What is your charity shop bargain of the week?

PinkTiger

Thank you serious_saver, here are a couple of photos of my picnic basket.

the top section looks like it will come away quite easily as it is attatched to the basket with clear thread, it is the gold studs (rivets?) i'm concerned about removing.

clipperty

I never go in charity shops, not that I don't like just never get to town. Anyway this thread inspired me to go in bhf shop where I have just picked up a virtually brand new large radley tote bag in charcoal grey for £35 I already have this in coral and I paid about £160 for it :j

Was looking through eBay last night and found this bag is worth between £50 and £100 on there so as it is free listing weekend even though I adore it am going to put on for a start of £35 and anything it makes over this I am going to hand back to the shop. Means Im not out of pocket but able to give something back to charity

DundeeDoll

Clipperty that's so nice of you. Or go halves and spend your half in the CS?
Took one handbag into shop (black, gift, unused, defo not radley) came out with 5 flower candles in a wooden tray for me and a rugby mug for cold-filled DD2. £3 in total plus inner glow of liberating a bag. :T

DundeeDoll

Oo now i've opened my blossom candles i hadn't realised the wooden block is black. The candles are all red and go really well with my red kitchen with black slate splash. Very happy bunny.

sarahb

clipperty wrote: »

I never go in charity shops, not that I don't like just never get to town. Anyway this thread inspired me to go in bhf shop where I have just picked up a virtually brand new large radley tote bag in charcoal grey for £35 I already have this in coral and I paid about £160 for it :j

Was looking through eBay last night and found this bag is worth between £50 and £100 on there so as it is free listing weekend even though I adore it am going to put on for a start of £35 and anything it makes over this I am going to hand back to the shop. Means Im not out of pocket but able to give something back to charity

Don't forget to factor in final value fees and paypal fees which come out at around 15% together (paypal fee on postage as well as winning bid) or it will end up costing you if it sells for £35

serious_saver

PinkTiger wrote: »

Thank you serious_saver, here are a couple of photos of my picnic basket.

the top section looks like it will come away quite easily as it is attatched to the basket with clear thread, it is the gold studs (rivets?) i'm concerned about removing.

Ok that doesn't look like the easiest. I think the trickiest part will be the rivet holding the chain onto the basket. Unless you have a riveter I’m not sure how you would fix that back on.


However if you can come up with an idea this is how I would do the rest.

• Take out all of the cutlery and plates
• Find a piece of card and measure it against the area covered by the fabric
• Cut a piece of card that is a few millimetres smaller than the fabric covering the top part if the basket,
• You'll want to carefully unstitch part of the fabric and pull is back to reveal the underside of one of the rivets. It should give you an idea of how they are fixed on.
• If you feel you can remove them without damaging the basket and the straps then carefully do so with a pair of pliers or snips and unstitch the remainder of the fabric. (If you don’t think it is possible then you can just re-stitch the fabric and leave it as it is.)
• Get your piece of card and stretch your new fabric over the top. You might want to use masking tape on the back to hold it into place.
• Hopefully you’ll have been able to remove the straps successfully. Now obviously you’ll want to fix them onto your new fabric somehow. With the fabric stretched over the card, carefully mark out where you want to place the strapping.
• I’m very lucky and I have a riveter so I would just put new ones in but you could use a very strong thread and stitch them on. If you’ve done a reasonable job of marking up the fabric, you should be able to remove the fabric from the card and sew the straps on. It will be a lot easier to sew if it is removed from the card. But continue to use the card to check that the parts are going on in the right place.
• As the strapping will be quite tough I would be inclined to get a selection of nice coloured buttons that could be sewn or glued over to hide any messy stitches (because I know I would be messy). This will also hide the hole where the rivet came out. A lot of charity shops will collect the buttons from clothes that are not good enough to be sold. However they might not be on show so it is worth asking if they have any to buy.
• Once you are happy with the layout you’ll want to fix it onto the basket.
• Take the piece of card and again tape the fabric to it. This time however you only want to tape it on the top and the sides. You’ll also want to tape it loosely. You’ll want it so that there’s about half a centimetre around each of the edges if you pull the fabric tight.
• Place the card (with fabric on) where you want it to end up on the basket and hand sew the top and side edges so it is fixed to the basket on three sides (You may want to find a way to pin it in place whilst you do this.)
• You’ll still have the bottom edge unstitched. Remove the card through the open edge. You may need to give it a bit of a tug as it will still be taped to the fabric. It’s possible that the tape may not come with it but no one will be able to see it when you’re done.
• Fold over the remaining edge and stitch it in place.

Alternatively you can follow the majority of these steps but instead of removing the card you can mount the fabric to the card. This will give extra strength and hold the fabric tighter. If you do this I would suggest entirely covering the card with something to stop it disintegrating if it gets wet. My personal favourite would be gaffer tape as it’s incredibly tough and versatile. You will however find that it is harder to sew; if you end up catching the tape with the needle, the glue from the tape will make it increasing difficult to sew and you’ll have to stop sewing to clean the needle. Hot water is best for this.

serious_saver

I popped into the same charity shop that I bought the curtain sample from over the weekend. I happened to have one of the shopping bags I had made with me.

They were quite impressed and said that they are expecting some more curtain samples in this week and that they would keep hold of them for me until the weekend so I can get first pickings!

Oh yeah! It really is worth making friends with your local charity shop.

If I can get three bags out of every curtain sample I might make two for myself to sell (people keep asking me if I can make one for them) and donate the third back to the shop. It's a win win then

Emuchops

My bargain is a cashmere and wool French Connection coat-reduced from £10 to a fiver!!

Nicepeach

Hi all,

Wow! Great bargains, fabulous ideas & all whilst making much needed donations.

Serious-saver - have you tried asking at local haberdashery/curtain fabric shops for samples? I'm sure they must have a lot as new ranges come in? Just an idea as another source.

Love reading everyone's your posts & ideas. X

serious_saver

Nicepeach wrote: »

Hi all,

Wow! Great bargains, fabulous ideas & all whilst making much needed donations.

Serious-saver - have you tried asking at local haberdashery/curtain fabric shops for samples? I'm sure they must have a lot as new ranges come in? Just an idea as another source.

Love reading everyone's your posts & ideas. X

Thanks Nicepeach. That's a great idea!