Vintage cotton reels

I was going to write a longer blog but I'm afraid it will have to wait until tomorrow as we have been invited out this evening.

So here is another goodie I'll be taking to the fairs. 144 full wooden cotton reels in three drawers.

Preparations for the Lincoln Antiques and Home Show

As I'm not listing any new items this week,I thought I would show you an item each day that I will be taking with me to the International Antique fairs at Lincoln and Newark.

Today photo is of an Antique mahogany counter top set of drawers from an old Haberdashery shop. It was catalogued as made by 'Clarks' but I can find no indication of this unfortunately.

I'm sorry to have to do this again but I'm going to have to put a stop on orders as from midnight on Wednesday 2nd June until I return from the fairs. I've tried taking along my laptop and keeping the site open for orders but to be quite honest I found it really too time consuming what with trying to sell at the stall and buy at the fairs. So I'm afraid if you are thinking of ordering something on the site then please get your orders in before the stop is put on otherwise those lovely items might be sold at the fairs. Opening again on Monday 14th June.

More boxes of vintage DMC threads tomorrow

Rag Rescue lists more items tomorrow

More vintage fabrics at Rag Rescue tomorrow

More items being listed at Rag Rescue tomorrow.

Jeanne Hallee of Paris trim for restoration or use.

Wednesday's new listings at the Rag Rescue website

 

Specials tomorrow are -

Pink silk and metallic embroidery trim by the French couturiere Jeanne Hallee of Paris with label c.1910

Antique chair seat cover, the design in metallic threads.

Preparations for Lincoln Antiques and Home show and Newark antiques Fair

Victorian quilted pieces tomorrow at Rag Rescue website

As well as tending to orders today I've been busy washing white Victorian blouses, pantaloons, nightdresses and skirts as well as ironing beautiful vintage dresses, ready for the fairs. I also got some lovely white on white embroidered fabrics at auction the other week, so they have had a good soak and dried in the sunshine. My husband and I were fighting for space in our tiny garden for as I was hanging out the washing he was cleaning and restoring stock.

It all go, here in Morecambe, busy, busy, busy.

Fairs start on 7th June, so not long to go.

So much to do, so little time, so I forgot to post

I was so very busy yesterday but by the time the evening came I forgot all about posting today's preview. Put it down to the hot weather fuddling the brain.

Today we have some lovely vintage fabric, some old lace lingerie motifs, a length of antique metallic lace and two strip rolls.

All at Rag Rescue website today, now listed

Vintage fabric scrapbags and squares at Rag Rescue

All to be listed at Rag Rescue tomorrow

Rag Rescue salvages scraps of vintage fabrics and embellishments from the past and brings them into the future, clean and fresh ready to start a new life in the 21st Century.

By re-using these vintage fabrics and trims, we hope to reduce the estimated one million tonnes of textiles that goes into UK landfills each year.

We have many great patterns and artefacts from the past to share with you. Whether you are a crafter, embellisher, artisan, quilter, fibre artist or designer we hope to fulfil your creative needs.

I hope that by encouraging you to recycle the delectable textiles from years gone by, you will be able to make unique fashion and home accessories for the future.

As advertised in the SEW MAGAZINE

Tomorrows listings at Rag Rescue

Now on-line at Rag Rescue website

Vintage fabric scrapbags tomorrow + Ludo news

Vintage fabric scrapbags listed tomorrow at Rag Rescue

I'm afraid I have to tell you all that we had to put Ludo to sleep this evening. The vet called us in to see him in case we could get a response from him to encourage him to get better. Unfortunately it was a very very sad time. He didn't recognise us and had difficulty standing and could not walk unless aided. The vet suggested that we wait another day which we agreed to but on returning home we realised that there wasn't any hope  and so we have had to have him put to sleep. The vet agrees that we had made the correct decision.

So its goodbye to Ludo and I know that he will not only be terribly missed by us but by everybody who knew him especially at the fairs as he had human friends from all over the world.

It is a sad, sad day for us.

larger pieces of vintage fabric at Rag Rescue tomorrow.

Larger pieces of vintage fabric being listed at the Rag Rescue website tomorrow.

On the Ludo front, the vets have decided to keep him in another night  I'm afraid. Apparently he is still rather flat! but the good news is that he hasn't had any more seizures today.

