Top 3 Finds of the Day

Today was my first real yard/estate sale foray of the season!  I love these sales for a lot of reasons. First, since many of the things that do not sell at a yard sale end up in the trash, I feel as though I am diverting things from landfills. Second, they are a wealth of raw materials to the crafter or sewist. Today was particularly productive for me.  I hit about five sales, and purchased things at three of them.  Here are my top three finds, which were all sewing related!

I just love this little pewter finish Timex sewing machine clock.  I'm not certain of the age of the item, but some quick online research says sometime between 1970 and the present.  The replaceable battery sits under the base and is reachable with a tiny screwdriver.  This is a welcome addition to my little sewing room!

The second sale at which I made a purchase yielded these lovely vintage linen pieces.  I just love vintage linens.  I use them around the house, and I also use them in crafting and sewing.  These do show some staining and wear, so a little bath is in order to see how these will be used.

Last, and possibly the most exciting to me is this large haul of sewing patterns.  I scored about 250 patterns in one stop.  Most of these are 1960's and newer, but nothing that looks to be newer than 2000.  You are seeing them after I transferred them into these wire baskets.  They were stored in a large cardboard box which was coming apart at the seams, and in a plastic garbage bag. In other words, not really stored in an archival manner! However, the treasure trove here is incredible.  Children's, women's, men's ... Simplicity, Vogue, Butterick, McCall and a few smaller brands ... day clothes, evening wear, accessories and even a few craft patterns.  I will be keeping some to use myself, but the vast majority will be posted for sale in my Etsy shop!

So, I had a productive morning (back home by noon)!  Leave me a comment sharing what your best yard sale find has been!  Oh, and please let me know how you feel about the new design of the blog... good? Or do I need to keep working on it?

Trashed Tee to Colorblocked Dress

Sale rack meets junk T in this upcycle project!

I had a really soft comfortable T shirt (which came from Chico's, so it was not cheap either) that I was wearing during a crafting session one day.  Needless to say I ruined the shirt by getting some glue on it.

The glue spots look really small in the picture, but I always felt self-conscious wearing it.  I decided to make a dress out of it when I saw a plain black children's maxi on a sale rack at Target.  The maxi is made of a very soft knit with lycra, and is black.

After removing the elastic waistband, the cropped top and the skirt lined up PERFECTLY!  I think they were meant to be together!  The only problem was getting slippery knits to cooperate and play along.  I decided to use dryer sheets as a stabilizer (what?).  First I cut the sheets into strips.

Then, I placed the strips under my work so that the knit was not touching the feed dogs.

When the dress was completed, I clipped away the dryer sheet.  Here's the finished dress!  I hope you like it, and I hope you let me know what you are working on!

Snake Oil

Snake oil!  The term "Patent Medicine" has been used frequently to describe drug compounds marketed (mostly) prior to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.  Perhaps "proprietary" is a little better term, because it denotes the the more common trademarking of  "secret (often old family) recipes".  I'm fascinated with this phenomenon, and I collect ephemera and memorabilia associated with the Lydia E Pinkham Medicine Company of Lynn, Massachusetts.  Lydia's medicines were marketed to women to cure all manner of "women's complaints".  Enterprising Lydia started out cooking each batch on her kitchen stove and sending her sons door to door with her brew.  Eventually her company became a booming concern in Lynn, selling throughout the country.

You had to love the elaborate and artistic marketing materials!  Trade cards with cherubic children, kittens, and smiling healthy people.  Not only are most of these concoctions laced with plenty of alcohol, but they often contained opium, heroin, morphine or cocaine.  They were marketed for people of all ages, including babies.

While browsing my favorite estate shop, I came across some sewing machine oil, which was being stored in a bottle which originally contained one of these magical elixirs.  The owner had taken care to scratch out the label, but the original label is still very readable.  Active ingredients?  Opium and alcohol...

So, of course, I brought it home!

Have you found anything fun lately?

Next Project: Simplicity 2249

Sorry for the relative quiet over the past couple of days.  I've been busy attending to real life, but things are looking up in that arena, so all is well with the world!

