Collecting And Recycling Vintage Fabrics

I  love old bright retro fabrics or just fabrics that are evocative of an era. I save bits I buy cheaply at jumble sales for projects I will get round to in the future. I'm sure I will eventually find the time! I have my old toy chest that my toys were stored in when I was a child. It has been in the loft for years but we have recently got it out and when I have painted it I will keep it in our bedroom for extra storage. When it is finished I am going to make a large cushion for the top covered in some 1960s fabric in keeping with the era of the chest.

I had been searching for a while now to find just the right piece of fabric and recently have bought the perfect piece on ebay.  When I was very little I used to share a bedroom with my sister. We had curtains that I loved of little animals and insects dressed up in clothes. I would study every one of them as I looked out of my cot by the window. I couldn't believe it when I found it, apparently it was made by Sanderson and called Hippity Hoppity. All these years later and it is still firmly implanted in my memory.

This was my favourite on the fabric as I loved the nursery rhyme Ladybird Ladybird Fly Away Home.

In the same theme as my fabric collecting I always buy old tea towels when I see them. They are so much brighter than the ones made today and for about 20p each who couldn't enjoy looking at a map of Dorset or animals of Britain when they are drying the dishes.

Another retro fabric item which seems to have disappeared but was such a good idea was calendar tea towels. We would buy my Mum one every Christmas and it would hang on the kitchen wall until next Christmas when it would be taken down and replaced then used as a tea towel. What perfect recycling. 

At a car boot sale a few years ago I found this one, the year I was born. Perfect, as coincidentally the days of the week fell exactly the same in 2016 as 1960. I kept it up all year and thought I would put it away for the next time the calendar repeated itself. I checked online to see when that will be and as it was a leap year it is not going to happen again until 2044. Oh well I suppose it gives me something to aim for!

The Corgi Ice Cream Van

When I was a little girl in the 1960s the ice cream van seemed to call all the time. I would listen for the tinkling music of The Teddy Bears Picnic and ask for an ice cream. As soon as I sat down to eat my breakfast I would be asking "What time is the ice cream lady coming?" This is exactly how I remember the ice cream van looking.

Mr Softee Ice Cream Van

 There was an incident that happened in my childhood that has made me remember these old ice cream vans very clearly.

My Grandparents had come to stay and I was so excited I ran upstairs to get a new toy I wanted to show them.  I'm not sure what I fell on, but I just remember the blood everywhere and worried faces looking down at me. An ambulance was called and I remember sitting in it, wrapped in a blanket looking out at my sister and my grandparents as we drove away. My main worry at the time was my little slippers that had horses on and were covered in blood! 

After what seemed like hours of hospital staff, stitches to my forehead and being separated from my Mum we arrived home in a taxi. Then the final trauma was my bloodied slippers being thrown in the fire! I was lying in the dining room on a little bed they had made up for me and my Dad came home from work. He gave me this little ice cream van and I was so thrilled, all of a sudden the whole day didn't matter. Today it is on a shelf in our kitchen and I still smile when I look at it. I almost remember the day as a happy memory when I look back all these years later!

1960s Corgi Toy No 428 Mister Softee Ice Cream Van