Footloose in Footscray

Yes! Best/worst title ever.

I had a day off today so I decided to do something uncharacteristically adventurous and go to Footscray on my own for a wee op shopping trip. I only had a couple of hours, but managed to do a reasonable sweep of Savers AND eat a jam donut from Olympic donuts (very yummy, especially because they’re hot! Even though the lady takes your money with a sugar and flour encrusted hand that previously held said donut – ew)

Granted it was probably not the best op shop haul I’ve had this year, actually I don’t think anything will ever live up the fabled Glen/Mount Waverley trip earlier this year of the $60 worth of amazing-ness, but I did manage to find some alright stuff like this big picnic basket ($6) which will come in handy next month when R and I roadtrip it down the Great Ocean Road and to Warrnambool to watch the whales swim around. Fun!

It’s pretty big! The size of a small overnight suitcase lined in blue gingham. And in good condition too! It’s got a little latch in the front and you turn a clip over the leather strap so that your crap doesn’t fall out. Here’s the inside:

I think I made the image too blue. Ah well. Photobucket was being a real bitch this afternoon and I think I spent like half an hour trying to upload this image. Anyhow, I got a couple of pairs of Schiaparelli hosiery (score!). They’re a winey red flecked with sparkley bits? That sounds tacky. Uhh.. more like a slight sheen or ‘Satinelle’ to use their term and I bought 2 so that I could wear them at the same time and then they would become opaque.. and also because I didn’t want anyone else to have them. Muahahah!. And they were $2 each, yes!

The crockery section was reaaally good. I saw heaps of cute little dinky floral saucers, geometric cups, and some really nice mugs with dancing (maybe even crumping?) stick men on it which I was tempted to get but they were abit gross looking, like slightly yellowed and icky. In the end I settled on 4 saucers (er, Maxwell Williams’ Hacienda line…) because they’re colourful and I’m a magpie, and 2 cup’n’saucer sets in a chocolatey brown. The stamp on the bottom says ‘Bilton’s Made in England’ so I came home and after some amateur detective work (google), am slightly deflated to learn that no, they are not exquisitely rare ceramics from the early 20th century and that Bilton’s is some upper crust British manufacturer. Instead, Bilton’s was this company that began in 1900 before folding in 1999. I think my set might not be that hold, maybe from 1990-1994 because the stamp on the underside of the saucer reads: “Biltons tableware: Ironstone tableware, Staffordshire England” and in August 1990 Biltons was bought over by Staffordshire tableware before the company sold Biltons in 1998 to the Dubelle Foundation.

And there you have it! I paid $2.30 for the set and it looks like it’s probably worth that too, hehe. But it’s okay, I think the set is very pretty and hopefully I’ll have an occasion to use them even though I don’t drink tea…

Continuing with my amateur sleuthing, I also bought this brass possum brooch, even though it is slightly hideous. The back of it is stamped ‘Possum JJK Australia’. This one took abit longer to uncover, but in the end I found out JJK is this manufacturer of Australiana souveniers, in particular brass renditions of beloved Australian animals like kookaburras, koalas, gumnuts etcetera. Anyhow, this particular possum brooch was not on their stockist’s website, although they did sell a variation of it in keychain form:

And for the princely sum of $13.50! The brooches sell for about $14.50 and I paid $4 for my brooch, which is alright. What creeps me out though is its eyes:

Treasure hunting 004

A few Tuesdays ago Dad and I went down to the west side (crips!): Seddon, Yarraville, Newport, Ascot Vale, Flemington and Moonee Ponds. As usual, I stocked up on scarves and jumpers. No bags this time *sad face* This time I was abit more discerning in where we went, a mildly successful decision… I can’t even remember which shops I got these things from. Sweet pick of the day was a hand mixer for $3. Now I can bake cheesecakes and meringue pies!

Tribal scarf for those wild days when I don’t want to wear a pheasant scarf. $2? $2.50?

