I first heard about the Garage Sale Trail when scanning through a newsletter from my local council. The hippie, bargain hunter and vintage treasure seeker in me all cheered simultaneously.
What a great event for councils to support! Sellers get to de-clutter and earn a little bit of cash, buyers get a treasure and a bargain and councils (and everyone really) get the benefit of less things going unnecessarily to landfill. Win-win-win!
My good friend and fellow blogger Melissa Loh suggested we go on the trail together and I was super keen to have such fine company along the way. We both scoured the Garage Sale Trail website for promising sales and ended up with a decent trail of 19 - there could have been many more but it got a little overwhelming with so many to choose from.
We did our pre-event preparations like seasoned veterans. We printed out our trail and map, numbering and colour-coding everything by open times.
We created a 'must-take list':
- tea
- muesli bars
- measuring tape
- smartphones for navigation
- car phone charger
- shopping bags
- plenty of cash!
With all of our groundwork done - there was nothing left to do but get a good night sleep and set our alarms for 'rediculously early'.
It was an early start to the day. We hit our very first sale at 6am. The lovely seller had advertised her sale as being a "clothing hoarder's de-stash" and her sale lived up to the promise. Mel and I both walked away with dresses and I snagged a vintage hat and a vintage white cardigan.
We hopped from sale to sale, sometimes walking away after a brief browse, sometimes staying 15 minutes. We sometimes oooohed. Other times ewwwwed. Sometimes ummmmmmed and occasionally ahhhhhed with the starry eyed look that treasure hunters get when they find the motherload of loot.
We stopped off for breakfast at Bungalow in Hawthorne for breakfast and had a cold-drink and toilet stop at the Ithaca Bowls Club in Redhill. We called it a day just after noon and went home to check over our collected goods. We visited a grand total of 11 sales!
My goodies included....
Sewing goodies:
- a 1927 Needlework manual which includes detailed instructions on drafting up patterns
- a 1940s glove knitting pattern book (though I had told myself that buying more knitting patterns was banned)
- 2 x 50s sewing patterns
- a 1920s Butterick pattern. (The BEST buy of the day).
- brown and white gingham. I have plans to make this into an embroidered skirt or apron.
- buckles buckles buckles! Some of these I suspect are bakelite.
- four little blue buttons in the shape of flowers.
Homewares and stationery goodies:
- A Johnson Brothers village scene plate. Future breakfasts will be in style!
- A pretty cottage scene tea towel.
- A white piece of linen - edged and ready for some embroidery work.
- A fake leather letter writing keeper with pockets for envelopes, stamps and paper.
- A tin full of postcards of bohemian Paris poster images.
Magazines and books:
- A promotional cookbook from what looks like the 20s.
- A 1954 Home Journal (sans patterns)
- 2x 1953 Homes and Gardens magazines.
- 2x 1970s Vogue Pattern magazines - no patterns but some fabulous styling photos!
Accessories:
- Red suede-look belt.
- Teal beaded purse.
- a olive and cream pheasant scarf.
- 2x embroidered handerchiefs
- a dragonfly brooch
- a little vintage mountaineering brooch
- 60s leaf-look hat.
Clothing:
- 1960s chiffon party dress
- white frilly skirt
- beige skirt (sadly this doesn't fit)
- beige and white striped 70s does 40s shirtwaist dress
- vintage white cardigan - I have plans to bead the heck out of this!
- a navy and white embroidered skirt and top set.
- a brown and blue striped 70s dress.
The cheapest purchase: the white frilly skirt was in a 'giveaway' box. $0.
The most expensive purchase: the 60s party dress which was $25.
The best bargain: the 1920s sewing pattern which was $2. (I kid you not.)
The worst 'bargain': this is a toss up between the beige skirt which was $4ish - but doesn't fit and the dragonfly brooch which is missing a gem. At the time I thought I would find a replacement but now I am not so certain.
The Garage Sale Trail is an annual event and I already look forward to next year's run!
So lovely readers, did any of you hit the Garage Sale Trail yourself? Did you pick up any bargains or treasures?
You did so well with your loot! And I cannot believe you managed to score in the giveaway bin. Is the 1920s sewing pattern in ok condition?
ReplyDeleteSuch fabulous finds!
ReplyDeleteI'm secretly very jealous of that cookbook. ;)