Tag Archives: Thrift

Roo’s Favourite Finds: Finding Clothing Bargains in Charity Shops/Thrift Stores

December 12, 2011 in Guest Posts | Written by Kat

This month, resident charity shopping guru/icon Roo is talking all about finding clothing gems in charity, thrift and vintage stores. Enjoy darlings!

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The last time we spoke, I was floating on the high of a relatively warm autumn down here in Brighton (I’m not kidding; I went swimming in the sea at the end of October). I’m sad to report that the temperature tables have now rightfully turned, and as a result I’ve been honing my beady eye in on stocking up my winter wardrobe to accommodate for these chillier months.

Now, apart from being a little bit skint a lot of the time, it’s also worth considering that I have a Mother who is a dab hand with a needle and thread. This has meant that I’ve grown up understanding the value of clothes – I won’t breach onto designer territory just now, because that’s a whole different kettle of fish – but I will say that nine times out of ten I’ll step into a popular high street store and be blown away by the lack of quality for the relatively extortionate price tag. On more than one occasion I have been the victim of inexplicably frayed edges, missing buttons, and ripped seams, and altogether I find it quite disheartening. That said, I do like to buy my key pieces – jeans, plain t-shirts, jumpers, etc – from high street stores, because we can all wear these things differently. If I am ever conscious of looking like a clone, I would much rather go for second-hand.

‘Second-hand’ can cover two areas; charity/thrift shops, or ‘vintage’ shops. I am also acutely aware of value for money when it comes to these two areas of retail, obviously through being a bit of a thrifting fiend, and having a sister who owned her own vintage clothing business. I’ve seen more warehouses than I can count; inspected wholesale bundles a-plenty and generally sifted through the crap, and I’m always on to a rip-off. This time around, I’m going to share with you my best new purchases of the recent month, and as ever compile a list of do’s, don’ts, how to’s and why’s, so that you might find your own good quality bargains. We’re going to focus primarily on charity shops, of course, but I’ll also be indicating where tips can seep into the vintage business too, since I feel the line between the two business sectors are blurring.

Finding what you’re looking for

As per your household/decorative items, it’s advisable to work out what you want before you leave the house. Are you going somewhere? Is it a formal do? Fancy dress? Do you need to be weather-conscious (i.e. cardigans vs sun dresses?) It’s worth being aware that charity shops (and vintage shops) set themselves out differently, so knowing what you have in mind is paramount. I’ve never worked out what my merchandising preference is, so I’ll roll with my gut and say that it’s dependant on what I’m looking for. If I know I want a new dress but I don’t mind what colour it is, then I’ll prefer shops that set themselves out by category; dresses, coats, jackets, jeans & trousers, shorts & skirts, and so on. That means that I can look through all the dresses they have at once, and compare my options easily.

Roo’s Favourite Finds: Terrariums

November 12, 2011 in Guest Posts | Written by Kat

Roo is pretty awesome you know. So she called me last week with an idea for a blog post which I loved so much I asked if she’d like to make it a monthly addition to the blog. Which I’m pleased to report she did.

As a bit of a charity shop/thrifting fiend, Roo’s idea was to share some of her favourite charity shop finds as well as showing you how she is using said finds in her wedding. These posts are going to be the perfect antidote to a wedding industry that tries to convince you that you have to spend a bomb to have a beautiful wedding. All you really need is a little imagination and not a lot of cash. Hurrah!

I just know you guys are gonna love this…

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When I say I love charity shops, it is purely with conviction and entirely without shame. I don’t know when it started, but I do know that having a very vintage-savvy mother helped in launching the love affair. My first charity shop-owned item was bought for me by her; a pair of calf-high, low-heeled tan boots costing just £3, from a very unknown shop in our suburb that supported the local Christian community. I wore those boots with everything, all the time; eventually, I wore those boots until they literally caved in on themselves. I don’t think I could say that those boots got me addicted, but seeing my mum come home with vintage suitcases full of antique lace and fabric samples certainly stirred my interest. I’m twenty-four now, and the stirring continues – dizzying, you might think, maybe even nauseous, but I’ve never stopped loving or being excited by it. I’m so pleased to share my best finds of these upcoming, pre-wedding months with you – not to mention a few “how-to” guides on finding your own dream buys. But first, a little prequel…

When I was twenty years old, going on twenty-one, I lived in Exeter for a brief period and fell in love with an antique shop called Otto Retro. I spent hours haggling with the owner (or, more accurately, she spent hours haggling with me – she would never let me pay full price for anything) and I ended up furnishing half my bedroom with some truly amazing pieces – take, for example, this desk and chair set – complete with globe, Anglepoise lamp, bird cage (plus mechanical birds) – all for £120.

