Vintage Sale Finds! Pt. 2--Concord

I think these speak for themselves.

This is on the back:
(This is also the reason I spent like $40 more than I planned. Or $40 exactly because that's how much this photo cost.)

$5 for this cutie patootie:

$3 for my best friend Nancy Drew (from 1946 and '47, respectively)
$10 for my FAVORITE children's book ever, The Wind in the Willows (from 1933):

"Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World," said the Rat. "And that's something that doesn't matter, either to you or me. I've never been there, and I'm never going, nor you either, if you've got any sense at all."

I think you've got it just right, friend Rat.

Vintage Sale Finds! Pt. 1--Concord

Well, all in all, I think the first Vintage Sale Weekend of the month was a rousing success. I've decided to split this experience into 2 parts. Today, Part 1--Clothing. I only wound up buying the last item(s) on here. But I documented a whole bunch of other clothes that were there. Just for you.
There were gaudy 70's clothes that I made my hands crawl just thinking about touching them.

One leather pair of shorts once belonging to Daisy Duke.

One white dress that was too stained to buy but I can absolutely duplicate the pattern of.

1940's jungle print dresses that I would have bought in a heartbeat if I hadn't already spent way too much money the day before.

And finally, ridiculously adorable gloves that I bought for $2.

And kudos to Jenn, Lauren, and Seth for hustling themselves out there to join me. A vintage sale without friends is nothing at all.

Decorating--Part 3

I'm just now trying to find what to put in the center and how I want to hang it.

Also, my cat tried to sit on it and squash it, but I was able to scare her away before she caused too much damage.

Halloween Decorating Update

I have absolutely no idea what this story is about. It's from one of those super old Reader's Digest books I bought a few months ago.

So far, so good. Except I've been using Elmer's glue and didn't realize when I piled them up that some of the little tube-y guys would get stuck together. Woops. Oh well. No irreparable damage.

(See previous post for what I'm making)

Halloween Decoration Plans

So I was sitting around thinking about Halloween the other day... and I realized that I have got some serious fall decorating to do.

From Here

This is going to be first up on my list of Halloween decoration projects. I'm going to start snooping around thrift stores for the perfect book to use, as well as what I want to use for the centerpiece.
I
Love
Autumn

End.

Vintage Sale

I would love to not post this and just keep everything for myself, but I'm feeling benevolent today.

Hospice Foundation of The East Bay

VINTAGE SALE!!!!

Vintage Clothing, Jewelry, Linens,
Accessories and Collectibles

We are having our annual Vintage Sale
at all of our Thrift Shoppe locations!

October 8th, 9th, 10th

Hospice Thrift Shoppe - Concord
5350 Clayton Road
Concord (925) 674-9072

Hospice Thrift Shoppe - Danville
444 Diablo Road
Danville (925) 838-7697

October 15th, 16th, 17th

Hospice Thrift Shoppe - Alamo
3162 Danville Boulevard, Suite A
(Stone Valley Plaza)
Alamo (925) 820-6525

Hospice Boutique Thrift Shoppe - Walnut Creek
1345 Newell Avenue - A
Walnut Creek (925) 947-1064

October 22nd, 23rd, 24th

Hospice Thrift Shoppe - Antioch
2742 Delta Fair Boulevard
Antioch (925) 777-0866

Hospice Boutique Thrift Shoppe - Dublin
7381 Amador Valley Boulevard
Dublin (925) 875-9976

Friday and Saturday, 10 - 5 pm
Sunday, 12 - 5 pm

Most items will be reduced by 50%
on the last sale day at each store.

Meet Your New Best Friend

I've been wanting to do this post for awhile since it plays such a HUGE part in determining what I thrift-fully buy. But being a perfectionist combined with a procrastinator, I just haven't dug up either the nerve or the drive to do it yet. So I'm going to put my perfectionism on the back burner and be both artfully lazy and innovative at the same time and use pictures that I already have, rather than new ones taken specifically for this post.
On to the point!

Alterations.

They're the key to your thrift store finds. When I shop I look primarily for fabrics that I like and move on from there. It can be size10,000, but if it's made of good fabric (i.e. nothing synthetic) you can make it work specifically for you.
(Before we move on, please note the high-tech photo-shopping program I bought to simulate what the following outfits looked like before. )

Exhibit A:
Shorts. Technically I didn't buy these at a thrift store, but they were on clearance and were hideously ugly before I bought them. Imagine bell-bottoms made for a child that fit my hips, but are so short that they hit me right in the middle of my calves. I'm mentally going "Blechh" just remembering-- and then mentally blocking out the fact that I actually wore them a couple of times like that.
But with the magic of my sewing machine...
BA-ZING!


Exhibit B:

My favorite outfit that I've ever altered. This romper was originally a jumpsuit a la' Katharine Hepburn. Unfortunately, being 30-40 years old, the legs were all stained around the bottom with no hope of ever being removed. Except by scissors! Cut. Roll. Iron. Sew. Done. *PING* Completely new romper.


Next time I'll take some actual before/after pictures, even though I know these recreations were so incredibly accurate it was probably hard to even discern that they had been edited.


And yes, that is the hotel in Runaway Bride.