buy nothing new month

Did you know that this month the Salvos is having a "buy nothing new" challenge, with some seriously good prizes to be won which is kinda ironic given the whole point of the competition is to recycle and be less consumeristic but who am I to judge? If you fancy winning $5000 in cash, go and have a gander at their site.

I don't generally buy clothes for myself from op shops (aka thrift stores) because I find sewing from scratch is easier than refashioning and I don't often see anything I like that fits. But I certainly scour the craft and miscellaneous bits and bobs aisles for bargains. Over the years I've amassed a huge amount of fabric and sewing patterns from op shops, including this time that I bought so much on a work trip that I couldn't fit all the fabric in my overnight bag, and had to stuff plastic bags full of fabric and tablecloths in the overhead locker LOL! However, My best three finds would be:

1. A 1960s Lutterloh pattern book

When I saw this little red folder crammed into a bookshelf in the big Salvos store in Wollongong (cnr of Kenny + Ellen Sts) my heart skipped a beat:

and then I pulled it out and saw it was complete with these lovelies inside my heart went pitter patter:

and finally when I spied the $2 price tag on it I nearly had a heart attack I was so excited! These things sell for over $100 on ebay, but apart from the monetary value they are just hard to come by so to find one in good condition and for so cheap was a major find indeed. Mine didn't come with the 'Golden Rule' measuring tape, but this could be purchased if I ever wanted to make one of the patterns. So far I haven't actually sewn anything from it, but just admiring the fashion illustrations is more than enough.

2. A Singer Magic Press 4

The beauty of this buy is in the timing of the find - I had been thinking about buying a steam press and was about to buy one that was on sale for $299 when I spotted this one in another big Salvos store in Warilla (Shellharbour Rd) for about $30. It was in pretty manky condition, with no manual but in perfect working order, and nothing a little hot iron cleaner to clean the hot plate and a new fabric cover for the ironing bed couldn't fix:

And then in an amazing coincidence, I stumbled across the manual for it about a year later in a Salvos store in another state (Bundamba in Qld of all places!) where it was for sale with the books and magazines and there was no steam press actually in the store. It must have been fate that I was there to buy it!

I don't use it for general ironing or pressing of seams while I'm sewing but rather for fusing interfacing which is very handy because I block interfaced all 14 pieces of the jacket I'm currently sewing and it's much quicker than pressing with the iron.

3. A Hobbytex paint set

When I was little my mum had a set of Hobbytex fabric paints, and I remember using them on various things probably much to my mother's annoyance! In fact I'm now experiencing the feeling of having one's child ruin something of yours, so belated apologies to you mum! Anyway, when I was out in Orange (a lovely town about 4 hours west of Sydney) last week for work I popped into the Vinnies early one morning before going into the office and saw this whole set there for the princely sum of $5:

I didn't even know these things still existed, yet this set looks pretty new with only a few of the tubes used. And I see on the Hobbytex website that this set currently sells for $389, so $5 for all of these is an extreme bargain. I can't say I have a need for these (yet), but I bought them for the memories and to show my mum. Maybe Anna will want to use/ruin them in another 10 years.....

People often ask how I find all this stuff, and all I can say is persistance. I never pass by an op shop without stopping for a sticky beak, and in fact I usually plan my trip to make sure I pass by any nearby op shops especially when I travel to a new town. Luckily both Vinnies and the Salvos have a list of all their stores on line, and also the Australian Op Shop listing is a handy resource. And the I op therefore I am blogs for the ACT and Victoria are handy too if you're in that area.

Well I had a great weekend away with the hubby - he got a round of golf in while I had a two hour massage and spa (total bliss!) and we got to sleep uninterrupted for the whole night whilst the little one kept her grandma up most of the night!

And now I'm engaging in some world championship level pattern matching in the jacket I'm currently sewing. If this was an Olympic sport, I would be in contention for a gold medal for matching the stripes on this princess seam:

And matching these stripes on the welt pocket too:

And now I'm off to see I can achieve the same on the raglan sleeves too....

fair enough call, point taken!

I don't know why cooler weather makes me want to sew in shades of grey, but every year it does. In fact I seem to recall Carolyn calling me out on it last year, but once again this year I fell into the same old predictable pattern! I wasn't overly concerned because I don't wear a lot of black so I guess grey is my 'go to' neutral, but then I saw this line of clothes waiting to be ironed in my ironing room (also known as my guest room when we have guests and junk room at other times, I'm sure you all relate):

Yes that would be four grey dresses and two grey skirts worn in recent weeks waiting to be ironed and put away - I like to air my clothes in between wear, aka being too lazy to iron them straight away! Even I admit that this grey obsession is possibly a bit much and I should branch out.

