Charity Shopping & Mini Makes

Look! I'm finally out of the doll's house and back to full-size. Here in the real world, life continues as usual. We've been out and about vintage hunting so the washing machine is on overdrive and I'm back to mending like a maniac. In vehicle news Jon's trusty mechanic managed to weld the undercarriage back on to the van (that's the works van - Gilbert is enjoying his annual winter break) so the need to replace it isn't quite so urgent.

You'll be pleased to hear that I've been wearing clothes. Today's outfit is a '70s cotton maxi by Gerard of Paris - it's been on the rails in the stockroom for ages as no-one but me can get the zip up, I think that's a sign from the vintage selling gods telling me that I have to keep it. The maxi coat was a £2 bargain - not the greatest quality but the colour, described as freesia, makes me very happy. The brass necklace is made by a hill tribe in Orissa (another Indian state on my must-visit list) but bought in Tamil Nadu. The papier mache bangles are Kashmiri but found in Black Country chazzas. The 1950s beach bag came from a car boot sale years ago and cost me 20p.

Monday's outfit consisted of a British-made maxi dress I bought new (!) in the dregs of the winter sales for £2. As it's so low cut, I stuck an emerald green charity shopped swimsuit underneath to preserve my modesty. The Welsh wool cape last made an appearance on the blog before we went to India. 

I picked up this super funky denim jacket for £2 in the charity clearance shop on Wednesday. Labelled Marguerite Thursby, a bit of internet research revealed that she was one of the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong's leading dressmakers of the 1970s, her clothes were worn by, amongst others, the then governor's wife, Lady MacLehose. I'm wearing it was my beloved slinky psych maxi I bought from eBay for 99p years ago - at £2.99 this got to be one of my cheapest outfits.

I nearly walked past it - I find the charity shops that colour co-ordinate their stock an absolute nightmare to shop in - but the zips caught my eye. Nothing says 1970s more than a big white plastic zip. 

If the weather forecast is to be believed we're in for more snow this weekend so finding this Missoni wool scarf in another clearance charity shop couldn't have come at a better time - although Jon's claiming finder's rights to it. 

Swedish Hasbeens for £1.99 in Banardos? Don't mind if I do. Roll on Summer!

I'd show you our latest finds but they're already packed for this weekend's back-to-back vintage selling extravaganza, which kicks off with Walthamstow tomorrow (details HERE) followed by Moseley on Sunday (details HERE). 

It's not often I come across 1950s dresses in such pristine condition (two are by Horrockses) so I did photograph these beauties the minute I got them home. I'll be taking them along with us at the weekend. 

Meanwhile, back in the world of miniatures, here's my new sewing space. The cupboard is made from matchboxes, dressmaking pins and beads and covered in a photo of our curtains. The Picasso is from a 1970s necklace and the patterns are photocopies of some of my stash, scaled down and printed off. The ferns came from a plastic palm tree I found in a 20p charity shop rummage box. The metal sewing machine was £1.75 from eBay.

The kitchen is coming together. I won these 1970s Lundby cupboards on eBay for £2.19. I found pictures of the original kitchen set they came from and printed off an imagine of the splash back onto glossy photo paper, glued it to heavy duty card and then attached both cupboards.

The flooring has the same black and white quarry tiles in our real-life kitchen and also, just like Stonecroft, no.62 has patchwork curtains.

I'm having so much fun playing with miniatures I've just gone and bought another doll's house! Pictures to follow shortly.

See you soon!