Vintage suitcase finds + more corsages!

This is a long post with a lot of photographs but please stick with it because I hope you'll think it's worth it :o)

As many of you vintage wearing followers will know, sourcing original 1940's clothing is not an easy task.  We are always on the look out, scouring vintage fairs and buying from re-enactors etc.  Normally we have to "find" the items but, a chance meeting at a 1940's re-enactment, not one that we were trading at, a lady who had discovered some beautiful items while clearing a house, brought them to our attention and we were lucky to acquire them.

First up, a suitcase.  I've riffled through many a vintage suitcase.  Sometimes they are full of treasures, other times the contents are so disgustingly dirty that I have I worry what I might have inhaled!  This unassuming leather suitcase, somewhat battered and tired.......

was full of treasure. 

Please excuse the chapel pew that the case is sitting on.  We have 2 in the garden that came from Perranporth Methodist Chapel where my daughters were christened and they are somewhat of a project!  Back to the case though!
 
It contained;

A half finished dress.  The sleeves are sewn in and the skirt attached to the bodice.  All it needs is buttons and button holes (argh!!), a collar and then a hem.  Why wasn't it finished?  I wish I knew.  It's been beautifully made, neatly finished seams and the like so should be easy enough to follow on and finish it off.  The instructions are in the pattern envelope but sadly no pattern pieces.

A collection of vintage cottons and a rather complicated looking knitting stitch/pattern counter thingy - think I'll stick to paper and pencil to mark off my rows.

Some instruments of torture!  Well, in truth, some 1920's crimping irons but I didn't know that until I asked my Mum.  They are complete with singe marks from when they were heated in the fire before being used on someones hair.  The damage they must have done and the smell - it must have been terrible.

Two rather lovely knits!  The tank top has been feasted on a little by some hungry moths - thankfully it's repairable though.  The cardigan is beautiful with just a tiny moth hole on the front rib and a missing button - better raid my button stash then.  Someone has boiled it and shrunk it which is a shame for us adults but a plus for C as it fits her perfectly.  However, as it's pure wool, she is reluctant to wear it - I shall persevere because I shan't be knitting anything as intricate for her!

More knitting patterns!!!!  I couldn't believe it.  They are in lovely condition and I had been after an original copy of the Bestway "Gifts in Knitting and Crochet" for a while.

Apart from some seriously sharp sewing needles and some random 1960's buttons, the last thing in the case was a little clear bag stuffed full of the most amazing.........

Corsages!!  Just look at them, so very beautiful and each one different.  They are mostly done in perle cotton (thank you Ginny for help on that one :o)!) and each one has a thick green felt back with 2, sometimes 3 safety pins on - no fear of them falling off.  Some require a little stitch here and there and the backs aren't the neatest but, who's going to see that once it's on a jacket?? 

This very talented lady must have spent hours making them and for what purpose?  An artisan with a shop perhaps or simply crocheting for pleasure, we'll never know.  

I would love to keep them all, they were a real once in a lifetime purchase, but I'm being realistic and have only kept 2.  I figure that they have been stored long enough and clearly haven't seen the light of day for many a year.  I'm hoping they will end up with people who will love and cherish them as much as the lady who kept hold of them for all these years did.

When looking through them, I noticed that the Bestway "Gifts in Knitting and Crochet" pattern had been put to good use to make 2 of the corsages.









Along with the suitcase, I bought 2 dresses.  I don't normally "show off" the clothing that I buy but these 2 dresses, both made of moygashel, a linen feel fabric, are so beautiful that I thought you might like to see them.

Patriotic red, white and blue number with it's original belt!

                                              

Cute hey?!

This recent lot of purchases really got to me and it's because there was an actual person associated with the items.  I know that that might sound odd, but a dress brought to us by a re-enactor or purchased at a fair is a stand alone garment with no reference as to the original owner.

 

This lady, whoever she was, couldn't part with her things.  She obviously deemed them important enough to want to hold on to them for many a year.  Worn on a first date perhaps or for a special occasion or maybe, like me, she was just a serious hoarder!!  Whatever the reason, I know that I'm incredibly lucky to have them and will be a willing custodian of them until someone else comes along to love them! 

Oh I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside.....

Well we've returned from our time away in Cornwall, and what a jolly time we had.  

Mr Y was born and bred in Cornwall, in a little village called Probus, to be precise.  I've always loved the county and had family holidays there long before I met my other half.  So many beautiful places to visit and such freedom and space for the little Y's to run around in.   

Sundays at home in Cornwall are my favourite.  Invariably, we head down to the beach to have a long walk before people start arriving to stake their claim on a patch of sand for the day. 

