My love for a Russian scarf print is well catered for in the fabulous frock that I'm wearing today. I bought it last year from a car boot sale and it was going cheap cause the elastic around the neckline was completely knackered. No bother for the likes of me, I've got elastic coming out of my ears. I also have an Everest like mending pile so it took me quite some time to actually get around to fixing it. Over the past few days I have made a brave attack on said pile and am happy to announce that it does no longer rivals The Shard.
The frock is labelled Tootique and I think it's probably from the 70s.
Check out the voluminous sleeves and the newly elasticated neckline ;)
70s scarf print frock, 70s jacket, 80s boots, soap stone & macrame earrings and handmade Turkish necklace.
The Egyptian geese appeared with their brood yesterday, they are so adorable. I just wish I could scoop them all up and keep them safe from crows and herons that like nothing better than to snack on a these little fellows. The parents do their level best to keep predators away but crows are persistent and cunning.
I'd better hit the hay as it's getting rather late and I've got a big day tomorrow...
I bought the frock that I am wearing today from Myrorna in Orebro a couple of years ago when I was visiting my folks in Sweden. The rose print reminded me of a huge Russian shawl that my mum had in the late 70s and that I used to pinch to play dress-up with. The maker of the frock is unknown but there is a label that reads 'Made in England' so I guess you could say that I brought it back home in more ways than one.
70s gypsy dress, 80s boots, 90s Moschino denim jacket, tights & necklace all second hand.
This Saturday Frocktasia will be peddling vintage and retro threads at The Dandy Lion Market again. This will be my forth time but the market itself will be celebrating its second birthday, hipp hipp huzzah!
If you haven't been yet then this will truly be a brilliant month to visit as Leslie's got a few surprises in store as well as another wicked line-up of fabulous sellers, you can check out the trader features on the FB page if you so wish.
Here's a sneak peek of the cracking clobber Frocktasia will be bringing along on the day...
I will be bringing a few more bits but as Mark is working the weekend I've really made an effort not to overload as I'll be carting the stuff myself on Saturday morning. My small selection of menswear will be coming along too. Guys shirts with loud prints seem to be a winner at The Dandy.
Yesterday Frocktasia did yet another Can't Buy Me Love jumble at The Boogaloo.
I brought a bargain rail this time around and sold quite a few garments despite it being a little bit of a quiet one. Items priced at a fiver or less seems to be a successful formula at this particular venue, it is billed as a jumble after all. I also tried out a few random items that I haven't brought before, bundles of vintage & retro fabric, a few issues of 'Vanity Fair' from the early 90s and packets of vintage stockings. I was surprised that no one snapped up the two psychedelic print sundresses, maybe it was because there was a bit of a glut of funky clothing?!
I had a vision in my head of a funky chick rocking these teamed with a floppy hat and wellies at a festival this summer. I guess there's still time for them to be snapped up :)
I'm getting so much better at prepping for my markets now. It hardly takes any time at all for us to set up the pitch and at the end of the day we are usually packed up and ready to roll out of the venue in less than twenty minutes. I always do all the laborious stuff at home such as pricing and sticking stuff on hangers. So when we get to the venue it is just a case of quickly unpacking everything & hanging it straight onto the rail. I even prepare my display table at home so that I know exactly what I'm doing on the day and don't have to faff about & worry about presentation.
I had a couple of fabulous visitors yesterday :)
Lovely Jo from Joyatri's Adventures in Vintage popped in for a little browse and a chat. She lives in the US but intermittently comes over to stay here with her English boyfriend. When in the US she runs her Joyatri shop on etsy where she sells vintage items, clothing and crafting materials. If they were giving out prizes for best dressed CBML customer of the day then Jo would win hands down, just look at that fabulous feast-for-the-eyes maxi frock she was wearing...
My lovely Leslie and Aiden also popped by and stayed for the rest of the afternoon, we had beers and chatted about films. I said "don't ever ask me to be in your pub quiz team cause I know nothing about films" to which Aiden responded "great then you can be the bar runner"...every cloud has a silver lining, eh ;)
Aiden then very kindly gave us a lift home and collected a barrow full of brownie points yet again, he's a gem of a man so he is. Leslie stayed for a spot of din-dins, vino and a two hour long Led Zeppelin concert on YouTube before heading back home.
Today the sun shone on our poor pasty white bodies and there was much rejoicing :)
We went to the park, lazed about on a blanket and drank 2.8% Carling Zest.
I really love how there seems to be a lot more choice in the low-alcohol range now, gone are the days of "Kaliber or Cola?".
Tomorrow I'll be starting the preparations for next Saturday's Dandy :)
Right now I'm going for a late evening soak before jumping into bed after what has been an indulgently lazy day, blooming marvelous!
Hope you have all been taking it easy this weekend and feel ready to face the week ahead.
Last Saturday saw another fabulous day at The Dandy Lion market.
Thankfully Mark wasn't working so he could come with me this time.
I was faffing so much in the morning trying to decide what shoes to wear that I forgot to bring my "bag of bargains" and a cracking bag it was too. I'll bring it to the next Can't Buy Me Love outing :)
Anyway it wasn't as if we were short of stock...
I was absolutely thrilled to find that my stall neighbour was Tangled Wigs...
