Superior salvage

Kay Wooff, with a 1950s' raffia hat, wool from the 1930s and crochet gear galore. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

Kay Wooff has downsized. She's gone from being a mover and a shaker in the business world to being a shop owner, taking over a scrapbooking shop in Mt Eden and turning it into the Salvage haberdashery.

Wooff helped set up Country Road in New Zealand 20 years ago and, most recently, was in management for Pumpkin Patch.

But what she really wanted to do was have her own business and now, "instead of talking about it and boring all my friends, I've done it".

Keen on crochet, knitting and sewing, she has a passion for collecting vintage trims and textiles.

Now they've become "stock" and she is making the most of those years of church fair finds.

There is a wide selection, from Victorian yoke inserts to 1970s' orange and yellow paisley framed embroidery, and plenty in between, such as laces, velvet ribbons, fringing, buttons, buckles, millenary trims and velvet petals. There's also tea cosies and old hats from the days when her mother was a milliner.

"I want to sell to creative people for them to make things for themselves. I like that recycling and reusing idea."