Video summary
The video features a sewing enthusiast sharing her recent trip to a thrift store, aiming to convince viewers that high-quality fabric can be found inexpensively without visiting traditional fabric shops. She presents a haul of various textile finds, emphasizing that sewing one's own clothes does not have to be costly. Her first discovery is a round tablecloth with a beautiful rose print; although she notes the material feels somewhat plastic and see-through, she plans to line it with cotton batiste for comfort. She highlights the practicality of circular fabric pieces, which can easily be transformed into circle skirts or baby doll dresses with minimal effort, offering instant volume and drape.
Continuing through her finds, the creator showcases a vintage sheet from 2021 featuring thick elastic in the corners, which she intends to repurpose as trim for a tiered dress in muted sage green colors. She also discovered a jersey knit sheet set that is surprisingly stretchy and likely 100% cotton, perfect for making pajama sets or rompers. Additionally, she found linen napkins with tassel edges suitable for tops or skirts, as well as an embroidered eyelet tablecloth that could be used for asymmetrical hems on handkerchief-style tops. She notes that even small pieces with detailed work can add significant value to a project, encouraging viewers to look beyond standard items like blankets and curtains.
The haul includes a nostalgic plaid fabric with metallic lurex threads from the 2000s, which she considers for making sparkly shorts or pleated skirts reminiscent of early 2010s fashion trends. She also acquired plain white sheets, describing them as an essential "gateway" item for thrift store shopping because they serve as excellent, free linings for other garments. By using lightweight solid-colored sheets for lining, sewers can avoid purchasing expensive lining materials from fabric stores and reduce waste.
In conclusion, the creator spent approximately forty dollars on the entire haul, a significant saving compared to buying new fabrics and trims separately. She points out that two of the items came with built-in elastic, further increasing their value. The video serves as an inspiration for viewers to explore local thrift stores, estate sales, and yard sales in their communities, regardless of location size. By approaching these spaces with creativity and an open mind, anyone can build a sewing stash affordably while avoiding the pitfalls of overthinking what specific projects they might create from secondhand materials.
Read the full video transcript
Hi you guys. I recently went fabric
shopping at the thrift store and I'm
going to do a little haul for you today
because if there is nothing else that
I'm going to do with this channel, it's
to convince you that you don't have to
buy fabric from a traditional fabric
store. All of the pieces that I'm going
to show you today are made of fabric.
>> [laughter]
>> And a lot of them are the fabrics that
you're already buying. So we're going to
talk about what I found, what I plan to
use them for, um fiber content to help
you understand how to apply what you
find in the store to a pattern that you
have because sewing your own clothes
does not have to be expensive. Okay, so
starting things off strong, I found what
I consider to be like the unicorn and
that is a round tablecloth. Beautiful
roses, beautiful flowers, the edge of it
looks like this.
So if you wanted to use the raw edge,
which we will, um you can absolutely do
that. There is no tag on this one, so I
don't know what it's made from, but
judging from touching it, I'm going to
tell you it's not a man-made material.
>> [laughter]
>> It's very plastic. It feels like
plastic. But that's okay. That's okay.
It's see-through anyway, so I'm going to
have to line it. So the plastic part
won't be touching my body. I'll have
like a really pretty natural
maybe like cotton batiste or something
underneath it. But what's the beauty of
buying or finding a round piece of
fabric is that you can easily make a
circle skirt. You can easily make kind
of like a
a baby doll dress and just add some
straps to it and you automatically get
that
drape
and
volume
of a circle skirt or of cutting
something
into a circle shape with like little or
no effort at all. Here, can you see the
bottom hem? I mean, come on. That's
beautiful, right? Okay, so that was
piece number one.
Biscuit is taking a nap on the pile of
fabrics.
Excuse me.
Excuse me. The funniest part of it, too,
is that the fabrics are on a stool. So,
it's the stool, the stack of fabrics,
and
>> [laughter]
>> Biscuit on top.
She's something else. Okay, so next, I
found this vintage sheet.
