A Fun Weekend At The Retro Festival 2013

We spent the weekend trading at The Retro Festival in Berkshire. The festival is in its fifth year but it was our first time attending it. It was very different to the usual type of festivals we trade at, but it was nice to take some of our older vintage stock out to this event and experience something a little different. It was certainly a lot more civilised - with very family friendly feel and all the entertainment wrapping up at eleven, it was quite a pleasant change to be tucked up in bed by midnight in a field so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I must be getting old!

The festival featured air displays, military vehicles, a very extensive display of folding caravans (yes, such a thing exists) and classic cars. There were also music stages with the focus mainly on rock n roll, and dance workshops for those wishing to brush up their jiving skills. There were also a lot of stalls, with plenty of vintage clothing, records, homewares and furniture from all eras available. There was even an onsite tattoo artist! We had lots of fun trading alongside our buddies from Second Hand Rose again, our best selling items of the weekend were dresses, bright patterned shirts, retro cat's eyes sunglasses and lots of hats.

Excitingly, they were filming an episode of Midsomer Murders at the festival. They had a special area of the festival set up as a film set and I managed to spot Barnaby getting ready for a scene. Gosh, I really am getting old!

Here are some pictures from this very retro weekend-

A busy morning on our stall

Dream car!

Pretending to be the perfect 1950's housewife, but the flip flops rather ruin the effect!

Cutest spot of the weekend!

Tutorial - Customising Denim Shorts with Rips, Tears and Distressing

Rihanna, Cara and Rita show us how to wear ripped denim shorts in style.

Here at Minimum Mouse not a scrap of fabric ever goes to waste if we can help it, so we do a fair bit of customising on pieces that are either damaged or just plain dull, to give them a new lease of life and freshen them up. So I thought it might be interesting (or it might not, I'll let you be the judge!) to do some tutorials on customising techniques so you can have a go on your own clothes. It's so satisfying to take a garment that you don't really wear anymore and turn it into something much more lovable. It's also great if you like charity shopping and car booting - you find so much more great stuff when you have a few tricks up your sleeve to tweak them to perfection!

As you can see, celebrities such as Rihanna, Cara Delevingne and Rita Ora love their distressed looking denim, it's perfect for festivals or daytime wear, but also looks great for nights out. A pair of worn in denim shorts can toughen up an otherwise girly look and a pair of slashed denim jeans is always going to be a classic look.

First up I thought I would go back to basics. I'm assuming you all know how to turn a pair of jeans into shorts (clue- you take a pair of scissors and lob the legs off, job done) but why stop there? Every one is wearing denim shorts these days, so it's fun to mix things up a little. In the coming weeks I'm hoping to look at techniques like dying, bleaching, studding and applique, but to begin I'm going to look at good old distressing. That's taking a neat and tidy pair of denims and making them look like they've just survived the apocalypse... in a good way. Cos nothing says rock n roll, devil may care, effortless cool like a pair of beaten up denim shorts or jeans.

1. Attacking your shorts with a knife.

 You will need a craft knife and a chopping board. As common sense would dictate, you need to do this with care, you may want to wear a pair of gardening gloves to protect your hands while you attack your denim - no one wants to slash up their hand instead of their shorts!

Place the denim on the chopping board and choose the spot you want to work on. Then, hold the fabric in place with one hand, while taking the knife and slicing across the fabric with your other hand. Don't feel the need to press to hard, it is better to go over the fabric repeatedly to gradually break it up. After a few minutes the fabric should be looking pretty shredded, as you can see below.

And that's it. Doesn't look much now, but once these babies have taken a spin in the washing machine they will look superb.

2. Hacking at your shorts with scissors.

This gives a less subtle effect than the knife, with actual full on tears rather than frayed sections, so you need to be mindful of where you do this unless you want your knickers on show when wearing your shorts!

The benefit of this technique is that it is super quick and easy. Just take your scissors and cut in a straight line across a section of the fabric. Then, to boost the fraying effect, take the scissors and gently cut little nicks along the edge of the cut. And that's it! Pop them in the machine and when they come out they will have frayed in a similar way to the hems of the shorts.

3. Wearing down your shorts with sandpaper.

For a more subtle effect to give your denim a softened, worn in look rather than full on holes and rips, you can use sandpaper. Simply take some sandpaper and rub it on the denim. The coarser the sandpaper the more pronounced the effect. Here I have used quite a fine sandpaper and the effect isn't that visible (sorry) but did make the fabric feel beautifully soft, like that favourite pair of jeans you've been wearing for about ten years!

 

And there you have it. A few simple ways to roughen up a dull pair of denims. I rather stupidly forgot to take pictures of the finished results and have now sold this pair, but once they came out of the washing machine they looked really frayed, and the more you wash them the greater the effect becomes.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and that it comes in handy, I'm planning to do some more posts on customising and reworking old clothes, so if you have any requests please let me know and I'll see what I can do!

Adventures at Secret Garden Party

Our stall, fancy dress, the beautiful lake, the fairground rides and the beautiful countryside.

We had a whale of a time at the Secret Garden Party festival in the beautiful wilds of Cambridgeshire last weekend. It was our first time at this festival but we had heard a lot about it from friends. It didn't disappoint!

