Brimfield – Izannah Walker Journal

If you are a frequent reader of this blog you will know that I am constantly searching for antique fabrics to fashion into doll clothes. I hunt for antique quilts and garments that are far too worn to be restored, but are still in good enough condition to sew with. One of my favorite places to shop for antique textiles is at the May antique shows in Brimfield, MA. My husband and I had planned to spend two days in Brimfield, but heavy rains made Friday a washout, so we packed all of our shopping into one day on Saturday!

I'm feeling a bit like the princess and the pea with this new waist high stack of antique quilts in my studio! — I’m feeling a bit like the princess and the pea with this new waist high stack of antique quilts in my studio!

Our textile scavenger hunt started out slow, with only a single white wool baby blanket in my shopping bag when we took a break for lunch. Things picked up in the afternoon, after a few disappointing instances where we found great quilts that turned out to be very over priced. By the end of the day we had accumulated almost more quilts than we could carry, along with half a dozen pieces of antique underpinnings.

Some of the white textiles that we found on our weekend shopping expeditions.

On Sunday we ventured out to the Elephant’s Trunk, our local flea market, where we purchased another quilt and an additional armful of antique petticoats and nightgowns. In the afternoon we went to a car show, since turn about is fair play and Brian certainly deserved a reward for all of the miles he walked and pounds of fabric he carried for me during the rest of the weekend. ❤

Chandeliers were a very popular item at Brimfield this year.

We've owned and sold several similar carousel horses. — We’ve owned and sold several similar carousel horses, so it was fun to see this one and compare prices.

A terrific paint brush advertising display :) — A terrific paint brush advertising display 🙂

Yes, there were dolls to see and drool over!

An unplanned purchase, simply too great to pass up!

I can imagine sitting down to sew at this machine. — I spent a few minutes trying to figure out how this machine should be threaded…

We saw this little horse on Sunday at the Elephant's Trunk and thought it looked like a lot of fun! — We saw this little horse on Sunday at the Elephant’s Trunk and thought it looked like a lot of fun!

Two of our Sunday finds, a child's rocking chair and a Christmas tree fence. — Two of our Sunday buys, a child’s rocking chair and a Christmas tree fence.

Good thing the dolls are willing to share... these antique nightgowns are destined to be summer dresses for me! — Good thing the dolls are willing to share… these antique nightgowns are destined to be summer dresses for me!

We returned last night from the most successful buying trip we’ve had at Brimfield, MA ( a town wide flea market/antique show comprised of 21 independent venue/field owners) in years. In two days we were able to shop all of the fields, plus a great multi-dealer shop, go

to The Seraph and Angel House Designs to look for a new sofa and visit with our oldest son.

I found some wonderful fabrics and trims that I will be turning into clothing for my Izannahs in the upcoming months. During the warmer months of the year I spend several hours each week searching through estate sales, tag sales, flea markets and antique shops for the fabrics that I use to make my dolls, augmented by a few longer buying trips, in the hopes that I can stock pile enough antique textiles to last me through the winter.

This year the weather was much better on Friday and Saturday than the day we went last May.

Even if I hadn’t bought a single item, the trip would have been worthwhile because of all the interesting things I got to see and the inspiration that they provided!

Some of our best purchases were the three full hides of glove leather (that I will be turning into many, many doll shoes) and three antique canning jars – all for $10 total. Then there were our great $1 buys, a grain painted side chair from the first quarter of the 19th century for me, a vintage Pepsi bottle for my husband, and three T-shirts for my son. My best fabric deal was undoubtedly when I scored a full bolt of very fine antique cotton sheeting, which is destined to become chemises, pantalettes and petticoats. Since I was furniture shopping for myself, it was only fair that I did the same for my dolls. I bought some very nice doll size chairs and dressers, that I will be listing for sale in the future… and of course I did find just a few purple things for my house, seven transferware plates and a cache pot for the kitchen and an early lindsey-woolsey coverlet for our bedroom 🙂