CHRISTMAS CARD HEAVEN

SEASONS GREETINGS

The sending of Christmas card has many stories accredited to it but i am going to go with the one that started in good old England back in 1843 by the first director of the Victoria & Albert Sir Henry Cole whom was far to busy to be write personal greetings to all of his acquaintances so decided to commission the artist John Calcott Horsley to illustrate a greeting he could send to one and all with just a simple signature.  The card features 3 panels with a family enjoying the festivities of the season with the words A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You, and what a thing he started as the following year over 27000 Christmas card were sold and sent to loved ones.  Though in the picture there was the clinking of glasses and this did cause quite a stir to be putting alcohol and religion on one page and the importing of cards from England to the US began then come 1975 it took the bright skills of a German Lithograph to publish the first print off of Christmas Cards in the US and he certainly became the Hallmark of the day as by 1881 he was printing 5 million cards a year.  And nowadays we have other mediums of sending cards...bring in the E-card where you can design your own animations and Personalise your greetings and at the click of a button it can be sent to all corners of the globe.  The theme of Christmas cards have changed with fashions over the years they started off depicting good deeds to be done like helping the starving or the elderly then they became a little jolly with lots of children frolicking with animals in winter scenes.  he 20's saw the fashion set and art deco design and i love 1950's which had cutesome girls with jolly messages.  I have chosen a few of my favourites here

1900's Smoking Dog...could you imagine this being published now!

No Christmas would be complete without a little Disney

A little insight into the creation of Santa Claus's Red Suit

1920's Stylish Winter Scene

Love the pic sent of herself in the corner of this beautiful 1920's Card

Bringing some fun into Christmas in the 1930's

1940's Cocktail season...one of the first cocktails I learnt how to make properly

1950's Fashion Fun

How beautiful the ladies were in the 1950's

And Finally a "selfie" card which is oh so Kitsch x

PLEASE LOOK AFTER THIS BEAR

Late 50's Paddington Bear  Barkcloth Curtain Print

With many a childhood memory of Paddington Bear that has spanned across all generations since the 1960's you can imagine how thrilled I was when I found this pair of delightful curtains... in fact I had two pairs but one sold very quickly.  They were baby blue and this gorgeous baby pink.... I wonder if they were originally bought for twins or did they buy twos pairs because back in the early 60's you did not know what the stork was going to bring.  I date them late 1950's Early 60's for the simple reason that they are the original Peggy Fortnam drawings for Michael Bonds first book.  The fabric is a cotton bark cloth which is a large indicator that they are 50's early 60's.  The Book came out in 1959 with Peggy's illustrations, before becoming an illustrator Peggy was an art teacher, painter and textile designer.  The early drawings did not have Paddington wearing so many clothes and he did not start wearing his boots until 1962.

 Back then they would have been hung with just neutral painted walls, as getting the nursery ready was not as easy as when you know what you are getting then curtains would be added after the baby is born to suit boy or girl, this way as your child grew you just changed the soft furnishings and did not have a total re-decorate like we so often do now with fancy wallpapers and borders etc...in the 50's it was still very often a make do and mend mentality after the war.

I just love the expressions on Paddingtons face as he is going about his day .... very rare beauties indeed.

HALLOWED DAY

Halloween started  a sacred Celtic festival known as Samhain and was to celebrate the end of the harvest season within the Gaelic culture when the ancient pagans stocked foods ready for winter.  The ancient Gail's believed that October 31st the boundaries between the living and the dead overlapped and that on this day they would come back and cause mayhem and damage crops or cause sickness.  Crops were damaged by insect swarms so they lit bonfires to attract the insects which would then in turn attract bats to eat the insects. Families gathered around the fires and would take some home and place in the hearth and if it would not relight it was said there would be a death.
 The wearing of Halloween costumes was to mimic the evil spirits and appease them.  There is evidence going back to the middle ages for trick or treating, dressing up and going door to door for treats and there was a late medieval practise known as "Souling" where poorer people went door to door receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day November 2nd, this practise was mentioned in Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona when the master is accused of  Puling Like a beggar at Hallowmas.  There are lots of references through the 1900's to the stories around Halloween but the the commercial use of Halloween came in the 1930's when costumes where mass produced,  before that people made their own.  i love the early Halloween costumes of the early 1900's...much more spooky than the shop bought ones of today.  So when you are putting your outfit together...be original...like these spooky folk :)

