Vintage at the Village Hall

It has been a very busy few days. After the excitement of the excellent Vintage and Handmade Fair in Chipping Sodbury, it was soon Monday morning and time for the very first Vintage at the Village Hall Fair organised by Ted and Bunny. The drive to Dorset was hairy (to say the least) and not helped by frozen windscreen washers!

On arrival at the hall, we were greeted with a fantastic sight, bunting criss-crossed the ceiling and vintage goodies piled high on the other stalls. After the fastest set-up in 20 years of trading it was suddenly 10 o clock and time to start selling. I can only say it was a bit like a football crowd coming in, hoards of eager buyers surged into the hall and it really was "standing room only".

Even the chap from the local paper said  he couldn't take pictures of so many people in one space! As usual my camera would only let me take outside piccies, so I am unable to give you a true flavour of the beautiful interior. There was one outside stall which I took photos of, but the strong sunlight made them look out of focus. Below is the best I can offer!

There were several other bloggers at the fair, so worth checking out Elegance maison, The Vintage Bothy, Denise, Shirley, Linda ,  Lizzie and Lucy Bloom for further pictures of a fantastic event!

A big Thank You to Elaine for organising such an amazing day, and we wait with anticipation for the 2001 dates!

Favourite Childhood books. What is yours?

 This has to be one of my all time fave childhood books

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and beautifully illustrated by Marjorie Torrey and published in 1955

The wonderful pictures speak for themselves don't they? I must have looked at them all a thousand times (judging by the state of this book) the binding has gone and the pages are just about held together......

I haven't included every page, just the best in my humble opinion!

Have you still got a well loved childhood book that you would like to share? Enjoy the weekend!

Winter wardrobe and Shepton Mallet 3 Day Antiques Fair and .....Kirsty!

Busy, Busy this week (despite catching Mr W's rotten cold). I bought these amazing barkcloth curtains at the Frome Retro fair 2 weeks ago. I plan to use them as a backdrop in my stand at the Antiques Fair this weekend.

Here are a few of the Winter warmers.. vintage jackets and coats that are coming with me to the fair. Above is a French 50's coat, size 14 approx, very cosy.

Along with a selection of gorgeous vintage silk scarves (a few sold on ebay last week, but still have a HUGE stash of them!)

This gents cashmere coat is pretty cool, I also have it in navy, but that one has gone into the Dairy House as Sue is always asking me to put more vintage clothing onto my stand, so I have obliged!

This fur trimmed jacket comes with a matching skirt, very Mad Men I think.

 

Lastly this little gem of a childs coat! I bumped into a friend in a carpark in town yesterday and she has already said she wants first dibs on this one!! I still have a couple of reduced entry tickets to the fair so please leave a message if you are interested.

 PS. I have to add how much I enjoyed Kirsty's programme last night. I watch very little TV, but I felt this was worth giving up an hour for! Anyone who promotes reusing, recycling and making items for your home has to be applauded. Of course a lot of what she says and does it what many of us have been doing for years, BUT it is about time that this country's obsession with "buying new" needs to change. I will now step down from the soap box before I get started on Christmas!!!

1940's Wartime BUNDLES FOR BRITAIN BAG with Label

I have recently discovered this fascinating little slice of wartime history in a bag of old lace!

A cloth bag measuring about 12 ins across  in a purple/brownish colour. It has a discoloured white cotton lining with various pocketed sections and a closing flap with popper fastening. Inside there is a label as pictured above which reads ''from your American friends BUNDLES FOR BRITAIN '' .  These bags and many other items were part of a relief effort in the early part of the Second World War of non-military items  from the USA to Britain. It was started by a lady called Marion Newbert Jorgensen  and became a regional organisation across the USA under her management sending much needed items to wartime Britain .  The bag is in really very nice condition for age , all original including the label , with just a little wear to the lining . It has been used by a lady to keep her sewing and needlework items in so has been carefully looked after over many years .  A very interesting piece of wartime history which Mr W has listed for me on ebay..click here if you want to view the auction. Now onwards with the sorting....... I still have a way to go with my Autumn "Spring Clean".

Walpoles Fashions

This little slice of fashion history is a folder of designs from May 1939. I am guessing it was a type of catalogue sent out to (wealthy) clients to entice them to the store at 87 - 91 New Bond Street London.

Inside the folder there are outfits for every occasion. Underwear, dressing gowns......

..even what to wear for "cruising week 15th to 20th May 1939"

It is rather sad to think that this optimistic luxurious world is only months away from the start of WW2.

This is just one of the vintage fashion related items that I have listed on ebay. Click here if you are interested.
Now, on with the Autumn "spring clean"....

The Vintage Bazaar in Frome

Saturday saw us sitting in the van outside the Cheese and Grain in Frome with a flask of coffee at 6.30 am, these guys were sound asleep in their tour bus next to us. I would have loved to have seen them play the evening before, but I think a late night bopping away to a reggae band might not have helped us cope with the organisation of the long awaited 
Vintage Bazaar......

Once we had got into the building and allocated the stalls, we opened the doors to the enthusiastic stall holders. I played a few lively White Mink tracks to get the atmosphere going.. we had a few problems with the music, but a combination of my son's old stereo and Mike's clever arrangement with his iplayer and an amp we were in business!

Soon everyone was in place and the doors opened on the dot of 9 to allow the first wave of customers into the building. These are a small sample of the stalls on offer.

What I don't have are the images of the rails of fabulous clothing from the 1900's up until the 1960's. It wasn't a date lined event, but we wanted the clothing to be Antique and Vintage, and boy did the stall holders provide an amazing selection.... there were silk dressing gowns, 30's lame jackets, soft velvet 40's evening cloaks, faux fur 40's jackets (my mum snaffled that one!) and much, much more.

It seems that delicate china pretties are easier to photograph! Please visit the following blogs for more images of the day. Sal's Snippets, Tracy at the Vintage Bothy, The Vintage Magpie, Nostalgia at the Stonehouse, Suzy, Gaby and Maud and Elaine aka Ted and Bunny!

Of course Clare and I need to say a lot of Thank You's for the combined efforts and energies that made for a buzzing and spectacular day.

The team at the Cheese and Grain provide an excellent service, and were happy to accommodate every request. Nothing was any trouble.

Of course we couldn't have done it without Mr W and Mr Darling, and Clare's mum........ and all the friends who have supported us and assisted with spreading the word about the Bazaar. Edwin stepped in to assist on the desk in the morning, a much needed pair of hands to meet and greet the throngs as they came through the door... thank you to all 1145 of you and hope to see you next time on Saturday the 30th of April 2011.

This was one of the star stands of the day, Debbie's amazing Gardenalia stall. This was Debbie's first ever fair and she certainly put on a spectacular show, next stop The Country Living Fair eh?