London - booty on tour

This past weekend I was in London.  Last time I was there I read about Capital Carboot in Time Out Magazine and when I woke up on Sunday morning at 7.30 I thought I would go check it out.  I checked their Facebook page and early bird start was 10.15 which is the time I got there.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Capital-Carboot-Sale/128115580558677?ref=ts

It was a rather steep £5 for early birds (you can go at 11.30 for £1).  It had to be good for that price and thankfully it was! 

The first thing I bought was a tweed shirt from a rather rude man, for £1.50 though I will put up with a bit of rudeness.  It turned out that the tweed would be the theme of the day.  The second purchase was a bunch of rosettes for £1. I am not sure what to do with them but they are so Luella!  

Next was my favourite purchase of the day, a Ralph Lauren bag for £10.  I know that is expensive for a boot sale but its Ralph Lauren and huge.  I stuffed all of my things in it for the day and fell in love with the bag dragging it back to Putney.  I had my barbour on (see previous post) and it just really worked that country casual look.

 I spotted a large pile of tweed chucked on the floor, the guy shouted that they were £3 a piece.  I really had to hold back, thinking of the trek back to my friends flat and then after to Leeds.  I ended up with these two, the tweed one is a Daks one for my friend who I am hoping it will fit when he gets to try it on.  The tuxedo is for me, it is so beautifully made and although it may be mens it fits like an oversized boyfriend jacket.  To the drycleaners for this one and then hopefully into regular rotation with my other tuxedo jackets.  This one is more casual then my other ones.

I spotted two Japanese girls unpacking a large bag stuffed with pink things.  A couple of items were a bit small for me but this one fitted.  Even better it is by Barbie!  My dream as a kid was for all Barbies clothes to fit me and now it has come true.  Apparently there is a Barbie shop in Japan and its from there.  Its so Jackie O meets Barbie.  I LOVE it, even though it is not my usual style.

I ended up with a couple of scarves (always handy and cheap).  The skull one is probably going to go into a quilt I am planning - a kind of Emin homage.  

As I left the boot sale I ended up following a dealer who started buying things at an extraordinary rate.  He picked up a Burberry coat right in front of me which was a little heartbreaking and then bought about 20 bits in 5 minutes.  That alone made me think that the £5 early entry was worth it.  

He missed these though, two amazing trays.  I will probably end up using these while crafting.  I love them.  Shown with a scarf and the rosettes that I bought.  

Overall I was really impressed.  There was one stall which had crazy prices (£80 for a DVF dress is fine on Ebay but at a carboot sale?!  Really?) but for the most part it was totally comparable with Leeds prices.  There were designer items scattered around but no more then I would usually see up north and apart from the tweed shirt man everyone was really nice.  So head to Pimlico next time you have a free Sunday morning, an hour will get you around the whole thing.  I hope to be back in October.

Spurs Football Cushion

I made a pretty stupid mistake on Ebay a while ago.  I wanted to buy an old 1980's Spurs football shirt (which can be pretty pricey) so when I searched for one and found it going for £9 with only moments remaining I bought it.  When it arrived I could not help but laugh as it was a child's shirt!  That will teach me to check a listing properly even when in a rush.

I thought about selling it on Ebay but decided that it was pretty cute and that I would try and make it into a cushion (a theme is emerging here!) based on the type seen here:

Tonight I decided to get on with it.  I set up my sewing machine using this video for guidance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm83zA5-Yyk (I have such a gap between projects that I can never remember how to sort out the bottom thread - I am hoping to be doing more projects so when I don't have to google it I will have progressed!).  

I simply sewed across the bottom of the shirt, sewed the end of the sleeves and then sewed half of the collar.  Then I stuffed the shirt fully with some feathers from an old cushion - DON'T DO THIS! I made a total mess and I am sure that I will be finding feathers everywhere for months.  Once I had cleaned it all up I then ran the rest of the collar through the machine and voila - a finished cushion.  If I had not had to vac up all the feathers I think it would have taken about 20 minutes.  I am pretty pleased with the final result and I might make myself a large one with one of my old shirts at a later date. My Husband, who does not support the same team, is not impressed that I have managed to get more Spurs based interiors in the house!

