frillseekers

Draw for a Dress!

A few months ago we came up with the idea for a Draw for a Dress.  We really wanted to see all our babies on bodies-it is such a great feeling to see a gal enjoying herself in one of our frocks.  So we asked any one who had bought a dress off us to send us their pic and we'd put them in our gallery and enter them into a raffle for a dress of their choice. After a flurry of last minute entries we put all our lovely ladies names into a floppy beret, vintage of course, and picked a winner. And the winner is....drum roll pls.....Lucy Cotter! That's her in the pic, isn't she lovely.  Words can't express how much we loved seeing all the girls, it was  all v v exciting and we can't wait till the next one.

Bring Back the hat!

   

Inspired by Cazza's blurb from 'Young Eve' in our newsletter this week, I've had a dig round for some of my old hats as fun accessories to some spring frills. What fun I used to have with head gear!  As the weather has turned cold again this sure to be the thinking woman's accessory for the next few weeks.  Look out for me with a tea cosy on my head round the Stow. And for those fashion history buff's out there here's link to a great article on hats. Have a nice weekend!            

An ode to us

I came upon a dress one day while walking through the 'Stow,

Her waist was nipped, the cut was clipped,

She'd surely 'stop the show'.

From quite afar this frock had come, in all it's gorgeousness,

From New World chicks, who'd had their kicks

A perfect, pre-loved dress.

All at once, a pair of hands grab'd my frock from off the top

“It's mine!” I shouted, though I was thwarted,

My dress walked out the shop!

So lesson learned, when seeking frills- be there ahead of time!

Or always failing that, you sexy cat,

Make friends with Fran and Caroline

Swing into Spring!

FRAN: In preparation for warmer weather, sunnier skies and parties galore, we are pouring out into the garden at Penny's shop with our Spring collection this month . Our concession there is going from strength to strength. It has been so nice building relationships with the ladies of the 'Stow. I have brought back a bags of cute bags, clothes to suit all tastes from my secret sources on my trip last month. This time while I was buying, I was thinking of many of them personally. I hope  have got some nice things for them to try and buy buy buy. They are really great gals and I get such a kick outta getting them 'frocked'!

Where does the time go?

FRAN:I'm not sure to be honest. I love blogging and then all of a sudden I fell off track Do other bloggers find this happens? I'm thinking of a blog day so atleast I do it once a week. Diaries I had as a girl prove me to be inconsistent as well...must try harder. Saying all that I'm still worried- the Roxster is keeping me very busy these days. She is walking, climbing, shouting ,stomping blabbing and singing her way through each day. I'm so busy chasing and laughing(mostly) right behind her.

That said it is not as though we have been shirking other frillseeking duties. Cazza has just returned froma sucessful buying trip to NYC- so jealous that I had to stay behind this time.  We have also been fine tuning a few website things, and getting ready for our upcoming Christmas sale next week. Three days of clothes ,clothes, clothes! I was worried that we didn't have enough gear- those special sparklers for festive occasions but I needn't have worried- there's some good stuff in there girls! Yay! And we had a cracker of an idea last month- Vintgage gifts! A little collection of a beautiful bag and accessories for the vintage lover in your life. They look gorgeous- I'd love to get one (hint hint Jon).

I have really enjoyed the sales part of the business. Since we hand pick all our items it's really like seeing  one of our babies go to a good home.  A subtle but sexy little muchroom coloured forties number comes to mind- it had the most amazing darted waist-  found it's way to a perfect new home/body. The girl/woman/bombshell, I apologies for not remebering her name right now- but she was a stunning strawberry blond with the perfect alabaster skin for the colour and the dress just came alive on her cute little figure. She looked so pleased- I'm sure she'll be spicing up her xmas party in that little number this season. I wish I had a photo for you!

I'm really looking forward to seeing those gals who keep returning, hoping that we have something special for them to take away again.

Desperately Identifying Frillseekers

Caroline: It's been a long while since either of us blogged, and that's because we've been so busy sorting out stock for our November and December sales as well as setting up the Frillseekers business. In this time we've built a website:  www.frillseekersvintage.com (almost live); we've had our logo designed; we've both gone back to work (boo) and of course we've been extremely busy just 'being mums'. Both our little ones are now walking and it's so much fun to take them out to play in the garden or the park - no more dirty knees - hurrah!

