The beginnings of my vintage life

When I was 14 I used to spend my Saturdays in Attica, a second-hand shop (this is pre-"vintage") in The Haymarket, Newcastle, lingering over the full-skirted 1950s dresses. The rails were bursting with them and they were £15 each. Why I never bought one, I cannot tell you. I spent so much of my time in there it's a wonder the owner never once said to me "Oi, you – buy something or get out!"

I remember a particular beauty with big orange roses all over it. Years and years later, I finally got a similar one, and I've just sold it on eBay. I never wear it, but it's such a difficult thing to finally let go of. Goodbye, lovely frock, I feel genuinely sad.

At the time I did buy: old leather hatboxes to use as bags, men's pyjama trousers which I wore as trousers with the flies sewn up and the hems rolled, men's pinstripe suit jackets with the back cinched in with a row of carefully-aligned kilt pins, defunct watches which I took apart and re-made as brooches (how very steampunk – I was ahead of my time!) and those kids' plimsoles (we always called them "sandshoes") with the elasticated inserts on the front.

Attica moved to the other end of the city and will be closing at the end of August.

New prints!

I managed to squeeze in a new two-colour print on wallpaper this morning. Vintage wallpaper is getting hard to come by and can be very expensive, but I picked up some good stuff over the summer and have a few new designs ready to get onto screens.

This is the print I did today (without the lettering).
I used the artwork a couple of months ago for this advert for my prints on Etsy.

The Browless Student

Wow! What a treasure today has brought me. 

I found a fabulous pair of vintage tortoiseshell specs in one of my regular haunts (it pays to look in ALL those cabinets). One the inside of one arms they are labelled "Welby's AL Browless Student."

 Of COURSE I'm going to wear them, how could you even ask?!

Before I send them off to have prescription lenses put in them, I contacted Dead Men's Spex to ask their help in dating the frames and the very helpful Darren replied with the following:

"A nice pair of reading frames.
I would say they date to the mid 1960's - early 1970's.
They are made of cellulose acetate.
It is a supra frame - the top is held in by a nylon cord in a groove in the lens - and this didn't come into manufacture until 1955 at the earliest.
Probably a European manufacturer as supra frames were not popular in the USA.
The joints are pinned not heat inserted and are multi barreled making them not later than the early 1970's.
The "AL" is the colour Autumn Leaf
Seeing the way the name is hand written in white on it I would suggest that it was probably a salesman's sample from a local prescription house, I have seen frames from sales boxes marked this way before (maybe based at Welby just outside Grantham or the proprietors were called Welby - there is no reference that I know of to a manufacturer of frames called Welby)."

Difficult choice!

Oh, all so lovely! Which one to make? The red minx dress or the green lady dress?

(Actually, I've already made my choice...)

Cracking on!

Got a lot more done on the chair yesterday. Got all the tacks out except for the stubborn ones in the hard wood corners; sanded down the wood (my least favourite bit) and applied the Liquid Gold; cut the seat foam to size and put the wadding, the calico layer and the fabric on the front face of the chair back.

My new favourite person is the lady in the foam shop at Fiveways who advised me to put a bread knife in the freezer, have a glass of wine and then cut the foam with the bread knife. I had beer instead of wine but it still worked!

The Blue Chair in progress

On new year's day I found a decrepit chair in the street but decided that it would make a great upcycling project. The arms are really lovely and I'm sure it could be totally transformed.

It's been sitting there ever since and I've been putting off starting on it as once I start something I'll steam ahead until it's finished. Now I'm two days into taking it apart, it's much more complicated than any of the furniture I've tackle before.

Day one I began prising the old leather cover off but, typically of me, without the right tools. It was firmly held in place with lots of rusty old tacks and I was using a fish knife to prise them off! I'm sure it's no surprise to hear that I eventually had to stop as my fingers were cut to pieces and my hands bruised.

A day in between for recovery and the purchase of a proper tack removing tool, and I started again. Easier than it was, but still a tough job.

