Oh What a Haul!

I haven't been sewing a lot lately because I've been recovering from a medical procedure. It's had me pretty sore and not wanting to move about much. But, to lift my spirits, Ed and I went to a thrift store that isn't that close to our place, one we don't get to go to a lot but one that usually yields something cool, even if it's only a book. This time I went in search of these bags of mens ties they sometimes have for a few bucks. Instead Ed once again spotted a sewing machine!

This time it was a Babylock BL6600, all fancy and electronic sans manual of course. It has the same amount of stitches as my other babylock, but this one is much newer and in better shape. The price tag was a little steep for our budget, which is pretty non-exsistent right now, but how could we pass up a $$$ sewing machine for under $40? Yes, under $40. To top that they were having a deal where if you spent $50 or over you got a coupon for $5 off your next purchase. So I had to go find something else to round out the total. There were no ties to be found that weren't priced singly, but I found yet another bag of fabric that looked like it had a few neat and colorful items in it for $3. And of course we had to get some books. Always books.

Once home, I opened up the bag and whoa what a haul! All of the fabric in the photo was crammed into a bag about the size of a brown shopping bag. Yards and yards of gorgeous fabric (and a few scary ones too)! Usually there are a few good choices in these grab bags, and a lot of "eh" scraps and such. This one had only one print of scraps. The rest was between one yard and 6! 6 yards of a lining fabric was the big yardage but most averaged about 2 yards per piece.

In with the bag were a couple, obviously, vintage pieces. The white, orange and green piece in the lower right is one, along with the burgandy/brown and white elephant home dec weight fabric. There is also a curious white, blue and gold toile-like fabric of Japanese scenes with little Mickey and Minnie dotted throughout. Ed actually spotted that one when I showed it to him; I completely missed it! I'd love to find out where it originates from, or when it was made but alas, there is nothing similar online that I can find or perhaps I'm not searching right.

The green fabric in the upper right is an adorable border print with little people holding umbrellas, or newspapers over their heads and walking around. There is 4 yards of this fabric.

Boy, talk about a good haul! This just goes to show that you can find some remarkable sewing items in thrift stores for not a lot of money. The one's I frequent aren't the smokey, antiquey type either but modern places like Goodwill and Savers, with the occassional independent thrown in there when I can find them.

Sure, you have to "make do" with what you have (and supplement it with new/on sale fabric) sometimes, but once you build up your thirft store fabric stash, usually you have a nice little selection to work from.

A Tiny Serger, New Fabric

A while ago (more like months) I came across a Singer Tiny Serger and snatched it up. I found it in Savers, a local thrift store for $10. It was a little splurge, but I had been wanting to try using a serger to see if I wanted to save the money to buy one. This little thing was the perfect solution! Really, it only does the overlock stitching and not the cutting. You have to trim the fabric back yourself. Now, I'm addicted to the machine and have decided that when this one stops working, because how long will a Mini Serger last when I give it the workout of a lifetime each week, I will invest in a real serger! I suppose I should start saving now...

I also hit upon Goodwill's 50% off Saturday this past weekend and got a bag of fabric for the princely sum of $4. In it is 4 yards of some lightweight black twill, which could be something like chino but I am so ignorant in fabric types I'm not sure. Also a few yards of black crepe backed satin that I may use for Ed's Halloween vest if there is enough, some scraps of some purple polyester junk and some cotton print that is pretty, but totally not my style. Those will probably get made into jammie pants since I'll never leave the house with them anyways. There may be about 2-3 yards of that.

So, overall a nice haul!

I've also been working on my Victorian skirt and have finished the vest. I want to take a picture of them both together, because otherwise the vest would ride way too high on me with normal clothes on, so patience my dear readers. The skirt is heavy to begin with since it requires so many yards, but I'm also lining it so I don't have to have my body touch the icky polyester feel, which just adds onto the weight. I can't imagine what the ladies of long ago had to endure when they got dressed. I mean, I'm only going to be wearing this thing for a few hours; they had to wear it all the time! With all the layers, it's like you are wearing armor.

Thrift Store Find - Book

I found in a thrift store the other day, Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book from 1970. I'm sure this little gem sat there for some time before I came across it. It is actually a binder book, similar to what you use in school, with pages that come out. But it is filled with a ton of useful information that I couldn't find in my other (admittedly a limited selection) sewing books.

