Faith, Hope & Charity Shopping

After ticking off a few chores I spent most of Saturday messing about in the spare bedroom or, unofficially, my walk-in wardrobe which just happens to have a bed in the middle of it.

With half an ear on the football I emptied my wardrobes, gave them a clean and replaced everything I'd taken out, took down the summer suitcases from the top of the wardrobe, unpacked and refolded the contents and reorganised my vanity case of scarves, the hat and bag shelves, my boot rack and all of my jewellery storage. 

Having recently acquired a few new-to-me things, I followed my wardrobe rules of one in, three out and numerous garments, jewellery, hats and boots were moved to either the Kinky Shed or the charity shop bag which permanently hangs on the hall doorknob awaiting donations.

With the exception of an emergency coat and my wellies, everything I wear is in my two wardrobes and the two suitcases I store on top of them. 

Jon mended my vintage Stockman mannequin so she's no longer wonky and adjusted the size so her measurements match mine. I love dressing her up in potential outfits.

The vintage suede fringed waistcoat is a recent wardrobe addition. The eBay seller's description was charmingly honest:

This is my personal waistcoat from 1971.

It needs a clean as it was put away many years ago and never worn since the 70’s and I apologise for that.

Selling now as I’m moving house and need to declutter all the old things.

I’m sad to let it go - but the family don’t want it and I’m twice the size I was in 1971!

Sunday's outfit consisted of a heavy cotton block printed dress by Kharibu with my me-made tank top, vintage Rawhide charity-shopped coat and my second-hand Clarks boots. The 1960s Pakistani velvet and bullion work tote was a jumble sale find back in the last century.

We dropped off the donation bag and - needless to say - left with a freshly refilled bag containing....

A Banana Republic leather belt (made in Italy); a novel set in the favelas of Brazil, City of God by Paulo Lins (I've visited the country & seen the film twice, it's about time I read the book); A rather lovely pure silk cocktail dress; 1980s Made in India rayon maxi; Umbro day-glo swim shorts with tags attached; 1970s Tuscan sheepskin hat; 1990s suede one-shoulder top.

The hat's a keeper (I've already put three hats in the donation bag). 

Once the finds were photographed, laundered or stashed away, the rest of the day (and night) was spent watching the World Cup, armed with a crochet hook. For those of you who moan about World Cup football taking over everything, now you know how I feel about bloody Xmas...at least the World Cup's only once every four years!

This was Monday's outfit. A me-made tank top (which I crocheted over the weekend) worn with another Indian block printed dress by Kharibu and my 1960s turquoise leather coat. The vintage Indian silk screen printed scarf and alpaca beer mittens (bought from a trading neighbour at the End of the Road festival in 2014) were cast aside after my swim. I smashed my personal best and managed to average 30 seconds per lap. Next stop the Paris Olympics!

After breakfast in 'Spoons, we called into Lidl for a Waste Not box as well as some milk and a couple of pots of their delicious own-label Greek-style yoghurt. The two mile walk, half-mile swim and lugging this lot home is wonderful exercise and soon works off our indulgent Mushrooms Benedict breakfasts.

What can you get for £1.50 these days? All this. 

Monday was another day filled with World Cup football plus a bit of planning for next week's birthday adventure.

I woke up this morning sick with nerves...tonight's the night we play Wales for a place in the second round. Half an hour of planks, push-ups, side stands, jack knives, balance bridges and weights helped to calm me down. 

 

I wore red in support of our mighty Lions. A linen shirt and maxi skirt (both vintage Anokhi) with my secondhand Mascob for Liberty Badin jacket accessorised with a charity-shopped Aldo fedora, Medusa belt and Timberland boots and, being a match day, I wore my Nike official Three Lions leggings. Workout leggings are brilliant as underwear - they don't stick to your skirts like tights do thus eliminating the need to faff around with an underskirt. Charity shops are full of them, or at least ours are.

Talking of charity shops, this is what we found today.

This morning my lovely friend Kezzie's blog post outfit featured a pretty dress from Next's Morris & Co., collection and she mentioned how much better quality the garments were in comparison with the evil H&M William Morris range. Lo and behold, this morning I found a Next Morris & Co. top. 

How fab are these 1980s English-made deadstock sequinned satin boots? The lambswool & yak hair cardi is by Muji and currently retails at £59.95; the rose pink fake fur coat is by Miss Selfridge; there's a 1970s crochet granny square waistcoat, some suede Vans (the festival kids love them) and a 1980s St Moritz cotton dress; the velvet sombrero still has the price tag from a posh Mexican hotel attached. The 100% merino wool cardi is by East, has the original tags attached and cost £1 and it's gone straight into my woolens drawer!

In an attempt to distract myself from tonight's match, I've been baking. I've used some of the more bruised Lidl bananas in a vegan banana loaf. Yes, of course there's surf board in the kitchen, where else would we keep it?

The beer's open, the leggings are on and New Order's World In Motion is blasting out (the best football song ever made.) 

COME ON, ING-ER-LAND!!!