Jubilee discount code!

To celebrate the Diamond Jubilee I'm offering a 20% discount in my Etsy store, just use the code QUEEN60 at checkout!

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Vintage love: Lucozade tote bag

I haven't had the chance to blog for a while. There are big changes afoot in the Pouch household, namely relocating to a new town. We've spent three weeks tidying our entire house in preparation for photos and viewings. I don't think I've ever done so much decluttering and housework. I've even ironed my pillowcases which is so unlike me, it really is. So right at this precise time I can do with all the energy I can lay my hands on - which leads me onto this vintage, oilcloth Lucozade tote bag.

I love this tote bag because it reminds me of being ill as a child! Lucozade was only available from pharmacists in the olden days and was always wrapped in bright orange cellophane - which always struck me as a bit odd. Whenever I had a sore throat or some other childhood illness, my mum would buy some Lucozade from the local chemist. It had a bit of an old fashioned image and was associated with being ill!

Then in 1983 the product was completely rebranded. Today Lucozade is associated with sport and fitness at a high level. The brand is often seen sponsoring major sporting events - they are currently an official sponsor of the 2012 London Olympics. What's so amazing about the rebranding, is the product is still the same, but people's perceptions of it couldn't be more different to the 'orange cellophane' days. You can read about the rebranding here.

If you'd like to see more retro goodies, head on over to my "Vintage Finds" board over on Pinterest...

Follow Pouch : blogging + craft's board My Vintage Finds on Pinterest.

New colourway! amber and chocolate

I've just listed these lovelies in my Etsy and Folksy stores, a brand new colourway - amber and chocolate!

Made with vintage fabric in my absolute favourite colour combination, brown and orange - it's the two colours that scream 'vintage' whenever I'm sourcing new fabric. I think most of my clothes were brown in the 70s and I remember asking my Mum when I was little, 'why is everything in our house brown mummy?' and the answer I got was 'because it's fashionable'!

This gorgeous fabric came my way via Sally at Tinkering Textiles, also something of a vintage fabric aficionado!

Hope you like them! Lavender rabbit in amber and chocolate

Short Story

I don't normally put short stories on my blog, but I make an exception for this one! This is a story I wrote when I was 14. My Gran recently found a typed out copy and gave it to me. I had completely forgotten that I'd written it. It's funny that my Gran should find it in 2012 and I've been waiting until 14th April to put it on my blog...can't say why, you'll have to read it to find out...

"One last look round my house. Window all shut and locked, the keys left for Mrs Smith. Mrs Smith will be in tomorrow to clean, I’d better leave a note to tell her which key is for what. She usually gets confused. Paper … and pen, better make it brief.

Dear Mrs Smith, The large key is for the front door and the silver one for the back. I’ll leave you just this one key for a window as I don’t think you’ll want to open them all. I’ll write to you on my holiday and tell you what the boat is like. Best wishes. Mary

I’d better change into my travelling clothes. The carpet on these stairs looks more worn every time I go up them. The bedroom looks bare now those big trunks have been sent on to Southampton. One outfit left in my wardrobe. My second best dress, not too hot and not too cool is what the steward said was best for travelling. The material feels warm and soft. I won’t be seeing this room for a while. How could I refuse the chance to go to America, a chance of a lifetime.

That must be my taxi. I move to the window, yes it is. I grab my small holdall and my purse full of shillings. I pick up my skirts and run down the stairs. Very unladylike my mother would say. I don’t care, I’m excited. Running down the path, looking at the flowers, it will be cold over the Atlantic, make the most of the Spring sunshine.

This is a nice neighbourhood, large houses. Quite a few people with cars now. I can’t afford one; they look like a menace to me. But maybe it’s because I was brought up with a mother with antiquated ideas. Miss her now she’s dead. But the money from her will, I’ve put to some good use. Travel. That’s what I was told to do, and now I am.

The cab is well polished and the driver is cheerful. I run my hand over the cab door, it feels cool. I will miss London. I don’t have to go, I can turn back, not too late. Stop it, pull yourself together, can’t miss a chance like this. I watch the houses whizz by from the taxi. I can’t help this fear in the back of my head like a black feeling of death.

We’re at the docks now. The bustle is different here to London. People are more friendly, calling to each other. Cranes lifting the goods off the boats – fish, cotton and wood – brought from exotic countries. I imagine the silks from India, the hot sun, ornate buildings and elephants.

There is a crowd gathering around a boat which is unloading. A crane is lifting a crate with an elephant in it. The crowd laugh at its frenzied antics but all I can notice is its wide terrified eye. My heart goes out to the poor creature. It should be in the hot sun of India that I was dreaming of, just like that elephant probably is. I can’t bear to watch, and the fear of death crowds in on my again.

