Showing posts with label
Things You Can Always Find At A Thrift Store.
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Showing posts with label
Things You Can Always Find At A Thrift Store.
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Hello! I've owned a sewing machine since the mid-1980's. In all that time I've not advanced my sewing skills to a high level of expertise, but still like to try new projects from time to time. Fortunately, thrift stores typically have a variety of pleasing patterns, and for a fraction of the original prices. Read along and see what I mean! I'll begin by showing off some patterns I've actually used, followed by make-it-someday ones.
A 50c pattern, but would have cost almost 12 bucks at full price. Fabric stores often have pattern sales, but not as low as 50c! I made the project on the right, a sofa slipcover. It was relatively easy, though I remember that it took a long time to sew the hem at the bottom.
A pattern package full of sewing accessory projects (plus one button doll). This would have cost almost 19 dollars at full price. Needless to say, I was happy that I only needed a quarter at the thrift store! I made the project at the upper left, a sewing machine cover. (The photographed example has a large rick rack flower on it.) I figured that it was high time my sewing machine got a cover! (keeps dust off the machine).
This is a pattern I've made over and over:
As the package states, this really is an easy pattern! Even a slowpoke sewer like me can whip up a pair of polar fleece socks in no time at all. I often make up several pairs at a time and give them to our daughter as part of her Christmas presents. I sometimes pick up polar fleece remnants at thrift stores too. That helps even more in making these socks easy, inexpensive and practical gifts. If I have enough polar fleece left over after sewing her socks, I'll make some socks for me as well. Nice to wear on a cold winter day!
This pattern is worth the $7.00 price on the package, but I only paid 50c for it.
Now on to patterns I hope to sew some day:
From the Sew Green thrift store in Ithaca, NY, a fun pattern set: multi-pocketed vest, journal cover, portfolio and carry-all. The vest and its description on the back of the package caught my eye: "A play or work vest, with easy, folded pocket design, lets you personalize pocket sizes to fit the tools of your trade. A must for the artist, sewer, gardener, cook, sportsman or woodworker in your life." Well, I'm not a sportsman or a woodworker, but I can define myself with the other words, so I bought this pattern. It cost a dollar at Sew Green, but would have cost $12 at full price.
And that brings me to another point about buying patterns at thrift stores. As I'd mentioned earlier, fabric stores often have sales on sewing patterns, but these tend to be the "big names" like Vogue, Simplicity, Butterick, etc. But it's hit and miss for the smaller pattern companies, whose lines may not even be readily available at the fabric store chains like Jo Ann Fabrics. I think Jo Ann's carries The Green Pepper brand (the polar fleece sock pattern) - but I'd never heard of Diane Ericson, designer of the Creative Companion pattern.
I wasn't familiar with the CNT Pattern Company either, before I spied this:
A jacket to "Start after Breakfast Finish before Lunch". Not sure how long it would take me to sew this jacket, but for only 50c I could afford to take a chance on this pattern. If I'd been looking at paying $10.49, I would have passed it up!
Here's a good, multi-purpose pattern:
The pattern package didn't photograph great because it's in a plastic ziplock bag. So here's a close-up:
Shorts, crop pants, capris and long pants: you're covered for all four seasons! Not bad for fifty cents, and certainly better than the full price of eight dollars!
I bought the next pattern over the weekend at the Ann Arbor PTO thrift store (a must-stop for the thrifty arts/crafts person):
And a close-up:
A variety of fabrics makes for a fun look, I thought. This is actually the second time I've purchased this pattern. My plans to sew the pattern the first time were thwarted, believe it or not, by a squirrel intruder. (you can read about this incident here.)
That initial purchase was from a store three hours away I had visited during a weekend trip, so I couldn't readily go back and buy another pattern. And this was before online ordering was the thing it is now.
Besides, I really didn't want to shell out nine dollars again. So I was happy to find another copy of the pattern for 50c! I'm not sure why I remembered this pattern well enough to recognize it at the thrift store, since it'd been "stolen" around ten years ago! But I know it's the same one.
