Girls' Own Big Weekend

It's been a big, busy weekend for VB and I. Yes, we're totally rockin' out here in the suburbs, the weather has suddenly improved this week, bringing with it a fresh surge of energy for all sorts of activities.

Since my 6-degree morning a couple of weeks ago, the heater has now been packed away, winter stock has been pulled from the racks and put into storage and my little sunroom, so cosy to inhabit during winter daytimes, is now almost unbearable after 9am and will continue to be so for the next 8 months.

Saturday morning saw a fair spot of vintage treasure hunting- and finding!

Above and below, just some of what I bought, minus the sunnies obvs.

My most exciting find was an old razor strop (on the basket behind the phone), they're not worth a lot but the lady I bought it from said it belonged to her father who had been a barber, and it was his all-time favourite.

With VB and Lisa Enright, photo by The Stitchin' Bitch

Still rockin' on Saturday night, we went to some far-off 'burbs for a (adults) roller skating birthday party. The old-style timber rink was awesome, to my mind so much better than the modern concrete equivalents. This was only VBs second time skating and she absolutely loves it, even insisting on entering the skating limbo comp, I wish I had a photo of us going under the bar as apparently she looked hilarious.

And yes, that *is* a chenille bedspread I'm wearing on my bum! I'll have to show this outfit properly later, it's a bit mental but then that's the whole point isn't it.

Painting started off our Sunday, VB 'helps' a lot as you can see, note the vegemite toast on the lawn!

Midday saw us run around the corner to a local school fete, I mostly went to meet the principal as I'm looking to send VB there next year (can you believe she's nearly 5?!) but VB took full advantage of the massive slide, so big you can hardly see her at the top there.

Ah yes, here she is, not scared at all, and still in the dress from last night. They tell me it's called 'choosing your battles wisely'.

Excuse the grainy iphone pics, but we had a lucky score with clothing on Friday, what we bought was hanging over the rack on the left, so it was time to spend a few hours hanging, pricing, steaming and properly sorting clothing stock, especially as the Brisbane Vintage Fashion Fair (our biggest) is coming up the weekend after next.

 The other side of the stockroom was equally busy!

As you can see, VB came home with several bags full of treats from the fete, the main prize to my mind being the fuzzy felts, I had several as a child and absolutely loved them. And yes, this is all tidy now.

Tired but happy

See you soon!

Views From A Fa(i)r

Phew, the Brisbane Vintage Fashion Fair is over once again...for the next few months at least!

As usual it was a hectic time in the lead-up, I've been very slack on the blogging and commenting front lately as a result.

Here are a few special treasures that caught my eye.

No prizes for guessing that these amzing carved wooden soled platforms were my favourite, LOL.

Here's me on the second day of the fair in my latest 40s dress, with Lisa from Vintage Bird Girl. Go check out her blog for more pics from the fair.

Vintage is Everywhere...Here's Where To Find It

Yes gals, my favourite fair is on again in just a few weeks' time!

We will be in our usual spot, over in the corner of the Hall of Fame Room right near the ATM (not that that's a hint or anything, ha ha!).

And I hope that this coming fair will again be adequate cause for a bloggers meet-up. It was so lovely to meet Nelly and Trudy last time, even though I couldn't spare much time for socialising...I hope I get more 'visitors' this coming fair!

But dare I say it, there are so many other places to find vintage.

As is always the case with treasure hunting, it's all a matter of getting out and about and putting the time and effort in.

Here's a little round-up of some other avenues for vintage treasure hunting in the Bris-vague-ass area.

The above is a new little market that I've not yet attended, but might be worth a look, especially if you're interested in handmade and upcycled goodies. You can check their Facebook page here.

Many of you will know about Suitcase Rummage by now, an event so popular it outgrew its initial home in the middle of the CBD. An awesome big little market for cheap goodies, vintage or modern, this is where I found my $800 Walter Steiger shoes for $10. Just quietly, I've run into many antique dealers running around the rummage, so what does that tell you.

Not to be missed, the most very awesome Lori Lee is once again running the Twilight Hot Rod Show, a fabulous night of vintage markets, car show, drinking and music. It was intially scheduled for January but was moved due to bad weather, so don't miss out! See the Facebook page here.

 

West End Twilight Markets is a small up-and-coming market, held in a large shed just off Boundary St in West End. That makes it sound like a country yee-ha hoe down or something, but I assure you it's not!

Great sounds from live bands, heaps of vintage LPs, cheap 50s dresses, handmade earrings (I'm lookin' at you Ms Vicki Hi-Fallutin!!), topped off by the best vegetarian food ever, what more do you want from a Saturday evening warm-up?!

This is another new-ish wee market I have yet to check out, but I know young Desiree has been there, so I should think that says enough, right?!

And for the uber-keen (or perhaps I should say gluttons for punishment?), chuckouts are on this weekend in Moorooka and Salisbury.

And if that doesn't keep all you vintage gluttons quiet for a little while...then you'll have to come over to my house to check out my stockpile...ha ha ha!!!

Views From The Fair

 

No prizes for guessing whose stall this is!!

We had a great but very busy time so I'm making this post pic heavy and light on text. It was great to meet Trudy and Nelly, a pity more blog buddies couldn't be there!

 

Our lovely model and muse Erin, who won best dressed, yay!

Brisbane Vintage Fashion Fair

Yes chicks, it's that time again!

Our biggest, best, and most favourite vintage fair is FINALLY on again, for the first and only time this year.

With enough vintage fashion to exhaust the most fearless shopper, heaps of retro and vintage homewares, furniture, hats, jewellery, entertainment, food, competitions, and all that stuff, if you only go to one fair this year, make sure this is it!!!

