Last Thursday, Ross and I took a little trip to the big city! Our trip to London was mainly because I had booked an appointment to take my vintage dress to a seamstress near Kings Cross station, but it was also a good excuse to go to our favourite place – Camden!
Camden is the place to be if you are into alternative lifestyles – vintage, rockabilly, goth, 
punk, the list goes on! The high street is full of shops advertising tattoos and piercings and alternative fashions such as New Rock boots and corsets. But down by the lock is my favourite place, the Stable markets. There are lots of true vintage shops that span from the 40’s and 50’s fashion, all the way up to the 90’s. There are also knick-knack shops, antiques, handmade jewellery and so on.
We parked at Westfield in Stratford and took the tube to our first stop, Kings Cross station, where on a street nearby I had the appointment with my vintage dress I bought recently.
So after my vintage purchase, I found this shop on the internet called Splendid Stitches on Hastings Street. Their website explains ‘Our expertise spans alterations such as re-sizings or shortening hems on vintage dresses, over repairs such as changing broken zips, fixing rips and patches, to replacing old linings, or refashioning something new out of something old.’ As my dress is rather fragile in places and of course quite old, I felt this was the best place to go! After emailing them with pictures of my dress, I got a reply from Nanna who agreed it was a fragile piece and would need to examine the dress to agree what work needed doing. Although they do ‘postal repairs’, Nanna recommended coming to the shop to possibly have a fitting and discuss the work required, which I was more than happy to do.
I met Nanna at the studio and was amazed at her knowledge of vintage garments! She was very enthusiastic and helpful when talking about the work required on my dress. She asked how much my budget would be as she would try to work within that budget and let me know if she felt work was needed exceeding the budget. She also asked if I had an event to wear this to as she could try to work within this time limit, but although I had considered wearing this so my work’s Christmas party, I thought it was too delicate for such a… full on occasion! So I think I will save it for a vintage event next year, so there was an unlimited time frame for her to work with. Nanna said she would be able to post the dress back to me 2nd class recorded once the work was done. I felt more than happy with choosing her to renovate the dress and so now I am waiting to hear back from her! I will keep you up to date in future posts!
So after the appointment, it was lunchtime and so time to visit the food market in Camden! There are lots of stands offering a wide variety of food; halloumi fries, steak and chips, burritos and lots of vegan options (good to know!). Ross and I opted for Vietnamese and found ‘Hanoi Kitchen’, serving a choice of Bun rice noodle pots or Bun style baguettes – Ross had the baguette, I had the noodles!
We both had pulled pork fillings and both really enjoyed our food! It was fragrant and flavourful, so we can recommend! After we had finished, we decided we should fulfil our Camden tradition and get some Churros for dessert!
After we finished eating, it was time to explore. I found the Collectif Clothing store, which has just been nominated for ‘best market trader’ in the Camden Inspire Awards. As it is nearly Christmas and money is a little tight this time of year, I sadly wasn’t able to buy anything, but I do love looking at all the fabulous clothes! Their store is over 2 floors and has a wide range of stock, it was great to see the clothes in real life rather than online! I highly recommend visiting.
We visited the vintage shops ‘downstairs’ in the Stable market which are full of Levi jeans, worn converses and band t-shirts. Then I found ‘The Arc’ on the ground level near the back of the market, which has an incredible stock of ‘The Pretty Dress Company’ and other 40’s/50’s fashions! I will certainly be returning!
You can honestly spend hours wandering around the markets here, I am sure it is my favourite place in London. To make it more sentimental, Ross proposed at the Roundhouse venue in Camden 3 years ago during a meet and greet with the band Daughtry! It just seems right that we got engaged in this wonderful part of the city.
Anchors & Swallows 
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