The finished result:

Karl Lagerfeld cushion and Chanel cushions to come

Continuing with the Chanel craft I thought that I would share with you a cushion that I made previously and plans for ones I intend to make shortly.  

I bought a Karl Lagerfeld silk scarf on Ebay after seeing it about to finish for £9!  I love Karl Lagerfeld and rarely wear square silk scarfs so decided that I would make it into a cushion.  I googled how to do it  and found this website http://www.ivillage.co.uk/vintage-scarf-cushions/79554 which advised that I should get some vilene to iron on the back of the scarf in order to make it easier to work with.  This really helped and stopped the material from slipping when I used the sewing machine.

The website suggested using two scarfs but because of the Chanel connection I wanted to use a tweed to go on the back of it.  I went to the local haberdashery and they had a lovely purple and white one which they were cheekily selling as 'Chanel tweed'.  I have to say that the tweed was hard to use!  I am not very experienced and I just decided to go for it.  I used the zig-zag stitch around the edge of the tweed as it was fraying like mad, this helped to give me a square to match the scarf and stopped it fraying.  I never make things easy for myself and decided to stick a zip in it which did make things difficult given my inexperience!  It all turned out great in the end though and as I am not selling it so it does not have to be 100% perfect.

I picked up four other scarfs which I intend to turn into cushions.  I have a bug one which reminds me of 1980's Gucci and cost me £3.  I have a couple of fake Chanel ones which were less then £10 each from Ebay and Etsy (the home of the fake!).  These are perfect for cushions as they are cheap and you do not have to feel guilty about sewing/chopping them.  The last one is a real Chanel one so I will do that last and hope for the best.

Wish me luck! 

Chanel Tray

I saw this ages ago in an article about Nicky Hilton's house.  I decided that I would make myself a copy of it and I finally got around to doing that this weekend.  

I started off with a purple tray from TK Maxx (£6.99) which I spray painted black (I could not find one suitable in black).  The finish is not perfect as I am fairly impatient with these things but it is fine.  I then bought some decal stickers from a website, I think that they were about £12 with postage (I bought them quite a while ago).  The decals are really easy to use you just peel the back off and stick it on, press down and then peel the top off.  

So here is the finished result, sorry for the lame photographs, two of my bulbs went today so its a little dark in the kitchen!  I thought about painting the white bits on the top but I think that it looks pretty good as it is.  I may decide to at a later date, will need a steady hand and a bit of masking tape. 

Wetherby car boot

So was it worth getting up at 7 on a Sunday?  In a word.... YES!

I think that I got the biggest bargain ever today.  I spotted a Paul Smith tie on the top of the bag and started to rummage and they just kept coming - Armani, Hugo Boss & Ralph Lauren.  I asked how much expecting to be told about £5 each (still cheap) and she said "£1 each love, nobody has bothered looking in there" so £9 later I am the owner of a big pile of expensive silk!  A Paul Smith tie new is about £69 and I guess the rest are a comparable price.  

I took  them to Morrisons later on - they dry clean five for £7.50 so they will be as good as new.

Other then that I got a Kate Moss for Topshop dress for £2.  I never got any of the collection when it came out but I am happy to pick it up for a song.

I also picked up this silk Laura Ashley dress in coral for £2. It is a classic vintage cut and I think with black tights and a cardigan I can probably wear it through the winter.

I am a massive fan of tweed and have to stop myself buying everything that I see to cut down on the bulging wardrobe. However this vintage wool jacket was just too good to leave, £2 (everything seemed to be £2 today!).  If anyone else is interested in tweed there is an amazing BBC4 Documentary about it which is worth seeing.  

Close up of the cloth (I love the different colours - they are all based on the islands on which tweed comes from).

I bought these badges for a craft project.  I spent yesterday glue gunning them all to a lampshade and I have to say that I am pretty pleased with the results.  I decided that I did not have enough and sure enough the first stall I came to had a nice selection of 1980's one - 7 for £1.  I am sure that I will keep adding to the shade over time.

Finally I added to my rather odd collection of hand painted political dolls.  I never really intended to have this collection but it has happened over time.  It started with one I bought for 50p at a carboot sale and now I probably have about 12 of them.  Thankfully they are fairly rare so my house is not overtaken with them.... yet!  So this is the latest addition, £10 after a bit of bartering.