Thus far I've shown off either clothing patterns or those patterns meant for the home. So I'll end this post with a craft pattern:
A pattern for quilted postcards; the package includes directions and two preprinted postcard backs. The front of the package also has this message from designer Jamie Kalvestran: "Yes, you can actually mail this with one postage stamp and send it through the U.S. mail without an envelope, just like any other postcard!"
At the end of the pattern directions, Kalvestran adds that one instructs the post office clerk to make sure the postcard is hand-cancelled and place in the NON-machineable bin. "If the postal workers give you a hard time - let them know these are being mailed all across the country with success..." Okay, then!
I really got a good deal: besides this pattern, which cost me 50c instead of $7.25, I also got a package of eight more blank postcard backs for 50c more. Not only that, but someone had actually completed a quilted postcard:
Whoever had sewn this had done a fine job, so I wondered why they hadn't made the other nine postcards, let alone mail this one out! But as I occasionally participate in postcard swaps, I thought this would be a nice project the next time I do one.
A couple of notes:
- All full prices are those listed on the patterns at the time of the original purchases.
- If you can, examine the pattern at the thrift store for completeness and correct sizing before you buy it. When I haven't remembered to check, I've sometimes discovered at home that a previous owner had cut off some of the sizes on a multi-size pattern, thereby making the pattern useless to me. And occasionally pattern pieces will be missing, which of course also makes it difficult to make the project. And occasionally, the pattern pieces will be there, but the directions won't! A lot of good that does!
- Thus, it goes without saying is that your best bet is an uncut pattern. In spite of the high (to me) prices I've quoted in this post for brand-new purchases, most of the patterns shown here had never been used.
Incidentally, I totaled up the full prices for the patterns shown here: $84.64. My thrift store price total: $4.25.
So, besides offering pleasing patterns, thrift stores also offer pleasing prices!
Happy Sewing!
Hello! In this post last week, I showed off thrifted wall hangings. Fine, you say, but what if your wall hangings need frames? Well, there's a thrift store for that too!
Naturally, there's times when custom framing is needed, such as for an unusual size picture, or a very special artwork that deserves to be set off by a very special frame. But for small, more casual wall hangings, thrift store frames are more than adequate. There's usually a good choice of sizes and framing materials, so you're bound to find something that will work.
I'll show off some examples of my thrift store frames now, beginning with:
I paid $4.00 for a 16x20 frame (included the glass). Hmm, maybe I should have gotten a wider frame, but it still looks nice enough. The print is from a neighbor's watercolor of a now-closed local school.
For a dollar, I scored the above 16x13 frame. The scene depicts the Capitol building area around Lansing, MI during the 1870's. My husband and I bought this print decades ago at the long-gone Trapper's Alley shopping center in Detroit. Trapper's Alley was a pretty cool place once upon a time, and we used to enjoy the historical scenes sold by artist Constance Powell at a shop there.
Close-up of Powell's work:
A 5x7 frame sets off a postcard purchased at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts:
Not sure which cost more, the frame or the postcard, but neither one cost much. The postcard is of a painting that depicts the Boston Common section of town in the Victorian era.
A bit fancier frame, but it didn't come at a fancy price:
Like the frame/postcard combination above it, this 8x10 frame/print pairing set me back around $1.00 total. The print is of a Paris neighborhood scene.
Looks like a lively place!
Now on to a plainer frame again:
An 8x10 frame for a softly-colored Asian-themed print.
I'll sometimes go into periods where different wall hanging themes appeal to me, whether it be florals, landscapes, old buildings, etc. This print is from an Asian design period. But at low thrift store prices (I paid less than a dollar total for the above print and frame), I suffer no buyer's remorse when my decorating whims change.
Another frame to show off:
I mentioned this print here, and also how I bought its frame at a thrift store. In no more time than it would have taken to peruse the framing department at a big box store, I found and paid a mere 50c for the frame. It goes perfectly with the print, I think.
One last frame to show off:
Again, I think the above are a good match: a frame with some corner detailing paired with a "bouquet" of paper quill flowers and leaves. The price also matched: 50 cents each, a very nice price for a very nice 5x7 frame and a hand-crafted picture.
