Books & More Books!

As I was reorganizing my room yesterday I decided to write down all the posts that I intend to do and realize I better get cracking. Equipped with a brand new laptop, I figure there is no better time to play catch-up than right now.

One of my most recent joys is books. Some fiction novels but primarily my growing collection of vintage sewing and fashion books. You can find them for such great prices and they have such great pictures and tips in them that I just can't get enough!

In this picture I am holding 7 Time Life "The Art of Sewing" books that came each with there own textile covering. They were published in 1974 and are chalk full of daring fashion and interesting history.

My collection of books grows with each garage sale, thrift shop and antique store I go into anymore. I even splurged (for me that is above $10) and bought the The Dressmakers Technique Bible from JoAnn Fabrics and haven't regreted it at all. It is a great book filled with ideas, tips and vocabulary that helps improve my sewing skills. At a local antique shop I got one of my greatest finds a 1961 Home Economics text book that teaches everything from how to brush your teeth to how to sew to how to be confident in yourself. It even has the check out card from the local highschool where it was used. The contents let me learn about the history I actually find interesting.

One of my favorite parts of my books is the way it uses materials that are hardly used by the average sewer anymore. I now know how to trim and use snake leather, you aren't taught that in your average new sewing book. Looking through the pages of each book is an experiance.

My collection keeps growing and making me happier and happier. Now to organizing so I have space for them all!

For the Love of Lamps

For living in such a small apartment I have collected an impressive amount of lamps. They are all over the place, even one in the bathroom. For my latest project I took it upon myself to create a new lampshade for my living room. I found a sturdy lampshade at a garage sale (I fell in love with the scalloped edges on this one) and stripped it of it's very out dated fabric. To give this old lamp a fun new look all it took was some pretty fabric, a hot glue gun and voila!

And here is how it turned out

What I did with $25

A little cash doesn't seem to stretch as far as it used to, but a few days ago I was on a thrifting mission. I know thrift stores smell bad and there are a lot of rocks you have to discard before finding your gold, but when you find your items it all becomes worth it. I was going to buy beautiful things for just about $25 dollars. I got some surprisingly good items. At this little boutique known commonly as Value Village I got myself a copy of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, a sweet t-shirt I will be reconstructing in a later blog post and a lovely pair of boots that are Sofft and basically brand new (with the wonderful scent of real leather) which is a steal seeing that similar shoes go for around $120. And then at Goodwill I struck gold again and got a Levi denim jacket to go with all my summer dresses, a pack of variety yarn for my knitting needs, and and two Nicholas Sparks novels: Nights in Rodanthe and The Guardian (which I am probably going to finish very soon, and definitely recommend it).

And here are my wonderful finds:



P.S. Kierra found some gold too:


2 zippers, some yarn, a book and a lace curtain for her sewing creations: