Glaston - Ready!

Tickets - check, camera - check, my body weight in cider and cans of gin & tonic - check, fake fur coat - check, bikini - check, a bag crammed with insane & impractical clothing - check.

1960s floral catsuit (£10, eBay 2011), headband (25p, Peacocks sale, 2010), vintage Ted Lapidus sunglasses, 1960s vinyl vanity case (20p, jumble sale) and a shed load of bastard jewellery

The sun is shining and we're off to Worthy Farm in less than an hour. I should be an old hand at festival-going by now but I'm just as ridiculously excited as I was the first time.

Feck me, I'm finally going to see The Rolling Stones!!!!!

See you in a week (unless you've got tickets and I'll see you there).

xxx

Walsall Hoedown

Have you met Vix's bitches? 

The feisty pair called round to raid my wardrobe before dancing the night away at Studio 54.

The soundtrack to the afternoon.

Mutual preening.

Time to chill and catch up with the latest gossip in Smash Hits and The Record Mirror.

The reigning Black Country disco dancing champion with the medal to prove it.

Don't you just hate it when the biatches wear your clothes (and your Barry M lipstick) better than you do?

After a million outfit changes and a gallon of fizz the terrible twosome are finally dressed and ready to party, leaving a trail of feathers, glitter and empty bottles in their wake.

No, I haven't turned pimp. My girls are part of our vintage lovin' family and were over today for a promo shoot for a very cool Studio 54 night coming to Wolverhampton soon.

Vintage clothes, retro tunes and time spent with some of my gorgeous sisters-in-vintage. What a fabulous way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon. Now I really must go pack for Glasto!

See you before I go.

Linking to Patti's Visible Monday.

Parcels Of Joy And Secondhand Delight

I'm one spoilt vintage biatch this week with not one but two parcels of joy arriving with the postman.

Check out my newest silver ring on my little finger!

This amazing ruffled nylon and lurex embellished cocktail dress and matching waistcoat came all the way from Arizona, courtesy of the lovely Janice. The perfect ladylike piece for calling on my friend and jumble sale organiser, Joan, this morning.

Also in the parcel was a cute kitty card, a gorgeous vintage case for my reading glasses, a sterling silver ring and the very same 1960s Barbie case that my neighbours' older daughter owned (and I coveted). This isn't for creepy dolls though, it's my new favourite handbag and the perfect size for stashing a bottle of wine.

Maxi worn with vintage kids' tee shirt and far too much bastard jewellery

Dear Jo sent me this Miss Pat quilted maxi. Not only will it keep me warm (our house is always freezing once the sun sets) but it's got a duel purpose, it's the best sewing accessory ever. The padded fabric doubles up as a pincushion and the quilting makes it the perfect knee protector when I'm scrabbling around on the floor cutting out pattern pieces. 

Did I mention second-hand? Of course I did. What blog post of mine doesn't?!

From Wednesday's car boot sale I came away with 15 vintage vinyl albums, a pair of Holkham Pottery "owl" mugs and matching cream jug, a 1970s split level table and two handmade 1960s cushions and still got change from a fiver.

 An Eighties crushed velvet leotard (perfect as a warm layer under a maxi dress), a 1970s girl guide tee shirt (child's tee shirts are nice and tight, just the way I like 'em), a Welsh Tapestry suit (destined for the Kinky Melon Autumn stock) and a 1970s Indian cheesecloth caftan. All but the suit were 20p each.

 Five pots of pansies for a quid.

Antique leather gloves, how gorgeous are the acorn embellished ones? (Shame I've got hands the size of a navvy). 1970s brocade platforms and a S Fox & Co. Paragon umbrella (the brand used by John Steed in 1960s cult TV series, The Avengers)

The reason I called on Joan earlier is because she'd had a wedding dress donated and hoped I'd be able to sell it. Now I'm as interested in weddings as I am nuclear physics but have to concede that this dress is beautiful (and a much sought after larger size, too). It was worn in 1964 at St Lawrence's in Darlaston and the couple are still happily married. Not bad going for something almost fifty years old. 

When we were in the church hall we spotted this 1970s New Home 632 lurking up the corner. Jon used my sewing machine to take in some trousers last week and has moaned ever since about how crap it is, how the feed doesn't work, that the tension's gone to pot and the light's knackered so we made a donation to the church roof fund and he came away happy. The blind hem setting should finish my current project off a treat (that's if I can make head or tail of the instruction manual).

