaikka millä mitalla, mutta itse yritin keskittyä vanhojen kaavojen metsästykseen (yksi korsettiliivi oli tosin jo kädessä, mutta jäi kuitenkin ostamatta). Lopulta löysin kahdelta eri myyjältä vanhoja Stil-kaavoja, joista kotiin päätyi lopulta 5 kappaletta. Lisäksi löysin yhden ihanaisen Simplicity-kaavan, josta tulee osa syksyn vaatevarastoani. Kädentaitomessujen puolelta puolestaan löytyi Anna Karppisen suloisia koruja, joita voi ostaa myös netistä osoitteesta www.korumetsa.net. Mutta nyt piirtämään kaavoja puhtaaksi!

Book treat

The McCall dress is coming along nicely, allready finished the top part! But while watiting for the whole dress to come along I thought I'd share some pics with you. I found an old Finnish school book from 1957 called Tyttöjen käsityöt (Crafts for girls in English) by Eeva Haavisto. It has great illustrations and instructions on all kinds of crafts, even bobbing lace. And it shows the construction of five different button holes! I didn't even know there was that many! The texts in the pictures are in Finnish, but I hope you can read the illustrations. Some of the pictures came out a little blueish, sorry about that.

How to make a pentagram slit.

Buttonholes made out of fabric strips.

How to sew a belt loop.

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Löysin antikvariaatista hienon vanhan käsityökirjan vuodelta 1957 nimeltä Tyttöjen käsityöt. Kirjassa on kerrottu kuvin ja tekstein miten ommella, neuloa, nyplätä pitsiä (!) ja kutoa. Kirja on käsinompelun kannalta todellinen aarreaitta, sillä koneompelu saa siinä vain pienen kappaleen osakseen. Tämän kirjan jälkeen on turha enää selittää, ettei osaa ommella esimerkiksi pirtavyöripsua, ristikkopohjaista Raja-Karjalan reikäommelta tai viisikantahalkiota.

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"The Tune of Time" Don't you just love the dress here? I know I do!