Charity & Vintage Shopping in Manchester- Cheadle

My wonderful flatmate and fellow bargain hunter Becky  and I have recently moved to Manchester and, naturally, the first thing on our agenda was to seek out the best charity shops in the area. After a quick google search we decided that Cheadle was a safe bet to find a few shops in one place- we were not disappointed. With around 10 charity shops to choose from on the high street we were spoilt for choice, especially as Cheadle is home to the only exclusively vintage Barnado's store, easily one of my favourite shops I've ever been into, (but more on that later, I've saved the best till last!)

Our first port of call was St Ann's Hospice shop which is directly opposite the bus stop (get the X51 from Piccadilly Gardens in Central Manchester and it will take you around 40  mins). This was a well laid out and colour coordinated store, Becky picked up a '70s style tan button up skirt and there were plenty of fashion forward pieces to chose from. But we really were in for a surprise when we spotted the sign for a vintage section upstairs.... 

The vintage section was completely surprising and had a gorgeous interior, look at that ceiling! The 'bar' area was topped with copper with French posters on the walls, glass and crystal ware on the shelves, and mirrors everywhere. There was some definite hints of art deco pieces dotted around which would look amazing in the right home. I found a 100% suede slouchy jacket here for £14, I fell in love with it but sadly it just didn't fit correctly on me. 

Our next stop was a Barnardo's store, in which most items were £1.99, the quality of some of the garments reflected this but there were still many a bargain to be found in here. I found this cropped, ribbed top with a keyhole detail on the front which will look great with a pair of denim shorts for a simple summer look.

Next up was the British Heart Foundation, the shop was jammed with loads of colour and prints for summer, there was plenty of good quality clothing here and you could easily deck yourself out for a holiday after a quick browse through their rails. The prices are a little expensive for some items but this is due to the fantastic condition of every item. Becky found a '90s meets '70s mesh crop top here with bell sleeves.

PDSA is a chain I've not often come across before but they had a great range of higher end high street brands such as Oasis and Marks and Spencer as well as a lovely homeware collection of their own.

Both Becky and I struck gold at Cancer Research, each snapping up French Connection dresses for less than a fiver, this is a small shop but with a large range of dresses, jackets and blouses. I love the neckline of this dress that I picked up, I've been after one for ages and this is just the ticket.

Drum roll please... Our favourite store by far was this vintage Barnardo's, it is the only vintage Barbado's in the UK, previously there were stores based in Edinburgh and Glasgow but I'm so pleased that we are lucky enough to have the only one left right on our doorstep. The store is beautifully laid out as you can see by the pictures with racks of real vintage clothes, homeware, haberdashery, records, books and even toys and dolls. The best part is, everything is genuine, quality vintage for fantastically reasonable prices.

The furniture was gorgeous inside and had knick knacks over every surface- look at this beautiful cabinet filled with cameras! On the left hand shelving there was also a shelf dedicated to vintage brassware- I was in heaven!

I loved the arrangement of these lampshades on top of the sewing and haberdashery area- how cute is the baby blue sewing machine?!

A whole corner of the store was dedicated to vinyl and vintage books, I have recently bought a record player so will be shuffling through these boxes on my next trip. 

Sadly, because I had to go and get a train we only had about 5 minutes to run around this shop in awe and so didn't get a proper chance to look through everything and make some purchases! I can't wait for my next visit though and I'm sure I will come away with armfuls of beautiful old treasures. I couldn't recommend this store enough with it's wonderful layout and unique items. The store can be followed on Instagram and Twitter @vintagecheadle.

If you're looking to charity shop in Manchester, Cheadle is definitely the place to go! 

P.S Vintage Cheadle Barnado's has recently updated their window for the summer and I am in love. The chair, the white suitcase, the floral dress- it's all too much! Head down on Saturday for their fundraising event with the chance to win some prizes.

Charity Shop Finds IV

Yes, you guessed it; it’s another Charity Shop Finds post from me! The urge for bargain hunting remains strong as I try to seek out all of the bargains to be found on this island before heading back to the mainland (England) next week. This post features a few things I've found over the past few weeks…

This cute vintage button down dress was £4. It was originally a size 16, unflattering, above-ankle length dress so I whipped the sewing machine out and took in the sides and shortened it to a more flattering length. I absolutely love the print and the style of this dress (reminiscent of some of Motel’s recent cuts) - it will look great with some low denier tights and black boots. (Excuse the poor ironing). 

