Why did I buy this?

So I spotted this hideous dress at Sal's the other day:

and was equally attracted to/repulsed by it all at once.

First, I've been obsessing about ruffles lately (more on this in a future post perhaps),

but more so, ugly as it is-- I thought it was a potential cheap/bad shimmery dress that I could turn over quickly for New Years this week.

What clinched the deal for me was actually the unique craftsmanship.  The person who made this 

dress did not have much in the way of sewing skills, and they did not have any ruffling attachments.  Not only is much of this dress hand sewn (crude hand stitching with blue thread all over the place inside), the ruffles are finished with wire and electrical tape!  

How craftastic is that?

Yards and yards of crude ruffles made this way! They laid wire down along the fabric's raw edge, and then crimped over the electrical tape as though it were a sticky-backed bias trim.  (And let me tell you, it did not behave like bias, and did not stick well to the cheap metallic fabric at all.  I spent about 90 minutes glueing, primping, shaping, fixing it.)

This amazing piece of unique modern folk art is now available for purchase, for a mere $30.

Happy New Year!

I'm baaaaack.

I know. Really long blogging hiatus.  Rest assured, I have only neglected the blog, not the shop or the never-ending search for treasures to put in it.  In fact, I'll start purging the blog file with a brief show-and tell of items that I picked up this summer while out riding my bicycle (the major distraction this year that had me neglecting blog and millions of other things). I stumbled onto several random yard sales I wasn't even looking for.

Blue silk velvet 1930s bias-cut evening gown.   Turned the bike around for a yard sale in Claverack that clearly had nothing at all for me, but I decided to ask the seller if she had any old clothes lying around. She went into the house and brought this out.   The price was reasonable enough that I didn't mind finding out it had holes in it after I got it home; 'cuz it fits me and Izzy (window mannequin).

New (but old) leather sandals in original box --from Tom and Mary's sale in Taghanic.

 I didn't have a bike rack yet and it took me EIGHT weeks to go back and pick them up after I asked them to hold them for me.  "uh, Remember me?".  Very sweet people.

Carpet bag purse.  Route 9H estate sale.  Very likely manufactured at the Pocketbook factory up the street here in Hudson.


Remnants, children's books, flower-power recipe file, awesome vintage novelty hankies:

(great Lakes, Palm-reading, and How-to speak spanish!)

And last but not least, vintage neckties, purchased at a Tuesday garage sale, on a back road in Ghent:

I know, the price is embarrassing, but what are you gonna do? I gave the lady a dollar and told her to keep the change.  Still felt like a thief.