My friend had specific goals for visiting the craft thrift store this time, and did find suitable things. I, of course, bought cloth.
The three pieces of shirt weight cotton in the first image are remnants with irregular edges. Black and white stripe is two strips of roughly 9" wide by 1¾ yards long. The printed eyelet is ½ yard of 44" wide plus an irregular edge plus two pieces that are about 9" wide by 30" long. (One end of the larger piece of eyelet is not embroidered, so I'd guess the original purchaser got it for a discount, possibly a mill end.) The lightweight pink chambray is a solid yard of 40" wide plus a big chunk that may equal another half yard.
I grabbed the stripes and eyelet to use for doll clothes, and figured I could squeeze a shirt out of the chambray, but, once I saw them all together, I started wondering if they might be fun in a single project.
I'm always hoping for knits that aren't sensory misery (there was a piece of pale purple sweater knit that looked nice but, when touched, was so very acrylic. Oh, and, a denim-style knit with "obviously designed by someone who didn't have a strong grasp of English" bright pink words on it that was a lot of fun to look at but not at all fun to touch.)
There's just under 3¼ yards of 54" wide of the slightly salmony pink rib knit. The gray heather is 1¾ yard of 60". The final three were all on bolts--there is the option to buy the entire bolt, and they'll subtract a pound from the weight to account for the cardboard in the center, but I decided I didn't actually need 8-10 yards of each of these. They do give the option to cut however many yards you want from the bolt, with it still being sold by the pound. I got 1½ yard of the 60" wide pastel floral sweatshirt fleece, 1½ yard of the 60" wide blue and teal abstract knit (fully intended to make something for the kiddo), and 3 yards of the 60" knit chintz. All three are so very 1990s.
Bottom weight wovens: 1 yard 58" green and blue plaid twill, 1 yard 60" gray and burgundy flannel. Two pieces of 45" wide purple herringbone--one piece 1 5/8 yard, the other 1 7/8 yard. Finally, three yards of purple piece dyed denim, 60" wide.
The denim was originally in a much longer piece of yardage, but I cut it as if it were from a bolt, leaving lots behind. While it would have been a great bargain to pay $4/lb for denim, and I may have eventually been able to find a use for 8ish yards of purple denim, I didn't really want to pay that much for it. As it is, I paid over $10 for the piece I did get. Weighing it at home also allowed me to figure out that it's 14oz denim. I'm learning to moderate my bargains.
Then we poked through the free bins outside the store.
There are usually a lot of upholstery samples in the free bins. These are 24" wide by 25" long each, and I'm pretty sure I can get a vest front out of each of them. High School Me would be thrilled.
I also grabbed this much smaller set of coordinated upholstery samples, and a 9" wide by 62" lengthwise strip of faux fur
There's usually a cart full of books, booklets, craft magazines, and pamphlets; this time, the cart was full of 1990s indie press patchwork and craft patterns (lots of patchwork vests. lots.) Digging around a bit did unearth some regular printed patterns, most of which had no appeal for me at all. But. As soon as I saw this, I knew I should use it to make something for the kiddo
It's Kwik•Sew 1487 from 1985, reprinted, I'd guess, in the early 90s as a promotion for Elna sergers. The checkerboard part looks like it may have been pieced, although that is not included in the pattern. There are so many possibilities.
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