Unicorn Embroidery Thrift Find

Miss me? I'll fill you in on where I've been after I introduce you to one of my favorite thrift finds ever.


Like most crafty folks, I have a love affair with thrift shops. One of my favorite embroidery projects of all time was a thrift find. I love finding stitch kits when I'm perusing thrift stores, and have a couple of shelves full of them in my big book case in my office.


This unicorn find from a couple of weeks ago was a jackpot hit for me. It wasn't in its original packaging, but it had everything else with it.

And, sure, it's cool because it's full of 1980s goodness (it's stamped on the back: 1982) but what was really fascinating is the little palette of threads already set up to start the project.


Whoever had this kit got fully set up to stitch before apparently abandoning the project. All the threads (regular 6-stranded cotton floss, crewel wool and even metallic cording) have all been looped thoughtfully into the palette.


They even methodically marked off all the required threads on the chart.


I'm so curious what made them put the project down....

I'm thinking I'll pick it up for some summer stitching. I've got several other projects in the queue right now, but this bright and cheery piece will be perfect for some poolside stitching.

So where have I been? Mostly working. Keeping up with my three posts a day and social media management over at the dandy CRAFT and keeping up with teaching classes. Add to that kiddos and all the space adventures I've been having, and something had to give for a bit. However, my good pal, Diane, and I have some fantastic stuff in store for you in the next few weeks, so rest assured - the hiatus is o-v-e-r. :)

Vintage Craft Thrift Heaven

When I was planning one of my early trips to Portland a few years ago, I remember when Diane mentioned a place she'd like to take me. Her description of the store immediately caught my attention and got me giddy:

"It's a thrift craft supply store with lots of vintage goodies," she said.

"Well," I replied. " You just named three of my favorite things!"


The Knittn' Kitten did not disappoint. During my first visit, I scored oodles of vintage bias tape and ric rac. I brought home a vintage embroidered table cloth that I still use when I'm doing embroidery demos or special occasions. (I even found, but did not buy, an embroidered table cloth that was in progress ... complete with the hoop still attached!) And I discovered loads of vintage embroidery transfers, including one of my most treasured vintage embroidery transfers: the Girl Scout Sampler.


The Knittn' Kitten in Portland is completely unique. It's a thrift store of nothing but craft supplies, and most of it is vintage. It's a dream. The Kitten suffered a bit of a slow summer in this struggling economy, and several of Portland's crafty heavy hitters have come out in force to support The Knittn' Kitten and encourage others to do the same.

Lots of laughter and finds at The Kitten during the PDX Craftgasm weekend back in April! From L to R, Lee Meredith, Kim Werker and Theresa Sullivan. Photo from Diane.

Even though I'm in Texas, I can't express my love of The Knittn' Kitten enough. When I returned to The Kitten during the PDX Handmade nation weekend, I had a blissful visit. We arrived with a full entourage of folks, and the store was alive with laughter and gasps of "OHMYGOSHLOOKWHATIJUSTFOUND!"s. Everyone found some kind of treasure that day, and everyone had fun.

That's me and Betsy Greer browsing the amazing vintage craft books and magazines. Most of the pictures in this post are from the magazine I'm holding in this picture. Picture from Diane.

Most of the pictures in this post are from some of the things I brought home from my trip to The Kitten in April. You can see the things I discovered in my first trip to The Kitten back in my post from that trip.


One of the coolest things that the Portland craft community is doing is coming up with free patterns for projects that can be completed using things you can find at The Knittn' Kitten. Some of my best crafty Portland friends are sharing their ideas and projects. Here's the schedule of contributors so far:

September 22 – Heather Mann

September 29 – Teresa Sullivan

October 6 – Diane Gilleland

October 13 – Joey Groendes

October 20 – Christine Blystone

October 27 – Susan Beal

November 3 – Lee Meredith

November 10 – Bridget Benton

Be sure to check out the projects, and check out the Knittn' Kitten Flickr pool where people are posting pictures of things they've found at The Kitten or made with things they purchased at The Kitten.

If you live in Portland, or have friends who do, please pass this information on. If you don't live in Portland, drop The Knittn' Kitten gals a line to show your support. And if you have the opportunity to travel to Portland, be sure that The Knittn' Kitten is at the top of your list for places to visit. You won't be disappointed

Crafty finds from Portland: Stop 1 - Knitten Kitten

It may have been more than two weeks ago, but I promise, the report on my crafty day with Diane is worth the wait. If you are going to do a crafty day in Portland, you want to do it with Diane. And if you aren't lucky enough to score her as your guide, don't fret. Just pick up a copy of the current issue of Craft magazine, and you can see her report on the crafty highlights of PDX. You can even get a peek at how she put together a comprehensive crafty Google map of Portland. She knows her stuff, and I couldn't have asked for a better, or more fun, tour guide.


We started out with bagels and tea near the Central Library. We chatted non-stop (actually, we did that all day!) and were smiley to the point of being annoying. We also exchanged some crafty gifts.

Here's an awesome bag Diane made for me. It's a partial picture, because - honestly - it's wrinkled from overuse on my part. See that flower fabric there? That's Diane's own design. Yep! I got some of her Spoonflower stash! I was so excited to see it in person, and recognized it instantly. So special. I was blown away by her tiny stitches that secured some adorable ric rac on the outside of the bag, and one of my favorite details of the piece is that she actually added ric rac to the edge of the pocket inside. It's little details like that that make me happy as all get out.