Poor Ludo

if I am a little late in sending out emails to you, please forgive me. We have a terrible time since 6pm last night. My husband was away for 5 days last week and half an hour after he returned home, Ludo had a terrible episode. We had given him a bone and thought he had a piece stuck in his throat but it turned out he was having a fit which lasted for 5 minutes. Neither of us had ssen a dog in this state and it was terribly distressing for us all. After half an hour he seemed his normal self, had a drink and ate some food, but half an hour afterwards he started fitting again. the vet said we had to take him in. On the way he had two more fits in the car and three more whilst at the vets even though she administered diazapan. She decided that he had to be kept in and he was put on a drip and sedated. Apparenlty he had two more fits after we left. This morning we fully expected the worst, but although he had a small fit this morning he is drowsy but standing up. They are keeping him under observation and we have to wait until 4pm today to ring up for the verdict.

I would be really pleased if anybody else has encountered this happening with their really healthy full of life dog.

The house seems really empty without him but I'm trying to keep myself busy by wrapping orders and sorting out items for next week. All the weekend orders have now been posted.

Will keep you updated.

Vintage fabric week again - Monday is 'scrapbag' day

Nine more vintage fabric scrapbags will be listed tomorrow.

Each scrapbag consists of four different but coordinating vintage fabrics, each piece measuring 12cms x 18cms. All four pieces for £3.50

RAG RESCUE WEBSITE

Rag Rescue salvages scraps of vintage fabrics and embellishments from the past and brings them into the future, clean and fresh ready to start a new life in the 21st Century.

By re-using these vintage fabrics and trims, we hope to reduce the estimated one million tonnes of textiles that goes into UK landfills each year.

We have many great patterns and artefacts from the past to share with you. Whether you are a crafter, embellisher, artisan, quilter, fibre artist or designer we hope to fulfil your creative needs.

I hope that by encouraging you to recycle the delectable textiles from years gone by, you will be able to make unique fashion and home accessories for the future.

Antique and vintage haberdashery at Rag Rescue

Oops! I forgot to list todays listings last night, sorry.

All now listed at Rag Rescue website in the 'New Listings' category

SPRING SALE OF VINTAGE GOODS AT RAG RECUE

I'm having a clear out of vintage items ready for new stock so all of the above items have been reduced in price.

I'll go through other categories each day this week.

Vintage needle packets and buttons at Rag Rescue tomorrow

These items will be listed tomorrow at 7amBST and if you are

and if you become an Earlybird customer by sending in an order

before 9am tomorrow you will get a 5% discount.

This discounts applies to all items on the

RAG RESCUE WEBSITE

Walking Ludo the dog today I decided to stroll through the graveyard. I haven't through there for a while as in this area someone had decided that the graveyards needed to be tidied up. To a point, I would agree but our graveyard was a wonderful habitat for wild animals birds and insects. Squirrels abounded and all kinds of birds perched on the tree branches after they had had their breakfast from the fish which came in on the incoming tide. Not any more, bushes had been chopped to ground level, brambles uprooted and trees felled. We were all devastated.

As Winter has turned into Spring there is new life amongst the remaining trees and bushes and someone has been inspired.

At the end of the path at the very bottom of the graveyard close to the boat yard two stately trees used to stand. They had not managed to escape the saws of the tidy up brigade. All that was left of them was an eight foot high stump.

BUT look what someone has done.............

The fisherman and his wife.

How wonderful!

More beautiful vintage silk threads at Rag Rescue

All to be listed tomorrow at 7am BST

Don't forget the 5% discount if you buy at RAG RESCUE before 9am tomorrow

Vintage lace at Rag Rescue tomorrow

Being listed at RAG RESCUE at 7am BST tomorrow.

Don't forget to be an Earlybird customer and claim your 5% discount. See the previous post for details.

Sorry this is short tonight but I haven't been my normal healthy self today so I'm off to have an early night.

Earlybird order discounts at Rag Rescue website next week.

EARLYBIRD DISCOUNTS NEXT WEEK

 

Every day next week, from Monday 10^th May, all orders placed before 9am GMT  will get a  

5% discount.

Offer ends 9am Sunday 16^th May. This offer applies to the whole of the website items.

Refunds for the discount sent either by Paypal or cheque.

 Tomorrow, Monday 10th May, Rag Rescue will see the start of Haberdashery week.

Above you can see some beautiful vintage silks made many years ago by Briggs. Each hank is  'Court' embroidery silk floss and they come in a wonderful array  of beautiful colours. The colours are still as bright as they were when made. All unused.

There will be 9 listed tomorrow and some more later in the week.

These silks have a lovely shine to them and would be ideal for embellishing your designs.

Made  in the 1930s.

To be listed at 7am BST tomorrow on the RAG RESCUE website .

DON'T FORGET THE EARLYBIRD DISCOUNT THIS WEEK.

