Ebay Store full of goodies!

Just letting you guys know that I have listed some new things on Ebay today, with more to follow in the next few days.....Happy Shopping!

Green polka dot cotton smock dress with neck and hem ruffle...yum!

Fantastic lemon yellow vintage 50's swimsuit with boned bodice and pleated skirt...oooh and button up straps...DIVINE...

Teal green kimono/haori with waist sash, russet lining, and cute japanese umbrella print...

Nautical anchor sailor top with applique and purple details...original tags too!

Vintage Oroton red and white neck scarf......

And some fabulous oversized blue French vintage sunglasses!

Organised?

When I look at other people's sites, I am always amazed by the incredible spaces they have created for themselves to work in. Thus, my mission is to get organised, to find a place for everything, to have all my materials readily accessible and looking gorgeous. One of the people who totally freaks me out with her crazy neat studio is Heather Bailey. Even though her style is completely different to my own, and I tend to be rather haphazard, and more kitsch that chintzy, her studio is amazingly neat and well put together. In kind of a pink way. In fact, my personal style is probably more along the lines of Tricias, with some brighter colours and vintage bits, but an overall modern feel. All I want is a nice, clean, white space, with storage solutions that show off my materials...... is that too much to ask?

I have a tiny little room off my front verandah that I am in the process of tearing apart. It has suffered the poor fate of being that random space into which you throw anything that doesn't have a place, and in my notoriously storage-lacking house (not even a linen cupboard! NOTHING!) that means, well, pretty much everything. So, in order to embarrass myself into doing something about it, I am posting some photos of it here in its current state. aaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhh.........

Actually, I have done some work on it since these were taken, and now at least the fabric collection is folded and colour matched, and there isn't crap all over the floor anymore. BUT. There is Still More Work To Be Done.

In the meantime, however, I have been procrastinating by working on Ebay listings..... All of this stuff will be in the shop soon.... There's quite a few frocks, some sunnies, handbags and purses, a vintage bathing suit, a couple of skirts and tops......mmmmmmm.....vintage goodies!

Man, I just realised how awful the photos are in this post.....mess and piles of clothes.....sorry!

My Home + Thrifty goodness.....

There's a bit of a trend in sharing corners of your home in blogland. I love seeeing pictures of other people's houses, and even though I know that we all shove the mess under the table and only photograph the best bits, I ENVY other people's spaces.

Especially people who live in (seemingly) well-lit, light and airy houses with big rooms......I live in a heritage listed cottage that is the old caretaker's house for a local cemetery (the graves come right up to the wall on one side of the house; some dating back to the late 1800's). I love my house. For a cottage of it's type, it's actually quite big. But it's DARK in here. The windows are smallish and in the wrong places. There is only one window leading out to the cemetery side, which is where all the afternooon sun comes from. It's a pity.

However, I have taken some pictures to show you where I live. (apologies in advance for the poor lighting; I tend to take most of my photos around the house at night after a few too many glasses of wine!)

This is the loungeroom, with my favourite purple chair, the record player I've been meaning to get repaired for ages, and the window onto the cemetery....

I have a bit of a typewriter addiction....if I see one in the Op Shop I can't leave it there! This photo combines a few of my favourite things... my best Remington Rand desktop typewriter, a glass of good red, my favourite books, and photos of my family and dearest friends....

I also have a bit of a thing about teacups and vintage crockery... I love anything that involves a ritual, and making tea is one of my favourites...There's someting comforting about proper tea, made from a pot, with mismatched cups and saucers, and hopefully a little cake or two....

In other news, my collection of vintage sewing patterns has swelled considerably after a bonanza thrift run the other day, twelve new patterns for $6! I have also been given a gorgeous vintage semi-industrial sewing machine, so I am now all set to begin sewing for my new etsy shop, which I'm hoping will be up and running very soon...

Well, that's it from me today, I'm off to have my favourite noodles for lunch, and then to a beer tasting at work....Have a beautiful day!

Thrifty Goodness.....

Phew!

After buying my new digital camera yesterday (a Nikon D40 if you're curious) and selling my soul to the local department store for the remainder of my interest-free period, I thought today might be a good day to splash around some of that birthday cash that I didn't put down on the camera!

And today was my lucky day....I found more stuff today than I have in weeks of Op Shopping, and I thought I'd share the results:

A gorgeous little brown tweed hard style suitcase...(perfect for keeping sewing supplies in)...$5!

A huge lot of colour themed patchwork swatch packages...$4 each (I bought four!)

A bag of mixed vintage green buttons...$2.

A lovely cake plate on a bakelite stand...$2...( I have been hanging out for one of these for ages...an excuse to have a tea party!)

And last but not least, this book by DAVID HICKS on ways with fabric! If you're not sure why this one is in the bunch, check out the Wikipedia entry on the whole saga.....living in Australia, this issue is saturating the media lately, and finding something lighthearted like a frivolous fabric book by someone named David Hicks just tickles my sense of the absurd.....

