Success in the form of cardigans and recipe cards

Hello hello! What did you get up to today?

Today was my first opp-shopping trip in awhile and I must say, probably the best ones I've had in years in terms of finding exactly what I wanted. Which if you go opp-shopping you will know that you can't really go in with a list of things to buy - but instead let the shop sell it's items to you whether you thought you needed them or not. 

I actually had decided well before getting out of bed this morning that I would really like to get a lumpy cardigan and perhaps a pair of high-waist "Mum" jeans that I could turn into a skirt.

Well, I managed to get those, plus a few more items which I had looked around the internet and other opp shops for, but never found. 

Let's have a look now!

First was the visit to St Paul's opp shop, they are quite small but I've gotten some fantastic bits from there. On this visit I managed to find a navy and white woollen jumper, an orange nubbly cardigan (which reminds me of this one from Gorman), and a magenta blouse which is actually just from Target, but will be really nice in summer.

The cardigan I set out to buy, without knowing it would actually be there

The second stop was to my favourite opp-shop which is attached to another church which I never look at the name of, but the volunteers there are really nice. 

They had quite a lot of fabric there this time, but not many I would want to even sew muslins with, so I left them for someone else who may actually want them for something serious

I did pick up some notions and these two wool-like fabrics, for a couple of dollars. The one on the right is actually a purple-y brown which may be used for muslins... the colour is to boring for main projects I think.

 
Also picked up was something I never thought I would see at an opp-shop ever again for fear of hipsters snapping them up to sell in their city boutiques - a granny square blanket! 

I cannot crochet to save my life, so even if I wanted to make something as easy as this, I couldn't. It just doesn't make sense to me! This old girl was washed and dried in the afternoon sun and is now accompanying me with my hot Milo while I write this =) 

So many colours!

I can never ever skip the kitchen section, and thank goodness I didn't! For today waiting for me were two things that I have wanted for so long. A Tupperware Pick-a-deli and the Australian Women's Weekly recipe library from the early 80's. Both of these things my mum had and when I moved out of home I went to buy the Pick-a-deli but was not impressed with the $35 price tag (huge sum I know...) So I held out and managed to get this for $3! Super!

I actually cried out "A pick-a-deli!" when I found it.

(A Pick-a-deli by the way, is a fancy way to store beetroot and other pickled veg in their liquid and be able to lift up the whole pieces out for selection)

The recipe box on the other hand was only $2.50 and is missing only a few of the cards. Considering a complete set is currently going on Ebay for $119, my love for the old opp-shop has just increased ten fold! 

If you or your mum had this recipe box, you will understand how important it is for many Australian food memories. Some of the recipes are a bit exxy, for example the international food section is embarrassingly naive, but the Family Chocolate cake was my favourite as a kid and I still make it now. Pip from Meet Me at Mikes had launched "Project Yellow Box" a few years ago in order to cook her way through the box, and someone even bothered to load the original add onto Youtube!

Fun times!

Also in this picture is a carved heavy bottom salad bowl, and a rose pink tin shaker, which will make sprinkling my morning cappuccino a stylish affair. 
The salad bowl needed to be scrubbed and oiled as it was very grimy. But I don't mind that part of opp-shopping. Repairing and cleaning things is a somewhat ritualistic way of bringing them into my home! 

Now, as for those jeans I had also dreamed of buying. The shop I visited had a huge jeans section. But an awful lot of them were made from the cheap stretchy denim that has gone funny over time, so trying to find a proper denim pair was tricky but I found one. These very dorky mum jeans a little too big, but that's good because I want to turn them into a skirt. I did look for a skirt, but they were all kinds of wrong 

I like that the previous owner bothered to iron a crease in the front... 

Here is how they look currently. A little big in the hips but that's ok. I'll be chopping off the legs to just above my knees, and unpick the inside leg seam. Then I'll trim the crotch away to create a nice straight seam in the from and back, and maybe even a kick pleat if I'm feeling clever

Sorry to everyone who is yelling no! from the other side the internet. The normcore/momcore look isn't for me! 

If the lighting is nice while I do this, I promise I'll take some photos for a tutorial! 

All up today I spend $38.50! Yippie!

Well I hope you enjoyed that, cause I really did! Finding all those things that I've wanted for so long - that's when Opp-shopping comes into its own. You just can't find those sorts of things in the regular stores, and what luck for me today not having to try too hard to do so.

What's been your biggest opp-shop win? A designer dress perhaps? Or something from your childhood? Tell me! I'd love to hear about it!

Cat xo