I think it was two years ago that I fell in love with this bag from Luella Bartley's Target line. It has lots and lots of pockets and it's bright yellow: of course I loved it!
I bought one (the only one my Target had) and looked for it at the other Targets in Chicago, but of course I didn't find one — everyone loved this bag. So, once it was clear that I was going to wear it into little tiny bits (and I did; I broke the top zipper and washed it until it was more of a grayish mustard color than yellow) I started an eBay search for it.
I used the keywords "Luella yellow" and yesterday my search finally came up gold. (Or, rather, yellow.) Some seller dug up a new-with-tags version and put it up, and five hours later it was (notionally) mine. (I still have to wait for it to come in the mail, and I just realized I didn't remember to have it sent to my PO Box. D'oh! Time to email the seller …)
So my recommendation to you is to save those eBay searches (check out this page if you need help) and keep renewing them. Everything shows up on eBay eventually. You just need to be patient.
A Dress A Day 
but will you wear it as a makeshift push-up bra like that mannequin is doing?
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I thought it was some topless halter dress before I scrolled down! EEEEKK! Not the dress I want today, or any day!
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I hoped I was not the only who noticed the rather unique way the bag is displayed… I’m guessing the seller wanted to bust the bag out of storage.
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This reminds me to renew my eBay searches, they do expire after a while, not without a lot of warnings though.
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push-up bra LOL! Yes I noticed the scary picture but could not look away until I scrolled down and found out why on earth Erin would post it. Am I the only one who takes stuff I have loved to death apart to make pattern pieces and try and copy it?
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Good find, Erin! And please tell us it was a bargain too. The thing I most want on eBay appears to be the thing everybody else now wants on eBay, so prices have rocketed in just a few weeks. [Sobs!] Are bargains really thinner on the ground out there, good people? Or am I just jaundiced? Guess it depends what you’re looking for…
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lorrwill,I take stuff apart to make pattern pieces, too! Even did it with the upholstery on a chair – with reasonable success. Agree about wondering why Erin would post “such a picture.” Glad there was a good reason 🙂
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Now, just because you’ve found one and claimed it, don’t cancel your search. Eventually this new one is going to wear out, too.
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I had no idea you could save your ebay searches! Thanks for that knowledge (and your most readable blog)! :]
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Ha! I was so excited about the bag that I didn’t even notice the, um, “product placement.” I am going to take the old one apart for a pattern now that I have a replacement! Of course, every time I try to make a handbag I totally frag my sewing machine and have to take it to the shop … maybe with the new machine it won’t be a problem.
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That reminds me of when I used to live in New York, and carried a backpack everywhere because I had to lug so much stuff between appointments. The best one — surprisingly — was at Woolworth; cheap, perfectly plain, and had a million zippers and compartments…and I was always going back to different Woolworths over time, digging through the back, dusty shelves, trying to find JUST ONE MORE. Finally I bought 3 at once and that lasted another 5 years or so…they finally got discontinued but I was prepared! Thank god my filled-to-the-brim backpack days are over, and I live in L.A. where we can use our car trunks as portable closets.
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[Lightbulb] Surely this is the perfect foil for your grey ruffle dress?
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Definitely save those ebay searches. I’m currently waiting for my saved searches to throw up my desired pair of l.a.m.b shoes!
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Hope this isn’t too random, but I saw these alphabet scarfs and the first thing I thought of is this blog.
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So I was showing my husband this site for the first time… forcing him to look at a website of dresses and dress patterns and there are golden boobies and bronze nipples. Not quite the justification to buy more patterns I was looking for… but it was a great momentary distraction.
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Thank you, luvlee. I just spit Coca-Cola all over my keyboard. I would have loved to see your husbands face!
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Now, I’m rethinking my disdain for yellow. That’s a cool bag.
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luvlee that is best LOL I have had in a while.anon with the alphabet scarves – not too random at all. Fits in perfectly, in fact.
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Nothing like that feeling of success when you find what you want and manage to get it! Nice blog, I stumbled on it a few days ago and enjoy reading it.
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I totally agree. My partner really loves this old, ratty tshirt from the gap, and I managed to find it SO easily by just searching “gap bird shirt”. Although, I’ll mention that googling such things also gives fruitful results, in my experience.
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Erin,I love the comma necklace you linked to a few posts back. I’ve decided that it isn’t a comma; it is one of those extraneous apostrophes that litter storefront signs these days (hot dogs’, we do your nails’ for less, etc!). If I got one, would it remove one of those unneeded apostrophes? Thanks for the link.Laura
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hello…the dresses here remind me of the movie i watched recently…Grease…I’m loving vintage now…My mom would surely love this if she sees this site more power =)
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erin,forever ago you mentioned a site that would make a bound book out of your blog. i’ve searched your blog for the entry but can’t seem to type in the appropriate combination of words. do you remember off the top of your head the name of the site?
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Cute bag! And, yes, it’s true about everything turning up on eBay. And sometimes they turn up in bunches. I have a set of a rarer type of Fiestaware dishes–not particularly valuable ones, but I’m very fond of them. (The 1960s “Hawaiian Daisy” ones.) They turn up occasionally on eBay, and I needed a bunch of lunch plates, as I only had three. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, there were loads of auctions on eBay. Sometimes that would mean fakes, but no one would bother faking these. But I wouldn’t have known most likely, as it wasn’t something I looked for all that often, except I had a constant search going. Now I have more lunch plates than I know what to do with!Speaking of bags, I lusted after a Boden tote in a bright Union Jack pattern this year. It promptly went out of stock, so I put it on back order, not expecting to get it. It turned up last week! And…I don’t like it. It’s smaller than I thought–I wanted it for a beach bag–and it doesn’t close on top, which is not good for someone as klutzy as me. So know I have to decide whether to just return it, or put it on eBay so that someone who was dying for it, like Erin and her yellow bag, can get one. What do you guys think?
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I need an apostriphe necklace for my last name O’Hagan
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I need an apostriphe necklace for my last name O’Hagan
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Soule Mama had a site make a bound book out of her blog. I’d look there–I don’t remember Erin talking about it here on DressADay. http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/
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Kristen, these guys publish anthologies of blog posts:http://www.fractalpress.com/Good luck with your quest!
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Was it blurb.com?
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