Here at Retrovert we love to upcycle and reuse old things. I try to buy as much as I can second hand, but sometimes it's harder to find exactly what you want.

Recently, I bought a couple of items of clothing at car boot sales that were well made and my size, but the colours weren't right for me.

Finally, an excuse to spend the day dyeing in the garden! I used Procion MX dyes, which work well on vegetable fibres like cotton, as well as silk. Here is how my two experiments turned out:

I love the block print pattern of this vintage Anokhi two piece so I tried not to dye it too dark, so you can still see the design. I like how the buttons and a bit of darning are still yellow; two little touches that add to the quirkiness of the garment.

I think it turned out just right - turquoise and rush green are colours I love to wear and it will be a perfect outfit for the summer that has finally arrived!

For my second experiment I transformed this white silk dress. It was pretty, but you can probably tell by now that I have a propensity for bright and colourful! I used a mix of royal blue and magenta to give a heathery purple and for a mottled effect I loosely bound the dress before I dyed it.

I love the way it has turned out, it's amazing that a simple change in colour can give a dress new life.

So there you have it! I now have two lovely outfits for the summer that are completely unique (and cost me less than £3!)

Do you make or upcycle clothes? I'd love to hear about any projects and tips you'd like to share!

I managed to fit in another shopping trip this morning (under the guise of finding a second hand camping table for this week's Cambridge Folk Festival...) Well, I had no luck with the table, but I managed to pick up these retro delights!

So far all the soda syphons we've had have sold as soon as we put them on our stall and I'm hoping this one is no exception. I think this Hartridge's one is the nicest we've had  - the blue and red really make it stand out.

I wasn't sure about this mirror, but it is definitely growing on me. Gaiety Girl, a musical comedy, opened in 1893 and the design is based on Dudley Hardy's original poster.

My addiction to buying vintage games is getting stronger! These two, Lexicon and Railway Romp, look like great fun.

I think the find of the day may have to be these Victory Jig-Saw Puzzles. I loved doing old wooden jigsaws when I was a child (and still do!). My favourite was Victory's map of England and Wales.

I also picked up this vintage 70s/80s Anokhi jacket and shorts for myself. Perfect for the summer that seems to finally have arrived! The colour really doesn't suit me so I think I might have a little dye experiment...

This glittery vintage purse isn't exactly my style, but I know someone will love it. I always think it is important to find a balance between buying what I fall in love with, and more business mindedly, what I know will sell!

The 60s and 70s are probably my favourite eras for homewares. This Wyncraft toast rack illustrates why - dynamic design and bold simplicity.

Now I just have to decide which of this weekend's finds to bring along to tomorrow's stall at Cambridge Market. So looking forward to spending the first sunny day there in ages...

Hope everyone else is enjoying the sunshine!

The rain has hampered my treasure hunting for too long! Finally the sun came out today, so I indulged my addiction for finding vintage goodies at Oakington Car Boot Sale.

Here are some of the items I couldn't resist!

This Harrods Brexton picnic is uncomplete, but it was too good to miss. I love the hamper design and the stacking cups. We're teaming up with members of Cambridge Carbon Footprint to create inspirational images with second hand stuff and one of our ideas is a family picnic shoot, so this will be perfect.

I love this Tams vintage trio. Each item has a different picture - a boy with a lamb, a girl with ducks and a woman feeding chickens. I did buy two of these, but sadly the man I bought them from must have left out one of the cups...

I like my vintage games. Usually we sell them before I have a chance to play them though! I think this lotto is quite old, it even has sharp edged glass squares for covering the numbers - clearly that wouldn't pass Health and Safety nowadays! I better try and have a game before someone buys it off us...

I am sorting through a load of old family photos so this Walkers embossed floral album appealed. Does anyone use photo albums anymore? I think there is something much more satisfying about going through actual pictures than looking at them digitally. 

As a weaver I was drawn to this retro brush. I love the crammed and spaced woven back and the faux wood effect!

On impulse I bought this red hat, which came in very handy when I was picking raspberries in the sun - I think I might like to hang on to this one for a while! The man I bought it from thought it was 50s, which would make sense as the other items he had were from the same era. I'm still building up my knowledge of vintage and fashion accessories so I'm wasn't sure. Do you think it's 50s?

