Monday, May 13, 2013

Weekend Finds (Warning: DRESSES LIKE WHOA)

I swear I tried to stay away from estate sales this weekend. I thought-- you know, kid, you deserve a break! Just one or two little days here where you don't have to be out of the house by 8 to hit the sales. Why not relax? Why not sleep in a little? So I did, but wouldn't you know...estate sales found me anyway!

Probably my favorite dress. There's something so thirties'/Jean Harlow as a secretary about it!
I went to over my mom's house on Saturday for an early mother's day celebration, and she mentioned that on her daily walk through the neighborhood that morning, she had seen a little cardboard sign for a yard sale. "When I went up the driveway," she continued, "It turns out it was the people's mother and grandmother had passed away, and it's a whole musty basement full of stuff. Nothing was priced but she was asking a dollar for kitchen pans without lids, and two dollars if they had the lids, and they were really nice." My dad was game to go, so Matthew and I hopped back in the Cube with Pappy in the back seat and headed down the road to give it a look while my mom finished cooking (she prefers to cook for herself and by herself, so this wasn't at all a mean thing on our parts). When we finally located the place, it was indeed a musty, dusty basement, with a middle aged woman, her husband, and her two teenage kids sitting around waiting for people to come in. "Everything's for sale down here...if you like sewing or canning, this is the sale for you!" the woman said. Gr-r-r-eat, I thought, and wandered through the large cement-blocked, low ceilinged basement without much hope of finding anything to write home about.

The color! The patterns!

On a hanging rack were a few pieces of clothes, and I saw some things that I could at least pick up if they were a dollar or two...a pretty blue coat with an ermine collar, and two sixties' shirtwaist dresses. As I walked past the rack, I noticed boxes...and boxes....AND BOXES of brightly colored material. "That must have been what she meant about the sewing," I said to myself, and then realized that they weren't just material...each of those bright patterns belonged to fully-finished garments! A cursory dig-through yielded up dress after dress after dress of fifties' and sixties' handmade, WELL MADE clothes! AAAAAAH! There were probably ten boxes of clothes ranging from the fifties' to the seventies'!


I actually started to get an anxious feeling as the "see how much they are" pile grew higher and higher... there were seventies' dresses, all tab collars and belt embellishments and wild colors. Sixties' shifts in pretty pinks and wild greens. Fifties' (!!) nipped waist dresses with big pockets for clothes pins and grocery lists. When all was said and done, I'd shoved way too many things into one box, and asked her what she wanted for them whole thing. "Well, the dresses were two apiece, but I've been doing $12 a box on the material....so maybe $25 for that box?" the woman from the beginning of the sale replied. OH MY FREAKIN' GOD, ARE YOU FOR REAL? I said in my head. "Ok, that sounds great," I said, trying to poker face but probably looking shady as all hell because my hands were shaking I was so excited as I passed over the bills.


I went home and tried on every...single....dress. 37 of them in all, and I only got the ones that looked like they would fit me! That comes out to sixty-seven cents a dress, people. Above and below are some of the humdingers that I've since laundered and fallen in love with an additional eight or nine times. A few of them were just too big in the bust and shoulders to be wearable at the moment, but I'm hoping I can do something with my limited sewing skills to make them more my speed.

This coat I almost didn't get because I was worried it would be too expensive, there were no mirrors, and I don't always look good in swing coats. Um, what a BIG MISTAKE that would have been. Glamour itself, this coat! It's missing one of the buttons, but I'll live with that small flaw:






One of the things that surprised me was how gorgeous all the this-length dresses were on me! Because they were a little bit bigger, I was able to belt them and not be crushed by the terminal disappointment of trying on an impossibly small vintage dress from that era and realizing there's no way to make it work. Most of these, with a cinched waist, became ready to wear!


Ditto on these drop waisted dresses, which I usually can't even wear because my shape is just not up-and-down enough to make them look good. These two are great!




So! That's seven of them plus the coat...there's another thirty neatly folded in a box in my laundry room right now. Could you die? Could you ACTUALLY die about what an amazing score this was. I had been to the Goodwills in Gallatin, Rivergate, and Hendersonville the weekend before and spent a good thirty minutes upon returning home, on the phone, BEMOANING the fact that I hadn't seen more than one or two things older than the late eighties', and what am I going to do about my clothes and woe-is-me... my luck turned around in a big way, peeps!

Have you ever had a score like this that just blew your expectations out of the water? Any good or bad luck at the sales this weekend? Which of the above dresses do you like the best? I am a happy little clam, that's for dang sure!

Expect to see more of these if you see me in person any time in the near future-- the hits keep coming! Have a good Monday, and I'll see you back here tomorrow!

25 comments:

  1. Awesome dresses! Love the colors!

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  2. Lucky you! Those dresses are amazing! And that coat! Wow!
    Yes, I envy you!