It is a well known fact that I am a bit of a wig-o-holic and meeting Samantha who runs Tangled Wigs was a real treat. She's such a lovely woman and I was truly inspired to hear her story of how this business venture came about. We were talking about doing a wig & vintage colab in the near future and needless to say I'm very excited about that.
Leslie had managed to get another fabulous mix of traders in this month. I am so in awe with all these creative and super gifted individuals I almost feel like I'm cheating rocking up with my frocks.
I guess my gift is unearthing vintage gems but it's not really on par with David Harker's artistic talent or the brilliant creativity of Bespoke Binny...
There is nothing better that an African print fabric in my book, they are just so amazing!
Speaking of amazing check out photographer Marco Dall'Omo and his Simply Complicated stall or how about the brilliant Alfie Gallagher and his wonderful collection of illustrations & graphic art, also available to buy from his etsy shop.
Leslie was wearing an amazing 70s frock & here she is in front of her rail of Wunderbar Vintage loveliness and chair full of one-of-a-kind scatter cushions that can also be bought on etsy...
The funky Catillest Design is run by the very talented Cat Neligan who is "a web designer by day and an illustrator by night". On her stall she was offering up an awesome array of cool Tees, prints, tote bags and zines.
Then we had regular Dandyites Sue & Mark with their Gorgeous Jewellery stall. Sue and Mark will be trading at the Muswell Hill Market next Saturday & I will be popping up to see them if anybody is interested in chumming along? This month they were trying something a little bit different by adding a few vintage bags, gloves and shoes to their stall besides their awesome array of vintage and handmade jewellery.
Here's Erik on leafleting duty outside The Oxford, well done that man :)
Irfhan Mirza is the creative genius behind Dead Gent Clothing who makes funky hand finished pocket Tees and tanks.
Sharing the downstairs stall with Irfhan was Love Vintage run by a groovy chick & fellow collector of beautiful vintage things. When she told me that this was her first market outing I was very surprised cause her display was stunning, she's obviously a natural.
I was very happy to see the lovely Luisa Cotardo returning with her beautiful & romantic words & roses stall...
Another returning trader was The 3R Crafts with her lovely smile & awesome upcycled wares...
I was also chuffed to bits to see the return of gorgeous fellow Swede Camilla and her funky Mind The Book stall :)
My other stall neighbour was Narcissus Design who specialize in handmade unique antiqued and patina mirrors. Last but by no means least we had a lovely lady with a one-off stall selling some of her collected vintage gems.
I hope I haven't missed anybody out this time but if I have give me a virtual poke in the ribs and I shall edit the post accordingly ;)
The next Dandy will be on Saturday the 1st of June and if you are interested in keeping abreast with future trader line-ups you can do so on The Dandy Lion FB page.
Big thanks to Leslie for making it all happen, to Aiden & Erik for making the place look smashing and enticing the peeps through the doors, to all my fabulous fellow traders and to the awesome browsers, chatters and buyers that rocked up on the day.
Next month sees the two year anniversary of this fabulous market and I think that Leslie may just have a few tricks up her sleeve for that one so watch this space ;)
The weather has been glorious these past few days and there has been a veritable explosion of greenery in the park. To think that just a few short weeks ago, we were holed up in our little central heated burrow fearing that the spring would never come. This year spring is like a fashionably late & much anticipated party guest, when she arrived she did so with more flamboyancy than you can shake a stick at.
No jacket and peep-toe sandals, it really is spring folks...HUZZAH!
Today I'm wearing one of my self made genie jumpsuits and a mouche.
I was inspired to fashion an 18th century style mouche from a bindi patch after reading an interesting history of beauty marks.
I do have a very faint mole there anyway that I usually fill in with liquid eyeliner to make it more prominent but this one is huge and had the cashier at Lidl do a double take.
The jumpsuit is made from vintage fabric that I bought from a car boot sale some years ago. Whilst on the subject of vintage fabric jumpsuits, have you seen Vix's latest curtain couture offering? Totally amazing-zing, that woman knows what she's doing!
Frocktasia vintage fabric genie jumpsuit, Principles crochet waistcoat bought from car boot sale, 80s Pierre Cardin peep-toe sandals from charity shop, still going strong after at least five summers and several holidays abroad, Indiskan scarf which was a present from my mum, sunnies & necklace from car boot sales.
In other news :)
I "made" a summer chair for our balcony. Mark salvaged this armchair from the streets of London a few years ago. I never liked it cause it had those horrendous foam pads on top of an ugly lattice of plastic strapping but for ages I just threw a blanket over it and used it as my offload chair in the bedroom. The other day I stubbed my toe on it whilst hoovering and in a fit of rage I exiled it to the balcony intent on getting rid of the darn thing but before I contacted the council to come and collect it, a creative wave washed over me.
I cut off the lattice of plastic strapping, binned the foam pads and made a "chair sock" from a heavy-duty canvas fabric. I threaded the sock over the metal frame, hand-sewed the bottom bit shut and screwed the metal frame back onto the wooden bit.
I'll be up early tomorrow morning running around like a blue-arsed fly no doubt. Thankfully Mark will be on hand to help me as he is not working this weekend, so getting there shouldn't present too much of a problem this time around. It will be a grand ol' day I can feel it in me waters, so many fabulous sellers this month, I can't wait to have a wee nosey around their stalls :)
To finish off a might fine tune by Annie Lennox with some heart-shaped mouche action going on, enjoy :)
Have a cracking weekend peeps.
Loads of love,
Jennie
xXx