I have a sewing basket like this from my Nan and I've been looking for one for the stall for ages. This one needs a little TLC but I love its retro style. It would look great in someone's craft room.

As a bonus the box was full so I now have more haberdashery and sewing notions to add to our collection. Isn't that tin hilarious!?

I was also thrilled to get these coronation mugs. We have a regular who collects royal mugs, so I'm hoping he hasn't got these unusually shaped ones.

The final thing I picked up was this vintage tape measure. We're doing an event at Duxford Imperial War Museum on the 5th of August so we thought we'd expand our range of vintage items that appeal to men. All men like to measure things, right...? It will sit nicely along our selection of vintage tools.

Well that's it! You may be able to tell I was quite excited by my first shopping trip in ages...

Have you picked up any good vintage finds recently?

Today I can't resist sharing my favourite vintage patterns for kiddies from our collection. Here they are (cue cooing noises if you are a softie like me...):

Butterick Baby Romper and Dress
Irresistibly Cute.

'Practical' Casual and Sporty Boys' Jacket and Trousers 
I really want these stripey trousers!

Simplicity Boys' Robe
Don't they look grown up!

Some of these patterns make me tempted to get sewing - the romper and the flared dress would look lovely on my niece.

Have you ever made anything from a vintage children's pattern?

Here at Retrovert we love to cook and we love vintage too. So, I thought I'd combine the two and explore the realm of vintage cooking. I hope to try out some traditional recipes in my modern kitchen and share with you my successes (and failures) along the way. A few weeks ago I blogged about The Modern Housewife's Book and I wanted to chose a recipe from it as my first. A glut of blackcurrants and talk of jam at the first Cambridge City WI meeting inspired me to make this:

Black Currant and Raspberry Jam.

3 lb. black currants.     1 pint raspberry juice.
1 lb. sugar to each pint of juice and pound of fruit.

Put the currants and juice into a preserving pan, and boil for 10 minutes. Add sugar in the above proportions and boil for 20 minutes. Pot and cover in the usual way.

Aunt Kate's Jam and Jellies section is comprehensive - there are 12 recipes for blackcurrant jam alone. I chose to try this one as it sounded most interesting and used the fresh fruits I have in the garden. 

Making the Jam

The book doesn't include a way of making raspberry juice so this is how I did it:

Take a bowl full of fresh raspberries and pick them over. Heat them gently in a saucepan with half a pint of water. Stir and crush them with the back of a wooden spoon. Simmer for five more minutes. Let it cool, then strain the juice. I used a muslin and a jam funnel, a very fine sieve would work too. This made 3/4 of a pint of juice so I topped it up with water to make a pint for the full recipe.

Half way through I had to separate the jam into two large saucepans - this was a bit tricky but I really didn't want it to boil over. Making in batches to start with or using a large preserving pan would be a better idea - all mine are either used for dyeing or are vintage and don't work on our induction hob!

Sealing and Storing

Aunt Kate discusses the 'Best Way to Seal and Store' in detail. Here are the tips I followed: Scald the jars and put them in a warm oven to dry. Pour the hot jam into the jars and then seal with a waxed circle immediately. Aunt Kate suggests filling to within an inch of the top, but I filled them right up to the brim. She also uses parchment tied on with string over the top, but I used lids to save time and effort!

To label my jam I borrowed an idea from fellow Cambridge bloggers. Thanks Crafty Painter and claireabellemakes! I made my washi tape labels from reused and recycled paper - even one of our market stall bags. When I was finished I arranged my jars in a nice row as Aunt Kate suggests!

The Verdict

I have eaten this jam every day since I made it, so it must be good! The flavours work really well together - the tartness of blackcurrant combined with the sweetness of raspberry. Working from a vintage recipe added to my enjoyment of the experience and I am looking forward to my next cooking experiment.

I'd love to know what you thought of my first recipe post! Any suggestions welcome...

Last week The Record Man at the market bought us a whole load of mixed boxes at auction. We sorted through them, keeping the best vintage and retro items for our stall, and donating the rest to friends and charity (incidentally, if you have a thing for clown figurines head down to Arthur Rank on Regent St...).

