thrifted OOTD and pinchy shoes

Have you ever had a day, when you woke up the sun was shining, the air was ripe with possibility, and it was warm enough to wear a swishy, maxi skirt to work?  Last Friday I was finally able to wear a vintage April Cornell skirt.  Made of lovely, flowy rayon (I love rayon) - this skirt is a cross between pumpkin and salmon :)

I paid $2.50 for it at the Salv Anne a month or two ago.  I paired it with a t-shirt and a denim shirt.

denim shirt (thrifted) $3
Jacob floral t-shirt (thrifted or sale) $10
April Cornell maxi skirt (thrifted) $2.50

What isn't shown are the pinchy, Rockport wedge sandals which I bought on sale for $15.  They are currently in a bag waiting to go to the Salv Army.

But here is a random photo of the jewelery I wore on Thursday.

Silver and gold bracelets, Aldo (about $3)
Brown/red ceramic bead bracelet, thrifted ($1)
stack of rings, Aldo (about $5 for the set)

Aldo was having a BOGO sale on their clearance jewelery.  A set of 5 bracelets or rings cost $5 with the BOGO discount.  

And here is the obligatory pic of a blogger's dog.  Her name is Sugar, sometimes she is a good dog :)

happy thrifting ;)

Purchasing fabric from thrift stores

It's Friday, hurrah!  The weekend is fairly brimming with scintillating things to do - the air is ripe with promise!!  I plan to sew, snooze, tidy, admire my tidying and possibly read on my deck in the sunshine!!!  I should mention that the kind weather-people have predicted a sunshiny, warm weekend. Hmm, I also have to bring my steam-cleaner to work as I had a condiment mishap on one of the upholstered chairs (hey, that could happen to anyone, right?).

In the meantime, here are some pics of fabric that I purchased from the Salv Army.

3 yards of cotton, $5

5 yards of home decor and heavyweight fabric, $7

Scads of fabric!!

Upside-down closeup of selvage

Upside-down closeup of home decor canvas..look maw, there is a monkey!!

Thread!!!

Bags of thread for $2!!

happy thrifting ;)

Sweet 16 Heart Quilt (DIY sewing project using thrifted clothing)

Hello friends, a while ago I finished another quilt.  This quilt was a birthday gift for my sixteen year old daughter.  I wanted to create something special to commemorate this important birthday.  

First I decided on the color scheme - I chose blue to match her eyes.  Then I decided on a heart block.  I scoured the Internet looking for heart blocks that I liked.  That is how I discovered this wonderful blog Sew Me Something Good.  I liked the 6 x 6 heart design, and I drafted my own pattern.

My original idea was to go with a very scrappy heart block - one that combined prints, and light and dark values.  This was the resulting block.  

(I'll apologize in advance for the sideways and upsidedown shots - Blogger is not my friend).

After creating a couple of blocks, and not liking the result, I went back to the drawing board.  I decided to group my fabrics into light and dark values.  I would have eight light-colored hearts and eight dark-colored hearts.

Here are my lights.

The rolled up bundles are reclaimed fabric from thrifted clothing.

Here are my darks.

I also scaled back on certain prints.  This floral print wasn't the best scale for the blocks.  The 2 1/2" squares made the petals look like fingers.  

I also decided to use a lot of solids mixed in with the prints.

Pressing open the 2 1/2" squares.

Here is my first dark blue heart block.  Each block has 46 pieces.

Trimming down the block (this is one of my favorite parts of piecing).

Block with white sashing sewn onto the sides.  All the white fabric used in this quilt was reclaimed from thrifted clothing. You shoulda seen me at the Salv Army on sale day - I pulled every white pieces of clothing I could find. The sales clerk thought if I was a bee-keeper :)

Laying out the finished blocks on my floor.  Note to self: get a larger floor :)

Quilt top, now I just need to add a border.

I purchased 3 different types of fabric for the border, but none of them seemed to work.  So I used leftover sunflower fabric.

I layered the quilt, the back was a flannel sheet that I purchased new, then batting, then the quilt top.  I used green, painter's tape to secure everything to the floor.  I like to use flannel or flannelette for quilt backs, here is a handy formula.

