Oof,,, What a Lovely Wedding!

Hello lovelies. Want to see a little bit of vintage magic? Yeah you do...

This pinged into my inbox this morning - the first picture's from All Wrapped Up's recent 1960s themed wedding shoot. Colette from AWU, a Manchester based wedding boutique and event planning company, got in touch with me last month after my vintage wedding was featured in Vintage Life Magazine.

She was after some vintage dresses from my 1960s Bride shop for this gorgeous themed shoot and of course I was keen to help. It's great to see the dresses looking so super - I just love the colours. And the flowers. And the hairdos. In fact the whole kaboodle.

You can see more pics from the fab shoot here...

Mia x

This Old House...

It's official guys and gals - I've got OLD. I've got a husband, a proper grown up job, a slow cooker and a pension plan. CHECK ME OUT. It's only natural, then, that I've become an obsessive vintage homemaker. It's true, there's more to life than dressing yourself in lovely kitsch oddities - you can dress your home in them too.

Over the past couple of years I've spent increasing amounts of time trawling ebay, car boot sales and charity shops for anything formica / flammable / weird / all of the above. I don't want you to strain yourselves trying to imagine the multicoloured swap-shop in my flat so here are a few little glimpses...

So imagine my excitement this weekend when the Vintage Furniture Flea rocked up in London town. It was the second time the event  - a huge market featuring mid-century furniture and home accessories - has hit London, and I was extra excited since I managed to miss the first last year.

Not one to be trusted at these kind of shopping events alone, I managed to persuade my lovely hubby to come along with me bright and early on Sunday morning. I think I mainly managed because he was still drunk from the night before. He was confused. I was giddy. So much kitsch in one room - look at all the loveliness!

 

As you may have guessed vintage homewares with animals are my absolute favourite thing right now!

Bethnal Green's York Hall was a feast for the eyes - filled with Eames and G-Plan furniture, brightly coloured fabrics and furnishings, kitsch cocktail shakers and picnic sets and of course fresh cupcakes (now the staple diet of the vintage shopper).

Traders were really knowledgeable and the prices were certainly cheap for specialist vintage items. Having said that, I'm a real believer in the joy of the search and love nothing better than hunting out cheap treasures - if you don't mind a bit of a trawl and you don't mind your vintage needing a bit of TLC, you can certainly find cheaper at a good car boot sale. But if filling your home with mid-century paraphernalia without spending hours sifting through junk appeals this event is definitely for you! (I'm still hunting for my dream G-plan dining table and chairs - I will find them, I will.)

I was on a tight budget this weekend but still managed to come home with a few lovely pieces for the flat. Wanna see? Yeah you do...

1: 1970s tin wastepaper bin £7
1970s flower designs are my absolute favourite. They remind me of my mum and dad's old curtains!

2: 1960s atomic planter £10
I didn't have a plant for this so popped to the garden centre on my way home and picked up this lovely... oh no, I've forgotten what it's called already. Anyway I've named it Frank and kept it alive almost a week, a new record (told you I was old).

3) And finally this 1970s glitter lamp £20
I've been coveting a new lava lamp for a while. This lovely original one is really unusual, with copper coloured casing and it looks fab when it's on. 
 

All in all I'm pretty pleased with myself, definitely an event worth checking out next time it's in town.

If you are heading along my top tips would be:

1) Get there early - we arrived at opening time and most of the lovely furniture was sold by the time we'd been around the room twice.
2) Make a list (even if it's just in your head) of items you'd like before you go. With so many lovely things on display events like this can be a bit overwhelming. If you know what you're looking for you'll find it much more easily.
3) Set a budget and take it with you in cash. This will stop any ill-advised visits to the cashpoint or credit card transactions! Even the vintage homemaker has to eat you know!
4) Don't take your husband, especially if he's drunk. (He had a little strop but don't worry I appeased him with a cupcake).

There's no place like home.

Mia x

My Vintage Wedding Shop

Hi lovelies!

Just a quick one to let you know about my latest venture. It feels like a million years ago I had my perfect 1960s wedding (though it's not yet 6 months), it's just like an amazingly vivid dream.
 

Like many former brides I don't want to stop thinking about weddings just yet, which is why I've opened the 1960s Bride store.

I accidently gathered quite a collection of vintage dresses in my search for the perfect wedding look, so I've started a store on etsy specialising in 1960s and 70s wedding and bridesmaid dresses and accessories. It's a great excuse for me to keep shopping for lovely things, and a chance to share tips I've found with other retro brides. I'd love to know what you all think.

You can access the store here.

