And so it begins....

Has anyone else noticed that the op shops are bringing out their Christmas stock? A few of my semi-regular haunts in the Oakleigh/Clayton area certainly are. Or maybe it's just that I have Christmas on the brain, thinking of all the gifts I need to make....

I picked up these super sweet wooden decorations for a steal the other day!

I think they used to be hanging decorations, but have all lost their loops. Regardless, I thought they were too cute to pass up.

I'll be blogging more about my Christmas finds - and handmade Christmas gifts - at Sparkly Green Knickers.

Vintage dress!

I've always been on the hunt for a scalloped white, lace dress but hadn't had much luck. I spotted a lady umming and ahhing over this so I tried to make myself look discreet and tailed her around the store until she finally decided to leave the garment behind. Success! Of course, I pounced and now this pretty little number is in my possession.



The dress has a fabulous "V" back and floaty, capped lace sleeves. It was actually a few tiers longer in the skirt but I cut a few layers off so it's shorter and more "dolly" like.

More pictures and a small halloween rant at my blog forevayoungvintage

Yet another sugar bowl

Hello. Dani from The Kitchen Playground, newly arrived over here in the blog of all things op. Today was a fortuitous day to receive an invitation to post here as I had a little oppy victory.

The back story being that, much as I love my husband, I do wish he wouldn't break my sugar bowl which such regularity. Particularly as I am somewhat fussy. I prefer glass. It must have a lid. It must be reasonably plain. Must be cheap as it will, in all likelihood be broken in the not too distant future. Sounds easy but isn't.

I've had my eyes pen for a couple of weeks now since the last breakage occurred. I hit pay dirt in a musty little church op shop at The Mall in West Heidelberg. I found this little gem for $2. Perfect.

oppy thursday

After an extra op shop day yesterday, due to illness, (see my other blog) I ventured out today to a shop I heard about in williamstown, at the St Andrews Presb Curch in Cecil St Williamstown. It is amazing, so old and everything a treasure. I have a friend who works there, so I was excitedly telling her about my overlocker, and that I would need a table, and presto, I noticed this, for....$10! The middle bit is a drawer, and the sides have shelves, perfect to put at right angles to my Horn cabinet. I also got all these for $3

and haby items, including a handmade runner. The pink and blue bags are beaded fringing, for $5 a roll. And a lone self covered button as well

After seeing the jumble of handbags, I thought to myself "there's a Prada in there, for sure". Sure enough, there was- check out the great size

and stamp on the front. there are always sceptics who suggest it isn't authentic, but I'm not that fussed, it's pretty old and authentic enough for me!

A bag of Tupperware was bought as well, what a great day!

Vintage Finds

Are you all sick of me yet? ;)



So. More things to show! I don't normally find too many nice tops or cardigans so the two you see above are probably my favourite picks this week. The mesh, bandage top seen pictured with the skirt is actually a leotard! It's very 80s and I felt a bit Madonna-ish prancing about in it. I also quite like the slouchy cardigan, it's got some sort of animal/zebra print on it and has pockets, which as you know immeidiately caught my attention. Last but not least, the purple dress is actually tagged a vintage Cue design - I don't know if this is the current brand Cue or something else, but it has the best cinched waist.

As always, bigger photos at my blog forevayoungvintage

Bundoora / Thomastown Market

Hiii
Trish from trish hunter finds

Today was market morning.
I was very excited as I had never been to this market before.

My boss and I went to Bundoora/Thomastown market.

Amongst old bike chains? I think they were bike chains, and a couple of cameras, and an old old old tv remote, was this...



Its a 1950's or 60's Bakelite telephone. The dial's plastic cover has been opened, but I can easily get another whole dial from QLD for $18 so that's no problem.
After a good clean it'll polish up to be a gem.
It cost me $15 Bargain!



