I regularly clear out my cupboards with bags of donations for charity shops (like here and here), but some of the garments I spent cash on via vintage fairs and so forth, and it would be nice to recoup some of the costs.

Sooo, at the moment I have this wonderful vintage tuxedo dress shirt on the shop. I bought it as I loved the pleats, but haven’t had it on for a good while, so it’s time for a new owner. £16 odds for an original 1960s dress shirt isn’t too bad, right? See it here.

vintage 1960s tuxedo shirt

It’s not all clothing, though. I have this gorgeous Norwegian casserole dish that I just absolutely love on the shop. I’m hoping to move house soon, so need to downsize some of the crockery I am currently in ownership of, so this is up for grabs too.

Egersund casserole dish

So feel free to have a quick mooch around. Maybe you’ll see something you like? :) It’s by no means a career move, but it is fun to see people enjoy my already-loved garments and items!

Anyway. I love love love this necklace. It’s an original 1940s costume piece, with the most delicate of fasteners so hope desperately my clumsy fingers don’t break the mechanism.

costume necklace, 1940s bow

I paid £8 for the necklace. Which, to be fair, doesn’t even come close to the price you’d pay for something similar in Accessorize or Marks and Spencer or whatever. I’ve had it on a lot too, so I’m very pleased I spotted it on the table amongst so many other sparkly items.

The second find is this cute little pair of 1970s costume earrings, which pay homage to 1930s art deco sunbursts. Aren’t they pretty? I know they are just cheap imitations, but as soon as I saw them I thought they were perfect for fancy dress or a night out on the tiles.

sunburst earrings

I think I paid 50p for them. I haven’t had these on yet, but am waiting for the Christmas parties to arrive so I can get them on and strut my sunbursting stuff! They would also be perfect for any Ancient Egyptian themed night… Now I just need to find the rest of my Cleopatra outfit ;)

Double rainbow at the Shore – beautiful!

For the astute amongst us, when we walk along the street there are lots of signs that Edinburgh has had a long and intriguing history. I thought some of the vintage fans of this blog might like to see some of the quite literal signs of this that I’ve been spotting and snapping.

Ghost signs on Nicholson Street Square

I love ghost signs. Especially in Edinburgh. They are these delicious little hints about what the city used to hold for its inhabitants. And they are all over the place if you take the time to spy them.

Ghost sign at a flat buzzer at Old College

The landscape of the city changes all the time, but I find these old reminders about the time past awfully romantic. I wonder about what beautiful hats or leather belts or furs that these old shops must have produced however many years ago.

Ghost sign on Infirmary Street

Of course, Edinburgh’s not the only Scottish city to cling on to such visual gems. Glasgow is host to plenty of them too.

Ghost sign at the Trongate in Glasgow

For the life of me, I have no idea what an alice belt is. Do any readers know about this type of belt? Maybe it was just the name of the shop? Or the owner? I wonder what the shop looked like? So many questions from one ghostly little sign…

Another ghost sign at Trongate

Do you have ghost signs where you live? I love spotting them wherever I am. You can often get great sightings on railway lines when you’re on the train, as the route cuts through old buildings via bridges that the cars and pavements don’t reach.

If you’re a fan of these lovely old advertisements, check out this blog post which has pictures of plenty more Edinburgh memories. I will keep my eyes peeled for more of them!

My flat is a complete tip right now, as I try to sort through all the various bits and pieces accumulated through years of charity shopping. As part of the mass exodus of items, I’ve already taken a large wedge of books down to the charity shop and shoes are next on the list.

I couldn’t believe it when I had to move my shoe rack and discovered I had over 40 pairs of shoes. FORTY. Who on this great green earth needs as many pairs of shoes as that?! So I’ve lined these ones up for donation…

Of the six pairs above, only two were bought new in a shop. The rest have been donated to me or bought in car boots or charity shops. At least the virtuous cycle goes on and the great circle of charity shopping continues! There were about another four pairs that I didn’t take snaps of, mainly because they weren’t as nice.

