Some “vintage” events call for stamina.
You might walk for hours, rummaging through piles of rubbish, wearing down shoe leather – and then come away with nothing but sore feet and a sense of wasted opportunity.
But some events call for a different kind of stamina. Like the one I attended on Saturday – Lady Bay Vintage Market.
As you can see from the photo above, it was busy. But that was not the reason for summoning my fortitude.
It was held down the road from where my parents used to live, in the church halls where as a child I attended harvest suppers and watched my Nanna perform in amateur dramatic productions – and mum took four-year-old me to playgroup.
However, it wasn’t just the waves of nostalgia flooding over me that called for particular resilience on my part either.
No, my forbearance was necessitated by the fact that, were it not for the distraction of good company and interesting conversation, I could have quite easily bankrupted myself.
Not only was my friend Maria of Sunshine Vintage there with her lovely midcentury selection, like the items above, and this rather cute vintage portrait …
But my other favourite local vintage fabric purveyor, Wendy from Ticking Stripes (whence came my fabulous Christmas quilt present from my partner) was also in attendance, with an array of her most enticing vintage textile temptations…
And next to Wendy, there was Jerry.
I’d not met Jerry before (I’m not even sure I’ve spelled his name correctly – he may well be a Gerry) but I had heard tell of him.
Jerry is known as The Fabric Man. Because that’s what he sells. Apparently he has a collection of vintage ceramics too, but I haven’t seen those as they weren’t up for sale.
But some of his awesome vintage fabric collection was…
The picture at the top of the page is of Jerry’s wares, too.
I can honestly say that I have never seen such a collection of fine vintage fabrics in one place, in such quantity and superb condition, in all my born days.
Jerry is nobody’s fool. Having collected his fabrics over many moons, with many pieces having been in his possession for over fifteen years, he knows what these treasures are worth and sells them at a fair price for the fine antique collectables that they are.
Much girding of loins and stiff-upper-lipped-ness was required on my part to stand next to that lot, talking textiles with Jerry, without spending an absolute fortune.
Without buying anything in fact, as I had the sum total of a fiver plus some shrapnel in my purse. £4.50 of which I had already spent. (On a bag of fabric scraps, natch.)
Probably just as well.
I mean, look…
Just look. LOOK!!!
There were fabrics designed for Heals, and Sanderson, and Osman, and Edinburgh Weavers, by designers including David Bartle, Barbara Brown, Dinah Marsh, Jyoti Bhomik, John Wright and Peter Perritt.
All on one stall, all at the same time, all in quantity and all in perfect condition. Those of you who know about such things will understand.
Especially when Jerry let slip that he thought he had possibly over a hundred boxes of fabric stored away at home.
Gulp.
That’s not to say that there weren’t lots of other fab vintage things on offer at the market as well as fabrics, including vintage travel posters and midcentury furniture, beautiful clothing, clocks, mirrors, lighting, haberdashery, ceramics, vintage hifi equipment, records…
They were just some of the things that caught my eye. I could go on…
To anyone with a love of vintage it was a joy to behold.
But my house is somewhat full, my wallet empty, and my heart lost – to Jerry. Or rather, to Jerry’s wares.
I gave him my card, as I would love to see – and photograph – more of his amazing collection to show you.
I really hope he gets in touch.
Whether he does or not, I’ll be at Lady Bay Vintage’s next Market.
Girding my loins. ♥
Nice to see our Bauhaus fabric here – funnily enough only yesterday I was asked by a keen young man about the chances of finding some …
Standing at Jerry’s stall was a bit like playing “Name That Fabric Designer” – your Bauhaus was one of the first I recognised after that huge piece of Barbara Brown’s Omega at the back!
I sold a lovely piece of Bauhaus last year! I doubt I’ll see any again soon though…though a little bird told me that it might be re-released soon….? 😉
Ahh, I haven’t heard that… you are obviously more in the fabric loop than I!
Oh, that top photo of Jerry’s fabric! Such wonderful colours… If I’d seen that, I’d have been unable to resist. It’s begging for a fabulous modern quilt design.
It would be a fabulous quilt indeed – if rather an expensive one!
How nice to see a proper vintage market. I am very tired of Primark and New Look amongst a few genuine pieces. I have that top orange Heals fabric. It’s one of my favourites and I was given 2 full length curtains of it…
Paul who co-organises the fair used to run online and local bricks-and-mortar vintage shop Luna, and is an old hand at selling quality vintage so I expected the standard of wares on offer to be high and I was not disappointed.
Do you mean the Omega fabric, designed by Barbara Brown?
A lucky gift indeed!
No. The one designed by Jyoti Bhomik for Heals.
Ahh! Just as lovely, in a quite different way!
A feast for the eyes! These days—while packing up a household and studio—I also walk about such places with $5 or less in my pocket. But there is no place anywhere near where I’d have the ability to lay eyes and hands on fabrics like these!! Yowza. And that red Scandinavian pot with white leaves. Be still my heart.
Yes, it’s pretty rare here too, hence my excitement! I would love to see what else Jerry’s got stashed away at home in those boxes!
You must have been in pain! No money just always spoils my fun…sigh.
Wonderful post full of eye candy!
Glad you enjoyed it Jane! I really hope I’ll get the chance to blog more of Jerry’s fabrics in future!
Now that is just fabric porn! I’d be interested to know how much he actually sold though! 😉
He had a fair bit of interest whilst I was there, but as with many fairs some people do like to go along to have a good moan. My partner reported hearing moaning minnies all over the shop – “it isn’t as good as last time”, “the food isn’t hot enough”, “it’s all too expensive”.
I think there were people who just wanted a cheap bit of fabric & they might well have had a moan about prices, but then Jerry wouldn’t want to let his precious collection go to them anyway so he wasn’t bothered.
This is the second time I have stood next to Jerry (no I’m not sure how you spell it either). And I wonder where he has been all my life. I have been buying fabric off him for a couple of years. At the first fair he brought his ceramics and glass too but once I had discovered the boxes of fabric under the table the ladies of Lady Bay went wild for them. This time he brought some of his more pricey pieces. I also bought a pair of very fishy bathroom curtains with ships in bottles…I dream about him! Good to see you again. (Gerry has a number of framed pieces at Heanor Antiques Centre too.)
I like the sound of the fishy curtains!
I liked his pricey pieces, but I’d love to see some of his other treasures too! I haven’t forgotten about emailing you the photos by the way – just not had time to so far. Will send them tomorrow.
Oh my goodness! Thank you for sharing such fabric delights 🙂
Wowzers what a treat!!!! I am rather tempted to jump on a train and come and find Jerry/Gerry (I’ll just call him The Fabric Man!)…there’s no way I would have been able to resist, I would have been running to the nearest cashpoint! If he does get in touch, please let me know before you visit him…I might need you to do a bit of shopping for me! xx
He did get in touch, but alas not to invite me to photograph his other fabrics (which was what I was hoping / asking for). He will be at the next Lady Bay Vintage Market on September 12th though. If there’s anything rare that you are particularly after, drop me a message and let me know (and also how much you would be prepared to pay). I could ask him to have a look through his stash before the next fair.