Summer chazzing and freebies...

Sorry for another long absence. I dropped and killed the camera and I can't function without it. My dear husband bought a new one which I'm forbidden from dropping. I'll do my best.

I promised you some of my secondhand finds from the summer so here we go.

Whilst we were in York at the beginning of the summer hols we passed a shop that was being stripped out. The builders had put a pile of junk on the footpath with a sign saying, 'Please take.'  It was a used and grubby washing up bowl and some mismatched mugs. Nothing worth having at all.

But then I spotted these...

They were the letters for the shop sign. I took C for Connie and E for Emma. I wish I'd taken the lot. Wouldn't it be just lovely having 'Cheque Cashers' on your wall? Haha. Perhaps I could have made an anagram out of that.
Anyway they're made from aluminium and have deadly sharp edges so we'll have to decoupage them or something. Anyone got any better ideas? They're hollow on the back.

The best chazzing destination all summer was Topsham in Devon. They have two Devon Air Ambulance shops and one is devoted to vintage. I found the prices very reasonable. Want to see what I found?

First of all this gold lurex 'English Lady' dress. It's a perfect fit and the third English Lady item of clothing I own. I'm a size 14 in this brand in vintage sizes but a modern day size 12.

I'm going to make it above knee length...

I'm not normally a gold lurex kinda gal but I tried it on and it was sooo flattering.

Here's my other English Lady dress. I've had it about 10 years and it's my favourite dress. Again,  it fits perfectly and is really flattering.

 

This perfect fit is why my heart skips a beat when I find this label in a 14...

I also picked up this frantic 60's maxi dress in the same shop...

 

The label in this one is 'Leygil' of London. It has a wildly voluminous skirt and I plan to chop it off above the knee and take it in so it's a lot more slinky. 

It gives me an actual bust! 

 So my almost empty sewing basket overfloweth once more...

 One more from Devon...

It has a button up belt at the back I need to adjust. 

I love this print!

And one more handmade vintage dress I found at the local car boot sale...

Again, it's too wide so needs some tweakage.

I also found china...

a little french gravy separator.

Would you believe I found the missing numbers for my Church hymn board? And they fit! 

 Yay! I plan on using this in the kitchen to hang things on.

               Over a hundred pounds worth of new pure cotton bedding for £20 at the boot sale?

                  Yes please, thank you very much. It's been years since I got new bedding!

                                               An R Whites crate for a fiver? That'll do nicely.

                                                         And last of all, my new love...

 

This was my birthday pressie. He's called bespectacled bloke and hangs on the living room wall. A boot sale buy found by me to give to my husband so he could give it to me. He's got it pretty easy hasn't he?

So, didn't she do well? 

Next time I'll be getting down and dirty, attempting to sort out our ugly kitchen window by fitting a proper sill and framing it out. Or perhaps not. I've never done it before. But I did watch someone do it once so I'm sure I'll be fine.

The timber comes tomorrow and I'm very excited. It's been a long wait to get stuck into some DIY again.

Wish me luck!

Oh one last thing before I go, if you have £50,000 to £500,000 to spend on an extension and want to be on telly, take a look at this...

Not for me sadly. I'll just plod on with my brand new kitchen for £300.

I've got the sewing bug...

Work on the kitchen has ground to a halt, the kitchen doors have been pushed aside on the dining table and I've got the sewing bug. I used to dressmake a lot before I had homes to fix.

Connies First Holy Communion is happening and as she didn't like any of the dresses readily available, I made her one...

 

It's very plain and straight which is just what we struggled to find.

It still needs hemming... I'll probably save that 'til the last minute. She might have a growth spurt between now and Sunday.

  

The dress is made from raw silk and despite ordering the pattern from America, it's worked out cheaper than buying a polyester dress from BHS. We'll accessorise it with a little rose covered head band and lace gloves. Her Grandad bought her some ivory satin shoes when we were up at his for half term. No veil. I'm not so keen on that idea.

Chatting with some of the mums, it dawned on me that I had to dress up too. I tried on all my clothes and hated them all apart from a collection of little black dresses I seem to have amassed. 

Then I realised I had some really lovely things that were living in the sewing basket. So while the sewing machine was out I finished a vintage dress I'd found a the flea market in it's half finished state...

It had a strangulatingly high neck which I lowered, I took the sleeves off to use more of the seam allowance as they were snug and I hemmed it. It's cotton and has a metal zipper. Would you say that's 60's?

Then I took in another vintage dress...

I look like I've slept funny on my neck!

I think this one is 70's as it's polyester with a nylon zip.
And I didn't stop there, oh no! I mended a pair of J's trousers and 2 pairs of my jeans...

A bit of car booted floral linen. I hope it doesn't look like a scabby white knee.

I think the flowers on this fabric might be too big and it might just look like a cellulitey arse falling out but hey, I tried.
My sewing basket is almost empty and I'm chuffed with my 'new' wardrobe.

And that background?

Is a vintage handmade rug I found at the Sue Ryder shop in York. (The one with the vintage section upstairs.)

I wanted a paler rug for Connies room as the blue one was so dark. I almost bought one from Dunelm. NEW! Heaven forbid. Well, as luck would have it I found this one. It's like an Aubusson rug but worked in fat cross stitch rather than needlepoint. And a quarter of the price of the Dunelm one!

She loves it! I washed it carefully in the bath with Woolite and cold water, rinsed it with the shower head and laid it on beach towels on the lawn on a hot day to dry flat.

I've also swapped her furniture around because we bought her a vintage dressing table but I'll have to share that another time as that side of the room is a terrible mess.

This week Connie and I received a parcel from a lovely lady called Kathleen who reads this blog and lives in America.

Thank you so much Kathleen! (St Theresa has been squirreled away somewhere and Connie's at school so I can't ask her where!)