The Girl by the Sea » thrift store finds

A Blanket, Trousers, and New Shoes

Jennifer — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:01:10 +0000

Last year I came across a crib sized duvet cover at the thrift store. It is the perfect size to snuggle up under in the winter so I snapped it up for $1. I needed something to fill it with so I also grabbed a comforter for another $1. I cut out two pieces of the comforter and serged them together to fit the duvet cover. It’s wonderfully soft and cozy and the perfect price at about $1.50. Here are some trousers I made for my older daughter when she was two. I had forgotten all about them until I dug them out for the babe. I used an old denim skirt of mine and used the existing leg seam and hems for the legs. I have skinny babies and skinny kids and this is one of my favourite waistbands to make. I took a strip of knit fabric measured to fit their little waists and serge the short ends together. Next you fold it in half lengthwise and serge the cut ends to the waist of the actual trousers. Very easy, and a very comfortable, custom fit. The babe needed some new shoes so we stopped at a little children’s boutique store on our way home from the cabin and found these delicious shoes. She loves her “ballet-rina” shoes and wears them every waking minute. Well, I have lots more to show you guys, several projects I have been working on and some different things we use in our homeschooling. I’ll get to that next week, but in the meantime have a wonderful, and hopefully restful, weekend.

Well Loved

Jennifer — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:14:32 +0000

My seven year old loves blankets. He is buried or snuggled in one most of the time during the winter, and fall, and spring. I have to fold them and put them away during the summer and he has even been known to dig them out just to snuggle up. I have been wanting to sew each of my kids their own special quilt and I finally finished his. Most clothes that are grown out of around here end up at the thrift store. T-shirts that are too worn and/or stained get cut up into cleaning rags. I’ve always felt a little bit bad about jeans though. With a torn knee or a worn cuff they can’t be donated, but I didn’t want to throw them out either. So one day it came to me, make a strip quilt out of the decent pieces. I have to say that it turned out even better than I imagined. I absolutely love this quilt, and I hope he will too. The jeans were well worn so they are so soft, not stiff at all, perfect for snuggling up in. I used a thrifted sheet for the back. For the inside, I used the other half of that sheet (it had a few small tears and stains) and a large piece of flannel that had been given to me (I didn’t care for the print). It ends up being a nice sturdy weight and the grand cost was $1, for the sheet. Everything else I had, which makes this quilt all the more exciting to me. I really do love taking things that are no longer used or loved and turning them into beautiful things. So here we are, a well loved denim quilt for a well loved boy.

Marks and Spencer’s Uniform Dress

Jennifer — Thu, 13 May 2010 01:25:33 +0000

Sometimes I’m amazed at what shows up at thrift stores. The other day when we were in Wisconsin, I ran to the thrift store hoping to find a pair of pants for my oldest boy. I of course got sidetracked by the girls dresses and found this beauty. It is a Marks and Spencer’s school uniform dress from the 90′s. It is almost identical to the one I wore when I went to school in England, except for mine was brown and white. As it was a size 5 (just like my daughter) and in pink (her favourite colour), how could I resist. It goes perfectly with the little hand sewn vintage slip I also found her in a different thrift store in town. I just love when I find things that bring back such wonderful childhood memories for me, and to see the joy a new pink dress and pretty slip brings to my daughter is great.

Blue and White Thrifty Bits

Jennifer — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:03:33 +0000

Here are some more thrifty bits that I came across recently. I had a brilliant Kate Greenway book when I was a girl filled with all sorts of games in it. When I saw this, it brought back such memories and I knew this would look great in the girls room by itself, or filled with paper flowers. Some creamy lace trim that will be perfect for my summer sewing. A nice springy skirt for when the weather warms up and the wind dies down, and a couple of slips to re-do a la dottie angel style. I hope that by adding this to a post about thrifted items, nobody thinks I am trivializing the situation, but I wanted to mention how saddened I was by Elspeth Thompson’s death. She was such a sweet, and generous woman and I always loved communicating with her. Her books were a delight and her blog was a joy to read. She will be sadly missed and my prayers are with her family at this time.

Flower Brooches

Jennifer — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:14:42 +0000

First I made a fabric covered button, from one of the sets I found at the thrift store. Then I made some backs. Added some crocheted flowers from this pattern (which is brilliant, and my favourite flower to crochet)…. and turned them into fun flower brooches. I am loving these and with changing up your yarn and buttons, they can be made to be springy, wintry, for your clothing… or to gussy up a string bag. These flowers are gorgeous, the pattern is flawless, they are fairly quick to whip up and brilliant every time. They would make perfect gifts, and are fantastic for embellishing lots of things. Have a go, you won’t regret it.

