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

Woolworth's Photo Booths - The Selfies Of The 1970s

There has been so much in the news recently about the way young people are always taking selfies. According to some people they are a sign of self obsession, vanity and even that they have nothing better to do with their lives. Poor teenagers all they are doing is trying to fit in with other young people as young people always have. I think the main problem lies with older people who have forgotten what it was like to be young.

In the 1970s we had our own selfies, they were called the Woolworth's photo booth! 

On Saturday mornings we would often head off to Woolworths in Epsom and have our photo taken. It was nearly always with a friend and we would share out the photos. 50p for a lifetime of memories! Some days there would be lots of us and we would jump in and out of the booth in the few seconds between flashes to change places. It would be the cause of much hysterical laughter and loud tutting from older people shopping in Woolies at the time.

Me With My Friend Janet Woolworth's Photo Booth Epsom January 1974

 We even had them taken on days out at the coast. Never mind photos on the beach at Brighton or Littlehampton we would head to the local Woolworths for memories of the day!

I remember this colour photo so clearly. We had heard there was a brand new colour photo booth opened in Woolworths in Croydon. We set off on the old 470 London Country route to West Croydon which took about an hour, just to get our photos taken. I still have this precious photo although being at the back I'm not quite sure if it was worth the long journey!

Me With My Friends Woolworth's Photo Booth Croydon October 1974

This final photo I have, I remember having taken to send to my new penpal and I eagerly awaited her photo in return. Much more fun than facebook! I remember I had got my hair cut and really wanted to look like Suzi Quatro.

Me In Woolworths Epsom Photo Booth 1973

So I say to young people, enjoy your selfies. One day in the future your descendants will be saying "Wasn't Great Granny lovely." Enjoy the moment in history.

Reading Jackie Magazine In 1975

I know exactly what I would have been doing on Thursday mornings in 1975. Reading a Jackie magazine. I loved Jackie as did all my friends. Thursdays were eagerly awaited and I remember our Biology lesson, which was first period on Thursday, was always ignored while we sat on the back science lab bench reading every word of it. We poured over every problem in the Cathy and Claire page, answered all the questions in the quizzes about such important matters as "Am I the right girl for him?" and memorised every beauty tip. I still quote hair care advice I read at the time to this day. Even the boys in the class joined in and we would read out their horoscopes whilst they listened seriously. It's no surprise to say I failed my Biology 'O' Level miserably.

Jackie magazine started in 1964 and in its heydey in the early 1970s it's circulation rose to over 600,000 copies a week. We loved the photo love stories and the latest news on pops stars such as David Cassidy and Donny Osmond. In an age of no internet or social networking I think it made young girls feel connected and not so alone. I know I look back with very fond memories of my experience with the magazine. It's just a shame about the Biology 'O' Level!

Have A Happy And Nostalgic Christmas

I always think Christmas is a really nostalgic time of the year. A time to remember people and happy memories.  This was my first Christmas in Liverpool in 1960. I can't remember it but it still looks happy!

I can however, remember this Christmas even though I was only 3 years old.

I keep telling myself that these are the Christmases that we and particularly our children will be feeling nostalgic for in the future, They won't remember the over cooked sprouts (I hope) or the parts of the day that aren't perfect, They will just remember the love, the happiness and the laughter as I do. 

I really hope everyone has a very happy Christmas and makes the most of the good bits and doesn't get too worried about the stressful bits.

Retro Cooking In The 1960s And 1970s

This week I bought a retro 1960s enamel pan from our local charity saleroom for £5. It's in lovely condition and very pretty. I am so pleased with it I haven't put it away in a cupboard but it has pride of place on top of the hob. 

It has made me think how different cooking and kitchens are now to the 1960s and 70s. I have several cookery books from this time and all the recipes are quite basic. Pot roast, shepherd's pie and meat pie all feature. Non of the recipes have more than 5 or 6 ingredients and pasta isn't mentioned once! I find these recipes very easy to follow and also not so overwhelming as there is not a great long list of obscure ingredients to buy.

I'm sure everyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s will remember Fanny Craddock and her cookery programmes on the TV. She was very proper and although her cooking was easy to follow I didn't think they were much fun.

However the TV chef I remember most clearly and fondly is Graham Kerr in The Galloping Gourmet.

