The Big Haul - Part Three

So I found an awesome box for TWO BUCKS:

That is some prime vintage real estate right there.  It's not really a sewing box, but that's okay.  Close up of the silvery design:

The kids came home as I was finishing up my "photo shoot" and Miss Z was smitten with discovering all the contents:

I forgot to take a picture of that sparkly trim that she's holding in her hand.  One is brown and gold and the other is blue and gray.  I'm not sure what I'll do with the brown and gold -- it's not what Z would call a "girl color," so she may reject it if I were to put it on a gown.

I also found some ribbons at the sale.  A lot of them are Christmas colors, so they'll probably be used with gift baggages.  That rainbow one is good for the kids, though.

And check out these fancy trims:

The blue is elastic, so I'm thinking a waistband for a skirt for the girls?  Z was furious when I would not let her play with it:

Poor thing.

What else?  Some lovely napkins...eight of the blue flower and three with the peach trim:

They are a bit stained, but they are napkins.  They are already in the drawer awaiting their first use.

It looks like we won't have to leave the Goondocks after all:

These are sew on jewels.  I love them.

A homemade, vintage girl's shirt...

This was in my friend's batch and she passed it along to me.

This is for my mom to make (for me):

I love these old kits and this one strikes me as pretty old.  

Is that it?  I think that's the last of my haul.  Phew!  Here's a final shot of Miss Z telling me that she wants a gown made out of each of the fabrics in her pile:

The Big Haul - Part Two

More goodies from the Textile Center Garage Sale:

Do you remember the gown I made for Z?  I had more of that style fabric, but with a lot of dark blue in it, but when one of her teachers at school seemed so disappointed that there was nowhere for her to buy it, I felt compelled to give away the blue.  But this was a five dollar find at the first table at the sale!  The same fabric, but in pink!

And there's a shit ton of it. Maybe enough for two gowns for the girls.

That wasn't the only vintage find:

There's also a shit ton of this cotton.  I was thinking this could back Trixie's I-Spy quilt, but those vintage yardages are never wide enough.  I suppose I could piece some together, but...meh.

Vintage terry cloth:

There's more of the blue/green than the blue/pink.  I was thinking swimsuit coverups for the girls?  My friend suggested that I do the hood out of one and the body out of the other.  They aren't really matchy-matchy, but I think it could work.

These were in the bin labeled "Vintage Japanese."  I liked the orange one on the right and some of the others are fun, but some are stained and/or not so cute.

There's very little of the bright floral on the left, but it was just so pretty.  The shag fabric on the end is just a roll of scraps, but I know there's something that I need to make with it.  I love that shaggy fabric...the roll has black, purple, and orange.  It is my assumption that someone made a Halloween project out of it.

Velvets...and some mermaid tail fabric:

That's more of a rose than a red.  There's a decent amount of the purple, though the person who packaged it up did so with masking tape, so I was left with some purple blackheads:

Grrrr...it just pulled all the little velvet bits out.  It didn't ruin the fabric and I was just going to use it for dress-up clothes anyway, but still...bummer.

Gratuitous mermaid tail shot:

I love shimmer and shine.  (Speaking of...have you seen that show?  It's got a pretty catchy theme song.)

Okay...It turns out, there will be a Part Three post for the last batch of my haul.

The Big Haul - Part One

I think that Textile Center Garage Sale is one of my favorite things to do.  It's so exciting to rummage through giant piles of cloth, bags of ribbons, bags of buttons, linens...  So fun.  It's also pretty great to see all the different (mostly) ladies who crawl out of their sewing rooms...from old white-haired ladies to edgy blue-haired gals.   Some day I will be the old blue-haired lady at this thing.

I filled all these baggages:

So without further ado, here is the first batch of things I picked up:

Just some simple cottons.  That blue and brown one on the end may be enough for a quilt backing.  We'll see.  

Some more cottons, though that orange one is more of a heavier, woven type.  I think the first, third, and last are each one yard.  They'd be good for summer dresses for the girls, I think.

Lady bugs, red with gold dots (for gift baggages), some vintage cotton called "falling leaves," a really nice woven piece, and a slinky fabric.

That pink/black/orange fabric is pretty small.  The purple stripe is pretty soft and then the white fabric has little flags on it, which I didn't realize until I'd opened it up.  The last three are small, but I think they'd be good for bibs.

There is way too much of this Christmas fabric, but it's really cute and will make lovely gift bags.  I am a sucker for sparklies.

Blue upholstery fabric.  I'm thinking pillows for my living room to contrast with all that orange that's already there.

Okay...that's enough for now.  I'll post more tomorrow...maybe some vintage finds?

{rainbow jars}

Donation Time

It's almost that time of year again!  The Textile Center's annual garage sale is coming up.  I've got my pile of goodies to drop off.  I feel that there is still more to unload from my craft room....to make room for some fun finds, of course!  That reminds me...I have to clear my excursion with my husband because he'll be on kid duty and I have to see if any friends want to join me.  I don't know what I really need there, but it is always fun to go.  I know there are things that I bought in previous years that I have not used yet...like all that stupid crushed panne velvet that I don't quite understand how to sew yet.  Anyway, I felt productive for getting into my craft room and getting rid of things.  I also used up almost a whole wad of fabric making that apron.  I have enough of that floral for a skirt for my kid, so that's up next.  Maybe tonight I'll get in there after I quit dicking around on the computer!

Jam Makin' Apron

It's been so long since I made an apron...at least two years, I think.  That's a long time, considering that I used to make them about once a month for like a year.  I had a retirement party to go to this weekend and last Monday I decided to make her an apron for her post-retirement jamming sessions.  I said I'd do it Tuesday.  Then I said it on Wednesday.  On Thursday I looked at my fabric stash.  On Friday night, the day before the party, I went up to my craft room at 9:00 and whipped out an apron by ten after midnight. 

I went with my favorite apron pattern, McCall's 3979 Retro Aprons.  I've made View E at least four times (bottom left).

And here's a little walk down memory lane:

Any favorites?  Just wait and see this next one and then make your decision...

This time around I went with a lovely vintage pink floral and paired it with a soft turquoise.  I thought the teal ric rac was a nice touch.  The blue mannequin does not help the photos...

I didn't have the right color blue thread to match the ric rac, so I just used what I had on hand.  I guess it's okay.  

The pattern instructions call for you to sew everything so that you encase the seams in bias binding.  I've never made it that way.   It would take forever to do it that way and it would be sloppy.  I just lined it with a white fabric:

Why can't my butt be made of blue plastic?  This mannequin has such a tight, sexy butt.  I want it!

There was one major hiccup.  Can you spot my mistake in the above photo?  Here's a hint:

This is what it should have looked like:

I wasn't paying attention when I sewed on the waist straps and by the time I figured it out, I had already turned the apron right side out.  I just left it.  Is it going to make a difference to the recipient?  I don't know if she'll even notice.

The final touch was the packaging.  I thought it would be cute to ball up the apron and stick it into a jam jar, so that's what I did:

Cute idea, yeah?  It didn't come out too wrinkled.

So...do you have a favorite go-to apron pattern?

{oil pastels}