By now, I think you've gotten the point that there's a wide variety of frames to be had at thrift stores - enough variety that you can avoid the ones that are beat up. My other bit of advice is to carry a small ruler - or the piece you want to frame - with you so you can make sure the frame you select is the right size. Some thrift store frames come with their dimensions indicated, but most do not.
I've shown off wood frames, but you can also find ones made of metal, acrylic, frames labeled as being for a parent, baby, graduate or pet, or DIY versions decked out in paints, glued-on shells, or other bits of whimsy. I tend to steer clear of those DIY frames, but like the wooden ones I've brought home!
Hello! Feel like changing up the wall hangings in your house? Or perhaps - like me - you've repainted a room and so it's time to put different prints on the walls there. Well, check out the thrift stores; they may have just what you need, and at low, low prices.
Case in point, a 23x29 framed print I bought for our newly-painted guest bedroom:
I paid four dollars for this piece, which is called "Still Life Of Summer Flowers", attributed to a George Frederik Ziesel (1756-1809).
Close-up of some of the flowers:
I think this is a very pretty print, and can't beat the price either for the size. But perhaps part of my pleasure is that the walls in that guest bedroom now look so nice! You can see the white wall the print is hanging on, but someone before us had painted the walls of that room purple and green - to go along with lemon-yellow trim and bright blue doors. Fairy tale-style murals on some of the walls completed the look, or so they thought at the time. I never bothered to do much decorating in that room, but now I can!
Another floral print, in another bedroom:
I was told this print is old, but I have no idea how old. I liked the colors, and the fact that I paid $2.50 for it. Its dimensions are 11x14.
A close-up:
The ever-popular tulip shows up in an 11x11 print:
If I tire of tulips, not a problem, since I paid only $1.50 for this.
Flowers not your thing; you'd rather see landscapes? I've got those too:
A 11x9 watercolor depicts some of the grand old buildings in Cape May, NJ. I bought this on a winter's day as a reminder of the days I went "down the shore" to Cape May during the summer months.
A close-up:
Cape May is a very pretty Victorian town, so I was happy to find this work.
From Cape May to Paris, two 10x13 prints that I bought years ago for 50c each:
And its close-up:
L'Arc De Triomphe.
And of course, the Eiffel Tower.
My most recent thrift store landscape purchase was an oil painting I showed off here.
I've only covered florals and landscapes, but there's wall hangings to suit any taste at thrift stores - animals, babies, sports heroes, framed pieces from professional photographers and more.
So whether you're tired of your current wall decor, or have repainted rooms, thrift stores can help with your redecoration efforts.
Hello! Although it can be tedious at times, I do enjoy cooking and baking. So I freely admit that I never visit a thrift store without checking out the cookbooks.
There are often a few dozen on display at any given time, but I'm fussy about them since I have a good-sized collection at home already. It's not hard to pass up outdated microwave cookbooks and I don't go for complicated, gourmet-style recipes either. I also reject those cookbooks that look like they were cheaply and sloppily produced - I often wonder how such things got published.
I've been fortunately lately, though, in finding some nice cookbooks at thrift stores, and here's what I've purchased:
From the top:
1. Hot Chocolate by Fred Thompson. I knew I had to get this when, while flipping through its pages, I saw a recipe called "Nun's Revenge" (an Italian-style hot chocolate). My grade school teachers were nuns, and I'm half Italian, so that was good enough for me. My only regret is that I didn't have this cookbook at the beginning of February; might have helped get me through those record-cold days we had then. Still, I've made "Nun's Revenge" twice now - and even though I've used low-fat milk instead of the specified half and half, it's still very good!
2. Morning Food - Cafe Beaujolais by Margaret S. Fox and John Bear. Under Fox's name on the bright yellow cover is the notation: "Owner-Chef of Cafe Beaujolais, a small Mendocino restaurant with a national reputation". And that little blurb is true since I'd heard of this place even though I've never been to Mendocino, CA. The recipes are broad-ranging in spite of the book's title - there's more than just muffins and omelettes here. A quick glance showed that Fox writes amusingly about her experiences in running the restaurant, so it'll be a good read.
