Vintage Tea Towels...

...or dish towels as we may call them here in the States. I guess it all depends on how classy you're trying to be. Anyhow - I love 'em! They're basically a blank canvas roughly 16" x 28" and the variations are endless. There are so many great designs out there and since many of them are signed it's possible to develop a love for a certain artist, (but that would be so limiting).
I'm drawn to ones that have bold colors and quirky illustrations, but some are just plain beautiful.



These are a few of my favorites from the recent update I did on the site.
The fondue one is hilarious beginning with "Choose from well hung beef...". How can you go wrong with a dish towel (or a recipe for that matter) that advises choosing well hung beef?!


One of the most well known artists who designed tea towels, hankies and other linens is Tammis Keefe. She also designed under the name Peg Thomas. Her prints have great colors and really nice illustrations mostly from the 1950s. There's a Flickr group dedicated to her work.


I found this Peaches & Cream towel on Etsy and I absolutely love it! You can find it along with other great linens at Uncle Bunk's Trunk.


This is a detail of another beauty I found on Etsy at Call Me Jasper.

2nd Street Festival

We're having our last scheduled event for the season and it's next Saturday June 20th!
The Popped Music Festival is being held in conjunction with the Northern Liberties 2nd St Festival bringing you a day of free music and lots of local vendors. 2nd St will be closed from Germantown Ave to Green St for the event.

We'll be setting up shop in the back of Art Star Gallery & Boutique which is located on the festival corridor at 623 N 2nd St, Philadelphia PA (just north of Spring Garden St and a short walk from the Spring Garden El stop). We'll be there all day from 11-8.

We're bringing loads of men's and women's vintage clothing for the event including dresses, skirts, tops and western shirts. We'll have snacks and mimosas (21+) too.
So stop on in when you're making your way down 2nd St on what's guaranteed to be a fun day.

Hope to see you there!

Astro Vintage is Open!

Yes, that's right folks... Astro Vintage is officially open for business!



This is a photo of the new front room.
The front room incorporates more women's clothing with loads of dresses, skirts, aprons and shoes, plus housewares, barware and kitchen stuff. The back room has an expanded men's section, as well as more women's clothing, housewares and linens.
Monthly art shows will be coming soon.

The hours right now are:
Monday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday 11 am - 7 pm
Sunday Noon - 6 pm
Closed Tuesday & Wednesday

Astro Vintage is located at 720 S 5th St Philadelphia PA
(just South of Bainbridge St and a few blocks from South St)
(215) 922-0483

When one door closes...

...another opens! I'm super excited to bring you the news that the sad closing of Orphelin Vintage has a happy ending. At the eleventh hour, a longtime customer of Orphelin and Funhouse, and avid vintage collector decided to take the plunge of entrepreneurship and is reopening the shop as Astro Vintage! The focus will be a little more boutiquey with more clothes, a bigger men's section, and rotating art shows every month. There will still be lots of housewares, wall decor and fun stuff too, plus more jewelry and accessories. Happily I'll still be consigning there! Please excuse the lack of blog posts lately - it's a huge undertaking to change over a shop, and this one has a lot of space to fill... The transformation is in the works and is coming along swimmingly. (I've always wanted to use swimmingly in a sentence). I'll post some pictures once the new set is complete. The target open date is this coming Saturday June 6th. I'll let you know the rest of the details once I have them.

National Wear Your Apron Day

Today is National Wear your Apron Day! It's held on the day after Mother's Day as a way to celebrate the funness (is that a word?) of wearing aprons. Wear your apron to work, to the store - wherever you go today. I love the format of aprons and how they can be so incredibly creative with not a whole lot of fabric, and a relatively simple design.

We just completed a major apron update on the website with almost 50 new aprons.
This is a sampling of some of the ones we've added. You can find all of them in our apron section.


Here's an amazing one that was too stained to sell, but I'm happy to keep it for my own...

There are lots of great vintage style handmade aprons out there. Here are a few that I love.



This one is the Juicy Fruit Reversible Apron from Head Bitch in Charge on Etsy.


This is the Turquoise Dreams - Gothic Rose Sassy and Chic Apron


and the Not So Plain Jane Sassy and Chic Half Apron
from Sassy Apron on Etsy.
I love the colors and patterns together.

Happy Apron Day!

Trenton Avenue Arts Festival

We're really excited to be a part of the Trenton Avenue Arts Fest again this year. It was so great last year, we got a double space. That means we can bring twice as much stuff! The event has over 120 vendors this year with a huge variety of artists, crafters, music, food and of course the Kensington Kinetic Scuplture Derby. Last year's derby was a 3 mile course pitting human powered bicycle sculptures against each other. Most people wear costumes, and the creations can get very elaborate. If you haven't been before, it's a great time!

The event is Saturday May 16th from Noon - 5 pm (sprinkle or shine, with a severe weather raindate for Sunday May 17th). It's on Trenton Ave between Norris and Frankford Ave in East Kensington on the edge of Fishtown. Trenton Ave is a very short walk from the Berks El stop.


Here's a photo of my space from last year.


And a photo of my friend Paul's bike from last year from the Kensington Kenetic Sculpture Derby website.
The photo was taken by Inna Spivakova

Orphelin is closing. Sniff sniff...

It is with great sadness I report to you that as of May 25th, 2009 Orphelin Vintage Boutique will be closing its doors. (Insert sobs here.)
Orphelin took over the old Funhouse space at 720 S 5th St
in Philadelphia just under a year ago, and has been a great place to find an eclectic mix of vintage clothing and housewares from numerous vendors and local artists. Tara has decided not to renew her lease in June. (Wipe away tears.)

But there is a bright side - at least temporarily... Most of the store is on sale for 20% off, and selected furniture pieces are as much as 50% off!



We have a LOT of stuff there including tons of dresses, tops, skirts, shoes, bags, pants, housewares, knickknacks and loads of art! May I suggest this giant black velvet unicorn painting measuring a whopping 27" x 40"?
(I need to give a shout out to my friend Sue of Giant Dwarf
for spying the unicorns for me - that's right, I currently have not one, but TWO of these babies.) But seriously, please come down and support Tara this last month, and score some great vintage goodies on sale. The shop will be open Thursday - Sunday from noon to 7 pm.