Thrift shop finds

My New Rays of Sunshine

| JP Dawes Artist

 It is a dreary, dreary day outside. The little bit of springtime we had has retreated. This girl needs sunshine!

This is the light I got at our Salvation Army store last week for $7. I was thinking I would use it for photographing quilts…if it worked. Well it works, I tried  photography with it and it was okay but the LIGHT!
OMG I thought I had died and moved to Florida.
When it is on, it is like a window in my windowless studio space. I almost expect to hear birds singing.                                                                               

Here it is next to my machine this morning. Of course you can’t get the real feel of the sunshine but I can tell you this is one of the best thrift shop finds I have ever made.

Ron said when the bulb burns out I can toss it….uuuuhhhh…not likely. I can’t see that I will ever get tired of soaking up the rays from this baby!

Recycling Textiles

| JP Dawes Artist

Here are more textile finds from the ropa that will eventually end up in fiber art. I am really big into recycling and reusing. It’s funny that I’ve done this for years and I am finally in style. “Ropa” is spanish for clothes but here in the valley we call the used clothing/thrift shop businesses ropas. The ones I go to have both new and used merchandise.

The first piece is a reversible jacket in beautiful blue and lemon yellow brocade. I particularly wanted the frog closures off of this. These are about an inch and a half flowers that are hand stitched to the front flaps. I also love the heavy quilting on the lapel and bottom of the jacket. Who knows where pieces of this will end up?


This is an indigo summer kimono. I wasn’t sure if I would take this apart but friends on the Quilting Arts List assured me that the textile gods would not reach down and snatch it from my hands when I take the scissors to it. The first pix shows part of the front to show you the scale of the mum print. The seams are 11 inches apart which is common in kimonos. This allows for piecing without cutting and having raw edges. Each of the seams is hand stitched with heavy sashiko weight thread. All seams are stitched with a double line of stitching . Where horizontal and vertical lines meet, they are stitched down with an x-stitch like shown in the next pix. This should be a piece of cake to take apart and store the fabric. The selvages are visible on each of the seams and the fabric is 13 1/2 inches wide. I remember years ago in Hawaii how surprised I was to see all the bolts of 14 or 18 inch wide fabrics in a shop. I think that’s when I fell in love with kimono fabrics.

This last pix is of a blouse . The fabric from this one already has a place. I have been working on a series featuring the White River. The blouse is burned silk with a few copper sequins. Can you see a birds eye view of lily pads in the shallow?

Texas Studio progress or Tropical 50’s Funk

| JP Dawes Artist
I wanted to share a few pictures of some of my finds for my Texas workspace, aka studio. On a thrift shop run I found these wonderful bright and cheerful vintage barkcloth curtains for a whopping $1.98 for the pair. Besides my signature cerulean blue, yellow is my next favorite color. I love to use it in a room because it makes even the darkest and dullest day seem as if a ray or two of sunshine has come my way. The color is a brighter yellow than the photo here suggests. They were horribly filthy so their first stop when I got home was the tub filled with cold water and oxyclean. YIKES! The water looked like Lake Okeechobee with all the tannin in it. The second wash made them nice and bright, a steaming press when they were dry and here they are.

The next picture is another find for my space. Because this is a park model mobile home, which means it is a large camping trailer that is meant to be parked long term rather than pulled from RV resort or state park to the next, everything in it is panelled. This room is what used to be the bedroom [before a room was built on] and it has one wall of built in drawers and 2 small cabinet closets. These will be painted sage green with tropical vines hand painted on them.

I was thrilled to find these wonderful frog pulls at the Habitat for Humanity thrift shop. The pulls for the drawers are tree frogs on branches. I think they are going to be just the right touch for my little tropical 50’s funky hideaway.

NOT A Mola Thrift shop find

| JP Dawes Artist

This is not a mola in the traditional sense…gotta call a spade a spade…..but I think many people understand that a mola is an intricately crafted reverse applique textile piece. That’s why I called it a mola but the real term for this can be found in the comments left by my friends. Thanks!

I haven’t had time to do anything new and exciting with my art to post here so I thought you might like to see this. Sometimes I poke through thrift shops for anything interesting that can be recycled or repurposed. At the Salvation Army store there was a huge table full of Christmas decorations and I spied red and green cotton in the pile…oh my gosh, the more I uncovered it, the more excited I got. This mola is 24 x 24 inches and is in absolutely perfect condition! It has the tiniest applique stitches and there are tiny, tiny french knots inside the red swirls and the green is embroidered with small triangles. Now, hold onto your seat, there was no price tag on it so I took it to the counter and asked the price. This Salvation Army is known for being a little pricey so I held my breath and waited….25 cents the clerk said. Whoa….I couldn’t get my wallet out fast enough and literally danced all the way to the car! It is hanging over our little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree that is decorated with chili pepper lights and punched tin. It will be a part of my decorations for years to come.