Blogtoberfest Day 18: Weekend Thrifting Thrills!

Starting with Friday, I would say that I have had a rather stellar weekend for thrifting. This past Friday, as I have done for the past ten years, I had my hair done by a hair stylist who lives and works outside of the city in the community of Embrun, which is about 25 minutes east of Ottawa. I started having her do my hair when she worked in an upscale salon in the city. When she had her second child, she decided to work in a studio set up in her home which allowed her to pass on some savings to clients and gives me quality service at prices that I can live with. About a year ago I found a second hand store in Embrun which, for the three to four times a year that I have my hair done, I have added to my thrifting path . When I walked in last Friday, I saw these mixer/processor/blender bowls and blades without the motor for $10. These belong to the Braun 5 in 1 machine which is the type that I have had for almost 18 years and have spent more than $10 dollars when replacing a lid, blade or bowl. The parts are no longer available to order in North America as Braun is now distributing only its personal care products in North America. My Mum still has the predecessor, the Braun KM32, to my machine. It first came out in the 1950's and my Mum purchased one in the 1970's. She was pleased when, last year, I found a unit for her at the thrift store to use for parts. It has only needed minor repairs over the years but with parts unable to be ordered buying a unit at the thrift store becomes sensible so I was happy to do the same for mine. Both machines were designed and produced before the wide-spread practise of planned obselence over-whelmed the kitchen appliance market: With this quality in construction and design it is worth trying to repair them. At this store, I also found a small white with black enamel saucepan, some small, vintage Swedish candles and a little bit of trim in ivory and orange just waiting to be used on a Autumn themed vintage style apron.


The next morning, I was off to the Fabric Flea Market which is held every year to benefit a downtown public school. The vendors are made up of home sewers reducing their stash and professional re-sellers. Just in from the entrance, I rummaged through a table that had hundreds of patterns, sewing books, fabric remnants, buttons and laces and trims. This table was run by the public school that benefits from the whole event and is stocked by donations. The first thing I picked up to buy was a bag of about 10metres of this 1950's printed ribbon/lace. There were a few more bags of this same trim but I felt that I needed to set some personal limits from the start.


The next two bags contained various ribbons. The really wide ribbons(on the upper right hand of the photo) are vintage hat ribbons while the rolls are mostly gift or bouquet ribbons along with twill and seam binding.








The next picture is one of aged and stained bits of lace. Not everything in the bag is shown in this photo. I will wash the bits and pieces and try to remove the stains but try not to whiten them. That may take a little research but I suspect that a bar of Sunlight soap will be involved. Oxyclean might remove the patina of age and, if there is any silk, destroy some of the fibres. Even tea staining does not get the same subtle tone as simple age.








This fabric will likely be made into an apron. I collect vintage aprons and I have almost too many to count but the ones that wear out for me are the full ones. I love beautiful clothes and I have a busy household to run so full protection is a must! The dominant colour in the kitchen is blue with mostly red and yellow accents depending on the season and which direction you look. All of the colours in this fabric are found in my china on the plate rack which is Laura Ashley's Hazelbury.


I bought this fabric from a lovely lady who had all sorts of vintage fabrics and some vintage clothes including some made with Liberty fabric. This piece is likely from the late 1940's and is artificial silk, mostly likely rayon. I love the colours and I think that I have enough to make a sleeveless blouse to wear with a suit. She also had a vintage floral bedspread that was exquisite. It was the colouration and type of floral pattern that inspires Cath Kidston and Cabbages and Roses. I kind of wish that I had asked how much but I was pondering a bigger purchase. I also regret not getting her contact information as she was the type of vendor who is obviously in it for the love of the textiles and I would love to get know her.


Here is the artificial silk again with a little tray cloth/place mat that should look great with my aqua and pink Pyrex and a fascinating December 1939 magazine from England with a Canadian insert. I cannot wait to explore its pages in depth. I was acquainted with at least half a dozen of the vendors but did not have the chance to really chat with any of them. I also ran into people that I know from other interests. The mood was very happy with most buyers not looking to haggle and the vendors did not seem competitive or pushy but just there for a good cause and the love of fabric and everything fabric related.