This is the other phone I bought. It was on a ladys table who had lots of nice things, but I think it was items from her personal belongings, and maybe some of her kids old things. I dont think she was a collector. Anyway this phone had $20 on it, and I am 50/50 on if I have seen this in a book or not.
Well no. I have seen a see through light up phone that looks identical in a book I read maybe a year ago? And I believe its price was around the $300 mark. But I can't remember it's brand.
So I bargained with her and surprisingly got it down to $10, and figured, if it isn't the one in the book I saw, I'm at no loss because it's a rad 80's phone anyway and will increase in value at some stage. And if it is the one I saw, then SWEET!

That's all I bought. Oh no I bought a lighter for my stove haha.

So yep, I was very pleased with todays finds. And more pleased because I have something to research. Very fun.

Feel free to check out other finds, and stories at my personal blog
www.trishhunterfinds.blogspot.com

Have a lovely Sunday

:)

Update

I think you'll remember this dress from a couple of posts back. In the end I decided the dress would be more wearable and versatile if I chopped it, which was what I did (obviously). I really love the look of it when worn - it's very glamourous, sexy and quite elegant looking at the same time. This was from my local op shop which is located 5 mins from my house and I check out everytime I do the grocery shopping. I think it's one of those garments that look much better on the person than on a rack - it had been hanging on a rack for a few weeks already and I was a bit apprehensive about getting it at first. I'm glad I did though, I love the mesh back detailing and the golden halter straps!



I'm not sure what era these dresses would be from - I'm thinking 70s? I have a thing for dresses which cinch in at the waist, a billow top and soft, pleated skirt. These ones were a great find! I must admit I did hem them a little to take up the skirt length, but otherwise they're all in mint condition.

Although I buy lots of vintage clothing, I must confess I'm not very well educated in what styles are from which era. When I go op shopping I tend to assess the asthetic appeal first before I take into consideration of the garment's age or history, which is probably wrong of me. This is definitely something that I hope to further educate myself on!

For more ramble and better pictures head to my blog forevayoungvintage

Variety of stuff at Savers Greensborough.

I just love fabrics with high heeled shoes prints! This is a long scarf - $2.99.

This little chest of drawers could be paper mache(?) or decoupage...I don't know, but I had to have it - great to put some of my craft bits in!

This blouse is much nicer than in the photo. It's black with silver embroidered leaves on it, really smart. The red scarf was separate - I just hung it over the blouse for the photo.

I've got to stop buying tins - I can't resist an unusual one, and this one is so cute. I'm going to keep my ATC collection in it.


Hey Sarah, if you like Black and gold, have a look at this gorgeous totebag I picked up yesterday!

Black + Gold

Hello again! It's Sarah from forevayoungvintage here.

I never used to be a fan of the colour gold. I associated it with the image of a rich, old lady and always thought it looked tacky and cheap. Although I still prefer silver in jewellery, these days I quite like gold on clothing and own a few items myself in the bold, metalic colour. I especially like gold when it's paired with black - I find it's a great contrast and I'm always on the lookout for that colour combo on my weekly op-shop hunts.



The above two items were picked out this morning by yours truely. I like the criss-cross staps of the first dress, but it's very long and I'm contemplating whether or not I should chop it to make it more wearable. At the moment it's at a maxi-dress length which would be okay if the garment was lighter in colour or patterned, but the black makes it look very evening-wear and formal. The second item is much simplier in cut and I think would have been quite boring had it not had the gold studs on the sleeves. I doubt I would have looked at it twice.

Finally found what I'm looking for

Hello, this is my first post here. In AA meeting style, I'm Hayley, and I'm quite addicted to op shops. Although, I can say that I don't go too overboard and my place isn't filled with things that I don't need because I usually think through everything I buy. I've already been down that cluttersome path and have since gotten a lot better (limited space and money helps).

I often shop for secondhand supplies at op shops (fabrics, notions or garments to reconstruct) for my little clothing line, heidi and seek, for which everything is made from reclaimed materials. In future I'll take some 'before and after' shots of clothing I've bought and reconstructed.

