Mama Violet asked where I find these estate sales yesterday. I find them on craigslist mostly. Here in Chicago I see many are cross-listed at estatesale.net too. We did go to one today by "Caring Transitions" which absolutely sucked big time. I would recommend avoiding all of their sales. Not only did they have you take a ticket and wait outside for an outrageous amount of time, but the prices were WAY too high and the guy was completely unwilling to negotiate! Avoid them!
We went to one by Barbara's Absolut Estate Sales that was good and one from yesterday was A to Z sales. They both had good prices and were nice. So those are ones you could google. Most companies have websites and list their upcoming sales.
Anyways it was fun. Andrew started to get cranky by the end, poor Andrew. He is very nice to come with me at all!
At the second estate sale In Round Lake, since we were already way far north, I got some good stuff, all for six dollars!
That is 15 national geographic, mostly from the late 60s, two metal spatulas for Andrew, three ruffled curtains for the small bedroom and two crocheted pillbox hats. Love!
At the shitty Caring Transitions sale, I bought some metal zippers and some bias tape and three cute packs of trim. This was 7 dollars, because they are overpriced.
The first sale was the best. We drove all the way up to Antioch, which is practically in Wisconsin. Google maps said it would take an hour but it was really more like 35 minutes. I mean who actually drives 55 on the freeway?
All of these patterns were 2 dollars, which is about 11 cents each. Yay!
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| Vintage Halloween patterns, just to have! I like the weird penguin one! |
I don't have children, obviously, but I'm hoarding for the future. Does that make it not hoarding? (Please say yes!)
I kind of like the double zipper pants. Hmm.
Even the "girls" patterns will fit, I mean I fit a 32 on a good day! I really like the Butterick blouse- very elegant!
In addition to the patterns, I also got this awesome full lined wool coat with rabbit fur trim! Sweet! Half price made it ten bucks! The old ladies having the sale were really excited that someone fit into it and I was going to buy it.
I really love it, although it absolutely reeks of B.O. for some reason. However, I inspected it closely and whoever made it had this in mind. The collar and cuffs are tacked on sturdily, but can removed for cleaning.
I was going to do a "hey it has pockets!" picture, but there are old kleenexes in the pocket. Ew!
Well, I hope you are a little bit jealous.
Two questions for you:
1. Should I dry clean the coat or wash it in wool detergent? I'm not even sure if drycleaning will kill the BO! I also hate the chemicals. Thoughts?
2. What do you think about buying vintage fur? I think the animals were murdered during a time when no one had any qualms about it, but throwing it away seems hateful. I mean an animal did die for it, so shouldn't if have some purpose? Do share!
Love the coat and how to get rid of BO odor is a tough one, I would have it dry cleaned myself and ask if they would use something to kill the odor, I'm not a big fan of the chemicals either but I think it would be my choice. The fur question is more difficult for me, yes the animal did die and throwing it away would be hateful but would someone give you a hard time if you wore it? You will have to wear it and find out and decide for yourself! Great garage/estate sale loot...LUCKY YOU!!
ReplyDeleteThere are dry cleaners that are "green" that might not leave that chemical order. I'm not sure as I don't have anything left in my wardrobe that is dry cleanable.
ReplyDeleteAs to the rabbit fur - I'm torn. My mom inherited a fur coat and tortoise shell hair combs from my great aunt. These are things that she would never have purchased herself but throwing these things away seems even more wasteful. I think one should use them till they are worn out...however many lifetimes that takes. Enjoy your coat.
Definitely dry clean. I don't say that often. I do a lot of sunning, spiriting, and dryer "cleaning" of thrift finds but not sure if those treatments would kill the smell. Is there a greener cleaner near you?
ReplyDeleteGreat finds. I hate the drycleaners so I never dryclean anything. I would take off the fur and wash in a wool detergent and then air outside. Airing is quite good for getting rid of smells. I would never buy new fur but I don't mind vintage and I'm a vegetarian, so make what you will of that contradiction. I only own one thing that has a real fur collar but, like Robin said, I'm kind of hesitant to wear it in case people harass me/PETA throws a bucket of paint on me.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Camelia Crinoline... wash with wool wash and outside air dry with lots of sun does wonders. Also try dusting with lots of bicarb soda and leave in the sun before washing at this takes smells out too.
ReplyDeleteGood luck. Love the kiddy patterns ... not hoarding.. investing in your future... you know when you have kids they'll be like $1 or more! ha ha!
Ha, I've just bought a wool cardigan which had a Kleenex in the pocket too - and a soup stain on the front...! It has been washed. An I have just sent a thrifted coat to the dry cleaner at a cost of £11 when it cost £3. Still worth it though to get it fresh. Your coat is fab, I'd speak to your dry cleaner to see if they can get rid of the smell, rather than washing it yourself.
ReplyDeleteI'd worry a bit about washing vintage wool - today's woolens are treated to minimize shrinkage, but vintage ones are not ... a quick Google search shows there are a lot of green cleaners in Chicago, although I have no idea how close they are to your neighborhood. Another Google search had suggestions for spritzing the inside of the clothing with white vinegar to remove the smell, or if that doesn't work, Nature's Miracle (pet odor remover). They also noted:
ReplyDelete"Last resort, ozone machine. Some cleaners will treat your clothing for one hour in an enclosed room with an ozone machine. Ozone will kill any odor in anything. "
If you decide to try it, let us know how it works! Oh, and I agree that the poor bunny gave its all a long time ago, and wearing it now shouldn't be an issue - the coat's styling is very vintage, so people should know it's not a recent killing ...
i love your estate sale posts! makes me happy :)
ReplyDeletethat coat is wonderful! i actually have a vintage wool swing coat, in a beautiful peacock blue, with a fur collar... found it at the flea market for $6. i had to take it in and it still needs a little more work done to it (belt loops & some hand work on the waist tie), this reminds me that i need to get that done before it gets cold.
don't take that coat to the dry cleaners until a last resort! try washing it gently in wool wash & letting it dry in the sunshine, as suggested. you can also try to stick it in a sealed back with a good bit of baking soda & see if that pulls the odor out as well.
as far as vintage furs go, well obvs i don't have a problem with them :) i figure the animal already died, and it seems really wasteful to me to not continue to use the fur until it it unusable (does fur even wear out?). that being said, i won't buy new fur. but old fur? sure!
I have a similar vintage coat, wool with rabbit trim. I would suggest taking it to a dry cleaners, just make sure they do in-house dry cleaning (aka the facilities are on site). I learned this the hard way when I brought my $300 CK dip-dye trench coat to the local laundromat, which sends out its dry cleaning. My coat is ruined and neither will take responsibility for it.
ReplyDeletehahaha, my sister in law just gave me a bunch of patterns and that clown one was in it... all i could think was that she deep down wanted me to make her a juggalo costume!
ReplyDeleteI also LOVE the picture of you after you found the used kleenex in your pockets...hahahahahaha that is so gross I have done it too!
ReplyDeleteI would definitely take it to the dry cleaners. Just putting vintage wool in water can cause it to shrink big time, ask me how I know, lol. :]
ReplyDelete