brooklyn flea recap

the last weekend of april you may remember that i brought hodge podge to the new hotspot that is the Brooklyn Flea. the Etsy peeps had invited me to participate in their booth and help promote classes at the Labs. my co-horts callie and jenny were there with me, as well as my etsy buds julie, danielle, mary and aviva. it was super fun, but the weather was cold and drizzly so it wasn't a great sales day.


jenny certainly had the most colorful customers of the day!

hodge podge @ the brooklyn flea

on sunday (4/27/08) i'll be hawking new hodge podge wares at my new favorite haunt, the Brooklyn Flea in fort greene! i'll be part of the Etsy booth and we'll be promoting classes at the Etsy Labs (i'm teaching two sewing classes there in may: beginner and sundress). two of my friends and co-teachers, callie of church of craft and callieco, and plush-maker jenny harada, will be there too!

thanks to kim of Keep It Moving for the photo above; you can see more pics from the flea and see what she scored on her blog. she totally bought the matta dress i coveted!

i think this is the linkiest post i've ever written...

treasures

a couple of years ago i found two amazing treasures at one of my favorite flea markets; they were crocheted yokes which were used for camisoles like the top left photo, and sometimes nightgowns. i thought they would be really cool to use in a modern way, like on a printed blouse. but, as with most things i find 'precious', i tucked them into my secret trove of special doilies and vintage delicacies and there they have sat. but in january the thought occurred to me that maybe i could find more of these little jewels on eBay, and lo and behold, i was right! i have become a little obsessed with collecting them and probably should stop, but each is more beautiful than the last and i have promised myself i will give them second (or sometimes first) lives and not let them sit around until someone buys them at my estate sale when i'm an old lady! i am sort of fascinated by how many there seem to be floating around, and often they appear never to have been sewn into a garment at all. apparently they were quite the pastime for Victorian (?) ladies as there are also TONS of pattern books available for these same yokes. and i can't help wondering, what would happen to them if i weren't 'rescuing' them? i kind of feel like i am saving them from an eternity of being wrapped in tissue paper and stored in drawers and attics!

and just to prove that the universe has somehow selected me as the Unofficial Saviour of Yokes and Doilies, twice in the past month i have serendipitously received unsolicited offers of some of these very specimens! thanks, dear amylou and ann; some of the pieces you sent are in these photos, but i'm starting to mix them all up...

these are some doilies i have found to use as new stencil designs. so look out for all of this stuff in the new spring hodge podge collection sometime in april!

brimfield!

last weekend was the first installment of brimfield 2007 (it happens every may, july and september). we went up to hudson for the weekend and then went to the flea market for the day on saturday. i got lots more doilies, a beautiful crochet sweater, and these really cool cast cement mushrooms. i will take pics of the stuff i got but here are scenes from the market. the weather was PERFECT, about 70 degrees and sunny!

for lunch we had lobster rolls (which i was so excited about that i completely forgot to take a picture of them) and then for afternoon snack we had lemonade and lime rickies and strawberry shortcake, the kind made with a biscuit out of Bisquick. YUM!



colleen's goal was to buy a bike "that's not brown" and she found a lovely blue one for $14. here she is test riding it back in hudson, and gertie sunbathing on the porch. we had a lazy sunday gardening in the backyard, smelling lilacs and just enjoying the glorious day!

elephant's trunk

went flea marketing again, this time to the elephant's trunk in connecticut with siri and rebecca. i fell in love with this sampler, but alas it was $65... i prolly coulda got it for about $40, and it would have been worth it, but i just didn't have that kind of cash to spend. i guess i'll have to MAKE one!



siri brought home this leopard-print chair, because it looked so good under her!


this monkey/bum may have been the scariest thing i saw...


and this pair of kittens wished they could be near each other to play... so now they are!
after we were shopped out, and the vendors were all packing up, we had lunch at The Hearth, which was the perfect place to hose down (it was pretty dusty at the flea) and fill up before the drive back to brooklyn!

flea market scores

ok, these are most of what i brought home:

this little box of patches, which was $1 for the whole thing. i really just wanted the one that says 'ICE KING' for my bf who truly is king of the rink. but this lady really wanted to get rid of stuff, so i got them all!














i got way more doilies than this; probably about 30 to 40. many of the booths had '$1 tables' and these were usually doilies, napkins, tea towels, etc. i love it when the stuff i want is low on the totem pole of desireability for most people. so i scored, since this was the main reason i went! now, you may be thinking 'what on earth does she do with all these doilies?' all i can say for now is, you'll have to be patient!














i love this little group of red things, all from the same lady. $9 for the lot, not that it was a lot until i compiled it! i think she made the quilted pin cushion, or one of her friends did, because there was a whole pile of them...


















this printing stamp was the most expensive thing i bought ($12). but the man who sold it to me did the loveliest demonstration for me of how to print with it, first by hand and then with his mini printing press, that i decided it was worth it for the performance.


















this red dotted-swiss dress is so sweet. someone made it by hand but never got to finishing the neckline... we'll see if i ever do. but for $5 i couldn't resist.

flea finds

last weekend we went up to Brimfield, the biggest and best flea market i know of. how i love flea marketing! though it was HOT. thank the heavens for lemonade and lobster rolls...

i think this greenhouse was my favorite thing. if only i could have brought it home! i dream of having one someday...


isn't she beautiful?


a fun pair of pups


this was the best set-up and display; what a cool bus to camp in, and i'm a sucker for a clothes line any day!


i'll try to post photos of what i actually brought home in the next few days.