Cat Protection Society- op shop review

One of the other teachers is expecting his first child in June, so I went on a hunt for garments to cut up. I decided to stop by the Cat Protection Society shop in Newtown, and I'm so glad I did. It's a small shop, about 10 meters by 8 meters, and their garment section isn't terribly organized, but that doesn't matter. The main attraction was the baskets of clothing that were $5 for a bagful. I ended up with 26 pieces for $10, and I also bought 2 patterns for a dollar each. Apparently the bins are temporary, but  they've been there for a few weeks so far.

Cat Protection Society NSW Inc
103 Enmore Road
Newtown 2042

(opposite the Enmore Theatre)

Anglicare - op shop review

I went to the Anglicare warehouse recently- unfortunately, they've since moved. It was a good experience, though. They had huge bins of clothing, so I bought a carrier bag full. It was less than a kilo, so I got 6 things for $8. I'd definitely recommend it if you're near their new location.

Smith Family Shop- op shop review

I finally found an American-style op shop in the inner west. It looks like they rotate the oldest things to be half price, and there's a $2 rack. Things still aren't by size (WTF Australia?) but at least there's a fat girl rack so I don't have to scavenge through a million size sixes.

I ended up getting 4 men's t-shirts for $9.50, so there will be new underpants in my future.

Marrickville

Clothing & accessories147 Marrickville Road
Phone: (02) 9572 6065

Opening hours:
Mon to Fri: 9.00am to 4.45pm
Saturday: 9.00am to 1.45pm

80's does 40's

I prepared a bunch of clothes before moving, including some underpants from B6031 (these will remain unblogged) and this rayon number:

I picked it up for a fiver at a thrift in Myrtle Creek, hence my parents' house in the background. I just removed the shoulder pads and the center panel, overlapped the center sides by 1/4 inch, and hand stitched them together. Then I took some fullness out of the shoulder and shortened the hem.

But that's not the important news; I'm officially a college graduate.

Now I don't know what to do with myself

I've been wanting to try new embellishment techniques, so I've started stenciling a collection based on "Ya no Sé Qué Hacer Conmigo" by El Cuarteto de Nos. 

Here's my representation of "Ya tuve que ir obligado a misa":

Church of Saint Margarita summer camp 2013

I stenciled the letters and traced and painted the chalice onto a thrifted tee.

I finished something!

Before

After:

The back waist is shirred, so I only needed to open up the bust. I changed the angle at which the surplice front wraps in order to do so. I think the skirt is still too long. My friend thinks I should leave it, but is probably just trying to get out of pinning my hems. Thoughts?

Secantially Related: Holy Carp Guys, Clothes are Cheap

          During WWII, there was extensive rationing of consumer goods throughout the world. Ali and Susannah wrote wonderful, insightful posts on the subject of clothing rationing, but all I have to say is that the prices are incomprehensible. In modern U.S. dollars, prices considered low for thrifted clothing were:

Common garments, price ($) threshold for second-hand 
Winter coat 45
Jacket, blazer, short coat 20
Dress, wool 41
Dress, non-wool 26
Cardigan 20
Blouses, tees 15
Skirt 15
Slacks 19
Shorts 11
Pair of boots, shoes 15

        I live in an extremely expensive neighborhood in an extremely expensive city, and would expect to pay no more than half as much as listed. I still consider this to be expensive and shop the half-off sales (whatever been there longest that week, and half off everything on every federal holiday).

        Because I'm a sack of nuts, I'm going to do the Fashion on the Ration challenge with 36 coupons, reflecting the height of rationing. Because Scandanavian girls wear their shoes until they fall off (you try finding cute shoes in 10W!), I can't usually thrift any in my size. That's probably 20 coupons a year, leaving me with 16 to replace my stockings collection. At 3 each, that's 5 pairs, which is doable with a lot of darning.