In the meantime, here are my most recent purchases:

Overall shorts for my one year-old daughter
Five sewing patterns to use as packaging for heidi and seek
Faux leather handbag, which is in perfect condition

I love the bag, I haven't seen anything quite like it before. I've been looking for an everyday bag with a long strap for a while now and I'm glad I held out until this one. I'm quite picky with bags - it has to be interesting and unique but not so busy looking that it overtakes my outfits. This was a perfect find for me, although it is a little smaller than I'm used to.

You can find out more about me at my blog, heidi and seek and ethical fashion, which includes outfit posts from my largely secondhand wardrobe.

Bernina 807 at the Posh Oppe Shoppe corner GlenHuntly and Grange Rds Glenhuntly

Quick heads up opshoppers, I was in the Posh Opp Shoppe (corner of Glenhuntly and Grange Rds, Glenhuntly) just now and there was a Bernina sewing machine (1980's-era) for $100.  It has its control-pedal, and seems to have one presser-foot but no more.

Bernina are a top sewing machine brand, and even old ones like this can go for hundreds on ebay,  and I nearly snapped it up... however as I have already collected eight sewing machines from opshops over the years I thought I'd better leave it for another punter.

If you go in to get it, of course get them to let you plug it in and check it's working properly.

cute mug

the little kids mug is so cute. the bird tail is actually a whistle. yep i tried it out and it does whistle!! i have a similiar one on my flickr photo stream which i must dig up.
lovely "ashdene" mug.
pillow case with the cutest fabric. birds, lady birds, frogs, bugs and a hedgehog (i think!)

I Heart the Salvos Stores

I've found some wonderful stuff at the Salvos stores in Sunshine and Deer Park lately.

I picked up these lovely goodies for under $20 earlier this week:

Vintage bed sheet; cotton toddler-bed size blanket in great condition; two vintage-inspired aprons with fantastic fabric panels; a few doilies; and - yippee! - a whole bag of crocheted granny squares in different sizes and colour combinations. I am hoping to learn how to join the squares so I can make some cushion covers and I am also thinking about incorporating individual squares into some of my softies.

I seem to be on a crocheted-granny-square kick at the moment because I also picked up this perfect beauty for a crazy $7 at the Salvos store in Deer Park a few weeks ago:

I've been searching for a queen-size crocheted granny blanket for a while now and I think I hit the jackpot :-)

More Vintage

... and more dresses! I'm on a roll - the gods have been kind to me this week.



The first dress is very Wednesday Adams, don't you think? When I saw the dress in the shop I was immediately drawn to it; I love the dolly peter-pan collar as well as the monochromatic colour scheme. It's not really my "style", but sometimes a good thing is just too hard to pass up!

I found two identical leather skirts on Thursday, one of which will be going into my private collection. Both of the skirts are the perfect snug fit and have a great high waist - whoo! I'm very excited because I'd been hunting for a black, leather mini a few weeks ago with no luck and had pushed the search to the back of my mind. It's pretty hard to find one that's fitted and not too daggy - I've resorted to ebay a few times but thankfully I held out until now!



Okay, last two items. Again, the red polka-dot dress isn't really my style but I think it's adorable! I actually spent a lot of time altering this dress - it's original form was about two times as big and the skirt came down past my knees. I had to remove the skirt, take up the top and the sleeves then reattach the whole ensemble back together again. Thankfully the mothership was on hand and gave me some pointers but it's still quite a feat for a lady still learning to use the sewing machine!

The last dress is my favourite out of the lot. It's a little too flashy for me personally (I would have nowhere to wear such a garment) but aside from that it's pretty unbelievable.

A quick question though - are you a traditionalist when it comes to vintage clothing? Do you think it's wrong to alter vintage clothes to make them more "modern"? I'm been thinking about this recently and would love some opinions!