So I thought about making a bright fuschia dress in some wool from the stash, but baby steps here! Hopefully you'll all be pleased to know my next project, a skirt suit for work, is made from a green woven wool, with flecks of gold and blue through it:

And in even more surprising developments I'm actually trying to do things properly for a change. I have bought a few sewing books over the years but haven't really used them, so I thought it was about time I cracked this one open and followed it's advice:

The Classic Guide to Sewing the Perfect Jacket is a really good book, all the photographs make it easy to understand and it goes through the techniques for full handstitching of the jacket and also the technique for using fusible interfacing which gives you the choice to pick how involved you want to get. Following the book, for my current jacket I've block interfaced all of the jacket pieces with lightweight interfacing (whisperweft I think it was called), and I've also made a back stay from some tightly woven but thin cotton, all to help stabilise the fabric because it's quite a loose weave:

Now to make the lining for the jacket, the most boring part. I did read a tip somewhere or other recommending that you make the lining first which means you get the worst part over and done with first and may make it less likely you'll end up with a UFO.

My business trip to one of our regional offices to deliver some training last week was a success. My job for the main part is writing policy, but I sometimes run training sessions for staff although I haven't done so since before I went on maternity leave well over a year ago now. Not only did all my knowledge of the legislation I was training the staff in come flooding back to me and the training session went really well, but I also managed to visit two op shops and score some bargains. First up a big bag of button covering kits in varying shapes and sizes:

Some knit fabrics to add to the stash until I get over my dislike of sewing with knits - a black heavy cotton like ponti de roma, and a thin polyester in a nice green brown pattern:

A 1939 McCalls sewing book, which is heavy on the handstitching techniques and interestingly refers to zippers as "slide fasteners".

And best of all was a stack of vintage golden books, with the funniest title ever:

I guess "goodbye tonsils" is the precursor to modern educational but entertaining books for children such as "why does daddy live in his own house now?" and "why do I have two mummies?" Aaaah, innocent times of eras gone by....

As for me, I'm off to insert an invisible slide fastener into a skirt. Happy sewing everyone.

more unglamorous work travel

This week I had to travel out to the central west of NSW to lovely Dubbo, home of the really cool Western Plains Zoo which is so big and spaced out that you can either drive or bicycle between the animal exhibits (no cages here, it's a free range zoo) - almost like McDonald's drive thru but for animal viewing. I was there for a few days giving some training and participating in a workshop with staff from our regional offices located all over inland NSW. Whilst rural NSW is not the most exciting of places, I had a good time with everyone and didn't stuff up my training delivery (yay for the brain still holding up its end of the bargain). This will probably be my last trip for work that involves long distance travel, it is a bit tiring and I'm getting on in this pregnancy caper.

And best of all there were 4 op shops within walking distance of where I was staying! Sadly I had to hold back on my purchases since I was flying, because I saw the coolest 1920s style cocktail cart for only $15, but I did purchase about 30m (gulp!) of fabric and a big tin of buttons which was a major scoop because finding buttons like that is getting rarer and rarer these days - there must be obsessive collectors like myself cleaning out all the op shops.

I held back on purchasing any more patterns since they were mosty fugly 1980s styles - will there be a market for these one day? I only managed to fit half of the fabric purchases into my luggage and that was with wearing a few layers of clothes to make room! So I had to stuff some of it in the overhead lockers on the plane which was pretty funny. And looky looky at what I got - there's colour! there's prints! there's no grey, although I didn't photograph the lengths of a lovely white and grey mini houndstooth check wool or a taupe brown wool which I also bought, but here is my haul:

From left that is a red self stripe cotton seersucker, a blue floral polyester (shudder, but I liked the print), a vivid blue with purple flowers cotton, a graphic orange and blue print wool crepe, some more polyester with another graphic yellow green print, a polyester chiffon with yellow red and yellow spots, a yellow hanky linen and a cream heavy cotton with brown flecks that is actually a curtain but I'm sure can be repurposed into something better.

