Selvedge Winter Fair 2014

The Christmas shopping has started! Over the years, I’ve found the Selvedge Winter Fair at the Chelsea Old Town Hall is the perfect place for finding all sorts of unique gifts and unusual stocking fillers all available under one roof.

This year the Fair was a month earlier than last year and the weather was on our side. The Kings Road was bathed in sunshine. It was wonderful to be sitting outside, having coffee and cake and watching the world go by.

The Fair was buzzing with creativity; lots of colourful textiles, vintage and handmade pieces.
So much to see! This year I combined the trip with a day out in London with my husband. I wasn’t sure how it would work out (you know, finding out how much I spend!) but he positively encouraged me to buy all the goodies I liked. He knows how much I adore displaying handmade goodies in my sewing room.

Here are some photos from the day from the sunny rooms of the Chelsea Old Town Hall.

 

The lovely Viv from Hens Teeth
Grace from A Threadbear Productions with her menagerie of friends
The Chelsea Old Town Hall has such beautiful interiors
Walking back to the tube in the afternoon sunshine of a crisp Autumn day.
The end to a perfect day in London.

MODA – Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture

Over the summer The Museum of Domestic Art and Arcitecture (MODA) in London, offered a rare opportunity for the public to view their exclusive collections… which include the work of the design house Silver Studios (1880-1963), Crown wallpapers’ archive, vintage textiles and selections of vintage magazines and journals. The MODA collection includes lots of other goodies, but I was particularly taken with the vintage hand cut, Japanese Katagami mulberry paper stencils used in making indigo dyed fabric for kimonos.

Here is a flavour of the day.

Large tables for viewing the collections
MODA Archive
MODA Archive
MODA Archive
Hand cut, Japanese Katagami mulberry paper stencils

 

 

They are so fine

 

 

 

Here are a few pages from the wonderfully colourful vintage magazines in the collection

 

 

Had to share this!

A Day in London at Tate Britain – The long awaited Folk Art Exhibition

I had been waiting for this exhibition for over a year – and I wasn’t disappointed. British Folk Art Exhibition celebrated work covering every medium from textiles, metal, leather, paint to carved wood – some were 18th Century shop signs…. I was in heaven.

Bootmakers sign
Bottle full of lace bobbins
Cockerel made from Bone by French Napoleonic Prisoners of War
Signage painted onto planks of wood
Boody Mosaic from Northumberland
Quilts made from Army uniforms and cottons

The exhibition has now moved to Compton Verney where one of the largest collections of British Folk Art is held.

…Then it was off to the Tate Cafe for a well deserved coffee and cake (my brain was buzzing) – Oh, the Lemon and Clementine Tarte was tasty…. then home.

 

The Spiral staircase near the Cafe
Pimlico Underground Station on the way home