Hopefully these shoes will go on to lovely new owners :) Do you like any of them?

Let me know about your shoe accumulations. Is there truly a need for us ladies to have so many pairs? I am definitely in the “I think not” camp due to flat decorating. Honestly, shifting dozens of pairs from place to place is no fun at all…

Also, I figure that quite a lot of thrifty missys out there probably enjoy a good, proper pootle on their bikes. After all, cycling is by far the most bargain-tastic of all modes of transport (other than feet, but they are pretty slow in comparison to the two-wheeled joy of a bike).

Anyway, I love my bike. Well, actually, bikes. I have two. Well, actually, three. But the third is quite decrepit right now.

I am so happy with my bike!

Cycling is just brilliant. For so many reasons which I’m not going to get into right now. However, I would love to introduce more ladies to the love of the bike. To that end I’ve started to get involved with Belles on Bikes, a women-specific project that aims to get more ladies on their bikes. Funded by CTC and supported by the Bike Station, it’s been doing fantastically well in Glasgow, so it’s time we got our groove on in Edinburgh too.

The second Edinburgh ride is going to be on this Saturday coming, the 22 February. It’s starting from the Beach House on Portobello promenade at 10.30am, and if you are in the area and fancy enjoying a splendid run around East Lothian in the sunshine then I definitely think you should come along. We are a very friendly and welcoming bunch that would love to have you with us. More details here.

Fancy it? :)

The perfect excuse to wear this; a vintage rabbit fur coat that I bought in a charity shop in Inverness last year. It wasn’t the cheapest of the cheap at £50, but the quality of the fur and cut of the coat made me snap it up pronto anyway. It’s very neat – an unusual thing with fur coats as they are often quite big and heavy on (at least for my price bracket).

Some people have issues with real fur, but I have several vintage coats and have no problem with giving clothing a second chance. If I wasn’t wearing them the furs would be going to waste and neglected on a clothes rail somewhere or in the local tip. I would never buy a new coat but the old ones most certainly need love.

This is my other coat. It’s a musquash fur, again at £50 and purchased from a second-hand dealer in Callander. It’s much heavier than the rabbit but the fur is much harder wearing. And what beautiful stripes in the furs.

So what do you think of the coats? Own any furry items yourself or steer clear of them completely? :) How are you keeping winter at bay?

For those not in the know this week is Book Week Scotland, the national celebration of reading, books and writing. I’m a major bookworm myself and sometimes writer, so have embraced the week wholeheartedly. After all, it’s about books. What’s not to love?

In true bookish style, once you let me loose near a bookshop or bookshelves it’s a considerable danger on both the wallet and space situation in my house. For these exact reasons I tend to steer clear of the book sections in charity shops. But not this weekend past…

Err, only six books purchased of an afternoon. That’s not so bad, is it? The charity shop shelves were screaming out to me, and the books were on average £2 per paperback… It’s all a bit odd that I ended up with three cities for titles, but hey, that’s what the shelves were offering up…

Have you read any of the titles above? Would love to hear what you think about them if so.

So I needed to choose my book to read for Book Week Scotland. In the end I’ve opted for the two books below. Counting Sheep is half-read already and a really interesting book about how we dream and the science of sleep, so I hope to get that finished this week. Heft was lent to me by a friend and I look forward to giving it a bash too.

Are you participating in the week? Would really love to hear what you’re choosing to read if so. I love a good book recommendation, I do. Happy reading, readers!

Via Flickr Commons

I usually don’t do these types of things, but Barclaycard has been in touch offering a nice wee competition to Pennies’ blog readers. I have £60 UK Amazon vouchers up for grabs, and all you need to do is complete this fun little shopping style survey from the credit card provider in question and then pop your shopping style in this blog post’s comments.

We will pull a winner out of the hat on 30 November and drop the lucky person a line over email with the voucher code. Easy peasy! Fancy it? See what kind of shopper you are.

