Goodwill Clearance Center Score - Version 2

Last weekend, I went back to GCC and made another score. This was definitely a mixture of more items and not just clothes oriented. 

Here it all is: 

This first shot shows a baseball I was wanting to make into a bracelet- thanks Pinterest! I always wanted one of those tape dispensers but refused to spend the money on them. This was under $1. Someone tried to customize it with gaudy odd bits and pieces but I just took it off before going up to the register. Love it! Beautiful little leather bag. Glass cover. 

Glass Cloche, mini leather bag, baseball, and the shoe tape dispenser!

This Old Navy dress is so comfy! I immediately loved it and got tons of compliments at work, probably because I super rarely wear dresses at work. 

Old Navy Dress. 

I was thinking about K when I found these. The flannel still had the tags on it and the others are Murano and Banana Republic brands. 

Shirts for K.

I'm wanting to make a strapless top from these for the summer. So here are the befores: 

I found some men's shirts for me!

Detail shot of the light colored men's shirt. 

These are just some tops I saw, I need to stop buying tops! No. More. Tops. 

Misc. tops, already wore the pink one- BIG ole hit!

This is the 3rd top that I have only bought for the buttons. It was so lightweight that it was worth buying for $1 just to get the buttons off. 

Bought for the buttons. 

Pop these baseball hats into the wash and then take out, reform the bill, dry and will be perfect for when I cut the grass. 

Misc. baseball hats.

 I like to keep snacks readily available so why not buy a jar that can hold a big bag of peanuts? Super nice guy gave it to me for free and only charged for the mason jar. 

New Goober Jar and Button Jar

Father's Day is coming up soon, need to finish a project:  

Ties.

 I like the idea of being able to wrap a scarf around my head to keep the crazy curls at bay. 

Misc. scarves.

Now this little gem was peaking up from the bottom of a canvas bin. I can see why no one would want it- it's broken and needs a new lamp kit installed. But they make them easy to install so I'm looking forward this beauty shedding light on my life. 

This is kinda what this sad puppy looked like at the bottom of a bin. 

It's so delicately designed that I'm amazed it wasn't busted with all of the grabbing and throwing that goes on at the clearance center. 

New lamp kit and this little one will be so cute and unique!

And there you have it. 

Now, before I leave to trot off to go do something else crafty, I just want to share something that I don't think a lot people seem to think of when they go to these clearance centers. 

I see a lot of the same faces everytime I go there so I feel as though I can say something. You can get out of control so super easy. You think about how cheap things are and how can you pass up a good deal? It's a legitimate argument that I know I've almost reached that tipping point. That's why I'm done shopping for clothes. 

Please understand that I've never been a clothes horse. I just couldn't afford it. But now, I think I've found enough to really give me a good selection to choose from. So now, I'm to the point where something has to really stand out for me to want to buy it and work on it. 

Plus, I think I have plenty of projects to share for a long time. 

Hugs,

A. 

Frumpy Dress Refashion

I'm seriously a goofball. I bought a dress at the Goodwill Clearance Center (let's just go with GCC from now on, okay?) and I was so stinkin' excited to get to ginghering that I forgot to take a before picture! 

So. Frustrating. ....grrr...

I mean, I was half way lopping off the top of the dress before my brain whispered "Camera. Pictures." 

So, yeah...sorry for the really 'awesome' before shot. Eesh...

Frumptastic Dress. Pretty print and the rayon feels so good!

Now, looking closely, you see that the entire top of the dress, sans the sleeves is smocked. Smocking is cute for babies not dresses. But I don't care because this is the Dress of Christmas Past. It'll just keep giving and giving. Just you wait and see. 

The top might not be working for this dress but I'm still going to hold onto it- it's going into my stash!

What I have planned for this dress is a simple skirt from the bottom part of the dress. So I just measured a skirt that I already have and just increased it for a waist band. Easy right? It is because I'm using the original hem! So smart :)

For the waist band, I first turned down a half inch of material and ironed it down. Don't ask me why I pinned it when I still had to fold and press again. (I'm telling you- super goofy!)

Next, I folded down an inch and pressed again- this time pinning for reals yo. 

Sew it up and leave a gap for the elastic. 

Weave the elastic all the way through (I used 3/4" cause I already had it!)

Pin together and sew. 