The bigger purchase that I was pondering was eight 1.2 x 2 m panels of this vintage Gabrielle Cie. upholstery fabric to update the look in our family room. Some of the upholstery that I have already done has some of these colours already and the feel of the room is mid-century modern so this 1950's design will be fabulous. Recently I found a great deal on two upholstered chairs at the Sally Ann and since then I have been looking for suitable fabrics for slip-covers. I was glad that I had limited myself to that point as it was easier to make a bigger purchase when I discovered this material. The analogy of 'kid in a candy store' could not be more apt!







On Sunday the Thrifting Fairies called me again and some of the family made a late afternoon visit to Value Village where I was justly rewarded. The beautiful printed corduroy (1950's ?) and vintage Anchor Hoching Sun Tea jar were waiting for me! The colouration and design are amazing and look great with the two pastel pink platters, stamped Morn Glo, and Ice-o-matic that I found at the Salvation Army on Monday morning. Join the sharing excitement with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday. I love to see what everyone finds.

Shrove Tuesday and Vintage Aprons

My kids love Shrove Tuesday (or Pancake Day as they sometimes refer to it). They are not alone in loving pancakes and having them for dinner is extra special. Shrove Tuesday celebrations can be communal and have more recently included connections to the Catholic traditions of Mardi Gras. The Cathedral where the children sing holds such a supper but yet again our family activities did not mesh with the event. We usually prepare two batches of pancakes (one egg-free for me) and have them with maple syrup and sausages (mild Italian are not traditional but are preferred). I thought that since this post is mostly about food it would be the perfect opportunity to share some recently acquired vintage aprons. They were all found on the same day, at the same thrift store at fifty per cent off. I have found fewer and fewer decent aprons lately and the prices have been going up so findinf so many good ones on sale was a special event. This one appears to be home-made and uses an eye-bending print. You certainly would not want a whole garment made out of this fabric but an apron is just fine.

This one is also hand-made and uses french seams to join the panels. I love print as it reminds me of delftware. My pancake recipe is very basic: 1-2 eggs, 1 1/2 cups milk, 2 Tbsp. melted butter or oil, 2 cups of flour, 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt. Whisk the liquids together, mix the dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients and stir out most of the lumps. Pour out batter onto a med-hot griddle or skillet (buttered or oiled depending on how much seasoning there is). When the bubbles in each cake have popped and the edges have dried, flip the pancakes. Finish cooking and serve hot!




I really love this apron especially for the deep pockets and the orange seam binding; it also appears to be hand-made. The pockets go all the way to the bottom of the apron and would be perfect for house-keeping supplies. The print suggests the 1950's to me. When I made the second batch of pancakes I increased the milk to 1 3/4 cups and added a powdered egg-replacer or you could use the usual amount of milk and use a flax seed and water egg substitute. In the past I have used other milks(rice, soy, etc.) with success and have even used water as my liquid (pancakes are a bland food, but water makes them too bland in my opinion). I chose to make my pancakes buckwheat and substituted 1 3/4 cups light buckwheat flour and 1/4 cup chickpea flour for the all-purpose flour used for the rest of the family. Do not be discouraged by the taste of uncooked bean flour in the batter. Just don't taste it after all you would not taste the batter if it has raw eggs would you? I also added 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum as it tends to improve all gluten-free baking.

This apron will go with my other gingham smocked and chicken scratch aprons. It looks like it has had a pretty hard life but I couldn't leave it on the rack when I was bringing home all the others. I have other green gingham aprons but not the darker shade which works well with the black embroidery thread navy ric-rack. Pancakes were a weekend ritual when I was growing up and one of the few foods that my Dad had learned to make. We have continued that tradition and Number 3 makes excellent pancakes on his own. Our weekend mornings have tended to be busy so the tradition has waned a little but Shrove Tuesday should help that.


