Loving the vintage vibe!

Here's where I'll share my obsession with vintage fabric! It's taking over my house!

I'll sharing with you my favorite fabrics, my 'adventures" in dressmaking using vintage patterns, some home furnishing ideas and no doubt I'll be telling you about any exciting finds! Love to hear about your vintage adventures too!

My first Shop was AudreysCat ( online shop May 2010) , but my new logo / name - WittyDawn , arrived Jan 2014.

I hope you'll have time to browse my shops too !

Monday 31 December 2012

Out with the 'Old' in with the New 'Old' ( by which in mean new vintage fabric goodies..)

It's that time of year again! Bye Bye 2012... HELLO 2013 !

So I've new ideas to explore  - a idea about flowers, new owl ,cat , rabbit and frog designs to play with and develop, new bunting ideas, more patchwork cushions and possibly artwork - all with my vintage fabrics. I'm also going to relaunch my website to be the hub for my custom orders and a place to showcase all my vintage fabric.

This means I have to clear a little out of my existing shops - so have a look in my sale sections - at the moment there are about 50 items on sale!

Items like these cushions covers for only £10 on Etsy Etsy Sale Section

And even a few mice like this one in Folksy ( plus LOADS of other things ) Folksy Sale
There's a big variety to choose from : bags, mice, cats, birds, aprons, bunting, purses, brooches, cushions, and some Christmas items too :)

Hope to see you there !

Wednesday 19 December 2012

The Car Boot Vintage 70s Wallpaper is UP!



We found this wall paper a couple of year ago for £1 and finallty got around to putting it up! we have quite a few vintage bits of furniture now about the house favouring 70s solid wood and a fair bit of G Plan. This is a feature wall in our rather large L shaped family room/dining/kitchen area, the accent colours throughout being orange, aqua and turquoise.



We recently replaced our Dining room suite with a  G plan one , reupholstered by myself in a favorite Francis Price barkcloth. The large horse textile hanging is on the opposite wall to the wallpaper one. PLEASE NOTE my house is not normally this tidy !




Friday 30 November 2012

Christmas Presents ? a solution

SO you need a present for your loved one - too busy? no ideas? ( guys it may  be cheeky but I'm looking at you...). For £25 to £40 you can get a bundle of cool stuff from me!

 Buy some thing to put gifts in - I have bags ( from £9) OR fabulous Christmas stocking like this ( £9-£14)

THEN  add something to go in it !
Like my mice at £9
or maybe a brooch £4.50 to £5.50 - like these owl ones

Or maybe some fabulous bunting  !  only £15




As an example all the items above would cost you only £40 plus P&P


SO  that's pretty easy eh? totally OOAK and Handmade here in the UK 
Have a look through my shops and see what YOU can come up with - or ask me for some suggestions.

(If you buy from both of my shops but want your items in one delivery I will refund postage to ensure you don't over pay :)



Tuesday 23 October 2012

Giveaway time!

To celebrate gaining a total of 3500 followers on Twitter it seemed like a good idea to celebrate with a little gift!

The winner of the final draw can choose either this bird brooch or one of my Owl Brooches ( various examples shown here and in my shops )






THE RULES:

To enter you must :
1. promote an item from one of my shops
2. Tell me ON THIS BLOG blog what you promoted and where - it can be on any social media such as twitter, facebook, pinterest, stumbleupon, flickr, google+, blogging.
3. You can of course promote as much as you wish BUT for the sake of simplicity there will be one entry to the draw per person.
4. RT's on Twitter , shares on Facebook of the competition details would be fabulous but by themselves won't count as an entry - you MUST do 1 and 2 please.

Here are my main shops http://folksy.com/shops/AudreysCathttp://www.etsy.com/shop/audreyscat and you can see the links on this blog too. This is me on Twitter https://twitter.com/AudreysCat and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AudreysCat/255819394466640 .

I will close the competition on 9pm Wednesday 31st and I will select a winner at random on Thurs 1st Nov and announce it on my blog/twitter/facebook (one of my kids will pick a name out of a hat!)

Thanks ! Dawn

Monday 22 October 2012

Who Painted this 1960's painting ?

