Saturday, June 5, 2010

Preparedness 101 - #10

One of the things I've started doing whenever I hit a thrift store is look for fabrics that might make suitable clothing. Flannel and cotton sheets (in acceptable colors and patterns, of course) are excellent choices. I recently also found some small fleece lap blankets that will make warm dresses or slacks in a pinch. I'm a pretty lousy seamstress (compounded by the fact that I hate sewing) but I can sew if I have to. And with growing kids, I may have to.

Here I've washed some fabrics and hung them to dry.


But take a gander at this find! This is a pure wool blanket, probably about 75 years old or older. I know this because it's nearly identical to a solid wool blanket I inherited from my grandparents, and that they received when they were married. I found it at Goodwill for - drum roll please - $12.50. When I showed the blanket to my father, he nearly jumped because it so closely resembles the blankets he grew up with.

3 comments:

  1. This so hits home. LOL I am 4 foot 10 inches tall. I wear children's size 12 or 14 clothes. In order to have pants without Smurfs on the pockets or blouses with bust darts (Most 12 yr olds do not have much bust-line), I am forced to make a fair amount of my own clothes. I'm good at it. I hate it. I can whip out a pair of dressy slacks in an afternoon, but I'd rather gag on a cat.
    I have boxes of great fabric, all packed in space bags to keep them fresh. I wonder why I do this, instead of storing clothes for the kids. I feel for ya, thinking of a disaster that will force me to actually sew all this into something for them. For me, I'm willing to wear gunny sacks at this point.

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  2. we were poorer than dirt growing up...there were four of us and we were like doorsteps..15mos apart. my mama, out of necessity made practicallly everything we had with the exception of underwear. she could (and taught us girls) to makeover old clothing, make new clothing, linens..well just about anything. and she made sure the two boys knew how to handsew a patch, a temporary seam and a buttons. so in our family necessity was the mother of invention. all of your woolens, quilts, etc.. should be stored in cotton (such as pillowslips), particulary if they are to be stored for a period of time. periodically they should also be aired out and inspected. when all of us children had left home mother presented each of us with quilts...all different, but that had been put together using the fabrics worn throughout our childhoods.

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  3. This all resonates deeply with me. My sewing life began at the age of seven when my grandma had me sewing quilt blocks on her treadle machine...said blocks made of flour sacks and worn out hand-me-downs.

    Another thing I always check for when on 'thrift store patrol' is quilt batting and good yarn.

    A little off topic, but another (already checked-off)'must have' on my preparedness list is a pair of c.b. radios. They'd be invaluable if TS ever HTF. And old vehicles. Hydraulics. No electronics. 1960's or earlier, Ford or GM. I have one of each.

    McSpade

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