New uses for vintage embroideries

Don't you just love this little Dutch couple, embroidered in the 1930s?  They'll be off to a new home soon.  Have put some more photos of vintage 30s motifs at the end of this post for you to enjoy.

I am sewing away at the moment, busy reworking lots of vintage embroidered textiles.  I think it is such a shame when tray cloths & tablecloths, and even "duchesse sets" (I think that was the 30s name for sets of little mats which were used on dressing tables etc) cannot be enjoyed.  So I am making some new patterns to rework these items.  On the whole these are proving successful with not too many textiles relegated to the rag bag!

This was my attempt at a small workbag reworked from a corner cut from a (damaged) embroidered tablecloth. The shape was inspired by this advert from a 1930s magazine.  You will see I had to cut the bag a bit wider to accommodate more of the embroidery, it is a nice little bag which sits comfortably on the arm.

Anyway, some more 1930s embroidery photos for you & off to the sewing machine now ...

 

Pingle Parasol

 

Slightly ashamed at how long it is since my last post ... well, managed to stitch a batch of my Pingle handmade brooches to go on sale at the National Centre for Craft & Design ... above is one of the designs based, obviously, on a Victorian parasol.  Then I bought 80kg of vintage scarves from one of the wholesalers - how many is that?  Well, a scarf usually weighs about 100g ... yep, scarves everywhere.  But as you all know, I adore them and even enjoy the lengthy process of washing, checking & sorting them all.  I find that the washing & ironing helps in the triage decision making - keep, sell or rework.

 

Yesterday I went to an interesting seminar (again, at the NCCD) on the subject of "How to Run Workshops" given by Emma Ronald.  Emma is a textile artist as well as working part time as a Learning Officer at the NCCD.  It was lovely to meet her & talk textiles and I look forward to working with her at events in the future.  Be sure to check out the NCCD website here as they have a fab range of practical workshops for everyone as well as fascinating gallery exhibitions.  There's also a lovely shop and great cafe so it is well worth stopping by if you are near Sleaford.

 

So, the to do list grows ever longer.  And while I was in Sleaford yesterday I picked up the latest NCCD schedule and was fascinated to read about the weekend workshop being run at the end of this month with internationally renowned textile artist Michael Brennand-Wood.  Sadly my funds don't run to participating in this one, but I am looking forward to seeing his work in the forthcoming exhibition Beauty is The First Test from 27 April.

 

I have a blog post ready which I wrote two weeks ago.  It is nothing to do with textiles, vintage or needlecrafts, just something that happened which moved me deeply.  Not sure whether to share it.  We'll see.

 

 



Vintage scarves & furoshiki

As you know, I am crazy about vintage scarves.  I collect them, wear them, sell them and recycle them!  Scarves can work their way through any or all of these categories, being relegated or promoted according to my current design choices or financial situation!  And as I find it extremely difficult to ever throw any piece of textile away, just in case I might find a use for it (that OCD again!), I have recently been looking into the Japanese recycling of scarves into packaging etc known as furoshiki on the net.  There are, understandably, tons of blog posts about this but I was finding it difficult to locate the actual official Japanese government site so here is a link to their furoshiki instructions which has a pdf you can download (taken from the Ministry of the Environment website which also has some interesting historical information about furoshiki).

And here is an example of a book I just wrapped - I find the floaty chiffon scarves are brilliant for this as they tie into really elegant bows!  So, get furoshiking everyone ... plus more scarf photos lower down blog post

 

 

 

Stitchlexia and OCD (obsessive craft disorder)

On Friday I stitched the last stitch on my batch of 24 brooches I have been making for the shop at the National Centre for Craft & Design.  For some reason, over the last couple of days of stitching, my fingers had transformed themselves into useless sausages, every needle that could refuse to be threaded did so, and every strand which could wind itself into an unknottable knot did so - a severe case of stitchlexia.  Thankfully, now all stitched and complete.

