Shopping with the Vintage Traveler

Once again it’s time to go shopping with The Vintage Traveler!  I posted a photo of the window pictured above back in November, but it was so poor that the next time I passed through Hendersonville, NC, I took a new photo from the inside.  Much better!

My big shopping discovery of the past few months was a special event called the Flea for Y’all.  Held in Asheville, the flea runs through the spring and summer with a special event before Christmas.  Their website has not been updated since 2016, but I’m sure they will announce the dates for 2017 soon.

To me, there is not much that is more exciting than a box of vintage patterns labeled $2 each.  I bought several.

This booth had lots of great thing, especially this wool knit cape from the 1960s or 70s.  It I were six feet tall I’d have bought it and worn it forever.

Flipping through the rack I thought I’d found a pair of women’s exercise knickers.  But something about them looked off.  Turns out they were part of an European folk costume.

I love how inventive vendors at flea markets are.  This was a dressing room.

I can honestly say that I’ve never before seen so many frilly, flowery hats in the same place.  Not my thing, but the display gave a nice note of springtime to a wintery event.

This sweet little Airstream showroom is another example of vendor inventiveness.  It also gave me a really bad case of Airstream envy.

I spotted the lovely box, and opened it to find a real surprise.  This was a Colgate gift set from the 1920s (or maybe into the 30s) and the contents were completely intact. I’m thinking it was meant to be a wedding gift, due to the box graphic and the mixed sex use of the contents.

“As seen in Seventeen” deadstock from the mid 1960s, when madras (and imitators) still reigned.

This little pamphlet is from the very early days of ready made clothing, and is from a dry goods establishment.  According to one source,  Callender, McAuslan &  Troup was the leading dry goods emporium in Providence, Rhode Island.  It was established in 1866.

As would be expected, the only clothing items were cloaks, gloves, underwear, and collars.

These last photos are from one of my all-time favorite antique malls, Tudor House in Sevierville, Tennessee..  It has nothing at all to do with the herd of rescue Scottie dogs kept by the owner behind the counter.

I loved this little middy, and if it had been for a teen or an adult, I would have bought it.  Maybe I should have anyway, as it is a great example of an early middy.

This one’s for you, Jacq!  1970s Vanda for Key West Fashions dress.

I just wonder how many different novelty prints were produced during the 1950s.  This is one I’d never seen, with “old time” actors and the plays in which they starred.

Linen and leather never fails to delight, especially in a pair of vintage 1930s shoes.

And finally, another one for the kiddies.

Metrolina Antiques Flea Market, Spring 2014

Last weekend was the first big seasonal market of the season, the Metrolina in Charlotte.  I’ve been attending this show since 2003, and it is a good case in how the selling of collectibles and antiques has changed over the years.   This show has gone from being one that took all day to see everything to one that can be adequately covered in four or five hours.  On the other hand, the items are, for the most part, of a higher quality, with less junk and more real vintage and antiques.

I’ll admit that I miss the old days of prowling through boxes of ratty this-n-that only to pull out a wonderful vintage novelty print textile.  I miss the rows of part-timers selling out of the backs of their trucks.   And I really miss some of the long-time vintage clothing sellers from the Mid-Atlantic who don’t bother to make the trip south any more.

The key to success in this era of reduced opportunities is to get to know the great vendors who are left.  That’s Nanette of Wintergreen Farm hiding behind her display.  She has become a valuable source for me.  She knows what I like and in her own buying trips is always looking for sportswear for me.

This time she had some of the niftiest 1940s hats, which of course you can’t really see in my photo.

Another advantage of a smaller show is that you have more time to really stop and examine the merchandise and talk with the sellers.   It seems like I always spot things I’ve never before seen, like these cute Little Dressmaker kits from the late 1950s.  The seller had a whole stack of them.

I’m not sure what one would do with these spools of Lurex, the metallic yarn that never tarnishes.

I had seen this print before, but I always enjoy it.  Dated 1898.

I loved these women skiers postcards, but they were priced a little out of my range.

I’d love to say that there was several yards of this wonderful nautical print, but it was merely a square on a quilt.

I love old pennants.  This one was $300.  I didn’t buy it.