Then open and I like to sew the flaps down so as to not cause any weird bumps.

Sew the rest of the waist band closed. 

And wear...

wedges are Vince Camuto

This skirt is so roomy and comfy that I know I'll be wearing this a lot this summer. Gah! Can't wait! :)

Hugs, 

A. 

Clean that Thrifted Purse

I finally found a straw purse that I like. The price of this GCC find is what I like. And it's pretty classic. It'll do for summer. 

But, as I've expressed on my little corner of the internet, I get super duper heebie jeebies thinking about what could be lurking on the items. 

So follow along and I'll show you how I clean stuff up pretty fast with just a little bit of elbow grease. 

First: a good look at the purse: 

le sac

Pretty faux tortoise latch piece. 

derriere. Not bad, huh?

This is actually more scary than the rest of the bag.

Alright, to clean the outside: I'm going to use the following: 

Leather cleaner, paper towels and Lysol Disinfectant Spray.

Spray the entire outside with Lysol. 

Then clean all the of the leather. 

I like to spray on a towel and then rub onto the leather. 

Yuck!

Now the really narly part- cleaning the inside. 

I used the following: 

Just drizzle it on and then start working into the lining of the purse with the nail brush. Wet your brush so as to make sure the color safe bleach spreads over the entire surface. 

Leave on for 10 minutes and then rinse. 

Then hang up like so to allow the lining to dry. 

Once dry then hang up like so with some weight in the purse to straighten out those whompy jawed straps. 

It doesn't have to be a lot, just enough

After that, use, use, use! 

Hugs, 

A. 

Dye Dammit Dye!

So I've been bitten by the RIT Dye bug. I first dyed a pair of white shoes a lemon yellow over a year ago and have come back into it recently after realizing no local fabric store sells navy blue knit- wth?! Thanks to Jill @ Refashionista I decided to DIM- do it myself. There's only one hang up though. I refuse to dye in my washing machine. My washing machine is my baby and I refuse to do anything to it out of the ordinary. 

After some research and lots of posts about how Navy failed- I decided to actually follow Rit's directions- Stove Top Method. My white knit material turned out a perfect Navy Blue. Funny how following the directions actually worked! 

Here's my arsenal that I built for the Stove Top Method: 

What you see is a stock pot, a spoon and pair of gloves. Keep this in mind: If you use a pot you cook with- you have to sanitize it with bleach after using it for dye. Rit's Rules- not mine. 

I bought my stock pot at Goodwill for $4 (The regular one not the Clearance) and the spoon is from Dollar Tree. The gloves are courtesy of Daddy- thanks Daddy!

Alright, now let's get on with the tutorial: 

Black Rit Dye  (Ooooh- Spooky! Well, it really isn't. If you can master Navy Blue, Black is pretty darn simple, too.)

Here are the two test items I chose: 

Yowza that's a busy. Eesh... but nice comfy material!

Another man's t-shirt that I really liked. All except the spots all over it. Look closely. 

Alright, now down to business! But first- completely soak the item you're about to dye in warm water. Ring and shake out so that's it's loose. (Per Rit. Again, I've been successful with their directions so just humor them, okay?) Now add to the dye bath. 

First up was the skirt. Now I didn't want to change the stripes, I just wanted to tone down the busyness of it. So I decided I wasn't going to give it a long bath. Just enough for the white color to change to gray. Follow your instinct- it's usually spot on. 

Skirt in the bath: 

It's not as scary as it seems. After about a minute and a half in the bath I felt pretty good knowing that it was done. 

Now rinse completely where there is no more dye coming off, I'm serious when I say this. Unless you want a mishap in your washing machine. Then it's all on you. And no rinsing in plastic bathtubs; it will stain. Porcelain you *might* have better luck with but do it at your own risk. I prefer a stainless kitchen sink. 

Ooohhhh- I like!

Next the t-shirt. I decided since those dark stains were refusing to come out, I had a feeling if I tried navy blue dye the spots would still be there so I figured black and hope it goes well. Ha! Take that stubborn stains. I'll show you.  

Do everything the same except let the shirt stay in the bath for a good 15 minutes. Stir constantly. 

Take out and do the same as the skirt: Rinse. Start unballing it and voila!

Screen printing isn't affected by dye. 