For my next project, I'm going to do Simplicity 2249.  This dress is slightly reminiscent of a forties swing style, but is a modern pattern, with modern sensibilities.

I got some used bedsheets and an old table cloth at an earlier garage sale.  They coordinate together nicely, so these are the fabrics I intend to use on this dress.

I hope it will be a cute, summery dress.  Have you ever used bedsheets in any of your dresses or other creations?  How did they turn out?

Completed Project: Upcycle Blouse

I completed the upcycled blouse yesterday, and today I'm going to wear it out to lunch with a friend!  I'm pleased with how it came out.  One thing I forgot to show you in the "before" pictures was that the original dress had a placket of functional buttons up the front.  I liked the faux pearl buttons, so I decided to incorporate this element into the top.

I made the button placket the center front of the top, but I made it non-functional by stitching the placket closed.  It gives the illusion of a button-up blouse, but it can't gap in embarrassing places!

I really need to get a camera with a timer and a tripod so I can take pictures of myself in my creations.  It's a cloudy day, so here's a poorly lit mirror shot just to show that the blouse fits!

Anyway, another project completed!  I'm excited to wear my new blouse.  I like how light and airy the rayon fabric feels, and I like the fact that an outdated dress was saved from the landfill.  Please let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to see used in an upcycle!

Men's Shirt Upcycle

Remember the men's shirts I snagged at Salvation Army last week?  I decided to work with the blue checked one, which was $2.99 initial investment.

It's a very nice quality shirt - Polo by Ralph Lauren.  First I cut off the collar and the sleeves.

The I used some scrap quilting fabric I had on hand to make bias binding.  I used this to finish the neck and armholes.  Love the complementary colors!

I fitted the shirt to a woman's contours and added a sash made from the complementary fabric.

I made the back of the shirt into the new front, so all I have left to do is remove the pocket!

Even though the pocket still needs to be removed, I already wore the top out to do some errands.  Very comfy, and nicer looking than my usual T.  I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, but even if it was too "altered" for your tastes, you could wear it as a crafting or kitchen coverall!  What do you think?

Refashioned Top: Frankenstyle

I was reading a thread on A Fashionable Stitch about refashioning.  Sunni was asking her readers' opinion about refashioning.  One commenter described the results as generally looking like a girl scout project gone horribly wrong.  I agree that sometimes it does seem that way.  I've seen many an item in Altered Couture, for example, that I would not be caught dead in.  However, that being said, I really enjoy refashioning, and I try to keep my stuff wearable by the average Josephine.  Here's my latest.  You be the judge, please.

I had a leftover Mom Jumper top portion.  You may recall that I made a sixties top wearable muslin from the fabric I harvested from the skirt of the jumper.

I ripped off the remnants of the skirt that were still attached.

I also had an old T.  Love the color (brings out my red hair), but it shrunk in the wash and was too short.  I don't like to be suddenly showing my tummy when I'm loading groceries into the car.

So I married the two together to make a new Frankentop.  The top now hits at my hips, so there's no danger of scaring small children and animals with a view of my tum.

Now, this is nicer looking than my usual hockey tournament T shirts for everyday wear.  Once it warms up I could wear this out and about.  I can even put a sweater over it.

Economically it works out well, too.  The jumper was $9.99, but I used most of it for the other top...I'd say $3.00 toward this top.  The other T was free, as I already had it and had stopped wearing it due to the shrinkage.  Thread, negligible... so, new Frankentop for about $3.00 plus labor!

Thoughts?  Girl Scout project gone horribly wrong, or CPR for unwanted clothing?  Let me know what you think (and I promise not to be sensitive!)!

Lessons From the Past:2 - Shirt Shuffle

The Make and Mend for Victory book has been so much fun to read, and such an inspiration.  I have always been interested in reuse of discarded or unwanted fabrics, but this book has helped me to see things through my grandmother's eyes even a little bit more than before.  Having been a young woman during the Great Depression and WW2, she knew how to pinch a penny until there were tears in Abe's eyes!

I stopped into our local Salvation Army store the other day and picked up two old men's shirts.  Both are large sized.  One was $2.99 and the other $4.99.  And, of course, you may have a stock of worn out men's shirts at your disposal for free!

