Treasure Hunting at the Salvation Army Fabric Fair

So yesterday was the annual Salvation Army Fabric Fair.  Picture a giant room filled with table after table piled high with donated fabrics, patterns, notions and other sewing accoutrement with really, really cheap price tags.  Yep.  It was pretty cool.  Now I'm going to be a bit self-indulgent and go over the highlights in glorious detail. 




My friend Mary Alice was game to get up first thing on a Saturday morning and head on over with me to the South Park fairgrounds and sift through piles and piles of vintage fabric -- all in the name of charity, of course.

Mary Alice headed first for the upholstery fabrics while I made a beeline for the patterns.  I wanted to get there early and comb through the stacks of 80s abominations and find the gems before someone else did.  At $5 for a box of patterns, I did pretty well.  And I found my most favoritest pattern EVER:  a Vogue Paris Original 1554 by Guy Laroche.

Factory folds.  Vogue Paris Original tag intact.  I swoon. 

Also giving me the vapors:  Vogue Paris Original 1951.  Also by Guy Laroche.

This one's been cut, but the sew-in tag is still in the envelope.

Like I said, it's $5 for as many patterns as you can fit into a box, so my pattern shopping didn't end there.  I've been saying for a long time that I want to take a crack at knits.  Well, now I have a whole collection of 1970s "Stretch-and-Sew" patterns to experiment with!

And in the extremely unlikely event that I want to try some 80s style smocking, there are these two gems.

I actually think the nightgown on the right is beautiful.  I'm not sure if I want to put forth that much handwork into something I'm going to sleep in.  But you never know.

I got a bunch of other 60s and 70s patterns.  If you've made it this far, you're no doubt tired of reading about my pattern purchases, so here are just a few highlights. 

Five bucks, people.  Five bucks.  Not bad. 

Then we get to the fabric.  It is a FABRIC fair after all.  Readers, I did some damage.  But keep in mind it's all for charity.  So it's ok.

I'm trying to sew more professional-looking clothes that I can wear to work.  I have to dress very conservatively for my job, so that means lots of black, navy and gray.  Rather than show you every boring piece of suiting I bought, here's another highlight reel:

I did manage to get a few casual cotton pieces, including this pink dotted swiss.

It's twee and girly and old-fashioned and I absolutely love it.

My last stop was the notions section, where I picked up a vintage hem marker and some hem tape.  I also snagged a singer buttonholer for $1, but it turns out it doesn't fit my Genie.  So I will fight another day in my quest for a way to make decent buttonholes. 

The day ended in a pact between me and Mary Alice to get together weekly and sew.  I don't really have many sewing friends, so I'm pretty excited about this idea.  We're considering doing a sew-along together of one of the 70s patterns I found: 





Simplicity 7522.  The jumpsuit version of course.  Who doesn't need a 1970s jumpsuit?

Now I'm brimming with inspiration and creative energy, so it's back to the sewing machine before the weekend is over!