Flannel quilt back + premium batting = snuggly quilt

I hate getting on my hands and knees to pin everything together, but it has to be done.

Photobomb from eleven-year-old instigator  :)

I added a pieced strip to the flannel backing.  Creating the pieced strip is another favorite thing of mine.  I get to joyfully and (almost) randomly piece bits of fabric together.  

Here is a closeup.

The binding is an orangey-leaf pattern.  I though it contrasted nicely with the blue.

A lot of people ask me how long it takes to make a quilt. Because I draft my own patterns, and I'm not afraid to tear things apart if they don't work, I can spend a long time designing a quilt.  Plus there is the time I spend preparing the fabric.  The quilt top was more than 90% reclaimed material. Using reclaimed material can be a lot of work as you have to cut shirts up and the resulting pieces may not be conducive to strip piecing.  A lot of the 2 1/2" squares were laboriously cut from small bits of clothing.

I'd say that the labour for this quilt broke down into the following:

* design (including sketching, creating sample blocks), 10 hours

*  preparing fabric (washing, pressing, cutting etc.) 20 hours

* sewing (including piecing, sewing blocks together) 35 hours

* finishing (basting, quilting, binding) 15 hours

Well, if my quilt has inspired you to use reclaimed fabric, then good on you.  Let me know if you have questions.

happy thrifting :)

Blingy wrist bling and other sparkly accessories

Hello friends!!  I thought I'd do a post on my wristy bling and rings.  I've been enjoying our (sporadic) warm weather, which means I get to have bare arms.  I like to wear 2-3 bracelets and stacks of rings.  To keep things affordable I shop clearance sales and thrift stores.

One of my co-workers remarked that the red and green reminded him of Christmas.  I just liked the feeling of stacked bracelets and the shiny gold.  

The green bracelet is a choker wound twice around my wrist (Nygard $5). The yellow and red bracelet has a pretty engraved red bead (thrifted $2). The gold charm bracelet was thrifted for a few dollars.

Large ring (American Eagle close-out, $3) and stack of bracelets.

The top and bottom  bracelet were part of a 3 piece set - I think I paid $3 for the set.  The middle bracelet has aurora borealis crystals and rhinestones.  Some people don't like AB crystals as they were manufactured after 1951 - I personally prefer the rainbowy finish over a regular, clear crystal.  I bought this for $15 from Salv Army.

The red bracelet was one of my Mother's Day jewelery finds.  I love finding this type of vintage jewelery at thrift stores.  You have to be careful though. The glue that holds the thermoset pieces gets brittle with age and I've had a few pieces pop out of the settings.  The purple ring was a Mother's Day gift from my darling boyfriend.  It's a Swaroski ring with a big purple crystal. The ring is a tad large so I used a smaller ring to anchor it.

I love the look of silver and white in the summer.  The first bracelet was thrifted a few years ago from Value Village *before* they jacked up their prices (rant about this at the end of the post).  I love this bracelet, it has semi-precious stones mounted to silver discs.  I think I paid about $4 for this bracelet.  The middle charm bracelet was about $2 retail on clearance.  The last bracelet is made from stone and silver beads - it was a gift.

The 2 pics above show a pixel ring that I got from Loft (clearance $8).  The photos don't really do it justice.  I'm wearing a gold bead bracelet in the top photo (Zellers close-out clearance, $4) and the bottom photo has a Nygard bracelet with big faceted glossy black cabs in a bronze setting (Sears clearance $5).

I noticed a disturbing trend of over-priced jewelery at thrift stores.  I'm not talking about fine jewelery, I'm talking about costume jewelery that quite often goes on sale for $3-$5 at Charlotte Russe, Forever 21, Bianca Nygard, Sears, JC Penny etc.  So if you thrift, know your prices and compare at the mall.

Of course I love finding treasures at the thrift stores.  I've been fortunate to amass a large collection of thermoset pieces, vintage crystal chokers and fabulous 1950's clip earrings for reasonable prices - it pays to check out the jewelery case.

happy thrifting :)

Jackpot!!

