Can't Say Strawberry

I think any girl will recognise that feeling of dread when they approach a checkout after a mad shopping spree in their favourite clothing store. Just pick up what you want, don’t bother to check the price tag, and leave the cringing for that moment you see the total and hand over your credit card.

The best bit about second hand shops is that this feeling evaporates when your total is tallied up to a pittance of what you would normally pay in your standard high-street retailer.

“That will be two pounds and a button please!” BRILLIANT. (That quote from my friend Cat pretty much sums up the entire feeling)

So, today I went in hunt of second hand stores in Dortmund. Armed with directions courtesy of Google maps, my warmest coat and Winston (my iPod shuffle), I set off in search of the elusive Gebrauchtwarenladen dealing with Kleidung rather than Möbel.

I seem to have found far more in the way of second-hand furniture shops than clothing shops in my general wanderings around Dortmund – Germans love their second-hand furniture because when they move flats, unlike with student accommodation in the U.K, they tend to take all their furniture with them, or sell it all to the next person moving in. In my case I’m renting a room while someone is away, so I didn’t need to buy any furniture.

My mission was, on the most part, successful! The snow did not help matters. I think I was in serious danger of losing some toes.

I did find a lot of things I hadn’t meant to go looking for, such as the Volkshochschule, or Community College, where I’ll be starting my sewing classes this week!

The first place I went into was dire – picture it; completely empty save for the rails of clothing and the two shop workers sitting at the checkout just watching you the entire time while you shrink away from the ridiculously priced items… seriously, they had a jersey top for 12 Euros. It wasn’t vintage, it wasn’t anything special, in fact, it was the type of item you could get at Primark for £2. So I left that place pretty sharpish.

The next place was much, much better. You could tell that it was well-known by locals due to there being a few people in there already, and they also offered an ironing service. This was where I got most of my goodies today!

Just what I needed to be honest, a good old chunky scarf! We’re Bierbiking again this weekend, and I think I’ll sorely need this scarf! I’m thinking of sewing the ends together to make it into a Snood, if only to say, hey look, I own a Snood, isn’t that a silly word?

  The headscarf (I’ve decided it’s a headscarf anyway) was a mere 50 cent, while the bag, a similar sort would fetch at at least 15 Euros, and that’s if you were shopping in H&M, was only 3.50 Euros. I love the shape and the contrast diamond shaped black on the opening.

This one’s a definite refashion! Not normally a big fan of velvet, but this doesn’t look too tacky and, naturally as it’s floral, I love the pattern! The silhouette and length are what I’m hoping to change.

Just love the waistband on this one. It needs a good old chop at the hem, and that’s about it! Although, one thing left me completely baffled with this one – the pockets are sewn up! Initially, I thought that they must be fake pockets, but no, they’re real, usable pockets! So why have they been sewn up? I’m unpicking those stitches pronto…The belt was also a steal – I have far too many waistbelts, but I think I’ve just decided that there’s no such thing as too many waistbelts!

All in all, I’m pretty happy about my first haul – it all came to 16 Euros in the end, not too shabby! I might just take the Wardrobe Refashion pledge after all.