He was, to put it mildly, energetic leaping around the studio, cracking jokes and swigging wine. I thought he was hilarious. More time was taken up with his jokes than cooking but to a 10 year old he made a boring subject entertaining. Looking back now as an adult I still love it!

I have added this clip of The Galloping Gourmet from youtube and it's worth watching just for the retro 1970s kitchen.

How To Date Vintage Beatrix Potter Books

I am lucky enough to have kept very carefully a small collection of Beatrix Potter books from my childhood in the 1960s.

I am trying to collect all the books in the set but would like them to look the same so am only purchasing books from the 1960s with a dustjacket in good condition. It is quite hard but that makes the moment you find one all the more rewarding. I haven’t found any I want to buy at car boot sales yet but have been searching through ebay and abebooks. What makes the search even harder is the fact books from this period didn’t have an obvious date so many of the descriptions are very vague.

If the book has not been price clipped that obviously helps as pre decimal books date to before 1971.

However there is an easy way to date these books as they have a publisher’s code number.

This Mrs Tiggy-Winkle book was given to be my Grandad in 1966 and can by dated to the year of publication as 1965 by the last two numbers in the publisher’s code.

This is not totally fool proof though as I bought this book The Pie And The Patty Pan at Beatrix Potter’s house Hill Top, Sawrey in the Lake District in 1968 when we were on holiday.

There is no code or publisher’s name and I am not sure why. I would love to find out.

I hope this has been helpful to other collectors out there.

Fairylite Vintage Egg Cups

In the 1960s I used to have a Noddy wooden egg cup which I loved and often wondered what had happened to it. A while ago I asked my Mum and Dad if they still had him but despite a thorough search he was no where to be found. They did however find these other two wooden egg cups from the same time made by Fairylite which I also remember well. I’m not sure if they were based on characters, but although one is a bit battered they are both very nostalgic for me.

Fairylite Vintage Wooden Egg Cups

Coincidentally a few months after me bringing these two egg cups home I was at a car boot sale and found the Fairylite Noddy egg cup for £1.

Noddy Fairylite Eggcup

I have been doing some research on the Fairylite company and have found they started around the 1930s producing metal and plastic toys in England. They then seemed to have progressed to importing many of their toys from places like Hong Kong including dolls and dolls houses. By the 1960s they were producing Fairylite Thunderbird dolls which are very sort after today.  They seemed to have produced many different egg cup designs in the 1950s and 60s, so many I am amazed I don’t find more when I am out and about. I shall definitely be keeping my eyes open in the future, poor Noddy needs to be reunited with Big Ears!

A Very Desirable 1950s Residence

When I was little my sister had a lovely dolls house our Dad made for her. It had electric lights, a little bathroom, a kitchen and even a little toy 1960s television in the living room. We would play with it for hours. I remember when I was 10 years old and in the top class of primary school, two of us would have to go to the kindergarten class to look after the little ones on our own when it was wet play. (Yes really!). It was such fun we did what we wanted. I would spend the whole hour sitting down on the rugs with the little girls playing with the dolls house. It was enormous and such fun, they hardly got a look in! Our dolls house is long gone sadly, though I have some bits of furniture given to my daughters to play with when they were little. 

  I have been looking for a replacement for a long time without success until I found this one at an auction. We went to pick it up today and I couldn't be more pleased.

1950s Dolls House

I had bought it to do it up and then sell it on but now I have got it home it is so lovely I'm not sure I want to. All the metal windows and door are intact with a little number 9 next to the front door.

Inside Of 1950s Dolls House

The original 1950s heavy embossed wallpaper is still on the walls in perfect condition. The floor has a covering that has been made to look like 1950s lino. When you look through the front door you just want to walk up the stairs. I feel as if I have moved house as I keep thinking where I could put the furniture.  This evening I feel like a child again!

