The Glasto Countdown

It's started! The Kinky Tent's up and the great Glastonbury countdown is on. Here's the official Glastometer (although being crew, we'll be on site a few days before the gates open to the public). The next few weeks will mostly be spent ironing, labelling, doing last minute repairs and panicking that we can't get it all in the van. I'll share more of it when we're a bit further ahead.

In the meantime here's what I've been wearing this week.

Yesterday it was the turn of this vintage 1970s Kate Beaver dress, hand printed in Dorset. I found it in a charity shop back in 2015 and paid the princely sum of £1!

 This huge Tibetan pendant popped up on Vinted the other day, part of a mixed lot of three amazing necklaces. I didn't mean to buy it but the seller offered me a very generous discount and I really couldn't say no. Although it's not stamped there is a degree of silver in it and carnelian and turquoise stones are real.

The Art Nouveau-inspired dragonfly cuff was a birthday present from Liz's mum a couple of years ago.

I've got so many pairs of sunglasses I'd forgotten about these vintage Christian Dior beauties Jon found for me back in 2019. I think the last time I wore them was when we travelled around Crete in 2020.

We've swapped our swimming days and now go to the pool on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, which I'm very happy about, the more time in the water the better. The only downside is that it's easier to throw on my trainers or velcro fastening Tevas to walk there and back so my poor clogs with their buckle fastenings rarely get a look-in. Yesterday, my beloved Lottas finally got an outing.

On Wednesday we drove over to Coventry to meet Nikki and her boyfriend, Steve. I didn't take a single photo! Nikki had been having a clear out and had some amazing vintage clothes she no longer wore, so we bought them off her for the stockroom (and I shall try to resist the temptation to keep it all!) Business attended to we had a walk around Earlsdon, the hip and happening area she lives in, had a look in the charity shops and had lunch in Spoons. I was so excited to see her that I didn't even take a photo of the carpet! (Remind me to show you the amazing pair of trousers with the £365 price tags still attached that we found in one of the shops).

Nikki and Steve visited Morrocco last month, staying in Essaouira and Marrakech. She had this  bookmark featuring my name in Arabic especially made for me. It's currently inside my latest read, The Places In Between by Rory Stewart. I've been wanting to read it for ages, he's a fascinating and deeply intelligent man, and it was a lucky 25p charity shop find a few weeks ago.

This is what I wore on although I ended up taking the headscarf off as my hair wasn't dirty enough to keep it in place. The scarf is a vintage Indian silk screen print from a charity shop, the marmalade velvet top is from All About Audrey (bought in 2023) and the dress is from the Naked Generation sample sale (bought in 2021). How well does this Tibetan necklace match? 

The nails are still going strong, three weeks in. What colour shall I go for next?  

Although we've had rain this week it's still warm and I didn't need a jacket when we walked down to the pool at 7am this morning. The skirt is the one I made under Liz's supervision using a vintage bedcover and the Butterick cowgirl dressmaking pattern. The recycled sari top is All About Audrey (bought second-hand from Vinted). You can just make out my trainer poking out from under my skirt - they're the gold Adidas Superstar reissues Jon treated me to from a charity shop last year. 

The necklace is one of the accompanying ones to the pendant I was wearing on Thursday. An American seller has the same one listed on eBay for $319! 

Its been over seven weeks since I'd had a second set of piercings so I'm safe to change them! I'm loving having double turquoise and silver studs in my ears, they made me feel a bit more glam when I pulled on my swimming cap this morning!

Jon needed a a couple of things from B&M this morning and whilst perusing the aisles I spotted this metal toilet roll holder which I thought would be perfect for bangle storage. 

I keep my cuffs in a wooden baguette chopping board - we found it in a charity shop last year - I wear bangles every day, far more often than I eat bread! 

In cat news, Gordon's getting braver and enjoys spending time indoors playing with his catnip mouse. 

William was outside in the wildflower meadow when we got home today. We clearly starve him judging by the way he's gnawing on that grass! 

Have a bostin' weekend, me babbies! See you on the other side. 

21st Century Girl

Hello! I'm bringing you this blog via our newly installed full fibre broadband. Yes, we've finally caught up with the 21st Century! 

I love algorithms! I rarely search for anything on Vinted, their Recommended For You page knows my taste so well it's bordering on scary. Last week this 1960s raw silk, screen printed dress popped up and, at £9, it was a no-brainer. It had been listed for over six months, why on earth had nobody already snapped it up? 

It got its debut yesterday (Bank Holiday Monday).

Whilst I was photographing some of my jewellery for my last blog post, I came across a bag of discarded bits & pieces I'd  forgotten about so Jon and I spent our rainy Saturday afternoon making some new necklaces.

This Kuchi pendant looked a bit lost on a silver chain but threaded on a cord with these obsolete Indian coins and some oxidised metal tubular beads it has loads more impact. As I've said before, I don't do discrete or dainty, I like my jewellery visible! 

The tie back construction reminds me of those Walk-Away dresses that were popular in the 1950s.

We've been watching Yellowstone on Netflix and noticed how the cowboys wear a lot of Wrangler. Until Nick Kamen and that iconic Levi advert in 1985, it was the denim of choice for our generation. A few years ago a girl was trying on a vintage jacket at a fair we were trading at and asked what Wrangler was as she'd never heard of it (we told her to ask her Dad).  