It's got a good selection of vintage bridesmaid dresses in and I'll be adding to it all the time, and if there's anything you can't find just ask, I'd love to help.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the dresses in store right now:

Mia xx

My Favourite Vintage Fair EVER

I have a confession to make. It's a bit controversial coming from a sometime vintage fashion blogger and london city dweller. You might want to sit down and prepare to be shocked to your vintage girdle.

For the past year or so, i've been completely disillusioned with vintage shopping in the capital. I've been obsessed with vintage since my early teens but lately have been spending increasing amounts of time in Topshop and less and less time trawling through boxes of lovely, musty vintage. Before moving to the Big Smoke I used to really look forward to trips to Brick Lane to buy up bagfuls of vintage goodies, but lately the shops just aren't cutting it for me. I guess it's only natural there's a limited amount of stock in the world and as more and more of us fall in love with old fashioned fashion there are less gems to be found and more tat to pad out the rapidly emptying rails of our favourite vintage stores.

Add to that the number of disappointing vintage events I've been to in the capital - kilo sales where you can fill a bag with holey crap for £50, overpriced designer vintage fairs where you're afraid to breathe too near the clothes in case you cause some sort of irreparable damage and have to pay the £500 price tag, and clothes swaps where not many people donate their not really vintage clothes - and I have to admit I've gone a little bit sceptical about the whole scene.

Do I sound bitter? Well it's not all doom and gloom. I still love to stock up on vintage whenever I'm outside London. You get a better class of clothing for less cash and you can feel smug when people ask where your latest find is from. 'oh this? it's just something i picked up in blackpool at the weekend...' sounds so much cooler than 'yeah it's from Beyond Retro.'

Anyway the point that i'm getting to (in a horribly long-winded way) is that today I had a lovely surprise in the form of Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair.

The travelling fashion spectacle arrived in Bethnal Green's York Hall this weekend, and it couldn't have been more perfect. What sets this apart from other vintage events is that sellers at the fair come from all over the UK, not just London, so you get more variety, a better class of vintage, and most importantly lots of bargains. And it's a touring event so sure to be landing in a city near you very soon.

Always keen to impress (do other people dress up to go shopping or is it just me?) I put on one of my favourite 1960s mini dresses and set off to meet my friend Christina (you can read about her adventures here). Here she is wearing a lovely stole she picked up at the fair.

York Hall was filled to the brim with lovely fashion - all great quality vintage and accessories, and all very reasonably priced. I could barely contain my excitement.

I was particularly taken with the super-cute accessories on Now, Voyager's stall. The colours make my eyes bleed! I love it all!

 

I left with a new birdy friend. His name is Arthur. I'm not sure what occasion will befit me wearing a bird head adornment, but rest assured, i will find one. 

Naturally I was also taken with this...

 

All events should have tea and cake, ALWAYS. (Christina described her cake as tasting like a granny had made it. This is a GOOD thing.)

OK so I know you're DESPERATE to see what I left with. Here's my little haul:

Everything cost around £10 and it's all in great nick. I'm thrilled, thanks Judy!

I found this lovely hooded camel coat...

This cute crocheted cape (two thumbs up)...

This lovely little pinafore dress (LBD FTW)...

 

My absolute favourite find - these ace velvet shorts...

This cute cut-off leather skirt...

 

This super-psychedelic flower power blouse (shiny happy face)...

 

This lizard top / mini dress is Mr Used and Abused's favourite 'because it's weird'...

 

And a couple of lovely scarves too...

 

The next event's in May and I will be there with bells on. Judy, I salute you. 

Mia xxx

DIY: How to reupholster chairs

I'm moving house very soon so I'm constantly on the look out for vintage furniture that I can add my own personal twist to. I bought a teak dining table and chairs for £50 on eBay and set about adding vintage fabric to the chairs to make it look more original. The fabric is thick vintage curtain fabric that I picked up in a charity shop for £8.

What you'll need
♥ A selection of old dining chairs with removable pads
♥ Screwdriver
♥ Staplegun (I got mine from amazon.co.uk)
♥ Enough fabric to cover your chairs
♥ Staples (and tacks if you're using thick fabric)


How to DIY
1.) To start you need to turn the chair upside don and remove the chair pads using the screwdriver. Usually there's four screws holding the pad in place.
2.) Remove the pad and place upside down on your piece of fabric (with pattern facing the floor). Measure around the fabric leaving enough excess so you can comfortably fold the edges in and staple down. Usually about 3 - 4cm is enough depending on the fabric you're using.
3) Now fold the edge of the fabric in and staple to the chair seat - do this on all four edges pulling the fabric tight so that there's no wrinkles or folds. 
4) Cut the corners off and fold in to staple, this gives each one a nice neat appearance when you turn the chair over.
5) Screw the seat back on the frame and voila you have some new seats!

Corinne x