My Op Shop Find

I had the car today and went to four opshops-not looking for anything in particular. I had thought to look for some men’s shirts-but couldn’t find anything that Wyld Man would normally wear. But I was able to pick up what looked like a brand-new single quilt cover for AUD6.

I also found this.

My new hat.

Back view

This is how I look in it.

View from the back

It’s a straw colour, which will go well with most of my outfits. With my other navy hat, I have something to go with every outfit!

I also picked up a pair of earrings.

Antique-look earrings

I love op shops.

By the way, that top came from an op shop too.

However, I didn’t really find any clothes that I particularly liked today, despite going into two Vinnies stores, 1 Salvos and 1 Goodwill store. Bummer.

Sewing Lessons and Gestational Diabetes.

Had my sewing student over today.

My diligent student hard at work. Isn't she sweet?

This is her third lesson and we’ve been making an apron. I helped her draft an apron that she saw online and wanted to make.

Funky Apron Top

I thought it was rather similar to mine in the front.

My apron from leftover curtain material.

Anyways, we’ve been cutting and marking the pattern for the apron the last lesson, and only got to sewing today. However, the straps were a nuisance to make and iron, so that ate a lot of time and she was only able to sew the bra top this morning.  But I’m hopeful that she can finish the apron in the next lesson. This is what my dining room table looked like after we finished cutting and marking the apron fabric.

Necessary sewing messes.

I still have the baloons up from the baby shower.

Anyways,  I noticed that for the past 2 days  including today, I’ve been feeling excessively thirsty. Carol was concerned that it was gestational diabetes, especially since she remembered that my feet were swollen a few days ago, and still does a little now. And I was complaining of feeling drained and fatigued all day yesterday.So I called up the Women’s and Childrens midwife and they told me to come in for some tests.  I got Grandma and Grandpa to drive me there. Good thing I went of that hospital tour on Monday, because I knew exactly where to go today.

They checked my vital signs and my glucose and blood pressure tests came back normal. They got me hooked up to a monitor for fetal heartbeats and uterine contractions for 45 minutes and that came back normal as well. However they couldn’t figure out why I had this unquenching thirst no matter how much I drank, so I’m to go back tomorrow morning at 730am for a fasting glucose test. Darn. No food from midnight tonight till then. I’m gonna starve! Hopefully though, my test will come back normal (fingers crossed.)

There was an Anglicare opshop right across the hospital, so Grandma said we’d stop by there and see if they were open. I went in and came out with a pink dressing gown-I already have one, but it’s a really heavy fleece one for winter. This one would be suitable to summer-and I’m planning to bring it to the hospital for the birth. It was Aud 12 though, which I thought was rather pricey for an op shop. But I tried it on and really liked it. So.

By the way, Wyld Man wore the white checked men’s shirt in Size 40 which I got at Salvos 2 days ago to work today. He looked really good in it, despite it being one size larger than what he normally wears. I’m happy that my purchases are being put to good use.

A Maternity Tour, Op Shops and Baby Things

Wyld Man and I went to the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital for the maternity tour today. I should have gone earlier, but things just got delayed till now. Pregnant women booked to give birth at the Women’s and Children are encouraged early on to go on the tour so that we know where to go when labour starts, or in case of an emergency.

We thought we wouldn’t be able to make it at 9am on time, but we did, AND we found a free park for an hour right across the hospital.  The tour started a little late, but the guide, Cynthia gave us quite a thorough round of the place. I had thought that if I went into labour to go to emergency, but the correct place to go was Triage at the Women’s Assessment Unit where the midwife assesses which stage of labour a woman was in and then sends her to the the correct department.  We were shown the labour rooms and birthing centre, postnatal wards, nursery, the women’s antenatal clinic, ultrasound department, etc. It was an impressive hospital, very clean and up-to-date with the latest technology. The labour rooms were like hotel suites! They even had spas for a new mum to pamper herself after birth, or for having a water birth.

In the middle of the tour we saw a newborn baby being wheeled to the nursery, and all the people in the tour group started cooing and ah-ing over it. I had hoped that we would be able to see some babies in the nursery, but security was very tight, and only parents and family were allowed in-as it should be.

(I stopped my blog here and saved it on the 18th on Monday-and I only continued the rest of the entry on the 19th, so any “todays” you see in this post is the 18th.)

Anyways, it was a busy day for me. I went to several opshops today and found a few gems. I had planned to go to Baby Target at Golden Grove Village to get some things on sale. But there were several opshops on the way. The first one I went to was at Salvos at Payneham on Payneham Road. I bought a white checked men’s shirt at size 40.

White Men's Checked Shirt

I thought that Wyld Man might like it. But if he didn’t, I’ll use it as a breastfeeding top. Aud 6.99 from Salvos.

I also got a Reader’s Digest Microwave Cookbook at AUD4.99-lovely colour pictures and step by step instructions.

Reader's Digest Microwave Cookbook

Picture Recipe Index-all the recipes are listed on the first few pages in pictures.

I had gotten a 1971 edition of the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Sewing at an op shop in Victor Harbor and was very impressed by the content. So I’m on the lookout for more RD Complete Guides  To books.

There was an Anne of Ingleside book by Lucy Maud Montgomery going for AUD1.99 which I also got. I’m a huge Anne of Green Gables fan.

