This has been the best second-hand haul EVER! Even better than the time I found a Jimmy Choo dress for £5. I am genuinely more excited about these items and I can’t wait to start using them. Today me and my parents went to Abergavenny to look around the market and some camping shops. My parents went without me a week ago and picked up some vintage books for me, they knew I’d love it so much that they took me back and I found so much amazing stuff. I’m going to show you what they got me, as well as what I bought today 😀

My parents bought me these cross stitch books when they first went to Abergavenny market. I don’t actually know how to do it yet but I’ve wanted to learn for a while. I just think that cross stitch is absolutely beautiful. It was my grandmothers favourite past time before her dementia got too bad and I inherited a load of charts from her and I’d love to be able to use them. I’d like to try and incorporate it into garments & accessories I’m making. I’m feeling really inspired by  Dolce and Gabbana right now.

The best book find… was this!

This is a 1946 reprint of a hella ancient sewing book. I knew as soon as I saw the grotty cover and the word “modern” title that I needed it. I love old books about sewing, they never skimp on information and the focus is always on getting the best result. I feel like new sewing books gloss over information to make sewing seem easier than it is. It may encourage beginners to pick up the books, but it won’t encourage them to keep sewing when their projects turn out badly. I had  a quick flip through and I think this is going to be my new favourite sewing book. Not only does it have information about general sewing, its gives guides to drafting different pattern cutting blocks from your measurements. It has a section in the back showing you how to use those blocks to make new clothes out of old. It has a section on mending clothes and making ill-fitting clothes wearable again. I have quite a big collection of sewing books, I’m thinking about doing a post about them. Most of them are vintage but you can usually find them online. Let me know what you guys think?

I found these bags of cross stitch fabric for £5 each, there’s a lot in each bag so it was a bargain. The stall I was looking at also had like 1 million buttons all in cute shapes.  I could have bought hundreds if I was left there but I instead just got a few strips. I’m going to be making some blouses (the Mimi Blouse from Tilly Walnes’ book seems good) and these buttons would be so cute! I also found some tubes of old buttons that I picked up. I don’t really have a lot of buttons lying around so I want to have lots of different ones handy for projects.

 It’s not really relevant but I thought I’d mention it anyway. I picked up some new books to read. These three look like fast reads so I picked them up. I also picked up a new poncho and a light for my tent in Mountain Warehouse. Festival season is on the way so I’m gonna be stocking up over the next few weeks. I also ordered a new tent today, my old Vango Ark 200 was fine but I wanted a little more space so I ordered a Vango Ark 300+. If you want to know more about what I take to music festivals I have a list here. 

So that’s everything! It’s been an expensive day :/… let me know if you enjoy these hauls and tell me what other posts you’d like to see if you have any requests. Thanks for reading! x