1970s two-piece worn with candy-coloured platforms (£5, local boutique), Ted Lapidus vintage sunnies (£1.95, Acorns) and my beaded peacock bag that's been missing for months

Gilbert & Jon are ready for Glasto but I'm not. I've got four days to get my shit together, finish my sewing projects and pack my bags (as well as squeeze Liz's birthday celebrations, an 18th party and a photo shoot into the mix).

Have a great weekend.

More Curtain Couture

Other than a love of The Smiths, Vietnam war films and travel my brother and I don't have a great deal in common. He's 6' 4", shaven-headed and somewhat reserved with a love of sport and high-end clothing.

He's camera-shy, too. You'll have to make do with this picture of him and Mum in 1969.

When we were clearing Dad's house he wanted to chuck these curtains, which had hung in his bedroom since the 1960s, into the skip but I had other ideas.

Crazy fool! Those bewhiskered soldiers were just waiting to be transformed into a maxi waistcoat. 

Feather pendant from the lovely Lucy @ Lucy's Lounge via darling Annie

I cut the pieces out almost a month ago and bought a length of emerald green sari fabric from the market for lining but with vintage fairs, gardening, house-clearing and life in general I hadn't had the time to finish it off until yesterday.

Waistcoat was made using a 1971 Butterick pattern (£1, Vicky's antique & collectors fair), vintage frog fastenings (courtesy of the gorgeous Tamera), lined with sari fabric (£4, Walsall market), sewn together with thread bought as part of a job lot from a car boot sale (approx. 10p) - Total cost £5.10  

I'm glad I waited, sitting in the sunshine with Jon blasting out some tunes from Gilbert's in-car stereo, hand-sewing the hem with a pair of lazy cats at my feet made for a pretty much perfect afternoon.

Followed by Jon's home-made pizza and a few ice-cold beers I'm starting to love our mixed-up weekday weekends.

After a two day respite it's back to work this morning, starting with a trip to the Wednesday morning car boot sale and sorting Gilbert out in readiness for Glasto and then compiling a festival shopping list of cider, pretzels, cider and yet more cider.

See you soon!

Canal Knowledge

Get the beers in, lads, the entertainment's arrived!  The owner of the barge opposite shouted when the four of us rolled up to erect our marquee in a ten force gale on Friday night.

 Poor bloke, what a let down, at his age he should have learnt never to be fooled by appearances. 

 Despite our impractical attire, little did he know he was looking at a former sea scout, ex-girl guide and a pair of seasoned campers so our pitch was up and anchored down without a tantrum, swear word or You've Been Framed type mishap.

Photo courtesy of old school mate, Kate

 This weekend marked the biennial Canal Festival and as Liz and Al's former toll-keeper's cottage is slap bang in the middle of the event it would have been madness not to have a stall despite us knowing bugger all about barges.

Here's our combined pitch up and ready for business.

Kinky Melon's half of the marquee.

The bargain box is always a draw.

We managed to shift all that we took of Mum's hoard of books, only another three-quarters to go.

Liz's bespoke bags got lots of love.

The contents of Liz's mum's garage.

 Scenes from Saturday (aka Day one).

The waterways were filled with over 150 boats from all over the country.

Saturday's weather was positively schizophrenic - from glorious sunshine and mild temperatures one minute to gale force winds and rain of biblical proportions the next . At one point five of us held on to the marquee to prevent it being swept away. 

  

As festivals go it wasn't exactly up there with Glastonbury but good fun anyway.

Some people did make a real effort to dress up. How cool do this couple look?

Lots of mates popped by for a chat which made a pleasant diversion from to listening to monologues on dredging, Lister diesel engines and rising water levels by some of the weirder visitors to our stand. 

A sneaky snap courtesy of Brownhills Bob. Montego Bay maxi dress found by my friend, Vicky.

After 11 hours we packed away our stock in the van and chilled in the pub for a couple of hours gearing up for another 8am start.

Lagos-made 1960s maxi (darling Curtise), Frida pendant (fabulous Tamera)

And so to Day 2.
9am, set up and fuelled by Jon's magical flask of coffee and a bag of reduced-to-clear Co-Op doughnuts. 

The boys having a moment. That sky looks a tad ominous.

Doggie madness! There were 6 of these cute Poms aboard this boat.

At 5pm we packed away, parked up, went to the pub and got sloshed. I've a billion blog posts and emails to catch up on and a van on the drive waiting to be unpacked (fortunately a lot lighter than it was on Friday) so I'd better get cracking. 

See you soon!

Although I don't think I'm fit to be seen today I'm linking to Visible Monday anyway.