Current Mood : Slight buyer's remorse
Spent on thread, cut-away stabilizer, fabric, and a doll-size Ariel crown : $34.46
The reuse, repair, redistribute train is still chuggin'. It's almost a form of Spring Cleaning lately !
While going through some laundry last week, I found an old apron we'd obtained when I bought a box of yard sale fabric, oh, about four years ago. It's a nice one, emblazoned with the name of a regional fast-food restaurant and eyelets for a name badge. It's been around ever since, but we're not apron-type folks. I've idly thought about removing the embroidered restaurant's logo, but it's tight in there. Removing it would pretty much reduce the apron to a pile of strings at the top.
But, the other side has a bit of a flap to cover the back side of the embroidery. I could add a bit of lace to the slightly frayed edge, and sew an initial on it, too. I think I found my weekend project !
Another pair of Dearest Son's khakis are too badly stained up one leg to be of any further use - it's too far up to even cut ‘em off for shorts. So, about 25% of it is now reusable fabric and a reclaimable zipper, 70% is rags, and the rest is trash - belt loops, waistband, and such. I can't think of a way to reuse them ! If I had a doll who'd fit that size, I'd think of attaching a fluffy skirt to the waistband, but that won't work for even the MSBs.
It's nice that I can do all this repurposing - ‘cause I spent like a madwoman today ! Since we don't really use the Sam's Club membership now that we're not eating mostly snacks, we're letting it lapse next month. Figured I might as well get the last bits we can use from there today - boxes of good tissues, restaurant-quality spoons, a big brick of cheese, etc. Ended up spending $75. there, but $25. of that was the 2000 season of Red Green on DVD. Can't wait ‘til Beloved Hubby sees it ! We only caught bits and pieces of Red and the Possum Lodge on PBS here and there, so having a whole 19-episode season is great ! They also had the 1999 and 1997 seasons, but I chose '00, because the back of the box said they run out of duct tape and I wanna see how that plays out !
I'd hoped to snag some black bobbin thread during the usual grocery run afterwards at Mal-Wart - what I didn't plan was that all their thread, including the embroidery stuff, was on markdown. I wonder if that means we're about to lose the fabric section there, too. (sigh) Anyway, I gleefully loaded the cart with one of nearly every color before I thought it through. These are the ‘mini king' spools, over a thousand yards each, so they'll last a bit. There's no real reason for me to have another spool of red when I have the same color already, and ditto for the three shades of blue. In the end, I bought eight spools - $28., but I saved over a buck per spool, and neither Hancock Fabrics nor Hobby Lobby has these. So I wouldn't save more with a coupon or sale, this was about as cheap as these threads get ! Traded the blues for browns, since I have antique radio, Victrola, and jukebox designs, and got a halfway between yellow and gold color, a misty grey, two springy greens, and a cream.
Ironically, I didn't get bobbin thread because it was only a 50c markdown, and all they had was white, which I already have. Plus, the eight spools I'd already chosen, while on sale, still weren't exactly cheap ! They also had some glow in the dark spools that are embroidery-quality and size, but these weren't marked down much either. I'll just have to keep my eyes open in case prices fall further.
And I made a great discovery. I haven't been able to find cut away stabilizer - only tear-away or wash away around here, even at HLobby and Hancock's. Guess what I found for $1.57/yd there ? Yup, I got a yard off the bolt. Now that I think about it, if they are closing that section, I should probably go back for some more... The reason I wanted cut-away was because it's preferred when sewing on clothes. Tear-away tends to tear while it's being sewn, and works better on woven fabrics in any case. Wash away is markedly more expensive, and doesn't really help keep stretchy knits from moving around.
Hit the thrift, and spent a quick $2.50 there, too. Got another bag of fabric and a small crown with an Ariel sticker on it. It looks so cute on my MLP Ariel !
So, I doubt I'll make my rice cracker run to Target Thursday as planned. I kinda spent that money already ! Oh, and I lucked out for the third year running and got a $10. free card from Kohl's. I'm not sure why I get them, but they've always shown up in the mail about this time each year. The first one went to star-shaped candles that I gave Dearest's busdriver and monitor on the last day of school. Last year's took $10. off four markdown blouses for me, so I only spent $15. on all four. This year... well, I'm making candy jars for the bus people, and I don't need much in new clothes. I'll look through the sales racks, but I pretty much already know that if they have a Wall-E shirt in Dearest's size, I'll probably get that for him. Beloved Hubby says that's fine with him. I have a month to use it or lose it, so I'll probably put that off ‘til next week.
Things were a bit quiet this afternoon, so I stitched out the Betty Boop design I bought when I got the Barbie appliqué and Batman logos. Used the salvaged pants for material, too. Came out OK, but the bobbin thread still shows. Tomorrow, I'm gonna wind a bobbin from the designated thread for it, that came with Brody, see if that does a better job. What I've been using is the cone thread, and it may be that it's not good for that. Anyway, DFIL is a huge Boop fan, so I'll make a bag out of the fabric, once I put his name on the other side. There's enough to make one for DMIL, and I've already picked out the kitty design and the deep purple thread she loves. Should be able to get to those tomorrow.
And I know that those designs work out really well, since I've now done two out of the three I bought. I'll definitely go back for more there - at $1.25 each, they're a steal ! Let's see, there's the Barbie logo, and the one that's clearly a coloring page, but it's Barbie on skates, and...
