The Makehouse

I had the greatest time last night.

A woman here in town has opened up this amazing shop called The Makehouse. It is a shop for making, just as its name implies. A shop for making things anywhere from nipple tassels to upholstery classes. She did a workshop on making your own pillows that I would love to do next time its offered and has recently even offered workshops for painting and illustration.

Her shop is this cozy little place just outside of downtown where she also offers a drop in stitching parlour, and every time I've ever popped in for a moment I have wanted to stay forever. It reminds me of the great thrift shops we would find on youth tours in small towns where lots of ladies would be in the back knitting or quilting. A community of people who want to make things.

Please take a minute to listen here and hear all about it on CBC Radio's All Points West. I feel like my descriptions aren't doing it justice.

Jenny is amazing! And a side note, originally from Saskatoon it turns out. She will also be working with us on the next phase of Theatre SKAM's Fashion Machine and we are really looking forward to that.

Last night Jenny hosted a clothing swap. I had never been to one, but my girlfriend Jessica has been going to them for ages in Montreal. The really fun part about a hosted swap rather than just a friend swap, is that I didn't know anyone there! So I met other girls, I got outside of my bubble and I gave clothes a chance that I may not have found otherwise. I gave my clothes to good new homes, while coming home with some amazing new to me clothes. The clothes I brought home range from clothes that I can't wait to expand my wardrobe and new west coasty style with and clothes that fit like an old favorite sweater right away. In fact I found a sweater that is so much like an old comfy sweater already to me that Rob keeps swearing up and down I already have one just like it (I don't).

The rules of the swap were:

Each garment that you bring is worth one token. One item for one item.

If you pick it up and try it on first - it's yours. 

All clothing should be clean and free of stains, holes, or major damage.

There is an image on The Makehouse Facebook fan site of the swap when we first got started. So many clothes. There were three giant tables of clothes, a rack and then more random clothes hung off every object in the shop. Jenny and some of her volunteers had done such a nice job sorting, folding and arranging them all that I think everyone was too polite to disturb the peace at first.

I took about 6 items into the back to try on at first, but every time I came back out people had put stuff back that they didn't like on, or didn't fit, so there would be more things to try on. Seriously I think I took about 6 passes at the clothes before I finally quit at 7:30 (the swapping had only just started at 6:30).

I dropped off 25 things and came back home with 20!  And I am genuinely excited about every single item. I put everything on immediately for Amber when I got home.

I also brought home a sweater dress for her that I had tried on and realized she would love it even more... at this point there were still so many clothes Jenny was telling us to forget about numbers and please take things home! The rest will get donated and up-cycled in her shop.

And then today I modeled it all again for Rob when he got home from another trip to Montreal and was still so excited to just wear everything right now!

My pile of beautiful new clothes.

And because I am so excited to wear everything, I am going to wear one item of new clothing every day until I run out. And then they can find their new place inside my (newly very well organized) closet and dresser.

So naturally, I will share every item with you.

Today's outfit

Up Close ;)

Now hurry up and go like Jenny and The Makehouse on facebook and watch for her blog posts over in Coffee Row.