Flowers, Frocks and Hats.

My Mums house is a joy to visit anytime.....every nook and cranny is filled with interesting, colourful, collectible and handmade items. l just can't help doing the old head swivel in every direction each time l visit...but last week l hit the jackpot as she'd decided in the interest of helping me stock my stall we should go through the massive cane basket that's sat on top of a cupboard for more than 30 years....she's added to this collection if anything "special" caught her eye. 

 Mum and l both have a big love of vintage clothing which is what the basket mostly contained.

l tried to stay classy as we inspected all the bags, but it was HARD l tell ya....haha..

One of the real treasures we found is the dress l've shown above....the tag reveals it as a designer piece made in Melbourne... probably as a wedding dress in the 60's.

We also found old shawls, boho peasant skirts and dresses, beaded cardi's, evening gowns my Mum used to wear dancing and cutwork lace bali dresses almost everyone wore back in the late 70's.

Not everything was saleable or reusable but hopefully the opshop will be glad of the sudden boost to their racks and Mum says she's glad to have the whole lot gone, as she was over it all sitting there for so long..... now that's what l call a win win for everyone.

    As anyone who has a permanent collectible stall, or does markets regularly knows.... it's a real effort to maintain quality items and knowing what to invest in isn't always easy....then pricing those items for resale is also a tricksy business.... if you sell your stuff (too?) cheap it'll be picked by all the other "dealers" around you and they'll take those items and put them on their stall for 3 or 4 times the price and let's face it, they're well within their rights to use their knowledge and experience to their advantage. l'm just starting to realise how little l know....l'm hoping l can learn fast enough to make it this game.

 



 

A little head piece l created by starching some hat base fabric which was dried to shape. The hydrangea flowers were made by handpainting and starching a lightweight fabric. After it was dry l cut out hydrangea flower shapes and pierced them in the centre to allow for a stamen, the flowers were then randomly glued onto the base. l didn't make enough hydrangeas to fully cover the piece so l glued on dark pink daisy flowers to fill in the spaces.

It was Mothers' day here on Sunday but since Mum had chemotherapy the week before she wasn't up to celebrating on the day, (though thankfully she's doing very well overall), so Tuesday, which was also my Birthday, us girls were all able to finally get together and enjoy a meal out, pressies were exchanged and spirits were high....we're all just happy and grateful to still be here...with and for each other:-)

l found some pretty paper and guillotined a slice to wrap around this candle..

 

 

 

Beautiful..........marymcshane. via pinterest.

 

Thanks so much for reading and for popping in here. Enjoy your week.

 

 

Til next time,

 

Bron.