The leather of the seat and back just would not budge, I pulled it it tore and eventually the culprit popped out – this little plastic figure which had been wedged down the back of the charm between the timbers! (See how he's still gripping a piece of the seat foam in his determined hands!)

Now it's finally stripped down and the arms have had their first sanding. The next stage is a bit more sanding and them some Liquid Gold to restore the wood. Once that's dry I will be able to move on to the upholstery.

Atomic!

Unlike most of my upcycled furniture, this one wasn't found in the street – I did have to pay actual money for it in an actual charity shop.

The covering on the plywood top was badly-adhered and wrinkled Fablon, so off that came. But what to replace it with? Still thinking about what to use – I kid you not – a large piece of printed oilcloth actually blew along the ground towards me at the Sunday fleamarket. 'Twas meant to be, obviously.

And on that subject, we all work better to music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tko1G6XRiQ

Decisions, decisions...

I've got a solo exhibition coming up in March in Lewes. I've certainly got enough pieces but can't decide whether to stick to a theme (I have series of birds & animals, tea & cake, retro fashion, flowers & plants) or mix it up.

Work will be framed and hung on the wall – no extras in a browser or anything like that.

Any ideas?

Wow!

A couple of post-free days, I've been doing dull, dull stuff I'm afraid. Dull stuff like spreadsheets.

Some other people, it would seem, have been doing some very un-dull stuff – like THIS, the most fantastic thing I've seen in a long time. Thanks to Mel for the hot tip.

fashion from old people
http://drawthisdress.tumblr.com/

Tigris

Given my very large collections of vintage clothing and tin robots, I do try not to get into collecting things only for the sake of it – I just don't have space to store much more stuff and I do like to use everything I own.

However, I have had a passing interest in mid-century ceramics for some time, but I do resist buying them… usually.

I particularly like the 1960s designs for Swedish manufacturer Rorstrand by Marianne Westman, especially the "My Garden" pattern (featuring fish, not gardens for some strange reason), which is rarely seen.

Recently I came across this 1950s ceramic cat vase, in perfect condition, and bought it intending to sell it on. After a very short time it had charmed its way into my affections and I decided to keep it.

Stamped on the base only with an unhelpful "Foreign", some research led me on a wild goose chase through Italian and Swedish ceramics and eventually to its unmistakeable origins: Schmider, a West German ceramics manufacturer, in the Tigris pattern designed by Anneliese Beckh.

I enjoyed this little research trip and I discovered some lovely things along the way. I can see how this could so very easily become a new collecting fad, but I am going to try hard to resist it. At least vintage clothes don't need dusting!

Enough for one day

I don't know whether pasting in these links will work, but let's give it a go. As usual, jewellery was my big seller at Frock Me! so I have spent all evening listing on eBay clothes I didn't sell today. Twenty minutes of free listing time left and I've had enough! Actually feel like looking at something made after 1963 for a change (don't worry I'm sure normal service will have resumed by tomorrow). Ladies' vintage frock coat opera black double-breasted

Ladies' vintage jade teal suede coat Mod scooter 1960s

Vintage green cardigan or jacket Mod scooter 60s 1960s

Vintage grey flannel batwing dress with zips 1980s 80s

Vintage 1920s 1930s handbag purse silk

Vintage 1950s 50s clip-on earrings

Vintage burgundy wool waistcoat Mod scooter 60s 1960s

Vintage Lacoste dress pink Mod scooter 60s 70s

Vintage black patent bag Mod scooter 1960s 60s

Brown leather Kickers boots worn once unisex size 5 38

Vintage 1950s 50s black leather frame handbag purse

Vintage deep red suede A-line skirt cut outs 1970s 70s

Vintage 1950s 50s brown leather handbag purse

Vintage 1960s 60s bronze beaded evening handbag purse

Vintage 1970s 70s woven lattice handbag purse

Vintage 1950s 50s diamante brilliants belt/bag buckle

Vintage white silver buckles bag Mod scooter 1960s 60s