Ooh, Thrifty

I've decided to do monthly features to keep me posting regularly, and this is my very first one!  Ooh Thrifty will showcase my most recent vintage finds, which means I have to go opshopping at least once a month.  Luckily this isn't a hard task for me at all...

This month is the perfect time to start, because yesterday I went to a big second-hand fabric sale that happens once a year. I've never heard of it until this year, even though I've been in Dunedin for 9 years...I must have been living under a rock! 

When I first walked in the door I felt like Homer Simpson freaking out before he sinks his whole head into a giant sundae.  The entire hall was filled with tables piled high with bundles of fabrics, plus there were vintage fabrics on racks, rolls of fabric, scraps for super cheap and a whole other room with patterns, buttons and zips. I nearly lost concentration with the excitement of it all.  But instead I just put my head down and got in the zone, thankfully even though there were hundreds of people I managed to to avoid any paisley-related confrontations with like-minded crafters...

I came home super happy with all my finds, I managed to filter out all the "maybes" and probably saved myself a good $50 and a whole lot of buyer's remorse!  I really love my whole fabric collection now, and hopefully I've got enough to last me until next year. I can't wait!

Rekindled Romance

 After a little bit of post-Christmas laziness (well, a lot actually considering it's almost March) I've got my motivation back and have spent a few evenings making more bunting and labels.

I've been having fun developing my tastes and playing with different fabric combinations, and each time I make new labels I get to choose new pretty colours to match the product. I am in love with every set that I produce, which is really important to me because I would never want to make something that I wouldn't be proud to keep in my own home!  Even though my fabric stocks are pretty static at the moment (I have promised myself that I will use up what I've got before I go buying any more), I still love every design so it's always enjoyable to make things.

Some of these sets are for sale in my Felt shop, so I hope you take the time to have a look!

A Flurry of Creativity

In the spirit of creating things I had a lot of fun last week making a costume for a party.  It was so much fun, I went crazy with the glue gun and all the pearls and necklaces that I've been saving for decorations.  When the really cheap jewellery shops have sales, I often stock up on the long chains with lots of charms on them. They really come in handy when you want to decorate presents, I just pull them apart and thread the decorations onto ribbon and thin strips of fabric. Beautiful!

Cutting Shapes

So I haven't posted for a LONG time, the main reason being that I have been really busy making and developing new products and filling orders for people. Of course I only get to do this in my spare time, so when I get a few moments spare I'm way more drawn to creating than talking about it, which is why the blog gets a bit neglected...

But I still enjoy feeling like I'm sharing my ideas etc, so the above is the newest branch of my venture - a new line/style of bunting for a gorgeous baby shop in town called Miracle. I feel so lucky and am VERY excited about this opportunity. I'd especially love to make vintage style baby clothes too but that's a wee while a way I think!  Anyway...enjoy.  Completed pics to come in the next few days!! :)

PS The above is for 11 sets of bunting, which equals 220 triangles and about 4 hours of my day...but it's a labour of love! x

The Teeniest Bit Famous

Well not really, but it got your attention right? Just a short post today, but while checking out Felt.co.nz (New Zealand handmade crafts website) I noticed that my shop is featured on their latest blog post, yay for me!  More stuff to come really really soon, including cozy heat bags and beautiful sets of bunting flags.  Check out here to see what's coming really coon to my Felt store!  Any questions about what I make or for any orders (at the moment it's only NZ sorry) just email me: vintagethrillblog@gmail.com.

Wares for Sale

Well all my stuff is ready to go for my first market day tomorrow in Portobello, Dunedin and I am very excited. I can't believe how easy it is to be motivated when you really enjoy doing something. I have loved making my cards, heat bags and lovely rows of bunting flags, and I really hope that everyone at the market likes them too!  I am also in the process of setting up a shop on Felt, which you can view here. It's a bit (totally) empty at the moment but will have some stuff to buy by the end of the week, so keep looking.

Portobello Market, Coronation Hall, Portobello, Dunedin. Sunday 24 July 2011 between 10am and 1pm.

Production Line

I love making things, and always try to have a project on the go...it keeps me sane to be able to be creative after an arduous day of work!  I love that my job pays for me to do fun things, but sometimes the tiredness brought on by working full-time and the lure of trashy TV mean that my projects are neglected.

This time, however, I think I'm onto a winner. A lovely friend of mine asked if I wanted to have a stall at a market day with her, so for the past couple of weeks I've been spending my evenings locked away in my tiny cozy sewing room, with classical music for inspiration (nerd alert!) and cups of tea slowly going cold in the corner.  I've been making lovely heat bags with recycled and vintage fabric, some even have velvet which makes them extra snuggly.  Not only that, but my "art" (see: attempt at drawing) has officially been published...in greeting card form.  I've even used the paisley design that I started drawing a while back. I've had so much fun that I decided to set up a store on Felt, which is a New Zealand website that sells handmade products.  It's not ready yet but you can check out Felt here.

Copyright 2011

If you live in Dunedin, come and check out our stall at the Portobello market on Sunday 24th July at 10am.  It's run as part of the Cadbury Chocolate Carnival, and there will be lots of stalls and really cheap access to all the Peninsula attractions too.  Hope to see you there!
 

My Fun New Project

I know it's only been a few hours since my last post, but this is all fun and new to me so I thought I'd just go ahead and do my first "real" post.  It ties in quite well with the way this all got started anyway, so here goes...

I often talk with ladies at work about sewing and clothes, and in particular with one lady who has the same love of vintage styles.  As a result, while I was pondering on the title for this blog yesterday, this lovely lady came and handed me some awesome old patterns for ascot style (or as another friend calls them - librarian) shirts.  Very 80's but also very cute and with definite potential.  I was pretty excited, and although I had some ideas in mind for my blog title, the word "thrill" suddenly came to mind.  It fits perfectly with the way I feel when I go op-shopping and find something amazing.  I know there will be those of you out there who know what I'm talking about...the thrill of the hunt so to speak. So thanks to my lovely workmate for the gift and for the flash of inspiration.  Hopefully I'll have a couple of pretty vintage-style shirts to show you very soon.