A section of THE MOST RAD SCARF EVER. Leopard print with yowling cats. It’s also the size of a small blanket. Fresh. $3.50

Saddle-themed scarf. Actually not that nice but I was compelled. $2

New favourite scarf: rope print! I feel so naughty-cal. I had rope scarf envy after seeing R’s, but this one is clearly better. $2.50

Royal blue jumper that fits well and looks like it was knitted by a nice grandma and thrown out by an ungrateful (petite) person…. $5

Little brown booties, $28

The Great Op Shop Trip

On Tuesday I had a day off work and homework so I managed to convince dad to go on a road trip with me to Melbourne’s south and for a day of fun-filled op shopping. I had to return E her copy of the Treasure Hunter’s Guide (THG) after holding on to it for more than 6 months (with the sneaky intention of holding on to it… forever) I managed to borrow/steal another copy (its not stealing if they don’t notice right?) from R’s housemate. But on the bright side I managed to buy my very own copy of THG from ebay! Hurrah! Now I’m waiting for it to arrive in the mail, and I cannot wait to annotate the hell out of it.

But back to the subject, we started at Murrumbeena. Apologies for not being able to provide shop names as I was hoping my THG would have arrived today, but I am bored and cannot wait any longer. I can remember the first stop though, the Lions Club op shop near the train station. I like the Lions Club, they are usually full and cluttered with lots of junk and porcelain knick knacks. This one was the same, although less cluttered than its Mt Waverley counterpart. I found a NWT (yes that is ebay speak) navy button-less cardigan, which I initially thought the buttons had fallen off but nay, this was one of those sassy open cardigans. It was $6, dad looked impressed although he hadn’t touched a single thing in the shop (he is still young, he will learn, in time). I had a poke around the bags (meh), buttons (too many, overwhelmed, aughh), and there was this pretty amazing yellow 2 piece suit with gold braid piping all over the jacket. Yep, pretty amazing. Also pretty big, which was a shame.

After that it pretty much became a blur of op shops. In the end we did about 12-13 in 6 hours across 4 suburbs. Yikes! I probably didn’t find as much as I’d hoped for, to which E sassily said my dad may have the wheels but she is my eyes, sad but true. But I did see alot of wonderful furniture including lots of phone tables (personal favourite) at the Oakleigh St Vincents, beautiful old Singer sewing machines (all sold) as well as floral Dr Martens and cream leather oxfords with woven detail at Bentleigh SV (both were too big unfortunately, not even with 2 pairs Explorers on). For the sake of it, here is my embarrassingly pitiful haul:

Oroton scarf, $2.50. I couldn’t help myself!

Really snazzy beige umbrella with a nice handle. I’m a sucker for nice umbrella handles. I couldn’t figure out what this one was made of, but it was only $2 and was a lastminute/end of the day find so I got it anyway. It’s abit ratty, but you can tell it was once snazzy. So far I’ve trimmed all the loose threads and there’s a bit of discolouration but we can’t all be winners can we.

Old lady blouse. In addition to umbrella handles, I am also a sucker for lace collars and pintucks. $4.50

Black zig-zag bow blouse. I had a look at my shirt rack and realised everything is cotton and white/pale blue and very ‘corporate-chic’, a look I do not aspire to have. So this was a happy find! $4

And finally I found 2 bows. The black one is special as it clips on to the collar to create the highly niche look of ‘rockabilly’ according to The Age and their constant features on ‘Melbourne underground fashion’. Whatever Janice Breen Burns, you already covered Goth twice. Next!

Another treasure hunting post! This time E and I went to Footscray (not so far away, but according to some *ahem ahem* its the ‘ghetto’ of Melbourne, yeah right). We went to Savers which isn’t my favourite because it always smells funny and I never find anything, and this time round proved me wrong.. somewhat. Its a pretty big Savers and its not arranged in colour as they usually are so there was lots of rummaging to be done and dirty fingers to keep away from faces. The 2 best things I found didn’t fit me or R though and wasn’t up E’s alley, but I had to have them anyway just so that, errr, no one else could. I felt bad! (but not really)

This is amazing jumper no.1: at $10 its a bit pricey (for Savers) but how AMAZING IS IT. like A*MAZING. In case you can’t make it out, there are 4 silver horse heads, and I haven’t figured out what the black thing is. R said its a zebra, but it looks like a tribal tiger or something. I’m not sure.. but the main thing is that it’s so amazing. Its in almost perfect condition too, such a pity it’s a large (womens).

and THIS is amazing find no.2: it was $6 so getting it wasn’t a problem, but figuring out what to do with it is proving to be a bigger problem. I’m thinking, maybe I could take it in? But I don’t own a sewing machine, and the nearest (working) machine owner is J, who lives about 30 min and a steep trek uphill from me. I’m not really a batwing lover and its too big anyway but the colours! the magnificence! Glorious!

