Pottering around

I’ve had a bit of a yen for Beatrix Potter recently, and my latest batch of notebooks is a bit of a dead giveaway.  I bought a batch of vintage Beatrix Potter books and then wondered what to do with them…

They look pretty much like you’d expect these books to look, but I was delighted to remove the dust covers and find that the actual books were in fact green.

Far too pretty to cover up!  The illustrations are, obviously, a major part of the books too so I wanted to include those in the notebooks.  Thus began a fair amount of faffing to get the original pages out intact (a bit tricky as they’re glued as well as sewn in) but it was worth the effort.  Each notebook includes 16 pages (32 sides) from the book out of which it was made.

I kept the binding simple and stuck with coptic binding, this also allowed me to display the original endpapers

There are twelve of these notebooks and they’d make a great gift for any lover of classic children’s literature.  Click here to visit my Etsy shop.

 

Twelve

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Gulliver’s Travels

This time last year I was 7000 miles away, celebrating my 30th birthday in Jakarta whilst surrounded by relatives.  Today I’m at home, and all by myself – and I have to say it’s utter bliss.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my family… but I’m very much a loner and this is much better for my sanity!

I have been thinking of that holiday though so I’ve spent the morning repurposing a vintage copy of Gulliver’s Travels so that it can be used as a travel journal or scrapbook.

I was able to retain the original end papers which I’m really pleased about as they do look lovely.  The book now contains 104 pages (208 sides) of 140gsm recycled cartridge paper.  It can be found in my Etsy shop, and I hope that it will go to a good home.

I think that’s plenty enough work for one day (especially as I’m supposed to be having a day off!), so I think I’ll down tools and head to the cinema!

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VintageRetroKitsch

Retro and vintage wares are still enjoying a huge surge of popularity, so I thought I’d take a peek into the life of a seller who specialises in all things vintage, retro and kitsch…

Sarah, of VintageRetroKitsch, doesn’t just sell all things vintage, she lives them.  A visit to her house is enough to reveal not only a wonderful collection of furniture and curios, but that she has a keen eye for style.

I grew up in a victorian house and it is still my favorite style of property and I have always been used to being surrounded by older furniture, my parents had an antique shop when I was young and I have fond early memories of going to house clearances and being fascinated by all the things that people leave behind.

This has carried on throughout my life and although I have flirted with the likes of Ikea I have always come back to homewares with a past and now my home is a huge mismatch of curios and collectables but I love it.

Vintage suitcases and trunks look beautiful and also serve to hide the inevitable clutter of toys belonging to her young son.

Modern pieces and antiques are displayed side by side in perfect harmony

I started VRK really as I found myself coming across great unwanted things all the time and I was fast running out of space to bring them home and keep them! This coincided with a growing trend for vintage so I decided to try my hand at selling.

We started about 18 Months ago now and we are slowly building up a loyal fanbase. We try to do at least one fair a month and I have an Etsy shop although I am scaling that down as I am not sure its the right medium for vintage, I generate the most interest via my facebook page although I am thinking of sorting out my own website this year, just need a few more hours in my day!

Sarah’s love of vintage is so strongly evident throughout her home that it’s almost contagious.  I left her house wishing I had more room to stash beautiful things, and also with a very strong urge to plant things in teacups!  She has excellent taste and it’s wonderful to see someone who is living their passion.  Sarah trades on Facebook and, for the time being at least, on Etsy.  Sarah is based in Bolton and also takes her wares to various fairs in the midlands (for more details please visit her Facebook page) and if you’re in the area when she’s around I’d highly recommend a visit to her stall.

It is really the ultimate recycling as we are only really the caretakers of our lives . I love to look at some of my things and imagine the kind of lives they must have led, fascinating.

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Name that foot…

So, this is a bit of a follow-on from my resolved to sew post of a couple days ago.  I was as good as my word and on Thursday evening my mother and I sat down and played with both the Singer machine and the Brother machine until we had them threaded and working.  All good.

However, the Singer machine came with a selection of different feet and although we know what some of them do, others are a real mystery.  Can you help?

Foot #1

This seems to be the normal bog-standard foot.  It’s certainly the one I was using all day yesterday!

Foot #2

Absolutely no clue what this does.

Foot #3

Another mystery.  It’s got numbers on it so it’s adjustable… but adjustable to do what?

Foot #4

My mother says this one is for turning the fabric over to make a hem, is that right?

Foot #5

Something similar to #4 perhaps?

Foot #6

For gathering/ruching fabric?

Foot #7

Saved the best for last.  What on earth does this one do?!

 

So, if you can help identify my feet (gosh that sounds strange) then I would love to hear from you.  In the meantime I’m ploughing on with the normal foot on the Singer machine, and a normal foot on the Brother machine (and I’ll be posting an update on my progress next week).

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Playing games

Those of you with sharp memories will recall that last year I picked up some vintage board games at a car boot sale, and if you’re really on the ball you’ll know that about a week ago I was having fun with some PVA glue and Monopoly money.  I’ve finally finished a few notebooks made with the board games so I thought I’d best show them off.

First up I made a set.  An old cigar box has been decoupaged with Monopoly money and lined with black bookcloth, and the box houses two notebooks (one A5 and one A6).

I’m not sure how well the full set will sell, so the rest of the books will be sold singly.  So far I’ve got another two (one A5 and one A6) Monopoly books, and two A5 Cluedo books – I’ll hopefully finish stitching the A6 Cluedo books tomorrow.