3. A Love Affair With Southern Cooking by Jean Anderson. My personal experience with traditional Southern food has been limited to an old-style tea room in Atlanta. Nevertheless, I enjoy reading about that cuisine, perhaps because of the traditional nature of many of the recipes. Anderson has a fun story to go along with practically every recipe, so I enjoyed skimming through this lengthy tome, and many recipes caught my eye. Thus far I've made "Hot 'N's", an excellent biscuit recipe, to go along with soups. (Like the "Nun's Revenge" hot chocolate, a piping-hot biscuit will go far in dispelling the harshness of snow and extreme cold!)I have my eye on the pecan pie recipe as well. Maybe I'll make it in honor of Pi Day (3/14).
4. Great Cakes by Carole Walter. Okay, so I need another baking book like I need another hole in the head. Still, I'd once checked another baking book from Walter out of the library and had liked it - she is a cooking teacher and so has meticulous directions and insider tips.
5. Gooseberry Patch Homestyle Family Favorites (no real author; the recipes were contributed by customers and staff of the Gooseberry Patch company). This volume is a more "upscale" version of the numerous GP cookbooks: hardcover format and color photos versus spiral binding and line drawings. But like their less-expensive cookbooks, this one has the usual GP emphasis on homey but rather fattening foods. Still a fun read, and I got a kick out of the cutesy tips scattered throughout (also a given with this company's books): "Wake up the family with a rise & shine omelet buffet! Set out a variety of cheeses, vegetables and meats. Everyone can layer their favorite ingredients in a mini pie plate and get just what they want." Gee - just like at Embassy Suites!
Or: "Get out the tiki torches and grass skirts when serving Polynesian Chicken! Play Hawaiian music, make paper flower leis and make it a family dinner to remember." Sigh - I never did any of this, so I guess I didn't make family dinners that would be remembered. But that wasn't all my fault - I didn't have that Polynesian Chicken recipe until late last week.
Yes, every day can be a celebration with Gooseberry Patch cookbooks - but I celebrated finding those other cookbooks as well! The only thing I'm not celebrating is finding a place for them on my kitchen shelves. Guess it's time to weed out a few I don't use anymore.
Hello! Sure, we now live in a digital age with many office tasks being done online, but there's still a need for ordinary office supplies. I'm talking about things like paper clips, thumbtacks, pencils, notebooks, folders, clipboards, that sort of thing.
You can find such items brand new, of course, in many retail locations - but you can also find them very cheaply at thrift stores. And for a vintage lover like me, there's the opportunity to find older versions of ordinary office supplies too!
By "very cheaply", I'm talking under a dollar, such as the 75c I paid for this:
A heavy-duty plastic four-pocket folder; original price tag of $2.15 inside. I like to pack a handful of magazines (also thrifted) to pass the time on long trips; I'll read through them and then tear out pages of recipes, decorating ideas, craft projects, and whatever else catches my fancy. The multi-pocketed folder keeps these pages sorted by topic.
Another plastic folder; this one has six accordian-style pockets. Paid 50c for this.
Another storage piece, this time made of heavy cardboard:
This box measures 12h"x11w"x2 3/4"d and closes with a metal latch. To me, it looks like something that might have been on the shelf of a lawyer's office. However, in my hands it became storage for articles from craft magazines. (Purchased for 75c)
More mundane-looking, but still useful:
A container of various sizes of paper clips, 50c. I needed some larger-sized paper clips, which is why I made this purchase. But I liked that some of the paper clips included have a copper color - something a little different than the usual silvery type.
If I have a choice between new and vintage thumbtacks, I'll go for the latter:
These were made by the American Tack Company, whose address on the box is New York 10, N. Y. Thus, I know that these were made sometime between 1943-1963. 25c.
I was always borrowing my husband's letter opener, but finally decided to get my own, for 50c:
And here's how I can tell it's vintage:
Four-digit phone number. I'm not from Holland, MI, so I don't know when four-digit phone numbers started here, nor when they ended. But it's likely that such a phone number means that this letter opener is old. Don't think this company is in business anymore, at least not with this name.
