Again to the Craft Thrift Store

On December 24, I checked the craft thrift store's Instagram, and saw that they had their e-gift cards on sale for half off.  I was recently reminded that I had some forgotten money in my PayPal, so I argued with myself for an hour or so before spending $50 to buy a $100 gift card for myself.

I trekked there the next Sunday, going by myself for the first time ever, so I could spend as long as I wanted, poking into every nook and cranny, and, most importantly, allowing myself the time to talk myself out of things, without feeling guilty about making anyone else have to wait for me.

The employees kept apologizing to shoppers, who were looking for specific things, about the store being a bit sparse, because they had recently had an "Everything $1" sale.  I was there for a "clearance items all $1 each" sale once, and I vowed never to go during one of their big sales again (too many people--it's not a large store.)

Me, though...I'm  happiest when I'm poking through the stuff other people didn't want, whether it's clearance stuff or donated stuff.  So!  Donated stuff left over after a clearance?  Fun!

 

I went with some basic categories in mind, very similar to what I was looking for last time: lining fabrics; knits suitable for shirts for Husband; obnoxious print woven cottons for clothes for The Child; lightweight woven black to use for tiered skirts (poly cotton blends acceptable); plaid; chintz; purple.

This time, I was also adding: woven cottons in prints and lengths suitable to use for more Gunne Sax style dresses; small amounts of adhesive-backed or heat transfer craft vinyl (to die cut); eight  ¾" black buttons (because I'm working on a project that would benefit from them, and was surprised to find that my button stash did not contain anything suitable); small amounts of wools/heavy fabrics and or upholstery fabric samples from the free bin in colors/textures/patterns to use in a patchwork coat I've been very gradually die cutting squares for (including things found in the free bin last time, which pretty much inspired the direction of the plan for this project); beads in My Colors.

I once again did not find the Husband knits, which I know are always going to be scarce even at retail, let alone at thrift, nor did I find anything that seemed suitable for The Child's tastes.  I also did very much take the time to talk myself out of fabrics, even things I thought were pretty, nicely coordinated, or amazing finds (Cotton + Steel! Which led me to believe that maybe some of the cotton "quilting" fabric had been donated after the big sale, because...well, not to talk myself up, but I feel like a person has to be very aware of their fabric usage preferences to leave behind super cheap Cotton + Steel.  Honestly, if I were still making doll clothes for sale regularly, and if there had been less of it, I might have gotten it, because the print was fairly small, but there was more of it than I would casually use for doll clothes.) (In retrospect, I could have cut some--that's allowed!--but I didn't at all think of that until now.  Ah, well.)

So: what I did get!

Starting with the Not Cloth  

Purple, aqua, dark pink, and black adhesive backed vinyl, black buttons, and beads, all on the list.  I did mess up the beads a bit, though, because I only glanced at the string of clear beads, and thought they were on knotted string that I could cut apart and use the beads in other projects, but, alas, no.  They're fused string beads.  However!  They have a nice vintage patina (and some gunk that needs to be cleaned off), and I think I can set eye pins into the ends and still use them in a necklace.  I grabbed the Rit because I am out of black dye, and the package in the lower right is a Sailrite Cord Adjuster Orb 5 Pack--very much an impulse buy, but I seemed to remember wanting more of those for...some reason...and the pack was marked 50¢, and I'd be using the gift card I got for half price, so I allowed myself that impulse.

Everything else was fabric! 

The selection was not as large as usual (because of that sale), but it was still very good for me. 

 

I got these to use for lining.  They're both right around 4 yards, 54" wide.  The purple is a decent satin, and the floral, while very much not my colors, is very very smooth.  I did burn tests on both, and they both had flames that sparked and flared like high quality nylon doll hair, which burn test charts say is...how acetate burns.  I don't think either of these are acetate.  The burn tests mainly verified that neither fabric is silk, which is all I needed to know.  Into the washing machine they went.

All the other fabric I purchased was from the "quilting cottons" section, although I would argue that some would not be good in quilts, because I am pedantic.

Although I was looking for larger yardages, when I saw the chicken print, I remembered that I also wanted some larger prints, to potentially use for appliqués.  Each of the chickens appears at least twice, even on this 16" cut of of 45" fabric, facing both directions, which I think will provide some fun design opportunities.  The circuit board print is 19" of a 45" Robert Kaufman fabric, and, while it might technically be something The Child might like, I got it for me, to potentially use in another layer cake style dress.  At the bottom is 2 yards of 45" black poly cotton, although it might be a bit too lightweight and sheer to make a decent skirt.  I am considering using it in a McCall's 5675, allowing its sheerness as a shirt to wear under alllllll the jumpers I still plan to make.