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Singer for a sixpence

Not quite a sixpence, but I couldn’t resist the pun on the old nursery rhyme!  I usually do all my sewing by hand, but as I’ve got a quilting project I want to attempt I’ve been keeping an eye out for a sewing machine over the past few months.

I have to admit that I didn’t have much luck.  I trawled car boot sales, but didn’t find anything that met my criteria (vintage, pretty, and not too expensive).  My mother was the one who finally found the perfect machine at a car boot sale I didn’t go to (typical, eh?).

Isn’t it gorgeous?

There’s a plaque bearing the serial number on the front, and having checked on the Singer website it appears that this machine was made in 1951.  I can’t find a model number on it anywhere but I’m hoping that Singer (who I’ve e-mailed) will be able to tell me.

It’s in excellent condition, with the lightbulb on the back still intact,

and the little compartment in the wooden base still has all the different attachments/feet in it

It’s a beautiful machine, and at £25 an absolute bargain!  I haven’t a clue how to use it yet, that’s on my list of things to do over the winter (with lots of help from my mother, who’s a whizz with machines).  I do hope that I learn quickly though as I’m itching to try out some new projects

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Boot sale bargains (part 2)

Back in September I wrote about some of bargains I picked up at the big car boot sale in Chiswick.  I didn’t get a chance to go there in October, but did pop in this weekend (remember, it’s held on the first Sunday of every month).

I was much more restrained with my purchases this time, and managed not to come home with anything bulky (not for lack of choice though, I saw some gorgeous chairs I wanted!).

I got this gorgeous vintage book (£3).  No idea what it’s about, but the cover is so beautiful that I had to have it.  I have plans for this which hopefully I’ll be able to show you at some point in the near future…

I have a bit of a thing for old frames, and I picked up another one today (50p).  I’m going to go through my stash of old book pages and find an illustration which will fit perfectly into it.

Last, but certainly not least, I found some vintage boardgames.  Monopoly (from 1961) and Clue (I can’t find a date but it looks to be from around the same time).  These were a billy bargain at a total of £4.50 for the pair.

Both the sets are missing one piece (Electricity Company card from the Monopoly, and the lead pipe token from Clue) so these are destined to be turned into notebooks which I hope will appeal to the child in everyone.

I’m planning to visit the Chiswick boot sale again in December, and hopefully I’ll pick up some more bargains to share with you.

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The School for Scandal

I do like revamping vintage books and turning them into new notebooks.  Usually I choose books that have beautiful covers, but occasionally I choose a book for the title rather than what it looks like.

The School for Scandal is a perfect example of this.  The cover is, let’s face it, very dull: dull plain blue, nothing special.  But the title?  Ahh the title is superb.  When I first saw it I just knew that one day it would make a perfect journal for someone.

The original end papers were boring: just plain cream (actually I suppose they were once white, but had yellowed with age).  I thought a special book like this deserved something prettier, so the new end papers are a gorgeous hand-marbled paper in blue and gold.

So we’ve ended up with a book that looks very unassuming on the outside, but very special inside.  The pages are smooth cartridge paper so this would be suitable for use as a sketchbook as well as a journal.

Click here to view the listing on Etsy.

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Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt: September

I’m a little late this month, but better late than never.  For those who are looking at this post and wondering what it’s about, click here to visit Kirst’s blog and find out.

My entries this month all revolve around post/mail, and I’ve continued using the Vignette app on my Android phone as I really love the look

Something I made

This is actually a work in progress, a cigar box being slowly decoupaged with stamps.

Inspiration

A shot of some of the Inspiration by Post submissions I’ve yet to tackle.

Motifs: Florals

Used stamps, all featuring flowers in their design.

Crafts on the Go

This parcel is chock full of handcrafted goodies.  It’s being sent round in a swap where each recipient helps themself to items from the box before adding some of their own and sending it onwards.

Vintage

These vintage postcards were passed onto me by a friend of a friend… not sure what I’m going to do with them as yet, but they’re fabulous.

 

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Boot sale bargains

The first Sunday of every month sees the mammoth car boot sale at Chiswick Community School (click here to view details).  It’s one of the largest in London, and it’s an absolute treasure trove.  I haven’t been for a couple of years (and when you see what I bought today you’ll understand why!) but this morning I went along and picked up some fabulous bits and pieces.

First up is this shirt (originally from Next), which is going to be perfect for wearing in my studio.  £1.

Next up we’ve got a selection of vintage magazines, comics and books (all £1 each)

I always end up picking up some DVDs whenever I go to a boot sale, and today was no exception (£5 in total for these)

Then we got to the bigger, heavier stuff… like this set of filing drawers, which I couldn’t resist at £8

… and this old crate, which I think is beautiful (and was a bargain at £5)

… and last, but certainly not least, this fantastic old trunk.  It’s HUGE, and I intend to use it as clothing storage once we’ve finally converted our loft (where I’m going to put it in the meantime is a bit of a puzzler…).  I let my mum do the haggling for this and it cost me £10 and a kiss.  Perfect.

A lovely morning and lots of lovely bargains.  It really is a huge car boot sale and if you have the time and inclination it would be easy to spend most of the day there just rummaging through everything.  I was quite restrained and didn’t really look at the clothes and wotnot (the shirt jumped out at me, I hadn’t intended to buy clothing at all!) but there is SO much to see and buy.  First Sunday of every month, try and pop along if you’re free for the next one

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