With each visit, my interest in antiquing was sent skyrocketing, but after I peaked, I started to feel like I wasn’t getting enough out of it. Antique shops as a rule are independent stores, and I will never stop supporting independent stores and their respective owners, but I started to draw the conclusion that I would be far more satisfied supporting a larger/wider demographic – i.e. the target groups of charitable foundations. I am totally supportive of independent sellers and would choose them over the high street 80% of the time, but I can’t shirk the pure and simple fact that for me, nothing beats the feel-good ethic of charity-shop-shopping (charity shopping? I’ve never worked out the right phrase).

I was once described by a friend as “bargain-bin chic”, mostly because every time someone complimented me on my new jumper/shoes/handbag I’d say “oh, this old thing? It’s only from Scope”. Only? Only!? The charity shop veteran that I am today is disgusted by my conduct, because as you will learn (if you don’t know already) it is highly rude to be so dismissive of a good piece of tat.

I’ve always been overly fond of homeware – china, blankets, lamps, houseplants, and so on, etc, etc, and recently my thrifting focus has shifted from threads to trinkets. I do still look for clothes, but since we started planning our wedding I’ve become horrendously obsessed with picking up bits and bobs that we can use as table decorations. One of my very most favourite weddings featured here ever is Alix & Shawn’s Natural History Museum Wedding; for so many reasons, but the most relevant to our topic right now were their terrarium table decorations.

Photography credit: Liesl from Photo Pink NYC

Debs & Richie’s Budget Friendly, Crafty & Vintage Wedding

January 6, 2011 in British Brides, Wedding | Written by Kat

When photographer Emma Case emails me with “eeek’s!” and “wooohoo’s!” when talking about her latest wedding I stand by and prepare myself for greatness. I am SO EXCITED to share Debs & Richie’s wedding on my blog as not only did I blog their fabulous engagement session just before Christmas, but they used Rock n Roll Bride as inspiration for their awesome vintage wedding.

“When Richie & I got engaged we did not have a clue what we wanted our wedding to be like, all we knew was that we wanted it quite small, with only close family and friends, good food, good music, and wanted it to reflect on us as a couple as much as possible. Our budget was small and we began to panic! How are we going to manage to create a wedding on such a small budget, that’s when I turned to the Internet and found a number of wedding blogs (Rock n Roll Bride was one of the first) that gave me loads of inspiration on how different weddings can be, and how much of your own personality you can add to your special day! I became obsessed with the blogging world, I had bookmarked hundreds of images made folders upon folders and my inspiration began to expand.”

The couple’s budget was small but they totally rocked it! By being creative, by DIYing everything, thrifting and visiting charity shops, they were able to craft the vintage wedding of their dreams!”Having a small budget I knew that alot of the work would have to be done by myself and with a little help from friends and family,” continued the bride. “So I began my journey of crafting everyday, I would craft on the underground, in work on lunch breaks, as soon as I came home from work, my weekends off, visits to friends and family, my whole world became the wedding. Being in a creative job there are loads of talented people, and I had people in my work making my wedding cake, the invites and arranging my wedding bouquet. I also used my work colleagues contacts to get the flowers cheaply at the market for then me and my sister to arrange them late into the night before the wedding.”

“We wanted our day to be as relaxed as possible (this isn’t always easy and does not happen when you have a small adorable son though!!)” she continued. “We wanted the decorations and small touches to reflect our love for vintage, we love vintage clothes, vintage furniture, vintage accessories. I love the beauty and history behind old items, I love that they have a story behind them. That someone has loved these objects and that they are getting passed along to make new memories, in this case our memories for our wedding day.”

“For my degree show I studied photography for my last part of my final and photographed tea cups, I had a small collection started and I love the beauty of the china tea cup and how they were all different! So I was on a mission to collect as many as I could, as these would be my favours by melting wax into them and making them into sweet candles for guests to take away. Everything was hand crafted by myself from the favours, to the felt love heart badges guest wore, to the pom poms and flower garlands that hung in the hall.”

Debs loved collecting all the little bits and pieces in the run up to their wedding. Her vision was an eclectic mis-matched one, with the reception tables full of items they had collected themselves.

Debs wore a vintage dress which she found in a charity shop for just £15! She even got to meet the original owner of the gown and she her wedding photographs! What a magical moment that must have been!

