Deja

My dad runs a whole bunch of subsidized afterschool programs for kids with families that can't afford to send their kids to brownies or soccer, the idea being that kids that play sports and do crafts and things under the guidance of responsible adults are a lot less likely to go off the rails.

So all of a sudden his sewing teacher is moving and I'm the replacement. Yay. I have to come up with some stuff to do with these kids fast.

That means I've been doing a lot of hunting around Dressew lately, because you can pick up all sorts of weird and wonderful things there cheap, like a huge bag of buttons for a dollar, or 50 cent lace shawls or an entire Canadian Airlines stewardess uniform for under $10 or 10 kg of belgian chocolate for $10. Their selection of fabric is usually pretty good too.

The only problem is that you never know what you're going to find there, and that just because they have tons of jean jackets and novelty feathered masks this week, doesn't mean they'll have them next week. They might carry a specific kind of yarn in a specific colour, but once they run out, they may or may not bring that colour back in. They're kind of like a consignment store that way. You can find ridiculously good deals there but you have to be on the lookout for them at all times.

But they carry a lot of cool specialty stuff too. If you need sequinned, lacy appliques for a wedding dress, that's where you should look. Or if you need foot and a half long fringe, they've got it. Unimpressed by the fashion industry? Why not make your very own bra? They have underwires for every size up to something ridiculous like EEEE. Some of those things are so huge I could easily fit three or four breasts in there.

Why do I feel like I've already written this post before?