Sarah, my partner in crime for estate saling, church saling, dueling-blogging and more, has a strong belief in the idea that every year, there's a sale that's "the one to beat". Of course, last summer she had two of these sales, which is of course the exception that proves the rule. The "one to beat" is a very personal thing. Of the two that Sarah attended, I only found one or two slips at one, and I didn't even go to the other one. My "one to beat" last summer involved first a garage full of dresses (which I didn't even blog about, so did it actually happen?), and then a two-week crazy extravaganza where I bought something like 60 dresses.
My "one to beat" happened at a house right in my area, only a couple of miles away. It was blessedly run by our favorite estate sale company, and we got numbers low enough that we got in right away. This was literally the first time all summer that any interesting clothing had appeared in any estate sale pictures, so I was really excited and trying to play it cool. Trying so hard, in fact, that we totally forgot to take a pre-sale selfie. Like amateurs.
As always, I headed straight to the second floor, where the closets tend to be. I found a few things but nothing I was very excited about. But I knew there were more closets somewhere thanks to all the pictures, so I moved on to the attic. Success!
This closet wasn't all dresses, but I found a few pretty things in here right away. There were also some 50s blouses that really tempted me, but when one has gone as far as I have down the dresses rabbit hole, one is wise not to descend down any additional holes.
I moved on and saw this box. Usually boxes with fabric tend to be linens, etc, but something (and I can not tell you what) caught my eye and I began to dig. This pic was taken after I removed all the delightful objects from it. I found a lot of things that gave me all the feels. ALL OF THEM.
I checked out another closet, which was chock full of 60s and 70s dresses, but I was so laden with 40s and 50s dresses/skirts in beautiful condition that I could not even. I'm crazy about 70s dresses, and none of these were as exciting as what I have in my own closet, so I passed them by. Let's all take a moment to admire and feel sorry for this neglected closet.
Sorry, closet.
I found this in the attic as well. If you are not familiar with this device, it's a yarn swift. It holds your yarn for you so that you (or a friend) do not have to hold it with your hands while winding it into a ball (like this):
I have a yarn swift (of course I do) but I've wanted an umbrella one for a long time. Trouble is, all the modern ones I've seen are huge and clamp on to the side of a table. I've never seen such a little one (easier to store) and a tabletop one at that! YES!
My bag had gotten so overrun by this point I left it at the checkout while I continued my exploration. SO MUCH PRETTY.
I was able to breathe now that I had accumulated all the best stuff in the house. I went back to explore further, and found Sarah, as usual, elbow deep in Christmas.
It seems I wasn't the only one in heaven. You can practically see the tears of joy!
I returned to the first closet to make sure I hadn't missed anything good in my frenzy. And I'm so glad I did, because I found this:
It had fallen to the floor and I just saw the print on the fabric. I didn't know what I was grabbing, be it skirt, dress, who knows what. I just said "I don't even care what this is, I want it!" and obviously made the right choice. No less because it FITS me. Only just, but good enough for me! Sorry guys, not for sale.
Apparently I was getting a little worked up in the closet even the second time around. I don't know what noises I was making but a woman asked me "Do you own this closet?" I was so in my own world I couldn't pick out the tone (was I hogging the closet? was I being rude?) but I have it on good authority (read about it directly from the source, who goes into some detail on her blog) that I was sounding nuts and she thought it was hilarious. She actually stuck with us for a little bit and kept throwing out other wisecracks. Shoulda got a pic with that lady!
I found this adorable folding knitting stand. It's already in use!
Sarah and I finally made our exit and took our spoils to the car.
And then made the wise decision not to go anywhere else but to go get some brunch. Which I did not take pictures of. But, while I was there, I started thinking about those 50s blouses. I don't want to get into selling blouses. I don't. But Sarah wisely pointed out that I could wear them, and use them to go with skirts that I am selling while photographing. Since I couldn't get them out of my head, I went back.
The closet was emptier (probably largely thanks to me) and a couple of the blouses were gone.
But I got 3! Expect to see me wearing these with my new vintage skirts!
The rust one buttons up the back. Adorable!
I'm pretty sure I'm keeping the brown one, but all the others will be in my Etsy shop once they've been cleaned!
Skirts! I loved the pockets on the blue one so much that I'm keeping that too.
I mean!
All 50s dresses with skirts of varying fullness. This lady had a type! Purple and gray! I think the gray one furthest to the right is staying with me as well, also due to amazing pockets. Maybe I have a type, too.
I don't usually do 2 piece outfits, but when the two pieces are as good as those, how can I refuse? Wait till I get them on a dress form. They're going to be so pretty!
Now, the blue piece in the middle. Let's talk about that. I knew it was some kind of vintage swimsuit or playsuit. I knew it was good without looking too closely (and I was in the zone, so who has time to look closely?) because it is in PERFECT shape. I mean, I don't think this thing was ever worn and it was stored with care. I got it out when we got to the car and look at the tag!
The famous red swimsuit girl isn't on the skirt of the suit, but that, my friends, is vintage Jantzen. It's from the 30s. And it's perfect. I'm still having palpitations over this one. Definitely coming to my shop soon (because I'm terrified to wear it and possibly damage it myself)!
This officially was my one to beat this year. I've made some good finds this year, but nothing else compares. It was so good, in fact, that I'm taking the upcoming Wednesday off from the Salvo. We call a find like this "a hit" for good reason, and I think I need a bit for it to wear off.
Don't forget to read about this sale from Sarah's perspective at her partner blog!
And check us out on Instagram:
And on Etsy!
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