Also vintage, but not shown, is a bag of pencils I'd gotten. Not all of them were vintage, but most of them were. I think I paid a dollar for a bag of around a dozen and a half. Some were only slightly used - and some had never been sharpened - so I got them for our daughter, who I swear used to eat pencils when she lived at home. I'm exaggerating, of course, but it did seem like she went through pencils awfully fast! New pencils show up all the time at thrift stores, but I'd rather buy vintage ones there if they're in good shape. Sometimes the erasers on these old pencils have gotten too hard to be usable, but pencil eraser caps do the trick instead.
And the reason why I'm not showing the pencils? Well, because she used them all up!
Of all the ordinary office supplies I'm showing off here, this last item is the only one for which I forked over more than a dollar:
I paid two dollars for a box of blank paper sheets measuring 4 3/4"x3 1/8". I figured that these papers would be a nice size for writing notes, lists, etc. I've turned some of them into fun little notepads by gluing a stack together at one of the short ends, then folding and gluing a standard-size playing card over the glued end. One such example:
Above, I'd glued a Loteria card to the end of the papers. This pad is almost used up, but no matter - there's almost a pound and a half of paper in the box, so there's plenty more notepads I can make! (the box, by the way, had come from La Veen's Hallmark of Grand Rapids, Michigan, but I have no idea what the paper was originally used for).
Of course, I can buy ready-made notepads galore at the thrift stores, along with notebooks, notebook paper, label makers, pens, legal pads, rulers, staplers, and more. I've just shown off a few of my purchases. Your mileage may vary, but you're bound to find something useful in the way of ordinary office supplies!
Hello! It's no secret that a print media purchase isn't what it used to be. In the case of magazines, prices have gone up, yet content has gone down. But if you're like me and grew up on magazines, the allure of printed paper is still there. Luckily, thrift stores come to the rescue.
I'll admit, there are a couple of caveats. I've mentioned previously that sometimes I'll buy a thrift store magazine, only to discover that the very article I'd wanted to read had been torn out before the issue had been donated. So I've learned to flip through the magazine before I buy it to make sure the recipe, craft project or whatever it was that I particularly wanted to read is still intact.
Then, too, you may not find the most current issue at the thrift store - instead, you may find summer issues of, say, Martha Stewart Living in the dead of winter.
But you never know, you may get lucky and find a current issue or two:
The Reminisce issue has the news stand price of $4.99 on its cover. The Midwest Living magazine does not, but I'd guess it sells for at least $3.00 at the store, where I'd been tempted to buy it since it's a holiday issue. So, by paying 25c per magazine, I saved a nice bit of money!
If you've read this blog for awhile, you know I like to buy older magazines for nostalgia's sake. That's why I'll sometimes buy 1980's-era Country Living magazines. My late mother subscribed to that publication then, and I would read it while visiting her. Coming across these old magazines now (her copies had been discarded well before she died) brings a part of her back to me.
Then there's the fun of buying a magazine that reminds me of when I was in grade school or high school:
This dates from September 1975. With cover headlines such as "Is Your Child Getting a Really GOOD EDUCATION?" and "Hilarious! The Diary of a MALE HOUSEWIFE", my curiousity was piqued. But inevitably, the ads therein were what really grabbed my attention, so I'll do another blog post about this issue.
I've noticed that several magazine publications tend to show up over and over at thrift stores, like Taste Of Home, Woman's Day and Better Homes and Gardens. But occasionally there's the pleasant novelty of encountering a magazine unfamiliar to me. For instance, a few months ago I found a couple of recent issues of Experience Life magazine; its focus is healthy lifestyles.
And last week I bought this:
Had never heard of Folk magazine, but it has beautiful photography and the tagline "Real American Living" on its cover. And since the front cover also trumpets that it's "THE VINTAGE ISSUE", of course I had to buy it.
The front cover also shows the news stand price of $6.95, whereas I paid 25c for it. True, the issue dates from late summer 2012, but judging from the photos and articles I noticed when I looked through the magazine to see if I wanted to buy it, I'd say this is a very nice magazine.
All this goes to show that you never know what you'll come across when you go to a thrift store! Old, new, off-beat or commonplace, it's there for the finding - and the saving.
Hello! In my previous post in this series, I discussed glassware I'd purchased at thrift stores. Today I'll discuss its synthetic cousin, plastic. Although glass may seem nicer, plastic ware does have its uses, especially when you have a tendency to break glass as I do! And it's just as plentiful in thrift stores as glass is.