Can anyone help me ID this painting ? it's not for sale  but my friends parents would love to find out some more information on it . 
Bought in 1965, believed to be called 'Athena block print' (although that seems unlikely - bought from Athena were they around then ?) Apparently one of a pair - the other being to view of the little girl from the front. Size is 46 cm by 60cm. The signature is hard to read Eli Byorn Larmam or something.... 1963. Any help much appreciated.

Sunday 21 October 2012

Thrifting Success

Went over to Siddington Village Hall for the table top sale on Sunday - just for a little trip out and expecting just a tea and cake session -  and bought some exciting bits and pieces . Met the dapper and slightly cheeky Laurence Llewelyn-bowen and bought a great tray and tea cosy from his charming wife Jackie and their daughters ( Jackie being the designer of these products). I think the tray ( the design is Verandah ) looks particularly fine with my grey and blue poole china. Since the L-B's moved to the area they have been very involved in local activities which is rather super. 



Met another lovely couple who sold us a set of 4 of these rather fabby chairs ( I know you are shocked - not - how COULD I resist them! ) and some sweet japanese style tins .... and WOW look at the 3 china cats - they will be featuring in some of my product photos I think... (the bunting is mine - plenty of that available in my Etsy and Folksy shops !)

Thursday 11 October 2012


These Brooches were a big hit at my 'Autumn Open House Event' and I'm in the process of loading them ( and bunting and Xmas stockings...! )  into my Folksy and Etsy Shops. Look out for them on Facebook too... https://www.facebook.com/pages/AudreysCat/255819394466640?ref=hl

Monday 1 October 2012

2012 Autumn Open House Event !

Once again I'm having my Autumn Open House event - this year I'm donating 10% of offline sales to MacMillan cancer ( I did the same for my stall at a friend's coffee morning last Friday) . It's a good opportunity to get my stock out, take some more photos and drink tea with my friends :) ! ( and eat cake... obviously once I've had time to bake some that is...! )

This is just a glimpse of what is available - WOW I've got a lot of luverly stuff!

Thursday 20 September 2012

September 'Chubby Chick' promotion

Hi all,

I want to make more but I'd like a few for find new nests before I do! so I've a little offer with my Chubby Chicks through the rest of September.

Place your order by 30th Sept and you will recieve a FREE 'lucky dip' brooch from my summer show stock - all very similar to my online brooches see below for examples of what you'd receive.

here’s the flock … http://folksy.com/shops/AudreysCat?shop_section=chubby_chicks
and they ARE pretty cute


I have another offer on these end of  season brooches - 5 for £16 ! another 'lucky dip' offer ( but they are ALL rather super....) http://folksy.com/items/3585906-WHOLESALE-Retro-Brooches-set-of-5-handmade-from-vintage-fabric

Sunday 16 September 2012

Making A LOT of bunting



This week I've been making LOADS of bunting .... all of it featuring vintage fabrics . I think I've made about 200 pennents/flags ... I think I'll have a bit of a break from it now! these will be listed in Oct - I've a coffee morning to attend and an 'Open house' event planned so we'll see it any of it sells here first!

Next week .... I will be making more Christmas stockings! many will match with fabric used in this bunting :)

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Bank Holiday ! local Horti Show, some family successes!


We had a good day at our local Horticultural show in spite of terrible weather. As a family we put in lots of entries and came away with a bunch of 1sts/2nd/3rds etc !

This joint entry of 3 items of craft by Mum and myself came 1st.


Son won 1st with this super loaf of bread.



I got Firsts in for a Watercolor, a sketch and for this collage


( please don't be too impressed - some categories don't have many entries - however the standard is really high and it's super to see how much talent is bursting out in our area!)

Monday 20 August 2012

Next Crafty Folk Blog Giveaway ~ Round Robin (an Etsy Team collaboration)




Next Crafty Folk Blog Giveaway ~ Round Robin




I'm a member of the super Crafty Folk Team on Etsy, and I signed up to be part of the team round robin giveaway. The idea being to create a collaborative piece of work, passed from person to person, each making add addition in whatever medium they wish. Our starting point was this super piece of A4 sized artwork:


1. The original poster was created by the talented Dawn of Lilys Night Garden (also Team Leader of Crafty Folk).

2. Handmade in Keswick, painted the beautiful gold locks, which also have stunning highlights of bronze and red.

3. The poster was then sent to Hannah of Squintessential who added pretty colours and sparkles to her gown and glamourous eyelashes!

