The treasure trove

A couple of weeks ago I won this lovely antique tallboy chest of drawers on eBay. I'd been search for months for the right look, size & price, but everything kept going beyond my budget. Finally I won this one & my bloke & I travelled down to Mount Eliza to pick it up.
The couple were clearing out their mother/in law's unit who had moved into assisted living & while the men did the hard work, Jill & I had a friendly chat as she showed me around the near empty unit. My work came up & she told me her mother in law had been a dressmaker.
They'd already sent her clothing & accessories to the Op Shop (gasp, sigh), but her sewing supplies were in their garage.
I said I'd be most interested in purchasing some of it & she said she would go through it & send me some photos before she listed it all on eBay.
The email came last week with picture of fabric, buttons, haby & 160 patterns. I could have the lot for a very reasonable amount, if I would take it all. Too right I'd take it all.
Sunday we made the trip back down the Pennisula & picked up the booty. And I spent Sunday night & Monday morning sorting through it all. Lining, interfacing, wool, silk, satin, sateen, prints, plains, stripes, checks, cottons, tartan, furnishing, curtains.
 Of the 6 Singapore bags of fabric I have sorted it into one for myself, one to resell, two for Carey & one will go to charity. Only a supermarket bag full of scraps went to the bin.

Then there was the 60 button jars sorted into types or colours plus more on cards, more than 300 reels of thread, some millinery supplies, fastenings, bias binding, zips & a small amount of eqiptment - needles, measures etc.

Finally 3 boxes of patterns dating back to the 1950's. What a collection. And they are in sizes that fit me. Of course I wanted to keep masses for myself, but as if I'm going to make all those 60's dresses when my favorite eras are 10's, 20's, 30's & 50's. 

 There is a 1950's Norman Hartnell that could fetch a small fortune as it's so rare, but I can't bare to part with it just yet. So I have a 'keep for now' pile, a keep for school pile& 3 boxes: sell individually, sell in lots & send to the charity shop. 

It meant that I was throughly distracted from wedding stuff for almost a whole day, but eventually yesterday afternoon I sat down & got Emily's dress finished, to the hand stitching stage. It's so pretty. I must get on to finishing my own dress today.....