Magical Estate Sale

Still no sewing around these parts, but the wood has been delivered and will hopefully be installed this weekend.  In the absence of sewing, I've been organizing my patterns and fabric.  I bought 4 big storage boxes from IKEA, put all my patterns in Ziploc bags, and organized them by era.  I have a box for 40's + 50's, a box for 60's (that decade definitely makes up the bulk of all my patterns!), a box for 70's + 80's, and the last box is modern and reissue patterns (like Butterick Retro, for example).  Luckily most patterns had a copyright date, but for those that didn't, the Vintage Pattern Wiki was a HUGE help.

Last week I hit up an estate sale.  The description said there was hundreds of patterns and (literally) TONS of fabric.  It sounded like a dream.  I went on the first day, but the line was really long, it was snowing, and I was on my lunch break. Most of the people I talked to in line were there for jewelry and knickknacks, so I figured there was a low chance of all the patterns being bought. I came back Friday. Sometimes an estate sale doesn't really have much to look at, and you find yourself just walking around and snooping. Not this one. For one, the house was HUGE. Two stories plus a basement, attic, and garage just FILLED with stuff. I only had about a half hour to look and it was not enough. I managed to grab 17 patterns and some fabric, and vowed to come back the next day. There was literally an attic full of fabric. It was like a dream. Here's what I grabbed, all for $3/piece.



The top three are quilting weight cottons and I'm not sure what I'll use them for, but I loved the prints.  The strawberry is a cotton lawn and I already have a dress in mind for it.  The two cotton eyelets will become pretty summery dresses, the blue and white print is silk and will be a dress or blouse, the hydrangea print is sheer and there are 5 yards, so I'm totally envisioning a Betty Draper dress.  The pink and white cotton lawn will also be used to make some sort of frothy summer dress.

On Saturday, I was able to look through the clothes.  There was so much and it was really overwhelming.  Most of the things were really small sizes so there wasn't much I could grab.  The shoes were size 6 and the clothes were all for a very slim, petite woman. 

There was an entire closet (!) full of these Mexican embroidered blouses. I grabbed my favorite, and it was $5.

I also found this homemade smocked sundress, which thanks to the smocking, fits a variety of sizes. Also $5.

 
And lastly, this black beaded cardigan, which I have worn at least 5 times since. It was well worth the $5 I paid for it.

And of course, I had to pick up a couple aprons. I have an apron problem.

In the attic, I found a barrel (?) full of homemade baby clothes. I'm not expecting, but maybe I will be in the future? If not, I have lots of friends who are either pregnant or currently trying. For $7 TOTAL, how could I resist?



Okay, now for the patterns.  They were $1 apiece and I got 28.  The first day there were a ton of really great vintage patterns and I wish I had grabbed more.  I think I got 17 that day.  When I went back on Saturday, they were a little picked over but I still managed to find some good ones.  They were hiding all over the place.  Weirdly, barely any of them were used.  She had so many patterns and so much fabric, but didn't seem to ever do anything with them!

My favorites

Pretty things for Summer

Cute children's outfits

70's

Great basic dresses

40's blouses and costumey dresses

All for sale on Etsy

The best of the bunch, currently for sale on Etsy