a sad day, purchases and my secret love of polyester

recycling day this week was a sad sad day in amy-land.

the newspaper dress finally went to the big recycling depot in the sky.

it had a long life for the average newspaper, and despite attempts to protect it, it was getting pretty beat up. it had been taken on and off the dressform so many times (cause, ya'know, dress forms have other uses as well, such as fitting burlesque costumes) and had been moved multiple times and the skirt was rather rumpled and the entire garment had yellowed quite badly. so it was time.

in an attempt to comfort myself, i went to the thrift store. (handy excuse that was!) this particular thrift store used to be just a few blocks from my house, but moved further away, and i rarely go there now, as much as i like it. as a general principle, i much prefer the little independant thrift stores, the type that are fundraising for hospital auxilary committees, fire fighters, hospices, etc, and tend to be staffed by fairly cranky older women. this one is hospital auxilary, i think, and staffed by older women, but oddly enough, they're quite friendly, though they do tend to get flustured when i ask odd questions. (why don't they sell cards with writing on them? i'd buy them! i only buy the vintage cards for the images anyway, and i love reading old letters!)

i was in search of doilies, because i'm ALWAYS in search of doilies, but didn't find any. however, i TOTALLY lucked out on old knitting books!

the photos are so fabulous, all the knits are so fitted in wonderful 40s styles and the models are so glamourous, holding their cigarettes while posing in front of travel posters.
i'm so in love with them. i have a particular fondness for this one, copyright 1972, because the models are wearing body suits under their capes, and i find that extremely amusing, though i'll definitely get more long term enjoyment out of the 40s ones.


my sister came over last night to show off the vogue knitting magazines she'd found at value village, and was disapointed to discover that i beat her with my 1949 edition for $0.50 - her two were $1 each and from the late 50s and early 70s. still very cool though!

i also got this book, which they put out as i was sorting through the horrific piles of country style craft magazines to find the previous gems -

it's full of absolutely gorgeous drawings of women with impossibly tiny waists and perfectly adorned children.

oh, so lovely. i'll be scanning these images, i'm sure.

then today i had to go to tsawwassen for my usual massage therapy appointment (which hurt like a bitch, ohmygod), and my sister came along and went to the thrift store while waiting for me. i headed over there afterwards, and found a jackpot of doilies! yay! i love doilies. i prefer the really thin ones, but i'll settle for the thicker ones in a pinch. they're so much fun to craft with, like the purse i made several years ago. i dye them fun colours, and sew 'em onto stuff. i've done quite a few skirts with doilies on them as well, which was partly why i was so disapointed to see that idea shown in the latest edition of crochet today - my idea dammnit! (i found consolation in the fact that my skirts were cuter though) i should post those one of these days, remind me.

anyways, back on track, the point being i have a large project in mind which require ridiculous amounts of doilies and fabric dye, so i buy them wherever i can find them. and today, i found them at the hospice thrift store! (in all honestly, my sister found them - she even sorted them by price for me as i was walking over, so when i arrived i had perfect little piles to choose from! aww!)

as you can see, i found a few other goodies too. a very teensy 70s dress in pale blue crepe with black roses and a filigre type design, which will make a lovely skirt, a few pieces of leather to play with for an idea i've been working out, orange earrings that will make great bobby pins, and a green plaid polyester skirt which i'll shorten drastically to make into a skirt i'd actually wear.

i have a slightly unhealthy obsession with polyester, i really adore it. i know, everyone else hates it, and i probably would too if it was my only option and i had to wear it against my skin, but the vintage 70s polyester makes SUCH great skirts. it always hangs so nicely and it lasts FOREVER. there is a reason why the hutterites use old polyester pants for their rugs - it wears like nothing else.

so i had a few exciting shopping expedition, both of which exhausted me for the rest of that particular day, as sad as it is. but they were satisfying, especially given that this week has been so terrible healthwise that i got very little else accomplished, sewing/crafting or otherwise. i did a bit of quilting, and a bit of paper crafts, but for swaps, so they must remain secret for now.

i did manage to finally mail a ridiculously late swap package, so i'll be able to post pictures of everything i made by late next week.

tonight i took lots of painkillers and worked on a project for my dad's birthday, since i have the house to myself for the weekend. i think it turned out pretty well, but final opinion is reserved until after it comes out of the dryer.