I decide to look round more. All is bustling in a shed where fish is being sorted. White crates with thousands of different kinds in them. Greys, pinks and greens shine in the morning sun. There is a particular fish that attracts my eye – a silver grey back with all the colours of the rainbow on its belly. I’m fascinated by it yet disgusted by its wide unseeing eye that stares at me. Fishermen slosh ice and water over the fish so I move out of the way quickly. I should really look for my ship. I am so excited but so reluctant to go. Walking down one of the aisles that divide the boxes of fish, I marvel again at just how many types there are. I might see some in their natural environment while sailing, swimming through the shining, blue sea – happy but most importantly – alive. Maybe I feel more than others, but I am sensitive about cruelty. My mother always said I was soft and I can’t help rushing out of this mortuary.

The sun it hotter now as it is nearing midday. I breathe in the fresh air and can hear the faint sounds of a brass band somewhere in the distance. I decide to head off in that direction. As I near the noise, the full force of the celebration hits me. Bunting and streamers colour the blue sky. A brass band is playing and people are dancing, laughing and drinking around me. I am engulfed by people. I am jostled to the centre where there is a table of food and punch. Lots of people are together and I feel a pang of loneliness standing there on my own. The food looks lovely, so I drown my sorrows in some punch.

I can’t help laughing at the children running around with streamers and am brought back to earth with a bump when someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn to see a woman holding a reporter’s notebook and a man in tow holding a camera.

“Hello, we’re from the Southampton Gazette. Are you a passenger? Can we ask you a few questions?”

Without waiting for a reply, she carried on. I answer politely but am too busy concentrating on the people moving towards the ship. It must be time to board.

“How does it feel to be one of the lucky ones, to be able to be on this marvellous ship’s maiden voyage?”

“Really good. I must go. Everyone’s getting on,” I reply, trying not to be rude.

I make my way through the cheering crowd and people immediately let me through when I tell them I’m a passenger, calling after me to have a safe journey.

At the foot of the gangplank I stop to look in awe at the majestic ship. It really is amazing, and the flags and flowers decorating accentuating its majestic qualities. People are already lining the balconies waving frantically to the people on the dockside. I move quickly up the gangplank so that I can find a place to stand. Glancing sideways, I notice the name written in gold letters, ‘H.M.S. Titanic’ ––– This is going to be a really good trip ………."

Vintage love: bathing costume and heels

I love this photo because it captures a time when people really made an effort with their clothes. You don't see many people wearing heels to the swimming pool and with their hair carefully coiffered - it looks like there's not much chance of that hair-do getting wet! But the main reason I love this photo is because the lady perched on the diving board is my late-Grandmother.

I have always loved looking at my Gran's collection of black and white photos, she always looked so glamorous. And yet you would never believe that she came from a very poor mining family from the Rhondda valley in Wales.

This photo is taken in the Tropicana on the seafront at Weston-super-Mare in 1938, you can see the Grand Atlantic hotel in the background. The Tropicana was a new swimming pool, with an elaborate diving board, which opened on the seafront at Weston in 1937. You can see the diving board in all it's glory here. A trip to Weston was seen as heaven to my Gran and her sister, a break from the grim mining towns of South Wales and a chance to relax and get glammed up.

My Gran had very little money, but she would adapt and alter clothes to add a bit of extra fizz. She also spent ages on her hair and always wore lipstick. As a young woman she had to leave home and move to London to get a job and I think this time in the capital got her interested in fashion. Whenever she returned to see her family in Wales she had the slight air of the film star about her. Although her family gently teased her new glamorous ways - when she returned home wearing a particularly jaunty hat, her Father remarked "where's the carnival?".

This photo is so optimistic because it was taken in peace time between the wars and after much suffering in the Great Depression of the 1920s. A few years later, it was a very different story, my Gran joined the WAAF and rather than following fashions in London, she was dodging bombs and moving around the country to various grim postings in old country houses as part of her war work.

I also love this photo as I am a Weston girl born and bred and I visited the Tropicana as a child in its 1980s reincarnation. It is also an important snapshot of an endangered building. There are plans to demolish this historical art deco construction and many people are very unhappy about it, there is currently and online campaign to save the Tropicana. The site has remained unoccupied since 2000 and it seems such a waste of a perfectly usuable space. I think it would be amazing if it could be restored to its 1937 glory as seen in my Gran's photo.

New eco friendly packaging

I've recently taken delivery of my new mailing bags - they are made from Biothene and are 100% biodegradable. I've always resisted using plastic mailing bags because I thought they weren't great for the environment. Before I had my daughter, when I had more time on my hands, I used to recycled old bubble mailers. It was something I enjoyed doing and many of my customers commented on how much they liked the revamped envelopes. Now that I simply don't have the time to repurpose bubble mailers, I wanted to look for an alternative which fitted in with Pouch's eco ethos. I feel that the Biothene mailers are just right for Pouch: they biodegrade, they take less energy to make than paper envelopes and the bags degrade into a non-toxic residue. Oh, and they are pink :)

New listings - vintage trims

I have been on a marathon listing session over past few days! I've added lots of lovely vintage trims to my Etsy store. There are tons of different styles and patterns and colourways - so something for everyone. You can see the full selection here

vintage woven trim in dusky pink, apple green and cream vintage woven trim in khaki and olive green