York again

Last weekend I went back to York, for the Festival of Vintage. Although most of my wardrobe is now vintage styles, I wear very little true vintage. It's rare to find items which fit my short-waisted self, and I simply can't bring myself to cut up something which has survived for over 60 years, just so that it will fit me. As a result, most of my purchases at vintage events are jewellery and accessories, and the main reason for going is to catch up with friends and browse.

Of course, there's always the hope that I'll find some patterns or, even better, fabric. The dress length I found last year which became my Bertie Bassett dress was a joy to work with, but such acquisitions are rare - usually. This time, however, the home dressmaking gods decided to smile on me, and I came home with all sorts of goodies.

First of all, buttons and buckles. These are some of my favourite things to buy vintage. They are not size-dependent, mostly inexpensive, and can really add a vintage look to a project. The blue buttons on the playing card and the black ones top right were bought from an antique centre in York, while all the rest were bought at the Festival. I have specific plans for all of them apart from the blue 'Deco' set centre left.

Mostly bought with projects in mind

I also have plans for these two fabulous clasps, which are from the wonderful Fantouche Vintage.

With ruler for scale

Next up, fabric. I am trying really hard not to buy any new fabric - unless it's needed to complete a project mainly being made from stash, for example lining or a contrast collar. I have allowed myself an exception for vintage fabric, and bought several lengths. The first of which is this brown cotton, with a print which somehow manages to look upside-down from both ends!

Which way up?

The drape and hand of the next piece, combined with the diagonal twill weave, make me think that it is most likely Viyella. My pink Viyella dress is a cold weather favourite, it's toasty without being bulky, so the prospect of another dress in the same cloth made me snap this up.

I'm always on the lookout for Viyella

Far less toasty is this 1940s rayon. It will probably be a blouse, as I doubt if there's enough to make a dress, but my habit of working with remnants has honed my skills at eking out fabric - so we'll see.

I couldn't pass this up

There's more of this dark red spotty fabric with an interesting, ridged weft. It doesn't have a lot of drape, which will influence my pattern choices.

I'm thinking crisp 1940s here

The final fabric is this jaunty cotton. It had been sewn up into a bag shape, so may have once been a feed sack. It does seem rather long for that, though - it would have been a very heavy sack.

Feedsack? It certainly feels old

From fabrics on to patterns, and I was delighted to add to my collection of early Style patterns. I bought these two from different traders, and it was only later that I realised that Style had thriftily used the same bodice for two different patterns: camiknickers (4769) and a slip (4770).

Reuse on adjacent patterns

The envelope of this pattern is so damaged that I don't know what size it is. It does still have its original transfer, though, as well as separate instructions for the embroidery.

Style 4860

I can safely say that I never look remotely this glamorous at bedtime!

#goals

I quite fancy making a duffel coat. I don’t think that it would work over this dress with its wild collar, though.

Quite a mixture

Of course, following on from the triumph of my Wondrella cardigan, I'm now taking an interest in knitting patterns as well. It will be a while before I'm up to colour work, but hope springs eternal and all that, and I bought these two at the Festival.

Those hairstyles!

I had some time in York on the Monday, and struck gold in a charity shop - a big basket of old knitting patterns.

My first knitting pattern haul!

Most old patterns are in too small a size for me, so I was interested that both the Bestway and Penelope lacy jumper patterns suggested that they could be made larger by knitting them on the next needle size. The Bestway cardigan pattern, meanwhile, has three sets of instructions for making the same size cardigan in three different thicknesses of wool. Maths nerd that I am, I’m looking forward to comparing them and working out how they differ.

Finally, it is almost impossible for me to go away anywhere and not come back with a secondhand book. Initially I thought that I would be leaving York empty handed, but then I found this.

Still trying to get the sticky label off

The 'Battle of Versailles' was a fashion show featuring five French and five American designers, held in 1973, to raise money for the restoration of the then crumbling Palace of Versailles. I had heard of it, but knew nothing of the details. Flicking through the book, I discovered that one of the American models involved was Karen Bjornson, who featured very heavily on Vogue patterns in the 1970s and 1980s.

Add to all this a great time at the Festival, catching up with old friends and making new ones, and it was a very successful weekend.