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Whats your favourite op shop? Mine are the ones in Bega, NSW. I haven’t had a dud haul yet. We were in Bega recently visiting the in-laws and I was lucky enough to have some spare time to pop into a couple. I ended up getting some great books.
A 1977 Readers Digest Complete Guide to Sewing. I already have a general garment sewing book, but this is loads better, every page is full of diagrams of everything from sewing on a button, to more detailed sewing processes. Christy has the same copy and rates it highly.
A Soft toy book and the sweetest cross stitch design book, here are some of the designs in it
Cadel wants me to make the train cross stitch for him, and Hamish wants the truck. I wish one of them wanted the sweet bear/ mouse above though!
a huge stack of Golden Hands books, I now have nearly all of them up to 20. These book are fantastic for the amount of detail and variety of crafts that they include. You can see more images from these on my flickr stream.
I also got these super cute plates for the kids
And some lovely old books for them as well
And a couple of smaller ones that made the long car trip home with them more bearable.
Sydney peeps, I am looking for op shop recommendations because so far as I can tell my local ones are full of overpriced junk.
Rachel
One of the thing I was most looking forward to while we were on holiday was op shopping. You see I’m, not a sun and sand kind of girl, I way too pale for all of that. I had visions of country op shops filled to the brim with the most spectacular vintage sheets. After a discussion with my horrified husband we agreed that I would be allowed to visit one op shop per day or 8 over the total trip.
Well I must say op shopping in general was disappointing. In Townsville they weren’t terribly exciting, and in the country areas they seemed to close very early. In fact in Charters Towers they closed at 11am on a weekday. I didn’t purchase a single sheet, I did however find lots of great old kids books.
These ones were from an Op shop in Ingham for $2.
And these were from a Oppy in Townsville. I especially love “The house in the the tree”, the illustrations are so organic, and inspiring.
I also did a lot of cross stitching while we were away. I hadn’t done it for years but thought it would be a good easy project for a holiday. I started with these super simple ones, which I plan to put on the wall when I find it a good spot. The patterns were purchased from andwasabi
Rachel
Hope you all had a lovely Easter! Our little family had a very fun and productive easter. We ate way too much chocolate and had hung out with friends and family. I also got lots of spring (oops I mean Easter cleaning done), and a fair bit of sewing too.
I finished made the boys their first bean bag
I actually made two so the boys wouldn’t argue over them but I ran out of stuffing for the other, so that one won’t be finished for a while. I used this pattern, though I used my own zipper inserting technique.
I also made myself another pair of lounge pants out of a thrifted sheet. I used the hem of the sheet as the hem which made them super quick and easy.
I also made up my schoolhouse tunic which turned out brilliantly . I am actually starting a second and I’ll post pics as soon as I can get a decent one.
Hmm can’t think if there is anything else to report. I was glad that some of my bunnies found good homes this Easter, you can check them out here and here.
How was your long weekend?
Rachel
Sheaf dress pattern, originally uploaded by The two windmills.
That you’ll find a great vintage pattern at your local op shop…
In your size.
Pretty good actually….
I’m hoping my skills are good enough to make something like this by the end if the year.
Rachel
Surely y’all know I love to make skirts, or that at the moment they’re the item I’m brave enough to make. Anyway I finished my Wiksten tulip skirt on Saturday, it’s yet to be worn out of the house though.
I am so happy with it, the finish is really neat, and the denim is so soft. I worked really hard on the top-stitching and I think its pretty straight. I used top-stitching thread rather than regular, and boy does it play around with the tension. I also used gorgeous vintage buttons which I picked up here.
To set the record straight so far I have attempted a couple of tops. This one after seeing Sandra’s version, I made it too big and out of this awful filmy fabric that swished all over the place. I’m going to try it again in a jersey next, perhaps I’m a sucker for punishment. And I also made a smashing smock. I always seem to overestimate my top size. Hopefully soon I’ll have a finished top to show. Your only likely to see it though, if it is a. really good, or b. so bad its funny.
Rachel
ps. The magazine and pattern were very generously loaned to me by Bron and Suzy. Thanks so much I’ll get your magazines back to you both in the next week.
family with matching sweaters, originally uploaded by The two windmills.
The family that wears knits together stays together? Cause nothing says togetherness like matching clothes…
Whilst away I picked up two vintage craft books from the Bega fete for a measly two dollars.
I love vintage craft books, I think that often they explain things in more detail than more recent ones , they are loads cheaper, and of course the pictures.
the calming bedroom. Note that the ceiling appears to wallpapered too!
Theres something that screams Midsomer Murders to me about this pic
And though cute this soft dog looks as though it might take an eye out.
Rachel
ps. almost forgot to add that retromummy is giving away a fat quarter set of grandmother’s flower garden
Rock!
While we were away the one thing I insisted we do was visit the local op shops. I tend to find they have a different range of vintage linen than those close to me. I was not disappointed….
Cotton fabric- destined to become a skirt and some softies
I also got a load of funky tablecloths, and some more sheets which you can view on my photostream.
We had a lovely weekend though it was insanely hot at 42 degress celsius (107 fahrenheit). I probably haven’t mentioned before but I hate the heat I don’t know how I am going to survive summer if spring brings such hot days.
Rachel
What do you think of this chair? I love it! When I was young my grandparents had a pair of these and I remember my granddad used to sit on it and read the paper in the morning sun. Now these Parker style chairs are worth a lot of money, and look great when recovered in modern fabric.
On the weekend we had a wedding to go to in Wollongong. And what should we see where we parked the car? A pair of these style chairs out on the kerb for garbage day! They needed recovering and probably a bit of work, but really what are the chances of finding a matching pair.
This conversation follows:
Me: “wow Dan look at those chairs.. We should take them”
Dan: “I don’t know.. where would we put them.. we have no space”
Me: “but we’re driving Kate’s truck. There’s plenty of space in the back. It was obviously meant to be. We can put them in the garage until we have space for them..”
Dan: ” Someone might see us”
Me: “they wouldn’t put it there if they wanted it. Please…”.
Dan: “I don’t think so”
And so with that conversation is over, as can’t exactly grab them myself in heels. Now I am kicking myself. This revamped pair featured in the July issue of Home Beautiful at Southwood Home is $2750 for the pair.
Darn husband!!!
Rachel
Ps to read about previous street furniture adventures see here
Inspired by Mel and Suzie I thought I’d share some images from my copy of the Womans Day Complete Book of Handicrafts, 1973. Its a great book featuring a range of crafts and really detailed instructions, however some of the projects are daggy in the way that only 1974 craft books can be…
Father and son shirts
Mother daughter dresses
Macrame skirt
Look out for my follow up post entitled “When crochet goes bad”.
Rachel
