Weekly Thrift Shop Haul

It was a shock to learn only one in four items donated to thrift shops end up purchased and the rest of the donations end up in the landfill.  I thought items I donated to thrift shops found their way into other people’s homes, but come to find out 75% of my items I donate eventually find their way to the trash. I thought I was being environmentally friendly. Not so, I was delaying the inevitable. My trash may not be somebody’s treasure. Some of my items were just trash.

For Screen Door Studio’s upcycled clothing and jewelry line, 100% of the materials I use come from thrift stores and are fashioned out of recycled materials that I repurpose. I use every part of every piece of clothing I find at thrift stores.   I make weekly rounds to the half off senior days at both the Arc Thrift Store and Once Upon a Thrift in Fort Collins.

The Holy Grail for my art practice are 100% wool sweaters, jackets and coats.  I also look for embroidered patches for my hats, crocheted doilies, embroidered dresser scarves and linens, sewing notions and buttons. Or anything else that strikes my fancy.  It’s getting harder and harder to find wool items and my hunter-gatherer instincts come into play every visit. Who knows what I will find and that is part of the fun. It’s like treasure hunting. You never know what you are going to find. This week I scored dozens of covered button kits. All half off. 

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