Last Sunday was no different and, up bright and early, we set foot on the sand at 7.15, the lovelies taking off at lightning speed to dip their toes in the ice cold Atlantic!  When the tide is fully out, Perranporth offers miles of beautiful golden sands, nothing like the stones and shingle offered up at our nearest coastal resort.  Mr Y, being raised so close to the sea, is a great lover of the crashing waves and so took the girls right into the surf – he could have done with being a little more suitably dressed, shirt and suit trousers not being typical paddling attire!

I’m not a sea lover and my shoes stayed firmly on my feet, nice and dry, thank you very much :o)  I have a great aversion to the seaweed that floats around your legs when paddling – even the thought of it as I type makes me shudder, daft I know, but a fact none the less! 

After the beach, it was time to head back home for a warm bath to “de-sand” before a beautiful roast turkey dinner and an afternoon of peace and quite.

Here are a few snaps of the day.....Blogger has done something funny to the size and order and I'm too tired to correct it :o)

We spent bank holiday Monday in Penzance where the weather let us down and we got well and truly soaked.  I bought myself a new umbrella, my other one having done that highly annoying turning inside out trick!  When I got back to the car, I some how managed to shut said new brolly in the closure of the boot – not happy!  I was quite chuffed though to see the post box that had been painted gold in celebration of the gold medal won by Helen Glover in the rowing.

  
I loved our time away.  I didn’t take any knitting with me so had an entire week off – a real rarity and a treat for my tired hands. 

As I'm sure everyone does, I've come back to Suffolk with a right bump and have certainly hit the ground running and have an ironing mountain to climb - I HATE ironing :o) 

Ramsey 1940's event

I meant to show these to you at the very beginning of the week but never got round to it :o)
 

Last weekend we went to the Ramsey 1940's weekend and it was ridiculously hot.  Hottest day of the year so far, so I've been told. 

Being under canvas and trying to keep a 4 and 6 year old cool was somewhat of a challenge and tempers were a little short - mostly mine, as I'm certain any of those camping with me would tell you.

Although I had every good intention, I didn't actually get that many shots - I simply couldn't bear the baking sun, even though I had a parasol.  Also, there weren't as many re-enactors as there have been before so photo oportunities were somewhat limited. 

Highlight of the weekend for me was the display put on by the Dakota and Lancaster - amazing planes!  Her are a few of the very limited shots.

Both dances were held in this amazing big top!

 

We've headed west and are staying in Cornwall at the moment, hoping to get some sun over the bank holiday weekend.  Hope you all have a great weekend :o)

A Stitch In Time - blackberry stitch cardigan

Well, I just managed to squeeze this post in before heading to Ramsey.  Truth be told, I've had it written for a number of weeks now but couldn't share it with you because I hadn't delivered the cardigan to the new owner but as we're handing it over tomorrow, I think it's safe to share it with you all now ;o)

This is the pattern for the cardigan.

It came from Susan Crawfords A Stitch In Time.  I'm not talking about the fairly recently published one with the beautiful models and re-written patterns.  Oh no, this jumper was knitted from a 1982 edition of the book which was picked up at a car boot sale many years ago before vintage knitting had such a resurgence.  Just take a look at the cover.

Bit tatty, I know, but it does the job and at just £1.00 at a car boot sale, it was a total bargain.

The wool used for this cardigan was a Stylecraft 4 ply in a shade called aster.  It's such a pretty shade, so summery and will look perfect over a little blouse.

It took a long time to knit, not surprising really given the number of cute little bobbles, but as far as the pattern went, it was a fairly simple one to remember.  It knitted up well and didn't require much size adjusting, which is always a bonus.  The only slight annoyance was the time it took to sew it up.  It was quite fiddly making sure the lines of bobbles all matched up correctly.  I took lots of time safety pinning the seams to match everything up properly.  I never see the point in taking hours knitting something only to rush it at the last hurdle and make a hash of sewing it up!  It doesn't have buttons yet.  Some have been provided but until I know the jumper fits, I won't be sewing them on.  Here it is in it's summery glory.

I really love how the cardigan has turned out.  The pattern is so pretty and I think it's one of my favourite woolies to date.

As I've mentioned before, we are heading to Ramsey tomorrow.  While packing the van this morning, littlest Y, whilst trying to escape into the back garden, got her fingers jammed in the back door and is now sporting a pair of very swollen and bruised little fingers.  She was very brave though and, in her words, only had a little whimper (I wasn't quite so brave!).  Minor incident aside, we're just about packed, ready to head off tomorrow morning.

After the -4 conditions at Bassingbourn, howling gales at The Watercress Line and washout at Festival of the Forties, we're hoping for a bright, sunny, DRY (please!!) event.  I'll be back next week with lots of pictures - I hope.

Giveaway winner!

Hello all, very quick post as I'm busy getting things packed for the Ramsey 1940's weekend which is only a few days away.

