Bitten by the Frenchys Bug...

I was told it would take three tries before it stuck. And sure enough, they were right.

Having come from Ontario, I'd never heard of Guy's Frenchys before, though the concept wasn't new. I'd been a fan of Value Village, cuz I'm always up for a bargain and one can sometimes find a real jackpot, especially if one is into crafts. Just ask Carrie over at Carrie's Workbasket...she's the queen of the ultimate find. She just nabbed herself a copy of Nicky Epsteins Knitted Embellishments at a used book store for FIVE DOLLARS! Not long before that, she wrangled herself a whole set of circular knitting needles for fifteen dollars. I bow down...(though I did once find a mini weaving loom for six bucks, so I do okay myself).

Anyhow, Guy's is basically the same idea I think as Value Village, but a different set up. Dresses and coats are hung up around the perimeter of the store while all other items are in big bins set up around the rest of the store. You have to pick through the bins to get an idea of what they have in stock. The bins are organized by category, like ladies blouses or kids sizes 0-24 mos., that type of thing.

To be totally honest, it was the picking through bins that kind of put me off. I didn't really have an issue with the items themselves, it was just that I didn't want to spent that kind of time! I like browsing through racks or meandering up and down isles, but rifling through bins takes a certain level of commitment.

Various people had regaled with their own unique tales of unbelievable Frenchys bargains and assured me that I'd just have to hit that one jackpot and I'd be hooked. I was still skeptical, but I thought I'd give it one more go. Besides, I was looking for old bedding for our new room mate, to put in his crate. So lets start there.



Monday whilst doing my Christmas shopping, I stopped into the Bridgewater Frenchys to peruse their bedding stock. I found this twin sized comforter, which I cut in half and then zig-zagged the raw edge with my sewing machine. The half then folded in half (got all that?) fits quite nicely into the crate. Now I have two crate blankets, one to use and one to store, made from one comforter. And I thought that the sports motif was befitting a little boy. (!)

I also picked up a couple of twin sized fitted sheets and turned one of them into a partial crate cozy.


As the crate needs to double as a side table while we're still in the apartment, there were some wires hanging down the sides of the crate that I didn't want to puppy to be able to get to. So a few measurments and hems later, and we've got a crate cozy! I bought two sheets thinking I wouldn't get enough fabric out of one, but one was way more than enough. I have huge usable scraps out of the one sheet that I used, plus all of the other sheet.

So if that was all I ended up with out of this particular shopping endeavour at Frenchys, I would've been quite satisfied with that. I think the comforter was three dollars and the sheets were somewhere in the $1.75 range or something. But then I started strolling about the store and came across the 'Odds' bin. I'm a fan of odd things, and though I knew they meant mismatched items or just things that weren't categorized in other bins, I kinda hoped I would find something odd. And I kinda did.



A whole smorgasboard of handwoven items. Now, a sad truth that a crafter must reconsile themselves with is that some day, that item, be it a baby sweater or a crocheted blanket, that they worked so dilligently on and fretted over every detail, may end up spending it's golden years in a place just like this one. Countless times I've gone into thrift stores and seen piles and piles of hand crafted clothing and bedding languishing in obscurity for a mere pittance a piece. It makes me kinda sad. Undoubtedly I wouldn't feel this way if I didn't participate in these crafts myself, but when I look at that matching baby sweater and hat, I know that someone picked out the pattern, pondered over it's difficulty level, saw it both as a challenge and a pleasure, happily anticipated shopping for the yarn and stood in the shop fondling this colour and that colour, finally picking just the right one. Then that person took all of these random elements, yarn, needles, pattern pamphlet, and spent their evenings and afternoons in joyous activity and contemplation on the intended recipient.

It makes me feel slightly better if I can tell that these discarded items have been repeatedly washed, which means that at least they were used. And you can't totally blame whomever discarded the item in the first place. Children grow, tastes change and we can't all keep everything forever. If we did, we'd all end up on those Oprah hoarding specials (did anyone see the one with the woman who had 75 tonnes of garbage, not to mention the usable stuff, in her house???). But knowing that these things were hand made by someone who had to have a certain level of skill and who put an awful lot of thought behind making it, makes it seem as though these 'things' should be just a little more special than your average consumer item.



All of this is what probably prompted me to 'rescue' all of this stuff. It was the apron with the blue designs that first caught my eye. You can just tell that something is handwoven when you see it. I snapped it up in a hurry and then began the serious digging. The aqua coloured place mats? I found four. The pinky and white checked ones? Six. There's two of the plain cream coloured ones. Some of this stuff have personalized tags on them which say 'Hand Woven by...' right on it.


A small item, about six inches square, probably a sample to test out weave structure and pattern.

Moreso than knitted stuff, this just breaks my heart. It takes nearly an entire day to dress a loom, and that's just the prep! You haven't even begun to weave anything yet! Weaving itself is pretty straightforward, and the results are always impressive. And durable. And would fetch a pretty penny at a craft sale. I got this stuff for a fraction of what it is truly worth.



Then there's my little handbag problem. I just came across an entire box in the garage, like a 2 cube packing box, full of my handbags. I was so excited to see them! I saw these at Frenchy's and they told me that I must take them home. The flowery one in the middle is a thick resin/plasticy thing that will make a great beach bag. The two canvas totes are Martha Stewart Living bags, which I'm guessing were a free gift with subscription or something. Anyhow, I'm not a Stewart-ite, just liked the colours and the shape of the bags, so I'm thinking good knitting project bags. The little one was just too cute to leave behind. It serves no useful purpose other than to sit there and be adored, so that's what I plan to do.

In addition to this haul, I got about five books, one on refinishing wood (cuz up to this point, I've just been doing whatever I feel like), one on tailoring clothing, a few kids books and Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, which I've been wanting to read but wasn't willing to pay $12 for! Yes, I'm exceptionally frugal. I don't spend any money on myself, can't remember the last time I bought myself a piece of clothing or got a proper haircut. And so this is how the repressed consumer in me rebels. It takes me thrift shopping and goes ape shit. But ya wanna know the grand total of this little excursion? $31.75. Tell me the last time you bought three tote bags, one comforter, two fitted sheets, 12 place mats, one apron and five books for $31.75.

Damn right I'm going back.

PS: We get the puppy Friday morning.