Friday, March 8, 2013

Estate Sale awesomeness

Yesterday, I hit another estate sale.  I'm rapidly becoming an estate sale junkie.  The spoils:


Two tins full of old buttons and buckles.
Some were still on their original cards.  Check out these vintage graphics!

One tin of snaps, and hook-eye sets. 
 Not pictured-a special press cloth designed to protect velvets during ironing, still in its original package.

I'm already looking forward to the next sale.  Happy hunting!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

February's Stashbusting Project: McCall's 6364

Hey all!  I've been stashbusting along, and have a new blouse(and a blouse fail).

Have you ever bought a piece of fabric, put it in your stash, forgotten about it, pulled it out months later and wondered, WTF was I thinking when I bought this???  Well, I tried to make a blouse out of several yards of shiny navy blue polyester that I must have been drunk when I bought.  Or high.  Or sleep deprived/off my meds/something...

Well, slippery fabric is not my friend.  That, and I totally FUBAR'ed the button placket.  Total wadder.

I refused to be discouraged, and decided to take a few steps back, sewing-difficulty wise.  Enter McCall's 6364
It's not as bad as the cover art makes it look.


I've been on the fence about this pattern since I bought it at one of those 10 for $10 sales.  The envelope art does it no favors, but I thought it might be a good warm weather top made up in a lighter fabric.  It works.

Unbelted, I swim in it.  But belted and worn over a pair of leggings or skinny jeans, I like it.  I'm not sure what kind of fabric it is.  I found it at the Punk Rock Flea Market for a couple bucks.  There was just enough to make this top.  Some kind of cotton blend, maybe?

I also made a little bag out of some oddball scraps.  I call it the Hipster Bag.
PUT A BIRD ON IT!!!

I used a pattern from "The Book of Bags".  Sizewise, it reminds me of the cute little bags I used to wear everywhere before I became a mom and needed to haul tons of my kid's shit with me.  The owl is a lucky estate sale find.  The branch is a no-sew applique I made with some iron-on stabilizer stuff.  If I had a chance to do this over, I'd lower the design and do that part first before constructing the bag.  Oh well.

I'm looking forward to March's Stashbusting Challenge.  I have some awesome stuff planned this spring and summer, and I want a kickass wardrobe to go with it.  Can't decide if I want to start with a top, shorts, or a bag.  Either way, I'll be glad to log some time at my machiine.  Happy Stashbusting!