Dashfield Vintage 2012: The year that was...

Wow it's hard to believe that 2012 is so quickly hurdling to an end!  It sure has been a great one hasn't it. 
This year I felt like I needed to take some time out from the Dashfield shop, the early morning weekend markets and the manic hunting of treasures... but of course life had other ideas.  Somehow every time I thought the last would be 'my last', something new and exciting always presented itself.  Looking back over the photos from the last year made me realise that a love for vintage is in my genes and there's no point in denying it!

The year got off to a roaring start with the first (and may I say very successful) Very Vintage Day Out.  It was such a fantastic day of vintage, pin ups, beauty contests, cupcakes, rockabilly and all sorts of other old school delights.  Everybody made a huge effort to dress in their finest vintage threads, perfected their victory rolls and were part of a splendid sea of rouge lips.  Sadly we won't be attending this year (it's just getting a little close to baby time) but if you're interested in going you can check them out here.

Early on in the year it became clear that Dashfield Vintage could no longer be run from our dining room table!  A rack of clothing, stacks of suitcases and postage bags made dinners at the table a little tricky so we moved ourselves into a new little space.

Despite vowing not to, some markets were just too tempting to turn down.  When we received an email from Golden Dawn asking if we wanted to be part of their monthly Gypsy Fair we just couldn't say no.  These markets were held in the bar with a live blue grass band, fortune tellers, stall holders and of course a steady flow cocktails in summer and hot mulled wine in winter

We discovered some really great new places around town that love vintage as much as we do.  The Tea Lady was particularly fun and we got the chance to nibble on little club sandwiches and sip on delicious teas.  Everything was of course served on vintage china, at retro tables and beautiful old decor. 

We made sure that hundreds of beautiful vintage frocks went to happy new owners... and had a fair bit of fun fooling around taking photos!

Probably the highlight of the year at Dashfield Vintage was the fantastic pop up shop HOLD FAST that we were a part of.  The whole thing was organised by our amazingly talented friend Isis, who went on to open Hold Fast as a permanent shop show casing the works of some of the countries craftiest people.  It was an honour to have our gears set up among so many great stalls and we had a really great week.

Of course there were many other moments that made this year great.  Our favourite cafe Cosset invited us along for a delicious afternoon of cakes, vintage frocks and marvellous homemade sodas.   I took part in a fantastic re-upholstery class and learned how to turn tired old furniture into bright new pieces again. We looked forward to the annual Vintage Textile Fair the way a child looks forward to Christmas!  Although we ended up coming out empty handed, it wasn't for a lack of amazing vintage clothing that was on offer!  And naturally we had a great time visiting our favourite vintage stores, collecting treasures (that we really have no use for but they just looked too good to leave behind) and trawling the local markets on the weekends because you never quite know what you might find!  I also began to work as a stylist this year and loved being able to use as much of my vintage knowledge (and collections) as possible.

As for what is to come next year?  It's all a bit of a mystery to be honest but there are a few exciting things happening for certain;
- Early in the new year marks the first edition of an exciting new vintage magazine called Glory Days.  I'll keep you posted when it comes out but you can expect all sorts of vintage lifestyle goodies (including a couple of articles by yours truly ;)).
- Our little family is going to be growing in February with the arrival of a certain little somebody :).
- There are going to be some changes to the way I blog.  In fact this blog is going to be split in two, the Dashfield Vintage one will almost solely be dedicated to shop talk, vintage related events and adventures, and probably the usual DIY efforts.  Then there will also be a separate personal blog where I will be sharing baby related things, day to day life, family photos and adventures of mamahood!  I know that sort of thing isn't of interest to everybody so I've decided to keep the two separate.  I will let you know where you can find the personal blog soon and if you're curious you can pop on over and say hi.
 
So there you have it my lovelies, that was another year been and (almost) gone here at Dashfield Vintage.  I want to thank you all very much for your support. I have so much enjoyed meeting all these amazing new people, making new friends and learning more than I thought as possible.  I hope you are all having a fantastic Christmas and a happy, safe New Year.  I can't wait to catch up on my favourite blogs and see how you've all spent your holidays.
xoxo