I Never Thought It Would Happen With Me And A Girl From Clapham (and Trowbridge)

Last week was a bit of a write off, no sewing, very little blogging, a single day spent charity shopping and, in my haste to pack for a back-to-back weekend of vintage fairs, I neglected to photograph our finds and promptly sold the lot, ours for just a fleeting moment.

Yesterday I woke up raring to go. I had a head full of ideas and couldn't wait to put those thoughts into action. After I'd shoved a couple of loads of washing into the machine, unpacked the van and devoured a late breakfast I remodelled five mediocre maxi dresses into far more fabulous minis then set about creating this....

A psychedelic go-go coat - the bastard love child of a 1960s quilted dressing gown and a past-its-prime fake fur coat, finished off with some yellow Bakelite buttons salvaged from a moth-eaten 1940s tea dress.

I was so excited by my creation that I wore it to go charity shopping this morning. It reduced one lady to tears as it reminded her of a coat her mum had made her as a teenager in the 1960s. I'd call that a success so I'm linking a day late to Patti's Visible Monday.

 As I previously mentioned , last weekend was a back-to-back vintage extravaganza, kicking off on Saturday morning at an ungodly hour normally only seen if we're off to catch a flight or going to Glastonbury.

The weather on the two and a half hour journey down to Bath was atrocious, we could hardly see through the windscreen for the rain. The unload at The Guildhall isn't the easiest, a tiny service lift and two flights of winding marble stairs. By the time we'd set up we were half dead and soaked to the skin but that's soon forgotten when you're in surroundings as gorgeous as these.

Sian, a Facebook follower whom I'd never met, messaged me the night before, kindly inviting us to use the private car parking area outside her flat , saving us a small fortune in parking fees. She turned up later to introduce herself and gave us free drinks vouchers for a local coffee house. Isn't social media a wonderful thing?

Wearing: Me: 1960s John Marks poppy print velvet maxi (Vintage village @ The Clothes Show, 2008) Jon: 1970s Double Two gingham shirt, John Collier 1960s jacket, skinnied up vintage trousers (all charity shopped).

Business was brisk and the turn out was great. It's the third time we'd traded in Bath with Judy's and takings were the best yet. 

 The most exciting thing was meeting Mim for the first time, who'd braved the filthy weather to travel over from Trowbridge and say hello. What a beautiful girl she is, her blog photos don't do her justice. We hugged, giggled and chatted, giddy with excitement. Her lovely husband had to model a duffel coat for a customer interested in buying it as a surprise pressie for her boyfriend as she thought they were of a similar size. He did a great job and she bought it. Jon and I wished we could have accompanied them on their cheeky afternoon pub crawl round Bath.

After we'd packed up and lugged the stock into the van we headed to Croydon, another 2 and a half hour journey. Our friends (and fellow traders) had booked the four of us into a cheap hotel which turned out to be ridiculously luxurious with an affordable bar, some great veggie options on the menu, the most comfortable beds in the world and an inclusive buffet breakfast. We were able to stay up until after midnight as we didn't have to set the alarm until 6.30am (a lie-in!). The journey to Clapham only took 25 minutes. What a refreshing change.

Wearing: 1970s Alexander Clare halter neck maxi (99p, eBay) and velvet jacket with massive sleeves (Leibchen Vintage)

 A problem with the Tube meant Clapham wasn't quite as busy as everyone had hoped but we did well sales-wise and were more than happy. I was excited when several customers who'd bought off us in Brixton last month told me that they'd had come especially to browse our rails and I met Kate, a long-time blog reader. I was thrilled when Michelle (who blogged at The Taxonomy of My Wardrobe until she had a baby 8 months ago) turned up with her partner & her beautiful girl and surprised me. We've followed each other for years so it was like we'd been mates forever. 

We packed up, loaded the van and arrived back to Walsall three hours later, just in time to watch Saturday night's X Factor accompanied by a large rum and coke and a packet of crisps - we're so rock and roll!

Wearing: Psychedelic go-go coat (made by me), vintage white leather boots (from Emma-Kate), silver jewellery from India, nails by Barry M

So what's happening this week? We're frantically trying to restock the rails ready for another double dose of vintage selling (and I will capture my finds this time), there's talk of meeting up with some cool ladies on Thursday and I haven't read a blog post since last week so there's some serious catching up to do! We're in Liverpool with Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair on Saturday (HERE) and Sutton Coldfield, home of the expensive chazzas, on Sunday (HERE). 

PS If you love vintage & art, live near Northampton & are free on Thursday night then one of my friends is helping to organise a charity fundraiser. Do support her if you can. I'll be with her in spirit. Details HERE.

See you soon!