My ways of mending

One of my secret pleasures is hand mending and its friend unpicking.  I love the feeling that using a skill like sewing on a button and making small repairs without resorting to a noisy machine gives.  There is an immense feeling of satisfaction to be derived from hand-hemming.*

I'm not so fussed on sewing in the ends of my knitting, but that's a whole other story.

Unpicking garments to recut or reuse the fabric is something I learned from my mother and her mother, as  was unravelling knits to resue the wool.

This little hand made sewing caddy was $4 at Salvos Fyshwick this morning.

I love that someone made the little wooden rocking chair with orange corduroy upholstered seat/pincushion for a sewer.  It has the feel of a school woodwork project.

I also appreciate that it holds all the basic threads I use for hand mending, a thimble, some pins, sewing needles and the tools of the unpicker's trade, a quick-unpick, small sharp scissors and a fine gauge double pointed knitting needle.

*Yes, I will do hand sewing for other people.  And yes, I will charge in cash or kind.

Cross posted from Unravelled.

Thursday Thrifting Finds: Vinnies Woden

(Reposted from Fotofraulein)

A few weeks ago I headed to the south side of Canberra. I checked out the Salvo’s and Vinnies in Woden, but only came away with goodies from Vinnies. 

The score of the day had to be this Heartbreaker dress for $12. It's got a tie around the waist which I had thought of cutting off and replacing with a proper belt. What do you think? Keep it? Or lose it?

In case I decide to cut it off, I also bought a nice white wide belt for $5.

Still not sure if I prefer the tie or belt.

Maggie T jeans for $3.50 (all orange tags were half price, I would’ve paid $7 regardless). They fit well and are a great length. Total bargain!

I am not much of a glitzy girl, but for some reason I kept coming back to this shiny red bag. Perhaps it was my inner magpie coming out. I decided to part with my $7. I used it at my work Christmas party, much better than a Santa t-shirt or jingle bell earrings!

 

And lastly, for $3, an SBS documentary on Australian fashion designers. Something I will watch, get some inspiration, great ideas and thoughts on fashion, then, like a good book, forward onto a friend. Here is an excerpt from the section on Willow.

Heartbreaker Dress - $12

Maggie T Jeans - $3.50

White Belt - $5

Red Glittery Bag - $7

DVD - $3

Total amount spent: $30.50

Vinnies Mitchell Monster Sale

(Reposted from FotoFraulein)

I have a bit of an op shop addiction. But I like to think I have it somewhat under control. Somewhat, but not totally. Where does this obsession come from? Thrill of the chase? The hunt for a bargain? Being a poor university student for so long, which has seeped into adult life? For me, I see it as all of the above, plus I am giving to charity, rather than large multinational corporations. So, as I love op shopping and thrift stores so much, I'm going to do posts on my blog on Thursdays of my thrifting finds and anything ACT related I will repost on I Op Therefore I Am - ACT.

Towards the end of November 2013, the St Vincent de Paul in Mitchell had their monster sale. It started on a Friday, one of the great things about working in Mitchell, a visit fitted perfectly in my lunch break! 

The Vinnies warehouse, where the magic happens twice a year!

I spent $16 and what did I get?

Grace Hill Dress - $6

Capture Black Bolero Jacket - $3

The fabric in this dress has a real 1950s feel, with a satin waistband and neckline. I love pink and gray together and thought it would be great for Summer Christmas parties.

For work, I got this Suzanne Grae short sleeve top for $3. I loved the pattern and I find these tops a great alternative to t-shirts.

Both of the tops I bought have the art deco style sunrise motif. I do love art deco and when it's on fabric,  even better! Also for work and a casual Summer look, I picked up an Epilogue long sleeve top for $4. It is slightly hi-lo at the back, made of light weight polyester, quick drying, no ironing. I wear a lot of white, black and gray, so it goes with many things in my wardrobe.

