Weekend outings & flea market finds

Here are my outfits from the last few weekends when I had outings with Club Interbellum and did some flea market shopping.

Above is a look I wore two weeks ago. Centerpiece is a late 30's silk dress with dots. The dots may look white on the photo's but they are actually red with a white centre so the color scheme was blue and red. The main colors of the hat too, with the hat pin having some white in it to make it even a better match). I wore my red 30's/40's wintercoat that I got years ago with the handwritten pricetag still attached. More on the shoes later.

Just a page from a women's magazine that inspired me.

With Club Interbellum I visited 'Het Mastboomhuis' in Oud Gastel in the south of the Netherlands. (http://mastboomhuis.nl) 

The outing was organized by Steve who lives nearby and kindly invited us for coffee at his house first. Here we are in the backgarden of 'Het Mastboomhuis' in front of the mulberry-tree that was planted when the last owner of the house was born. We got a very warm welcome from the volunteers who keep the place up and running and give guided tours. After our tour we even got cake with marmelade from the berries of that same tree!

In front of the house ringing the doorbell.

In 'Het Mastboomhuis' time has stood still since 1999 when Henri Mastboom died and declared the house should stay the same in his will.

Rather than 1999 the house breathes the atmosphere of the times of his youth, parents and grandparent's days, with an eclectic mix of 19th and 20th century neo-styles. Henri's father and grandfather had been mayors of Oud Gastel and Henri was destined to follow in their footsteps, but social changes and WWII turned circumstances around so much this never hapened. As Henri was a loner and never married he stayed in his family's house until his death with only minor changes being made as concessions to modern times.

The house has been conserved instead of restored meaning that the aim is to maintain the state it was in in 1999. The wallpaper comming loose for example has to be left that way.

The spiral staircase was installed because there was no room for a bigger one (as you might expect in a mayor's house)

Most furniture looks 19th century.

Even the clothes in the closets were left untouched. These were dresses belonging to Henri's mother dating from the 1900's through 1930's.

Afterwards we visited 'De Meeshoeve' a farm inhabited by 8 unmarried siblings. Again the interior stayed roughly the same throughout the years. A story similar to that of 'Het Mastboomhuis' but in a different social class. 

We ended our day with an old fashioned Dutch meal at Steve's house: potato and carrot mash with meatballs.

The next day I went to the 'Verzamelaarsjaarbeurs' (collectors fair) in Utrecht, so another trainselfie in my red coat ;)

I wore one of my favorite blue dresses which features such amazing details.

Combined with a 30's hat from 'Maison de Bonneterie' (former high-end department store) that seems to have been made for the dress as it has same contrast between matte fabric and shiny embellishment. The shoes are new to me. I had been looking for a dark-blue pair with a sensible heel for a while. These are pretty but practical.

They have the CC41 utility stamp on the inside, so a real piece of history.

Here are some of my finds at the vintage fair:

Lovely art-deco necklace, dragonfly brooch, darning yarn and dark blue silk knit gloves

The cutest table linen set. I think it is probably from the 20's/maybe early 30's when pinks and blues became fashionable for linens and underwear. It was probably a breakfast set but I'll use it for teas and dinnerparties too.

1940's dress of tule. It is so sheer you can see everything underneath. It is a thin layer that makes it acceptable to go out in a pretty slipdress, how great is that!

And another 1930's eveningdress, like I need any more, like I have weekly parties to wear them too or dress for every dinner ;) but couldn't resist. Heavy silk satin with gold embroidery, so glamorous & perfect with my gold lamé evening jacket!

I contemplating on wearing this on New Year's Eve.

Last Saturday I went to the 'IJ-hallen' flea market. This big market is held every three weeks in Amsterdam North in old buildings once used for building ships. Very trendy industrial heritage but also very cold!

I wore a comfy plaid dress that is made of soft flannel. Plaid dresses were popular in the 40's and you see them so often in photo's but they are a rare find. Maybe because they were made of warm wool and worn to death during cold winters and are a hearty meal for moth and carpet beetle larvae?

The checkered pattern has been used very decoratively! To compliment the colors of the dress I wore a grey hat, brown coat and rust scarf.

The dress in the middle looks quite a bit like mine.

Some more examples of plaid.

I wanted to wear a hat but it was wet and windy so this floppy grey number not only matched with the dress but was one of the only hats that was safe to wear as there is no shape left to lose ;)

I went with some friendes from Club Interbellum. You might be able so see Marinka and I have matching scarfs made from the same pattern (that I got from her and my mother knitted me the scarf)

Frank bought a Stetson.

It was a fun excursion but as expected it was cold, even more icy than I could remember, I couln't feel my toes at some point. I had wanted to put some socks over my rayon stockings but forgot, I won't next time, I'll wear woolen stockings!

We warmed up over lunch at our favorite spot: 'Grand Café 1e Klas' at Centraal Station. 

We enjoyed another Dutch classic veal croquettes on toast.

Ready for travel at Amsterdam Centraal station! Markina found an old suitcase :)

I did not buy that much. The art deco mirror was my main find. Also some gifts for 'Sinterklaas' (when the Dutch get presentson the 5th of December) in a few weeks.

And this was not a flea-market but an internet find but I wanted to share it anyway: a 1930's (or possibly 40's) carpet. These are so rare to find in good condition and for a reasonable price. It is perfect for my living room.

My parents bought it for me as an early birthday present, so I won't be using it for some time. Just put it in place to see how it looks and took a picture :)

Hope to be back in a week or so with a report of my trip to Brussels next Saturday!

Birthe