Hanky Curtains

I picked up this premier issue of Vintage Style magazine the other day. The picture on the cover caught my eye. Curtains made out of an old sheet and some vintage hankies. I thought this would be a great use of some of my collection of vintage hankies. And I needed some new curtains for my kitchen. Even though I have a huge collection of hankies I always feel bad about cutting them up. This project was perfect because you don't cut the hankies but just apply them whole onto the background fabric. Instead of using a sheet I used part of a damask tablecloth I picked up a the auction. My tablecloth was not in perfect condition it had a few worn spots. So I didn't feel bad about using it for my curtains. The tablecloth has that pretty fagoting edge that I used as the bottom edge of my curtain. Notice the one round hanky. That is the only round hanky I have so I thought it added a cute surprise to my curtain.

Knitted Tea Towel

I like knitting simple useful projects like this tea towel. It is something I can finish fast and knit without having to think about it much. I got my idea for this from Page's Soft Cotton Knit Dishtowels . Her towels are much smaller than I wanted but I got the basic idea. I found a huge bag of cotton yarn for five dollars at my local Goodwill Store. It is South Maid Cotton 8. Most of it is white or ecru and a few peach and periwinkle skeins too. It is finer yarn than Page's towels used so I adapted the pattern to fit what I had. I used size 5 knitting needles and I cast on 70 stitches. My towel ended up about 14 inches by 18 inches.

I picked up these three vintage dishtowels a few weeks ago at the auction. They were among three boxes of household linens that I won for only $4.00. They are in really nice condition one has several stains but I may try a more aggressive washing to see if I can get them out. Or I may just use it as is. I patterned my knitted dishtowel after these. I have been having so much fun going to the auction and coming home with my new old goodies. I already completed another project with some other things from this buy. I will show this soon.

Aurelia Cardigan

Something I sewed up recently is this cardigan from Sew Liberated . This was a very quick and easy pattern to sew up. The pattern calls for knit fabric for the main part of the cardigan and then a woven lightweight fabric for the skirt and the ruffles. I wanted to use this grey and black flocked velvet knit for my jacket. I used a lightweight black knit for the skirt and ruffles. I cut the largest size and it fits but I would have liked it a bit larger. I think part of the problem is because my fabric wasn't quite as stretchy as it should have been. I like it for the most part and I have worn it several times. It is a very casual look. I think since I used such a dressy fabric it makes it look less casual. I will probably make it again in a stretchier fabric and I may cut it a bit bigger too. They show it belted on the pattern envelope. I tried it belted and it was ok but I didn't think the belt would stay in place because I don't have a defined waist. I wore it with a large pin at the front waist and that worked well. I also just wore it open and I liked that look too.

Thread Cabinet

I love this thread cabinet I picked up a few weeks ago at a local auction. I paid a bit more for it than I wanted but I knew I probably wouldn't see something like this that often. It is really good condition and it even had a collection of wooden spools of thread. The front glass panel lifts up so you can pick your thread color. And there is a hinged panel at the back for refilling. The two drawers at the bottom can store other miscellaneous notions. Now I must get my sewing room organized so I can display my new thread cabinet. The four jars of buttons on top are also a purchase from the auction. I always find buttons and sewing boxes there. I don't think I have ever been there when they didn't have at least one jar of buttons. I will be posting more of my cool finds.

Ham Apron

I have been attending an auction most Thursday nights. They seem to have all kinds of things up for bid that I never knew I needed. Well a few weeks ago I won this stack of various fabric items such as feed sacks and money bags. Even a couple of vintage aprons. There were several fabric sacks that country hams come packaged in.

When I got my newly acquired goodies home those ham sacks were telling me they wanted to be an apron. My first thought was to sew two of them together down the folded edge because they already had that rounded shape for the hem of an apron. The fabric is rather thin even when doubled and I wanted a bit more body and durability. So I decided to cut off the serged edge and open the bag flat. I went through my stash and found what I needed to line the apron with and that cotton sateen gave it the weight it needed.

I wanted to used some ruffled lace and some trim to tie everything together. The burgundy cotton and the black and cream gingham worked well with the labels on the ham sack. And I had enough to do what I had in mind. Yay!! I used one entire ham sack for the skirt of the apron. For the bib I just cut out the name side of the bag. I like aprons with bibs as I need full coverage. I know that I will not limit my messes to just the bottom half. I am really happy with the way this apron turned out. I had a general idea of what I wanted and then I kind of adapted my idea to use what I had on hand. I love the results.

Vintage Patterns

Back in September I entered a contest Craft Book Month. There were various prizes awarded and I won one of them. My prize was these three vintage patterns from Goofing Off . I honestly think I had that pattern for overalls back in the seventies and I made them. And thought I was right cute wearing them too. I showed this to my 23 year old daughter and she exclaimed that no adult person should ever wear overalls. I offered to make her some. I tend to agree with her about adults wearing overalls unless you are working in the garden or something.

Maybe I will try making one of those robes. I think that would be cute and useful. And my daughter would not be ashamed to be seen with me because I could only wear it around the house. I think the vest and skirt pattern may be cute in the right fabrics. I will have to think on that a bit. Anyways I am glad I won something and it is fun seeing these patterns again. I am beginning to get quite a collection of vintage patterns, many much older than these. They are fun to have and fun to look at.

Renaissance Garb

I made this Renaissance Costume for my daughter a few weeks ago. Today we attended the Maryland Renaissance Festival and she got a chance to wear it. I made mine a few years ago. In fact my Renaissance Costume was my very first blog post. It was a perfect fall day for being outside and enjoying all the activities at the festival. It is a great place to people watch and I love seeing every ones outfits. And they have every kind of food on a stick. We had a really good time and watched a few entertaining shows. And it was fun to wear our outfits.

For Rebekah's outfit I used parts of four different patterns. She liked the skirt from Simplicity 3809 view B with the bustled over skirt. However I had bought the pattern in my size and she is very tiny and there were none in her size when the patterns were one sale for $1.99. She also liked the blouse from view A with the ribbon bows on the sleeves. Since the skirt is gathered to a waistband it was easy to adjust to her measurements. I decided to use the waistband from McCall's 4090 and I had the pattern in her size. I liked the way the closure used eyelets and lacing at the back. The fabric I used for the skirt is a burgundy cotton chintz that was given to me. I was trying to use only my stash for this project but I didn't have enough of anything that coordinated well with what I had. So I went to a discount decorator fabric store in my area in hopes of finding something. I got this pretty stripe and the green that I used for the corset.

The corset is Butterick 4669. It has four different corset styles included. I picked view A because it was a very simple style and all the others had a peplum. I thought the simple style would look better with the bustled over skirt. I didn't think a peplum was necessary. I edged the corset with bias trim I made from the same fabric as the underskirt. I thought it tied everything together nicely.

For the top I used the blouse from Butterick 6196. That is the pattern I used for my entire costume. But for Rebekah I only used the blouse because it was in her size. I just added another row of elastic between the cuff and the upper arm so I could get the look of the blouse from the other pattern. The fabric is a cream colored dotted Swiss. I trimmed it with eyelet lace at the cuffs and the neck edge. And I added some ribbon bows to the sleeves.

I think she looks adorable in her new garb and we may have a chance to go back next year and wear our outfits again.