Clothes by the pound sale!
A friend and I were reminiscing recently about how we used to go to clothing swaps, the weird stuff we’d find and the rush of getting pushed by someone who wanted the same sweater we did. Remember those days?
It reminded me of one of my favorite summers - a family trip to Portland from Alabama. My uncle’s ex-gifrlfriend Marcie invited me and my sister to what she called a naked barbecue, an annual event she put on with her girflriends where they’d all get together in a backyard and bring over clothes and art and nail polish and snacks and have a big party where people traded clothes and household goods and painted nails and lounged and talked and just generally had a fun time. This would have been around 2002 or 2003, my sister and I were around 19 (we’re twins). Marcie was probably in her mid-30s and we considered her to be a very cool Gen-Xer.
It’s a core memory and we walked away wtih very cool vintage clothes, including an absolutely thrashed Hawaiin Punch guy ringer tee that we have since lost and I cry about often, and some 50s slips that we wore as dresses. I also remember getting my first ever epsom salt foot bath! Life changing. And it was just an amazing group of women of all ages who talked to us like people, not teens, and it all felt very special. Somewhere I think I have actual pictures from a camera from that day.
So imagine my delight when I got a message from my friend last week alerting me to a big Portland clothing pile sale that was held Saturday in the backyard of a share house!
“Vintage Clothing by-the-pound sale. 10:00 am - 11:00 am, one hour only. $5 a pound. Bring a bag, bring a friend, there is no line to get in, no early views, and most importlant please be nice or else you’ll get the boot.”
Perfect. So at 9:50 AM I met my friend in front of the house and at 10:00 AM everyone stood around a GIANT PILE of clothes, shoes, rugs, purses, toys - you name it - and started digging.
Everyone was nice and it was a beautiful day and I had an absolute blast going through the pile. And the best part was the bulk of it was true vintage. 80s REI puffer jackets, 70s leather jackets, 80s purses, old quilted pillow cases, t-shirts from 70s and 80s, tons of different kinds of fabric scraps. Stuff you just don’t see anymore when you hit up a Goodwill. It was truly magical.
I ended up spending $30 total for 6 pounds of stuff. Some I’ll keep, some I’ll pop in the booth. My friend walked out of there with a $10 New Zealand sheepskin rug which was incredible.
I hope this group does it again next year, and I hope it stays small. Vintage clothing resellers are my worst nightmare and so incredibly competitive and challenging to be around and thankfully they haven’t discovered this event yet. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time though. There was one young guy in line behind us who just didn’t get that most of us were there for fun, not to find some sort clout holy grail. He said “these people don’t even know what they have.” We do know what he have though! We’re just there because we love it, not for business, not to hustle.
And to prove I was there just to find the weird stuff, here’s the haul:
I am one-million percent keeping the Nike t-shirt. It is so soft, the perfect vintage t-shirt. I will wear it every day.
Don’t ask why I felt compelled to grab ancient toys, including a haunted sailor doll. They just spoke to me. I can’t say no to an eyeless chartreuse articulating bear! I’m going to see if I can source some old eyes on Etsy or eBay and get him seeing again.
I’m going to clean up and frame the needlepoints. It was fun finding the clove and caraway crewels, they match two framed crewels we found at the NW Largest Garage Sale!
Considering all of these items were in a giant pile of stuff that filled up a whole backyard, it’s amazing the shape everything was in, especially the Italian leather Carla Marchi purse (either going in the booth or on Etsy I think).
The two square quilted pillow cases I’ll launder and pop in the booth with inserts. I love a quilted throw pillow, they’re timeless.
The grey strawberry collar is a mystery to me. Is it a dickie? Is it something someone cut off of a sweater and hemmed? It has a Shetland wool tag, but I’ve never seen anything quite like it. The red is so vibrant though, I couldn’t resist. I’ll hand wash it with wool detergent and decide what to do with it after that. Maybe I can put it on the bear :)
I’ll also be handwashing the angel pillow. She has some emroidered elements, but other than that I can’t find much out about her. I’ll probably keep her honestly. I have a vision for a room in my house that includes an arts & crafts style loveseat with one million pillows on it and she’ll be perfect for that. If I can ever source the loveseat. A work in progress.
Anyway. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled going forward for events similar to this one. I had so much fun and am so happy with my finds, and also just enjoyed chatting with like-minded people who were just as excited as I was with all of the weird stuff we found.
Happy hunting to the rest of you!
