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thrift shop and one woman’s pleasure

thrift shop lately has been a little predictable.  natural linen.  some silk.  actually a very beautiful man's silk shirt…..BUT,  this week we have these:

001
this shirt/jacket is corderoy.  i have not owned anything corderoy in YEARS and i don't love the color, BUT, the double yoke is just so great and unusual….am wondering how i can change the color????????  and then        this so totally great very used denim skirt…with these gussets!!! i think that's what we call them?…i sewed a thread through and wounding it on the beam so you can see…. but…hmmm…it's for a tall woman, which would not be me….i could wear it as a dress, really, if i sewed on spagetti straps…and it has a waistband and a zipper, so…how do i shorten it???  if i cut it shorter at the bottom, i will lose the beautiful effect of the gussets???????????         and then:

004
an amazing wool blanket.  amazing for a couple reasons, the first being that it is two colors.  and it appears that the two seperate colors of wool were "felted" together?  i've never seen a blanket like this.   and then, look at the binding…it is SO worn….but, when removed, it's just this totally wonderful fragment…worn, but not weak.  what on earth could have worn those edges like this?  and then

002
what is one woman's pale is an other's Perfection.      These from Deb Lacativa arrived today.  i sit and stare at them, holding them, looking back and front and see so so so much in them.   And already one piece is perfect for the cloth for Wendy's kids…for that horizontal piece across the top.   Perfect.  

so it's a very good day and on the horizon a storm makes its presence known and the Mocking Birds are pretending to be the little finches that are coming for the sunflower seeds.  Life is Good. 
 

 

 

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40 responses to “thrift shop and one woman’s pleasure”

  1. jacky Avatar
    jacky

    Those fabrics from Deb are wonderful Grace…so much potential there!
    Love the blankie, and the way it is double sided. I too wonder how they did that…and that beautiful old binding.
    I had a good find the other day too. I deconstructing an old kimono and under the hem was the most beautiful old silk ribbon, about 3/4 inch wide and the length of the hem. I was doing the happy dance…so beautiful. Dont those little things just make your day.
    Thanks for sharing your treasures. Maybe if you get an indigo vat going you could dye your shirt in that?
    Sunshine here today (still a bit chilly though), but Life is Good with me too.
    Jacky xox

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  2. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    jacky…i’m counting on Deb G to know something about the blanket.
    i have never seen one like this before. and you can see the lable,
    it’s so worn..gives no info. and it’s not at all “stiff” as in when it wasn’t washed right? i don’t know what to do. leave the binding as is, rebind it with a mosaic of fabrics i have, both, ???
    i love the piece of binding tho…like to put those oh so frayed things in cloths i’m making…….
    and…YES, Deb L’s cloths..they are so so just oh, well, feed my
    cloth soul so much
    and aren’t you so glad that things like discovering a silk ribbon under a hem is a cause for great joy? it is the thing about my self that i truly appreciate and love, that i can find these things to be so completely satisfying and of great pleasure. life can be so FULL this way.
    my beautiful indigo plants could not continue under this summers Sun. it’s continued at around 100 degrees and that is too much for
    them. maybe next year. that’s what all growers say most. maybe next year.
    love to you,

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  3. deanna7trees Avatar
    deanna7trees

    wow. you had a good day. as far as the skirt, you could cut it from the top leaving enough to turn an edge. then make a cord with what you cut off and slip it through the turned edge to make it a drawstring skirt. or you cut put in elastic through the turned edge.
    does the blanket look like 2 layers? my mom had a green one long ago and the side that was always exposed to the light faded and it looked just like that but 2 shades of green.
    just love those fabrics from deb.

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  4. jude Avatar
    jude

    life IS and that is all there is to it.

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  5. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    yes…i think that’s it. cut the skirt from the top.
    elastic waistband.
    yes. the blanket looks like two distinct thin layers that
    were somehow felted? it doesn’t look like fade… is
    totally regular. i have a beautiful blue wool that is
    fade on one side and it’s different.
    Yeah. Deb is the Goddess.

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  6. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    yes. ok and Yes. including that i just was out watering
    the oh so LUSH cucumber plants and
    a mosquitoe got me on the eyelid!

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  7. Elizabeth Avatar
    Elizabeth

    Hi grace! this is the fourth try at a comment! I use the spice turmeric to do alot of dyeing. It’s cheap, cleanly fragrant and unfading pretty much if you use soap not detergent and dry in shade in full summer – which I do. I ‘ve just died a navy, pale blue and white corduroy tunic with turmeric and it is now a rich black-green, soft olive and ochre. It has a lovely faint incense fragrance too – not the patchouli kind but the dry, woody Japanese kind – which I think, from having dyed a lot of wool with turmeric, is a natural moth repellant. You may not like the yellow shades but turmeric overdyes other plant dyes and adds a weird richness to things – worth a try!

