Sunday 26 January 2014

A Day of Treasures


Well Lovely Folks how are you all doing this Sunday?  Do come in and make yourself at home, so lovely to see you as always.  It has been a really wild night here with a lot of torrential rain and wind.  Thankfully we are not in a flood area but I send out lots of love and best wishes to anyone who is suffering with this at the moment and hope that the weather calms down soon.  I was unsure this morning whether or not to go out as it was so horrible but, at the last minute, jumped in the car and headed for Chester to a vintage fair which was being held at the racecourse there.  I had been given some money for Christmas to go towards a new coat but, after having my best one cleaned I decided that I could wait until next year for a new one.  I put my money away and thought I would use the money to spend at some of my vintage fairs which I love going to.   I always feel very guilty about spending at these as I am not a dealer or seller myself so end up keeping everything - or treasuring things as I like to say. 
 
I have been trying to catch up with my crochet hot water bottle cover.  It is the first time I have every followed a crochet pattern so a big first for me.  However, I must say that the instructions are written as I cannot for the life of me fathom out a pictorial patterns which is strange as I prefer these when I am knitting. Anyway after a few falters with the curved squares I have managed to get the front and back nearly completed last night.  I got the pattern from a lovely lady called Alexandra MackeNZie and you can see her website details below.  I am sure she is from New Zealand and her patterns are written for right handers and left handers which is good.
 
 
She also includes a pattern for a dinky little cover for all those small Peeps out there.
 
 
This side has to be completed, hopefully this evening.
 
 
 
This side is done now with the border on.  I am only using yarns which I have accumulated in my stash.
 
Now back to the vintage fair today.  I don't know about you lovely Readers but I have fallen in love with boxed handkerchiefs.  When I was a child this was a stock gift for Christmas or birthday - I cannot imagine what children would say nowadays being given a box of these for Christmas.  When you think of it they were very unhealthy compared with our tissues of today but are they environmentally more friendly....who knows.  I must have been given hundreds when I was a child and would love to have all these boxes back now.  I found this little one on a stall and fell in the love with the box, it is so 1930s/1940s.  Do you like it?
 
 
However, I was even more pleased when I opened it up.  What a feast for the eyes, aren't these so cute.  I love the designs, they are such pretty images and in a really good condition.  Perfect!
 
 
I also found this 1950 set.  These were very popular in their day - a tablecloth plus four egg cups and three spoons.  The lady offered it to me for £3 as there is a spoon missing - what a bargain.  The tablecloth is perfect apart from a little staining where the sticky tape has been but other than that it is a wonderful find.
 
One of my favourite stalls which I try to visit when I go to these fairs is a lovely lady who recycles so many things - I bought a little bed from her a while ago which the Peeps love playing with.  Today I spied this lovely 1950s wardrobe and wanted to know more about it.  It is in original condition and I love the three little doors - what's inside?
 
 
Well I can see some linen, flowers and a little potty for her!
 
 
Now I can spy a little lady, plus what looks like an eiderdown, pillow and mattress. 
 
 
Everything in the wardrobe has been recycled from something else which is just wonderful.  Look at this little pillow and part of a Dorma sheet, plus the mattress made from some old ticking.  Fabulous!
 
 
Here she is - Peggy, isn't she just lovely?  She reminds me of a figure I used to watch when I was a child from a programme called The Wooden Tops, I loved that show about a family in the country.  You are all too young to remember this but she takes me right back to those days.  Look at her dress and cardigan which have all been specially made for her from vintage materials.
 
 
She has her own little nightgown on a special hanger.
 
 
 
Plus she has her own little potty to save her going to the outside toilet!  I love the little verse.
 
 
Oh how luck we are not to have to deal with these nowadays!
 
 
Here she is tucked in tight for bed - she also reminds me a little of the Sophie Tilley dolls, can't wait for the little Peeps to see her.   I can seem more dresses being made.
 
 
Just as I was leaving the Fair I had to stop to let someone pass me and I spotted this little parcel on a stall which intrigued me.  I asked the lady behind the counter what was in it and she said that there is a history to this parcel.  Her grandmother had been in service in the early part of the century and this had been a gift from her employer.  For those lovely readers who do not live in the UK, a long time ago girls of a very young age would go into what was called service in a big house where they would live with the family and be part of the employees who looked after the house and family. If you watch Downton Abbey you will know exactly what I am talking about.  The girls and boys would be taught many skills and would work their way up the ladder starting out as teeny maid.  In many of the houses the employees were well cared for but this was not the same everywhere.  This situation changed around the Second World War when everyone had to go into the Services to fight and it was never the same after that.  Anyway, back to our story.  Now the little bundle didn't look too promising, in fact it looked in a sorry state really but I wanted to know about it.
 