She explained, “Having 6 months left before the big day I had still no clue what I wanted my dress to be like, all I knew was that I wanted it to be different and my favourite word again Vintage!!! Someone had told me about a small charity shop in Govan (Glasgow), which is not renowned for being lets say…. stylish, but I knew with an older generation, there would be a few treasures in the shop. The shop was called Magpie’s Nest which was a prefect name for me! I was amazed by the selection and quickly filled my bags with teacups, I got talking to the lady behind the counter and asked if she specialises in wedding dresses or knew any places as there were a few wedding dresses hanging up! We got talking and she went into the back and came out shortly holding a beautiful dress, I knew that this was the one that I was getting married in! It was tiny and asked to try it on, in a small bathroom I squeezed it on and to my disappointment I could not get the back up, but I knew that I wanted it and thought there must be a way to get this dress to fit. It was elegant, long shelves for the winter and was simple so I could accessorise. My beautiful dress came to the grand total of £15 and as she packed it away in a Farmfoods bag, I skipped down the road with the biggest smile on my face, greeted by Richie saying what’s in the Farmfoods bag? and I said “my wedding dress!!!”

“I really would like to give a big thanks to Sarah from Magpie’s Nest in Glasgow without her help, I would not have been able to get as much as what I got for the wedding. I went nearly every week to her shop and there were times when I got to go into the back of the Charity shop to the ‘unseen’ and rummage until my heart was content. Sarah does a brilliant job for her charity and believes in pricing the goods that come into the shop fairly (not west-end prices), so locals can afford to buy and therefore helping to regenerate the local community. She also knew the woman who handed in the wedding dress and arranged for me to meet up with her. She told me the story behind the dress, that she bought the dress in Watt Brothers in town for 9 Shillings!”

The dress was altered by Dragonfly Dress Design. She added a petticoat (for showing off the Vivienne Westwood shoes of course!) “She specialises in vintage dresses,” Debs told me, “and through her whole time in the dress business has only ever once came across a dress like mine! It is a very rare dress from the late 1940′s but with a 1950′s style, as it was very simple and classic. I also came across dragonfly through Rock n Roll Bride, again a big thank you for helping me source what is so close to home that I would never have known about.”

The ceremony took place at Park Circus in the West End of Glasgow, with the reception being held at Cail Bruich Restaurant in Bridge of Weir. The restaurant not only had a gorgeous scenic view, but vintage and retro touches throughout which perfectly matched their theme.

Finally, Debs & Richie found the fabulous Emma Case through her first ever feature on Rock n Roll Bride. Long time readers of the blog will remember this gorgeous ‘Second Time Lucky’ wedding that I posted back in October 2009 – the first time I was introduced to her work. Who could have known back then that we would become such good friends!? Aww I love blogland!

“I saw this wedding on Rock n Roll Bride whilst researching the wedding and I bookmarked it. I thought that’s the style I want my wedding photographer to have relaxed, capturing a beautiful moment and everyone looking so happy and comfortable. I bookmarked the photograph that I loved and was in awe with it, but thought nothing of it! (the one with the bride running) I went into work and my friend knew I was looking for an alternative photographer and gave me the name Emma Case to check out. I went home and I was amazed that the photograph which I loved, was taken by the talented Emma Case, I knew I had to have her and contacted her straight away. Emma got back and said that the date we were originally planned getting married on, was booked! Arrragh, so without speaking to Richie I took a risk and I asked what dates were available, and the 4th of December was what Emma came back with…That was the date I was going for, so I could get my prefect photographer, and can I just say she is prefect. Richie and myself are in love with Emma and Pete, they made us feel so comfortable and relaxed…Our budget was so small, but the one thing we were willing to spend the most money on, was a photographer. It’s so important to have magical photographs that capture your special day, and capture all your hard work. I cannot say enough nice things about Emma and her talent and how much more special she has made our wedding day and memories.”

Serious love for Debs & Richie over here!

A Kitschy, Quirky, Vintage Wedding

September 15, 2010 in British Brides, Wedding | Written by Kat

Warning: this post has a hell load of photographs and I ain’t going to apologise for that. I literally couldn’t cut them down! I am so excited about Lindsey & Adriano’s wedding I can hardly contain myself. The gorgeous bride and her musician husband had a beautiful and quirky vintage-themed wedding at Farbridge, West Sussex.