Adventures with Sea Shells/Rocks

Jennifer — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:13:21 +0000

This was one of my finds on my thrift store run on Saturday. Aren’t they great? I just love the boxes as well, I have a thing for vintage illustrations. Adventures with Sea Shells has both the specimens to look at and the book. Unfortunately the Adventures with Rocks is missing the book, but the kids are still loving the rock and mineral specimens and we have several other books where they can look up the information. They were both a steal at $1 and 50 cents (because of the missing book), and the kids (and I) are really having fun with them. On a side note, I did get some of my braces off on Thursday (the receptionist was as sweet as could be), though they were only the back ones that you can’t see anyway. One more week and I get the rest of them off, wohoo! Hope everybody had a great weekend, anyone have anything exciting going on this week? Just more of the usual here.

Thrifty Sewing Bits

Jennifer — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:32:31 +0000

I have been looking for some sewing bits and bobs and trims to work on some clothes for the girls this spring/summer and I hit the jackpot at the thrift store. Here are several yards of very girly knit trim. A stash of red buttons, 27 yards of red crochet trim, and some really pretty red floral fabric. Several more yards of an ivory crochet trim, and several sets of buttons to cover with fabric. I paid 50 cents for the fabric (almost two yards) and 50 cents for the 27 yards of red crochet trim. Each button set was 12 cents and everything else was 25 cents a piece, so all in all I came out with some fantastic deals. I do believe I am ready to make some cute things for the girls as the weather gets warmer, and don’t you love it when all of your purchases happen to be in the same colour palette unintentionally? I know, kind of weird, but I do.

Thrifted Beauty

Jennifer — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:56:25 +0000

Isn’t this piece beautiful? It was a gift from my mom after we found it on one of our Saturday morning thrift store runs a couple of weeks ago. I have no idea what it was originally intended for….. but now it is sitting beside my couch, holding lots of scrumptious wool.

Daffodils and Vintage Sheets

Jennifer — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:41:38 +0000

Well, instead of this last two weeks being filled with projects around the home, decluttering, and general family merriment, it was spent nursing four sick little ones to health. Unfortunately we have not turned round the corner just yet. My kids haven’t been this ill for years, if ever, for some of them. They are holding up pretty well, but it’s not pretty. Lots of really runny noses, not to mention they all sound like barking seals, with this nasty cough. These daffodils (20 of them for less than $3) in my blue stripey jug have been cheering me up on the kitchen table. This winter has been dreadfully long and I am so ready for spring. A little bit of sunshine in a jug has really helped. Now the babe has acquired the lovely cough, so it is off to the doctors again as there is nothing over the counter that you can give to a child so young. This ickiness has caused the boys to miss the last two weeks of their swimming lessons, which is very disappointing to them, not to mention we had a birthday boy in midst of all of this. We will be doing a fun day trip for all as soon as everyone is better, in honour of his birthday. Here is another little bit of springy goodness, a vintage sheet for my daughter’s bed. Bright orange and yellow flowers have really cheered her room up, and she loves it, just what she needed in the midst of feeling so blah. Well, my plan is to be back regularly now, but if I don’t show up one day, just know that I want to be here, but other duties call. Hope you all are feeling well, and had a nice restful weekend.

Thrifty Shoes

Jennifer — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:28:45 +0000

I wear my shoes until they have no more umph left in them, which is typically for years. This past fall is when my fall/spring shoes finally expired. Over the winter I’ve just worn my boots so haven’t really needed to find new ones, though somewhere in the distance I can see spring popping up. I’m not a huge fan of shoe shopping, I can never seem to find exactly what I want/need for the kind of price I’m looking for. I need practical shoes, but let’s face it, I want them to look cute too. My mom and I went to the thrift store on Saturday and I was pretty happy to see these. They were all in my size, practically brand new, and the perfect price. So for a mere $13 bucks, I am 3 pairs of shoes richer. These are my favourites. I just love them. On a side note, do you remember my granny square laptop cover? I love the cover, but I just haven’t grown to love the colours, so I have decided to sell it. It holds a 13" MacBook perfectly (not really sure about PC laptop sizing, sorry) and I’m selling it for $35 plus actual shipping. If anyone is interested, please e-mail me at jennifer@thegirlbythesea.com. Hope everybody had a great weekend. We’ve got a busy week here, and my brother is coming into town at the end of the week, yeah!