Garage Sale

Last week, I went to a garage sale at Brumby's place. She had an assortment of fabric and vintage clothes (my version of catnip). I came away with two bags of stuff including a gorgeous 50s bag and two pairs of vintage shoes. Since I have trouble finding new shoes in size 5, I always snap up any vintage ones I find in my size. A salesperson at the shoe store once told me that if by some miracle they actually make a particular style of shoe in size 5 the store only ever buys one pair. Weirdly enough, I quite often find vintage shoes in size 5 or smaller. They seemed relatively common in the 50s/60s. I find this fascinating. Did people just have smaller feet then than they do now?



I also got some fabric. See the two different red vinyls? Perfect for making some more bow belts. The mint green gauze-y fabric is so pretty and there's enough to make a dress.


I got a dress and a wicker basket too but forgot to get a picture of them.

Two Squirrels Vintage Opening

Today, my Mum and I went to the opening of Two Squirrels Vintage pop up shop in Rangiora (a wee town about half an hour from Christchurch). The owners of Two Squirrels had two lovely vintage shops in the CBD but sadly they were both destroyed in the February earthquake. They have now set up a gorgeous little shop at their home.




The shop is filled with some amazing treasures. The dress I'm holding above was lovely. The picture doesn't do it justice. It has pintucks on the bodice and buttons and loops down the front. I didn't buy it because it was beyond my poor student budget but I will probably have dreams about that dress.




I did, however, buy some lovely fabric and a pattern. Mum got some fabric too.
I love the collar on the pattern. You can't really tell but the polka dot version is scalloped.




We bumped into the always immaculate Helga von Trollop there but in my excitement at all the vintage I didn't get a picture of her.

If anyone in Christchurch wants to visit Two Squirrels pop up shop they are open Fri/Sat/Sun 10am to 5pm and they are situated at 63 Ashley St, Rangiora. They have lots of lovely stuff and the prices are very reasonable.




On the way there we stopped at a few other shops. I got the toile fabric above from Femme de Brocante. It's actually furnishing fabric (because that's what they sell) but I could not pass it up since it was on sale at $10/m. I love toile but hardly ever see it in fabric shops and when I do it's ridiculously expensive. I'm going to make a skirt out of it. I don't think it will be too bulky. I have a dress made of furnishing fabric and I like the way the skirt sits.



We went to a couple of op shops too. I picked up a black lace back button blouse. It doesn't look that great in the photo but it's really cute. The lace is sewn individually in strips onto a cotton bodice.



I also got this old army bomber jacket. Whoever owned it must have been quite small because it actually fits me.

Disaster (this time of the sewing kind rather than the natural)

I am not a follow the rules kind of sewer; sometimes I don't pre-wash my fabric, I don't like making muslins, I use the word sewer instead of sewist (badass, I know). This is why it's all the worse when I try and do everything right and it still doesn't work.
Let me start at the beginning. I saw the fabric in Spotlight and I had to have it. It was the perfect weight and print for a Spring coat. I knew the perfect pattern to use. Simplicity 1411. I wanted three-quarter set-in sleeves so I redrafted the pattern to have those. I made a muslin. I kept faithful notes of all the changes I made to the muslin. I pre-washed the fabric.
Everything came together perfectly until it came time to do the buttonholes. I noticed a tiny stain on the fabric so I put a little bit of stain remover on it, rinsed it off and then washed my almost finished coat. I have used this stain remover heaps of times, even using it on my precious vintage dresses and it's been fine.
When my coat dried the blue dye had run in several places all over the white dots. It's strange because it ran in places that were nowhere near where the original stain was.




It doesn't actually look that bad in these pictures but it's pretty noticeable in person.


So, now it sits on a hanger in my sewing room. It's too stained to bother finishing it but too pretty to just throw away.
Moral of the story: don't be seduced by cheap and pretty fabric from Spotlight.