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    1. I was so surprised. You really should have seen my facial expression as I realized all of the boxes were full of dresses! JACKPOT.

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  3. LOVE! Those are totally gorgeous and what a killer deal! The coat is especially beautiful with that collar. You are all set for pretty summer dresses if it ever actually warms up.

    I hit a terrible Michael Taylor sale in Green Hills on Thurs. and then the two Patterson sales on Friday. The one in Belle Meade was a wingding of a sale and I did manage to grab some stuff but dealers were lining up at 5:00 a.m. I got there at 6 or so and was 24th in line. I was rewarded with $2 jadite mugs, but another dealer snatched the Hoosier cabinet of my dreams (it was a green and cream 1930's beauty). Oh, well!

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    1. I was so excited! Even if I end up unloading the ones that didn't fit well, I have like TWENTY DRESSES for summer! Most of them are cotton, too! So excited.

      I'm sorry I missed those Patterson ones this weekend! And why are people always trying to keep you and pale green/jadeite colored kitchen pieces apart! I hate that for you. It always bugs me when I'm two minutes too late for the big score. Maybe the next sale will bring up something even better (and while we're at it, at a low price, too)! At least you got your mugs! :)

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  4. My. God. Yet again, I'm going to state that I only WISH we had sales like that in the Eastern part of the state. Always sooooo bloody jealous. That coat is just...I have no words....it's just...WHOA. Nice work!

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    1. I made out like a bandit, dude! I think my heart almost stopped when I hit those fifties cotton dresses. Thanks!

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  5. GET OUT OF FREAKIN' DODGE! That is an insane story. I would loved to have been there, watching you pull those dresses out of those boxes. You hit a goldmine. Every single piece that you have shown is great - and hello, yes...that coat. I bet you can find another one of those buttons. I've seen that style button around a lot so I bet we can find one button! I'm happy for ya, girl!

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    1. My one sad reflective thought was that I was so bowled over by the boxes, there could have been a dang mint condition Drexel dining room set or ANY OTHER thing in the rest of the basement...I was blinded by clothes love! I don't think there was, but it's killing me to think of how I didn't comb through anything else at the sale. #overshoppersanonymous

      PS: Maybe I can loot one from that one thrift store with the button thief! A copy cat crime! They'd never know it was me! JK.

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  6. i have no words!
    thats so great - all this dresses - and so gorgeous on you!!!!

    tss....

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    1. Thank you! I am so excited to get a chance to wear them all, as soon as the weather gets warmer!!

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  7. WHAT. I AM SO JEALOUS. All of those dresses, like candy to my eyesssss!! Also really wish I could have seen the sewing stuff... I bet there was some good shizz there!

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    1. For years and years, I've always gone, "Dang, I wish I knew someone who sews!" at sales like this...OMG, I KNOW SOMEONE WHO SEWS QUITE A BIT, NOW. I'm going to try to remember next time I see considerable piles of fabric to text you, girl! Or we should try to get together and hit some sales soon if ya schedule allows, the yard/estate sale season is heating up! Holler! :)

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  8. WOW!!!! i don't even have words. score of the year for SURE!

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    1. I know! I am over the moon! Gonna wear a new dress everyday! So spoiled rotten by sales. I can't believe what a TURNAROUND this one made in my estimation though...you should have seen the actual shock on my face at one point!

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  9. AMAZING!!!! I am also hugely jealous. :P

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    1. Haha, thanks! It's nice to hit pay dirt every once and awhile, Lord knows I'm digging enough. :)

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  10. You hit the jackpot!!! I can't imagine being able to contain mystlf

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    1. I was embarrassed because I was actually sweating with nerves and excitement by the time I got ready to pay. The woman probably thought I was on drugs. Such a score!!

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  11. Wonderful scores!!! That coat is absolutely beautiful! I love the color. I had some good fortune this weekend but yours certainly tops mine. Dave and I found 40 NOS silk ties from the 30s and 40s when we uncontrollably stopped by a thrift store in East Los Angeles this weekend. We only purchased 12 but they are the cream of the crop. Dave did his best to hold me back with my hoarder tendencies to want to buy them all. The store clerk said they were dropped off by the same donor. I also scored a similar coat to yours only mine is red and has a front robe like tie. :)

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    1. THE TIE SCORE. That is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. You probably had the same partial coronary I did with these dresses. I just love when something collectible like that seems to be hunted to extinction and suddenly...a bonanza!! That red coat sounds GORGEOUS.

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  12. Shut the front door, that blue coat is killing me!

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    1. And I almost didn't get it! What is wrong with me?! I gotta quit listening to the burgeoning anti-hoarder voice inside my head; it was about to trip me up on this DREAM of a coat!

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  13. Congratz! What a treasure trove-& you look spectacular!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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