1960s Fun On The Magic Roundabout

Everyone who grew up  in the 1960s and 1970s must have memories of The Magic Roundabout. We loved it in our family and that five minute slot before the early evening news was always eagerly awaited. Originally a French children's TV programme known as Le Manège enchanté it was bought by the BBC and completely re written and redubbed by the brilliant Eric Thompson in 1965. It ran from October 1965 to Jan 1978 and became cult viewing. At one point it was moved from it's slot just before the news to earlier in the children's viewing schedule and the BBC was inundated with complaints from grown ups! The Magic Roundabout had a very distinctive style, the look of which was the responsibility of Ivor Wood who worked at Danot's studio in France at the time. Ivor Wood went on to create The Herbs (another great favourite of mine), The Wombles, Paddington Bear and Postman Pat.

BBC The Magic Roundabout

Dougal was always our favourite character. He was a little dog who appeared to float along and always seemed to have a put down for every occasion. We called our little Yorkshire Terrier puppy after him in 1971, although the original Dougal in the TV programme was based on a Skye Terrier. The other characters were Zebedee the jack in a box, Brian the snail, Ermintrude the cow and Dylan the rabbit named after Bob Dylan, The two human characters were Florence the little girl and Mr Rusty the operator of the roundabout. I remember one of the first black and white episodes of The Magic Roundabout when Florence met Zebedee and went through to the magic garden which seemed like such a magical concept to me. I remember the children on the roundabout in those first few episodes took a bit more of an active part! They certainly didn't as the episodes progressed. Apparently though their names were Basil, Paul and Rosalie. I found this Magic Roundabout mug at a car boot sale dated 1967 showing how popular it was at the time.

1960s Magic Roundabout Mug

For everyone who feels as nostalgic as I do about The Magic Roundabout I have added three episodes from the programme below that I found on YouTube. The first is an early black and white charming French version when Florence went into the magic garden for the first time. I remember the English version of this so well. The second is an early episode called The Rocking Chair and the third is a later colour episode from 1970.

Brownies In The 1960s

I never wanted to be a Brownie when I was a child, I didn't really fancy going somewhere else after school that was regimented and I thought would be strict. The one thing I did really envy about Brownies though was their uniforms. They always looked so smart and the badges appealed so much to the collector in me. I found this photo at a car boot sale of three little 1960s Brownies. They look so sweet. 

1960s Brownies

The closest I ever got to a Brownie uniform was dressing my Amanda Jane doll in her little uniform and pretending she was at Brownies.  While I was at a car boot sale last year I bought this Burbank doll in a Brownie Uniform from the 1960s. After all these years I still think the she looks very smart.

Burbank 1960s Brownie Doll

The Joy Of Ladybird Books

One make of books that takes me back to childhood almost more than any other are Ladybird books. I still have so many, some from when I was a child, but many have been given to me over the years by friends whose children have grown up, for my children when they were younger. Even though the stories are very dated now, my children loved them and I had such pleasure reading them again. 

Ladybird Books From The 1960s

One of my favourites was Mick The Disobedient Puppy who was a little poodle puppy always getting in to scrapes. However he managed to save his family from a fire and all was forgiven, he was the hero of the day. I loved this story as we had a little poodle too,

Ladybird Book Mick The Disobedient Puppy

When I was at a jumble sale I discovered another Ladybird book from my childhood. It was in lovely condition and I couldn't resist buying it. It was called Tiptoes The Mischievous Kitten.

Ladybird Book Tiptoes The Mischievous Kitten

Every little picture takes me back. It is a lovely little book telling the story of Mr Moffat who bought a kitten called Tiptoes as a present for his baby. Tiptoes is very naughty and Mrs Moffat is in despair. They discuss getting rid of her and she runs away only to return home a long time later a grown up and sensible cat with kittens of her own. 

I entirely blame Mr Moffat for being so irresponsible to buy a kitten as a present for a baby!
I'm sure everyone has a favourite Ladybird book and this is definitely mine!

Blinky Winky Toy Dolls

In many of my baby photos in 1960 and 1961 a little black doll appears. It must have been quite a precious toy as it is in lots of photos. I have no recollection of it at all so it can't have survived very long but looking back I often wondered what it was. Recently whilst searching through ebay I came across one. It was called a Blinky Winky doll.

Me As A Baby With The Blinky Winky Doll

After a bit of searching I found out it had been the most popular toy to be made in Japan in 1960. Manufactured first as a baby's plaything, this little doll soon became a craze with teenagers and housewives. In thirty years of searching around every type of sale, I have never seen one which makes me think they were not that good quality and haven't survived. However they are not that uncommon or expensive on ebay so they are out there. I'm sure if I ever found one I would not be able to resist buying it.