As usual, better photos are at my blog: forevayoungvintage

My 3 new Scarfs!

hey firends! it's elisa here from snowfallsonfridays!
I know it's getting hotter and the need for scarfs are not high on the "need" o'metre however on my "want" o'metre they are pretty up there! even the light fabric scarfs i like to tye my hair up during the hotter months spice up my outfits.

It takes nine tailors to make a man...

I was on the last Op Shop tour (thanks Jo!) and found some wonderfully kooky dresses that will become more wearable with a few nips and tucks here and there.
Does anyone know of a clever and stylish tailor who could help me out? I've heard about the Thread Den, but don't have the skills to do ANYTHING at all just yet, so I need more than just help!
Anywhere in the Melbourne area is good...

Opping finds this week

Colours!



I went rummaging southside this week and found alot of dresses, most of which had quite a contemporary feel to them. The above four are my favourites out of this lot. The little red number is very cute, it has a pussy bow neck detailing plus two side pockets (I love pockets)! I find black strappy dresses quite boring and aren't typically interested in them, however this one has these fabulous gold chain straps which I thought were a modern twist on a classic design. As with most of the vintage dresses I find, I've chopped and hemmed all of these.



As you can see from the pictures, there actually two ways you can wear the item above. The under layer is actually a dress on its own - it's very sturdy and also has boning down the bust and torso. The outer layer is a light, semi-sheer "slip" which can be thrown over the dress part - pretty nifty! I found this garment in a small op shop just off Oakleigh and was immeidately sold on it.

For bigger pictures and more of this nonsense, head to my blog forevayoungvintage

A little perk

Where? Salvation Army Opshop, Station St Box Hill.
When? Several weeks ago
What? Well, that had me stumped for a moment. But I figured it out- it's a stovetop espresso-maker! It's 15 centimetres high and makes 2 standard espresso-size coffees. The tiny little Italian espresso cups I scored months before at another opshop en route to Geelong fit exactly on the little ledges. Works perfectly.

The only problem with it? Well, my designated coffee-partner and I need more of a hit... we currently use a Bialetti 24-cup espresso-maker for our morning cups of joe, and this little guy could only supply about 8% of our required caffeine. So it's sort of going to be an emergency coffee-maker I guess. I might even store it in the first-aid kit.

50% Off Clothing

Hey all, just letting you know that the St Vinnies in St Albans is having a 50% off all clothing sale unitl 17th October. Its a small store but I've found plenty of goodies in the past, so get in quick while you can!

71 Main Road, West St Albans Vic 3021
Opening hours
Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm
Sat: 9am-12pm
Sun: closed

Happy opping!

Op shop disaster! help!

Ok, my title isn't really screaming out for the help that's needed, I found out some seriously badf news today. Bargain browser is closing down! All of the. yes, ALL OF THEM! The Baptist church has decided to do this. I was in my favourite on, the clearance shop in Tottenham, and was told of this. As of December 19th all will be shut.

Staff will be jobless, and the branches are Ashwood, Ballarat, Brunswick, Ringwood, Ringwood East, Yarraville and the Clearance Shop. This is most ridiculous thing I have heard, we have to do something!

I am appealing to all op shoppers out there, and friends of op shoppers, to think of something, a petition? Everyones lives will be affected, the amount of people these 7 shops have helped is probably huge. I will leave it at this and hope, once I calm down, I can think of a solution.

Thursday Shop

So today after a brief stint at uni I decided to tackle Moonee Ponds for some opping adventures. I only have photos of one item but I'm too excited about it not to share:



I don't know if you can see clearly from these photos but the material has an all over crinkle to it and just look at the COLLAR! Wowza. Ruffles galore. Obviously I will need to take it up and cut off the bottom inside bit to make it more wearable but I adore it!

More tidbits in my blog: forevayoungvintage

Weekly finds

These are my top picks out of the dresses I found over the course of the week. I really like the striped green dress which I first wrote about here. As you can see, it was actually quite long before so I cut off some of the skirt and have hemmed it so that it now has a more contemporary feel. I think the floral dress is really cute too, it's in a fitted smock style but it has really great semi-batwing sleeves.