Hello friends!  I hope that you have been enjoying many thrifting and/or sewing adventures.  I have been sewing up a storm.  I finished sixteen 12" quilt blocks, each block with 50 pieces.  The blocks were made almost exclusively of reclaimed fabric which was snipped from clothing.  This is trickier and more time consuming than sewing with purchased fabric, but I think it's well worth it.  I'll spend this weekend finishing the blocks with sashing and corner squares, and then TA DA, I'll have a quilt top!!

I've also been haunting fabric stores and thrift stores for fabric.  Unfortunately I've also discovered on-line stores that offer the most amazing quilt fabric.  I've spent hours window shopping.  When my budget allows I plan to splurge on a couple of bundles of fabric.

In the meantime, here are some fabric and linens that I've found.  Half of this stuff has already been allocated to upcoming projects.

Fabric and linen haul!!!

The collection above was purchased from Value Village and Salvation Army.  Pardon the wrinkles, I washed and dried the fabric, but I didn't iron it.

Psychadelic vintage linens!!

I found three vintage bed sheets made of cotton.  If you look for vintage sheets, make sure the polyester content isn't too high.  I prefer that my sheets are 100% cotton, or at most 40% polyester.  If fabric has content that is higher than 40% I find that it's not worth working using in quilts.  Check the seams and you will find a content label - or use your sense of touch.  Cotton feels deliciously soft while polyester tends to feel stiff and doesn't wrinkle easily when you crumple it in your hand.

Each sheet will yield about 3 metres of fabric, at a cost of about $1 per metre.

Great fabric for fussy cuts!!

I got about 2 metres for $7 (I added the tax I paid to the price).  I think this is vintage fabric, there is no printed selvage (it's woven right to the edge).  I plan to use this fabric for small kitchen projects and fussy cuts.

At $3.50 per metre this isn't a great deal - unless you factor in the difficulty finding vintage fabric.

Dusty rose and powder blues!!

I got about 2.5 metres for $8 (a little expensive Value Village!).  The information on the selvage reads "1991 Beethoven treated with soil and stain reppeller".  This fabric features gigantic flowers with hints of gold metallic.  It's a fine quality fabric which would be suitable for home decorating projects.  I plan to use this fabric for a drawstring backpack and the scraps will go to quilts.

At $3.20 per metre this isn't a bad deal for durable, stain resistant fabric.

Half a metre of garden border fabric

This is half a metre of Daisy Kingdom craft fabric.  It has a cute garden at the border, and tiny vegetables on the main part of the fabric.

At $7 per metre this was pricey - it's what you would pay retail.  But I snapped it up because I liked the teeny vegetables.

3 metres of pin striped fabric

I got a huge, 3 metre piece of fabric for $3.45.  There is no information on the selvage.  It feels like a cotton/poly blend. When I saw this material I thought it would look perfect with the vintage bed linens I picked up.  I think this would be another good fabric for a backpack.

At $1.15 a metre this was a great deal.

Vintage flower print delight!

My heart stopped when I saw this giant piece of fabric.  It measures about 2 metres wide by 4 metres across.  It originally was 1 metre wide, but two pieces had been sewn together to make an extra wide piece.  This fabric is identical to the material that my grandmother used in a dress for my mother.  It's still sturdy with a lot of wear in it.  It will get snipped up and used in many quilts.

At $2.50 for 8 metres of fabric this is a fantastic deal!

Close-up

My plan to make a backpack means that I'll need buckles and straps.  I could go to a craft or notions store and buy these things.  Or I could purchase a second hand purse and salvage what I need from it.

Pleather purse, pillowcase and apron

This collection of items includes the purse (which I'll use for the buckles), a flower power pillowcase (vintage, 100% cotton) and an apron.  The pillowcase will join my growing, quilting stash.

The purse was tossed into the washing machine with the rest of the fabric.  It came out just fine.  If you are worried about the buckles scratching the inside of your washing machine, you could put it in a pillowcase and knot it closed.

Close-up

The apron fabric has teeny caravans and people printed on it.  How odd is that?  I had to snap it up.  The apron will also join my quilting stash.

Are you ready for one last picture of thrifted fabric?