Simple Board Games For Young Children

A few months ago I went to a scouts jumble sale. I was very pleased to find this little Spears Tell Me game my sister and I used to play as young children. As I picked it up I told the two little boy scouts behind the counter that we had played this for hours and hours when we were young. They looked at this little box incredulously and smiled politely. Of course we didn't have the internet in those days I found myself saying apologetically as I paid my 20p.

1960s Spears Tell Me Game

1960s Spears Tell Me Game

I carried on down the table and picked up an old Dunlop wooden tennis racket in a wooden press. Again I felt very nostalgic as it was exactly the same as the one I had at school. As I put it down on the table, as if I hadn't been made to feel ancient enough, I heard one boy scout say "What is that, some sort of snow shoe?" "Oh no" replied the second scout "It's a tennis racket from the olden days." Oh dear.

Restoring Old Toys

   I'm always looking out for old toys , or just any nice old item, that I can buy cheaply and restore. When I say restore it may not be everyone's idea of restoration as I like old things to look old. Probably fix up is a slightly better way of describing it, I still like the item to look as if it has been played with or used over the years. 

    When I was seven years old I had a toy farm. I remember it very clearly as I loved it so much. It had a base with farm buildings and I collected lots of farm animals with my pocket money. Most of these farm animals were made by the company Britains and it says a lot for the quality of them as not only did they survive me playing with them but my four children as well. Sadly the base of the farm was thrown out years ago but we still have a lot of the farm animals. Just waiting for a farm!

Yesterday at a car boot sale I spotted this farm for sale. It was only £1 which I thought was a brilliant price and perfect for a fixing up project. I think it is older than the 1960s farm I used to have but lovely and very well played with. You can almost see the little children over the years moving the farm animals around in it. I can't wait to start restoring it.

Vintage Toy Farm

On the subject of fixing up I set to last night with the Pelham puppet the Drunken Scotsman who I have found out is called MacBoozle (!) and started unknotting his strings. Forty five minutes of untangling and here he is almost as good as new. I am on the look out for a replacement tam o'shanter for him which he has lost. He has also lost his bottle of drink but maybe that is for the best!

Pelham Puppet MacBoozle

Searching For My Retro Buys

My idea of a good morning out is when we go off searching for my retro bits and pieces. I do buy on ebay but not very often as it is much more expensive than car boot sales. You have to have perseverance at car boot sales but it's such fun standing at the entrance to a large field on a Sunday morning looking at cars in the distance never knowing what you may find. Even if I don't find anything nice, the thrill is in the search for me and I have found some wonderful treasures over the years. 

My big love though is Jumble Sales. It's something about the wait outside and the doors opening and that feeling you have a limited time to find the bargains and in my case constantly trying not to be rude and pushy as it was drummed in to me as a child to always be polite! I've lost count of the amount of times I apologise when people push into me. The thing with Jumble Sales is £5 and you feel like a millionaire, who needs to be a lottery winner!

Local Jumble Sale

  I can pinpoint the moment my love of jumble sales started. I was five years old at school and our teacher told us tomorrow there would be a Bring and Buy Sale that we could attend at the end of the day and we could look round before the parents came to pick us up. I had no idea what a Bring and Buy Sale was but it sounded exciting. The next day my Mum gave me a three penny bit to put in my little school purse and off I went. I can still remember how I felt as I looked around the tables of goods that day. I couldn't believe I could possibly afford any of these beautiful items with just threepence and was too scared to speak. One kindly Mum who was serving asked me if there was anything I liked and I chose a little bead purse. She asked me how much money I had and when I told her threepence she said that was just how much it was. I was overjoyed.

Women At A 1960s Jumble Sale

I can remember clearly skipping all the way home with my Mum regaling the wonders of Bring and Buy Sales to her. When I got home I ran upstairs to examine my wonderful purchase. Inside the purse there was a little zip pocket. I unzipped it and inside was a shiny sixpence. I couldn't believe it a beautiful purse and a profit as well. That was it, I was hooked and still am.  

Strangely for me I haven't kept the little bead purse but I still have the school purse I took the three pence to school in. 

1960s School Purse