Vintage treasure hunting

In the past couple of weeks I have had success in my vintage treasure hunting. I am always on the look out, I rummage, I act on hunches, I dig through piles, I grab anything that looks interesting, I examine,I check regularly and I ask. But often, it is just simply a case of being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes you have great success, sometimes you walk away empty handed. I always enjoy the hunt though!

These are from a local charity shop.

Perfect for Kate-Em! They need a clean up and the mounting needs sorting out but I couldn't leave these cross stitch pictures behind. They are Kate Greenaway figures and I already have the K one as my Godmother stitched it for me when I was born!

Charity shops are a fantastic source of buttons, once you have dug through all the little plastic bags of men's shirt buttons and random oddments. I don't know what I will use these on yet so into the button tin they go.

This piece of fabric was hard to photograph as it has a slight sheen to it. It looks a bit like a brocade but I don't think it is. I liked the delicate pattern and there was a decent length of it so I snapped it up.

I collect Stitchcraft magazines so when the lovely Lucy from 1940's style for you was selling some recently I was able to fill a few holes in my collection.

Very glamorous! Wish I looked like that answering the phone. Love the jumper.

Camels! Need I say more!?

Fabulous hat and mittens set.

Great hair, twinset and parrot!

Beautiful. I think I might like a nice fluffy bolero.

The vast majority of this haul I found at the fabulous Hebden Bridge Women's Institute Rag Market. This twice yearly event is run by some members of the WI and is a fantastic place for crafters to go shopping. The hall is packed with stalls piled with craft related goodness; fabric, wool, buttons, thread, patterns, notions, paper, books etc. Some of the stall holders are selling their stash, some are shop owners, some are selling the contents of their granny's attic. Everything is priced reasonably and it is a great place for a rummage. The recent market was so very good that I spent my budget by 9.45 (I was helping set up, it didn't open until 11am), and I had to pay a visit to the bank! It was worth it.

I found some fabric:

Gorgeous colours, heavy weight and a really good length for £2!

Modern John Lewis but looks very Mid Century.

Some small pieces of tweed for a project that is half formed in my mind!

I found some knitting patterns:

Apart from the lovely gloves I love the styling of this one.

I will probably be selling this one on as I am fairly sure I have it. Great hats!

I have to try this and see if it can indeed be knitted in 2 hours.

Intrigued by the peculiar cone hat which can be styled slouched or straight up!

I love the Growing up in Sirdar range for their colours and styling as much as the patterns.

I had to get this as the socks match the yoke of the jumper.

 Just a lovely set.

I found embroidered goodies:

Tablecloth with baskets of flowers in each of the corners.

Tablecloth with garland of flowers in each corner.

An oval cloth for a dressing table.

A really gorgeous tray cloth.

I found books:

I found buttons:

For 1950's Tyrolean knits.

Magnificent!

I found some random bits and pieces:

Boxed embroidered hankies.

Close up.

A marvellous crocheted doily.

Close up. Look how fine that work is.

A lovely cheery tin.

I found Stitchcrafts:

Great jumper and hat set.

I was very happy indeed with all my finds! Lots and lots of projects and ideas to be getting on with!

Charity shop treasures

I finally managed to drop off several bags of stuff at my charity shop of choice today. I have been trying to do this for a while. On my first attempt part of my clutch broke on the journey and in the ensuring chaos I could not get there so these bags have been travelling about in my car boot for ages. The charity shop gods were obviously with me today because as well as successfully dropping off my stuff I also found some treasures to take home!

I only found one in the first shop.

A very nice tin with the Household Cavalry on it. I remember seeing them at Buckingham Palace and at the Trooping of the Colour when I was little. Sharps confectioners were based in York and produced sweets such as toffee bonbons. King George VI died in 1952 so that must be the approximate date of the tin.

My local town has several charity shops (like most towns I expect) and as I left this one I had a feeling that I needed to go and look in another one. I knew exactly which one the feeling was referring to! I know that sounds weird but I am glad that I did as I had much success treasure hunting in this second shop. Always listen to those charity shop feelings treasure hunters!

This is a modern book which I have flicked through many times before and wanted to buy so when I saw it in the charity shop in pristine condition for a whole bargain £2 I snapped it up quickly. Lots and lots of lovely 1950's adverts to look through, such as this one featuring amazing glasses frames. Which, incidentally, I really want a pair of but having tried some modern versions on last weekend I have found that they do not suit me at all. Very disappointing.

I found three of these fabulous Alfred Meakin plates. I know my mum has some like this. I love roses but I particularly like the colours of the leaves, minty, silvery blue/greens.

A lovely scarf in several shades of green featuring some lovely dogs. I don't think that it is particularly old but the dogs are very cute. It has panels of solid and panels of sheer material which is why the pictures look a bit odd.

I had a good rummage in the book shelves and came away with three great ones.

The first is this 1970's book on patchwork which will be very useful as I am trying to learn how to do patchwork at the moment. I have dreams of lovely patchwork quilts.

The back cover showing what is featured inside. Exciting craftyness ahead!

One of the pictures from inside, I really like the fabrics used in this patchwork block. It also features hexagons which are the shape that I am starting with.

Pretty pattern on the front cover but no clues as to what is inside.

Home handicrafts, needlework and repairs - surely a huge range of topics, no wonder it should be part of a household reference library. In the introductions it says that it is intended to be a practical manual covering topics such as how to fix broken china, how to mend a chair leg, how to lay a parquet floor, how to fix a broken lock etc. It has no publishing date inside but a bit of googling suggests 1930 or 1934 and that this book is one of a set of six which would form the reference library.

This is a list of the black and white photograph plates in the book and from this you get a good idea of the topics covered inside.

This intrigued me at once! It has no publishing date and googling suggests that ii has been republished several times. From the illustrations and the paper I think it is late 1930's.

This is the contents page, look at the array of entertainments featured! They are all illustrated with lovely black and white line drawings.

I will be coming back to these two 1930's books in future posts, when I have had a chance to read and digest some of their wisdom!