charity shop foraging
3 March 2008 by colouritgreen
I’m a casual charity shop forager. That is, I don’t spend all day going from charity shop to charity shop hunting that bargain; with home educating my son, I don’t have the time. I’m not much into shopping either. But I cannot stand waste - and will not cut up (to remake into something else) an item of clothing that is perfectly good, and when you have kids.. they will grow out of things! (My own clothes I wear until it is beyond repair..). So when I have a boxful of stuff, I trudge up to the nearest charity shop and leave my offering.
Then it’s only natural to have a little peek at what they have…well it’d be rude not to!
Recent finds are the person powered sewing machine (pictured with the cat-who-is-not-allowed-on-tables), lots of demijohns for my home wine making, a man’s sheepskin coat that himself wears in the field on very cold days,(3 quid) - the sheep might mind if they knew what it was made of…
An enormous cardigan (£2.50) that I bought for the wool, its taking me ages to rip back..
My favourite find to date is a set of scales. I like the kind of kitchen scales that you use actual weights on the other side. I have had a set for years, but they are not cheap and I made the mistake of going for the smallest, with the smallest pan, because it was cheaper. I have weights in both lbs and ozs and in metric, as I am of the generation that uses both. The problem with it being small is that for items like.. making bread, I cannot get all of the flour in the dish at one time.. so then have to do several weighs.. and there is more room for error. and its a hassle. but I could not justify the expense of a new set.
Then there in the charity shop is this beautiful, larger set of scales. Complete with weights.. £4. Well I had no choice. Carrying it home was a bit of an effort.. turns out weights…weigh a bit.
Tomorrow, I have a new box of stuff to go…will I manage to come home empty handed…
That sewing machine is a fantastic find! Does it work properly? If not, it’d still look great as a decoration piece although I wouldn’t have the room for it. My nan had one like that… I can clearly remember her sitting there, running up dresses for Mum who was managing on a very tight budget and had nothing other than Nan’s ‘creations’ to wear. They were all from the same pattern, just different fabrics.
The boot markets will soon be starting up around here again; I can’t wait to get out there and see what I can find.
I was very lucky with the singer sewing machine. it cost £7, and it works! -I made a cushion cover with it.
I looked up it’s serial number (singer have a great site if you like that sort of thing) and it dates from 1890! they made things to last back then!
makes me think in awe of that the things it might have made.
It is nice enough to leave out, but like you I don’t hqave the room, but at least there are no electric cables to sort out, so its not a big deal to get the machine out for a bit of sewing.
Now you’re making me really envious. If I come across one I’m definitely buying one.
You’ve got me wondering what happened to our old Singer now… those old machines were lovely to look at as well as practical
And I’m covetting your cardigan find… it’s a cold day in the office and I can’t help wanting to wrap myself up in it, it looks so snuggly!
the cardi is massive.. either it was made for a giant, or someone went seriously wrong! its a shame cos its hand knitted.. cabling and everything.. but the shoulder seams came down to my wrists!!, so I am ripping it back and winding up the yarn, to make somehting new. still for £2.50 not bad!