“Our inspiration was easy we just collected things we love and are interested in,” the bride told me. ”I love all things vintage because I love that it has history and seems to have so much more personality than many modern things. I find that vintage things were made to last and made with care and skill unlike most things today are made to be disposable and are not designed to last. I wanted our day also to have lots of elements of fun so I came up with the idea of an ice cream sundae bar so guests could be kids again, make a mess and choose whatever topping they wanted! We also bought a kiss-o-meter for a bit of fun, it was from an American site and was from the 60′s. In the reception barn at Farbridge they also had a projector. One of my favourite films is Cinema Paradiso, there is a scene at the end of the film which is called the kissing scene which features lots of kisses from famous old black and white films. We played this scene on repeat on the the projector to add another dimension to the room. We had a wedding cocktail which we served in jam jars and bought some quirky straws too.All these things were good talking points for the guests and added elements of fun and interaction.”

Lindsey wore a vintage dress that she found online at The Vintage Bride. The American site was the first place the bride visited when deciding on what she wanted to do for the wedding and after seeing the beautiful, one of a kind gowns she was sold on the theme. “Finding a dress was one of the first steps I took in beginning to organise our wedding. I first looked on the web and found this site, fell in love with the dress and bought it. A bit risky but the lady who runs the site, Rosie, says that if your dress is not right she will give a full refund which is quite unusual for an online site. So I took the risk. It arrived in a beautiful box tied with a big pink ribbon and it was quite magical moment to open up revealing my dress for the first time, perfectly wrapped including a lovely lavender scented parcel. It was love at first sight.”

A Focus on Flowers – A Handmade Californian Wedding

August 19, 2010 in Wedding | Written by Kat

You love the diy weddings don’t you? Yeah me too so here’s another gem for you. John & Rose did everything themselves. They also looked for ideas on how to save money on pretty much everything. Rose wore a gorgeous second hand Nicole Miller called the Vintage Daisy Dress which she found online as well as hand making all the flower arrangements and her bouquet (the bridesmaids also made their own bouquets.) Rose’s parents made the cake and her brother made the stand, they had friends who made the desserts. Rose kept her look unfussy with sandals from Steve Madden and a necklace that had belonged to her Mum and a bracelet (made by John) that she already owned and a flower halo which she made herself from flowers from her parents’ back garden.

“Years ago I ripped a picture out of a J Crew catalogue, (before John and I met even…)” Rose told me, ”of a wedding dress that was very very similar to the one I wore. When John proposed I thought of the dress and found it was still available from J Crew, however it was $3000, much more than I was interested in spending. So, I searched and searched for something similar in all the stores around from Salinas to Santa Barbara, to no avail. Eventually I started searching the internet, and found the Nicole Miller vintage daisy dress (the one I wore) but it had been discontinued, and I could only find used options, that weren’t too affordable. One day I came home from work early with a headache, and was looking around on ebay, and found the dress I wore, a brand new dress almost identical to the one in J Crew, for $350 instead of its original price of $1400! Wow! The minor problem was it was a size 16… but I bought it anyway, it came with tags attached in mint condition. I took it to the Fitting Image seamstress in San Luis Obispo, and she basically made me a new dress. I was stoked!!!”

A Vintage, Diy, Bowling Alley Beaut.

August 6, 2010 in Wedding | Written by Kat

I found Aurora & Ben’s wedding when a blog reader sent me the link to the couple’s blog. I was in instant love and sent them an email right away demanding to know more details! I am muchly exited to share those details with you all. I’ve been reading all your comments that are coming through on the readers survey and judging by your responses methinks you will like this wedding a lot – diy budget and locally-sourced loveliness!

The couple, who paid for the entire wedding themselves were determined to create a wedding that was not only undeniable ‘them’ but didn’t cost them the earth – therefore diy a-plenty was the name of the game! Everything from the bride and bridesmaid’s accessories to the cake and the flowers were all locally sourced ‘bits’ that the wedding party put together themselves. “We were paying for this wedding ourselves, so DIY was our general M.O” the couple told me. ”We are very lucky to have talented, helpful friends and family and put their skills to the test! We had people assigned to random tasks in order to pull the day off: my friend from art school and her man executed a paper-plane lined path to the ceremony site; our mutual friend/ My Shero performed the ceremony, our groomsmen set out chairs and later gathered them up, one of our bridesmaids did double duty as our photographer. We even had friends in attendance who helped out without our prompting. Our friend Courtney brought her own pages from an atlas and had guests who got their early enough to help fold tiny paper airplanes, which were left on everyone’s chair before the ceremony. As we recessed down the aisle at the end of the ceremony, we were surprised by everyone throwing tiny paper airplanes at us.”

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