Rose Bowl Nesting

Amongst the colorful crowds, in a sea of merchandise, wedged between vendors selling vintage laxatives on one side (!) and artwork on the other, Laura & I assembled a cozy little nest of a booth~

Our goal this month was to create an atmosphere as soft and lovely as a vintage French chemise and as thoroughly feminine as this Empire bust~

Vintage powder compacts and crocheted linen gloves graced our tables~

Part boudoir, part dressing (as the French call a dressing room), thoroughly feminine~

The focus of our central table was a collection of vintage glassware & bottles with ostrich plumes~

This was the second look of the day as the first one, this American copper lantern, was the first thing to sell, as soon as it was set out and before we had finished setting up.

The Early Bird got the lovely patina~

and the still-life winter garden vignette inside, minus the bird, we kept him for ourselves~

Our collection of vintage bottles filled in the space~

this trio of amber bottles would be lovely in a kitchen for oils or vinegars with a pour spout...

Bookending the bottles were a pair of commercial-grade etageres in osier blanc~

which held jam jars filled with lavender, and many other lovelies, on soft beds of moss and excelsior~

Dozens of Laura's sweet lavender sachets were piled high~

with various finishings;

these will be available on the Blogtique~

Priced from $5 - $10~

each one individual, each one lovelier than the last~

the little nests with real blown quail eggs were tucked all over the booth; we included some French farmers market soaps to deliciously scent the booth~

Vintage jam jars in assorted sizes sold quickly, though some will be available on the Blogtique~

19C monogrammed kerchiefs made of toile d'Arles perfectly complemented the yellow jam pots from the Paris Flea~

One large pot, one small, label says "comme a la maison"

"just like home(made)"~

various pieces of vintage mercerie or sewing items were presented; vintage clothes pins, spools of thread, here new old stock linen thread, with the pretty packaging depicting a baptism~

Holiday greenery lined the entrance to the booth, and more vintage French clothes pins held up our laundry line on the walls~

Rolls of napkins were held in a wire boat; we have many more new pieces in, with and without monograms~

Laura has been busy at work dying the cotton and linen chemises in shades of gris and rose~

The petticoat totes were much admired and sold well~

as did les chemises~

Sweet little birds were found in various places,

like a winter garden~

We have a large selection of new old stock 1920's monograms in various sizes and various letters; you sew these puffy beauties on to your cloth then pull away the tulle, which is as delicate as butterfly wings~

vintage egg baskets also lined the walls,

hung with the chemises~

Did we mention it's tough business setting all of this up? This time, we were prepared; we brought French cider in our carry basket~

and set up an antiquaire's lunch for ourselves & our favorite shoppers. Well, we started with the baguette, cheese and grapes at 9am. At that point we had been up for about 6 hours so it felt like lunchtime~

these labels or etiquettes as they are called are from the Paris Flea; we will post this week on them, there's a story of course~

New items for sale, including these plus many more, are going up on the Magasin de Metis aka our Blogtique this week.