The Giving of cards at Halloween was also very popular in the earlier part of the 1900...one which has petered out surprisingly as we  have become a nation of card givers.  Cards with spells and pictures of witches, black cats and ghouls and Pumpkin's featured a lot on cards in the early 1900's which gives a nod to America as we in the UK used to use turnips as that is what the winter harvest was.  Anyway i love the spooky cards so i have picked out a few to give you all a smile this Halloween.

I could show you these all day....  in fact i feel a bit of a collection coming on here, they would look fab framed up and set in a picture collage in say the toilet, stairs or landing...certainly interesting

DAPPER PERIOD DRESSING

The House Of Dregs does not actually have a  TV but we do catch up on things we really want to watch via the Internet...and our most recent catch up was Peaky Blinders, when it comes to period dramas i tend to be more interested  in the styling of the set and characters than the actual story line and peaky blinders had the men's fashions from the 1920's down to a T as well as a fantastic story line.  Based on the story of a real life notorious gang from Birmingham who were basically a gang of very sharply dressed hooligans getting their name from sewing razor blades into the peaks of their tweed caps to reign terror on the streets.  They robbed people by hitting them on the nose with the peak of their caps with the razor blade making their eyes water causing temporary blindness....charming i know but well worth a watch.

So you want to dress like a peaky blinder ...then you have got to go visit the darker side of the colour palette,  this was early 20th century Birmingham  and the cotton mills where churning out good old tweeds and flannels which are perfect for your Autumn/winter wardrobe. Two distinctive dressers stand out  in the show and these are Thomas & Arthur Shelby... of course Thomas played by Cillian Murphy stands out more for obvious reasons...another reason for Sista Society to tune in.

So how do you put that look together.... well searching the vintage shops is the best place to start if you want to feel authentic, clothes were made from well cut cloth back then so vintage is definitely the way to go... though i doubt you will find pieces going that far back but lucky for us fashions have been  repeated throughout the years.  So starting at the bottom layer..if you are going to do it... do it properly, so you will be needing a Henley Undershirt.. a fantastic item to have in your winter collection for our deep dark winters.. in a nutshell it is a collarless pullover woollen vest type item worn as an under or over garment.   Then comes the grandad shirt which were worn with detachable collars, the reason being so that gentlemen could wash the collars more often than their shirts...remember wash day back then was a day day mission and a clean collar spoke a thousand words.  The stiff collars were starched, Thomas Shelby always fastened his with an elegant gold stud button which was a little bit of bling for the 1900's, general folk wore white buttons.  Collar shape of the day was a club (rounded) and was  sometimes worn with a Dickie which was a garment made to look like the front of a shirt so you could add a stripe or a colour without having to have a full shirt of it,again again the laundry factor comes into play.  Arthur Shelby on the other hand jazzed his outfit up with a bow tie...the only one of the characters whom did.  Next came the three piece suit made from the best cut cloth and always tailored with at least a three button fastening but more often 4 or 5 button ed up high and the lapels were also thin due to the high fastening.  The suits worn by the original peaky blinders were more bell bottomed going by the original photos but for the drama they had a straighter wide cut and the waists were high, 60's suits fit the bill, sharp in cut and style, the suits of the day seemed to have been influenced by the uniforms of WW1.  Fabrics were herring bone tweeds and flannels with subtle checks and pin and chalk stripes for special occasions.  Braces and boots to finish of the look with the boots being of the sturdy type...lace up half boots in quality leather preferably hob nails to give a little bit of working class tough style but in our comfort led lifestyles not always the best option, there should be no break between the ankle and the boot and no bunching up either..keep it sleek. The Piece De Resistance has to be of course the peaked flat cap...minus the blade.  Braces are an easy find and can really accentuate the look along with a pocket  square in your top pocket and a pocket watch tucked into your watch pocket in your waistcoat you will be ready to hit the streets with a new autumn look.

