It's Raining, It's Pouring, Chicagoist is Hording Cheap and Unusual Clothing

By Margaret Lyons in Miscellaneous on Oct 8, 2004 4:38PM

Chicagoist is feeling all crafty today; it's rainy and crappy out and a hot glue gun and a sewing machine are our only tickets to happiness. Sigh. Well, perhaps we could cheer ourselves up with a little shuh-shuh-shuh-shopping? Crafy shopping? Judges? Judges rule…yes!

Today and tomorrow you can buy stuff Built By Wendy on the cheap. We're crossing our fingers for a ham shirt, which we're actually kind of obsessed with, so if you're looking for an early Christmas present for your dear, dear website, there's just one idea. Wendy herself is from suburban Chicago, so show your love for a hometown girl by snatching up what we hear will be some seriously discounted duds. The sale is at 1417 North Hoyne Street and runs today and tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Crafty chic not your style? Get ready for Halloween or for cultivating a new and wildly eccentric personality by stocking up some gear at the Lyric Opera's warehouse sale, held, if you can believe it, at the Lyric Opera's warehouse on 26th and Dearborn. The sale runs Saturday and Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m. The Trib article, makes it sound like the absolute freakiest place on earth, in a good way, probably:

Standing in one room were a half-dozen life-size statues of the Virgin Mary--both with and without baby Jesus--crowded around a giant bust of some grumpy-looking guy.
There was a small, dark room off the main space on the second floor where dozens of molds, an old painting, a papier-mache swan and a handful of musty parasols were shelved or scattered about.
There was a red velvet sofa, 10 feet long and on wheels, left over from the Lyric's last production of "Macbeth." A giant dumbbell. A throne. A gargoyle. Chairs. Several larger-than-life knights in armor from a production of "Anna Bolena."
There was a boat, about 22 feet long, used in a long-forgotten opera.
There was a small collection of prop grandfather clocks from "The Spanish Hour."

OK, Christmas list part deux: Virgin Mary statue with baby Jesus, one musty parasol (mustier the better, we always say), a few grandfather clocks if possible. Ho ho ho.