Vintage fabric squares day at Rag Rescue

Friday 7th May at Rag Rescue website

More vintage fabrics at Rag Rescue tomorrow

All at the RAG RESCUE website tomorrow May 6th

Haberdashery and vintage goods at Rag Rescue tomorrow

Tomorrow 'Pick of the day'

1. Boxes of French unused DMC threads - 12 in a box, 3 colours  tomorrow but more available.

2. French silk wound wooden tassels - ideal for adding to cushions, bags or used on key rings or cabinet keys. Lots available.

All being listed tomorrow at the RAG RESCUE website tomorrow at 7am BST.

If you find this listing time to early, please send me a quick message on this post with a suggested time. If I don't get any messages then I'll leave it at 7am, thanks

Vintage fabrics - Just beautiful florals

Seven beautiful trademan's samples of vintage fabric pieces with different rose designs plus two French vintage fabric pieces will be listed tomorrow.

Great for making bags or cushions etc.

All at the Rag Rescue website tomorrow Tuesday 4th May 7am BST

Take a look at my vintage fabric squares

Eight new vintage fabric squares are being listed tomorrow. Six of the squares are English vintage fabric. The first picture on the left is a larger piece of French vintage fabric.

All at the Rag Rescue website tomorrow.

Problem - fixed

Blood, sweat and tears have been shed over the past few days on this awful problem of payment  by paypal when using a Mozilla Firefox browser. Actually my web designer has done the hard work, but I found it such a pain. Computers are really handy until they go wrong. What makes coding work for 18months without  a problem and then just stop. Apparently it was something to do with the Firefox or paypal changing their encryption type, it's all double dutch to me.

Still everthing is working again and orders with payments via paypal using FF have come through fine. Just be aware that further updates may change the whole situation again but in the meantime PLEASE let me know if you have difficulties and we can try to sort them asap.

Thank you to all of my customers for being so patient.

On the Rag Rescue stock news, I've just completed pre-listing 45 more new items for next week, nearly all vintage fabrics.

SO

Keep watching the blog for previews of the following day listings.

First preview will be posted tomorrow, and newsletter go out at the same time.

Hope your Spring bank holiday weather is better than it is in Morecambe. It started off fine but has turned really cold again and is raining heavily. Just hope it clears up tomorrow so I can get some gardening done.

Mozilla Firefox browser problems

During the past two weeks some customers have been having problems paying for their orders using paypal at the checkout on the Rag Rescue site. I stress that it is only some customers, others have had no problems at all. We thought that this was an intermittent fault somewhere but after numerous investigation and with the help of some wonderful customers testing the site for me, we have found the problem, but at the moment not the solution, unfortunately.

It appears that the problem lies with the latest version of the Mozilla Firefox browser that some customers use, myself included. It would appear that there is a bug in this latest edition which is not allowing access to various sites. There are numerous questions and complaints on the Firefox forum.

Please note that FireFox browser customers can still order from Rag Rescue. 

Your orders will still come through to me and items will be placed on hold. At the moment, until Firefox resolve this problem, I will send you a paypal request for payment manually, shortly after I receive your order as you will find that you are unable to load paypal from my checkout.

An easy solution to pay by paypal automatically from the Rag Rescue site.

If you use your INTERNET EXPLORER browser to access the Rag Rescue website you will not encounter any problems for automatic payment.

I can only apologise for this problem but as you probably realise it is out of or control at the moment until we can get a solution from Firefox.

We are working hard and long on this problem.

Vintage fabric squares day tomorrow at Rag Rescue

Eight more vintage fabric squares being listed tomorrow 30th April at

RAG RESCUE WEBSITE

I can't tell you how exciting it is to find lovely vintage fabric, but there is a downside to it as well as I found out again today. At auction this week I bought amongst other fabrics a lovely pair of curtains c. 1940s. I normally hand wash all of my fabrics, I tested them for strength and as the curtains were large I decided to put them in the washing machine on a gentle wash. I know what you are thinking and you will be correct. When I opened the machine and got out the curtains, to my horror they had large holes everywhere. The holes were in exactly the same part of the pattern right throughout each curtain. The floor and drum of the machine was covered in little pieces. I could have cried. Oh well that's one less to iron, so you can never tell until fabrics are washed.