No specific plans for these fabrics and there is a real danger they will become long term residents in the stash but I am thinking of using the red self stripe cotton seersucker for a lightweight summer jacket using jacket 102 from BWOF 6/08. Possibly with a red and white fine stripe cotton for scallop edge centre front placket, and some funky buttons:

I've been feeling really big lately and my belly button has flattened out, but there were two other pregnant ladies at the workshop who were one and two weeks ahead of me, and they were HUGE so I'll just shut up now and stop whingeing.... Plus I had an antenatal class today with the hospital physio about pelvic floor muscles, looking after the lower back muscles, exercises and stretches to do and not to do etc and the variety in sizes and shapes even though we were all pretty close in weeks gone was just amazing.

So another weekend already, isn't time flying by? I was in the shopping centre this afternoon after the physio class and some stores already have christmas decorations up! Anyway this weekend I hope to finish another UFO, photograph the other two I finished last Sunday and Monday although we're in for a wet weekend here in Sydney so I'll have to see.

Happy and productive weekend everyone!

op shop scores and guilty buys

I can't believe it's Friday already because I have done practically no sewing this week. I have been unpicking a large, voluminous MaxMara skirt given to me from one of my husband's aunties, for refashioning into something else because it is such a lovely coated Italian cotton. Unpicking takes so long and it's tedious.....

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to travel for work to one of our regional offices and I had some time up my sleeve to op shop. I love op shops in country and rural towns - they have the best stuff that's not too picked over and they are usually really cheap! This trip didn't dissapoint, I picked up some vintage patterns for only 10c each, and the astonishing this is that I restrained myself and didn't buy the entire box there because they were mostly very large sizes that I knew I would never resize for actual use:

I love those large envelope Vogues, particularly that Bill Blass dress there in the centre which I think will make it soon on the to do list.

I also found this really cute tea towel that I'll make into a tote bag, and this huge roll of waistband petersham for the pricely sum of $1!
I also found these four lovely ties for 50c each, which if a colleague of mine doesn't want them I will make them into wrist cuffs, little pouches or even a wallet as I've seen on some of the handy tutorials over at Craftster.

And the guilty buys alluded to in the title? Well I picked up the latest Burda World of Fashion (2/2008) which at $15 is expensive, but is a total bargain given that it has about 40 or 50 patterns in it. However, it is not a bargain if I never use the patterns, and since I have about 7 magazines now and have used one pattern that equates to $105 for the one skirt I made (which I didn't even like that much)! Realising this, I have now vowed to make at least one thing from each magazine, starting with jacket 115A from the 12/2007 edition which I traced out on Wednesday night.

The second guilty buy this week was a new pair of shoes:

They are gorgeous black and white floral fabric, with a patent heel and a cute button on the strap. They were also only $40 down from $90 so total bargain! The only guilt I feel is that I recently had to give away and throw away 12 pairs of shoes because my shoe cupboard is full, see:
These don't include my joggers or boots, but my husband's shoes do take up the bottom row and and half of the second bottom row, so I think his might be shuffling off elsewhere soon.

Yes, I have a specific cupboard in to house my shoes because it keeps them all so neat, easy to see when choosing which ones to wear and it takes us much less room than having them everywhere. My husband made it for me, and it's a lot like a bookshelf but with sliding doors:

To get an idea of the size, here is me and the dog standing next to it during construction:

I've always had a problem with going overboard with things - you have seen my pattern stash after all! Nearly 600 now with the new acquisitions (and that's not counting those in Burda WoF)....

Anyway, I'm on a flexi today (that's government employee speak for having a day off using accrued extra time), so I'm getting started on that Burda jacket.

p.s Ruby Darling who commented on my post "Hey you that's my fabric", the red shoes are from Sachi but from about three years ago, and they are in fact the shoes I wore on my wedding day.

this week's op shop finds

I was rather busy this weekend, having the car serviced, going to a friend's 30th birthday party, dinner at my parents and cleaning the house for an upcoming extended visit by in-laws, so sadly I only got to visit one op shop in Parramatta of all places.

Anyway I did find two treasures: a 2m length of cotton canvas with a cute poodle print, and a 3m length of pink, grey and white check wool melton, both for $8:

I was also quite naughty and purchased some fabric which will go into the stash until I think of a worthy project, which is breaking my sewing resolution for this year to only buy fabric for a specific project because my stash is totally out of control. Anyway, I bought a retro cotton voile and a wool herringbone check for 50% off, so at least it was a bargain: