Cherry PoP! Ladies Night at Backline Live

If you’re not glamping it up in the West Sussex countryside at Vintage at Goodwood, but want to have a some vintage fun – with a modern twist – then look no further than the new ladies night at Backline Live in Guildford, Surrey.

Cherry POP!, in association with TUCA (The Unique Communications Agency), is a monthly, vintage inspired club night warm up – just for the ladies.

Kicking off at 7pm (until 10pm), tonight includes a  free cocktail on arrival and Rockabilly tunes from the DJ; setting the scene for pampering – courtesy of the Angelic Rebels, risque frivolity – courtesy of Judy from Ann Summers and other vintage girlies with their own specialist offerings, including styling lessons, fashion fixes and adult games (oh I say)

Good girls will receive their very own goodie bag packed with style tips, discounts and freebies and the ticket price also includes free entry to Backline Live’s later club night (until 2.30am) where the boys will be back.

Tickets for Cherry POP! are £6 and available online at We got Tickets and Backline Live.

Enjoy getting ready for club night fun with your girlfriends; sip a few cocktails, pick up free goodies and vintage style tips and enjoy the party…maybe see you there? Toodle-Pip!

Apologies for the radio silence – we’ve been moving house and working our cotton socks off!

Vintage is coming to Goodwood!

So, excitement is building, Vintage at Goodwood is nearly upon us! Kicking off on 13th August (well 12th with Vintage Race Night at Goodwood), celebrating British cool from the 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s & 80’s and featuring everything from film and music to fashion and beauty, this is the Festival’s first year.

The festival is brainchild of designers Gerardine Hemingway MBE, Wayne Hemingway MBE (The Land of Lost Content Museum) and Lord March (Goodwood Festival of Speed, Goodwood Revival, amazing Organic Farm owner!) and its full of treats for Vintage lovers.

We’re particularly excited about the music; featuring acts such as Martha and the Vandellas and Sandie Shaw’s ‘Reclaim the Song’ featuring guest vocalists including Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Music Line Up for Vintage at Goodwood

There will be; Dance lessons at the daily Tea Dance, Burlesque and Cabaret, an entire pop-up  shopping high street, Art curated by Ellie Arnold, comedy and film, one of the largest vintage clothes markets this year and even hair dressing and beauty salons to get your polished get up in fine form every morning. Check out the programme on the website and keep up to date with their Vinatge at Goodwood blog

What more could a girl want? The perfect blend of music, fashion and film…

Let us know if you’re going and send us your party pictures after the event if there’s anything you’d like to show off!

The DIY restoration of a carved walnut wreck is nearing completion. Madeleine Price presents the final result – and counts the cost.

I thought a brass framework would be best to support the glass top I had found for my new table.

I flipped through the Yellow Pages for blokes who worked in brass and found one with a workshop nearby. On the phone, he told me his main job was manufacturing brass edging for very old cars whose front windscreens flipped down. This was a whole new departure for him and he sounded intrigued.

So I took the table and the glass to the workshop, showed him what I needed – a supporting frame that would hold the glass in place a couple of inches clear of the top carved surface – and left him to it.

Madeleine's Beautifully Restored Vintage Table

His solution was utterly ingenious; four hollow brass rods that screwed into precisely drilled holes under the base, topped off by angled ‘lips’ to hold the glass firmly in place. To cushion the glass and stop it rattling if anyone nudged it, he even suggested fitting those small polyurethane buttons that stop your kitchen cabinet doors slamming shut.

I assembled the whole thing and stared at it for hours. It was gorgeous.

Now that table smiles at me whenever I look at it. If you’re very quiet, you can even hear it purr…

I do try not to gloat over my handiwork but I had turned this sad hulk of carved wood into a gorgeous table and, like all rescued creatures, it was grateful.

So love your DIY vintage – it will surely love you right back!

And the cost of all this love?

Extortionate – but definitely worth it!

• Auction price £20
• Wood carving (£35)
• Nitromors, wire wool (three different grades) probably £50
• Glass top £35
• Brass frame (around £200)
• Drawer knobs (around £1 each)

Madeleine is a Managing Partner of Text Engineering, a writing and editing service for individuals and small businesses…and a Vintage DIY enthusiast!

Madeleine Price continues her rescue mission of a chunk of dirty old carved walnut…

After a summer of scraping, sanding and wire-wooling, I was looking at a repaired, revived and restored chunk of carved walnut. It was starting to look like a table, so that’s the direction I took.

I hunted around for feet that would replace the original ones I couldn’t replicate. In the end I settled for good old wooden drawer knobs. I removed the old feet, screwed in the knobs and waited for inspiration.

Deciding on a glass top was a no-brainer. It had to be the right size, though, not overhanging the carving too much, tough enough to withstand accidents – and at the right price.

G-Plan Table with the perfect glass top

An old G-Plan coffee table provided the answer. I saw the classified ad in the local paper – and snapped it up.

The piece of toughened glass was an ideal fit for the ‘profile’ and it already had a lovely smooth edge, so I removed it and set it aside to await the next stage. (Of course, the original G-Plan table is now considered vintage and I regret having had to ditch it but my obsession made me ruthless…)

The final challenge of the transformation faced me. I could hardly just balance the glass on top of the table and leave it at that. It needed some kind of support…

…Visit us again next week for the last part of this mini-series – the final result of this vintage table restoration is beautiful.

Madeleine is a Managing Partner of Text Engineering, a writing and editing service for individuals and small businesses…and a Vintage DIY enthusiast!

Katy Jo at How to do Vintage celebrated a birthday recently and treated her friends to some Moo’s cupcakes and Bellinis – Yum!

Moos Cupcakes at Katy Jo's Birthday Tea - so beautiful and delicious!

Just wanted to share how delightful these cupcakes were, full of buttery cream goodness, the vanilla cakes were light and fluffy. Our favourite have to be the lemon cup cakes with lemon icing, such a treat. If you’re in the delivery radius, they really will make an excellent gift or be the icing on the cake (ahem!) for any event you hold.

Based in Portsmouth, Hampshire – Marie at Moo’s Cupcakes bakes and decorates with creative flair. Cupcakes come in multiples of 12 and get delivered in very handy flat boxes to make them easy for you to transport.

They come in such a variety of pretty designs, check out their cupcake gallery for more inspiration.

We’ll let you know if we spot any Easter delights from them – toodle pip!

Spring is in the air!

Hope you have been enjoying the sunny spring feel to the weekend if you’re in the UK.

Nautical Inspired Vintage Spring Dress from Pretty Damn Cute

Can’t wait to get shopping for a spring dress…we’re liking this vintage dress from Pretty Damn Cute on Etsy if we can pull off the yellow.

This nautical inspired puff sleeve, vintage spring dress, has very handy pockets at the hips. We think it would make a lovely day dress.

Although a loose fit, it can all be bought in at the waist meaning it will suit most body types which is a bonus for us, we’re 1950’s curvy not skinny jeans slim!

The belt is removable too, meaning easy to accessorise with different colours or styles, should the whim take us.

Pretty Damn cute think its from the 1980’s, either way it does have a distinct cute 1950’s vintage style, which definitely appeals to us.

Double button detail on spring dress from Pretty Damn Cute on Etsy

Our favourite part of this dress is the double button on the sleeves, it is so cute…or should that be Pretty Damn Cute!

The change of season is always a good excuse to refresh our wardrobes and spring is the perfect time to ebay those purchases you’ve got bored of and go on the hunt for new vintage clothing bargains.

Out with the old, in with the new…happy shopping Vintage Lovers…Toodle Pip!

How to do Vintage are very pleased to welcome Madeleine Price, Managing Partner of Text Engineering as a guest writer!

