Make your crafts one-of-a-kind with supplies from the swap meet. Craft stores are super for the basics, but to give your projects an individual touch, hit the flea market and start hunting. You’ll discover all kinds of goodies from fabric and buttons to appliqués and postcards––and these fun finds are not only unique, they’re cheap!
Raw Materials
Love to sew? Flea markets are loaded with textiles! Remnants are easy to find, but it’s not uncommon to see whole bolts of 30s floral chintz, 50s Hawaiian bark cloth, and 70s Lilly Pulitzer prints. Let a mod 60s polka dot inspire your next handbag!
Button Bonanza
What gives crafts instant vintage flair? Antique buttons, of course! Adorn a mirror with Victorian picture buttons, embellish a pillow with Czech glass shanks, or make a button bracelet out of Bakelite pinwheels. Talk about cute as a button!
Stamp Collecting
If you are a stamper, the flea market is your oyster. There are hand-carved stamps from India for stamping your own fabric, printers’ alphabets for scrapbooking, and even etched newspaper advertisements for novel greeting cards.
Jewel’s Paradise
Broken jewelry needs your creative help! Don’t leaving it lying in a heap of tarnished chains. Rescue brooches to use as focal beads, refashion watch faces into pendants, and restring pearls into modern beaded necklaces.
Blue Ribbons
Vendors have rolls of ribbons by the dozens just waiting to gussy up your gift crafts. Choose sheer organza to bundle a stack of sachets or striped grosgrain to give an apron a sassy sash. Then select some spools of satin to tie your gifts up with a bow!
Photo Finish
If you spot a box filled with photos and old papers, dive on in and see what treasures await you! Turn sepia portraits into artist trading cards and train tickets into tags. Who knew a map from the 40s could take your papercrafts so far?!
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