More Opshop Goodness and a Hat Refashion

Went to the opshops twice last week-once after my dental checkup (a follow up root canal treatment), and last Saturday. Saturdays are the only time I get to go out to the shops alone-Little Wyld Man stays with his daddy at home. And since I’ve started him on solids, he is a teeny weeny less dependant on me as Wyld Man can feed him something if he’s hungry. As much as I enjoy my little man’s company, I do miss my opshopping jaunts, which I used to do before he was born. So Saturdays are reserved for grocery shopping, opshopping, and an occasional visit to the library. Anyways, last Wednesday, I dropped into the Salvos on Smart Road.

For the benefit of my Malaysian readers back home, Salvos stands for Salvation Army, a charitable institution who franchises their charity opshops into what is now a huge opshop chain. Vinnies is another opshop set-up, short for St Vincent de Paul, a Catholic run organisation. These two are the main opshop operations in South Australia, but there are other numerous opshops around. People donate things they want to get rid off which are in usable condition, and the opshop volunteers clean them and price them. People come in and buy an item, and the money goes to fund a charitable cause. In recent times however, it has become fashionable and trendy to opshop, as people go ‘green’, tightening spending during recession times, and as ‘vintage’ becoming the by-word in fashion. As a result, prices in opshops are getting steeper and steeper, which goes against the whole ethos of opshopping. On this trip, I saw a beautiful checked coat, rather old, with a stained and ripped lining selling for AUD25 at Salvos! I can get a brand new Target one for AUD30! And Wyld Man once saw an old army issue wool coat, probably made during the Vietnam war, selling for AUD90 at a Victor HArbour  Salvos opshop. It wasn’t old enough to be a collector’s item, nor in a good condition enough to warrant that price, which was outrageous in an opshop. I saw a wool men’s overcoat at Peter Shearer’s brand new for only AUD 124.  In the one year I have been here, I’ve seen prices increase quite substantially. And Vinnies is the same. I’d like to support Vinnies more, being a Catholic-run organisation, but at those prices, I’d think again and let the prices decide.

Anyways, during my Wednesday jaunt, I picked this up.

Summer knit dress

It is in extremely good condition, almost brand new, in a size 8. It was a teeny weensy bit tight, but, hey, it was only AUD7, so what the heck. I tried it on and couldn’t resist, the print was so pretty. And pink! I don’t know what the deal is with the straps though. I’ll cut it off sometime.

I recently taken to wearing hats to church, instead of veils, and have been keeping a lookout for nice hats in opshops. I’ve got two already, but wanted something to match my brown winter coat. And I came across this.

Brown hat with turned down rim

It is very similar to my navy blue hat.

Navy Blue Hat

I love this hat. It goes with almost everything. I had made a mental note to myself to buy one in brown if I ever see one with that turned down rim design. Lots of op shops carry brown straw hats but with a flat brim. I’ve never liked those. This design however looks leagues better.

The brown hat however has loads of this.

Plastic flowers

It looks ok in the pictures, but there’s too many of them, and they’re old and dusty. The kiss of death for hats. And I know that I’d never wear it to church as they are. And not in winter-they were a bit too spring-y. So, I ripped them off.

Naked hat.

You can still see the price tag on the hat-AUD4.

So I did a refashion.

Hat refashion

I based it on my blue hat, and used brown satin that I had lying around, with the insides fused with interfacing for some weight and substance.

New and improved.

I would definitely wear this version. I had planned to wear the bow at the back, like the blue hat, but I think the bow looks better in front on this one.

Aside from those buys, I also snagged 2 jumpers at Vinnies on Saturday.

White oversized chenille acrylic jumper

I love the oversized look-big top and a narrow bottom. The narrow waist band and the cuffs gives it shape and makes the oversized look look like it was done on purpose. Here’s another view.

View B

Here’s the second white jumper I bought at Vinnies.

Cable knit white jumper

I loove loove cable knits. Wyld Man asked me why I needed so many white ones. Because. I. Need. It. And. Want. It. And. It. Was. Cheap. AUD 13 for the two of them. And I think those are REALLY good reasons.

Here’s a picture I took of the Little Wyld Man this morning.

William in a bonnet

All rugged up for winter. He will be 16 weeks old this Friday, and 4 months old on the 19th of June.

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?