4. Next Frou Frou Felt, who created a beautiful felted pink flower brooch to adorned her hair before sending her on her way to her next 'beauty consultant' !

5. The talented Jen of Miss Bohemia was the next to apply her creativity creating the fabulous lilac butterfly/text background artwork.

6. My own addition has been the little brooch made of vintage fabric which seemed to me to be the perfect match to the colours and styles of the previous contributers - next contributers please position this as you wish to fit in with later additions :) .

Our lady will be setting off for her next journey shortly. Further updates on the progress of this poster for the giveaway will be posted on the Team Crafty Folk blog here. http://crafty-folk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/craftyfolk-round-robin.html

Friday 20 July 2012

it's ALL about Hats....


We've been talking about hats on the forums - and admiring made by Sophie of http://folksy.com/shops/imogensimagination . She makes super hats with flowers, birds and butterflys on them like this - very retro!


And in particular we've also been talking about BIG hats so I scanned a picture of my BIG wedding hat! from Droopy and Browns .... a LOOONG time ago ( the hint is in scanned ....no digital camera then !)



It's all been a bit 'hat'y' this week as I've also just recieved my leopard print and red lace Bubble Betty rain hats http://www.bubblebetty.com/ - devine! now I WANT rain! look out for more piccies of me in my Bubble Betty's to come - even if it's sunny.... (oh that isn't me in this photo it's one from Betty's website ....!)

Monday 9 July 2012

Christmas ... IN JULY !



Ok I know our Summer weather has been dreadful but making Christmas stockings ? ...REALLY ?

However if you craft to make a living ( well sort of...!) then you won't be alone. Lots of crafters I know are starting to think about Xmas and if you want to stand a chance of being featured in the Nov/Dec editions of magazines then they are looking for items NOW!

So I'm getting busy - here's some of my new Xmas stockings in a luscious vintage ruby red sateen ( 50s/ 60s) - if you like 'em let me know !

All together now..."Jingle bells, jingle bells...."

Thursday 14 June 2012

Another Retro Mouse Giveaway!


Just a few days ago I passed a milestone - a total of 3000 followers on Twitter! so it seemed like a good idea to celebrate with a little gift!

I'm giving away one of my Retro Mice - it'll be one of these green/pink/black/white fellows made in Vintage Bark Cloth. He can also be found on my Website http://www.audreyscatvintage.co.uk/

THE RULES:

To enter you must promote one of my items or one of my shops - as my website is fairly new it would be especially nice to get some extra views on there!

To be entered you MUST tell me ON THIS BLOG what you promoted and where - it can be on any social media such as twitter, facebook, pinterest, stumbleupon, flickr, google+, blogging.

You can see all my shop links on the right hand side of this blog.

The Competition will close 9pm Friday 22nd.

I will select a winner at random on Sat 23rd and announce it on my blog/twitter/facebook (one of my kids will pick a name out of a hat!)

Thanks ! Love Dawn

EDIT: THE WINNER WAS..... Clare Sherwin ! ( drawn out from a hat by my youngest Mon 25th June 8.30 am - sorry I was a bit late on doing the draw/announcement!)

Tuesday 22 May 2012

My latest 'House' project

I've been looking for a G Plan table and chairs for a while and was finally rewarded at my local Sue Ryder shop - of which I am a very good customer! So we are now the proud owner of a 'new' dining room set.  To confirm to fire regs the chairs have to be sold minus upholstery so my job this week is renovating and recovering 6 seats. I've made a start ... and I'll post the final results shortly. The fabric is a vintage upholstery weight fabric from the 1960s called  'Pathos' by Francis Price. ( however I also still have 4 other seats and my other dining room table ....opps....)



Wednesday 9 May 2012

BUT this is FAR more exciting ....! My web site is LIVE!