 
The lady then opened it up to reveal two packages - very intriguing!
 
 
She unrolled one of them to show the most fabulous thing I have ever seen.  Inside each of these little pockets there is a roll of silk thread which also given a shade name and some are numbered too.  I wasn't expecting this.
 
 
 As you can see the cards are all pieces of memorabilia which the family would have used.  The one below is a piece of an invitation to a meeting in Chester in 1911 - how fabulous - she obviously recycled all the bits of paper she was given or told to throw away.
 
 
 This one appears to be an application to buy shares and is dated 1908.  Only the very wealthy people would have bought shares in those days - around that time the wages of a farm labourer living in a tied cottage were around 10 shillings a week (half of a pound in old money)  (50p in today's money) so you can see by the amounts below the family would have been very rich to be able to afford these shares.
 
 
A lot of the threads are wound around calling cards - when people called on friends they would give their calling card to the maid so that they could be announced properly and shown into the drawing room.  If the family were out then the calling card would be kept so that they would know who had been visiting them.  The one below is obviously a family card - I wonder who the Frost family were?
 
 
This is the red bundle in all it's glory.  I just love it.
 
 
The green bundle was the same with different silks in it, again using calling cards, bits of bill heads and invitation to wrap the thread - she had even put tiny slits into each piece of paper to catch the silk when she had finished with it.
 
Now if that wasn't enough lovely People, there was more.  The parcel also contained the piece she was working on.  A tablecloth from Liberty, how wonderful - sadly she hadn't been able to finish it but it is all here.
 
 
Here is another little card for you to see - I would have loved to have gone to this sale - wouldn't it be fabulous if we could all go!  I love the bottom bit - boxes of work sent on approval, what would that mean - oh what joy to have a look at those.
 
 
Here is another card, sadly only half of one - I am not sure what the Police Aided Clothing Association would be, possibly collecting money for the poorer families of the district maybe?  Remember that this was before World War 1 when there was a great deal of misery and poverty around at that time before the introduction of the Welfare State and NHS - if you were poor in 1911 there would be very little help for you.  I know that my Great Grandma had 14 children and they only had a three bedroomed house so goodness knows how they managed.  I know that some of the girls went into service which helped tremendously.
 
The photograph below shows a small envelope which obviously contained a letter of some sort, sadly missing, how I would love to read the contents.  Our lady obviously didn't waste a bit of paper.
 
 
 
This is the green roll - from what the lady at the fair told me, the whole package was the gift from the family so it must have been a wonderful thing to have.  I think the outer green fabric would have been spread out on the table to ensure that the piece being embroidered was kept clean, and then obviously all the silks were put into the little pockets - these remind me of the Advent calendar I made before Christmas.
 
The tablecloth has Liberty written on it which is fabulous and obviously this part of the cloth hasn't been finished yet.
 
 
I wanted to show you a close up of the work done, it is so lovely and neat. In those days girls would have been taught to sew and cook properly and it is fantastic to think that these skills are still around and young people are interested in sewing/homecrafts.
 
 
The section below is the back part and you can see how neat it all is - my front part wouldn't be as neat as this!
 
 
I asked the lady why she was selling it and she had that it had been passed to her Mother who had left it in the cupboard for 40 years - she said that they just wanted to get rid of it as they felt it was of no use to them.  I couldn't believe this as I could never part with something like this as it is a huge piece of social history.  I feel as if I have won the lottery dear Friends - finding something like this gladdens my heart for some reason and I will always treasure it.  My husband thinks I am a bit loopy as he hates anything old and wouldn't have it in the house if it was up to him, we are all different and some of you may feel that same.
 
I am so glad that I went out today as it was horrid when I left this morning with the wind and rain.  All these treasures were waiting for me and I am as pleased as punch with all of them.  I wanted to say a huge thank you to all of you for your wonderful comments.  You have got to be the most kindest and warmest of people that I have ever 'met'.  The old dog is still around but I managed to lose him in the fair and hopefully he is completely lost somewhere in Chester now trying to find his way back.  I hope he sleeps in the fields tonight and doesn't bother anyone else for a while. 
 