It talks about things like how to make a ribbon waistline so that your dress doesn't pull out of shape, and how to line a garment, which I really needed to know! I've been looking for a book about lining for some time now.

The illustrations and explantions are great and put across their point. I haven't even finished reading it yet and in love with it. I think I'll be referring back to it quite often, as I do with "Fit for Real People". Plus, the little line drawings of the ladies are just too cute, aren't they?

My new machine

Well, it's far, far from "new" actually! My beloved boyfriend Ed bought me a gorgeous Singer 201 sewing machine made in 1938! Amazingly, he got it at Goodwill for a princely sum of $50. To those on a budget you know that is a splurge, but in this instance, well worth the money! It came with the table and works off of a knee controller. It worked when we tested it in the store, but upon bringing it home we noticed that the wiring is completely shot. Once we started fiddling with it (and after consulting a vintage Singer sewing group I've been in since I got the Stylist), we've decided to re-wire the motor and controller. The wires to the light and switch seem to be ok for now, so rather than make more work for us, we're leaving it alone, unless those start to disinegrate too. The other wires just crumble to the touch.

We're going to do some before and after pics of the parts. The metal plates on the front and the back (not pictured) were just filthy!

Here is what the cord that goes from the machine to the controller looked like. You can also see the motor wires above that (they look like a join in the machine). We've already bought some replacement cord/wire. The friendly sale guy at Ace Hardware told us we might want something a little more heavy duty than simple lamp wire, so we got a 6 ft power cord we're going to use instead. Apparently it can stand a higher temp if this machine runs hot. We are going to try and find a service manual, in addition to the regular manual, so we will kind of know what we're doing. There seems to be a seller on ebay that has a copy of a service manual that I'm thinking about getting.

We sure got ourselves into something with this baby! But, it will be a fun project we both can work on, and not too much of an investment. Since it doesn't seem to need any other replacements that I can tell, and the finish of it is in great condition, I think that Ed got me a pretty sweet gift! Though, I think he now has a "thing" for these older machines. He seems to spot them faster than I can.

I'll keep posted about the progress, for those that are looking for the same information. I'll try and document what we do as well. I've searched high and low for instructions on how to rewire this thing, and haven't found anything. A very helpful member of the Singer group I'm on has given me a wealth of information though. So, with trial and error and hopefully a serivce manual, we'll get this thing done!

Tips For Sewing On A Budget

It's hard to have any craft or hobby and do it on a budget. That means no credit cards too. I don't use credit cards, so any new hobby I have I have to pay for in cash, when I have a little extra.


So, my tips for sewing on a budget:

• Shop at thrift stores

This is my key to sewing on a budget. I buy sheets, as long as they don't have holes or smell for cheap muslin fabric (and for garments when approriate) and shop the "tag of the day" when possible. I have a rule that I usually stick to and that is, if the fabric is under $2.50 I'll buy it without a tag (for something over one yard) and if it's over I will wait for that tag to go on sale. Ask the sales people when the tags are. Don't just limit yourself to fabric either, check out the bagged items (Goodwill and Savers have bagged items on the walls). Thread and other notions can be found there. From my experience, bagged items are usually under $4-5.

• Shop yard sales

Technically I don't yard sale, but if you do and don't have good thrift stores near you, yard sales are a good way to go. If possible call them the day of and ask if they have linens and/or sewing things. A lot of people will post their phone number along with an address if they aren't just off the main street so you can call for directions. When I've done yard sales I haven't minded at all if someone called me and asked if I had large furniture or whatever. It saves on gas and a wasted trip.

• Have patience

You don't need those brand new pinking shears right this instant. There are other ways to finish your work; it just takes longer. Wait for the really good sales! Make do until you can upgrade cheaply, but not by sacrificing quality. Use coupons! A lot of craft and fabric stores will take competitors coupons.

• Ask on Freecycle

If you aren't aware of Freecycle yet, get your butt off to Freecycle.org and find your local group. I got my first sewing machine, a Babylock, off of someone from Freecycle in my area. I always see people asking for and giving away bags of scraps (perhaps you quilt?), and I'm collecting a little stash of scraps myself that I will give away on Freecycle too. Be willing to drive and use the gas to go pick up a sewing machine, or something that you really want. What is gas money when in the end you could be saving hundreds? Also, ask nicely. My mother always said that you could attract more flies with honey than you could with vinegar (um, ew), but that is pretty true when asking for something. Please's and thank you's make a world of difference. Post a "want" and not "need" and be polite. I know I shouldn't even have to say that, but I can't tell you how many rude posts asking for things I see on my local group.