 

 

Walking back from the swimming pool on Friday morning the second hand stall on the market had a £4 rail and I soon snaffled this marvellously-aged 1980s Wrangler jacket. It was intended for the Kinky Shed until Jon tried it on. I have suggested he practices his lasso technique on William when he's running up and down the lawn like a thing possessed after a few Dreamies.  

We spent yesterday in the pub and met Tony for pizza in Spoons at midday. Mine was topped with roasted vegetables and the boys' spicy pepperoni.  They also shared cheesy chips with bacon. I don't really do chips (I know, I'm a disgrace to my nation!)

After eating we headed up the road to the Black Country Arms to meet up with my brother, Marcus, and to watch Walsall who were playing Wimbledon at Wembley in the Division 1 play-offs. 

Sadly we were beaten 1- 0. 

We drowned our sorrows with some delicious Salopian IPA. 

Amazingly, despite spending eight and a half hours in the pub Jon & I were up bright eyed & clear headed and in the pool for 7.30am this morning.

Taken on the way to catch our flight to Rhodes, September 2022

With the weather being a bit iffy this weekend, I've been doing a bit more refashioning. I absolutely love this Dilli Grey dress which I bought new in 2022 but the tie straps really annoy me, the bows get tangled up in my hair and I can't be doing the trailing ends so I removed the straps at the back, flipped the front straps over my shoulder and sewed their ends to the back of the dress, chopping off the excess fabric. 

Waste not, want not! I used the unwanted straps to make scrunchies, every long-haired girl's best friend!

 And now I've got rid of those faffy straps I can play around with layers and make it a year-round dress rather than something exclusively for the summer. I can't be bothered with those seasonal wardrobe swap-overs, I love my clothes and want to wear them all year round!

I love it with this marmalade velvet wrap top (another All About Audrey purchase). 

Here's today's outfit, another Vinted find. A vintage Afghan dress for £10! Excuse the wet patch on the dress and my dishevelled swimming cap hair, I had to dash outside to pose for a photo when there was a break in the rain. It's the black version of this blue one I bought back in 2019! 

More of my cuff collection - both of these were charity shop finds.

Ditto the glass earrings and enamelled Kuchi pendant. 

I don't wear jewellery to walk down to the swimming pool but have to put it on after my swim, I'd hate to disappoint the regulars in Spoons who always tell me that I'm cool! 

Thanks for visiting, see you soon! 

Heavy Metal

Hello! My newly acquired Ottoman rings have rekindled the joy I get from my jewellery and I'm loving playing around with my huge collection of tribal necklaces and bejewelled cuffs. Diamonds, pearls and delicate, dainty stuff don't do it for me - the bigger, the bolder and the heavier the better!

Today I'm wearing a block printed maxi skirt (Vinted, £1!) with an All About Audrey cotton blouse refashioned from a sari and a vintage Anokhi waistcoat (both also via Vinted). Just peeping out from the skirt are my charity shopped M&S pewter trainers. If someone had told me three years ago that I'd be wearing trainers I'd have told them they were mad! 

The Kuchi pendant was a charity shop find and the silver earrings were from Fayre Trade Fairy, festival friends and one-time neighbours at Beautiful Days. 

 

This was Friday's outfit, a day for an early morning swim, breakfast in 'Spoons and a perusal of the town centre charity shops. I wore my go-to combination of a vintage India Imports of Rhode Island maxi skirt with an All About Audrey sari wrap top (purchased new in 2017). 

A young woman smiled at me and told her partner, Wow, that's exactly what I want to look like when I grow up! Thanks, bab, that made my day! 

I bought this Nepali pendant in Goa ten years ago. 

William's terrible traveller and we were dreading taking him for his annual boosters at the vets on Thursday but the journey wasn't too traumatic and, for once, the prescribed sedative worked a treat (although they knocked him out for the rest of the day). 

He's back to normal now and was being very helpful when Jon tested the campervan awning in the garden yesterday (not!) 

I've just realised that every outfit I've shared features something by All About Audrey including this cotton kaftan which I scored on Vinted a few weeks ago. I'm not sponsored, their clothes suit my style and are all ethically made in India. The denim waistcoat was a charity shop find (£1.50) last year. 

This Tibetan pendant was a cheap second-hand find.

I bought these coral and turquoise earrings in India in 2004, back when silver was as cheap as chips. 

Being a self-confessed sun worshipper I've been spending almost every day since we got back from Marmaris in my bikini in the garden catching the rays but on the odd days when its been overcast I've been sewing.

You might remember me sharing this vintage kaftan last year. Bearing the American/Canadian ILGWU label (International Ladies' Garment Workers Union), it was made for the Great Entertainers label and sold through Sears in the early 1970s. The print features Alphonse Mucha's celebrated illustration of Sarah Bernhardt (c. 1896) set against a background of reeds and insects.  

It was already a bit tatty when I bought it but after months of wear it was starting to develop holes so I decided to refashion it into a crop top and maxi skirt or a co-ord, as the cool kids say! I'm definitely taking this to Glastonbury. 

Enjoy your weekend! See you soon!