But back to our identity. We knew what we wanted in our heads and tried to do it ourselves, but neither of us are designers and after a few failed attempts on our etch-a-sketches we opted for professional help. After a few initial concepts drawn up by my partner Huw, which we decided weren't quite appropriate for now (I'm being kind here),  we decided to commission the talents of a designer called Kari Brownlie who kindly listened to our jumbled-up brief, un-jumbled it, came up trumps and created the Frillseekers identity. And we love it.

So now the whole concept of Frillseekers is even more 'real' . And evermore addictive.  Buying clothing rails - who would have thought that would create so much debate when we were researching them, leading to heart-stopping excitement when I found two at a car boot sale?!  Clothes hangers - knitted or wooden? These decisions are more important you'll ever know. Even the mundane stuff like pricing and inventorying seems like a massive adventure.  Long may it continue.  And our next sale is on Saturday, so wish us luck!

Sneaky peak!

                                                               

Here's a sneaky peak at the collection of clothes for our sale at Beautiful Interiors in the Village next Saturday.  I hope things sell- I'm interested to see what does. It's a fun collection but there are some wildcards in there! We still have some ironing and things to do but that all part of the fun- isn't it?

So cute,no?

Font-astic!

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FRAN: I'm having so much fun looking at fonts it's ridculous! What's the matter with me? Writing out Frillseekers in many different typeface has become and addiction- how will we ever chose? And then what colour? What size? It's all so bloody exciting!

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This is a pic of Jon's birthday gifts. We had mellow night in- but I must say I think I did well with the gift wrap- all from my scarf collection! My theme this year came out of necessity and Sainsbury's- It's all bevvies and a cofee maker! I just thought what does Jon really enjoy that's consumable, and maybe becasue he is Libra, one side is eerily healthy(Yakult, Green Tea) and the other has got liver failure writtten all over it(Shiraz, Magners, Whisky etc.)The coffee maker has been a joy too- It's making us feel all grown up.

The First Frill Seekers Sale!

Caroline: Frill Seekers launched it's inaugural vintage fashion sale a couple of weeks ago, at Penny Fielding Beautiful Interiors in Walthamstow Village. The day dawned grey and misty but thankfully with no threat of rain. I arrived bright and early with Huw and Edith, weighed down with armfuls of stock which I arranged artfully in Penny's garden by hanging frocks on trees and displaying handbags on the garden furniture. It all looked fantastic, especially when the sun came out - and stayed out. The only downside was that Fran wasn't there (in fact, she was flying home that very weekend) but nevertheless I saw it as a good opportunity to take advantage of this Indian summer we've been enjoying and try and sell some summer frocks while it was still warm rather than pack them away for next year.

Penny warned me that trade may be slow as it was bang in the middle of the month, so although I was confident that the range was good, I wasn't expecting to make much money that day. How wrong I was. Oh, it was so fantastic to hand sell again. Not since I was a fledgling bookseller have I had that buzz. The delight on people's faces when they tried on something they liked the look of which not only fit but looked great too! Our first customer was the lovely Vanessa, a mum in our NCT antenatal group, and who got us off to a flying start by buying three dresses. Thanks Vanessa! As the day progressed, there was a steady stream of custom, and lots of people went away remarking on how reasonably priced we were, what great stock we had, and asked when we would be back!

And we will be back. Penny is keen that we have a regular slot, so, from October 14th we will be selling our lovely wares on the second Saturday of every month. And the good news is that we'll both be there next time. We've selected our stock from the gorgeous booty that Fran has brought from Canada. But the big question is . . . what will we wear? Keep tuning in folks!

Birthdays all round

FRAN:Well it's started-a big big month of special birthdays round these parts. As C and I met through our NCT antenatal class we have a bevy of 9 beautiful babies round Walthamstow that we will be wishing Happy Happy Happy First Birthday ! And when you add in our two favorite Dads, H and J,  that makes for a whole lotta cake!