The Vintage Fair

I've had two brilliant weekends of selling my vintage wares, first of all was Mary's Marvellous Vintage and Craft Market and then The Vintage Fair at the Sheffield Town Hall. I have to say a huge thank you to everyone who came along and made my car a lot lighter on the way home!

You can tell from my grin hat I am thoroughly enjoying myself. Thanks to the lovely people at The Vintage Fair who I stole this picture from! Anyway it's safe to say that I am becoming a bit obsessed and I am booking myself in to as many fairs as will have me, so here are the ones I have planned so far for the rest of the year with (hopefully!) even more to come...

                                          

And finally here is a sneaky peak at a few of the items that I will be bringing along with me. I am particularly taken with the 1960s scooter dress by Marcel Fenez, it's made from a thick wool fabric and absolutely perfect for Autumn/Winter.

                             

                             

                             

                             

A Mini Shop Update!

I have done a mini shop update, but there is much much more on the way so keep checking back! How fabulous is the turquoise and orange maxi dress? Oh how I wish it fitted me!

Holidays!

I thought I would share some of the photos from our holiday this year to sunny Cornwall! I know it's not the most exotic of destinations, but because we are saving to decorate our house we thought we would try and save some money by going camping. I was preparing for torrential downpours and had packed wellies and waterproofs but honestly we could not have picked a better week to go, it was non-stop sunshine and thats something you don't get very often in good old England!

We stayed at the Polmanter camp site in St Ives which I would recommend, it has great facilities including a swimming pool which we used every day. We visited a lot of different places; Newquay, St Michael's Mount, Truro, Penzance and Lands End - and of course I couldn't resist doing a spot of charity shop shopping while we we there. I really enjoyed going to St Michael's Mount, it's a castle built on top of a small island which you can walk to at low tide. We arrived a bit early and the path was still under water - the sea was icy cold and I couldn't feel my feet by the time I had crossed! 

I think the only downside that I can think of was that the weather was so good that our tent was like an oven by 7am in the morning so we woke up really really early every day. That and the sunburn!

We were definitely not put off camping and have already been planning some mini camping breaks before the end of the summer, I am thinking maybe Whitby, where would you recommend?

Minnie's at Mary's Marvellous!

Yesterday I had my first stall at Mary's Marvellous Vintage and Craft Fair. I have spent the last week or so prepping all my stock, pricing everything, making sure I had enough business cards, remembering table cloths, buying clothes rails, making bunting and cramming everything in to my teeny tiny car. It's safe to say that I am a worrier so I had planned for every possible eventually in my head, there were lots and lots of lists involved!

I needn't have worried though because I had such a great day. The event was 1960s themed so I was rocking a beehive and a rather snazzy dress that I picked up from a charity shop.

(I also brought all of my vintage clothing but it was on the opposite side)

 Here you can see my bunting in all it's glory, I knocked it together using some spare pieces of vintage fabric that I had and the spare binding from my chevron quilt. I was quite pleased with the overall result.

There was a scooter rally in the church grounds, and I was particularly taken with this fabulous Bedford camper van.

All of the customers were really friendly, I enjoyed having chats with people who love vintage as much as I do. My whole family also came to visit me which was really sweet. There were a lot of wonderful stalls and I had to be really really careful not to spend all of the money I'd made there and then! To all of the stallholders that I met, thank you for making me feel welcome and it was lovely meeting you.

The day was super long and by the end of it I was so so tired, but it was a lot of fun. I learned a lot and will definitely be applying for spots at other fairs in the future.

*** If I have used a picture of your stall, please let me know and I will link up to your website!***

Exciting News!

I have some exciting news to share with you...Minnie Vintage is going on the road! That's right, I have been accepted as a stallholder at Mary's Marvellous Vintage & Craft Market.

It will be my first ever stall and I'm having a minor panic thinking about all of the things that I need to organise before 27th July! I am really excited about meeting other local vintage sellers and vintage lovers and am hoping that people will like my stock enough to actually want to buy things from me! The theme of the July market is 1960s with prizes for the grooviest stall. I have a dress in mind to wear and have been practicing a gravity defying beehive, the only thing that has stumped me is how to make my stall look groovy.

Have any of you been stallholders yourselves? Are there any hints or tips to making your stall a successful one? I would love to hear your suggestions.