Vintage fabrics and vintage items at Rag Rescue tomorrow

All being listed tomorrow at 7am BST at
RAG RESCUE WEBSITE

Well loading this picture has taken me 15minutes. It appears that blogger have changed the format for loading pictures and mine just wouldn't load. After going into help I managed to follow someone's suggestions and go back to the old editor. What a drag, now I can get on with sorting out more fabrics for next week.
I managed to win a great lot of haberdashery yesterday at aucton. there are lots and lots of wonderful old sewing silks, pre 1960 cottons, Victorian packets of press studs etc etc. I'll start listing them soon

Vintage fabric - Day 3 at Rag Rescue

At Rag Rescue website tomorrow Wednesday 28 April at 7am BST

Vintage fabric - day 2 at Rag Rescue

All at the Rag Rescue website tomorrow Tuesday 27th April at 7am GMT

Vintage fabric pieces and squares at Rag Rescue

All being listed at the Rag Rescue website tomorrow morning at 7am GMT

Vintage fabrics and Rag Rescue news

It has been rather a busy week here at Rag Rescue. I've managed to wash and iron a lot of the vintage fabrics I bought recently and get them listed for next week. I've also spent a day with my granddaughter Molly and together we made peanut butter cookies which she enjoyed sharing with all of her friends at the various playgroups and nursery group she attends.

It was also a rather sad week as although baby Oliver has got over the illness he had the previous week he is in the wars once again. My daughter had to take him for a hip scan only to discover that he has hip dysplasia and he is now in a body harness for seven weeks. On Thursday my daughter was ill so I went over for the day to help out and saw Oliver in his harness. Actually he has got used to it very quickly and doesn't seem distressed by it, I think his mum is more distressed by it than he is. I did discover how long it takes to change a nappy though, as the harness has to be removed at the bottom end. We had a great tug of war with the thin strapping when trying to attach it again as he kept stretching his legs out everytime I tried to get the poppers in. Hopefully this will enable the hip socket to develop correctly, apparently when caught at this early age the outlook is very good for a total recovery.

On the subject of children I have got a wonderful old childrens alarm clock going on the site next week.

 

It is the Tale of the Hare and the Tortoise.

The face is amazing. Each hour is marked as miles for the race, with little pictures in between, of animals and items found in the countryside. The hour hand is represented by a tortoise, slowly moving around and the  the minute hand by the hare.

The caption reads:-
The tortoise creeps round once, how slow!
Twelve times as fast the hare will go,
But watch the tortoise, watch the Hare,
At twelve o'clock you'll find them - where?

Isn't it great?

Vintage goodies

Sorry this is later than normal but have been babysitting the grandchildren all day and I'm whacked. All as usual can be found HERE tomorrow.

Box, bag and vintage fabric scrappy parcels

All at Rag Rescue website tomorrow at 7am GMT

More vintage goods at Rag Rescue tomorrow

All being listed at Rag Rescue Website tomorrow

Mother of pearl sewing items

at Rag Rescue tomorrow.

Rag Rescue website

Of all the sewing items, silk winders are the most beautiful. They were intricately carved both in ivory bone and mother of pearl.

Often sailors from the poorer families brought back mother of pearl gaming tokens and gave them to their sweethearts to wind their silk around.

In the past, embroidery silks were very silky and catchy so the skeins were wound around thread winders to stop them getting tangled.

The tapemeasure is a valuable aid to needlework.

Early measures, up to the mid 19th century were marked in 'nails', a measurement of 2 and a 1/4 inches, later the normal inch was used.

The earliest ones were wound into the container by a handle as in the one shown above.

New Stock tomorrow at Rag Rescue

What a busy week it has been with a great number of sales, thank you to all of my customers who sent in orders last week.

Tomorrow is the start of regular daily listing again. I have concentrated this week on vintage goods all found at the international antique fairs I went to at the beginning of the month. There will be five new items each day Monday through to Friday.

Yesterday and today has seen me beginning to hand wash vintage fabrics. With the fabrics I obtained prior to the fairs  combined with those purchased at the fairs I have over 70 new fabrics to wash and iron, measure and cut. I will start listing them at the beginning of next week.

 

Thank you again to all of you that have contacted me about my baby grandson. I am pleased to announce that he is much improved and well on the way to recovery.

More new items which will be listed next week.

 

RAG RESCUE WEBSITE

I would like to thank all the customers and bloggers for their prayers and well wishes for baby Oliver. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that he is on the road to recovery.

Baby stops play.......

I had every intention of writing another post yesterday with a few more photographs of the items I bought at the fairs. As the title states I just couldn't get around to it. Unfortunately baby Oliver, 4 weeks old, my latest grandchild ill. On visiting my daughter yesterday I discovered that he had been vomiting after his feed, all day and night. I suggested the health visitor should be called and he then went to the doctors who sent him to hospital. The poor little mite had a racing heart beat and an uneven breathing pattern. I had to step in to look after Molly the 4 year old whilst mum was at the hospital. Fortunately they were able to bring him home later in the evening as he had kept a small feed down. On returning today with Molly I heard that he had still vomited during the night, so it is still a worry.