Another really great tip is if you find
a sheet and it happens to be the fitted
sheet, you might think to yourself, "Oh,
what a waste because I have to get rid
like it's not a rectangle, you know, it
has the mitered corners." But, look at
this really thick elastic that comes in
this particular sheet. That's got to be
3/8, maybe even 1/2 an inch elastic
that's in there. So, I'm going to be
able to take that out and use it. Hello.
I mean, that's already worth the $4 that
this thing cost anyways. But, what I
liked about this sheet is that the
background isn't isn't white. So, it's
not We don't have to worry about it
being sheer. It's fully opaque. Um kind
of muted colors in this green sage.
There's some white in there. I think
that'd just make a really pretty dress,
probably. Something with some tiers. You
know, I'm picturing like um
like an Anthropologie type of vibe. You
know, the cottagecore, you know, all
that kind of stuff. So, looky there.
Well, it doesn't have much stretch to
it. But, I also I just found that has
this strip of elastic in it, too. It's
not super stretchy anymore, so I don't
know if that's going to be any good, but
that was to keep it under the corner of
the mattress. So, from 2021.
So, it's not even that old. Did I say it
was vintage?
>> [laughter]
>> Just kidding. Um and it's 100% cotton.
So, any of your patterns that say to use
100% cotton or cotton blends or
whatever, that's what a fitted sheet is.
So, there you go. All right, number
three is actually a set. I found a sheet
set, okay? Fitted and flat.
The most surprising about these is that
they are a jersey knit.
Hello.
Jersey knit.
So,
flat sheet is two and and this is a
queen. I'm pretty sure this is a queen.
It's two and a half yards wide by two
and three quarter yards long. Fitted
sheet is a little bit shorter than that
because they have the mitered corners,
like I was saying before.
But, I mean, I could make pajama dress.
I could make a pajama set with like
shorts and a top to go with it. Um I
could make a romper, a knitted like
stretchy romper.
Um the options are truly endless and
this fabric feels really good. I would
be shocked if it's not 100% cotton.
Um it's a little faded, but I do I see
100% cotton knitted knit jersey type
fabrics at the thrift store are not hard
to find. They are a little bit rare,
especially the ones that are in good
condition, especially ones that like are
a pretty color. Um that's what makes
them a little bit harder to source is
because you know, you still got to like
it. Um but this one has, I don't know,
another like 3/8 inch elastic in there.
It's just serged in, so I'll be able to
cut that away really easily. I will be
able to use Oh, see, there's a hole.
That's probably why they
thrifted it. Because of that little
thing that we can cut all the way
around.
Amazing. Next up, if you have
uh been following for a minute or on
Instagram even, you saw that I made a
shift dress out of eight
linen napkins. So, wouldn't you know, I
found more linen napkins. Now, these
have not been pressed. Um they have the
same like tassel edge as the other dress
did. The problem is is that there's only
five 1 2 3 4 there's only five of them.
So I cannot make a dress but I could
make a top. I could make a skirt. I
could make
a dress with a different back. Don't
love that idea but it's possible.
Um
doing the same technique that I did for
the other dress. So I was thrilled to
find these. Okay, next up in the same
vein as that I found this little
I don't know is this a tablecloth?
But it has all this beautiful
uh like eyelet embroidery. Um there's a
butterfly and like a little viny type
thing.
Um similar to the circle
tablecloth a square one gives you kind
of like an asymmetrical type hem. You
could easily make it into a little
handkerchief hem top. Because the fabric
itself I don't think there's a tag on
this one.
No. Because the fabric itself is at
least 100% cotton it might have some
polyester in it but because it's kind of
like an average white fabric
um you could definitely combine it with
another white fabric and use the hem.
Cuz look at this beautiful this cute
little
hem too. Like that can't go to waste.
You know what I mean? So it's not a big
piece but with a little bit of
imagination and creativity I think it
could be something
really really neat. So you don't need a
ton of fabric when you're at the thrift
store don't always just be looking for
blankets and sheets and curtains.
Sometimes a little piece like that with
a lot of like detailed work can be
really valuable and make something that
you have either a refashion or a new
project look super expensive even though
it was like partially made in a factory
somewhere.