In other bloggy news, I have also signed up for Wardrobe Remix, a Flickr group where funky people post photos of thier fabulous outfits to share with other street-wise fashionistas!

I also managed to drop out of Uni today, eat my favourite noodle soup for lunch, catch up with a friend for a quick chat and some Chinese tea, and organise a bit of my fabric stash.... What a productive day!

Another Day. Another Scarf.

There seems to be a pattern emerging......
Even though it is still warm here, I am really coveting winter clothes right now. Autumn is one of my favourite times of the year - cool enough to start layering clothes again (one of my favourite passtimes), but not so cold that I want to die...(having hardly any body fat DOES have its disadvantages, you know!)

anyway:



Two new Op Shop finds.... a lovely v neck grey wool vest, all I had to do was take the side seams in...

plus a Hand-Knitted-By-My-Local-Volunteering-Grandmas red wool scarf with a cute little lace rib stitch in it. Lovely.

As you can probably tell from the terrible photo, I still haven't managed to buy a new digital camera yet. I'm pretty sure I've picked The One though, so I'm off tomorrow to lash myself to two years of monthly repayments, but hey, my photos should be GORGEOUS!

Just on the winter knit note: I'll leave you with this lush knit by Eley Kishimoto....mmmmmmm

Swap.

I have just signed up for Shim+Sons vintage button swap! Woot!

Birthday

Today is my birthday..... and in lieu of the new digital camera I am planning to buy as a birthday present, I am using photobooth on my mac instead to show you my new scarf....
For some reason I have this new obsession with yellow. I have never worn yellow, I have had pretty much a hate/hate relationship with it all my life, yet for some reason I am suddenly OBSESSED with it.
I'm not usually the kind of person to be swayed by the vagaries of fashion - if something I already love suddenly comes into style, I'll usually stock up, wait for the fad to pass, and THEN start wearing it. But this yellow thing seems to be different.
So far, I have made/thrifted/bought:

a bright, 80's ish yellow and white striped t-shirt,
a yellow singlet,
a yellow scarf,
AND
a pair of fab vintage bright yellow platform heels.

So far I am tending towards the mustard-y tones rather than canary, but hey, who knows what's next?

I am also laying the blame for this new colour obsession on Tricia Royal, whose gorgeous blog, Bits and Bobbins is a riot of colour, and a beutifully presented blog about her obsession with colour. Wonderful.

Anyway, that's enough from me, I'm off to do something luscious to celebrate my birth.....Cheers!

oh, and just to prove my point, here's some Nina Ricci from the Fall 07 collection!

Sustainable Fashion?

I read an article recently by a fashion columnist who was flirting with the idea of Compacting – which is basically a philosophy of not buying anything new other than essential items like food, toiletries and basic necessities. Being a self-proclaimed fashionista, she found the concept pretty hard to grasp, but thought she would try it for a month, and was surprised at how easy it ended up to be.

At the time, I scoffed a little at this “poor” woman, who had to go without her designer bags and fabulous shoes and crazily expensive frocks for a month…..what drama!

But the column got me thinking about my own consumption habits, and I was pleasantly surprised…..

Basically, in the past year, things I have bought new include:

1 pair of black boots (Doc Martens, for work and everyday wear…)

undies

socks

1 pair black jeans

5 or so plain t-shirts and/or singlets (for work again- I’m a bartender)

one or two pieces of Ikea furniture.

On the other hand, the things I have bought from Thrift shops/ Op Shops include:

Various t-shirts/tops

3 – 4 pairs of jeans

3 pairs of shoes

about 6 or so frocks

various belts

lots of headscarves

lots of random bits of jewellery, brooches, necklaces, etc

beads/ sewing supplies

sewing patterns

fabrics – made into clothing/craft projects

loads of books

various bits of furniture

a record player cabinet

a lot of old maps/paper ephemera

various handbags

and the list goes on……

Looking at my wardrobe, I can safely say that 90% of it is thrifted or handmade. I love the fact that most of my shopping is done outside of the mass produced consumer mainframe. I love the thrill of the hunt that Op Shopping provides, and the sheer joy of finding something fabulous in a sea of dross can keep me going for days.

I enjoy fashion, and I love clothes, and buried deep inside me is a woman who would love a handmade Fendi bag that costs the same as a small house, but all in all, it’s not necessary. My wardrobe is all the more creative, fabulous and eclectic due to the fact that none of it cost more than, say, $50, and that almost every cent of my fashion purchasing has gone to charities in my local area.

Who would want to shop any other way?

Welcome to my blog. I am a twenty-something bartender and Art History student living in Australia, and I’d like to share a little of my life with you. I have been reading and lurking in many craft blogs for a long time, and I thought it was time to come out and play. I’m looking forward to sharing my time and projects with you.