Bath with bloggers

Nope, not offering you the chance to take a cheeky dip with anyone – this is Bath the city, not the tub. On Sunday I met up with Sarah from Porcelina's World and Catherine from Vintage Frills, plus two lovely friends of Sarah's, to have a poke round the Vintage Market being held as part of Bath in Fashion's Vintage Sunday. Sarah and Catherine were also going to a couple of talks later, but I was there mainly for shopping and to go to lunch.


There were some lovely things at the fair, which is always held at Green Park Station, a former train station. I was really pleased to spot Cock-a-Doodle Vintage there, as I've seen them at a few events and their stock is super. I met Sarah at that stall, identifying her by her pink fur collar and spiffy Baker Boy cap, and we had fun browsing through the stock and admiring the details on the 1940s suit on a mannequin. (If you're not able to come to events in the south-west, here's Cock-a-Doodle Vintage's Etsy store.) I also eyed up a nice selection of feather hats on another stall, but reminded myself that I really don't wear hats very often, and I don't have anything that would work with those hats. Sarah tried on a gorgeous 1960s dress, but decided it wasn't quite right.

While there were lots of covetable wares on show it did strike me that the selection of stuff on sale wasn't quite as old or as high end as it was when I went a few years ago, but vendors are there to sell, not to give me pristine 1930s chiffon evening gowns to drool over and then walk away from, so perhaps it was for the best that the things on sale were affordable and more wearable. Bags and hats seemed to be the best buys, though if I were able to sew I would have paid more attention to the fabric. Things weren't too crowded, possibly because the weather really was dreadful, with high wind and drizzle approaching full-blown rain. The market was under cover, but walking there would have ruined a good hair set. You could say it was a day for the dedicated!

I was *that* close to buying the hat on the left

I was determined to be good when it came to shopping, and my one purchase was a sensible black handbag, which I needed as the handle on my regular work bag has finally cracked completely. It was priced £14 but the seller knocked it down to £8 without me even asking. I'm going to repair the handle on my old bag, because the body of it is perfectly nice and I don't like throwing things out if they just need a simple repair, but who knows when the repair will be done? It's needed repairing for months and fixing hasn't happened yet. (Oh lordy, the same goes for my Riviera bag, which the bottom has dropped out of. And I haven't replaced the cabochon in my Susan one. I need to have a monster handbag repairing session, or I'm going to wind up drowning in broken bags!) Having a pure black bag again means I can be more creative with the handle on my old one, which I think I've been putting off because I know I won't be able to get an exact match for the black vinyl, so perhaps I'll make one in tweed, or even a novelty fabric.

Lovely things to buy

Sarah's friends had their hair done – local hairdresser Artizan were doing 'dos for charity – and we all poked around some more, then we headed off to Bath Brewhouse for lunch, where we met up with Catherine, who'd had a long train ride into town. On the way out we passed a whole group of people in full 1940s outfits, and very nice they looked too. I'd been quite nervous of meeting other bloggers because they all seem so polished and together online. Well, Sarah and Catherine are very chic (we all admired Catherine's blue and brown 1960s wiggle dress) but they're also extremely nice people. Meeting people you encounter online is great, I have decided, as it gives you a chance to discuss the little things that perhaps we don't talk about on blogs because they seem too trivial or off-topic. We had a good old mardle about bullet bras, Meakin china and all the events we're planning to go to this summer, and I honestly felt as though I'd known everyone for years even though we'd only just met.

And finally, here's my outfit – it's a bog selfie taken in the pub, I'm afraid. Black velvet jacket (free from a friend who had outgrown it) with midcentury gold brooch (a gift from my colleagues when I left Simply Knitting magazine), 1950s cotton shirt dress (CalendarGirlVintage on Etsy), shiny tights in an effort to mock nylons, Hush Puppies Freya shoes, and a little boxy bag I got for a few pounds at most in the Red Cross charity shop. My hair had been up, but it was immensely windy and so my updo was more of an upmess by the time I'd reached Green Park Station. I'll never win any prizes for looking good, but at least I try...