Madeleine's Vintage Table Before Restoration

Madeleine will be sharing with us her DIY Vintage stories, starting with How to Restore a Vintage Table; sharing with us her tips for restoring vintage furniture.

Keep a look out for this three part series that will give you before and after pictures and a great outline of her journey to restore a vintage table…Toodle Pip!

DIY vintage restoration is not always a cheap way to bring style and originality into your life – your bank manager will think you’re being blackmailed. But once it’s finished, the rewards just keep on coming, says Madeleine Price.

It cringed at me from a dusty corner of the auction house and begged me to take it home and love it. It was clearly in pain. It was very dirty and badly damaged. One of its ‘arms’ had come off, the other was missing completely. The carved feet were in a bad way and its coat was dull and lifeless.

So naturally, I had to buy it.

This was how it looked when I got it home:

Restoring a Vintage Table

Like most of my reckless endeavours, I hadn’t really thought it through, but here it was.

It turned out to be made of walnut and I spent the best part of one summer, removing layers of dust and old varnish from every inch of the intricate carving with Nitromors, paint scrapers, sandpaper and wire wool. I got a talented amateur wood carver to replicate the missing piece (in cheaper, softer pine).

Then I wood-glued the adrift ‘arm’ back in place, attached the newly carved one, varnished the whole thing – and then looked around for a suitable top that would fit the ‘profile’ of the table.

Visit us again for part 2 of this three-part mini-series from Madeleine, on how to restore a Vintage Table.

Madeleine is a Managing Partner of Text Engineering, a writing and editing service for individuals and small businesses…and a DIY Vintage enthusiast!

Inside Daisy Clover 1965

Inside Daisy Clover (1965)

Written: Gavin Lambert
Director: Robert Mulligan
Music: Andre Previn

There are some big names from 1950’s and 1960’s film era in this film, including the heavy hitters of the time; Christopher Plummer, Robert Redford , Roddy McDowall, Nathalie Wood and Ruth Gordon, the quality of their performance shines throughout.

I like this film for so many reasons. There’s the brilliant characters; the classic kooky-American-hick-film freckles and barefoot character of Daisy (Nathalie Wood) and the nutty fortune telling mother (Ruth Gordon) who Daisy calls ‘old chap’.

Theres the small town poverty line frustrations and hardships, represented with the classic ‘yearning for freedom’ road to stardom story.

Inside Daisy Clover 1965

What I like above all else, is that the madness isn’t inside Daisy Clover, but rather in everyone else. The powerful, famour and rich the Daisy becomes involved with and wants to emulate are all twisted, damaged, predatory and weak.

Christopher Plummers manipulative control freak movie moghul is perfectly shadow-like (straight from a stint as a German Officer). Robert Redford the romantic heart throb is positively ‘Wilde’ and Roddy Mcdowall…answers the phone.

I always feel affection for Ruth Gordon (think Harold and Maude) and Nathalie Wood shows real bursts of fire and passion, innocence and playfulness – she feels perfectly cast.

The film is set in a time of golden Hollywood movies and stars a musical number here and there. It makes an effective anti american dream tale..I wonder if it could be a message, a comment on the sad tales of Judy Garlands and Monroes from the time.

I wished it was longer and does anyone else agree that it was a little like Columbo at times with the broody Jazz soundtrack?

Dear Valentine,

Please can I have this beautiful Pair of Vintage Sparkly shoe clips?

Black Suede and Rhinestone Vintage Shoe Clips from Janne's Vintage in Reigate Surey

Each black suede petal of the flowers is wired so you can fluff them up exactly as you wish. The centre of each flower has a diamante/rhinestone centre surrounded by sixteen smaller stones.

You can find them at Janne’s Vintage Shop in Reigate, Surrey, UK. We’ve not been able to visit in person yet, but cannot resist their website with its unusual accessories and understated elegance.

I’ve loved them for so long…brownie points would be earned for originality…pretty please (fluttering of eye lashes)…