After these 2 the other things I found pale in comparison. But other (semi) highlights included:

Pretty floral granny pullover! I don’t really own anything this girly, so I’m still figuring out how to pull it off (hehehe) without looking like a dope.

I also found these 2 scarves for $2 each. I don’t know why I keep buying scarves, I never wear them anyway.

I don’t know what that funny line is in the middle of the brown scarf, but look at the fab new calednonian lady getting ready to whack you with a bat (at first I thought it was a rolling pin but a bat is ok too).

Dinosaurs

R got me this jumper a while ago. He was going to keep it for himself but decided it was more up my alley. Yesss! I think it would have been slightly odd to see him wearing it though. The funny story is that he was describing it to his friend TN who swore blind that it was the Bernhard Willhelm Fall 2002 dinosaur pullover, and was so convinced despite R’s assertion that it definitely wasn’t.

Anyway, this is the BW pullover:

And this is R’s/my dinosaur jumper (clearly superior but looking abit like it was knitted by BW’s grandma):

And a sidenote this also reminds me of my Windows dinosaur pointer

Riding on a wave

In what I think will be a rare occasion, I actually have a semi-break from uni assignments and work etc. Whoo! I’ve been documenting what I’ve bought from recent op shop visits, and so this seems like a prime time for me to post it all. A couple of weeks ago my pal E and I trudged to Glen Waverly and Mount Waverley (at the end of the train line, yikes, I had to make some bad jokes about bringing pepper spray) on an early Saturday morning to do some rummaging. This was probably my first proper op shop trip and boy did I gather some loot! I haven’t been able to take a pic of everything I found that day, including the (really old) packaging of a pair of stockings that was emblazoned with “This garment is treated with ANTI-STATIC” and some cute lightning bolts on the side. So futuristic, stockings of today just don’t go that extra mile anymore. But here’s what I came home with, $60 later.

L- Pheasant print scarf, $7. I call it my Olsen scarf because it’s so long you have to hang it around your neck, wrapping it just looks silly

R- Liberty print floral shirt, $4. I only just realised its fabric is from Liberty (it took me 2 weeks) and I was mildly excited! I tried looking it up on the internet but no dice. The shirt’s a bit big though :(

Most INCREDIBLE ruffle blouse, $6.75. I wonder who this used to belong too, and who she is. I don’t really want to know where she is though, she might be er, gone. Eek!

L- Cute floral plimsols, $6.75. They say ‘Wood Lake’ on the label, a nice alternative to the blah white ones all the kids have right now. Bah.

R- Granny brown heels with cutouts, $4.75. E picked these out for me, then later told me they are definitely granny shoes because the label is ‘Homy Peds’ which is apparently an old orthopaedic footwear brand. ‘tevs E… they have a steel-capped heel which makes a nice clicky sound on the ground.

My awesome bag loot! I went out looking for bags, but I didn’t think I’d find this many.

Top L – Dooney & Burke Essex shoulder bag, $8.75!!!!!!!! My favourite find of the day! It’s in perfect condition, and even came with a US penny inside. Lucky!

Top R – Cream and leather rope satchel, $6.75

Mid L – Black vinyl quilted bag, $8.75. I put this on ebay for sale but it didn’t get much attention, lucky for me because I’m glad it didn’t! I changed the strap to a DIY chanel one (“CHANEL-LO!!!!” hahahah) and now its up there, right next to the D&B

Mid R – fox/devil shaped bag, $2. Bit meh about this one, I like the shape though

Bottom – brown leather clutch/handbag, $3.

…and the cutest find, a Swedish (marriage?) cushion! E found it originally, but decided recently it wasn’t worthy of her collection so I pounced on it. Heehee! It’s going to R’s home though, he has a housemate who has a pretty awesome cushion collection. I also got this really pretty cream pleated skirt that I’ve seen on several other blogs round the traps, but everytime I put it on it looks kinda funny and I take it off again. One day I guess.

And one more!

Teehee! Olsen scarf in action.

Grey American Apparel tshirt, op shop belt, Fortitude Valley market skirt, burgundy Leona Edmiston Tights, Iggy and Lou Lou porcelain charm necklace, Moemoe ankle strap patent flats