Pleased to announce that my web site is now live ! http://www.audreyscatvintage.co.uk/ and features many items not available in my other outlets. Hope you like it ! here's some of the lovely things on offer....

Friday 4 May 2012

IS IT NICE TO HAVE SOME COPY YOUR NAME AND LOGOS ? Nope not so much...

Back in Autumn 2009 a friend and I with a mutual interest in vintage fabric and sewing started a little venture called 'Audrey's Cat'.At that time I produced the Audrey's Cat avatar and logo that some of you will know. As I recall the name was my friend's idea - a link to the cat in Audrey Hepburn's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Due to changes in her life she was involved less and less in the business from about June 2010, finally formally leaving in about Sept 2010 and we agreed that I would continue on using the name - and my designs, and build upon the web precess I'd begun to grow from May 2010. This is my design on which my avatar and business logos are based

Yesterday ( Fri 4th May)  my OH finds another Audrey's Cat online- ( I know there is another one do do with ACTUAL cats...) however this one is linked to vintage jewellery and is based in Dubai with vintage jewellery parties, her face book page dates from March this year  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=326260044100246&set=a.326260037433580.73698.326259857433598&type=1&theater . My friend has a relative in Dubai who is a keen collecter of vintage jewellery.... and oh! how similar her business card logo is to my cat in my Audrey's Art shop ....how lovely....  you may draw your own conclusions....

This is her business card shown on her face book page.... kinda a 'lazy' way to start a business....

Saturday 21 April 2012

'New' Vintage fabric for my curtains


I've been looking for some vintage fabric for my front living room for come time ( crazy given the amount of fabric I already have!) but I wanted something more subtle that the full on vivid retro textiles I use elsewhere. So I was thrilled to find and win on ebay this super, vitually as new, immaculately clean Bevis fabric. We have some redecorating to finish first in this room but I LOVE this fabric.

Saturday 14 April 2012

New Retro Applique Projects!


I've been mulling over designs for 'luxury' retro cushions for a while, featuring my gorgeous vintage fabric and trims with applique using my own drawings. Thought I might share with you the first two that I've started work on. These feature mainlt 70s cottons with floral and scandi themes.

If you fancy suggesting some other motifs I'd be thrilled to hear you ideas!
Dawn/Audrey X!

Monday 5 March 2012

Retro Mouse Competition

Just a few days ago I passed gaining a total of 2500 followers on Twitter! so it seemed like a good idea to celebrate with a little gift!

I'm giving away one of my Retro Mice!



THE RULES:

To enter you must promote an item from one of my shops, telling me ON THIS BLOG blog what you promoted and where - it can be on any social media such as twitter, facebook, pinterest, stumbleupon, flickr, google+, blogging.

Here are my main shops http://folksy.com/shops/AudreysCat , http://www.etsy.com/shop/audreyscat and http://www.swankymaison.com/about/audreys-cat.html you can see the links on this blog too. This is me on Twitter as well @audreyscat.

The Competition will close 9pm Sunday 11th.

I will select a winner at random on Mon 12th and announce it on my blog/twitter/facebook (one of my kids will pick a name out of a hat!)

Thanks ! Dawn

Sunday 4 March 2012

AudreysCat at Prema Art Centre, Uley, Glos


A couple of weeks ago I was contacted via Facebook by the super folks at Prema Art Centre https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002137008477 asking if I'd like to have a few of my item offered for sale in their display unit. As you can imagine I was delighted to have my bags, and my Retro ReBorn animals included in their colourful Retro themed display along with these other beautiful items from talented makers.

It's a great Art Centre with a diverse offerings of craft, crafting/arts groups and performances on offer. I have attended a fused glass course, my OH has been on a singing course and been to a few gigs there all great!. In a fabulous location and building, well worth checking out!

Wednesday 29 February 2012

When I say I've a fabric addiction I MEAN it!

When I say I've got plenty of fabric from which to do custom makes I'm REALLY not kidding....!
this is about half of my fabric stash ... jealous much ? hee hee!

Saturday 21 January 2012

Exciting - I was in Craftseller!


At the end of Dec 2011 I was featured in Craftseller - Fame at last (!?!?) along with some of my Retro Reborn animals. Very strange to see yourself in a magazine!