My daughter really liked this apron and insisted that I buy it! She loves the high waisted short skirts that are in fashion right now and this apron mirrors that trend even though I suspect it is almost as old as me. Our daughter likes to bake so a full bib apron is more practical for her but maybe she will want to take this apron when she sets up her own home. The batter for pancakes can have many variations but it is universally thicker than the batter for crepes. Sour milk and butter milk make excellent pancakes and require a little more baking soda. I have had pancakes made with over-ripe banana puree, rolled oats, chocolate chips and even left-over egg nog (before my egg allergy). It really does not need to be a special day to have pancakes for dinner; they can work very well when you have nothing else planned and not a lot of time. The ingredients are most likely in your kitchen and substitutions work surprisingly well.

The Latest Thrifts

I hope all the fathers in your life had a great day. We had a fairly quiet day that started with me bringing my husband his morning coffee in bed. He usually does it for me so it was the least I could do. Number 3 brought him freshly made waffles with butter, maple syrup and maple flakes on them. He often makes pancakes on the weekend but this was done with no ceremony and was a bit of a surprise. I did not think to take a picture so I have put in one of my husband's favourite flowers in our garden, the poppy!


When I walk into a thrift store, I make sure I cover all my essentials that include aprons and linens, cookbooks, china, pyrex, sewing supplies and brooches. I also always look at the carts the staff are using to restock the shelves. That is where I found this two volume cookbook from Gourmet Magazine. My Mum has a slightly older(I think) version of this set. This printing is still in its presentation box and the books still have their protective plastic dust jackets. My daughter found the Christmas menu tucked inside. It is from the Carleton Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in Ottawa. We have lived in Ottawa since 1990 and I do not remember there being a Four Seasons Hotel in the city while we have lived here. When we arrived in Ottawa, we were shocked to discover how few good restaurants we could find and how expensive the good ones were. I would have tried any restaurant at a Four Seasons Hotel at that time. A few years before my Nanan (maternal grandmother) treated my mother and myself to one of the best dinners I have ever eaten at the Four Seasons Vancouver. Ottawa has improved markedly in availability of good food since the nineties but we are not quite as interested in eating out these days and tend to stick with a few favourites. The tea towel has a fibre content label stating it is made of linen and cotton in German.

I could not resist this apron. I do not believe it to be vintage which is a usual criteria but it is charming. Its construction suggests it may have been commercially probably for tourists. I am not sure if it is Russian with her headdress being a Kokoshnik or whether she is wearing an Ukrainian Vinok. Does anyone have an opinion? She would be perfect for wearing while making holiday treats.







I love finding sewing and crafting books. I really have not been to many garage sales this year but an ad at the grocery store mentioned a sale with sewing stuff! That was enough to get me out. I could not resist some of the retro kitsch in these titles as I am slightly nostalgic about the rock painting and candle making of my childhood. The sewing books are very useful but this sale just got better and better.



Twenty-five cents each for these still very current patterns. The top pattens might even entice my daughter to learn to sew. The sale got even better.














There was fabric! Lots of fabric. The four pieces on the left are Laura Ashley and the middle print in greens and purple is Daisy Kingdom. The pink print should work well to line a bag but the blue piece at the back right of the photo is three metres of silk. I think I hear a early '60s sheath dress calling out for this fabric. Maybe I even have a vintage pattern that I will not have to re size in order to make up such a dress. I forgot to photograph the more utilitarian fabric lengths I bought. It was the only sale I went to and sometimes one is more than enough: I found great stuff and I met two sisters who were very friendly and enjoy sewing as much as I do.


