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You are here: Home / Bags / Pickin’ for (Purse) Gold

Pickin’ for (Purse) Gold

July 23, 2011 by Jodi 13 Comments

My husband has been really into American Pickers lately.  Have you seen that show?  Two guys that dig through people’s crazy barns and buy junk of them for a profit? That’s some quality television let me tell you. </sarcasm>

Whatever the inspiration, Andy struck gold at a garage sale and bought all the purses at it – all SEVENTEEN of them. Then, the children and him gave them all to me for my birthday.

At first glance, this might not seem like that great of a gift. Until you take a closer look. And you see…

 bamboo handles…
(valued at $6 a piece new) 

…leather purse handles…
($8 a pair) 

rings …
($.50 – $1 a piece, and these are better quality than the big box craft stores sell)

… quality material to work worth…

(I think I’ll be making some more needle books.)

…and oodles of construction techniques to learn from.

And I struck gold with a husband who supports my sewing habit.

What about you? Do you hunt for sewing treasures at garage sales?

Filed Under: Bags Tagged With: frugal, garage sale, hardware, picking, purse, recycle, sewing, thrifting

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Karen @ TheJuneBride says

    July 23, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    Excellent 🙂 I think you two are a great team! I love thrift/estate/rummage finds! I keep an ongoing list of wants so that when I’m somewhere cheap, I remember to look. But you really got the motherload of goodies there, and Andy gets 2 big thumbs up for creativity 🙂

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      July 24, 2011 at 3:52 pm

      I knew you would appreciate it, Karen. you are my thrifting hero.

      Reply
  2. adrien says

    July 23, 2011 at 11:20 pm

    that makes me rethink throwing out old purses – now i should just give them to andy! 🙂

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      July 24, 2011 at 3:54 pm

      sounds good!

      Reply
  3. Andy Bonjour says

    July 23, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    American Pickers… = Quality. Love you sweets.

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      July 24, 2011 at 3:53 pm

      whatever you say, dear.

      Reply
  4. Reenie says

    July 24, 2011 at 11:54 am

    Awesome. Your hubby is brilliant 🙂 Especially if all he is picking is purses, seems to me they are more usable than other things that could be picked. Happy birthday!

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      July 24, 2011 at 3:54 pm

      oh he loves garage sales. He usually does pretty well though.

      Reply
  5. judy rice says

    July 28, 2011 at 9:03 am

    Jodi I just love this I am really enjoying your blog I hope you enjoyed your birthday!!! Judy Rice

    Reply
  6. ランニングシューズ アウトレット says

    October 27, 2013 at 12:26 am

    I comment each time I like a post on a website or if
    I have something to add to the conversation. It’s a result of the fire communicated in the post I browsed.
    And after this post Pickin

    Reply
  7. catt says

    July 10, 2014 at 11:24 am

    I use old purses to make something new. I use the hardware ,zippers , buttons all of it. I recently revamped a denim bag with a flap .
    I don’t like flaps..I cut the zippered pocket off the flap took the flap off the bag. took the the 3 inch sides off and changed the shape of the purse . sewed the zippered flap on one side. put the 3 inch sides back in. It looks like a hobo and I can wear it across body.

    Yes I love to sew and create things.

    catt

    Reply
  8. Gail says

    December 3, 2014 at 1:14 pm

    Yes!! I thought I was the only one to rip everything apart and save what’s reusable! Love it!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Hardware for the Mommy Poppins Bag says:
    April 17, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    […] difficult to find the quality and variety in any of my local shops.  Or, you might have some luck harvesting the pieces off of old purses like I did for my first Mommy Poppins […]

    Reply

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Jodi - Sewing Advocate - Mother of 7 - Lover of Swings and Deadlifts - Catholic

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