This silver engraved collar necklace was only £2 and has absolutely beautiful detailing which makes me think it’s probably vintage costume jewellery- perfect for minimal accessorising.

As we all know, winter is now fully on the way and making its presence loud and clear. Never one to shy away from knitwear (more like run round a shop with armfuls) I bought two quite similar high necked wool jumpers in a deep red and cream for £4 and £2. The red one will be great for December and cream really does go with anything so will come in handy for layering. I also got this grey silvery cropped eyelash jumper for £4 (originally from Miss Selfridge) which is on trend for some 90s glam and will be something a little different to my usual leather jacket cover up for evening drinks.

Other recent finds include a See by Chloe blouse £3, boucle pencil skirt £4, black work trousers £2, boxed Pretty Polly stockings £2 (so expensive normally and they ladder so easily!), gold plunge top £3, blue sparkly backless dress £3. 

Exposed Brick Inspiration

With plans to move to Manchester in full swing, it’s time to think about interiors for our new pad. Manchester is famed for its red brick architecture (part of the reason I love this city so much) and the city is awash with converted mills and factories that feature gorgeous red brickwork complete with huge windows in many a flat.

Take a look at these images from Pinterest that offer some red brick inspiration.

Red brickwork had me at hello on first viewings of ‘Gossip Girl.’ Dan and Rufus (and Jenny) Humphrey live in a gorgeous converted loft in Brooklyn, NYC on the show and the place oozes bohemian style with stacks of records, guitars and worn in furniture.

Brickwork adds warmth to a room and gives it a traditional ‘rustic’ feel. I personally prefer brickwork in open living spaces in kitchens but as these photos suggest- red brick really does work for a bedroom too.

Sourcing iron furniture to go with the walls will complement the traditional industrial feel to the room but plush sofas, rugs, warm lighting and wooden accents will make a converted loft feel more like home. 

Charity Shop Finds III

A free September morning meant that I was free to roam around my favourite places once again- the charity shops of Guernsey. Les Bourgs Hospice charity shop had half price on all of their items and so it meant that my picks were even more bargainous than usual. I first started shopping in charity shops when I was at Sixth Form to hunt out one of a kind bargains on a student budget- this shopping mentality saw me right through university, and, although I’ve now graduated, I can’t see bargain hunting becoming any less thrilling as I make the transition from student to (gulp) grown up. 

I managed to buy a TONNE of bits and bobs for about £24 and here they are if you can sit through this post…

On this particular trip I was trying to source more ‘workwear’ friendly clothing and (although being mostly unsuccessful in this department) I found these tops for £1.50 each. The lemon yellow top would be perfect tucked into a smart skirt and the check grid print keeps it on trend. This polo neck (the name ‘turtleneck’ makes me cringe a bit) basic is ribbed and great for layering over winter- you can get the same on ASOS for around 14x the price ;)

This coat is vintage Charlotte Halton for River Island and was £2.50, 50% wool and super cosy. This furry collar was just £1 and can be pinned to any coat or jacket to give it an instant winter update. This Chiltern bag was another vintage find at only £3.

 These Levi jeans were only a measly 50p and are the correct waist measurement for me but are quite an odd length and cut. I’ll cut these off into some shorts or sell them on eBay. These light blue jeans are vintage Next ‘Mom’ style tapered jeans. They’re a little too big for me so I may have to get the sewing machine out! They’ll be great to add some pastel hues to my spring wardrobe next year- these were £2.

I found (surprise) some more velvet delights in the way of this vintage St. Michael (M&S) jacket. This was £1.50 and I decided to jazz it up a bit by sewing some black fringing onto the sleeves. I also found this velvet devore Frank Usher mini dress for £6, it has some serious side splits on it and is a few sizes too big (and is probably meant to be worn as a top!) so falls in a nice swing style- I’ll be wearing this for drinks and on a night out come December.

This red coral embellished dress was something I picked up on a whim to try on in the changing room, but once it was on I absolutely loved it. It’s Libelulu and 100% silk and so would have cost a couple of hundred pounds brand new but this was only £3. In my mind this would be perfect festival wear with a bandeau underneath, boots, belt and a hat (does anyone else have a mental list of would-be Coachella outfits or is this just me?) but would equally look great as evening wear with a belt and some serious cleavage.