Another plus to attending a smaller show is that there is time to stop at antique malls on the way home.  One of the newer malls in the area is the Catawba River Antiques Mall, which was recommended by Marge Crunkleton.  As you can see, the place is huge,  It is housed in an old textile mill, the Majestic Mill in Belmont, North Carolina.  Opened in 1910, the Majestic Mill was a cotton spinning facility which made fine yarns for stockings and other fine uses.  Imagine, if you can, the 10,944 spindles that operated in this mill.

Though not fully occupied, this mall shows real promise.  I found lots of things there that were interesting.

One dealer had quite a few of these WPA costume prints.  They were part of the Museum Extension Project, in which workers assisted museums with various tasks.  These were educational prints intended for museum programs.

Marge has a wall of her lovely heads, as well as her small sculptures and dolls.

This was a funny little find.  It is a comic book that demonstrates basic sewing techniques. Note the name of the author.

I suppose this is a clothespin bag, as the seller had on the tag, but it’s a funny print for a homemaker to have chosen.

There was a nice selection of feedsack fabrics.

This hangtag was on a pair of mid 1960s Quarter Deck Pants from White Stag.

This fabric was actually part of an apron.  I’m not a cat fan, but boy, did I ever love the print!

 

 

 

Vintage Charlotte Holiday Pop-up Market

I first went to the Vintage Charlotte Market in June, and I liked it enough that I made the trip for their holiday show.  I was not disappointed.  The show is not just for vintage clothing, but rather, is a mix of all kinds of old stuff.  The vendors were well stocked and prepared for the 10 am opening.  By 11 the place was packed.

Many of the vendors did have clothing, and so there was quite a bit to look through.  I bought a pair of 1960s bowling shoes from the owner of this booth.

With Christmas and the Holidays coming up, there were boxes of vintage decorations.  I can remember when these could be found for a dime each at the thrift stores.  That was before Martha Stewart showed the world how to make a wreath from them.

The fishy bag was unsigned, and was a craft project, maybe.

This basket bag was not a craft project, as it still had a JC Penney tag attached.  I can remember when these were popular in the late 1960s.  I made one from a fruit basket and some red, white, and blue canvas.

The dress does not look like much in my terrible photo, but it was very nice.  It is net with appliques and an attached under dress.

And here is a close-up of the sleeve.

I had these shoes in the 1980s, and if these had been my size I would have bought them.  Made by Hush Puppies, they were the most comfortable shoes ever.  It is a bit of a bummer seeing the very same stuff you wore not too many years ago being sold as vintage, though.

From 1968, this “Misses Gay Nineties Costume” might be something to carry in the back of my mind just in case a weird “old” bathing costume comes my way!

The market was held at the Fillmore Charlotte, which is a music hall located in an old industrial building.  The only real problem with the set-up is the terrible lighting.  The room is dark, as you can see, and all the lights are extremely bright.  The lucky sellers were located near a window because they could get a little natural light.

So pretty… so distracting…

Finally, the mustache craze makes sense to me.  Isn’t this the best food truck?

At the last minute I decided to drive a few miles to Concord, NC, to two malls I’d heard of but never visited.  First up was The Depot at Gibson Mill.  Housed in an old cotton mill, the building itself was very interesting.  Best of all it is huge.  I could have spent the entire day there, and by the time I’d seen it all, I was pretty much out of energy.  I did manage a quick walk-through at the White Owl Antique Mall, which was also nice.

Concord is in the middle of cotton country, and today there are dozens of the old factories standing empty.  It was great seeing the Gibson Mill being used not only as an antique mall, but also housing offices and other businesses.  The community around the old mill consists of mill houses, many of which look to have been restored and nicely maintained.

My eight-year-old self wanted this badly.

I’m always happy to see Vera Neumann designs.  This is a tablecloth.

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I’m looking at this Yuengling calendar, wondering why I did not buy it.  Why?

What is it about old letter sweaters?  I love them so much.

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This beautiful old tennis graphic was glued inside an old box, which I assume held lawn tennis equipment at one time.  Still, the box was a real find and it was in nice condition except for the crack.  It also was not for sale.

More tennis, a few decades later.  This is a poster ad for tennis shoes.

All in all it was a great day.  I’ll share what I bought in another post.

Shopping on the Road

One of the joys of a road trip is the knowledge that just ahead is another antique mall.  I’m not the type who can spend lots of uninterrupted hours in a car, so I plan shopping stops along the way.  It usually works out to a thirty minute stop every hour or two, which is just right.

