Blogs

Ok so I have been a bit quiet lately. I'm back at Tafe and the work load is huge. But I have been thinking lately about fabric, what else. I've been thinking about how uninteresting new designer fabrics have become - for me. It seems that every little store has something made from a Michael Miller or an Amy Butler print hanging about, purses, aprons, bibs, bags etc. There is no escape, you can't make a unique item from those fabrics anymore, lovely though they are.

I'm puting lots of new fabric on the website today and I just noticed how many dress lengths there are. It seems logical that I put them all in the one place so they are easy to find.

I'm slowly getting back to full swing after a very hectic month that included being sick, end of term assignments to complete and no break from family commitments. The first item on my list of to-do's was to get some more craft swatch packs made and up on the website. Mission Accomplished. I made a total of 87 packs! Some are up today on the site.

Lots of great old fabrics in sizes suited to small crafty things! Great for kids too.

Ok by now you know I'm not the best at the updating of blogs, I'm ending the term at school and have a few assignments that need to be finished by Friday. In between that I'm packing off orders - thanks everyone! listing new fabric here and on Ebay and well having a life! or trying to.

Here are some of the latest fabrics put up on the website.I must have been having a 'blue' day when I did them. Oh and I just remembered why I'm so slack at this, these images take an excruciatingly long time to up load - (note to self to get that changed!!).

Over the years I've been selling vintage I've learnt a lot, though I started out with just what they call 'they eye' .  I have always enjoyed study so have equiped myself with a group of good books to which I turn for help when I'm particuarly stumped on a fabric or piece of lace or whatever.

Here is a quick list of some of those books. If you can get your hands on a copy you too will find them invaluable.

New additions have been a bit sporadic lately so this is a catch up post. These are some of the latest fabrics I've put into the store, some lovely unique designs amongst this lot.

I'm sitting here uploading all this old lace into the store and looking at the reel it's on, just thought I'd share all these great old Trade Marks and slogans like: Perma Smock® 'The New Look', Petticrisp® Tulles and Nets, Perma-Flute® 'It's Pleatier than Pleats', Perma-Tuck® 'It's the Tuck of the Town' (love that one) and Homespun Nets 'around the world'. Great stuff. Gehring are still in the same business and Perma-Tuck® and Broidery Lace™ are still owned by them. Here's a photo of the reel.

It's been a busy week here at VFA, I've had so many people wanting to sell me their fabric collections, I've spent more time out buying that I have on uploading new fabrics. Sorry about that. This week not only did I find some amazing upholstery fabrics from the 1950s - coming soon - but I came across a huge lot of vintage lace and lingerie fabric. This lot came from a little factory that made costumes, linerie, underwear and more for the people of Kings Cross in Sydney. It's all nylon and made in Japan, USA and England, new on the original rolls and been in storage for 40 years.

We've been busy adding these lovely vintage fabric covered buttons to the store. New category coming soon but for now they are in the 'more' section at the bottom of the catalogue.

Lots of people ask me why I sell my fabrics by the yard and not by the metre if I'm in Australia - which I am. Ok the reason is this...when I find a piece of fabric it is usually in a dress length of about 276cm - 368cm or very close to it. So that when it's divided up by a yard it works out beautifully, because that's how it was originally bought, and how the design was originally meant. If I was to divide it by metres or half metres I'd end up with a short bit left over and possibly the design cut in half. I find it more reliable to stick with the original size.