Sunday Jumble @ Start The Bus

Today I attended my first Start The Bus Jumble Sale as a participating seller. Ok, so that is not strictly accurate: while I normally love a good rumble in the jumble, today I was helping another fashion forward friend try to sell some of her old clothes.

At Start The Bus, pictured above, Sunday afternoons are all about relaxing with friends, drinking cider and tucking into roast dinners. On the third Sunday of the month that all happens in the setting of the Jumble Sale. Stall holders pitch up while hungry and hungover groups look for a quiet corner and comfy seating. The venue is the perfect place for this odd mish-mash and attracts lots of young, savvy shoppers looking for vintage pieces and quirky accessories, such as faux retro Ray Bans and worn out Converse Hi-tops.

Unfortunately for the four of us it was our first time so it took us a while to set up, throwing the occasional wary look at the other sellers who were clearly regulars at the whole thing. While I was neither strictly buyer nor strictly seller, I got surprisingly into the whole thing; helping to set up the stall, checking out rival stalls and trying my best not to scare potential buyers away by watching their every move (always helps a sale I find).

I think we got quite a good spot because this pillar, below, gave us a shelf at eye line that would grab the attention of passers by. The only downside was that, with the clothes in an L shape none of us were visible on both sides!
I must admit that we found ourselves splitting our time between standing vigilantly at the stall and running around to see what bargains we could find for ourselves! Two of the girls came back with purchases within minutes of setting up the stall (gorgeous brown leather doctors bag, black and gold strapless dress and a pair of grey heeled brogues)! While I was tempted by a pair of flat black brogues I did manage to control myself. The shoes were only £4 but a size 4 and since I'm 4 and a half I didn't want to risk it...

It was amusing watching shoppers drift from table to table. Some walked right past us while others lingered to mull over the H&M chunky pendents and the rather gorgeous long teal knitted cardigan from Miss Selfridge. A white polka dot t-shirt got snapped up quite quickly while several girls also perused a chunky night cream hooded jumper. Several of the regular stall holders had loads of vintage clothes which seemed to sell like hot cakes (which also did quite well), something to bear in mind for next time.

Sadly I had to leave half way through before I even got to make a sale but the whole thing was very infectious: we had such a good time that we're going to collaborate on another stall next time, morphing it into a super stall using the powers of vintage, homemade dresses and jewellery and fairy cakes - surly a winning combination!?