Many others also love garage sales. Check out what they are sharing at Rhoda's blog

Thrifty Treasures

On my list of must finds has been a Liberty of London printed blouse. Last week I spotted one when I popped into the Nearly New Shop of Christ Church Cathedral and discovered that everything in the shop was fifty per cent off. My husband found a sport shirt and I found a beautiful old handkerchief and a silk square in a beautiful icy blue. Before Christmas, I found a beautiful brown patent leather Ferragamo purse and a brown printed Liberty silk scarf so I knew that this was a location with potential.





On this occasion I also found a Kasper jacket. As a student of fashion history, I have been aware of the designer for a long time with his designs being in the Vogue Patterns catalogue years. This particular jacket seems to be like many 'designer' clothes in that it is just an off-the-rack item with a designer's label sewn in but it does fit me well and it is pink!

The Liberty blouse also came with a skirt and shirt jacket. They are slightly faded compared to the blouse and the styling is fairly dated (or too old for me as my daughter said) so I think the parts are slated for a reworking. I am not a big label chaser but the quality of Liberty fabrics is well known and the beauty of the prints is almost matchless. Liberty of London is definitely a place I want to visit when I am in England with the choir. This was definitely my thrifting high of the week but I was also able to make another thrift store visit and some Saturday Garage Sale finds.




I occasionally find hand potted pieces and have a preference for blue glazes. Here is one that caught my eye shown here in our family room with Lily of the valley from the garden. The glaze matches the fruit bowl we use in the kitchen so I can see that this will be used frequently. The other photo shows another cache pot which is one of my recent thrifting obsessions. It is sitting on a new, thrifted linen skirt which combines my favourite blues with a light brown and should prove a versatile addition to my wardrobe.




Another cache pot, this one being made in West Germany with an apron in blue. Have others noticed how we often find items in themes or colours without intending to. The blue apron is beautifully handmade and if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can find the perfectly matched pocket. Sometimes the shorter stitch length used in some home sewing can create an obviously homemade look which is not the case in this apron.


Saturday's garage sale finds included some Ikea storage containers and rail system spotted by No. 3 with plans for its use for his art supplies. We used the same system in my recent sewing room makeover and it is very reasonably priced but he bought it for $2. He is already becoming quite good at finding good bargains and enjoys it like me. He just needs a little more experience in figuring out what we will actually use.

I am a sucker for vintage office supplies, so this mail scale was an exciting find. It does seem odd to me that an item (dated 1982)from the time I was in high school is vintage but I am sure that I will encounter such vintage items again. I certainly remember the postal rates of the time and remember with fondness the letters I received from my long distance boyfriend of the time. I had No. 3 study the scale for a while to figure out what it was and within a minute he had it even though the scales at the post office now are nothing like this one.


I found these jars and the carafe when I went back to pick-up a wood and cor-plast Ikea wardrobe with the van. I will use for summer storage of the snowsuits and parkas. The jars and carafe were free!!! Sometimes the best deals are the things that others have passed over. The jars will likely be used for food storage. With a family of six, I buy a lot of food stuff in bulk through a natural food buying club. It is less expensive and avoids excessive packaging. The carafe still had the tag on it and will allow us to make more than one pot for entertaining. There is also a vintage jar chopper. I already have one so I am not sure if I will keep it.

I love to share all my thrifted and garage sale finds and I have found other bloggers who like to do the same at Rhoda's blog where many other are sharing their treasures.

Brighten up the day

We have had a fair bit of cool, wet weather lately which with the anti-climatic feel after a concert and a bit of a head cold has been getting me a little down. The rain has made the garden lush and the cool temperature has prolonged the bulbs. Trillium are Ontario, Canada's Provincial flower and a stylized bloom can be found on all sorts of official Ontario documents. While the plant is protected in many parts of North America it is only protected in provincial parks and conservation areas in Ontario. The plant is very sensitive to being picked or transplanted so we leave the one under our lilac tree well alone.


