195 Thrifty Days till Christmas

I have been a thrifty girl of late, although not everything goes to plan. The socks I knit for Dad for Christmas will actually be given to him for fathers day (I forgot about that one!) and the socks I was knitting for hubby - well, he saw them and really liked them so I just gave them to him - he then quizzed me incessantly about the next pair I was making and well, he's now wearing them as well - Still I am determined the Aran sweater I am knitting him will be for Christmas, I just need to make him something in secret for his birthday on new years eve rather than frantically search the sales for anything he may like.

Last weekend we were invited to my sister in laws wedding. I had been very apprehensive before hand - for many reasons that all seam very trivial - the main reason was that the whole of my husbands family are incredibly thin - I on the other hand have never even been remotely thin! they always look glamorous and gorgeous, I always feel fat and frumpy. 

I spent weeks deciding what to wear, I don't own a skirt or a dress and wouldn't wear one if I did, and we are so skint at the moment that a new outfit was out of the question. 

My dad took me to Burnley to the littlewoods catalogue shop and I found some white linen pants for £4 and a top I kind of felt comfortable in reduced from £70 to £5 - which he kindly paid for - but I still um'd and ah'd over it all. I even cried more than once - I couldn't believe it because for the rest of the time I am perfectly comfortable in what I wear, how I present myself etc.

On Thursday evening after looking through my Molly Makes vintage wedding supplement for the umpteenth time I decided to get a lovely white top my mum had given me last year that I had worn once and managed to get a coffee stain on - out of the cupboard. I rubbed vanish into the stain and found my stash of fabric dyes bought from a closing down sale a couple of years ago. Among them was 'French Pink' - 20 minutes later I had a new pink top. A frantic search through my mountain of vintage lace then ensued to no avail, so on Friday morning I popped into Clitheroe and came back with 2 meters of white cotton lace for £1.80 

A couple of hours in the sewing room and I had pinned, pleated and sewn my new creation. Something was missing though - A coat or cardigan. Off down to mums who said "I don't think I have anything like that but have a look"

In her wardrobe was a pink dressing gown she had worn once on a hospital stay, she had forgotten it was their! She can't stop laughing at some of my ideas and this was yet another.

Off came the bottom 2 foot of the dressing gown, 2 darts sewn into the back, the buttons removed and replaced with some vintage style ones given as a free gift on MM's then disaster! I tried to iron the darts on the back and the second the iron touched the fabric it melted! 

So a patch went over it with 2 more buttons and voila! one hand made vintage style wedding outfit! 

I am not a 'pink' person - but I felt really comfortable in the outfit, and a lovely day was had by all!

Spring 'Time'

Due to lack of funds we have not been out anywhere very much lately.

The only social event has been a friends wedding, but to be honest, after rather a wild youth I am more than happy to sit in front of the telly with a pile of knitting or crocheting to keep me busy.

Baby fig and I have managed to get to the odd jumble sale and at craft and vintage fairs we are usually on our stall avoiding spending money and trying to sell our wares.

Today all three of us went to Clitheroe to a vintage fair. I had not taken a stall as it was almost double the cost of other fairs we had done, but now I wish we had! It was packed with people, and the stalls were just gorgeous! We also found out why for the past few weeks there has been a distinct lack of vintage loveliness in a couple of the charity shops in the town. Both Age UK and Cancer Research had stalls with all the goodies I would normally look for but twice the already expensive price. I know, it is for charity - but I thrive on bargains and have no money! 

There was all sorts I could have bought, mainly useless things like glove finger stretchers (I don't ware gloves) or a shoe last, wooden skittles, more sparkly jewelry, or a grammar phone that only played wax records. but in the end I paid my £1 to get in, and came out without buying a single item.

I did come out with some inspiration however. So straight up to the sewing room and 2 hours later I had listed this on etsy. 

Now I am going to hunt for some extra thick socks and snuggle up on the sofa with my latest crochet project and the 6 balls of wool purchased in another of Clitheroe's vast abundance of charity shops for the princely sum of £2. Bargain.