Hope you had a lovely weekend - I spent the beautifully sunny Sunday searching for treasures at the local antiques fair...I've made it my mission recently to add to my collection of vintage/antique textiles.
I've been trying (with some difficulty) to make some decisions about my life, both home and business, to decide how best to move forward. Every now and then I think its important to think about where life is taking you and if things need to change, to work out how best to do so, if it's possible. The vintage bubble does seem to have deflated recently; I've found sales becoming ever harder to secure. I've decided for now to stop making my rag dolls (I've been making them for over 20 years now!) and will concentrate on making fairies only for the festive season...It will be good to take a rest from them for a while. I have lots more things to work out yet, but am hoping to make some changes by the end of the year.
In the meantime, I want to concentrate on working with the ever cheerful vintage florals that I've always loved and amassed - Here is my stall back in 2006, when I used to sell at the antiques fair, Shepton Mallet...
And yesterday's purchases from the same event...
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| A French textile, printed with beautiful poppies. |
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| Another French fabric, this one with a purple rose design. |
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| A gorgeous rose ruffled pelmet. |
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| A sweet c1950's piece. |
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| The tiniest scrap of Sanderson, but one of my favourite designs and colourways. |
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| I'm enjoying incorporating many of the finds into cushions, with special one-off panels working as a central feature...This c1930's hand embroidery is incredibly vibrant and appears to have never been used in a project...It is pristine. |
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| Two more 30's textiles, which need to be made up into large oval boudoir pillows. |
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| And a piece of chenille of the same era. |
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| I also uncovered this little floral oil painting on wood and a French celluloid picture frame, in need of a little restoration. |
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Finally a rather unassuming c1920's suitcase...
But lift the lid... |
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| And what a wonderful surprise! |
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| Here's the hand embroidered panel that I bought from Elaine at Devises, which I've now stitched into a cushion cover. |
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Another to keep for next Monday's fair I think.
Have a great week - Hope life is being kind to you,
Niki x |
that cushion is DIVINE, as I knew it would be!
ReplyDeleteLook forward to seeing you Monday- just off to write up the floorplan xx
I love looking at other people's bookshelves and now I find I love looking at other people's stash shelves. :)
ReplyDeleteDo you think people are moving on from nostalgia? I wonder what will be next? Let's hope it's just as beautiful. xx
Hi Niki. Sorry to hear you are having difficulties making decisions about home and work. Hope it gets easier for you. I love all your fabric and embroidery finds and the cushion made using the embroidered panel is beautiful. The floral fabric works so well with the colours in the embroidery. What a surprise you must have got opening that suitcase with the beautiful fabric interior. Hope you have a successful day at the fair on Monday.
ReplyDeleteHi Niki, I understand how you feel: our old shop used to sell popular American style folk art in earthy colours, but things slowed to a crawl as people turned to light, white French country style. We were faced with difficult decisions... I do hope you find the right way for your lovely business to go very soon :-)
ReplyDeleteI still love the nostalgia,all things floral and pretty,it must be tough deciding which way to go. I am trying to decide wether to take on a different space within Olympia,it would mean a £30 increase in my rent.I don't do it to make a living,it's more of a passion,but as you say sales have been very slow so far this year.I think there's been a glut of people doing the same things,myself included.Will wait and see what the next must have/do is going to be!Kind Regards Pam.
ReplyDeleteThat stash of fabrics is amazing! It is interesting to read that you have also noticed a fall in the popularity of all things vintage. Whilst various magazines still publish photos of shabbiness I have found that sales in certain items, particularly enamel have dropped off. I love running my website and it really is only a hobby (with perks) but I am now wondering what to buy to sell. I love the linens best but these are so hard to find and I know house clearance traders sell them for rags!
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