Lastly I picked up this beautiful choker necklace for £1, I was unsure about getting this as I’ve not really jumped onto the choker bandwagon but this was too pretty to resist.

That’s about all my bargains. Thank you for reading through them- the charity shopping fairies were seriously helping me out on Saturday! Have you found any goodies in the charity shops recently?

P.S Sorry for the poor quality photos, they're all pink-tinged because the sun was setting and the light wasn't at it's best! 

Picture Wall Mural

A fair few summers ago I got completely inspired by photos of mismatched picture frame walls that seemed to crop up on Pinterest and Tumblr every now and again. I’ve always loved sketching and decided to start a project to make a frame wall of my own filled with sketches. Here are some images from Pinterest that show the photo wall in action, a great place to display the photo wall is on a staircase and another twist is to hang the frames old fashioned-ly by tying some ribbon or string to the top of them to visibly show them hanging: 

I began my quest for the perfect photo wall by going to various charity shops every now and again to find interestingly shaped wooden frames of all sizes which I then decided to sand down and paint black. If you want to do a similar project, be on the look out for interesting shapes, frame textures and frame thicknesses to give your photo wall a mismatched feel to it. Here are the frames I’ve collected so far:

I sketched a butterfly for this tiny square frame and Andy Warhol and Edie Campbell in this rectangular frame. If you don’t fancy your hand at sketching then black and white prints and photographs will equally do the job. You could have one large print as a centre piece and work around that if you are lucky to have a particularly large space to fill. I got this huge framed print for just £1 from a car boot sale!

I'm hoping to find some frames to home these half-finished sketches and some ornate oval mirrors would finish off this wall mural perfectly... I'll be sure to show you the finished result (eventually!)

Charity Shop Finds II

So yesterday I went venturing out for a snoop in Les Bourgs Hospice charity shop once again to try my luck in finding some new bits and pieces. They had half price (half price at charity shops?!) on all of their woollens and so I made the most of this and stocked up on some amazing vintage finds for the winter. Firstly I found this lovely ribbed, high neck jumper which is also 70% lambswool which I think will definitely keep me toasty when moving to Manchester comes along this autumn! I love the pearl embellishment on the shoulders and the ribbed knit keeps this on trend, this cost just £2!

My favourite find was this absolutely incredible vintage navy wool jacket/cardigan with a black velvet collar and pocket flaps. This is fantastically made and, again, the knit is 100% wool. I love the gold buttons which add a bit of brightness to the jacket and, although a size L, this will look great unbuttoned as an oversized piece this winter. Again, this only cost £2! The velvet definitely drew me to this when I first saw the collar peeking out of a jam-packed rail, I’d say I’m somewhat of a velvet magpie when it comes to clothes which you shall see by my other finds…

This jacket is another unique velvety vintage piece which I snapped up for £6. I think I will take out the shoulder pads as they make the shape of the jacket just a little too boxy on my petite frame. I love the maximalism of this (just love channelling Henry VIII)- the all over gold and burgundy embroidery, the gold knot buttons, and the black velvet background; this is opulence and OTT at its best. Perfect for this seasons winter wardrobe.

Lastly I got this dusky pink velvet (again!) turban type thing which will be great for when I eventually am a grown up with a well-paid job and I go on a skiing holiday. However, for now it might be best for the harsh Northern winters that I’m going to have to get used to and will do as an alternative to some earmuffs. I don’t usually ‘do’ pink (and I don’t think I actually own any pink clothes!) but I got talked into this by my Mum and so we shall see if it actually gets any wear. If not, I’ll give it to my friend Kate who loves a nice bit of winter headgear (I’ll refrain from posting any photos of the woolly pompom headband circa Fresher’s 2k11).

This trip to Les Bourgs was perhaps my best trip yet- all my finds were incredible vintage quality for virtual pocket change. I’m a massive advocate for self-sourced vintage items, my boyfriend would call me a style snob but don’t we all love having a few things hanging in our wardrobes that no one else is going to have? And at such good quality? It’s so true when your grandma says that they don’t make clothes like they used to… ;)