I am passionate but not an expert.....

I have been around fabric all of my life but I am far from an expert.  My mother was the expert and there is so much I would love to ask her. 

Since embarking on this adventure I have learnt so much and, most strikingly, how little I know.

Bay Vintage sources fabric, buttons, haberdashery and other marvelous things from around the world.  I have linked into a wonderful group of people who generously share their knowledge as well as offer to me from their amazing stashes of vintage things.  I always take the sellers opinion of age, composition, source etc for the items I buy unless I strongly feel something different.  And I add as much research as I can reasonably undertake to give as complete and accurate information as possible. 

But I am  very, very open to learning more. If you feel something I have used to describe an item is not correct or you have further information then please let me know. 

I am especially grateful to those who so generously share their wisdom and knowledge with me:

Stacey at The French Mercer: stunning vintage and antique French passementerie and ephemera (stacey@thefrenchmercer.com.au)

Ali from Vintage Fabric in Gloucestershire, UK: wonderfully eclectic collection of British vintage fabric

Judy from Saint Louis, Missouri who has an amazing knowledge of everything about fabric and haby from the 1960s/1970s

Useful resources:

• The colours that I have used in my descriptions
• Everything about  buttons including a description of types of button backs
• William Morris - his life and work
• History of Sanderson Fabrics
• Guide to Lace and Linens by Elizabeth M. Kurella
• The Arts and Crafts Home - specialists in the Arts and Crafts movement and Art Nouveau
• The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts. Osborne, Harold, Editor, Oxford University Press, 1975