I took the survey myself, and contrary to what I was expecting I didn’t come out as a traditional bargain hunter at all, but rather a “screen-saver” (or someone that predominantly shops online). To be fair, this is pretty accurate, as unless I’m trawling car boots, markets or charity shops I’m unlikely to purchase anything new via bricks and mortar retail. I even prefer click and collect to battling high street or retail park madness.

Let me know what your shopping style is (and whether it’s even accurate!) and you might be walking away with £60 worth of Amazon spend. Ideal in the run up to Crimbo :) Look forward to reading your comments.

UPDATE

Thank you to everyone that entered the competition! We have a winner and that would be papercutpanic, comment number 9. Thanks again to all who submitted, and hope you enjoy the blog going forward :)

At least, that was the thought that went through my head when I spotted this mad garment at a thrift market in Edinburgh. For the grand sum of £10 I could bling up my boobs to my heart’s content.

After a quick try on, the brassiere had to be mine. It fitted perfectly and had been hand-sewn by a very dedicated individual. The swishy tassles are so much fun!

What do you think? It’s a bit crazy, a bit bonkers, but something that I couldn’t resist. The fancy dress box is looking very healthy these days :)

However, I felt the need to get back into the swing of things with respect to bargain hunting. Now the weather’s turning the woollies are making an appearance and it’s paramount I get some warm bits and pieces on the go.

I thought I would share this outfit on the blog. Awkard selfie alert! I got the mustard jumper and striped shirt in the Shelter shop in Corstorphine. I think the combo came in at about £8 for both items. Bargain.

The jumper has been on my back a lot. It’s a short one, so works well with fun shirts and a pair of jeans. I like my shirt too; it has that little bit of oomph with the block stripes.

Of course, now it’s getting chilly I’ll need to make sure my tummy and back are sufficiently cosy, haha! :) Anyone else been perusing the rails come winter? I’m seeing a lot of cardigans, but keen to get some more interesting and unusual woollen wear…

So I’m breaking tradition with this post to instead show you some amazing photos of the Scottish fashion design house Spencer Clothing.

In a very clever and flattering move, the folks at Spencer Clothing asked me if I’d like a garment named after my Twitter handle… Does a girl like cake? Of course I’d love a piece of designer clothing named after my Twitter handle!

So behold, the crabbitcopy jacket. It’s a bit disappointing that I have such a ridiculous Twitter account name, because that gorgeous jacket deserves a far superior name than what it’s been given.

The jacket is paired with the Darcie skirt above (another fellow Twitter user and Edinburgh resident). Doesn’t it look stunning? I would love this tailored jacket, but Spencer Clothing doesn’t have any retailers in Scotland at the moment, so I’ll just have to bide my time and hope I might be able to pick one up in the future.

I must say, I was properly impressed with the outfits for the Spring/Summer 2014 collection. You can see them on the Spencer Clothing Pinterest page.

I do own a bowler hat… Maybe I should try and pull off this look! :)

What do you think of the outfits and the look for the jacket? Proper steampunk indeed!

So, as an example of this idea, take exhibit a. I found this pillarbox coat in Armstrongs on the Grassmarket marked to £10.

I was in Armstrongs to find a military jacket for a circus ringmaster outfit I wanted to put together. Upon discovering that a military jacket was going to be quite considerably out of my budget (and fair enough – they are genuine articles in Armstrongs!) I turned to the ladies’ rails and came across the wee red coat.

After some buttons, trim and embellishments I ended up with the below jacket and outfit. The wee red coat did me very proud! Huge thanks to Iolair Images for the photo.

So how much was my outfit and where did I get the rest of it from? Well, I think in total it cost about £22. The shorts were originally £3 trousers from Next in the charity shop. Some snips and button changes later, I ended up with my military bottoms.

The jacket went through quite a transformation, complete with the addition of tails. The shoulders are curtain tassels, the buttons were changed and the ribbon added to complete the military look. The tails were the best part, I thought, with an old piece of red felt and a red shirt from the charity shop snipped up to give them a lining.