The best things from that Salvos shop though was a stack of fabric they had in their remnant basket-and it wasn’t tiny scraps of remnants either. Minimum 1.5 m of fabric in a bundle-all for AUD1.99. I bought a whole stack to add to my growing stash.

Op Shop Fabric Stash

That’s at least 20 m of fabric, for a total of only AUD 20! There was floral corduroy, cotton jersey, stretchy 2-way knits (which are expensive at Spotlight), floral seersucker, marine blue cotton drill, white crepe/georgette, and white nylon woven.

My next stop was at Vinnies at Felixstow on Payneham Road. Here I snagged a bargain on pregnancy and baby books. I had a What to Expect When You’re Expecting book by Heidi Murkoff which I bought at AUD39.99. I didn’t know that there was a subsequent book called What to Expect The First Year, which I assume would also retail at about that price, but here was selling at AUD3.50! Really stoked about it.

What To Expect The First Year

Another book I got at AUD 3.50 was Your Baby and Child by Penelope Leach, which I read through later when I got home and really liked. It’s written in a conversational tone and is quite unlike the one above, which is arranged in a question and answer form with textboxes of information.

Your Baby and You by Penelope Leach

Here also I got a couple of cot sheets fro AUD 3.50 (a pair), and a whole lot of clothes I intend to breastfeed in. The clothes were in wonderful condition and all were selling for AUd 6.99-which I thought was rather pricey for an opshop, but still- I liked the style and condition they were in and it’s still a fraction of what I would pay retail.

SuzanneGrace Lavender Wrap top

This is a perfect top for breastfeeding. And it looked like it has never been worn too! Just fell in love with it the minute I saw it.

Blue-Green breezy top in chiffon fabric.

Loved this top as well-but I had to make a tiny alteration to the straps that held up the light blue fabric inside the top-it was dropping down too much.

Yellow button up blouse

This top is made of burnout fabric with buttons. A bit see through-here I’m wearing a cami underneath. But I just love the fabric. And it’s perfect  for breasfeeding too! Here’s what I plan to do to dress it up a bit.

Yellow Top Embelished with Brown Satin Ribbon

Here’s a Miller’s yellow shirt what I plan to use as jammies at the hospital. It’s super comfy.

Miller's Yellow Shirt

And I got this pink men’s shirt too as a breastfeeding top.

Pink Men's Shirt

Hmm…spent a bit more than I planned at op shops. But I figure I won’t be opshopping much when the baby’s here. Better to get things now than later.

Here’s what I got from Baby Target at Golgen Grove Village.

Fisher Price Sounds and Lights Baby Monitor

On sale at AUD 65.00 from a RRP of AUD99.

Baby Grooming Set.

Baby bottles, sippy cups and extra teats

The bottles are made of glass, which are hard to find, as everything is made of plastic nowadays.

Baby Bath Ramp

I’m terrified of letting the baby slip into the water.  Hopefully this will help.

Nappy pail with lid. Very important for all those cloth nappies.

And here’s my overnight bag which I packed a few days ago, all ready to go.

Overnight Bag

Hopefully I won’t be using it too late or too early. Hey Wyld Child, mama needs you to come on time ok?

I Have A Plan-For a Maternity Top Part 1

I went to an op shop (I LOVE opshopping-which is another topic for another day) at Gepps Cross the other day after getting a pair of River’s sandals on special (AUD18!) and found this really sweet shade of yellow cotton material-which used to be a bed sheet . I saw a dress in it-and several tops.  It’s beautifully soft and cottony and I envisioned a pretty dress with a cinched waist and short cap sleeves. However, a pregnant gal must be practical and think of maternity tops to accomodate an ever-growing belly, for this pregnancy and all the ones to come.  The piece of blue material you see on top of the yellow cotton is a 1-metre piece of denim I found at an opshop at Lobethal-some teenager had made it into a curtain! And evidently got tired of it, hence my find. I made a flounced and gored maternity skirt with it, and decided to use the leftovers for the neckline and sleeve cuffs for this maternity top that I had in mind.

Yellow Cotton Bedsheet and Denim Curtain!

Puffed sleeves with denim cuff, empire gathered waist and denim neckline detail.

My Drafting Tools

This is a self-drafted project and I have all my tools laid out. No commercial patterns for me! I don’t like the fit they offer and all the alterations you have to make to fit your body-I find it much easier to draft a custom pattern from scratch.

Love my Clover tracing wheels, especially the double one-fantastic for seam allowances.

Homemade carbon paper-10 sheets stuck to a broadsheet newspaper. Works like a charm!

My Foundation Block from Winifred Aldrich's Metric Pattern Cutting

I made this block some time ago when I first got Aldrich’s book on drafting. I LOVE her book. It’s the one I go to time and time again. Her fit is excellent, and the book has huge amounts of infomation for the size of it. I like it better than Helen Joseph’s Armstrong’s Patternmaking for Fashion Design. I drafted this block to the size 12 measurements in the Aldrich book, with a few changes at the bust and waist. I also added a maternity line for maternity designs around 2..5 inches below the bustline. This means that my neck, shoulder, armhole and bust will fit as per pre-pregnancy, and I would just need to extend the the bottom half of the bodice block to make way for my baby bump.

The Pattern with finished seam allowances, for cutting out

All Cut Up

My material laid on the pattern and all ready to be cut out.

To be continued….