Vintage Fabric

I bought these vintage fabrics from the Vintage and Handmade Fair in Chipping Sodbury, only to discover that Vintage Husband had the colourful houses fabric as his bedroom curtains when he was a little boy! Definitely one for Milo's nursery - just got to decide what to do with it! 

Moving On

No sooner do we arrive in a new town and new home way out west in Henley-on-Thames, than I discover that our new street is home to an aladdin's cave of an antique shop (already purchased wooden toy trolley and blocks for Milo), an old-fashioned sweetshop, a fantastic second-hand bookshop (watch this space for the blog posts) - and that the cafe across from our house was hosting a vintage night. I think I'm going to fit right in!

Run by the Ministry of Vintage, there was champagne flowing, lots of designer vintage gear and lots of lovely people to meet. They'll also have a stand at Henley's very own vintage fair at the town hall on November 26th.

 

Vintage and Handmade Fair

My favourite stand at the small but perfectly formed Vintage and Handmade Fair in Chipping Sodbury in the Cotswolds. Donna Flower is a brilliant collector of beautiful vintage fabrics for grown-ups and kids and her stand was so pretty -

Vintage Weekend

There's a bit of a vintage theme to this coming weekend in East London. The Affordable Vintage Fair is being held at Bethnal Green Town Hall on Saturday, from 10.30am-4.30pm - with stalls selling bric-a-brac, vintage clothing and accessories. The truly dedicated should stick around for The Vintage Midnight Walk on Saturday night, where participants will be donning their 20s-40s garb (plus sensible shoes) to walk 10 miles across Hackney, Shoreditch, Whitechapel and The City in aid of East London hospices. You can still register on http://www.vintagemidnightwalk.com/.

Date for your diary: London vintage wedding fair

Just a quick one to flag up this Sunday’s London Vintage Bridal Fair, taking place at Kensington High Street’s Olympia Hilton Hotel. There’ll be vintage fashion for brides and grooms, plus accessories and vintage-style wedding gowns.  It’s run by PA Antiques, known for their fantastic Hammersmith vintage fashion fairs – so it should be worth checking out if you’re hunting a vintage dress.  

London’s first vintage wedding fair

While I was rummaging last weekend at Clerkenwell vintage fair, I heard on the grapevine that London’s very own vintage wedding dress fair is about to launch, and a quick search on Google confirmed that The The London Vintage Wedding Fair will indeed take place on Sunday April 11^{th .}

Held in Notting Hill’s 20th Century Theatre, it looks like there will be a good mix of vintage dresses, accessories, antique veils and tiaras – plus retro hair stylists and make-up artists on hand to complete the look. And I certainly can’t resist the lure of goodie bags and bubbly. It’s in the diary. 

Photo by Retrostuff-etc                               

Vintage wedding dress hunting: Clerkenwell vintage fair

I cut my Sunday morning lie-in short today and peddled down to Clerkenwell Vintage Fashion Fair - a newcomer on the London vintage fair calendar, and not as big as the likes of Hammersmith and Battersea - which makes it all the more appealing if you’re feeling a bit bleary eyed!

It’s a good place to start if you’re looking for initial wedding or bridesmaid dress ideas or for hunting down old lace, textiles, jewellery or divine pillbox hats with net trims. Pieces range from 1800s to the 80s and are well-priced compared with buying in the shops (it also has a tea room and handy alterations booth.)

A Vintage Wedding's stand

Elaine Bernstein's stand

A few stands caught my eye: A Vintage Wedding had a range of frou-frou net and lace bridal dresses, while I loved the adorable bridesmaid dress at Elaine Bernstein’s stand. I couldn’t resist going a bit snap-happy at Fola Solanke’s beautifully styled stall (she’s a Friday regular at Portobello) – honeymoon inspiration perhaps? I just need to track down the perfect 1950s swimsuit…

Fola Solanke's stand