I did pick up a few Halloween prints, and some other prints that they might mix well with.

The candy print is a half yard of 45", with only enough of the selvedge information present to let us know the print design has a 1996 copyright.  The color scheme is so odd, I couldn't resist.  And while my plaid preference is yarn dyed, I was in a mood to accept printed plaids, so I got the 34" of 42" wide green on green printed plaid, later realizing the darker green at least echoes the greens in the candy print.  There's not quite 1¼ yard of the orange with black Halloween silhouettes print (42" wide.)  When I found it, I considered overdying it with an intense pink, but then I found the candy print, and then I saw how well they both coordinated with the purples/orange/pea green plaid print, which ended up being 3 5/8 yards of 44".  That's definitely enough to use in the main part of a Gunne Sax type of dress, but I need to ask myself if I want another dedicated Halloween dress like that, or something simpler.

 

 

I grabbed the one yard of 44" green and blue printed check to go with the 2 1/3 yards of 42"marbled print, which has a nice amount of purple in it.  They're both by Benartex, but I don't think they're meant to coordinate--in addition to being different widths, they don't feel the same, and the prints on the selvedges have graphic design choices that suggest at least a decade between them.  The white ground floral is vintage enough to be only 36" wide, so its 2¼ yards won't go quite as far as a modern width.  The smudgy green and purple fabric has so much 1990s Poly/Cotton Bed Sheet Energy that I was surprised to find it was only 45" wide (and not surprised when the burn test confirmed it's a blend.)  It was the first fabric I picked to coordinate with the marbled print, and I probably could have put it back with no regret (thanks to the polyester content), but it seemed like a good length (ended up being 2 yards) to do Gunne Sax ruffles, so that would keep the polyester away from my underarms, and also the stiffer hand would work well in a big ruffle.  I highly suspect a lot of real Gunne Sax dresses, especially from the late '70s on, involve a noticeable amount of polyester.

The last purchased fabrics, I thought were all chosen purely for their individual aesthetics, but, when I got home, I saw that they'd make decent coordinates, too

I admit, the top three fabrics are all small pieces--various configurations of quarter yards--that probably will end up in doll clothes.  (They were already small, nothing to inspire me to cut smaller pieces off of other fabrics.)  The floral with the black ground has a really nice hand, and is one yard of 45".  There are two yards of 45" of the pink on pink roses print, which is another poly/cotton blend, but...look at it.  I couldn't leave it.  The next floral is 2 yards of 45", and the small-scale cheater quilt print (in purples!) is 2 3/8 yards of 42".  I might indeed be able to wrangle some of these together into a Gunne Sax style dress...

Fabric is sold there by the pound--$3/pound for everything but the "quilting cottons," which are $10/pound.  All of the fabric, plus the items in the first photo, came to about $90.  But!  I am enrolled in their rewards program, and I had enough points to get $10 off.  Plus!  I was paying with the half-off gift card.  So!  Quick sloppy math says I paid about $1/yard...for the purchased fabric.

...but there was still the free bin...

There are usually carts outside with various free things, but this time there was just a deep cube of fabric scraps inside by the door.  (I don't know if the Free Stuff is only inside fabric scraps now, or if they just don't do the the outside free things in winter, or if they weren't outside that specific day because it was really windy.)

The three interior decorating fabrics--folded and stacked on the left--were chosen for the patchwork coat project.  The stack of fabric at the top, to the right of the first stack, are all cottons.  The green, aqua, and blue are all fairly small, but the dappled gray is a nearly complete fat quarter (there is a small amount cut from one end, which also has fusible webbing on the back), and the cream fabric on the bottom is 1/3 yard of a very pretty--but subtle--pearlescent scroll print.  Below those are some pieces of leather.  Top right corner are pieces I might have been able to leave behind (because of their orangey brown-ness), if they hadn't coordinated so well.  They're an interior decorating sample, a small remnant of baby cord, and a "torn off the end to square it up" piece of quilting cotton.  Below those are a piece of Very 1980s Barbie metallic vinyl (with a weirdly large tricot scrim, but it's more flexible than any metallic vinyl Barbie actually had in the 80s), and a piece of purple (the camera struggled with it, despite being great with all the purples above) flannelette.  I'm not normally one for flannelette, but this was free.  And purple.