Today’s interview subject, Sarah from Mouse Trap Vintage, offers up an eclectic group of vintage clothing, housewares, and oddities. But perhaps some of my favorite treasures in her shop are the City and Country Mouse Pins which are frequently made out of vintage and recycled fabric. If you’d like to learn more about Sarah (and I’m quite certain you do!), read on:

Q: Tell our lovely readers a bit about yourself. Is buying and selling vintage your full-time gig or a hobby? How and when did you get started in this business?

A: I have been selling on Etsy part-time for about 2 years. I also work full-time as an Admissions Counselor at Moore College of Art & Design, my alma mater, and am a member of the Midwives Collective & Gallery, an art collective and cooperative gallery for women. I am a busy lady who is about to free up her schedule to make room for more vintage and my budding textile and home design company, SquidWhale Designs, when I go part-time at Moore in September. Woot!

I began working in my family-owned record shop when I was 11. The record store was in a “dirt mall” and behind that “dirt mall” was a true flea market with cardboard boxes full of dusty old treasures to rifle through. I started buying young, decorating my bedroom and myself. The rest is history.

Q: Do you have any favorite, never-let-you-down, treasure hunting spots? Would you like to share, or are they top-secret?

A: I am a flea market girl. My favorite is The Golden Nugget in Lambersville, NJ. It’s an outdoor market open year round. I love going in the middle of the winter, very early in the morning. You have the whole place to yourself.

Q: Is there a certain aesthetic you look for when you’re thrifting? How do you decide what to pick up, or just pass on? Do you wait for an item to speak to you?

A: I love very old, one-of-a-kind handmade objects or clothing and folk art. The more amateur the maker, the better. I am currently planning my Depression-era hobo-themed wedding, so items from the late 1920s and 1930s are of particular interest to me right now. I am also very attracted to the color red. It’s becoming the unofficial theme of my shop.

Q: Be honest, do you keep many of your finds, or is it strictly business? And do you have any personal collections that you have built over time through thrifting?

A: My apartment is pretty full, but I do keep very select items. My most realized collection is of 1930s and 1940s dresses, but I have many, many starts to collections. Yesterday I was shooting a pair of figurines for the shop, an elephant and a mouse, from 1940s Japan with matching red bowties. Just before listing I decided that animal figurines with red bowties will be my new collection. My last short-lived obsession was hand-sewn humpty dumpty stuffed dolls. I have three so far. Someday I will commit to something, but for now there’s too many things to love!

Q: Are there any items you’ve regretted selling and wish you would have kept for yourself?

A: A handmade leather horse brooch with straw hair and wooden bead legs. I wear a lot of brooches, but this one I would have displayed.

I have come to love the process of photographing objects and clothing. It’s almost as satisfying capturing them this way and filing them away in my digital archives than it is to own them. It also takes up less space.

Q: Pick one and tell us about it: Weirdest, most valuable, or most satisfying find?

A: I think the weirdest thing I have ever found is this jar of dental implants. I found it at a flea market that happens monthly in my neighborhood and all you readers can buy it right now in my shop. I like things that are gross, but fascinating. Fortunately, there’s other people out there who do, too.

Robin Eastwood is a treasure hunter and vintage fanatic. Visit The Fancy Lamb on Etsy to drool over some of her latest finds, and follow Robin on Twitter to hear about her latest thrifting adventures.

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