I hope you have all had a wonderful Sunday - Happy Australia Day to all our wonderful friends there, especially the lovely Joy - I hope the sun has shone for you and all your family.  Take care and be happy my lovely friends and speak soon.  All my love, Dorothy :-)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

18 comments:

  1. I love the handkerchiefs and their box. I remember giving initialed hankies to people when I was a child. My Dad always used this type of hanky. I never saw him with a paper tissue.

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  2. Wow what lovely finds. I have been out and about buying second hand too for my latest project - psst tell you next week! Jo x

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  3. What fabulous finds!! All the silks and little pieces of paper and so on are fascinating!! Your crochet looks great, good luck with the second half. Hope that you have a great week Dorothy, it seems as if your trip to the vintage fair was a good start!! xx

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  4. What lovely finds Dorothy. Thank you for nipping across. I do hope that you have a good week xx

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  5. What wonderful treasures you found, I remember getting boxes of handkerchiefs for Christmas and birthdays too and yes that little doll reminds me of the Wooden Tops too. I can't believe someone was getting rid of that liberty cloth and the silks what a wonderful find
    Take care
    Jackie x

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  6. What wonderful finds, Dorothy! The collection of silks and the little papers filled with snippets of history is one of the most fantastic finds! The Liberty tablecloth is beautifuI and very special. And I really love the little doll too and those delightful textiles accompanying her. I am gald your happy outing chased the black dog away and I hope he gets completely lost in the fields and doesn't find you again!
    Wishing you a cheerful and peaceful week.
    Helen xx

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  7. Those rolls are amazing, so full of history! They really are very special. Are you going to finish off the table cloth?! I hope the dog stays lost, Lesley

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  8. Oh my goodness Dorothy you certainly hit the Jackpot I shed a tear reading this...my heart breaks easily for nostalgia and lives long past....so pleased you have this treasure in safe keeping and that doll well I am speechless for once...I am so glad you went out today...so glad you took the the dog for a walk !!!!!!!
    bestest as ever darling Dorothy...love Daisy j xxxx

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  9. Absolutely amazing finds! What treasures they are and I don't know how the family managed to part with the lovely fabric rolls, I could never do such a things. Glad you had such a wonderful day out despite the weather. Have a lovely week.

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  10. What great finds Dorothy! It sounds like you had a lovely time at the Vintage fair. Hope you have a great week.
    Marianne x

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  11. What a wonderful day you had and such lovely finds.
    Hugs x

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  12. Wow Dorothy, didn't you find some real treasures this time - what a wonderful post! I'm so glad that nasty dog has gone off - into hibernation I hope! Your hot water bottle cover is fab and I love your Miss Peggy and all her accessories - what fun! Thank you so much for the Happy Aussie Day greeting, and you have a wonder-filled week! Lots of love, Joy xoxo

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  13. Amazing finds, Dorothy. Love the little doll and the embroidery.
    Jacqui x

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  14. Oh my goodness what amazing finds your have found!! Truly jealous of you of the doll and the all the sewing threads etc. I'm always on the hunt for old unfinished projects but never have anything down my area unfortunately. Enjoy your lovely bits xxx

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  15. What beautiful finds Dorothy. I love the handkerchiefs. Your crochet looks lovely, the colours go together so well and what a sense of satisfaction to use yarn already in your stash. Keep warm in this awful weather. Julie x

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  16. So fun to find new treasures. I found a black crocheted shawl this weekend that is all lacy and pretty. Made with yarn, not really warm, but still lovely.

    I like your bottle cover. I haven't had a hot water bottle for sometime, but it might be handy.
    Blessings,
    Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage

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  17. Oh my goodness dear Dorothy...it would be wonderful to go on a treasure find with you...so many amazing things again here today! I love reading your posts..x
    Your crochet cover is beautiful too and just the thing for this chilly weather...keep cosy!
    Susan x

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  18. I remember getting handkerchiefs as gifts too, but only for a short while when I was quite young. I have a small collection of them and love the details that were added to make a necessary item very pretty. The sewing kits are just amazing! I can't believe someone would want to get rid of such a treasure, especially when it belonged to their own relative ... such an interesting glimpse into life then. How lucky you are! I guess it was meant to be passed on to someone more appreciative of it's history. Wendy x

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