• Go to Walmart
  

Yes, I said it. I'm no fan of Walmart as a whole, but when you are on a budget, Walmart is a nessesary evil. I buy all my bobbins there, and dig through the clearance fabric. I know that a lot of Walmarts have taken away the fabric section, but if you do have one, take advantage before they take away yours too! I haven't yet had a problem with the tracing paper, bobbins, fabric, and inexpensive scissors (though I will upgrade those eventually) that I've gotten from Walmart.

• Learn shortcuts or tips
  

Things like using a pin pinned to an ironing board to make bias tape instead of buying a fancy bias tape maker, or using a sponge (which can be found at the dollar store) as a pin cushion. There are tons of tips and sewing advice to be had if you read blogs, websites and use your friendly pal Google.

Pin cushion image courtesy of erellsworth.com

Thrift Store Fabric and Current Project

This is the latest acquisition from Savers (thrift store)


One yard of the butterflies for 99 cents and about 2 1/2 yards of the funky orange retro stretch twill for $2.99. The orange print just screamed to me to buy it, though I am NOT a fan of orange at all. But, look at that pattern! So funky! I was thinking a handbag of some sort from it.

My current project is McCall's 8107, princess seam dress, view G (the center one with the belt). I'm not really a dress person, but I figure if I go to the trouble of making a muslin, doing the fitting and then another muslin and finally a finished object that I will probably wear it! So far I just cut out the second muslin after the first turned out to be a size too big. Who knew? I should have started with the high bust measurement, but that hasn't worked for me in the past, so I decided to just go with a size 20 off the bat. I was swimming in the dress (what I hoped would be a wearable muslin). I have had to do an FBA on the size 18, and trimmed away some excess in the back. The book Fit For Real People was instrumental in learning how to do adjustments on princess seamed dresses; I didn't know it needed all that!

I hope this fitting and muslin does it; by now I 'm a little tired of all the pattern pieces. Thankfully it sews up rather quickly, even with the little inside out thing the pattern has you do with the facings.

Now, where to find a belt for this dress. I don't even own a belt!

Vintage McCall's Pattern Find

Boy do I love thift stores! I stopped in one last night and they had a lot of nice fabric, which I didn't buy because while it wasn't over priced, I wanted a bargain which some of it wasn't. They normally don't have a great pattern selection, but while walking by it this caught my eye:

So I snatched it up in a heartbeat and saw this one behind it:
Not that I am either bust size (guess higher. No, higher!) but someday I will either be a size 14 (quit laughing) or I will learn how to grade a pattern, which is beyond my abilities right now. Of course I could also turn into an obsessive pattern collector and just buy patterns willy nilly. That is something I'm debating on...since it's already started. I think I have about 50/50 of patterns that fit and those that don't. Quite a few from the 70's, although these are the oldest I've found yet. But I digress; I think these are complete. One is certainly still in factory folds (6759), and the other I haven't taken out yet since I don't have enough room on any surface to spread out until I get my sewing area cleaned up (and a project completed). Overall, a great find for $1.38 total!

Thrift Store Thread

I stopped by Goodwill this evening since Mondays are dollar days on the previous week's tags and after 5pm they reveal the new tag. Not much there for that dollar tag but I found one on a cheapo sheet that I will use for a muslin. But I did find 2 yards of some rad dinosaur fabric for a dollar (50% off tag) and a bag of thread for $1.99. I just now got around to opening up the thread and checking it out. I really just blindly grabbed it thinking that even if it's the cheap stuff I can use it for testing things out. The majority of it turned out to be Lily brand thread, originally priced at 19 cents. About half of it is still wrapped in the plastic sleeve that protects the thread. The other half is loose and very, very weak. I can snap a short length easily. Too easy to actually use in anything.

The greatest find in the bag though were 3 wooden spools of thread. 15 cents? From what little research I did on them they seem to be from the 50's to 70's. I had no clue what boilfast or fast to boiling meant, but apparently I learned something new today when I found out that it means it will retain the color if boiled, since before washing machines people would boil their clothes to clean them.

Ah, modern conveniences, how I love them so.