That plan went awry when I encountered the mega-mall above.  Can you tell from my photo that this place had twenty-two aisles?  After two hours in the place, I realized that I had to just skim the unbrowsed remainder, which was about one third of the building.   And because  of it I had to skip the next few stops.  Yes, the life of a vintage shopper is full of drama.

And now for what I liked, but did not buy:

This was just an ordinary novelty print blouse, cute, but take a look at the label.

A Jack Daniels Famous Original.  I’m quite sure it has nothing to do with the whiskey.

This was really cute, but made from the cheapest materials, like they would do for teen consumers.  Kate Spade ought to re-do this one in nicer materials.

This is from a straight skirt, embroidered with raffia.  I’ve seen circle shirts with this type embroidery, but never a straight one.

One seller had a stack of deadstock acrylic Boy Scout sweaters, probably from the 1970s.  If they had been wool I’d have bought one for myself.

I hate seeing military medals for sale all jumbled up this way, especially a Purple Heart.  It just seems to be so disrespectful.

One place had the absolute best idea for displaying paper items.  It was so much easier than flipping though a stack of stuff.

And there were lots of pretty things to see.

Do any of you remember these little snap button hair rollers?  My Great Aunt Mary used them.  Don’t believe that part about “pretty in the hair.”

This is “The College Girl at Basket-ball” a print Harrison Fisher did for the Ladies Home Journal around 1908.  Note how he made the bloomers look like a skirt.

And finally, women, this herb tonic was good for what was troubling you.  Note that the alcohol was purely for solvent and preservative purposes.

 

Making Lemonade

I’d planned not to tell this one, as it makes me sound like I’m really losing it, but since it turned out better than expected, I thought, what the heck.  I bet at least a few of you will be able to relate.

I had big plans for Friday.  It was, as far as I’m concerned, the day that signals the beginning of Flea Market Season – the twice yearly Big Antique Spectacular at the Metrolina in Charlotte.

The only problem was, that the Spectacular is this up-coming week, not this weekend.  I tend to always double-check dates before setting out on a two and a half hour drive, but our internet was down Thursday night and Friday morning, so I just dismissed the thought and hopped in the car anyway.  I was literally at the gate before I realized that I had the wrong date.  I had assumed that because today is the first of the month, that this would count as the first weekend.  Wrong.

I was so irritated with myself that I sat there for a minute, and then called my support system (also known as Tim).  He let me whine a little and then reminded me that at least I had the time and money and health to be able to make the trip and instead of lamenting the day, I should make the best of it.  This was seriously NOT what I wanted to hear.

So I turned the car and headed toward home.  About 20 miles in I happened to think of a store I’d planned to visit after the flea market, and so I though since I was getting off the highway anyway, I ought to revisit an antique mall I knew of in the little town of Belmont.  It was a store I’d not been in for about two years.  It was one of those places that couldn’t quite decide if it wanted to be a home decorating store, or an antiques store, and so was not really a favorite.

But I did stop, and I was very pleasantly surprised.  Not only was there less new stuff than I remembered, there were several booths that were made up of the types of things I like best.  You know, shoes and clothes and hats and such…

The rack in the above photo was full of boys’ shoes from the 1920s through the 50s.  I mean, it was brogan heaven!  At first I thought the shoes were mens’, but then I realized that the sizes were smaller – sizes that would fit many women.  I ended up buying only one pair, white bucks that will go great with a borrowed from brother type outfit from the 1920s, but I’ll probably revisit them and see if the shoes are comfortable enough to actually wear.

Some of the shoes were Sky Riders.

This photo of the entire booth is quite busy, but you might be able to pick out all the 1930s womens shoes.  They, like the boy’s shoes, were all deadstock, and in wonderful condition.

Instant picnic – just add food and lemonade!

Here’s my terrible photo of the cutest dress:  Swirl with a hunt scene faux apron.

I carried this around and for some reason did not buy it.  It was probably that pesky voice that reminded me that I already have 5 plaid jackets.  Still, this one IS Black Watch, and IS Pendleton…

One booth had loads of these adorable button cards.

These was no label that I could find on this wool blanket, but I loved it so much.  I mean, it would match almost any decor!

And finally, the interior of a hatbox, and yes, I did buy it. I’ve gotten to be very careful with my purchases, but I’m not crazy!

So where is this little vintage paradise?  It’s Piccolo Antique Mall in downtown Belmont, NC.