Salvation Army finds

Did you have a nice weekend? Ours went from hot and muggy Friday night, to frigid and rainy on Sunday. Whatever the elements were, I was out braving them. Besides sleeping time, I was barely home all weekend. Which means I didn't get any sewing done. But I did have a wonderful afternoon Saturday visiting my friend Jen and two of our favorite places -- the enormous Salvation Army and Jo-Ann's.

When I say "enormous," I mean supermarket-sized enormous. Department-store-sized. It was my first visit to the Sal Army near Jen's place in Plymouth, and wow, she was not joking when she told me it was amazing. We spent at least 90 minutes combing the aisles, trying on clothes, looking for gems and for items we can add a little shine and polish to to make new again.

I found $57 worth of junk awesome to bring home. Let me show you a few of my finds.

I am working on a gallery photo wall for our dining room. I can't wait until this is finished. Step one has begun: I'm gathering frames. Some of these are old ones I had here -- the three on the top of the arrangement. The funky white one with four conjoined frames is new from Target. And the other three -- the silver oval, the ornate rectangle and the small white one -- were found at Salvation Army. I paid more than I wanted for that ornate frame ($8) but I think it will look great once it is spray-painted white. That's my plan for now -- to paint all the frames white. A few more, and I'll be ready to get started.

I found two old sewing patterns for $1 each. This one is for a robe. I have a warm fleece robe that I wear every day, but it's a little hot for the summer months. I'd love a light-weight robe. And now I have a pattern to make myself one. The question is whether I will get over my fear of using an old paper pattern like this and actually do it!

 I heart this vintage shirt big time. I think I paid $3 for it. Isn't it sweet? I love the fabric, which if you can't see, let me get you a slightly-blurry close up...

 

It's a bunch of summer sporting equipment. I did a no-no and bought this without trying it on. It fits well but is a bit shorter than I like. So now what? How can I rehab it to make it longer? Or should I just forget about it for myself and use it to make something adorable for a wee one?

 I am queen of blurry photos today, yikes. Anyway, I grabbed this orange pillow sham with a great geometric pattern to make pillow covers for my family room couch. It's very large, so I'm hoping I can get two small pillows out of it. It was $2.

All baby clothes were 50% off. Gotta love that! Because of the sale I was able to score each of these cute items for Jack. The left is a Gymboree outfit that probably cost $25 new. And the right is a Baby Gap swimsuit that is in perfect condition and is so cute that I bought it even though Jack already has at least two swimsuits. I guess he'll be doing a lot of baby swimming this summer.

Ignore the wrinkles and the glare on the right of the photo. I got this light-weight green dress (originally from Target) for I think $3. It's a great base. I want to make a belt to go with it. Should be easy enough, right? I've never made a fabric belt but I am thinking it is nothing more than a long tube. On the hunt for a tutorial that might offer a little more pizazz than that!

What else did I buy? A lot. Including three more skirts for myself, and a few solid color shirts. I am so drawn to fun prints that I never have solids to go with anything. Love getting them for a few bucks! When I got home and added the new clothes to my closet, I also weeded out all the items that I no longer wear. My closet is now half empty, and I have a HUGE pile of clothes to donate or upcycle. And a need for more items I love, which means more thrift shopping (because I'm cheap) and perhaps some sewing. Making clothes for myself scares me, although I did get over that fear to make one skirt. And guess what? I am on my way to making myself my first top!

Here's a sneak peak of the fabrics cut and waiting to be sewn. I hope that I'll have a finished top to show you by the end of the week!