Now, go wash the items in the washing machine. Use other dark clothes that can take any minute bleeding (I'm paranoid, what can I say?) and when done washing hang to air dry. 

I'm serious when I say this to everyone- dying is not hard. It's scary yes because I was initially worried that it was going to turn out horrendous. But it's really not, especially when I'm using items I found at the Goodwill Clearance Center for pennies. Now I will wear both without any hesitation. 

See?

Who knew?! Bright blue + black = navy and gray. 

I wanna wear it now!

The navy looks brand new! Sweet!

I don't see any funky spots. 

Now go try it and take your time. You can do it! I have total faith in you. 

Hugs,

A. 

Goodwill Clearance Center Score

So Jill @ Refashionista.net has been a huge help to me lately. It's taken me long enough to sing her praises and to shout out where the credit is due. Thanks to her, I can now confess the following:

1. I can truly see the value of something versus only seeing the negative
2. I already knew how to sew (Thank you, Granny) but just sewing for pleasure and not merely for repairing purposes is 100% Jill. 
3. Goodwill Clearance Centers are awesome! (They're pretty much the cheapest thrift store around here)
4. Wear plastic gloves not the winter mittens I see some people wearing (Everything can penetrate that, honey.)

With that being said, I know I'm not the only one that shops at Goodwill Clearance Centers. The number of people in the store including me proves that time and again. People of all demographics, not just those of us that don't have or are just adamantly refusing to spend the money that it takes to shop at places even like WalMart (That's me. I simply refuse to spend it now that I know how far my dollar can truly go.)

I didn't take pictures of my first visits but K and I were talking and I was wanting to show everything I got so not only does K get to see, so does everyone else who may stumble across this blog. 

Keep in mind that a lot of these are going to be refashioned, cleaned, fixed, etc. I will use every single piece. 

The bag o' goodies and the receipt: 

You know, just for proof :)

The bowling ball bag...I have a totally different use for this. Tutorial will be forthcoming. 

Cute Cherry Cobbler printed tea towel and a delicate hanky (it was clean! And yes, I did smell it.)

So cute, no idea what I'll do with it but for pennies, how could I pass it up?

It wasn't really .25, that was left from a garage sale reject. 

Now all of these clothes: 

Capris, who cares if they're too big- I can take 'em in :)

Too big skirt, again, I can take it in :)                                           

Hideous 80s dress but a few snips and I see a pretty top I can wear out. 

Close up. Meow!

Super vibrant cardi. It has damage around a buttonhole but I know how to get around it :)

Awesome shirts. The tie-dye looking thing is too big but the dolman sleeves are perfect!

Too big shorts that I have plans for skirts. 

Just a few accessories. Yeah, that's a fur collar. I'm thinking Halloween on that one.  The purses are perfect! Some leather cleaner and sanitizing and I'll be set. 

Awesome dresses! I can't wait to grab my Ginghers and start snipping. 

Some A line skirts- I'm thinking a a cute dress for the one on the left. 

How freaking awesome are these tanks!? The octopus is just super cute. The white is classic and the other is funky. 

Loving the length and print. Poor baby, that's all it has going for it. I'll be ginghering that asap!

Close up of the print. Bad ruffles, bad!

Some shirts and a scarf. The striped only has the stripes and length going for it. The Realtree print is screaming Halloween, the child's shirt was only bought because of the owl print. and the Indian Scarf is just beautiful. 

 Hope you enjoyed seeing my scores. 

I'll try not to take a month in between posting. I've been doing arts and crafts, I've just been lazy about taking pictures. 

Hugs, 

A. 


EMERGENCY UPDATE!!! I know this sounds mean but here's a little tip: Sanitize everything! I don't take it out of the bag unless it's going straight into the wash or being cleaned by hand. On that note, yes I did Lysol my carpet where all of those clothes were laying after I put everything back in the bag that wasn't going into the washing machine yet. Jill may see used needles, I see undergarments with brown crotches. Just saying. Ick. 

5/12/13 update: K saw this update after reading the post from today and asked me a good question that I want to make sure I share with everyone. K asked if what I bought had brown crotches. NO! What had brown crotches were little boy's boxers that someone thought was okay to donate. Um- NO! Those are to be thrown out immediately- don't even try to wash those- that's just disgusting. Some people...ugh, I tell ya are beyond comprehension.