Thrift stores can sometimes be overwhelming. There can be so many things to look through, and they’re not always organized the best. You may be thinking of a specific item you want to find, but unless it’s your lucky day that you should also plan on buying a lottery ticket, you are probably not going to find your golden goose. It’s best to go into thrift stores with a general idea of what you want to find, and an open mind of seeing something that will make you stop and say “I could turn that into something amazing!”

Textiles

Some thrift stores may have an actual section for donated fabric, most probably won’t though. If yours does, definitely scrounge through it for some good fabric! Look for good color saturation, interesting prints, and most importantly (in my opinion), natural fibers. Now, these donated fabrics will not have fiber content tags on them, so you can’t always be FOR SURE in the thrift store, but most of the time, polyester will just feel like straight plastic… so you can be semi-confident, buy the fabric, and then do a burn test at home!

For stores that don’t have a specific fabric section, don’t despair! Sheets are always a good place to start for yardage. A lot of the time they will be cotton, come in fun colors and prints, and depending on the size, will provide you with A LOT of real estate. Other options can be tablecloths, curtains, a large cotton skirt that you can take apart, and sometimes even well loved quilts that you can repurpose! Cloth napkins can be made into zipper pouches, sheets into a dress, tablecloths into a sturdy bag or backpack!

Upcycling Clothing

Another fun way to use your imagination in the thrift store is clothing upcycles. This is the best time to find garments that you love based on the fabric content, color, and print… but the garment might not be your size! The bigger the better because you’ll have more fabric to use up when you take it apart to sew up something brand new!

There are plenty of ideas out there for upcycling. One of my favorites recently have been the people taking old sweatshirts, even ones with logos or sayings on them, and then covering up the graphics with an applique… I love the ones with fish!

Sewing Items

There are a lot of sewing notions, buttons, trims, etc in thrift stores. When somebody who spent their life quilting passes away, a lot of the time, the family donates the well-loved items down to somebody who will hopefully use them. Look for old sewing boxes, jars of buttons, trim, lace, ribbon, zippers, any number of items!

I also try to look for sewing-related items that I can take off a different buy. For instance, I have taken a well worn bag (that honestly nobody in their right mind would buy) and took it apart for it’s zipper, D-rings, and other hardware! The zipper had such a fun pull, I couldn’t pass it up! Other items to look for in this category could be belts with interesting buckles, clothing with unique buttons, etc. 

Miscellaneous Items

If you’re looking for some storage ideas for your sewing space, I always like to look for baskets, buckets, and other containers. My off-cut scraps live in a big wooden basket I found at Goodwill under my cutting table. When that gets full, I organize the scraps into their respective places which I talk about in my Fabric Scrap 101 post! 

I’ve found plenty of picture frames, which I like to put vintage patterns in for display. I’ve surprisingly found a few quilting related pieces of art as well! You never know what you’ll find at the thrift store.

Don’t just look at what an item is, but look at what it could become. Recently, I went to a small craft store in town that just opened, and I saw a “spool of thread”... but it was really a 5 gallon bucket, yarn, and two fabric covered circular panels! I will definitely be making one of these, and I will definitely be looking for the supplies at my local thrift stores!

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What are your favorite things to look for at a thrift store? What is your “golden goose” that you have found? I would love to know! You can email me (and sign up for my email list) at hello@thekitschycreative.com.