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  8. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    well, a wierd richness is appealing to me………
    and THANKS for not giving up after 4 tries…wonder what that is?????????????
    anyway…OK! tomorrow i will get the big aluminum casserole thingy and put a lot of tumeric in. this is good.
    i cook a lot of Indian food and have a jar of turmeric that could be replaced with fresh spice i think???? it’s
    over a year old……..and well, i have patchouli oil for that….so
    THIS IS PERFECT! whatever color it turns will be an
    adventure and i will be happy! wierd richess. those
    words feel really good.
    Thanks! and i really love this connection with you in
    your Ballarat. it is very validating to me…….and
    those are not just words, they are from my heart.

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  9. deb Avatar
    deb

    Silly me…I just waved at the screen..Hello cloth, glad your travels are over for now. And thunder is rolling here, close.

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  10. Michelle in NYC Avatar
    Michelle in NYC

    Nice swag! The jacket may have to go a wine red. Maybe blueberries, but definitely not indigo (I think) because blue + red + brown (Maybe you want brown)…another berry that makes a good wine is from poke weed (which grown wild all ove the NE USA. As for the skitrt-The zip has to go and the cut has to be at the top. You will likely, then have to re fit the upper to your body by cutting material from the Panels, and then replace the zipper- big job…or, alternately cut it for a dungaree piece, use it for a canvas. Love to hear what you come up with. The blanket is lovely, as are all those pieces with their endless possibilities.

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  11. Nanette Avatar
    Nanette

    A possible answer to your question ” what on earth could’ve worn those edges like that”……my girl when a baby/toddler loved her satin edged blanky, and would rub it under her nose while sucking her fingers, to go to sleep or listening to a story for comfort etc. I was always redoing the binding as it wore away in places, just like yours, from her loving it.

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  12. Deb G Avatar
    Deb G

    All of it is beautiful, but oh that blanket! The wool, it might be double cloth. From Sandra Betzina’s Fabric Savvy: “Wool double cloth is actually two different fabrics joined with threads in between that are invisible from either side of the fabric.” I have a blanket with binding that looks a lot like that. It’s just normal wear and tear from being well loved and used. I’ve taken mine off the blanket because the blanket it is on is moth eaten and the binding is pretty tattered. I love the fade lines in it.

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  13. Debi Minter Avatar
    Debi Minter

    Hi Grace!
    When I was a little girl I used to rub the soft binding on my blanket between my index finger that the middle finger. It was a soothing technique that my grandmother said I started to do when I was a baby. She said I started to do it after I gave up the pacifier. So, it’s just been loved a lot, and it probably soothed a lot too!
    Don’t you just love those fabrics from Deb? I recently got a batch that I’m using on my “Magic” cloth. I’ve almost completely given up buying fabrics from a fabric shop. They all seem so uninteresting to me now, and I’ve found myself being more intrigued by the backside rather than the front lately!
    xx 😉 Debi

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  14. Debi Minter Avatar
    Debi Minter

    My cloth arrived and I’ve been happily fingering it and planning. I think I finally decided on a plan of action Friday. I’m going to start laying out my ideas today!
    😉 Debi

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  15. helen salo Avatar
    helen salo

    Grace, Different cloths and different dyes wear differently. Wait til you see my magic feather and story, (sending tomorrow) then you might understand better, the wearing of the binding.
    If you shorten the skirt the way Deanna told you, you best make it a full length for your height or it will get way too “flouncy” (is that even a word?) you know, pouffy, cause the wide bottom will be up higher. Pin and roll and try on first. 🙂
    I have a bunch of Deb’s fabrics I still haven’t used up and yes, she does a fantastic job at dyeing.

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  16. Els Avatar
    Els

    HA, HA Grace, I must laugh over your spagetti straps … why not? Another possibility (ánd a lot of work) is to shorten it at the top, make some extra lenghtwise seems in the two sides or back and front (to make it more ajusted to your waist) and put a new zipper in ánd a new waistband … O boy that’s a LOT OF WORK …
    Love Deb’s cloth but most of all like your basket of scraps!!!
    I remember blankets with two different colours !! (most of them, probably the more expensive ones?) They needle felted in the factory, I think (that’s not really “felt”)

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  17. Vicky Avatar
    Vicky

    i too thought of whacking off the top of the skirt to shorten, easy way to go. love the shirt! i suppose you could bleach it, wash it out a zillion times and then dye with anyone of the ideas here.
    men’s scruffy chins tend to wear things out too.

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  18. handstories Avatar
    handstories

    “one woman’s treasures”!
    love that blanket, the two colors & the fact that it’s two colors. looks like a sunset. and those lovely lovely fabrics…just waiting to be…

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  19. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    i wondered…suddenly your cloth seemed to quiver a little. now i know…saw you wave…………

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  20. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    hoo hoo, a Plan of Action! like the sound of that!

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  21. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    well, i am not much for zipper work anymore. used to
    pride myself in it. the only zippering i’m willing to
    do is to replace them on my beloved hooded sweatshirts.
    which reminds me…winter is just a season away…..

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  22. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Nanette…yes. my friends daughter did that. her
    blanket finally disintegrated. all but a scrap of that
    binding. she called it her Goldie. even tho it was blue.

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  23. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    the blanket is in just about perfect shape. so that makes
    4 wool blankets i have. ENOUGH. from now on, if i
    find more, i will need to share.