When- Friday October 28, 6-10 pm & Saturday 29th, 10-4 pm
Where- Eagle Farm Racecourse, Ascot
Entry- $10
Is there a bar?- HELL YES!!!

I've been working my butt off these past few weeks getting all our new stock ready for this fab event (did I mention it's my favourite fair?!). In fact today I emptied the shop of so much vintage fashion that we've decided to close for the 2 days of the fair!

I can't wait to show my dear overseas friends lots of photos afterwards, too bad you can't all be here with me, I'd so love to go shopping with my blog friends!

Busy...and Excited!

We're so busy this week that this is actually something of a Claytons post. You know, the post you do when you haven't got time to do a proper post!

Hot on the heels of my teeth drama comes Sues big house move this weekend. You might remember me showing you through her house a while ago, and how much stuff she has...if not, click here and here to see what she's had to pack over the past few weeks.

We've also had our biggest ever load of vintage clothing land in our lap this week- so exciting! Everything from 20s voile tea dresses to fabulous 60s go-go boots to 50s chiffon party dresses to spectacular gloves...and everything in between.

Of course I'll show you lots of pics as soon as I can, but not until it's all clean and presentable-I'm still working on that of course. For now I can only show little teaser pics!

Of course all the new lovelies have to be ready in time for our biggest fair of the year, the Brisbane Vintage Fashion Fair, held at Eagle Farm Racecourse on October 28 & 29. If you're local and don't know about it, look them up on Facebook as you WILL NOT want to miss this one.


The most exciting news of all though, is that we have been asked to take over the annual Zonta club Melbourne Cup fashion parade on Tamborine Mountain on November 1st! We've enlisted Miss Chrissy of The Lindy Charm School For Girls as host and compere, and will be showing a range of Melbourne Cup themed fashions from (of course) the 1920s to the 1970s, including many pieces from our new range and some as-yet unseen pieces from Sues and my personal collections.

If you're local and would love a great day out on Melbourne Cup Day, keep an eye on our Facebook page. Ticket details will be announced soon and you'll need to get in quick for this one!

It's All About The Fair....

Well life certainly has been 'all about the fair' for me this past couple of weeks, (I'm talking about Mt Gravatt vintage fashion fair in case you didn't know) but now it's all over and I'm back to blogging properly, yay!

While I usually show you lots of photos of the pretty treasures that were on offer, this time I thought I'd do something different, and show you what I did on the first day- i.e. what a fair is like from a sellers point of view. While I was setting up I found a few treasures for myself which I'll show you as well.

It's 10am, and I set off for the venue with vanload number one. Packed the night before to save time, as it takes a while.

Arrive at the venue, and am faced with the above groan-worthy huge 8 x 3 m space to fill. The clothes and stuff you can see on either side belong to my neighbouring sellers who arrived before me. This fair is close to home for me and we have lots of time to set up and pack up, so I go 'all-out' and take as much stock as I can.

One hour in, and I've got five racks reassembled and in place, all the clothes in, the tables set up and a few props in too. You can't see it too well but the empty rack in the back left corner is for all the new vintage fabric which was hung later on.

Three hours in, and I've got the jewellery tables mostly done, all the boxes in, and the retro kitsch table (the orange one) largely set up.

Here's a closer view, you can see it's starting to take shape now.

A trip home to pack up the second load. One really has to plan what goes in where and when to save time-and muscles!

By 3pm I've got the rug down, the furniture in, and have started to arrange what will be displayed on it.

By 5pm Sue had arrived (she's been at the shop all day, remember), bringing with her the Deco tea trolley on which to display the silver, and the all-important eftpos machine. I've also got the big mirror reassembled and in place, the signage up, the hat table done and the 'better jewellery' cabinet done.

I got busy with some early shoppers so ran out of time to take more pics for the blog, so here are a few that I took on Saturday, by which time some of the displays were looking a tad sparse.

Now to show what I bought. Not so much this time, but there's almost always a few treasures I can't resist.

Two red vanity cases. I sold the ones I showed you in January and regretted it, so I'm definitely keeping these for a while!

 

Both cases came with old sets of hair rollers, how cute is that.

This awesome 50s bakelite (no, not hard plastic) clock, bad flash photo here, much nicer in person

Made in Japan of course...It has a dial at the front which plays 3 different tunes- I haven't quite worked out the point of that, but if anyone knows or has had one of these clocks before, please let me know!

And a mid-century drinks trolley, woo hoo! It's a little bit colonial revival, but not enough to bother me, and looks well with my china cabinet. As you can see it's bare and looking rather forlorn-any ideas what best to put on it??

And yes, thank you, I know the mat underneath looks terrible, but it has to do for now.


In completely unrelated news, Gemmipop, one of my newest followers, has up and given me the Versatile Blogger award!

 

I'm told to share 7 facts about myself....I feel like you all know so much about me by now, I may well bore you to death. Anyway, here they are;

 1. Without makeup, my eyebrows are almost completely invisible.

2. I totally love garlic, and put heaps of it in anything I can.

3. I hate going to the hairdressers, and am flat out going once a year.

4. I can happily drive everything from a trail bike to a 5-ton truck.

5. I want to amass a house chock-full of quirky collectables.

6. I'm soon to have 4 teeth extracted (3 are impacted wisdoms, boo), and needless to say, am not looking forward to it.

Ok so 6 facts will do, it's all I can think of just now. Rather than nominating 15 other blogs for this award, I'd like to invite some of the newer bloggers to take this award upon themselves and let us know in the comments.

And for all my regular commenters and commentees, big apologies for being so slack of late! I have been reading most of your posts and will be back to normal as of tomorrow.xx.