Tag: Oxfam

Charity Vintage: Spirograph

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vintage Spirograph set for sale in support of OXFAM on eBay for Charity
(ends 29 Aug, 2013 11:51:01 BST)

I ALWAYS wanted a Spirograph when I was little. My cousin had one that she used to let me use sometimes. I loved drawing the swirly whirly patterns with red, green, blue & black ballpoint pens – often carefully colouring them in afterwards.

This vintage Denys Fisher set is for sale in support of OXFAM GB*

*Oxfam. What springs to mind? Charity shops and second-hand clothes? Africa? Think bigger. Much bigger. Last year, our emergency and development work reached a staggering 15 million people in 94 countries! Thanks to people like you.

Nada

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detail from a vintage cloth pattern designed by Belinda Lyons of a doll called 'Nada', an Algerian girl | H is for Home

It’s funny, sometimes, how things happen…

detail from a vintage cloth pattern designed by Belinda Lyons of a doll called 'Nada', an Algerian girl

…we were looking at these vintage doll patterns for Oxfam on the internet last night… then we walked into a local antiques centre today and found one!

vintage cloth pattern designed by Belinda Lyons of a doll called 'Nada', an Algerian girl

This one’s called Nada and features a young Algerian girl in traditional dress. Here’s another similar one of her patterns that we found featured recently on the Pass the Pattern blog.

detail from a vintage cloth pattern designed by Belinda Lyons of a doll called 'Nada', an Algerian girl

They were designed by illustrator, Belinda Lyon. There isn’t a great deal of information about her on the internet. We know she was working in the 1960s/70s – designing fab stuff – including textiles, books etc. She illustrated a number of books by Janet Barber.

vintage psychedelic tea towel of a camel designed by Belinda Lyon

In addition to the sewing patterns, she also produced a series of tea towels for Oxfam – this is her psychedelic camel!

We’ve just set up a new Belinda Lyon Flickr group to share images of her work, so if you have any, please share!