Just a quick post to announce the winner of the little giveaway is Bunny Moreno.  If you can get in touch, I'll get the below items sent off to you :o)

Will be packing my camera this weekend so hope to have some lovely shots to share with you all and I have a Stitch In Time post waiting in the wings which I hope to get uploaded before I go!!

400 followers giveaway!!

Well, we've reached 400 followers on our Facebook page.  Can't really believe it :o)

As a thank you to all you lovely people, we're hosting a little giveaway.  Up for grabs are the following items.

-  A turban handknitted by yours truly using an original 1940's Lavenda knitting pattern
-  A handmade felt marigold corsage from an original 1941 pattern, again made by yours truly
-  A little carved edelweis brooch

It's giveaway is open worldwide and you must be a follower of this blog to enter.  You can have up to 3 entries, here's how;

1. Post a comment on this blog
2. Nip over to my Facebook page and pop a comment on the giveaway photo
3. Share this post :o)

The giveaway closes on Friday August 10th at 12pm GMT and the winner will be announced shortly afterwards.

I'm linking this post in with Lakota's brilliant Ta-Dah Tuesday post - now I've worked out how to do it!! :o)

Good luck! :o)

IWM Duxford - Spitfires, Motors and Merlins

Yesterday, we visited the IWM Duxford for their Spitfires, Merlins and Motors event. 
I love Duxford and have wanted to trade there for ages so was super excited about the vintage fair which had been organised by Discover Vintage. 

Duxford is one of my most favourite places to visit and houses an amazing collection of war birds including a static Lancaster – my favourite WW2 plane.  We’ve been to a few of the displays put on at Duxford, the most special being Flying Legends which never disappoints.  As silly as it may seem, Duxford has a super special place in my heart because last year we treated my Dad to a ride in a Tiger Moth for his 60^th Birthday.  A week before the flight was due to take place, he was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency surgery.  Classic Wings, the company who run the flights, were brilliant and allowed us to change the booking.  After a long recovery, to see him climb into the plane and get to fly it was pretty darn special and still makes me well up just thinking about it!  Daft I know.

Getting back to the point though, as the event name suggests, yesterday saw Spitfires and classic cars on site together.  The weather wasn’t overly kind and a deluge meant that not all the Spitfires managed to get into the air, and the one from the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight didn’t make it at all.  Although I was inside the hall for the most part, I did manage to get outside to see a pair of Spitfires swooping low over the runway and putting on a beautiful display.

As to the fair itself, well, the stalls were spread out around 3 large aircraft in the hall – it was the largest place we have ever stalled out in, very impressive.  There was a nice mix of stalls selling some amazing items. 

Some of our mens hats :o)

And some for the ladies - what a lovely backdrop!

The stall next to me had a much coveted collection of cream and green enamel kitchen ware but I resisted the urge to indulge :o)  I did, however, do a little bit of shopping and came home with these three items.

Another Lavenda knitting pattern to add to my collection for a very reasonable £1.50, a beautiful 1940's Economy Design sewing pattern for £10.00 and Mr Y tracked down the brooch for just £6.00! 

I also brought home another brooch.  It's made of perspex and has been so beautiful carved.  We did have it for sale on our stall but when it came to it, I couldn't part with it so it just had to come home :o) 

  
To add to the already atmospheric venue, entertainment was provided in the form of Major Swing and also The Swinging Sweethearts.  Major swing played some iconic tracks from the 1930's-1950's while doing a little bit of dancing too; even a few of the stall holders got up and did a little stroll.

The Swinging Sweethearts, quite simply, were brilliant.  I'd never heard of them before but they didn't disappoint.  They are very talented and we were lucky to have our stall right in front of the stage so had a brilliant view.  

Where ever we go, we seem to be lucky and meet some truly lovely people.  We met an Australian lady who fell in love with a pair of 1940’s dead stock shoes that we had and so they’ll be heading back to Oz with her shortly.  We also met a charming lady who is a fellow blogger, but I never found out what her blog is :o(  If you’re reading this, please get in touch.  She was petite enough to fit into a tiny Susan Small dress that we were selling and I think she looks amazing in it.  The photograph doesn’t really do it justice because there is a huge bow on the back of this dress - stunning!!

Alongside the lovely people, there were also the numpties who, sorry to moan, were a pain.  One family thought it funny to try our original 1930’s hats on their childrens’ heads before taking a photograph.  Even my loudest tut and hardest Paddington Bear stare didn’t get my annoyance across.  Most people respect that the clothes are, quite simply, irreplaceable, but those that don’t get my goat!  :o)

After a long but very enjoyable day, we rolled home at 7.30 where I promptly rang for a take-away (I wasn’t about to cook having spent 10 hours on my feet, thank you very much) and once little Y’s were tucked up, I fell into bed myself at 9pm.  I’m still suffering today with somewhat sore feet so I shall go and rest them and do some knitting while I have some peace because Mr Y has taken critters two to the park :o)