So all up, a sensible shop, with quite a few good purchases. Have you been op shopping of late? What bargains have you picked up?

A message from Zonta...

'Girls, Girls, Girls,

Have you had the chance to clear out your wardrobe over the past twelve months?  Please think of us when you do, we want your clothes – The Zonta Club of Canberra Breakfast will be holding the sixth annual Pre-Loved Designer, Retro & Vintage Women’s Fashion Sale on Saturday 1 March 2014, and we need your help to make it a success.

This is our major fundraiser, to give women and girls a better chance at research, education and training, provide birthing kits for women in developing countries and to supply women in local shelters a small amount of necessary items e.g pyjamas and shampoo, soap.  

If you are right sizing and restyling…please give us those unworn outfits languishing in your wardrobe – your unwanted clothing can help us provide awards to assist women who have no qualifications to embark on tertiary education for the first time.

If you have good-quality, contemporary items of clothing that you can spare – including bags and scarves – let us know and we’ll come and pick them up.

Email Zonta  with your address and phone number  to arrange collection.'

Christmas opping

Thought you might find a quick round up of some northside op shop Christmas trading hours useful (of course I should have thought of this before I left the house without my camera, so phone pics it is...)

Salvos Jammo:

Ys Buys Belconnen:

 Vinnies Belconnen (who win my prize for prettiest and clearest sign, but with points deducted for use of past tense for a future event):

 And Salvos Belconnen (Who win my prize for most confusing and negative sign):

 And, finally Vinnies Dickson which is also clear and easy to understand, with bonus points for outlining normal hours and wishing us a happy Christmas:

 Speaking of Christmas, here's further proof that you can buy anything at an op shop:

The op-shop guide to the Christmas market

I saw this story on the Canberra times Web site, and figured it was worth reposting a link to it here.

I would suggest it, read it, and then go through what you are about to donate to your local op-shop.

Here is the link to the story.

Ask and ...

Christmas baking began this weekend Chez Taph and TOF.

No sooner had the first fruit cakes hit the oven than I realised we didn't have enough cake containers for the 8 cakes to be made.

I blame the massive cull we did when moving house and finally consolidating collections in August.

A moan about not having enough Tupperware left our Facebook friends incredulous and a little gleeful at our predicament.  In a reply post I suggested a visit to the Green Shed might yield some cake tins but I secretly held little hope this close to Christmas.

Such sanguinity is borne of years of op shopping disappointments. It is a truism of op shopping that one cannot expect to find the exact thing one is after first off.

A lunchtime trip to Mugga Mugga yielded not only two Christmas themed tins in the exact sized required but a piece of furniture I described to TOF that morning to store our laptops and portable devices that I didn't know even existed.

Return of The Smith Family Store to Canberra

The Smith Family has reopened their Woden store, selling clothing, accessories and homewares, and are offering opening discounts of 25% until November 30.

Corner Launceston & Easty Streets

Phone: (02) 6232 5374

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday: 9.00 am to 4.45 pm
Saturday: 10.00 am to 1.45 pm 

The Brotherhood of St Laurence in Victoria has just started a series of short videos on how to get the most out of op-shopping.

I didn't learn anything new, but as a lifetime op-shopper, I am not the intended audience for this video.

What tips and tricks would you give to a new op-shopper?

A Raid on the NSW Op-shops.

This weekend we have a funny thing happen. In Canberra we get the Monday off as a public holiday, but for NSW it’s another normal working day.

For Taph and me this means a chance to raid the ops-shops of NSW on a normal working day. The question is where we will go.

We can go South and do Queanbeyan, Cooma, Nimmitabel, and then track back to Adaminaby?
We can go North and do Goulburn, Moss Vale, Bowral and Mittagong?

We were saving Yass, Harden, Young and Boorowa for later in the year. ideally that would be during the cherry season.

With so many options what should we do?

Also we need your help. If you know of any little shops in or near these towns that have not been reviewed here, then let us know.