 8 piece peaked cap

1920's Dickie 

Gold Collar Stud

Detachable Shirt Collar

WHERE TO SOURCE YOUR OUTFIT

Well here at Dregs of Society Vintage it would have to be vintage all the way and lots of the pieces such as the collars, pins, dickies and boots can all be bought from good vintage shops, we currently have all of the above items in stock at our bricks and mortar shop at 191 Park View Whitley Bay or you can check out my on line store via the store link above.  We also stock a range of suits including tweeds and flannels.  

There are a lot of Gentlemen Styling shops popping up which are always a good source of such pieces. We have a fantastic local establishment called Als Musique Boutique that stocks all things for the dapper gentleman from dressing attire to Moustache wax...they even hold a tailors day so that you can take along your vintage suits to get altered or have a whole new suit tailored just for you now that is service for you and with Al it will always be with a smile. You will find them at 3a Cheltenham Terrace, Heaton or find them on facebook.  

Attica In Newcastle upon Tyne is also a favourite haunt for all things vintage...all authentic and original pieces This shop has been going for vfor 20 years so really know their stuff go check them out at www.atticavintage.co.uk

Or hunt online on ebay and etsy and you are sure to find the real thing.

VINTAGE COFFEE BREAKS

We all deserve a coffee break and of course coffee does span many centuries and all sorts of contraptions have been invented to allow us to enjoy so today's blog I am going to celebrate coffee... though to be fair I don't even drink it (sends me loopy)... though I am an aficionado on the subject after running several coffee bars and taking part in barista competitions there is not much I don't know about the subject.  Saying that Dr Dregs loves nothing more than a proper cup of coffee in the morning and his favourite coffee maker has to be the Cona Coffee maker which spans back to 1910.  It is an all glass contraption and the designs have changed through the eras and look delightfully like a scientific experiment.

The coffee extraction process take part entirely within glass and employs a vacuum filtration to ensure the coffee blend is at the correct temperature.  Using the two chambers and the gentle pressure of air and water vapour the coffee it produces is rich and crisp and oh so smooth.  Due to it being made entirely in glass you get full extraction of all of the alkaloids and oils without the taint of plastic or metals... a true scientific approach to coffee making.  We currently have one of these in our shop and it will be hitting our ebay store very soon...fully boxed and unused no less.

The most familiar espresso maker has to be the stove top espresso maker "Moka Pot"that is made entirely from stainless steel and uses the pressure method with the water in the bottom a chamber with tampered ground coffee in the middle, the water  boils and the pressure of the vapour vacuum pushes through the coffee and gathers in the top chamber...simple yet effective.  A little similar to the electric espresso makers but the pressure is a lot less around 1.5 bars rather than 9 bars. 

Finally I come to the first espresso machine to be developed in 1905 by Luigi Bezzera who while trying to hurry along his workers during their coffee break   came up with this glorious contraption which he patented for Pavoni.  It is a vertical machine with a boiler kept at a constant pressure via a gas ring with side brewing groups supported by inside hooks and a filter for ground coffee.  By opening a knob and letting water and then steam through the coffee filter...enabling the brewing of an espresso in one minute...hence the word espresso as in express.  The invention of these machines kick started the European coffee bar culture which we so enjoy today.

Finally I come to what we drink them in of course a demitasse cup has to be the one to get the full aroma of the coffee and of course it needs to be served in style so you can see the smooth crema formed on the top.   Back in the 50's a lot of pottery made its way into English homes but was never used, they were only for show.  With trips to Europe becoming popular pottery was bought home but of course we English either drank tea or very bad instant coffee in mugs and such small cups would have been looked at as a novelty and not to actually use... good for our generation of vintage coffee lovers as now they are emerging out of the woodwork unused and ready to go and with most modern households now having either a vintage or modern espresso machine which gets used daily I have been selling lots of them, especially the mid century free form sets like the red and black Cmielow set above which I sold recently.  Cmielow is a Polish Pottery co and they produced some fantastic designs around the 1950's.  I also love this colourful set from Cmielow , they would most certainly brighten up your coffee break.