When I went back to take another picture, the white petals (bracts actually) had started to turn a mauvy pink. We have a large, irregular lot with quite a bit more garden than is the norm for suburbia. Despite having so much space devoted to flower beds, I tend to leave the blooms in the garden. There are beds along one side of the house that contain the herb garden and the beginnings of a cut flower garden but when I see the plants flowering I find it really difficult to pick them for the house. I do, however, pick all the violets and johnny jump-ups (miniature violas)that grow through the lawn before it is mowed and display them in little cream jugs that I like to collect.

Pretty aprons have the ability to brighten my day. For everyday I tend to wear a bib fronted apron but I find more lovely half aprons when thrifting than full ones. This lilac one is perfect for spring and I have had it hanging in my kitchen since just before Easter. The trim of a striped fabric is pieced and perfectly mitred at the centre front point. The tie is also pieced with both solid and striped fabric with the striped fabric in the last half of the ties and showing as the tails if tied in a bow. On each side of the body of the apron there is are gathered panels which add to the grace of this apron. This little number manages to be flirty while still possessing elegance.


Here is another hand-made apron than has lovely details with the most striking being its composition of panels and the solid pink under panel contrasting with the print of the upper panels. The pocket is bound with the same pink bias binding the panels of the apron. Tie One On is a great resource for all things apron-y including links to vintage aprons on flickr. The Apronista was my first blog source of all things apron and introduced me to some of the great books. Apron•ology is a great publication which I have been enjoying that features newly created aprons and is available in a giveaway at Julia's blog.


My garden has many of these Lily of the Valley so I had no problem bringing a few blooms into the house to enjoy the heady scent. After enjoying the the Trillium, aprons, and Lily of the Valley, my day has definitely brightened up and it looks like the weather will improve later in the week.

My Vintage Kitchen

I do not have a true vintage kitchen as the one original to the house was not salvageable. Some of the houses in our neighborhood still have their original forty year old kitchens but many do not. For us the decision was made for us as the original builder's kitchen was of inferior quality(compared to other features of the house) and was truly falling apart. I do have quite a few utensils and decorative items that are at least as old as the house. I have already posted about some of my vintage cookbooks and will certainly feature more. This latest book, Food in History is supplementary reference to my older cookbooks as well as to the understanding of the importance of food preparation in our history. The cache pot has a sticker Töpferhof -Keramik HANDARBEIT DDR Römhild. Its simple mid-century designs will work well with the red accents in my kitchen.


The tin is marked Fortnum and Mason with the Royal Warrant and probably held biscuits. I like store food in tins or glass when possible and find the autumnal roses charming. My vintage kitchen has many aprons and this is my newest. I love the use of the gingham, ric-rac and orange accent stitching.


The pocket is especially detailed edged with the ric-rac and orange stitching and with the pleating using the check of the fabric (click on the photo to show the details). I have several chicken scratch gingham aprons which I will blog about but this apron has the most interesting use of gingham and ric-rac I have ever seen.



This tablecloth is my latest in my vintage collection. Like our grandmothers, I enjoy a fresh tablecloth in the kitchen and love the homey look it brings. I have a classic eat-in kitchen where the kitchen table is the heart of our home. Changing the tablecloth really gives the kitchen a new look with each colour scheme and pattern. This pattern reminds me of the graphics in my fifties and early sixties cookbooks and I know that I remember seeing wallpaper like it when I was a kid. Using a cheery tablecloth is vintage homemaking idea that is worth bringing back. Soon I will share my vintage utensils and cookbooks with more aprons and tablecloths.

Apron Day

Yesterday was National Apron Day (USA) and I thought I had better write about it as my first apron was a gift from my paternal Grandmother and yesterday was her birthday. The apron had been a gift from her in-laws in England and I believe had been made by her husbands grandmother. The embroidery is beautifully done and it is trimmed with lovely lace. There is wear on the straps and I know I wore it as a child and recently did a little repairing. This apron is officially the "one that started it all" as far as my collection of aprons is concerned. I have two other aprons from my Grandma that I will post about later.