The little Chanel russian doll is a fake that I saw on Ebay. I don't usually entertain fakes but I did love this and the price of the original is £2,500 so I made an exception.

Early Bird

It is Sunday and it is very early but I am committing to the car boot as the season is nearly over and I hate going when it is freezing (all the layers in the world make no difference and everyone is miserable!).  I have my little purse full of pounds and I am ready to treasure hunt. 

So I am off to Wetherby Racecourse (entrance at 8am), wish me luck. HH is away so it will be a solo mission. 

Brilliant Fashion Books

I buy a lot of books from charity shops and carboot sales.  They are insanely cheap and I tend to read them and give them back which saves space at home.  Obviously given my interest in fashion I buy quite a lot of fashion books (both new and used) and I thought that I would give you my opinions on the best.

These are my absolute favourites and the ones I return to again and again:

The Cheap Date Guide to Style by Bay Garnett and Kira Jolliffe.  It sings the praises of the jumble, the charity shop and the carboot and they should be known as the Queens of  Thrifting.  Bay Garnett is a stylist for Vogue and knows her stuff.  I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Thrift/Style.  

Luella's book Guide to English Style is superb.  I read the whole thing on a trip alone to Italy to watch my team Spurs play in the Champions League.  I had to get a train across Italy and this kept distracting me from the views out of the window.  I absolutely love Luella's clothes (I will do a post on how many I have got over the years, mostly Ebay, outlets and a couple of finds from charity shops) so this was bound to be for me.  Even the outside of the book is beautiful.  Typically English and singing the praises of everyone from Justine Frischmann to The Queen it is a great inspiration.

Many celebrity books are terrible (Victoria Beckham's extra half inch - straight back in the charity bag) but I really love Rachel Zoe's Style A to Zoe.  Obviously she is a stylist and this is wordy and full of good advice.  Don't worry you don't have to be a size zero to enjoy or benefit from it.  Her reality TV show is also amazing, I love it, she is truly fashion  - even her baby boy has this wardrobe http://www.refinery29.com/inside-rachel-zoe-s-baby-s-closet-it-s-major and her vintage collection is drool worthy.

I absolutely LOVE this book.  I have read it loads and it still makes me laugh.  I am terrible for checking out people on the streets style and this just appeals to my judgemental nature!  If you are unaware of Vice's style then check it out online here (may not be work safe) http://www.viceland.com/int/dos.php.  It is basically pictures of people on the street with extremely funny critique underneath.

The Sartorialist is something that you are probably aware of.  If not it is people photographed on the street with amazing style.  Always worth a flick.  Check out the website here

http://www.thesartorialist.com/

This book is brilliant.  It is crammed with allsorts of tips for shopping, clubbing, eating, etc. I guarantee that you won't be disappointed, especially if you pick it up for £1 like I did.  

Finally if anyone is into interiors I would recommend the following:

The Selby is based on the website http://www.theselby.com/ and is basically pictures of cool peoples houses.  I love getting to have a peak into their houses and a lot of them are thrifters.  It is not your usual interior book.  My friend said it was loads of people showing off so it is clearly not for everyone! 

I saw this in one of the rooms in the hotel where we got married and knew that it would be for me. Indeed the place I got married in (The Crab and Lobster, Thirsk) is in there so I may be a little biased.  It is full of very odd looking places around England.

Booty at the booty...

So while I have not blogged I have of course bought new things.  Plenty of time to go around charity shops and antique shops (I work at a school which is why I get the time off) means new purchases to show off.  

Firstly I went to a new (to me) carboot sale at Pannel in Harrogate.  This is on a Sunday at 8am onwards.  I was not overwhelmed by it but did pick up this DKNY T-shirt for a bargain 50p!  It is really nice quality (28% wool) and is hardly worn.  It is a keeper.

At the same carboot I spotted this hanging off somebody's car.  Tip - people tend to put their good stuff behind them on their car so always look up and check what is there.  This is a 'Vivienne Westwood for the Sock Shop' Leotard. I am pretty sure that this is from the mid 90's (correct me if I am wrong) and proves that designer collaborations are nothing new.  It was a total find for £5.00.

I also picked up a red cashmere jumper (M&S) for £3.99 at a charity shop and an amazing vintage disco dress.  The charity shop had saved up all its vintage items and I timed my visit well to get the pick.  I did find a hole in it later on which is a lesson in checking things before you buy them, which I am terrible at.

