Every first Saturday of the month The Royal Arcade in Boscombe, the town where we live, host a vintage market, and for the last few months running Rachael and I have been trawling the stalls for goodies and inspiration. Last weekend we took our kid sisters, too ;)
The Royal Arcade is a small, beautiful Victorian building that up until a few years ago was ignored and defunct but since the rise in vintage shops around the Boscombe/Pokesdown area it has been put to use again, no doubt due to its suitably nostalgic architecture.
Last weekend we took our sisters to The Little Pickle Deli Cafe where I ordered a garden sandwich...
...whereas the time before we'd popped into The Crooked Book for a chai latte and organic cookie! Nom...
I love this shop. It's not been open a year yet but I'm chuffed to pieces it's just down the road from me! They have soooooo many secondhand books as well as vintage and retro fabrics and furnishings, such as this typewriter which I have my eye on, and the wonky taxidermy butterflies above...
...and you can sit down at a table with a cuppa and a slice of organic, home made cake.
And look - sassy knicker bunting!
I was thrilled to bits with the books I found in The Crooked Book. I'd been searching for The Little Prince for ages after someone asked for it at work. We didn't stock it, but I checked it out and it sounded lovely, and since then I've been hearing about it everywhere. I nearly relented and ordered from the online giants, as well as The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (which is another I've wanted to read for months). But patience pays off, and I found them here. The owner of the shop spoke lovingly of The Little Prince; he'd read it too, and described the symbolic relevance of the rose in the story...but that's all I'm saying. You'll have to read it for yourselves. Once I'm done with D.H Lawrence I'll pick it up...
Other finds of mine at the vintage market are these stunning taxidermy butterflies, which I picked up at a shocking £4 as the stall owner had dropped the frame, damaging it slightly and also breaking some of the butterflies' bodies. But I don't mind, their wings are still beautifully intact, and I'm going to have it reframed anyway in something dark, wooden and beautiful.
I found some beautiful fabric and linens, and not to mention these gorgeous vintage sequin transfers above, which remind me of coral, anemones and other such sea flora, which I have designs for...
...and a dark ditty too! How befitting...
As well as buttons I have now acquired a fetish for doilies and have many ideas of how I'd like to incorporate them in my stitchings.
And then there was this dress, again a mere £4...
And this spiffing stag bag handmade by Carara Designs made of scrap, recycled fabric and leather, with a William Morris print on the reverse!
And these are a few more of my favourite things...
Please check out my fledgling shop
and here's Rachael's shop where she sells beautifully crafted button and charm bracelets <3
Thanking You
Nina x
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