Over the next few weeks we'll be stocking our stall and online emporium with the best finds and sharing them with you here on the blog.

My favourite item has to be this antique food chopper. When we very first started Retrovert someone asked us to keep an eye out for an old fashioned mincer and we've finally got one. This one is a particular 'gem'...

The American company Sargent and Co patented the 'Gem Food Chopper' in 1899, hailing it as a "kitchen necessity"

I'm not sure if this is its original box as its quite a tight fit, but it looks great nevertheless. The chopper still has its five steel cutters for varying degrees of chopping. Sadly, we don't have the Nut Butter Cutter and Sausage Stuffer which could be "furnished at a slight additional cost".

The thing I like most is the cookbook that comes with the chopper. Choice advertising phrases include:

"Help the help. Explain the working of Sargent's Gem Food Chopper to the cook; she will appreciate it."

"Every bride-that-is-to-be should purchase or the new home Sargent's Gem Food Chopper. It is not necessary for her to learn the old chopping-bowl-and-knife  method; the Gem Chopper is better"

"Uncle Sam is proud of Sargent's Gem Food Chopper, and wants all the nations of the earth to know that this useful kitchen utensil is needed by housekeepers in all climes."

There are over 200 recipes for getting the most out of the Gem Chopper. The instructions are fun to read - they even use Gem-Chop as a verb.

I've been thinking of starting a regular feature on vintage recipes and baking, perhaps I will use one of these recipes for my first one. I may even use the Gem Chopper itself!

This week we celebrated my niece's first birthday. So, of course, my sister and I couldn't resist making her a fancy cake. We based our design on this Pink Ombre Swirl Cake by Glorious Treats - super girly and super sweet. For the inside we went for Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake Recipe - light but deliciously chocolatey.

Here is our cake in all its frosted glory. We actually used a piping bag, but I just had to take a picture of it next to our vintage Tala Icing Set.

The icing was delicious - butter, icing sugar and a dash of double cream. The sort you have to keep 'testing'... We used red food colouring, but ended up with a retro peaches and cream look. The ombre effect was simple but striking and the chocolate cake was as good as always.

We had some icing left so we made cupcakes too. My stash of vintage cake stands came in particularly handy - I chose this orange floral three tier stand to match the colour of the cakes.

Piping icing is definitely addictive (and so is eating the results!). I'd love some suggestions of more icing experiments to try...

I recently discovered this old book that belonged to my Great Grandmother. The Modern Housewife's Book is a wonderful depiction of life in the 1930s, full of recipes, cleaning tips and all the information a woman would need to run a household.

I particularly like the colour illustrations with their bright hues and luminous looking food. The jam making instructions illustrate how to set up a strainer over a mixing bowl using a walking stick and two chairs - nothing like a bit of creative innovation!

The vintage adverts also add to the sense of time and give a flavour of the economic and social context - you could "Live cheaper and better" with Borwick's Baking Powder and Oxo was "the Housewife's Great Economy".

These pictures only touch on the wealth of interesting information contained within the book. I'm afraid this is one vintage item that won't be turning up at our market stall - I'll treasure it for years to come.

However, if you are inspired by the modern housewife's look, we've got plenty of vintage kitchenalia - traditional mixing bowls, pudding basins, jelly moulds and even this Icing Set, very similar to one shown in the book. 

I hope you've enjoyed these pictures as much as I have sharing them. If you ever find a copy of the book, I would fully recommend it!

With the weather so awful I feel like we need some bright colours to cheer us up!

I've taken inspiration from the Olympic Torch, which is due to visit us in Cambridge tomorrow, and put together this gallery of retro items that use burnt orange and flame hues.

Hope they brighten up your day!

Today marks the start of a week long celebration of independent businesses in Cambridge.

We're proud to be an indie retailer. We source locally as much as possible, so when you buy from us you are also benefiting the local community.

And as a green business we are committed to keeping our carbon footprint low to minimise our impact on the environment and our beautiful city of Cambridge.

To celebrate we're giving customers the chance to choose a free gift from a selection of vintage items, when you spend £5 or more at our Cambridge Market stall during Independents' Week.

To find out more about other events and promotions happening during the week check out Love Cambridge.