Dating Vintage St Michael Finds
Posted on: September 19, 2012Last week Thrift-ola saw it's fastest ever selling item! The Alice in Wonderland apron by St Michael below was snapped up in less than 2 minutes after being uploaded to the online shoppe. Continue reading »
A 1970s St Michael apron with Alice in Wonderland illustration
After finding this little gem, in the midst of a heap of polyester dresses, the first thing I did was look at the label and to my delight it was by one of my all time fave vintage brands: St Michael. As most of you will know St Michael is the in house brand of our high street fave Marks & Sparks and back in the day they produced some of the finest quality and cute as a button garments from aprons to dresses.
I contacted the Marks & Spencer Company Archive as I wanted to be able to accurately date the apron and they emailed me An Illustrated Guide to Dating Using Labels. The 6 page doc includes photos of labels and tips on what to look for from the 30s to the 80s. It’s superb! They have requested that I don’t reproduce or distribute the document without the permission of the M&S Company Archive, so while I wait for their permission so I can do a thorough blog post anyone interested can email Company.Archive@marks-and-spencer.com
Instagram Round-up!
Posted on: September 17, 2012Here's a quick photographic peek behind the scenes of what went down at Thrift-ola Towers last week... Continue reading »
Find us on Instagram... search for Thriftola
If it’s sunny at this time of year then I’m mega making the most of it as all thrifters know the car boot calendar is coming to a close. I was up at 5am three times and captured the glorious pinky sky one early morning before I was too laden down to take any photos! I don’t own a car so I go buying on the bus. Crazy, I know. I dug out my all time fave book Thrift Score to re-read on my travels; Al Hoff is like my thrift idol & reading it always makes me wanna go run Thrift-ola stateside. Although I’d definitely need a set of wheels over there! On Friday I photographed all my finds and then as always laid them out on my studio floor so I could picture how they’ll look in the store, it’s just like re-arranging your book shelves on a Sunday morning I LOVE IT! I guess it’s my post-thrifting-pre-selling ritual. Once everything is uploaded to the online shoppe I pack stuff away in my little stockroom. My fave find of the week was a 1970s St Michael cotton apron with an Alice in Wonderland illustration and it became Thrift-ola’s fastest ever selling item when it was snapped up less than 2 minutes after I added it to the online shoppe. Wowee. Continue reading »
Cat Comp!
Posted on: September 1, 2012Recently I thrifted an amazing 1960s book about cats and inside the owner had paper clipped postcards, newspaper clippings and cat related mementos dating throughout the 50s and 60s to the pages inside. I've enjoyed looking through it for the past few weeks and to celebrate Caturday it's today's blog giveaway! Continue reading »
Win this 1960s book about cats and all the mementos inside!
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning this book and all the ace mementos inside is leave a cat related comment on this post. I’ll pick a winner at random on Monday. Happy Caturday!
Want a sneak peek inside the book? Check out our Facebook photo album here.
*** blog post update ***
The winner of the book is… Laura Jayde. Woop, woop!
Caturday
Posted on: August 29, 2012At Thrift-ola Towers WE LOVE CATS! So, on the first Saturday of every month I'll be uploading all my vintage cat related finds and donating 20% of all the product proceeds to Battersea Cats and Dogs Home. Starting this Saturday! Continue reading »
Celebrate how ace cats are with us on the first Saturday of every month!
My childhood cat was called Garfield and I’d chosen him from our neighbour’s cat’s litter when I was 6. He was ginger and fun and cuddly and did the best superman poses when stretching. When I moved to London I really missed not having a cute ball of fluff hanging about the place getting into silly situations. That’s when I started to thrift cat stuff. I filled my London flats with long necked 1950s ceramic cats, cat print homewares, cat shaped kitchenware… it was the closest thing to having a cat. When I started seeking out second hand treasures for the relaunch of Thrift-ola I noticed a large percentage of my finds were cat related and thought it only right to dedicate a day a month to uploading all these goodies and donating 20% of the takings to one of the bestest institutions in old London Town: Battersea Cats and Dogs Home. Continue reading »
Thrift-ola on Tumblr
Posted on: August 17, 2012Flick through the pages of our thrifted books over on our all new Tumblr page. Continue reading »
The Golden Age of Advertising - the 60s
I absolutely love sourcing ‘n selling thrifted books but they often pass through my hands too quickly and I don’t get the chance to enjoy them. So I’ve decided to share my favourite pages of the books I find over on our new Tumblr page. Continue reading »
Hey there! My name is Leona and this is my online shop and blog where you can follow my thrifty adventures and snap up a vintage gem of two.