The coat was originally a three-quarter sleeve. So with some upholstery fabric and a few more buttons, the coat sleeves reached full-length.

As for the top hat, it’s been in my possession for quite some time now and I’ve used it on other outfits, notably my steampunk effort from last year. Interestingly, I got into a chat with a chap about my hat and he mentioned that the vintage top hats are usually only tiny or large now, because all the “normal” sized ones were worn out. So I am very lucky to have such a wee head!

Everything else was already in my fancy dress box… bow tie, earrings, rings, necklace, shoes, bag etc. Sometimes it’s good to have a wardrobe bursting at the seams. Right? :)

What do you think? Good charity shop and thrifty transformation? I must say I do love my coat – I want to wear it everywhere…

She’s a good purchase, because I’m thinking about flogging some of my clothing I never wear any more and some of my vintage finds I don’t give enough love to via the medium of eBay or Etsy. So she gets dual use. She’s staying out of my bedroom, though. There’s something quite unsettling about having a torso in the house…

So let’s start with my least exciting of Blackpool purchases, but one I really like. This suede and satin waistcoat is a vintage effort from Marks and Spencers and cost me £2.50 in one of the many, many charity shops in Cleveleys down Blackpool way.

Staying with the theme of Marks and Spencers, this lovely shirt was a meagre £3 in Oxfam. The poor model doesn’t make it look very cool (and it needs an iron), but it’s a great fit and I’ve been wearing it with skinnies and a blazer to work.

Of course, these sensible purchases needed to be countered by some bizarre item I couldn’t leave alone once discovered. Welcome to my first Indian themed dress! I had to buy this; it was only £3 and the embellishments are worth the money alone. The dress is a little big for me, but even if I can’t wear it the fabric is worth the £3 spend alone. The diamantes are beautiful. You can’t see them glitter very much in the photos but they are lovely.

I had to have these fifties clip on candy stripe earrings when I saw them. Exchanging the grand total of £1 made me their proud new owner. I’m not sure if they’re original fifties efforts, but they are fun none the less and if nowhere else will sit happily in the fancy dress box.

The best buy of the Blackpool holiday goes to this swing dress, which I bought for a ridiculous £3. It fits me like a glove. Unfortunately, it’s missing a belt, but I’m sure I can muster up one from somewhere.

So what do you think? £12.50 well spent?

I would definitely recommend Blackpool for charity shopping. It was excellent when I was foraging; there were no people my age whatsoever. I was surrounded by older ladies and their despairing husbands as they trawled the rails. So zero competition from students, savvy vintage hunters or eagle-eyed bargain seekers. Blackpool is well worth a rake!

Oh, and what are you thinking about my dressmaker’s model? Too impersonal? Or a good way to see my charity shop finds?

*Puggies are what we Scots call the amusement arcade games…

I was sad to see the Blackpool Tower suffering from scaffolding. The poor thing looked like it was in a neck brace.

I did the obvious tourist thing and went to the top, which featured a glass floor; it took all of my willpower to stand on it. Apparently, each pane is able to hold five tonnes of weight but I wasn’t trusting that statistic. Eventually, I managed to set foot over the horrible view below… Eek!

I was pretty frightened. I hate heights. It’s a good thing you can’t see my eyes in this photo. But they say you should do one thing every day that scares you. So this is a year’s equivalent worth of terrifying experiences, I think.

Blackpool is a pretty place in the sunshine when the tide is out and the beach is on display. You could almost be somewhere like Spain or France with the quality of the sand.

The promenade was a great place to take a wander and people watch. There are three piers to explore, and the South Pier provided ample seating to watch visitors stroll by…

After a good sit it’s obligatory to perambulate up and down the promenade again. The town’s history means that comedy is in its blood, and also stamped on the ground!

Alongside the comedy, there was plenty of other things to see and do. We went to the Pleasure Beach and guffawed at all the crazy roller coasters. There were loads, and the tallest seemed to touch the sky. (I didn’t queue for a ride.)