Not leaving out the British designers I love this Poole Pottery set with the mottled grey on the outside and pretty pink on the inside.  The demitasse cups are perfect for serving up your morning espresso in style.  I have this set in the shop ready to grace your  very own vintage breakfast table.

So next time you take a coffee break do it with a little vintage finesse and style...don't follow the crowd and drink from paper cups at the local coffee store.. go get yourself a vintage machine and get back to basics and enjoy the coffee the you have actually made with your own fair hands... you can even experiment with different beans to find a truly good morning pick me up.

Sista Society x



PLEASE LET THE SUN SHINE 


Well the final push today to be prepare for the big event that is Newark Antiques Fair this Thursday and Friday at the showground... and boy what a lot of work goes into it indeed.  All the punters turn up with two fabulous days of shopping and bargain hunting...but while thinking of those bargains that you are going to bag save a little thought for us the hunters and finders and the effort it takes to get all these pieces in one place... not saying we don't love a good barter and also not one to moan but when you are offering less than half of the asking price please don't be disappointed when your offer is not taken with open arms....here is why. 

Now firstly the best part of the job for me is the hunting for the pieces and we go far and wide and spend many hours ratching in old buildings, auction houses...not going to give away all of our sources but this is the time consuming part of our job.  The next step is to clean up the finds...some need minimal work some need a good few days of sanding, polishing and re-upholstering.  Then the costs of the exercise, petrol, materials and of course time as we do need to take a daily wage just like any other job.  The final piece of the puzzle is selling the pieces and be it either in the shop with overheads, at fairs with the cost of travel too the event...pitch cost and hotels if you are away for home...saying that hotels are a luxury to us and we just tend to get our heads down in the van.  The van has to be carefully packed to ensure no damage to any of the pieces...and what a jigsaw this can be all to be unpacked at the over end and displayed so that the pieces on our stall stands out from the rest ...with over 2000 stalls there is a lot of competition, followed by 12 hours of selling, can be just one day or two then the reverse of this sequence....phew all in a weeks work for the vintage dealer.  Sounds manic hey...but we LOVE it and there is nothing better than having a happy customer walking off with a piece of history that has had the love breathed right back into it by us.

So have a little thought for us dealers when you are at the next antiques fair... be nice to us and have a cheeky barter... stike up a good relationship as we are the people who can find you those sought after pieces you so long to have..and as I say customer satisfaction is the one of the biggest kicks we get.

SEE YOU ALL AT NEWARK. 
SISTA SOCIETY XX

Well after not posting a blog for over a year I have decided to dedicate more of my time to the internet side of our business..and what better time to do it while twiddeling my thumbs waiting for the mechanic to sort out our work horse of a van so that we can hit the road tomorrow and head to Newark for to sell at one of the biggest Antique fairs in Europe... with the van already loaded from our last two failed attempted road trips...hence the mechanic,  my feet are itching to go.  We will be set up in the open spaces outside with our trusty marquee chock full of vintage pieces for you lucky punters.  This is my favourite piece

A 1957 G plan Suite.  The butterfly chairs are such iconic pieces and these beauties have been reupholstered in pillar box red and all the wood has  been stripped,  sanded & re-laqeured... and of course it is circular...very rare indeed.  As well as this we have a fantastic 50's cot with original decals and mattress which is sure to be one of the first pieces to go...we have macintosh tables, Gordon Russell piecs and a funky little Danish desk not to mention all the homewares to go with them...interior decorators paradise.  Come by and say hi and grab yourself a little piece of vintage love.
Anyway here to the first of many blogs...please come back for a gander.

Sista Society xx