My favourite item out of these is the black minidress. The "V" section you see is actually made up of tiny sequins so it's very shimmery and definitely turns this otherwise ordinary black dress into something special.

Now, onto my find of the week:



If you've read my post here then you'd know how much I love leather jackets and am always on the lookout for them. You'd also know that typically I don't have any luck with finding anything that is actually wearable - I think leather jackets are pretty big in demand at the moment so lots of grabby hands tend get to them before I can. I was pretty lucky with the last two so I was very excited and could hardly believe my luck when I found this one. It's really the softest leather I've ever felt - kind of like a suede/leather, if that makes sense. I think it's actually a boy's jacket... I found it in the women's section but the zipper is on the other side.

For more pictures head to my blog: forevayoungvintage

Wicker Handbag

handbag
Originally uploaded by mildlycrafty

I bought this yesterday at an op-shop in Frankston for $5. I'm not too keen on the fabric so I'm going to make a new fabric bit to go in the frame. I like the way it's secured to the frame with yellow thread, cute.

Frankston has seven op shops and an 8th is opening soon. I only went to five of them I think and they were all really good.

Making it up...

Hi there,

It's Bev from Taccolina and Posted Stitches here - I haven't posted before, as I haven't been opping for a little while, BUT....

Last weekend I went to the Geelong Fibre Arts Forum - did anyone else go, too? And I got to talking to the ladies who went to this class for the week there:


They were making new outfits and embellished costumes from op-shop and back-of-the-closet finds. I talked to several of the students, who were there showing off what they had made, and they were happy for these photos to go out into blogland.

This is a new jacket made out of shirts that weren't being worn - dyed, embellished and printed. I love the new cuffs and the leaves down the front.


Here, one of the students is pointing out the many shirts that were cut and re-sewn to make the flouncy body of this colourful skirt. She had several shirt collars running lengthways down the skirt, like long vertical ruffles. It was gorgeous!

This is by the same student: an ensemble of cut, dyed and embellished items, including op-shop finds.


Feeling inspired? This certainly made me sit up and take notice, and to think more aggressively about what I could do with op shop alterations!

You can find the website of the tutor - India Flint - at www.indiaflint.com - and there are workshops listed on her site.

Happy hunting!

Eastern Thrifting

It's been a terrible day weather-wise here in Melbourne. It started off quite well - blue skies, lots of sunshine and warmth which seemed very promising (all lies). Of course, being the unpredictable city that it is, halfway through the day the sky changed colour and the downpour started. I don't know about you but my mood can be direcly affected by the weather, so all the wetness and coldness made me feel quite glum and miserable. Woe.

Still, I managed to find some good things, namely a very cute black ruffle shirt and a number of dresses which will need to be taken up:



The striped green dress at the end is my favourite of the lot. It's quite fitted and the best part, it also has pockets! Whoop. I love pockets. It's definitely the pick of the lot for today's thrifting trip.

Check out my blog for more randomness! forevayoungvintage

bradley dolls

the two bradley dolls on the left were thrifted. the one on the right is my bradley doll that i got for xmas when i was about 10 yrs old. she has a music / jewellery box underneath her. she is in rather poor condition, but to me she is still as beautiful as the first day i got her.

Op shop goods

Hello! Sarah from forevayoungvintage.blogspot.com here.

Today was a gorgeous, sunny day where the temperature was just right - not too hot yet warm enough to finally ditch the jacket, whoo! I spent the day frolicking around town doing a bit of self-shopping and thrifting around the city area.

My purchase of the day is this vintage little number, found in a small store down St Kilda Road. It's too big for me which is a pity because I love how it sparkles and shimmers under lighting.



I also found a number of dresses which will need some slight altering to make them wearable:



Check out my blog forevayoungvintage.blogspot.com for more thifty goods!

Fun and Games on the Op Shop Magical Mystery Tour