We were trading alongside our friends from Second Hand Rose, which is an amazing vintage shop in Worcester that I really can't recommend highly enough - Clare always has such amazing stock at really reasonable prices. For this festival Clare brought along a vast selection of costumes, from ball gowns to tailcoats via Worzel Gummidge and clown outfits, there really was something for everyone. Secret Garden Party is known as THE fancy dress festival, and we saw so many fabulous costumes over the course of the weekend (our faves were the Button Moon family, giant salt and pepper pots and the lucky rainbow folk you can see above).

Second Hand Rose's amazing selection and a happy customer in his new party dress

Also we were joined by Loll, from Wool, Wombling and General... who was holding weaving workshops. She was available all weekend to teach people how to make festival headbands or friendship bracelets in an array of pretty colours. Loll has also kindly let me use a lot of her photographs for this blog post as I kept forgetting to bring my camera out, so thanks Loll! I'd definitely recommend checking out her blog if you are into crafty things and vintage collecting.

It was a busy and very fun weekend, and we met lots of lovely customers as always! This lovely lady was proposed to by her boyfriend with one of our Scrabble rings. She said YES!

My favourite sale of the weekend had to be this Carmen Miranda inspired two piece which I had been saving for festival season. With its ruffles and tropical fruit print it's a real showstopper of an outfit, it was just waiting for the right new owner, and here she is! She looks utterly gorgeous in it so I'm glad it has gone to a great new home!

Clare, our pal from Second Hand Rose, bought this purple cape with feathered collar from us (and the sunglasses!) Again, this item couldn't have gone to a better home! She looks amazing, teaming it with her elephant bum bag and patterned swimsuit.

We really enjoyed the festival, on our down time we enjoyed swimming in the lake, singing karaoke, watching Public Service Broadcasting, ceilidh dancing, exploring the labrynth, watching the fireworks display on the Saturday night, dancing in the Number 13 club (it was an actual garden shed that played Stevie Wonder's Superstition on repeat) indulging in a bit of pampering at the Bathing Under The Sky spa and eating lots and lots of amazing food. It was exhausting and gruelling at times - waking up at 5.30am and finding the party still going strong can be a bit disconcerting when you are working long days, but it was well worth it, and we really hope we can bring Minimum Mouse back for more adventures in the garden next year. Here are some more snaps from the weekend.

Fashion and Fun at Mostly Jazz, Funk and Soul Festival

 

This weekend we hit our first festival of the year, Mostly Jazz, Soul and Funk Festival in beautiful Moseley Park in Birmingham. It was lovely to do a festival that was so close to home, it was a real luxury to go home to your own bed and have a proper shower each night! Our stall was right next to the bar, and we were busy all weekend, with folks on their way to and from the bar stopping to pick up a bit of vintage finery on their way past. The festival coincided with a heatwave here in the UK, so it was no surprise that sunglasses, straw hats and hawaiian shirts were our best sellers! Here are some snaps from the weekend-

It was our first time at this festival, and we really enjoyed the friendly, laid back feel. Moseley Park is a hidden paradise, tucked away just off Moseley high street, it isn't usually open to the public as it operates on a key system - local residents can pay an annual fee to have their own key to the park and so it's a rare treat to get to enjoy it. It was lovely to see such a great mix of people at the festival, there were people of all ages from newborn babies to true festival veterans soaking up the sun and enjoying the music.

 

Our stall was situated next to the bar, on the tennis courts. Our vintage hawaiian shirts were soon snapped up, and our floral headbands and crowns were a hit. Thanks to everyone who came to have a look!

Our neighbours for the weekend were Summer and Silver, who are based in Birmingham's famous Jewellery Quarter and sell beautiful silver jewellery. Their stall was a real treasure trove of pretty treats! Highly recommended.

Mostly Jazz is a pretty chilled out affair, and the weather was scorching all weekend, so sun dresses and shorts were definitely the order of the day! We saw so many stylish folks over the weekend but I didn't get much time to take photos, so here are just a few of the well dressed ladies who came by our stall at the weekend.

 

You can't beat a vintage print dress, wide brimmed hat and ladylike sandals for an effortless summer look.

 

Floral print dress, tribal style sandals and a bright yellow bag = festival perfection.

 

This cute eastern inspired playsuit and strappy sandals combo is simple and stylish.

 

I just love this citrus sun dress! The chunky necklace and preppy loafers add an individual twist to the outfit.

 

This group of girls have nailed colourful and fun festival dressing. Who needs shoes when you're looking this good!

 

This cute and quirky look is utterly adorable, and we just love the matching satchel and sunnies.

And finally, we have to talk about the music. Initially I wasn't too excited about this festival, I don't really like jazz music and that made me wary, but the line up was really diverse and so much fun. The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble really got the crowd going, as did Craig Charles' DJ set and The Blockheads. But the ultimate highlights were Candi Staton's polished performance and and Chic's closing night set which was the ultimate disco party. They even filled the stage with festival goers at the end and it really did feel like such a treat to get to see them play hit after hit after hit.

We'll be back at Moseley Park later on in the summer for Moseley Folk Festival, Mostly Jazz's sister festival, and we're very much looking forward to it. We just need a couple of lazy days to recover after this three day party and we'll be raring to go again! Next stop, Secret Garden Party!

Chic's On Stage Party