Bridie, Lu and Jo: The Challenge Does Vintage

So myself and my fellow challengers have always loved a bit of vintage retail therapy. To the point where at Uni most of our spare cash went on vintage clothes and alcohol, for some reason that topped buying food. When your a student you think you can quiet happily live of supper noodles (or in my case microwavable mash and gravy). Needless to say we've all grown up a bit and don't spend quiet as much on vintage clothes any more especially not now with the challenge. Despite this we do still love a vintage fair and when I heard a new fair was coming to town I got very excited. The fair is called Britain Does Vintage http://www.britaindoesvintage.co.uk/
I told the girls and they were just as excited as I was. Laura couldn't get time off work but Lu and Jo were defiantly up for coming to visit and spend the day looking for some vintage treasures. Even though we cant buy any clothes through out the challenge there is so much more you can find at a good vintage fair. Fabric, patterns, buttons, trims we were on the hunt for it all.
When Saturday finally rolled around (I'd been counting down the days till I saw the girls again like it was Christmas) and the girls finally arrived. I knew they'd be late, Jo time is an hour behind the rest of us! After a quick brew and a catch up we headed to the fair which was being held at the Drill Hall in Lincoln. I'd never been before so had no clue what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised. The fair was held in a lovely hall with a stage at the end although it's not the biggest fair we'd been to it was a much nicer atmosphere! There was live music being played by a very talented trumpet player. All the stalls were nicely set out and there was more then enough room to get round with out it feeling empty.
The first stall we came to was run by a shop called the Frockery. Which was filled with beautiful vintage fabrics so we knew straight away we were on to a winner. All three of us picked up some beautiful fabric. Myself and Lu found some stunning French fabric previously curtains and Jo found a huge pink and black checked scarf.
https://www.facebook.com/TheFrockery

We found a couple of stalls with boxes filled with vintage sewing patterns. Normally vintage patterns can be so expensive but I picked up a stunning 1950s blouse pattern for £3 and a 1970 dress pattern for £2 bargin! After we'd had our first look round we headed up to the vintage tea room for a break and a cup of tea.

Tea was served in a beautiful teapot and we had Bakewell tart with it which was the best I've ever had which is huge complement coming from me as I can't usually stand almonds!

While we had our tea we had a look at all the lovely things we'd bought. This is Lu with the gorgeous pair of French curtains she picked up from the Frockery stall.  

This is Jo with this lovely scarf which she is going to turn into a dress she's a clever lady, and this amazing vintage comic she got for her fella.

This is me with the stunning French fabric I found which I probably shouldn't of bought but got a serious case of fabric lust and couldn't resist.  





These are the patterns I got and the comics I picked up for a £1 each which are going to look great on little mans wall when he's a little older. I'm loving Lu's attempt at a photo bomb in this photo!

After our tea we headed back round the fair to check out some more stalls and listed to the music being played.

There were so many lovely stalls with really friendly owners who were very happy to talk to us and seemed very interested in our challenge.

This stall was called H.E.R Vintage and was full of beautiful clothes which we took a lot of inspiration from and choca block full of stunning accessories. Which were all beautifully arranged! They have a website with much better pictures of the things they offer as well fair dates they will be attending. Well worth a look!  http://her-vintage.com/index.php#2

Opposite was a stall called Nowhere Near New full of the most amazing accessories! Fell in love with this hat below (I do love a hat) I wish I could pull it off but don't think it's the kind of hat that you could get away with wearing round the supermarket. Who am I kidding it would look fabulous! The lady who owns the stall was lovely and we found out was a fellow sewer, and makes most of her clothes herself.

The stall in the picture below was run by a lovely lady called Kimberley (this is her friend in the picture) who not only had some lovely vintage clothes but also makes vintage plate cake stands, button jewellery and fabric hearts. She also told us she runs her own beauty salon called Glamour Junkies. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Glamour-Junkies-Addicted-to-Glamour Very talented lady!



Just before we were about to leave we came a cross a hidden gem of a stall filled with vintage haberdashery. To me this is like letting a kid loose in a sweet shop. The stall was called The House That Buttons Built, brilliant name! As well the beautiful haberdashery (I bought some vintage lace trimming and a cute applique motif) there was a table surrounded buy children making pretty things out of buttons. They looked like they were having a lot of fun! Their Facebook page is full of lovely handmade creations made out of buttons and other haberdashery. 

https://www.facebook.com/TheHousethatButtonsBuilt 



All three of us have been to many vintage fairs over the years and most are pretty much the same as the other. Quiet often I've spent hours looking round them and not come away with anything. It's especially hard to find good vintage fabric and haberdashery. We all agreed this fair felt different, it's not as big as other fairs but we came away with so much more! We found so many bargins and hidden treasures. All the stall holders and helpers were very friendly and welcoming. They seemed more then happy to have a chat with us.

All in all a brilliant day out for vintage lovers and cant wait for them to come back!