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  24. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    well, i am lucky, in a way. not having been a quilter
    before. i did, once order some cloth from Paducka or
    whatever, but it was stiff. even when i was making the
    “doll” figures, it was recycle. sometimes too from those
    huge tables of stuff for a $1 a yard at fabric stores??
    seconds or something???
    yes…sometimes the back is so interesting……..

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  25. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Helen, i did it. i will try to take a pic of me in it
    tomorrow…that me in the mirror trick. it came out
    just fine. well…for someone who is not so much a
    fashionista….
    LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOUR FEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  26. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    well…too late now for those spagetti straps.
    oh well
    yes. i think it was like this from the beginning.
    it’s really a very fine fine blanket. quite amazing, really. but it’s almost too hot to even look at it for very long right now. soon.

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  27. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    oh lord…i got a visual of two large twin men with
    scruffy chins under that blanket…eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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  28. Tammy Avatar
    Tammy

    Oh Elizabeth .. I have a solar dye pot of turmeric going now and I am amazed at the striking yellow colors I have gotten. I have just posted on my blog several of my stash of dyed fabrics but forgot to add the yellow ones!! I love them!! And I love the idea of overdyeing other colored silks!!! I will step over to your blog to see what your doing there!!! 🙂

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  29. Tammy Avatar
    Tammy

    haha

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  30. Tammy Avatar
    Tammy

    I was going to say .. but i think you’ve already created something with your skirt .. sometimes when I find a skirt that I cannot use do to length .. i think of the same thing as you to fashion it into a dress. One way that I have enjoyed is to take the top of a shirt I like .. like a tank top that is comfy but a bit too short .. I cut it off and make it the top of the dress to which I sew the length of the skirt .. some come out grand and others need more work. I don’t mind the flounce because I just wear it dancing .. yes .. I love to dance !!! haha .. can’t wait to see what you decided to do!!! And the blanket is fabulous!!! I too love those frayed edges .. I shared my stash of fabrics, frays and edges today on my blog .. 🙂

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  31. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Tammy, YES!, i was just at your house….and yes, it is
    MAGNIFICANT!!!!!!!!
    well…i really don’e do much about clothes. have said
    before, i just wear the same stuff. i don’t go anywhere
    that requires anything else…and here, it’s a very
    practical world. labor intensive, really. so..it’s
    interesting to me even that i have any urge at all to
    do something with this skirt. i think it is the gussets,
    that detail that caught my imagination. and then, maybe
    too, tomorrow is the day that i might expect to receive
    India’s Second Skin. hmmmmmm.
    Your blog today was so beautiful and so thought Full and
    yes…tells us more of who you are, but showing us what
    you love. thank you for that. a lot.
    a very very fine post and a very very fine woman.

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  32. Tammy Avatar
    Tammy

    Well .. thank you for coming over .. it meant and means a great deal. The inside needs work but the outside i do love just the way it is. I love a lot of things .. but yes it’s a good reminder to share what I love. 🙂 And India’s book .. i’ll have to save for that one. Maybe she will inspire you to make some India style cloths to wear just around the house. Sometimes when i wear what I am comfortable in at home to go to town in .. i forget that it might not be what everyone else wears .. and I laugh. I’m sure whatever you wear is perfect!!!

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  33. Jeannie Avatar
    Jeannie

    Me too!!! I didn’t suck my thumb, but I wore out a few bindings on my blanket. (Pacifiers weren’t around in the dark ages when I was born.;0)

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  34. Jeannie Avatar
    Jeannie

    Oh Grace, what a haul!!! I love the skirt. I am vertically challenged also, but then I love long skirts. I have a few corduroy shirts from the 80’s and I love them, so soft. The blanket is beautiful. There is nothing a wonderful to wrap up in as old wool. The binding is just from love and pulling up over one’s shoulders. The fabrics from Deb are just lucious. Wishing you a beautiful week.

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  35. Susan Hemann Avatar
    Susan Hemann

    I have the very same blanket! I bought it in a yard sale. I thought it was so wonderful.

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  36. Ruth Avatar
    Ruth

    My mother used to call those inserted triangular pieces “godets”

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  37. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    Ruth..yes, now i remember that term too….it’s such
    a wonderful skirt, very “womanly”. changes how one
    walks.
    and
    THANK YOU for this comment because now i have found
    the two previous ones! sometimes i get a little lost.

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  38. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    isn’t it just wonderful????!!!! and i have never seen
    one like it. i’m sure there is info about it’s making
    out there somewhere…..
    wool blankets are big here in winter. i heat only with
    wood and until i get that stove cranked up, mornings
    are COLD. wool blanket under and over the morning chair
    works. sometimes i also cover the back door against
    Wind with one on dire days

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  39. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    hey Jeannie…better late than never…wait till you see
    what i got now from Deb…was planning to post later
    today……..
    i think you’re right about the binding. still can’t
    decide if i want to creatively re bind or just leave
    it as it is….but that’s a November thing.

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  40. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    i wear denim denim denim.
    denim jumpers in heat, levis in cold. denim.

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