 

If you are local to the area, St Mary's is a brilliant vintage and craft market and definitely worth checking out. If you are free on the 27th come along and say hi! There is even going to be a scooter rally in the grounds! For more information, check out the website here.

 

 

 

Chevron Quilt

I have finally finished my chevron quilt with 5 days to go before my best friends birthday. I hope she is pleased with it! After debating what to do for the backing I decided to give her a sneaky text asking what her favourite colour is. She said red or turquoise so I have included both in the finished item, I am hoping she hasn't put two and two together and realised why I was asking!

For the quilt top I used the back to black bundle from M is for Make. The backing and binding are Better Value Plain Cottons from Seamstar in Cyan and Red. These fabrics are extra wide and definitely good value for money.

I chose to keep the quilting fairly simple and sewed half an inch either side of the chevron. I bought a walking foot a few months back and this was the first time I have properly used it. I can't believe what a big difference it made, I don't know how I managed without it before! 

This is only the second quilt that I have finished and it's certainly not perfect. Hopefully my friend won't be looking too closely at some of the wonky seams, after all it's the thought that counts, right? 

Etsy Customers are the Best!

I think one of my favourite things about selling items on Etsy is hearing back from happy customers, and it's even better to see pictures of items in their new homes. I was really excited when one of my customers, Jen, sent me a picture of her lovely pyrex collection including a lemon daisy print space saver from Minnie Vintage...

Doesn't it look cute? I can't resist pastel colours so these are perfection! I also love the idea of using pyrex mixing bowls as planters and will definitely be stealing this idea for my home. Jen also has an Etsy shop of her own called Thrifting Treasures which is full of lovely pyrex and other vintage collectibles, definitely worth checking out! 

Chevron Quilt Top

Today I finally finished my chevron quilt top. It has to be completed in time for my best friends birthday in July, so I really need to hurry up and start quilting. I think I am going to use Moda extra wide dottie quilt backing in either aqua or red. I just hope that she likes it! 

I also went to a few car boot sales this weekend and picked up some new to me items. My favourite has to be this bundle of fabric scraps from the 1950s to the 1970s. My personal favourite has to be the pink fabric with the turquoise houses or the painted dancers. The whole bundle cost me £2 which I think is a bit of a bargain. I just need to decide what I want to do with them. 

I also picked up this large JAJ pyrex casserole dish. I have never seen this particular pattern before and I can't seem to find much information about it online, do you know what it's called? 

And finally, my wonderful sister bought this stunning 1970s maxi dress for my Etsy shop. It is beautifully made and the colours are amazing, I tried it on in the hope that I might be able to keep it for myself but unfortunately it doesn't fit me. It will be listed just as soon as I find my missing tape measure!

Today's Thrifty Finds

It has been a lovely sunny day here in Sheffield, the perfect weather to drag your boyfriend round jumble sales, charity shops and car boot sales and I am pleased to say that I managed all three. The jumble sale and charity shops weren't a huge success but I managed to buy some new (to me) things at the car boot. 

I bought this bag of vintage Coats threads for £2. Aren't they the cutest colours? I know these will come in handy for future quilts. I particularly love the old wooden spools and labels. 

I also bought this mismatched set of 1960s melaware. I was a bit of an eager beaver with the photography and haven't yet had chance to give them a good wash as you can see, so apologies for that. I was attracted to them because of the bright colours and somehow I have visions of these becoming the start of a new collection.

From the same stallholder I also bought this set of three nesting containers. Who can resist bright orange with a daisy pattern? Certainly not me.

 Next up I bought a couple more vintage sheets which will soon be cut up and making their way in to the fabric shop

And finally, I actually bought this a few weeks ago but had completely forgotten to share. It is an old baby blue hairdryer with it's original box in full working condition. It only cost me £1! What I haven't picture here is the fact that it comes with a long plastic tube attached to what looks like a shower cap so you can put your rollers in and dry your hair around it. Fantastic!

Cute custom creations!

So I created my first treasury on etsy and thought that I would share with you some of the lovely items that I have found. They are all personalised or customised and make such cute gifts for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, you name it!



Personalised family wall hanging by PinkCheeks Studios

Custom Portait Illustration by sweetandlovely

 

Custom portrait wedding cake toppers by iislands

Custom couple portrait personalised original art on wood by Frances Marin


 

Personalised paper doll by Jordan Grace Owens

Custom address stamp by papersushi

If you want to see the rest of the items in my treasury, you can find it here.

 

Thanks!