The pin cushion is one of her fantastic steel wool/needle sharpening creations. I can't wait to use it.

Next, we headed off to the Knitten Kitten. I've had Knitten Kitten on my radar since last year's visit to Portland. I tried to go there, and it was closed. I was so disappointed, and knew that if I didn't do anything else on my crafty tour of Portland, I *had* to hit the Knitten Kitten.

Knitten Kitten combines all my favorite things: it's a vintage craft supply thrift store. Those are some of my favorite words. I know that trips to thrift stores of any kind can be hit or miss, so I tried not to get my hopes up. It didn't matter, though, because the Kitten delivered in a big way and exceeded all my expectations. Here's what I found:

Fabric - a lot of these are just scraps, but I don't care. They are scraps of happiness.




I also found a beautiful embroidered table cloth in the "vintage linens" room. I liked it because it uses black in the design, and with most floral embroidered table cloths I've seen, there isn't much black. I lucked out and found four matching napkins in the vintage hankie basket. Score!

The napkins and tablecloth have the sweetest little edging detail.


I also grabbed this hilarious book:

See that big blue one in back? He's actually hollow so you can set him on your bed and use him to hide your PJs. Awww yeah ....

The other big score at Knitten Kitten was vintage embroidery transfers. I'm going to put those up in a separate post - they deserve it. If you are heading to Portland, or are anywhere near Portland, be sure to stop by the Knitten Kitten. It's clean, well-organized and totally worth the trip. Thanks, Diane, for taking me there. :)

Next up: the Embroidery Finds (including one that had me jumping up and down), a Japanese Craft Book Utopia, and Twisted, a fantastic, cozy place that's way more than just a yarn store.

I'd also like to give a huge shout out to some awesome Austin crafters who sent along some of their goods as a special gift for Diane. Diane has already done a great post about her gift, so I'll direct you to her web site to see the beautiful things they sent along.

An apron's second life

I'm a huge fan of thrift stores, but really - what crafter isn't, right? When I was in high school, I'd spend weekends with my best friend, Misty, scouring the local thrift and antique stores for cool stuff (ah ... fond memories of the big fake fur, green satin-lined bag, the Welcome Back, Kotter board game, and the cool vintage dresses I can no longer fit into ...)

I'd taken a little break from thrifting, though I'm not sure why. Over the last year or so, I've ventured back into thrift stores, and have a few fun finds as a result. A friend turned me on to one thrift store in south Austin that I now adore - they have one whole section of "shelves" that are full of craft supplies. It's where I got the "thrift find embroidery" and where I recently scored loads of beautiful wooden spools of thread for just a couple of dollars.

And when my eyes hit this amazing, fun vintage-y apron that was sporting a price tag of $1.99, I knew I had to have it. I thought it might be fun to actually use as an apron, or even just to hang up and enjoy - the colors and images are fantastic. But then as I was folding it up one day (after showing my husband, "Look! How cool is this!?" ... he just shook his head) I realized that the bottom of the apron would be the perfect size for a messenger bag.

All kinds of wheels started turning then. I'd signed myself up for one of Leslie's handbags and totes classes months ago, and decided I'd bring the apron in and see if I could make it work (Project Runway, anyone? I haven't watched last night's episode yet - don't spoil it!)

Here's where I'll hop in and share my fist big lesson I learned ... and I'll spare you the stream of curse words that spewed from my mouth when I realized what I'd done ... or had not done. I forgot to take a picture of the apron before I chopped it up. ARGH! (pounds fists on cutting mat) So I've drawn a very rough sketch of the apron here. It's a San Francisco apron with a great cable car scene at the bottom and fantastic read bais tape around all the edges. I wasn't able to save or use the bias tape, but it sure was fun to look at. When I laid the pattern piece for the flap of the bag on the apron, it was like the apron had been made for that exact pattern. It fit the bottom apron image *perfectly* - almost frighteningly so. With some of the fabric Leslie was selling, I was on my way to what is sure to be one of my all-time favorite bags and craft projects.

I was able to use almost every bit of the apron - the bottom half for the flap, and the bib (where the words, "San Francisco" were printed) became an inside pocket. The only part I was sort of bummed about was that I couldn't include Alcatraz anywhere on the bag. The flap cut it right in half at the top. It would have been fun to have it on there, but I'm ok with how it came out.

The bag wasn't hard too make, but had a lot of steps. As always, Leslie was incredibly patient in helping me piece it all together. She told me about how when she worked in the costume department at Zach, someone had put a sign up on the wall that said, "Why is there never time to do it right, but always time to do it over?" I have chanted that in my head over and over again this last week while I've been sewing, and I've really enjoyed taking my time and doing things right. Now I have a great bag that's well made and that I'm madly in love with. And I think it will even fit my laptop.

I'm looking forward to more of taking time to do it right.....

The Thrift Find is complete

Whew - wrapped her up last night. The flower border got frustrating after a while, and I have to admit that I cheated and didn't cut and finish each one - I just strung on to the next one. So, the back is .... not perfect, but considering that I'm framing her - no one will ever see that. I love the way she turned out, though! I used little sequins around the border - something I haven't done before - and I like how they turned out. They were super easy to work with. AK keeps saying she wants her hung up in her room .... is it totally wrong that I want her in my office/craft room? Argh.

We're heading up to my husband's grandparent's house today for a loooong road trip (up and back in one day). I've stamped a tea towel with one of my favorite designs so I can stitch a little something for his grandmother on the way up there.

Happy weekend!