I needed a serving tray with sections for serving crudites with dip, and this came to my rescue:
At 18"l x 13"w, this is a sizable tray. It'd be rather heavy if made of glass, but since it's plastic, it's quite light. It's a good size for large casual gatherings; most recently it saw service at our daughter's open house. I paid 50c for it. I don't need a large tray like this very often, so why pay much for one?
I paid a dime for this basic, 9" diameter plate. Now, why am I bothering to show you this plate? Because of its intended purpose. There are times when I volunteer to bring a dozen or so cookies, and this sort of plate is sturdier than paper plates. And since it was so inexpensive, it doesn't matter if it's left behind somewhere. But thus far it's been returned to me.
For potlucks, open houses and other large gatherings, it's nice to have enough large serving utensils to go around. But why head to a big box store to buy them when you can find perfectly good ones at a thrift store?
I paid a quarter apiece for what you see in the above photo. Between a ladle, a slotted spoon and two serving spoons, I'm prepared!
A colander seems like another basic item - until you buy some nice fresh berries and want them to drain after washing them off. I had one large colander and one small, but needed an in-between size. And that is what I found:
I paid 25c for this colander; it's 9"w and about 4 3/4"h. I like the spring-like green color.
I'm just showing off some kitchen items today, but of course thrift store plastic is common in other categories as well. I've bought storage tubs and other handy organizational items, all at very reasonable prices.
A word of warning, though: sometimes thrift store plastics come cracked, misshapen, badly stained, or with other signs of damage. Unless such issues don't bother you, examine the item carefully for signs of misuse. There's enough plastic in good shape to turn your back on the beaten-up stuff.
And it's the stuff in good shape and at low prices that makes me say it's "fantastic plastic!"
Hello! First off, I must admit that I don't actually have a lot of glassware; this is primarily because I seem to be clumsy with breakables and so try to avoid them. But I have certainly seen enough glassware at thrift stores to know that it's plentiful and usually quite cheap. Need some more wine glasses? Go to a thrift store. You'd like a punch bowl set to serve Grandma's killer eggnog recipe at Christmas? Look around long enough in thrift stores and you'll find one. Mixing bowls? Yep, they're often present. Remnants of someone's kitschy shot glass collection? Pick up a few shot glasses and pretend you'd been in that same tourist trap town.
In spite of my clumsiness, I do have a few thrifted pieces to show off. A recent Country Living spread reminded me that I should discuss glassware in a blog post, for there was a familiar sight in a photo of a trendy kitchen - stacks of this on a shelf:
This is the Duralex 8.5 ounce Picardie tumbler; the Duralex USA website (Duralex is a French company) calls the Picardie "the original French tumbler" and that it's "functional and stylish".
I don't have a large stack of these, but I do have several, for which I paid 25c or 50c apiece. Quite a savings when the Duralex USA website sells a set of six for $24.00. There might be better deals on Amazon or eBay, but I doubt that sellers there would be offering up these tumblers at 25 or 50 cents!
Several years ago there was a nice event in our neighborhood. The hosts are lovely people and have a lovely house to match. Although it was an informal gathering, the setting called for a nice vessel for the homemade cheese wafers I was planning to bring. Found this at a thrift store for a very reasonable 50 cents:
Unfortunately, there's no manufacturer's information whatsoever on this serving bowl (about 2 1/2" high and 7 1/2" in diameter). Note the narrow rectangular pattern on the sides and the illusion of "bubbles" on the bottom (those "bubbles" are underneath the surface; the bottom of the bowl is smooth).
I don't know how old this is, but it has the look and feel of an older piece.
I've discussed kitchen items thus far, but if you're in need of vases, go to your friendly neighborhood thrift store and
you'll find enough glass vases to start your own florist business.
Such as:
This was my most recent purchase, an Ikea product for which I paid 50c. I liked its resemblance to a beaker and the bubbled exterior. (that's a State Fair zinnia in it)
As you can see, none of my glassware purchases set me back more than 50c per item - which is great given my tendency to break things!
