Vintage Delights

I visited, for the first time, the Custard Factory in Birmingham last week and went to a fabulous vintage fair, a mixture of clothes, accessories and hand made items for sale (plus some lovely tea and cakes!)

This was the first of these sort of fairs I have been to, was great to see so much variety and so many well kept vintage items surviving.

Although I was on a budget, I did manage to treat myself to a few bits, including this fab vintage dress, date approx 50s.


 I have always liked this style of dress, more so the ones with the petticoats underneath that really give the dress a flare (sadly too much £ for me), but this was spotted by my sister and turned out to be a great buy, already worn once and now eagerly awaiting some sunshine for its second wear!


Other items I found were little accessories that can really make an outfit vintage, without having to go all the way with the whole outfit. One accessory that is popular at the moment are scarves. I found this lovely red flower one, it can be worn in so many ways.

 Round the neck, over the shoulders, as a headband, round a bun, you could even attach it to a bag or, if long enough, use as a belt! Very versatile and in expensive!!!  

Another great item to accessorise yourself is jewellery. Now I make a lot of my jewellery, but also love buying bits and even better when it's handmade (support other crafters) and I picked up this chunky white bead necklace. This has a very 60's feel to it, whilst not original, it was handmade and whilst not my usual jewellery style I have worn this and think it does just give your outfit a little edge of something different.

I am a keen bargain hunter and think if you have a good eye you can really get some great stuff at these fairs, but don't forget to keep your eye out in charity shops, car boots and antique fairs, I've collected a few items here and there and made a few unique accessories by up-cycling old items. I made some lovely vintage button earrings and I'm keeping an eye out for more items like buttons which perhaps don't suit our day to day clothes now, but can be creatively used to make something unusual and fun!

So here's to all the future discoveries. Let me know what you've found, or any vintage style tips you have! Love to hear comments.