Any way I have been able to catch up with all of the orders today, so a big thank you for those customers who have been very patient.

Here are some more items that will be listed next week.

Vintage card boxes, mother of pearl thread winders and vintage fabric scrappy parcels.

Preparing new listings

I've been taking some photographs today in preparation for next weeks listings. As well as buying a huge amount of vintage fabrics I also bought a lot of vintage goods. I've decided to list the vintage goods next week, starting on Monday. This will give me time to get the fabrics washed and ironed. The image above shows just a few of the pretty vintage goods I bought.

Rag Rescue website open for orders again.

Well the fairs are over for another two months, what a good time we had. The weather was lovely and warm and the customers so friendly as usual.

I am now taking orders once again.

Sorting out creative displays ready for the fairs.

I've been thinking the last couple of days on how to set out the Rag Rescue goods at the Lincolnshire Fair. Last October the whole fair moved from Swinderby where I stood inside a huge marquee. At Lincoln I decided that I needed more space and I wanted to be outside but under cover. I ended up inside a shopping arcade with a perfect spot just outside the main doors of the large Epic Centre. In December of last year they opened up the other hall at the end of the shopping arcades making a walk through for the customers. However the shopping arcades are long and narrow and I decided to have Rag Rescue on one side and the antiques on the other. It is easy to create height with antiques as I have lots of pictures and large objects but the Rag Rescue items all seem to be in flat boxes so that customers can sift through them. As April is one of the busiest fairs in the year I decided to put on my thinking cap and found in the garage an old shelving unit which had sometimes been used for the smaller antique pieces but discovered that it wasn't really suitable as it was rather unstable. I had put it away in the garage after it rocked with the weight and a pile of brass door knockers fell on my head whilst I was arranging the display. Yesterday it was painted  up and this morning I decided to have a trial run to see what and how I could display it.

What do you think?

I placed it on my working desk in my office as it is a similar height to the fair tables. It is the white one in the centre.

 

As the weather is a little warmer, I've decided to take some larger fabrics this time. I whole array of French and German 1930s floral fabrics.

As I only had three bags of vintage fabric scrappies left, I decided to make some more and as I am taking them to the fair first I decided to make scrappy parcels each with 20 pieces in for just £6.00

Vintage strip rolls and lovely old wooden silk wound French tassels in gold.

A beautiful antique child's bonnet and below a maids bonnet marked E. Couper c.1860 will stand proudly on the top of the shelves.

I also have a lovely long sari length to drape across the horrible plastic sides of the marquee and some costume pieces to hang up including a University of Cambridge cap and gown.

Well I must get on, no more playing as I must get the Rag Rescue, boxes, bags and tubs packed up so that I can do some housework, like hoovering and ironing. What clothes to take at this time of the year is always a difficult one, especially as at the moment the weather forecast for next week seems to be changing daily. Yesterday Lincoln weather was for heavy rain all week and now Mon, Tues and Wed. show no rain at all. I think I'll have to get everything ironed up both, wet weather clothes and dry weather reasonably cool clothes, just in case.

YOU WILL FIND ME (RAG RESCUE AND ODDITIES ANTIQUES)

ON MONDAY 6TH, TUESDAY 7TH AND WEDNESDAY 8TH APRIL

AT LINCOLNSHIRE ANTIQUES AND HOME SHOW

LINCOLNSHIRE SHOWGROUND

SHOPPING ARCADE 2

AND ON

THURSDAY 9TH AND FRIDAY 10TH APRIL

AT IACF NEWARK ANTIQUES FAIR

NEWARK SHOWGROUND

SIR GEORGE STEPHENSON BUILDING - FURNITURE PITCH 38

IF YOU ARE IN THE AREA THEN WHY NOT STOP BY ANY OR BOTH OF THESE FAIRS.

Last day for buying at Rag Rescue before the break

Tomorrow everything at Rag Rescue will be packed in boxes and bags ready to go to the fairs.

As this is supposed to be one of the busiest fairs of the year (weather permitting) I have decided to place a stop on orders whilst I am away.

As of midnight tonight the website will be for viewing only

BUT

will re-open again for orders on Monday April 12th.

All orders placed today before 12 noon will be posted today and if placed between 12noon and 12 midnight will be posted on Saturday.

If you haven't got anything arranged for the beginning of next week then why not visit either or both of the two largest Antiques and Home shows in Britain.

I will post details of these fairs here tomorrow