Of course, I had to have a go at prize bingo on the beach. What a bargain – 20p per game! After £2 I was still without a tatty prize, but got a good 20 minutes fun for the price :)

I enjoyed my stay in Blackpool, though I felt that a lot of the glamour and excitement from its hey day have faded and now you can only see glimmers of how it used to be.

I’m not sure I’ll go back again soon – you really need the weather to make something of it. However, I did have a rummage in the charity shops and came up trumps with some great buys, so I’ll blog that up soon.

Have you been to Blackpool? What did you think? As this was my first time, I’m wondering if there’s more to the old bird than what I saw on my long weekend. Do tell me your experiences! :)

Via

I went for a wander around its many charity shops last weekend and gave up trying to take a look at the clothing in the shops – it was so busy there was barely room to move. I really dislike looking for bargains when folk are regularly rude and pushy. The yummy mummies (of which there are many) are poor with their manners sometimes :(

I did pick up a few good items, though! Giving up on the clothing rails left me looking at accessories and I found this perfectly sized over the shoulder satchel in the Barnardo’s shop for £5. I love the patterning.

This bag is the perfect size for purse, keys, phone and a great book. Ideal, seeing as I also got myself three books from the Oxfam bookshop. Less than £10 gives me my reading for the next month.

Have you read any of them? If so, let me know if you enjoyed! I’ve never posted any of my bookish finds before, but as a big reader I get a lot from the charity shops. My shelves are straining under the weight.

The Shelter shop (which was absolutely stowed with people) was quite a stressy effort, but I found this cute little cinch belt for the grand sum of £2. It’s got gold running through it and is very pretty.

Shelter also offered up this pair of spectacles that I spotted just as I was about to leave the shop. Another £2, duly purchased. They look proper giant in the photo, but in reality are only an inch or so and sit nicely as a long pendant.

I feel like I am turning into a hipster with some of my purchases (cringe) but I did love these seeing as I wear goggles every day!

I’ve been wearing my new satchel all week – love it! What do you think, folks? Got any favourites amongst my latest haul? Shame I didn’t get any clobber, but maybe that’s a good thing for my wardrobe! x

But I must be completely honest here, readers. Only two of my four buys in this post were thrifted from a charity shop. The other two comprise the most expensive items of clothing I have ever purchased (!!!).

I went to Joey D’s on Broughton Street in Edinburgh; the shop is a staple of the city’s fashion scene. The designer, Joey D, has his threads shown all over the world and for good reason too. His stuff is crazy and wonderful!

First up, I bought this Harris tweed jacket. It has been re-fitted from two vintage men’s coats to make a ladies’ one.

The fabric is very hard-wearing as it’s Harris tweed. Despite the photo, the colour is almost blue-green (I took the images under electric light) and is a really tremendously lovely jacket. The wind doesn’t get a look in with the tweed – it’s surprisingly warm even though the fabric isn’t heavy.

For those not in the know, Harris tweed is woven exclusively in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.  It’s also very expensive as a fabric.

Here is an awkward selfie of me wearing the jacket. It’s a perfect spring or autumn coat; bit longer, cosy, warm, keeps the wind off…

But it was blimmin’ expensive.

Of course, once I started trying jackets on in the shop there were two I liked in particular. I couldn’t decide on which one to choose. So I thought “screw it” and bought both of them!

The second one is much shorter and neater and is a heather colour. I appreciate they both look very similar in the photos, but they are quite different in natural light. Here it is on:

I am loving these coats. I figured that for the money I will easily get a decade’s wear out of them because the tweed is so hard-wearing and the cut is quite timeless. Unless I spill paint on them or rip an arm off I think I’ll have these on my back for a good while yet. That’s my argument and I’m sticking to it…

To make up for the extreme expense of the jackets, I had a quick look in the charity shops on the way home (this logic is clearly ridiculous). Saw this hat. Immediately had to purchase. Look at those feathers!

And to really rub it in, the last shop I visited had this coat on the hanger… ANOTHER tweed jacket!

