It's Darling - Vintage & Artisan Fair

Well, I got my sewing machine fixed eventually, although I was very sad to discover that the Sewing Machine Service shop on Walcot Street has closed, and will probably remain so, as the owner is terribly ill.  There goes another specialist.  How many dedicated sewing machine repair shops do you know?  Such a shame.  Luckily the lovely lovely people at Husqvarna were able to fix her up for me - I knew they sold sewing machines, but they are mainly a fabric shop, so I was really pleased to learn that they also do repairs.  It was embarrassingly simple to fix actually: it had just got stuck because there was a little piece of thread caught down where the bobbin lives, and the needle had got bent and jammed itself.  He literally popped one section off with a screwdriver and then cleaned it up for me.  He only charged me a fiver and he gave me some really useful tips, too (did you know you should always have the foot up when you thread the needle?  It releases the tension, apparently).  Hurrah for good service, it really is a dying art.

Since the repair only cost me £5 instead of the £40 it cost me to get it fixed last time (and since I got paid this week) I thought I'd go into town and get myself a little treat.  I had spotted a peacock necklace and a floral headband last time I was in Accessorize, and hadn't been able to stop thinking about them - a sure sign that they ought to be mine!  Actually in real life they both look nicer than they do on the Accessorize website, but I haven't had a chance to take photos yet, and I thought you might be a bit bored of my animal jewellery phase by now anyway.

While I was out and about, I was reminded once again that no matter how wonderful the Internet is,  sometimes you really do have to leave the house to find out about exciting things.  This is partcularly true of Bath - so much cool stuff happens around here, but it all seems to be done on a word-of-mouth basis: unless you know somebody who knows, you'll never find out.  For example, I was gutted when I saw a poster in a pub informing me that Spring Awakening (the best musical I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot) was showing at the Theater Royal, only to discover that it was only on for a week and that night was the last night of the run.  On Saturday, however, I had much better luck, as I happened to spy a poster in a shop window informing me that the "It's Darling! Vintage & Artisan Fair" was taking place in Bath that very day!  A vintage fair in Bath?  I practically skipped to the venue.

It was at the Friend's Meeting House, which was the perfect name and the perfect size for such an event:

As usual, I got distracted gazing up at ceiling roses:

Personally, I would have preferred to see more clothing stalls (I think years of attending the Hammersmith Vintage Fashion Fair in London have spoiled my judgement on these things) but overall it was really lovely, and the stallholders were the epitome of charm and chattiness.  In the second picture you can see Faith Barber, who I got chatting to about knitting while drooling over her peacock feather hair clips.  I have since discovered that she is the wardrobe mistress at Ballet Black - wow!  She was next door to Scrapiana, who sells vintage darning mushrooms!  I should have got one, but I couldn't pick a colour, or decide whether to go for wood or bakelite.  And it turned out that she knows Jess from my knitting group, who turned up at that precise moment, which made me feel like a proper Bath resident, bumping into people I know when I'm out and about (I still feel like the new kid in town, so I cherish these little moments that make me feel at home).

The It's Darling Fair blog has listings for all the stallholders, but I have just a couple more honourable mentions for you:

Elsie Belle had a beautiful stall selling the most exquisite jewellery.  In her own words: "the cutest collection...featuring vintage and inspired charms, trinkets, and treasures."  Lots of flora and fauna, she's like a blogger's dream come true.  I nearly bought myself a pair of swallow earrings, but after my recent jewellery binge I decided to hold back and earmark them as a treat for a later date.

Despite a general lack of clothing stalls (there were only two!) the fates came together as I was perusing through the wares of L+F...

I had a pair of white boots when I was at uni (from Deptford Market, of course) and I wore them to death.  They were plastic, so they weren't easy to look after: once they'd died, they'd died, and there was nothing I could do to save them.  In the seven years since, I have always kept half an eye out for another pair, but white is a difficult colour for footwear, and until this very Saturday, I had never found a suitable replacement.  I saw them peeking out from under the table, and thought "they're awesome" but nearly walked on, as vintage shoes in my size are very rare indeed (I have mentioned this on previous cowboy-boot-buying occasions).  However, I paused, looked closer, and thought "they actually don't look too tiny".  I dared to turn them over, and lo and behold, a size 40!  I may have gasped aloud.  I already had one foot in when I checked myself, remembered that I was at a vintage fair, and thought I'd better check the price tag before I went any further.  Well, bloggers, as you can see for yourselves in the photo above: eight English pounds.  Thank you very much!

So, now that I am one of those people in the know, I will not miss the next It's Darling fair in July.  I plan on getting some girlies together and getting a little dressed up for the occasion.  They had a stall upstairs doing vintage hair and make up, so we can get ourselves all fancy and take ourselves out for a cocktail afterwards, what do you think?