You know I totally love op shopping right? I mean I am the op shop queen! Every time my lovely work colleagues compliment me on something I am wearing it is always with a bit of an eye- rolling- tongue- in- cheek " I suppose you made it yourself" or " you found it at an.op shop- I so need to go op shopping with you!".
And ok, I was feeling a bit exhausted and crap by the time I finished work on Friday, and a road work traffic detour did take me in the vicinity of a great op shop I don't often get to, so of course I just had to visit ( there was a car park right at the front door, how could I say no?!). AND there was a box of lego in the window. I KNOW- unheard of!!!
I knew I could NOT come home without the lego, so straight away I asked for it to be put aside while I kept browsing. I found 2 gorgeous shirts ( something spotty & something floral had been on my radar to look for).
And I found this great craft book-
I spotted some red jeans on the half price rack out the front, I tried them on & bought them too, although they are too long - easy fixed with overlocker & sewing machine to the hems- and a bit wide (hoping a couple of darts in the back will do the trick there).
But when I got home & started washing my new found treasures (though not the book obvoiusly!), I struck my pet hate. The one big downside of op shopping. The smell.
In Dawn O' Porter's TV series "This Old Thing" seen earlier this year on ABC2, journalist Dawn was trying to convince fans of high street fashion to try shopping for vintage clothes instead. The biggest issue most people on the show had was getting over their idea that vintage shops - and the clothes in them - would smell unpleasant. Like "old people" or decay, or mothballs.
So ok, sometimes there is a mothball smell, which I am not particularly fond of (camphor balls people! Just as effective, much more pleasant on the nose!). But for me the far worse smell is stinky perfume/ laundry detergent. Yuck yuck yuck! When I wash my clothes I do not want them to come out of the machine smelling of anything - other than " clean" . Like no smell at all! Why do most laundry detergents STINK! Floral perfumey or artificial soapy toilet cleanery smell! Phewey! Pepe Le Pew! When my favourite non scented detergent disappeared from the supermarket, I had to hunt around to find something suitably non-scented to replace it. I never thought I would use a big brand like OMO, but their "sensitive" range works for me.
But - back to op shopping. The red jeans I bought with plans to adjust to fit me are yet to make it to the sewing machine- thet have been through the washing machine, soaked overnight in vinegar - twice; dried overnight in the cold outside; soaked overnight in nappy soak -- and they still smell florally perfumey! I have had the odd op shop purchase in the past that I have washed and washed but just not been able to get rid of the perfumey stink, so have had to reluctantly give in and send them back to the op shop. So annoying!
Really hoping the jeans are ok, the bizarre thing is they still had the remnants of a label on them & really don't look like they have been worn, so how they got soooo stinky is beyond me! I mean I washed cloth nappies when the kids were babies, and they were stinky in a whole other way, but always came up clean after a soak and a wash! But the perfumey- detergent stink in some op shop clothes is another beast indeed!
