There’s nothing quite like Saturday morning thrifting.
The weekend ahead to do as you please… the promise of enough time to properly peruse… the shops with their stalls all set out and waiting for the likes of me… lovely!
Of course, I’m never the only one with this idea in mind.
Which means that often, if you’re not up with the lark (or as my partner’s mum used to say in her typically descriptive way, “up at sparrow’s fart”) you miss out. And the best spoils go to some other, perkier punter.
But not this Saturday.
This Saturday, despite not being up with the larkĀ (after all, who always wants to be, on a Saturday morning?) I baggedĀ a most satisfying haul…
On top of the pile sits a beautiful handmade wraparound skirt in a fabulously floral cottonĀ fabric.
It looks to me as though it could be as old as 1930s, or 40s, but more likely is from the 1950s:
Strangely enough, to me the fabric design almost looks contemporary, which just goes to show how much clothing manufacturers these days are influenced by the fabric designs of the past, as this is most definitely old.
It is gently faded and wonderfully soft and drapey from it’s many washes over the years and willĀ be lovely to wear with sandals (if, that is, the sun puts his hat one and gets his act together andĀ this summer ever actually properly materialises).
My stash of vintage sheets also grew most satisfactorily with a couple of new additions.
This one, made by Christy, I’m especially pleased with:
It’s made fromĀ 50% cotton and 50% Vincel, which research tells me is a man-made fibre from the 1970s, made by Courtaulds.
In it’s day, Vincel was apparently “the big, big fabric happening on the young Spring fashion scene”.
But hey, don’t just take my word for that…
My other vintage sheet find is this one, in good old ordinary polycotton…
But I don’t mind polycotton. It is a serviceable fabric for sewing. And this has a certain purple grooviness about it.
I think, given that vintage sheets allow you a lot of fabric to play with, that I might sell on some charm squares or fat quarters on my next stall, if I can bear to cut into my sheet stash by then. We shall see.
But my favourite find was this lovely bouquet-print barkcloth curtain…
A bit more traditional than my usual buys perhaps, but it does seem to blend in with them quite well…
I’m not sure what I’ll do with my treasures yet (ideas welcome!), but I’m sure they’ll come in for something.
Things usually do, I find.
So there you have them, the results of my bumper morning. Which is your favourite find?
And what did you turn up this weekend?Ā ā„
P.S. Please don’t forget to vote for me in the Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition over on Pinterest!Ā To vote, just leave a comment on this pinĀ Ā before 5th June. Thanks! x
Love the fabric! š
Now I’ll have to figure out a way to work “at sparrow’s fart” into conversation as much as possible. Much like your beautiful stash, it deserves to be shared!