Shop Charity in '23!

Rosa_Damascena

I have what was a perfectly good pair of jeans until the button above the zip was dislodged. Replacing this one button could cost more than a new (pre-loved) pair in a chazzer. I can see why (labour etc) but it's not very environmentally friendly to ditch them when they could be given a second life. Yet economically it doesn't add up

YoungBlueEyes

Agreed Rosa. Years ago I took a pair of jeans in to get the zip replaced, the repair cost 3x what the jeans cost me!

Miró

C_J said:

I have recently taken up the new hobby of glass fusing, so am on the look out for cheap coloured glass items to smash up and fire into something new, and interesting small ceramic items to use as moulds. In the very last chazzer I visited yesterday I happened upon a basket filled with several different shapes of dinky ceramic tableware (the lady in the shop thought they had been donated by a restaurant, and were intended to hold tiny amounts of seasonings) which were exactly what I had been looking for and at 10 for £1 were amazing value. I never cease to be amazed and delighted by the way the Chazzer Fairies deliver for us 😂😂

Ooooh this sounds interesting, can you use sea glass for this?  Would love to see some of your work if you feel up to posting pics!

My ‘gentleman caller’ is now fully chazza trained having graduated with honours in handbag designer recognition and authentication(!). It started with luring him, an avid reader, into the book sections and things progressed from there.  Now, he has been known to rummage in the ladies sections for my favourite makes, (raising eyebrows sometimes), but he surpassed himself today in a chazza in Northallerton* with a loud cry of, “this is a fake Mulberry bag, the screw heads are pointing the wrong way!”.  So proud! 😀

*bought nowt 🙁

C_J

@Miró Yes, I am certain you could use sea glass, it would be fab. Each different type of glass (I am learning) melts at a different rate - it’s called the Coefficient of Expansion. This means while your sea glass would melt, it might (or might not) be tricky to fuse other types of glass to it successfully, if the CoEs were incompatible. There might be some trial and error!

As soon as I have fused something which doesn’t look too horrendous, I will post it. I’m still at the trial and error stage, although I’m getting better 😊

Brie

@C_J
who knew it was all so complicated!!?!  We have a beautiful bowl we bought from a glass artist at an open gallery event a few years back.  She had a lot of prisms and other sun catcher things that she was selling relatively cheaply and also some bowls and plates made with fused glass.  Well I say fused glass - it was layered rather than being random melted bits but this has about 100 alternating white and blue stripes.  She spent a lot of time explaining bits of the process but I must admit I didn't take much of it in beyond it being technical and time consuming.  Which was way a bowl about 7 inches across was £60.  But it's beautiful and I love it.  I've got a couple of other lovely bowls - one is a pale blue molten glass - perfect to use as a big salad bowl which was a bargain at a fundraiser for £3!  Another craft buy is a pottery one from a festival in The Netherlands - a teal colour glaze and inside the bowl there is a pattern into the fabric of the bowl made by the potter pressing in a heavy lace material before firing.  

But back to the chazzers.....first outing back down in Poole for yonks.  Met up with a friend and after hugs, tears, tea, and chatter we checked out a few shops.  Nowt much to see unfortunately (no scarves!!!) but the Oxfam shop did have some lovely cards so I was able to get an Easter one for my mom - a photo of a dalmatian pup (splattered with paint and guarding some painted eggs) which she will like.  Bargain at 99p!  They had some more expensive cards featuring a lot of embroidery that my friend bought £3.99 each.  

Sorry - should have said friend gave me a scarf too - might be a chazzer find as she knows what I'm like.  Looking forward to wearing it some day soon!!!

Wednesday2000

I found a birthday card and the star scarf in the hospice shop. £2 for both. I then went in the British Heart Foundation and got my friend a scarf, the necklace and the gift bag which came to £10. We are going out to a concert so I wanted to give her something that wasn't too heavy to carry home. I'm keeping the star scarf for myself!

Cherryfudge

Rosa_Damascena said:

I have what was a perfectly good pair of jeans until the button above the zip was dislodged. Replacing this one button could cost more than a new (pre-loved) pair in a chazzer. I can see why (labour etc) but it's not very environmentally friendly to ditch them when they could be given a second life. Yet economically it doesn't add up

I'd view that as a challenge. Obviously jeans buttons tend to be rivetted through the fabric, and most of us just don't happen to have the specialist gadgetry to hand... but I found this if you have about a tenner to spend on the big river company.

There are lots of 'how to mend jeans' videos on the net, or if the DIY aspect doesn't appeal, might there be a repair cafe nearby that would do it for you?

I think if it were mine, I'd want to go for conspicuous mending - a patch behind a bright button, perhaps, but it could be inconspicuous if you prefer that. It's a shame, as you say, to lose a good pair of jeans for want of a button.

Or you could ask the textiles geniuses over on the Fashion on the Ration thread for ideas.  

Potternerd

Rosa_Damascena said:

I have what was a perfectly good pair of jeans until the button above the zip was dislodged. Replacing this one button could cost more than a new (pre-loved) pair in a chazzer. I can see why (labour etc) but it's not very environmentally friendly to ditch them when they could be given a second life. Yet economically it doesn't add up

I bought a Gap denim jacket which I was very pleased with last year. It had copper riveted buttons but when I got it home I noticed that one of the cuff buttons had come out and been replaced with a regular copper coloured button. Soon after the other cuff button came off and I replaced with a copper button I had in my button tin. Subsequently another button has come out (clearly there is a design flaw or someone at the Gap factory is a bit rubbish at buttons). You can definitely sew on a metallic button and it will work just as well as a riveted one ( and much better than the riveted one on my Gap jacket😂).

DigForVictory

Miró said:

My ‘gentleman caller’ is now fully chazza trained having graduated with honours in handbag designer recognition and authentication(!). ...  Now, he has been known to rummage in the ladies sections for my favourite makes, (raising eyebrows sometimes), but he surpassed himself today in a chazza in Northallerton* with a loud cry of, “this is a fake Mulberry bag, the screw heads are pointing the wrong way!”.  So proud! 😀

Excellent! Specialist knowledge is becoming an endangered skill with smartphones, so well done training him up on the darker arts of authentication also!
My lot are all rather too sound on Denby (what with exposure from the cradle) but they do come in to hunt books...  And are a bit peeved when I will buy something fascinating, that we're not certain is the genuine thing, for the basestamp. What they do not know about Burleigih may come to bite them sometime as any snarl of Mission Creep will be met with "But It's Owned by Denby" and at minimum will get a Severe Look.

goldfinches

Well done on the training of respective menfolk to both @DigForVictory and @Miró, only another 4 billion to go and the world will be a much better place. If you need a wry laugh do have a read of this article in the New Yorker One Woman’s History of Unpaid Labor in Romantic Relationships | The New Yorker.

Anyway, after having my eyes checked and running various errands yesterday afternoon I popped into my favourite Bhf shop on the way home and snapped up three novels at £2 apiece. As I was just flicking through the rails I felt the beautifully soft texture of this top and thinking it might be cashmere took a closer look. It turned out to be made from recycled materials and designed to be very easy care so I snapped it up for £6.99. It's an odd design in that it is almost wider than long with very dropped shoulders and rather a dark colour but for something to snuggle in at home, well worth the money.


And here it is at the original price ONE SIZE BLOUSE WOMAN - 1335 - SOFT BLACK/SAND – HENRIETTE STEFFENSEN Copenhagen (hscph.com) which did rather make me say "how much!" so I think I've got a bargain.