Flea Market Finds Pt. 1

Hey everyone! It's been a while! We've been busy and I think both Sarah and I were completely unplugged this weekend. It was nice but I definitely am looking forward to getting caught up with everyone's posts!

Anyway, as I alluded to in this post, Sarah and I headed to a flea market a couple weekends ago so we were able to cross that off our to-do list. We found so many great things that I think we may become regulars! So in this post we're going to share Sarah's finds. Come back tomorrow to see what I came home with!

First up, we have this little chair that we walked away with for a few dollars. It's solid wood and in good shape. It's already begun it's transformation and we'll be sharing that later this week.

Sarah found these old cans for cheap and loved the colors and old typography.

As you can tell Sarah loves old posters and advertising and bought this old theater poster/hand out thing for a few bucks.

A Picasso print for $5.

An old purse for $2. It's marked Fendi. We have no idea if it's real, but it's pretty neat either way. I scored some great stuff from the same lady that I know you'll all be jealous over :)

Lastly, Sarah's been wanting an old glove form so we stopped by the local antique shop that we knew had some so she could pick one up.

I hope you enjoyed our first round of flea market finds! Make sure to stop back tomorrow to see everything else we got :)

Sincerely,

Ashleigh & Sarah

PS:

Brooklyn Flea

Remember the lace I found a couple weeks ago? It was from an insanely incredible place called the Brooklyn Flea Market. When it gets warmer out there are even more locations, but this one was enough even for me! The building itself is incredible. ...take a look!

Amazing? Yes it is.

People have obsessive Coke collection addictions.

Lots of the places at the Brooklyn Flea don't have normal flea market prices. (but it's NY..everything seems to be more expensive everyone says) Even some fashion designers bring their pieces here to sell that are absolutely gorgeous! But then again there are also places in here that will sell old boots for ten dollars. You just have to be on the look out!

I want to build a fort in the middle of all of these.

That painting is an inspiration for pieces in the making. (my lace to the left!)

These adorable flags are popping up in every small boutique and cupcake shop it seems!

A sight for sore eyes.

Tin letters! These would be so easy to make!

Reminds me of an artist I saw at The Armory Show last weekend...check out her work!

Easy and inspirational for pieces to create this summer for Ashleigh and I :)

Until next time...

Thanks for walking through with me! What you see above is only half of it. There is a second floor (where I stood to take this photo) and also a basement!

What a beautiful way to spend a Friday afternoon :)

Sincerely,

Sarah

giving a second life to lace

So it all started, when I visited a friend and saw this beautiful necklace made out of lace. It was in a gallery in Holland, MI and rightfully so. It was a beautiful work of art. Ever since, different ideas have been percolating on how to give lace a new life in other ways.

It's such a delicate material to work with. There are so many different patterns making each one you come across so unique. When I have a house of my own I want to display them more like my grandmother does.

This past Sunday, my ideas actually were brought to be by a vendor at a flea market in Brooklyn. It was a sweet old lady and her husband. I'm sure she had been a costume designer in the past. I like knowing where items like this are from. Each thing we buy has such a history when it's not bought in stores, but in places like this. Anyway, I will later post about this beautiful place, but for now this is what I saw. 3 dollars a yard. Eh maybe a bit pricey if you have a lot of sewing to do. But for me, perfect.

I bought three different patterns...and more soon I'm sure

The only supplies I need are a tiny travel sewing kit, (I'm going to have to upgrade soon. I left so much back at home!) the lace, scissors, & unwanted sports headbands (I seem to have so many just laying around) or any other ones you would like to use.

I chose a simple pattern.

A more ornate...

And a large banned lace.

For the first headband, I just measured the desired amount on my own head and then cut and sewed it together. You can choose colors that might blend in to the lace or I chose a quiet blue color to accent. Most of them it won't be seen if you just wear the overlapping part in the back. But it's up to you! (Normally it would depend on how much sewing practice you have!)

For the second, I separated the pattern thus creating a new image.

As you can see, the sewing doesn't have to be perfect!

For the third, I wanted to use the lace as is because it is so beautiful, but I wanted to add color as well as a little more support, so I found a thinner sports headband that fit perfectly in the space as seen above and just sewed about every couple inches down the line with a matching red thread. Too much color and variety would fight against the simplicity of the design. (You could also try super glue, but it would be more noticeable and wouldn't last as long!) For this method, you might have to cut the headband and then bobby pin in hair. If you're using a headband that is normally stretchy, it will no longer be once the lace is sewn. (see picture of final below)

No. 1

No. 2

No. 3

The whole process of making all three took no time at all. Just a playlist of your favorite music, a cup of tea and an inspired mind to put together your findings. Look around...lace is everywhere in vintage stores, flea markets, thrift stores. You don't even have to use lace that is older, you can buy it newer of course! I just like to find pieces that have more of past.

I hope you enjoyed this simply elegant look...happy Monday!

Sincerely,
Sarah

the clean & the grungy

I officially decided this morning that Sunday is my favorite day of the week. It is the one day that everyone can walk slowly, take a deep breath, and relax before the week begins again. After going to the Met, Chinatown, and Times Square all in one day yesterday, I was definitely craving a much less chaotic day today.

A flea market & abc home would surely do the trick.

To my surprise, both were completely opposite places. I didn't know what to expect since I hadn't been to either, but the flea market we went to just down the street was literally inside of a vacant parking garage. (http://www.herebeoldthings.com/2008/02/antiques-garage.html) Both floors were covered in vintage gowns, costume jewelry, random oil paintings that I'm sure will never sell, and obviously so much more. It's always an adventure to see what you can find! I was mostly bummed about forgetting to put a memory card in my camera to take photos, but I will be back I'm sure.

I found so much inspiration from these old renderings of plants and animals..drawings to watch out for in future posts!

such a popular place!

Ashleigh, can't you see us buying all of these and staggering all of them along one wall??

Framing postcards or hanging them around is such a personal touch. A great reminder of places you've been even if you weren't even born at the time they were printed! You would never find postcards like this along the streets anymore!

Okay this place above was the flea market, now let's compare to abc home, which can be seen right below us here. It was seriously anthropologie's home section times one million. There are so many great finds here except they are about twenty times more expensive and they are brand new instead of decades old! You have to check out their website, but nothing beats walking in the front door and taking in all of the different aromas, colors, textures, and so much more. (http://www.abchome.com/)

It's 6 stories tall, but the only one we ventured through was the first floor gifts section..quite enough for one day!

This wooden piece is a perfect example about what there store is all about. They sell the most unique and gorgeous pieces...from stationery to cups & bowls to dresses for your kids! I did a wood sculpture like this last semester, I'll have to post about later on. Isn't this gorgeous?

And there are so many more flea markets and thrift stores to explore! A really good thrift store to find if you're in Manhattan that I have been to though is called Buffalo Exchange. (http://www.buffaloexchange.com/) The Goodwill here has pretty decent finds, but even so is more expensive than back in Columbus!

Sincerely,

Sarah