I have plans to modify these into women's blouses, but another chapter of Make and Mend for Victory had me looking at the many other potential garments hiding within these shirts.  Many of you have young children.  These shirts are ideal for making all kinds of garments for the little ones! Again, patterns of the day are used in these layouts, but modern patterns would work as well if you haven't a source (or the budget) for vintage patterns.

I hope this gives you some great ideas, as it did me!  Happy sewing!

Shared on Frugally Sustainable.

Lessons From the Past - Suit Salvage!

So, one of my birthday presents to myself was Make and Mend for Victory which was published in 1942 by the Spool Cotton Company.  Chapter 5a deals with converting a men's suit to a woman's suit!  If you've ever been confusied about turning one garment into another, this chapter is for you.

In the chapter, old men's suits were converted to women's suits using three contemporary patterns of the day, Hollywood 949, Advance 2997, and Vogue 9137.  Prior to thinking about the pattern or the layout, one needs to acquire an old men's suit, too worn for daily wear, as is, but in goo enough condition to warrent a restyle.  For instance, severely worn cuffs on sleeves and pants might make the suit look too tacky for your man to wear, but if the main of the suit is in good condition, you're in business!  What?  Your man doesn't wear suits?  No problem!  Head on down to your thrift store and look for a larger sized men's suit.  These can often be had for a few dollars, when the wool suiting would cost scads if new!

Next, clean the suit in whatever manner you plan to use for your finished garment.  This will assure pre-shrinking, as well as give you nice clean fabric to work with.

Next, become best friends with your seam ripper and take the entire garment apart.  Save those buttons, and any detailing you think you can use.  Press all of the pieces flat for a proper layout.  Your pattern is laid out on the pieces as in this example (using Hollywood 949):

As you can see, the women's pattern fits into the pieces salvaged from the man's suit!  The sew your pattern as you normally would, you Goddess of Ecological Reuse!

Linked to:  Frugally Sustainable, The Thrifty Home

Darn Good Stuff - Webaliciousness!

Gee, and I thought I wasn't a hand model! This stock photo looks like "The Werewolf Gives a Stamp of Approval", but it's really my little stamp of approval. Here are some favorites from around the web for the week of April 22nd.

Justine from Sew Country Chick is one of my blog heroines.  She's a very talented designer, a mom and a homesteader.  Loved her post this week about buying thrift store clothing for children.  It was right on the money (tee hee)!

At Vintage Girl, Gina made the most adorable shorts from Kwik Sew 3854.  These would be super for those upcoming hot summer days!  But is the world ready to view my thighs in all their glory?

Spring is a time for proms and other formal dances.  The Urban Rustic posted the gorgeous taffeta gown she made for her college aged daughter's May Ball.  It is in one of my absolute favorite shades of blue.  What a lucky young lady to be able to wear such marvelous gown to her Ball!

I read tons (well, tons if you could weigh websites) of blogs on sewing, environmentalism, vintage goodies, crafts, thrift and frugal lifestyles.  Each week I'll try to bring you a few of my favorites, just to spread a little more love around.

Hey, the dress UFO is coming out so cool!  Should be finished tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Upcycled Mom Jumper

I call them "mom jumpers".  Those shapeless long jumpers that fill the racks at thrift stores.  Even if they are not your style, they offer lots of potential for restyling. Here's one I picked up at Salvation Army yesterday.

I felt as though the price for this one was a little high, given how very worn the jumper was in appearance.

There was fading along major seam lines and pleats.

And the kick pleat on the skirt was tearing.

But it was a nice sturdy jersey material, and I really liked the fish print!  So, first I cut off the skirt.

Next, I sewed the new raw edge to create what would become shoulder seams on a new crop top.  I left a wide opening for a boat neckline.  Next I made bias binding from more of the fabric.

The I cut sleeve holes just beneath the new shoulders.

I bound the neckline and the sleeves with this self bias binding.  I left the hem of the former skirt intact as the hem of the new top, but that left a problem because the kick slit was ripping.  So I made a little bow from more fabric and covered it!

Then I added my label!

And here's the finished product:

That was fun, and it took about two hours, start to finish.