Pardon the sideways shot.  This fabric came from a Dutch charity shop which I love!!!  I can't go there very often because they have wonderful things.  These three rolls were $1 each.

Roosters, Sock Monkeys and hibiscus

The first roll of fabric is a sturdy canvas-type material.  I loved the mustard and grey roosters. The selvage has the date 1961.  I'm not sure what I'll use this for - but it's definitely something that will end up in my kitchen.

The next roll of fabric is sock monkey panels.  I have about 9 panels in this roll.  I can foresee using a panel jazz up the back of a jean jacket.  

The last roll of fabric is a bright pink hibiscus print.  It's destined to join my quilt stash.

I just finished washing all this lot...now off to iron and sew!!

happy thrifting :)

frozen eyelashes and staticy hair OOTD

Whew!  Summer has finally come to northwestern Ontario. The temperature is in the balmy 20s, my dog is panting up a storm and ice cream stands are doing brisk business.  It was only 8 weeks ago that we had snow, soon it will be unbearable hot. Welcome to Canadian weather :)

I am still scrambling to get my summer wardrobe out of storage. Although I don't have any summer outfits to show you, I do have OOTD pics from December and January. 

The winter weather was super-dooper cold.  And I mean COLD!! There were Arctic blasts of cold air which resulted in sub-zero temperatures in Canada and the States.  We suffered through weather that dipped to -51 Celcius with windchill.  Brrrr!!  After work, I would go home, take care of my dog, then crawl into bed to try to get warm.  Even when I dressed warmly, it seemed like the  cold weather tried to burrow it's way next to my skin.

It kinda reminded me of the "Long Winter', by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  It's a good book, if you haven't read it.

Here are various thrifty outfits that I wore during the winter.  Enjoy.

Check out that staticy hair!!!

This outfit makes me feel very medievalish.  I think it's the combination of the tunic, and the knee boots.

Normally I'd flatten down my hair and make it look more presentable.   But I wanted to show you how the dryness can affect hair.  This is how staticy my hair gets in the dry, cold winter, plus I'm wearing silk.  

I'm wearing:

silk blouse ($5, thrifted)

tunic (Mac N Jac, clearance at Big Lots $15)

grey cords (Old Navy, sale about $20)

knee boots (DSW, about $80)

gold chain necklace (People's, store closing clearance $15)

Yowsa, lookit that hair!!

This ensemble features a long, wool cardi.  It's kinda like a blanket.  

I'm wearing:

long cardigan ($6, thrifted)
print top (Val Village 50% sale, $3)

black dress pants (thrifted, about $3)

sparkly rhinestone broach (thrifted, about $10)

Now I understand why Linus liked his blanket so much. 

Because if you can't stay in bed, you may as well take your blanket with you while you confront the cold weather.

My uniform is a cardigan, over pants and a top (sometimes over a layer of thermal underwear).  This is the cozy mohair cardigan, layered over a men's flannel shirt.  I wore a neon yellow, blingy necklace.  Then we went bowling.

Blingy necklace

LL BEAN mohair cardi (Val Village 50% sale, $5)

burgundy men's shirt (Val Village 50% sale, $3)

jeggings (TJ Max, $20)

neon yellow necklace (Joe Fresh, $14)

window shopping

I was at Winners checking out winter boots. I couldn't afford new boots (nor did I need more boots).  But I found some nice ones, check them out.

Thrifting on the weekend

Here are a couple of weekend OOTD - clothing that I threw on for running various errands, dog walking, shopping, etc.  I remember balking at the idea of wearing another flipping winter coat in the picture above.  So I layered a warm vest, over an alpaca cardigan, over a t-shirt.  Worn with neon green cords.  The vest and cardigan were thrifted...did I mention that the cardigan was unbelievably thick and warm??  It's about 1" thick!!

I'm coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs!!

I bought a white parka last winter...with our record snowfall, I was worried about getting mistaken for a snow bank :)   Thrifted United Colors of Benetton argyle cardi, neon cords, white parka.

Before outer layers.

After adding outer layers...can you believe I was still cold??

White snowbank parka and FAB thrifted Pendleton purse.

happy thrifting everyone :)