Thursday 27 February 2014

Charity Shop Tales 14

A couple of weeks ago, in my last post of this kind, I noted how my charity shop shopping had really slowed off of late, that is, until the very next day, when I went to drop off some bags at another local charity shop.  I had a quick look in the corner where the fabrics usually are, (I can never resist) and I saw something that I've been hoping to find for ages.  I'm afraid that as a consequence, I just had to buy it.

I have been wanting to make a beanbag for Little Bird's bedroom for a while now, out of an old homemade bedroom curtain.  The fabric has been sat in my sewing 'to do' pile for months, waiting for me to sew it into a large cushion cover, which I was then going to fill.  I'd been waiting until I had enough money to buy some filling, which can cost anything from £15 upwards, to get a sufficient amount.  So when I saw a beanbag in the charity shop as I did the drop, I just had to buy it, as it solved my filling problem for less than half the cost, as it was marked up at only £6.  I'm not posting a picture, as the beanbag itself isn't much to look at, but it won't be seen anyway.  I'll do a separate post and reveal when I've actually made the bean bag cover.

Whilst I was at the till, I noticed a basket of vintage sewing patterns, so, of course I had to have a look.  I ended up coming away with two of those too.  Here they are:



This one I bought for the French knickers/pants.  Little Bird loves to sleep in shorts in the summer, so I thought I might try to make her some.  I'll have to scale down the sizing for the pants as the pattern is a bit large for her, but I'm sure this can be done.   The slips are pretty too though and I may even make one for me at some point.



The second pattern was for these A-line skirts made up of three panels front and back and a side zip.  I have a wool DKNY skirt, bought from a charity shop, that is made in a similar design and it is quite flattering especially when worn with boots, so I'm thinking of making one of these for myself at some point.  I'll probably make it a slightly longer length than in the pattern though. 

Both patterns cost 50p each.  The skirt pattern was uncut and I was pleased to note, that although the slip and pants pattern was cut, all the pieces appeared to be present, more especially for the pants.

So a pretty lucky visit to the charity shop, possibly the Great Cosmic Supply Company was at work for me on this occasion, (Dreamer, if you're reading this, I remember this from your brilliant post and link - it's saved on my favourites bar),  although I did come back with 'stuff' that takes up more space than the things I actually took there!

7 comments:

  1. Karma that was, the shop having just the thing you needed and a little bonus for you to thank you for your generosity! I love finding older patterns, and have a few which I keep meaning to get round to using. The skirt one is a bit like what they had to make on The Great British Sewing Bee this week!
    x

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    1. I never thought of it that way, but that is a nice thought. I'm terrible for buying patterns, but I need to get better at using them.

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  2. I like the style of the skirts. Little summer jammies sound lovely.
    I love it when customers find just what they want in the shop x

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    1. It would be interesting to stand on the other side of the counter and see what people buy when they go in charity shops.

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  3. We have quite a few sewing patterns in the shop I volunteer at and people are always so delighted when we say we have some!

    It's funny what people buy saying it's "just the thing", never ceases to amaze me.

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  4. Check out this link about the Cosmic Supply Co. it's a classic. Posted by Dreamer a while ago.

    http://sometimesitsprudent.blogspot.co.uk/2008/0/re-post-cosmic-supply-company-feb-05.html

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  5. Sorry, even I can't get this link to work but if you check out the old blog site you may be able to find it. It's worth a read.

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