 

I had watched a couple of episodes of Channel 4's "Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners", and to my surprise, had really enjoyed this programme.  Prompted by the programme's subject matter, I did a quick google on OCD and arrived at the excellent Anxiety UK website.  Their information seems very informative and helpful.  However I was mildly concerned when I read the part about crafts on the "obsessive hoarding" section (and I quote): "Many people who hoard describe themselves as artists or craftspeople who save things to further their art. In fact, many are very creative with their hands. Unfortunately, having too many supplies gets in the way of living and the art projects never get done".  I'm pretty sure this applies to me to a greater or lesser extent.  So I have made a decision to be more ruthless in the management of my craft supplies!  Just in case ....

 

 Anyway, just to add to my stash (hoard??) of sewing patterns (that is, all the vintage ones I am keeping for whenever as well as those I have to sell) ... I found the lovely sewing patterns by Serendipity Studio whilst searching the www.  I am keen to make some clothing by reworking some of the vintage garments I have, and as these patterns use piecing techniques, I thought they would fit the bill.  What do you think?
I bought them from a lovely company called Seamstar who have a good range of crafty products and have been very friendly, so do visit them if you are looking for sewing supplies as I would recommend them. 
More blogging soon, bye for now. K. x

 

Patterns of my life

Like other persons of the 50ish generation, I am increasingly surprised (and at times mildly alarmed) to find sewing patterns I remember from the 70s and 80s now classified amongst the "vintage" wares - the 70s smock tunic and the 80s jumpsuit above being examples!  Don't they say something about not wearing a style if you wore it first time round?, but I am becoming more and more drawn to the fashion of my youth .... Yesterday I had a good browse through the pattern catalogues in John Lewis and was flabbergasted to see a standard pattern retailing at £8 plus. Oh well, I'll have to keep discovering my patterns in thrift stores and online, or of course maybe try to draft some more of my own patterns - which I love trying but can be time consuming. 

Yesterday evening I spent a couple of happy hours looking through the batch of 1940s Workbasket magazines I bought online just before Christmas.  I am surprised how many crochet patterns they contain, and although my brief flirtation with learning to crochet hit a bit of a stumbling block when I realised increasing and decreasing was beyond me (I know, I know ...), I am tempted to try again.  The Workbasket magazines have some lovely knitting too, and of course my favourite, some lovely vintage needlecraft projects.  Thought I would share this knitted rug pattern with you as I had already scanned it - will share more with you soon.

 

 

Happy Vintage Valentine's Day

Like I need an excuse to have a look through my lovely ephemera file, full of vintage greeting cards and postcards, always a source of design inspiration for my handmade projects ...

Happy Vintage Valentine's Day everyone

And if those cards are a bit too cutesy for your taste, a vintage greeting card from the 1950s with a more down to earth theme!

 

 

Let's get (vintage) beading

The illustration (taken from an advert in a vintage craft book c1910) shows a lady in a relaxed pose contemplating her divine embroidered cushion and delicately beaded top - very different to my usual frantic days spent running my little vintage & handmade business!  Oh well - I thought she would make an elegant introduction.  I am currently stitching a range of brooch designs using vintage textiles and (modern) felts, and I love using vintage beads to highlight my embroidery.  So I was thrilled to find an old Sylko thread box full of vintage seed beads whilst out stock shopping this week.  I think these must have come from a retailer and I would date them at c.1910-30 - some of the skeins of beads have tiny paper labels marked "L Dept" and stock reference numbers but no other clues.  The colours are divine - old gold, vintage silver, bronze as well as some jazzy hot pink, ethereal amethyst and deep aqua:

And just to show how these beautiful beads would have been used, here is a photo of a lovely Deco beaded net dress trim from my collection

 

There are some lovely beading projects in the book from which I took the first illustration, all a bit too finicky even for me, and I was interested to discover instructions for making a beaded daisy chain as I have some daisy chain trim in my stock:

So if any brave soul out there fancies having a go at making some of this trim, I have scanned the instructions below:

Happy beading everyone!