So now I have no less than three tweed jackets and one feathery hat. The thrifted items came in at £6 for the hat and £5 for the jacket. So all in all, aside from the extreme expense of the Harris tweed efforts, I think I did quite well!

What do you think? Gosh, I hope you like the first two coats :)

But gosh, the sun has been shining for no less than two days on the trot. The other day I even heard a bumble bee. This could be it, guys. Spring might actually be arriving.

So surely it’s time to wake the spring wardrobe from its slumber and get parading around the city (with a sensible jacket to keep the chill off). Oh joy indeed!

I might get the opportunity to wear this odd little item I bought last year at the Shelter shop in Dalry, Edinburgh. It was quite pricey at £15, but I soon discovered that it was made from silk and hand-made.

The belt was especially lovely. And I loved the colours. This little dress is just so fun.

Not sure if I can pull it off, though. I’m going to hold on to it for a while; you never know when the next 70s themed fancy dress might rear its head.

I also have this crazy dress that I bought in a vintage shop for $15 in San Francisco last year… It’s a tartan smock. Ahem.

I had to buy this; when I tried it on I ripped a seam wide open under the arm. (You know, that horrific ripping sound from somewhere you can’t determine on the dress, so you wiggle and faff about trying to get it off, and in the process rip it even more?). Oops.

It’s a 70s dress so quite delicate due to its age and the thin cotton fabric. No wonder I ripped its guts out when I was trying to get it on.

Contrary to its appearance on the hanger, not too bad on. I think I might get away with this at work or whatnot. And before you ask, no. I’m not a dinner lady…

Also, what on earth is a size 11?!

These are Marmite dresses. You’re either going to think they are utterly hideous or love them for their quirkiness and colour. They certainly have personality, right? :)

What do you think? Like or loathe?

Hosted by Queen Margaret University students as a fundraising event for Age Scotland, the fashion show featured a catwalk, lots of glamorous attendees and plenty clothing on show to buy after the models had done their thing. Ooooh, so many pretty things to covet! Check out those gold shoulder spikes; statement or what?

Local businesses like Dragonfly, Peppy Miller, Ice Store and Nicolson Kiltmakers donated their time and clobber to kit out the models, who were all different ages, sizes, shapes and sexes. It was fab to see such a variety of people owning the catwalk.

There was a range of clothing on show during the event, with casuals, work wear, evening wear and kilts all featuring. I had a devil of a time trying to get good snaps of the models as they came past me, so apologies for a bit of blur…

I loved the older ladies – they were effortlessly cool as they strutted up and down the catwalk. Their outfits suited them perfectly – well done to the students that styled them on the night.

The younger girls looked lovely too. I am all over that sequined jacket. So pretty!

 There was a great mix of fashion on offer, and all for charity too.

Of course, I couldn’t stay away from the rails of clothing and ended up with a £10 dress at the end of the night. I’ve worn it three times already – cash well spent! :) I’ll pop up another post featuring my swag soon.

So what do you think? Fashion success? My favourite pieces of gear are the sequined jacket and polka dot dress. Lovely items!

© Everybody Fashion

Students at the Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh have decided to raise funds for Age Scotland by hosting a charity fashion show on March 26 at the Ghillie Dhu. For everyone.

By everyone, I mean all different shapes and sizes. All different ages. All different races and creeds. And I can’t wait. It will be a breath of fresh air to see fashion and style hanging off more than skinny size eight teenagers. More of this, please!

© Everybody Fashion

The organisers are hoping to snag the interest of fellow students, local businesses and those interested in fashion. Charity plays a big role too, so I can’t wait to see what they have lined up for the event. The clothing is to be provided by local businesses, so if anything grabs my fancy I can go out and buy it the next day. Ideal.

Get more info on the fashion show at their website, and why not come along if you’re a local? Looks like it will be a fun night. I’ll be taking my camera so hopefully I’ll get some good snaps that I can blog about. Stay tuned for outfits!