Okay, this next one I don't know. I was
kind of like
thrown back into the 2010s a little bit
with this.
It's a plaid like sparkly type
situation. This was like Remember J.
Crew did a whole bunch of these with
like the um paper bag waist elastic
waist skirts?
I don't know. I was thinking maybe that
would come back.
I do love a gingham. I do sort of love a
sparkle. I don't necessarily love the
background there, but
I don't know. I would just It was more
of a nostalgia thing. Um this is from
Fashion Industries.
And from 2004. So see, it's like right
around that time. It's 85% cotton 15%
lurex, which is the um
metallic thread. So I got this much of
it. I mean, it's not
huge. Well, I mean, it's bigger than
you'd think.
Um and it has this stain on it.
Not even the size of my palm. So I could
easily cut around that. No, no
dimensions. That's okay though. It's
approximately like this from your middle
point to your hand is about a yard. So
we've got a yard and
possibly like a half. And then
a yard. There will be some, you know,
you have to account for the plaids cuz
you do want those to line up. Or at
least I really care about that. I don't
know. It's just like a throwback piece,
I guess. I don't know that I'm going to
make a dress out of it because I don't
love it against my face. I mean, heck,
even make one of those J. Crew skirts
again. Everything coming back around.
All the kids are loving the 2000s, so
what's next? 2010s? And then these will
all be back again. I could do some like
Oh god, this is really a throwback to
the 2010s. I could do some shorts.
Remember like sparkly type shorts and we
would wear them with high heels? Oh man.
Man, oh man, oh, man.
Um
I could do like a pleated skirt. That's
just not really my tight my style, but
yeah, I'm thinking a bottom that I could
pair with I'm
>> [laughter]
>> This is so millennial, but my mind
immediately goes to
>> [gasps]
>> chambray top, right? I mean, it worked.
It worked for so long, and then it
became
cheugy or whatever the kids said, but
it's got to come back, right? I mean, it
was such a cute look. It was all over
Pinterest.
I mean, okay, I'm going to bring it
back, all right? You guys support me
whenever I do that.
Don't tell everybody, "God, what a
millennial. She's trying so hard to
bring that look back." Okay, and then
the last thing that I got
and is the easiest gateway into
finding fabrics at thrift stores is a
plain white sheet. Okay, you don't have
to worry about a lot of things with a
plain white sheet because mostly you're
going to use this for lining, all right?
This is a cotton lining. So, for that,
I'm going to line it with this.
And then it becomes that.
Okay? Don't overthink it. It's just a
white sheet. How many times do you use
cotton fabrics to line
any of your other things? I think this
one is a cotton poly blend, 55/45.
But yeah, okay, just go buy a white
sheet or any lightweight, you can tell
this is like kind of sheer, any
lightweight um cotton or mostly cotton
blend solid color, and you can turn that
into a lining with any of your normal
fabrics. You don't have to worry about
what it's going to look like cuz it's
all going to be on the inside. So, if
you're nervous about going there and
being confused as to what to get or what
I'm going to make this into, just go
looking for linings if nothing else, and
stop buying linings from fabric stores.
You don't have to do that. There's
a lot of plain solid color sheets at the
thrift store. All right, so that is my
haul recently. Obviously, I'm not going
to be able to sew all of this up really
quickly, but we will start chipping away
at it just like everything else that
gets added to our stash. But, all in
all, I spent around 40 bucks for all of
this here. So, not too shabby. Don't
forget with the elastic, too. Two pieces
have the elastic in it. So, I got some
fabrics and some trimmings. So, I'm
really happy with it. So, hopefully this
will inspire you to go check out your
local thrift store, whether that's the
Goodwill, Value Village. You can go to
estate sales, yard sales. You can find
used fabric so many places in your town,
no matter how big or small. And, um
yeah, hopefully this will inspire you to
go just check some of them out. Okay?
That's going to do it for me today,
y'all. Thank you so much for watching,
and I'll see you all very soon. Bye.