On Saturday there was another vintage fair in York at the Merchant Adventurers Hall, it was the one where they do a clothes swap and I needed to go because I had quite a few clothes swap tokens from the last event when I couldn't find much to use them on.
Quite promising when I went in as we got a goodie bag with a lots of leaflets / vouchers, a vintage explorer magazine & a mini pot of BodyShop rose body butter which was nice.
It was pretty busy, lots of stalls I've come across before at events, a few new ones and a few interesting clothing items in amongst a lot of not so vintage, over-priced tat.
I found the clothes swap and it was about as disappointing as last year. I think some people turn up with a bag of rubbishy stuff in the hope to find some choice items but if everyone turns up with rubbish, or like one lady, a bag of her husbands stuff, then there's nothing much for other ladies to choose from. They had 3 small clothes rails and I found hardly anything I wanted or anything which would be my size and I've still come away with tokens to use up!
I got the things below, the only item which will fit is the linen jacket bottom right, the other things were bought purely to chop up and use the fabric.
On a slightly more positive note I did purchase some vintage fabric & trimmings. The fabric below is 50's barkcloth with a medieaval banquet scene, the woven braid is vintage but not the made in britain ribbon.
Moving swiftly on from the vintage fair I had lovely coffee and snacks in Spring Espresso which is just a few doors along from the back entrance of Merchant Adventurers Hall.
I then made a first time visit, with Bob, to the LoveCheese shop on Gillygate.
It was a lovely little shop, we sampled some cheese and have come away with Ribblesdale cheeses, the one on the left is a mature Wensleydale & the one which I'm really hooked on is the piece on the right, a smoked goats cheese.
Our trip was finished with a quick ride in the trolley for Bob around Sainsbury's.
He had carrots on his shopping list so we had to get a stash to take home!
9 comments:
There's always tat isn't there!!
I love the barkcloth and the 'Made in Britain' tape is great.
So Bob enjoys cheese as well as coffee and cake. I do know how much bunnies enjoy their carrots. :)
V x
never been to a clothes swap event, sounds fab but you are right only if everyone joins in! Made in Britain tape is great though x
Hi Sally
Think you would enjoy the St Gemmas Fair as it's full of real vintage goodies at reasonable prices. The Festival of Vintage weekend in April at York racecourse is good too - I am going if you want to meet up.
I love barkcloth - so hard to find though!
I think once you've been to a few of these things you get wise to spotting the overpriced tat.
Sally thanks for mentioning the Festival of Vintage at the racecourse, it's the first I've heard of it so I'll have to investigate online. If I've decided to go I can always give you a shout to bump into you there. It sounds wonderful.
I'd love to visit York. Its been on my list for a long while.
Shame that you were not able to use your tokens, its terrible that people come with rubbishy stuff to swap. What's the point, they can't get rid of it and people coming along are not interested. Doesn't make sense to me.
Good that you found some fabric and I am liking the banquet scene. Would be interested to see what you do with that,
I wish they had fairs around where I live, maybe I should ask the local hall if we could have one! I hope next time you find better clothes, aleast you have the fabric to cut up! Say Hello to Bob as well!
- Becky x
Shaheen, York is a fab place for a mooch if you get chance, I can recommend good cafes too if you want to avoid the tourist traps like Bettys tea room!
Yes, I don't know why people bring their rubbish clothes to a swap, surely you'd give that to a charity shop and bring better things so that it's a bit more interesting.
Hey Becky I thought you'd have lots of vintage fairs being as I thought more went on like that in the south. You could start your own maybe if you find other like minded souls.
Hi Pappy, we organise YDV and came across your blog earlier today. We are so sorry you havn't appeared to enjoy your visit, we work really hard to make a fabulous day out for all ages and we feel we bring something new to the vintage world which we thought we had achieved judging by are amazing reviews, feedback, shortlisting for a Visit York tourism award, and 2,000 visitors - http://theyorker.co.uk/lifestyle/theknow/10857 . We would really like to make it up to you by offering you free entry for you and your friend (worth £10) to our brand new ladies night Opulence - http://www.facebook.com/events/296754210382914/ on the 12th April in Nether Poppleton! Once again, we are sorry you felt our event didn't live up to expectations. Love Alex and Sam xxx
Thank you Alex & Sam for your comment which I've only just found. I wouldn't say I hadn't enjoyed my visit, it was interesting and I could see popular and busy with other people so therefore a success, although I did notice alot of people looking and not buying. What I don't think is really taking off or working yet is the clothes swap as detailed in my post.
The over priced tat I refer to is where I see clothes which to be honest I see better examples of and cheaper at jumble sales, charity shops etc. Racks of heavily patterned, 1980's jumpers and t-shirts with sequins are not particularly vintage classics. THere are a lot of clothes which look like they have been scooped up at charity shops, put on racks with a vintage looking tag with a too high price and bingo they think it's a vintage item, it's not. It does mean that when I visit such events, the good stuff quickly stands out above the rubbish when you know what you are looking for and I can whizz round and be selective.
That said we still need more of these events to make them even better.
Thanks for the offer to Nether Poppleton but as I've only just read this I'll not be able to make it.
Good luck with future events.
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