Church Sales and Fabric...plus a bonus monkey

While I will often pull over for a yard sale, and have trouble passing my favorite thrift stores without stopping "just for a minute" - as my long-suffering husband and off-spring can attest - what I really have a soft spot for is the underappreciated church sale.

As an annual fundraiser, usually in the spring or summer, many churches will have a "yard sale" where congregants donate items to sell and others rent table space. Unfortunately, these were more treasure troves several years ago, I've noticed the treasures have declined somewhat in recent years. But, they are still a great place to find craft supplies, particularly fabrics..and church-lady homemade chicken corn soup and baked goods like pumpkin roll and whoopee pies, bonus!

One of my favorite kind of church members who is donating to the sale, will unload their unused stash of fabrics and crafts supplies. I have found so many fun vintage/good quality fabrics for literally pennies a yard. This pile of fabrics above (well over 5 yards worth) were all high quality/interesting patterns I purchased at a church sale for $4.75.

Its also a great place to find embroidery hoops...these were .10 each. 

(Note: For more ideas of crafts to make with embroidery hoops, check out Pintrest. You will go down a rabbit hole of ideas and come out the other side some time next week). 

And when you combine the fun fabrics and bright colored hoops, you can make some quick crafts to brighten your wall.

The vintage fabrics are of the most interest to me - as I am a vintage loving human - and few places are better than a church sale to find them. Although you can find bags of mixed fabrics at the Goodwill or Salvation Army at a great price too.

My sister-in-law found this beautiful piece of vintage fabric at the Goodwill for .25 and it was just enough for me to make a pillow for her.

I found several yards intact of  this heavy (almost canvas weight) bright fabric at Goodwill for $3.00. Enough to make several matching pillows...or something else, haven't quite decided. Mu-mu?

And this Cowboy patterned fabric was in a bag of random fabric pieces I bought at Goodwill for a few dollars. I didn't even see this piece until I got home and rummaged to the bottom (I do love a pleasant surprise). It was perfect to cover the cushion in this dog bed I re-purposed from an old suitcase.

So, while Michael's and Joanne's Fabrics are good when you want a specific fabric for a specific project, to replenish your craft room stash, I have found the church sales and thrift stores yield a surprising array of vintage fabrics at prices you cannot beat.

And you don't have to just look in the fabric/craft section of the thrift store. Check out their linens. I have used old table cloths for projects too. If they are super-cute but have stains, strategic use is a wonderful way to bring them back out into the world. 

Like this old table cloth I used for another dog bed suitcase I made. You would not know that half of it was too stained to ever really use as a table cloth again. But makes a mighty cute cushion cover.

And just because...

Here is a weird - and seemingly quite surprised - wooden monkey from the thrift store shelves (I may have looked like this when I found the cowboy fabric). 

Happy fabric hunting!