THE VINTAGE BAZAAR IN DEVIZES, WILTSHIRE

The Vintage Bazaar at the beautiful Corn Exchange in Devizes

We're in the middle of a lot of building work on our cottage. it's been like the Mad Tea Party with electricians, plumbers and plasterers all in my kitchen. It is difficult to make tea with the water and electrics turned off! Perhaps putting in a new bathroom and kitchen whilst replacing the roof on the back of your house is not advisable. We are making progress but I've not been out much during all of this.

However, I could not resist attending the Vintage Bazaar at the end of August in Devizes. It's a very old market town in Wiltshire which is always a delight to visit. There is even a castle! The bazaar was brilliant, sadly my expertise with my new camera was not, so you will only get a few photographs from me for the day. Fortunately a lot of other bloggers have posted theirs so you can have a look at those to pick up some of the glamour and excitement of the day.

The venue was exceptional - the perfect setting for vintage goods. The Corn Exchange is a very beautiful building. The stalls were all laid out so well and I had to contain myself from having a buying frenzy! There were a few celebrities there, including Marc Allum and Lisa Lloyd of the BBC Antiques Roadshow and their magazine Homes & Antiques. Liz Van Hasselt had a stall there and is one of the co-ordinators of the Vintage Bazaar. Homes & Antiques featured her in the September issue of the magazine. You can read their post about the Vintage Bazaar with great photographs from the day HERE: 



Liz's stall with some of her collection of religious figurines.

Although I came home with lovely goodies, the highlight was meeting fellow blogger and vintage dealer Ted and Bunny who had a stall there.  I've loved her shop for years and it was such a pleasure to finally meet her. Her blog is always inspirational and I want her handsome horse Bruce!



The cute logo of Ted and Bunny
their blog is here;

I bought this wonderful old book from her with illustrations by Leslie Brooks. 

Vintage American quilt from Ted and Bunny

But this is the one that got away. This antique American quilt was peeking out from under her trolley and caught my eye the minute I saw it. It's made from old feed sacks and is absolutely gorgeous! Elaine told me that she had to wear it as a kind of shawl to get it on the plane home from the US. With all the work on the cottage I am bereft of monies or I would have snapped this up. It's worth every penny of the £150.00 she is asking for it. My photo simply does not do it justice and these quilts are real collectors items.

Here is a small collection of items from the day which somehow ended up in my shopping bag. None of these are destined for sale, although the lace may adorn some wool and tweed coats I am working on to sell in the shop in Hungerford.

Gorgeous old red glass necklace




All at £1.00 each! From a box of fabulous antique lace treasures.

 

I was so excited to be there and had limited time to wiz round to see everyone that I failed to get details of who I bought items from. This stall was tucked in a far back corner and had tons of vintage fabrics, lace and  thread.  I could have spent hours just with her! If anyone knows what she is called please let me know and I will update this to credit her.

Anyone who knows me will know that I have spent my whole life being obsessed with everything  pre-Raphaelite. Just as I was leaving some very pretty fabric remnants neatly folded on a table display caught my eye. I had already decided not to buy anything else ..... but surely these small tokens would fit into one of my bags?

The first one is large enough to make two cushions if I use a border and a backing. I think it is probably 1960s or 70s and is a heavy weight velvet upholstery fabric. It's beautifully coloured with deep rich blue, coral and green. I got this for £2.50!!!!


Remnant of a William Morris print on Liberty velvet
 

The kind lady who could probably tell that I really wanted these by the way I kept stroking them let me have this teeny remnant below for a mere £0.50 pence!

It is really small, but so exquisite. I do not recognise the fabric, and have a bit of research to do yet, but believe it to be William Morris from the early days of his fabric designs.

It is faded and yet still rich with it's red background and pastel blue and pink flowers and trailing green stems and leaves. I don't know what I am going to do with this one. It would work well as a top on a jewel box, or a tiny lavender filled cushion. I might frame it, although being able to touch it is part of the it's appeal. 


A tiny fragment of a REAL Arts and Crafts fabric

I was so thrilled that I forgot to find out who I bought these remnants from. So, if the lady who sold me these is reading this let me know, I'd love to credit you. And find you at the next Vintage Bazaar!

Lastly I did buy this to sell. It is an old Athena print of a Burne-Jones painting called 'The Beguiling of Merlin', created between 1872 and 1877. The print is a good one but I think that the mount and frame could be improved upon. I intended to reframe this and put it in the shop. Really I did .... but then I carried it upstairs to get it out of the chaos of the building works and it looked so perfect against the blue walls and carpet of the bedroom.

The Beguiling of Merlin
Edward Burne-Jones

 

Detail from the print
 

It is an amazing painting with an interesting history.  Burne-Jones was inspired by the late medieval French 'Romance of Merlin' to portray Nimue as a femme fatale whose spell proves too powerful even for the sorcerer Merlin as they walk together in the forest of Broceliande. I like the way that Nimue having subdued him, is reading from his own book of spells and how Burne-Jones has imagined her as having serpents in her hair reminiscent of Medusa. He is a master (like Lord Leighton) of painting the diaphanous folds of her dress and creating a play of light by using highlights of another colour. 

Boreas by john William Waterhouse

I also love the grey blues which he has used in this, which remind me of Waterhouse's 'Boreas'  painting. A previous owner of our cottage adored blue and the carpets and tiles throughout are a mid-blue. I do like this colour but it has been hard to work with having blue underfoot in every room. This print picks it up nicely and will help tie in the bedroom's colours. And it was a bargain at Oxfam for just £6.99!