Here is more of a close-up of the details. Click on the photo to enlarge it. I do not remember my Grandma doing this kind of embroidery, but she did try to teach me to tatt. I wish that I had retained more of that skill. I found a book in the thrift store and bought a shuttle, but it is not as easy as I remember. Arghh! If she was still alive, my Grandma would be 104. She lived through possibly some of the biggest changes in modern history. She was born in Michigan where her Father was streetcar conductor. His mother was born a Putnam and could trace her lineage to her Dutch family's 1661 arrival in America. My Grandma's mother was born a Stebbins and could trace her roots to her family's emigration from England to Massachusetts in 1636.


My Grandmother was about five in this picture and her life was about to dramatically change when her family chose to homestead in Saskatchewan. She was seven before she started schooling as the cold and travelling conditions were difficult with the school three miles away. Unusually for the time she went away to high school and then went on to Normal School(teacher's college). She taught school until her marriage in 1938.







I love this portrait of my Grandma done in her twenties. She had a fashionable haircut and dress and looked comfortable with her Independence. She was a very social person but quite fiercely independent. While her sister asserted her independence by running off and marrying an unsuitable husband, my Grandma was a career teacher and therefore making her own way and answerable only to herself. She continued to teach until her marriage in 1938. Her independent spirit served her well during the war when she followed her husband from training base to base with her infant son, my Father. After the war, they opened a small general store on Vancouver Island which I will blog about in the future. After she was widowed in the '60s, she moved to Vancouver were she ran a boarding house for university students including quite a few foreign students.

By the mid-'70s she moved back to Vancouver Island and was regularly involved in my family's life. She travelled fairly frequently and even drove herself to Saskatchewan in 1985 to celebrate the eightieth anniversary of province hood. She never really recovered from my Dad's death in 1988 and her physical health started to deteriorate. For such an independent person, this was very frustrating for her. In remembering her, I think of her as a thoroughly modern vintage woman: she appreciated where she came from and was very resourceful, she was respectful of her parents but independent, she enjoyed marriage and family life but spent most of her adult life on her own, she took traditional women's role and made them new, and she had all the aspirations that her 21st century sisters have but had a vintage wisdom to not expect it all at once.



Putting on her aprons has given me more confidence in my role as a wife and mother and allowed me to enjoy it in the way women of old enjoyed making and embellishing their very practical aprons.

To see how others enjoy their aprons check out The Apronista

Aprons

My interest in aprons has had some rather wide reaching results. I started to read other peoples blogs with a simple google search of vintage aprons and that has led to me reading and thinking about women's domestic role both now and in the past. I will blog about my first aprons when I figure out how to best photograph them. The apron here is photographed as it is displayed in my home. On the end of the cabinet as you enter my kitchen is a large blank area. I used a 3M command hook to hang up Christmas decorations and realized after the decorations came down that it would be the perfect location to feature my aprons. Doing so brings a little seasonal colour and cheer that does not look incongruous in the kitchen.


This apron has two good sides so I suppose the woman who wore it could turn it around quickly if company showed up. Pockets are an important feature on an apron and a real opportunity for creativity. I had this apron up for most of March and its Spring Freshness made me happy whenever I walked into the kitchen. Which side do you like best?










I put this one up on St. Patrick's Day to share the limelight with the Soda bread. I do wear my aprons but tend to prefer a full apron for everyday. I am a little messy so I tend to save the half aprons for hostess occasions (or when the mood strikes me).













February had this apron on display. It has beautiful embroidery with dimensional appliques. Unfortunately, it has a little fade damage from being exposed to the fluorescent lights in my laundry room. I guess our mistakes are to learn from but I wish it had not been one I love so much.











This sheer hostess number shared the spotlight in February. It is beautifully made and like all the aprons in this post, appears to be handmade. The previous one is behind it to try and highlight the details. I will add these to my flickr soon. If you love these, go to Amy's blog Tie One Onfor some beautiful new and vintage aprons.

Here is a another link to other people's aprons