On Sunday I went to Wetherby carboot which is huge.  As soon as I walked in, at the first stall stood this vintage Anya Hindmarch bag.  For £4.00 it came home with me.

In London I spotted this under the glass counter, another tip, always look here as the staff at the shop put what they perceive to be the good stuff here.  I was not sure what it was if I am honest but really liked it anyway and googled it afterwards..... it is a currency wallet. The other side has a yellow and green zip on it.  £7.99 from Oxfam in Angel, £160 from Smythson.

WARNING THIS MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK!

So the booty in the title refers to this!  It is a planter from the 1960's and again came from Wetherby on Sunday.  Another bit of proof that you really never know what you will come home with.  There were two ladies there who were going to go to London for a vintage fair but decided to take it to the carboot when the weather forecast for the South was bad. The stall was amazing (I should have got pictures) but this stood out.  I did not have enough money (rooky error) but my co-pilot HH would not see me go without it and spotted me £20.  This is a lot more then I usually spend on carboot items but I knocked her down from £25 and I just love it, it makes me laugh.

Ready for the front and back view?!

I have had a HUGE clearout as well.  My wardrobe was getting to the point where it was depressing me with the amount of things that I did not wear for one reason of another so I started there.  It got a bit addictive and I found myself carting bags of things to the charity shop on a weekly basis.  I even got my husband to finally clear out his wardrobe.  I am still getting rid of things now, it is quite cathartic. 

My main rules are:

• If I have not worn it for over a year it goes, unless it is jeans or a coat.
• I only need one, I tend to buy the same thing over and over when I should just get the best one. 
• If in doubt get rid of it.  Yes this sometimes leads to regrets but let someone else enjoy it.
• Once it is in the bag, no going back.  I usually take it to the charity shop that day so that I cannot rummage.
• Gift aid, not only does it raise loads more money for the charity, they also write to you and tell you what they raised with your things.  This really is just to make you feel good.  
• I Ebay the top price stuff so that I can treat myself after the clearout.  

So getting rid of things is also making me want to buy less and is helping to see where I go wrong.  A lot of time I just buy things in a charity shop because they are cheap and designer and not because they are my style.  They just end up boomeranging back to where they came from.  From now on I am going to try and buy things that I will wear.  My new rule is "If I would not buy it for £50 I won't buy it for £4", this is unlikely to stand. 

Japan

So I have not posted for AGES as I have been away to Japan and had a few weeks off work.  This should mean that I have plenty of time to blog but perversely it works the opposite way for me.  So I am back at work today and therefore motivated to blog. 

Japan does have a lot of vintage designer shops.  They had some really cool stuff but it was insanely expensive.  It was like torture as the shops really only sell the best - Chanel, Hermes and Louis V galore but not enough money (and a watchful husband) meant no purchases.  If I had all the money in the world these would have come home with me.  The Hermes bag is about £6,300 and the Chanel about £975. 

I thought that for a change I would show a few things that I did not buy.  Japan was just brilliant for crazy things that I had no idea existed, such as:

These plastic cutters are so that you can cut children's lunch into cute shapes.  They come for rice, sausages, eggs and seaweed (for the faces).   Sometimes I struggle to make myself a sandwich so I cannot imagine going to this much effort everyday.  Kawaii!

This was an eyebrow guide.  Basically hold up the stencil and then trim away!

My favourite was the single donut carrier.  Who could live without it?

Before I went away I finally treated myself to this much coveted Liberty Barbour.  I had no intention of buying it (despite wanting one since they came out) but I was in Liberty having a bit of cake and they tweeted that they had the new ones in.  Well 15 minutes later I was handing over £220 for one.  The lining is beautiful and I absolutely love it, I feel like it is a friend for life. 

I also bought this cashmere Chanel dress from Ebay for an unbelievable £86!  That is about what an M&S cashmere jumper costs! 

I wanted to have it shortened but was advised against it, it also felt quite wrong to mess with Chanel.  So it stayed long and I was so glad because it was the perfect item to wear on my flights, it was like wearing a cashmere blanket.  Here I am enjoying my first flight! 

I cannot tell you how great Japan was, it is just a wonderful, wonderful country.