dresses out of vintage tablecloths

I found another gem in the box of vintage stuff from Anne's mom's house- I'm going to start calling them "Anne-me-downs"- a home made dress from the 1940's worn by an aunt long ago.

I'm sure it's made out of a tablecloth. The tablecloth selvedge is intact along the hem. And of course there is the border design and the nubby, tableclothy texture. I just love the 1940's for it's clever upcycling. I've blogged about it here before. I can only hope to channel that cleverness.

I've been gathering more than a few vintage tablecloths and have added some more to my growing stash.

Yellow cosmos- so delicate.

 

Oh so very 1950's roses.

Another one in cobalt blue and avocado.

More 1950's roses.

I don't think think this one is quite vintage. I bought it at an estate sale for the pretty appliqué. It looks like the kind of appliqué made for export from the Philippines. It's the girliest, pasteliest one I have. A sweet little girl and her mom came to the studio for a custom dress. The forthright little miss went straight for this one which was stacked on the shelf, only visible from the side.

Okey dokey, then. I usually use manila hard patterns, but I like to use tissue when cutting out the tablecloth dresses. Makes it easier to engineer the placement.

Voilà!

 

I also made this one a while back and have it listed in the chirp & bloom shop. More to come...

vintage feedsack love

I've been at it again- bidding for stuff on Ebay with reckless abandon. I'm accumulating a nice little collection of vintage feedsacks. It's hard to believe today, with our disposable mindset, that things like flour, sugar, salt, and chicken feed used to come in soft cotton bags with the loveliest prints. The label for the contents was a paper band around the sack, but the sack itself was fully reuseable. The most common bag size worked out to be about a yard of fabric. You can make a lot with a yard of fabric.

My mother grew up on a farm in Idaho and remembers making things like cafe curtains, pj's, aprons, and little tops and shorts sets out of feed sacks.

That's her at the very top of the photo. Her cousin, to the immediate right, is wearing the type of shorts set they could get out of a feedsack. I guess midriff exposure was OK in the early '50's! I'm still having her dig for  a photo showing an actual feedsack outfit.

The earliest bags were made starting in the 1840's and were very utilitarian-looking with the label printed on and no florals. The pretty patterns came into being starting in the 1920's when manufacturers became aware that housewives were reusing them for quilts and such. Having the prettiest printed bags gave the feed/flour/sugar manufacturer a competitive edge. Both types of bag are highly collectible today. The bags stopped being produced in the 1960's.

Very few bags survived the Great Depression era when anything that could be reused was, over and over again, until it fell apart. Most bags that you see for sale now were made after the Depression. A bag dating from that time- I'm not an expert, so I wouldn't be able to tell- would be worth considerably more.

Intact bags- bags with the side and bottom still sewn shut- are also worth more. The blue one, above, is intact. I don't know if I can bear to cut it up, even though they were made to be reused and that was my original intent when buying them. Maybe I'll use the ones that have already been cut into for some patchwork skirts for chirp & bloom.

Many old patterns are being reproduced today by quilt fabric manufacturers, but there's just something more cool to me about the originals that I can't quite put my finger on. The texture maybe? It's soft and a looser weave than today's quilting cotton. Or maybe it's just the idea of their former life on the farm. Love!

and the winner is...

I've been anticipating the the results of this year's Washington Post Peeps Diorama contest for weeks. I was reminiscing about past winners a while back. This year I was imagining entries along the lines of Tiger Peep getting his windshield smashed with a golf club made of a toothpick and other such sordid themes. But I was way off the mark. The results are in and the winner and several finalists and runners up did perfect pitch renditions of scenes from children's books and movies. And the winner is...

"Eep" by Michael Chirlin & Veronica Ettle based on the Disney Pixar movie "Up". 

The impressive construction utilizes bed springs to hold up the house and many, many popsicle sticks for the victorian-style shingles shingles.

There's Russel on the porch with his merit badge sash and Mr. Fredericksen in the window with his glasses.

"The Mad Hatter's Peeps Party" by Amy Billingham, Rob Black, & Lauren Emeritz, based on the children's classic "Alice in Wonderland, was a finalist. I love the peep-shaped topiaries in the background.

Admirable use of sculpey clay to make the food and teapots.

What parent doesn't know this book by heart? Based on Margaret Wise Brown's "Goodnight Moon", finalist Mary Lea Harris' "Goodnight Peep" doesn't miss a single detail...

right down to the red mittens drying on the rack...

and the old lady whispering "hush"- while knitting with dress pin needles.

I just read the basis of this one to my kids tonight. "Peepaline", by 17 year-old Grace Timmery (you go girl!) and based on the book "Madeline" by Ludwig Bemelmans, made the semifinalist list.

This one just goes to show how deep the talent pool is in this competition. "Where the Wild Peeps Are" by Margaret Cooney and Adam Matuszeski looks just like the book. And I won't even bother to say what that book is- we all know, right people?

This year's entries certainly were exceptional and set the bar that much higher for next year. These are just a small sampling. Go to the official Washington Post page and see the rest of the impressive finalists and semifinalists and even some videos. All the images here are courtesy of the Washington Post.

Happy Easter!!!!

vintage bellefonte

My New Yorker friend, Maria, was in town this weekend for an impromptu visit. She loves vintage as much as I do. Finally! An excuse to skip the laundry and pay a visit the town of Bellefonte in northeast Wilmington and try out my new Pentax K-7 DSLR camera (happy birthday to me!).

Bellefonte is a neighborhood of old bungalows and four-squares in varied states of repair, but oh so charming. Brandywine Boulevard, the main drag, has a bakery, a quirky cafe, a fire house, and a handful of vintage and consignment shops all within 2 or 3 blocks.

candlesticks- Finders Keepers

We started at Finders Keepers, 901 Brandywine Blvd. It's a classic, choc-full, dusty sort of place, ripe for the digging.

bells, etc.- Finders Keepers

throws- Finders Keepers

Next we stopped in to JPT Caning at 803 Brandywind Blvd.

stools and doilies- JPT Caning

salvaged table legs- JPT Caning

chairs awaiting repair- JPT Caning

 JPT Caning

I'm going here if I ever need any caning done.They also carry depression glass.

Blueberry Hill

You can't come to Bellefonte and not go to Blueberry Hill, 1015 Brandywine Blvd.

knobs and pulls- Blueberry Hill

kitchen kitsch- Blueberry Hill

mmmmm...textiles- Blueberry Hill

Bellefonte Cafe

We stopped for cappucino at the Bellfonte Cafe, 804 Brandywine Blvd., and unexpectedly got to hear some live rockabilly by Betty and the Bullets. Who'd-a-thought on a Sunday afternoon? Our food never came, but it was a fun time.

The bakery, Sweets to You, is across the street. We'll definitely have to come back.

a message board for gramma

I don't know about you, but I find it especially hard to think of gifts for elderly people, especially those in a nursing home. How many pairs of slippers or boxes of candy can one person use? So the other day when I was paying a visit to Gramma at the nursing home and she was fumbling around in a drawer looking for some loose pictures she wanted to show me, I had an idea... a padded message board! She was all over the idea of a place to display these things on the wall, so I vowed to come back with one later that week.

My first instinct was to run over to Target and pick one up tout suite, but then I remembered... I've taken the handmade pledge! Oy, but I'm so busy! I checked the garage for a scrap of 1/4" plywood and actually had one already cut to message boardish size, just shy of 18x24". Sold! I'll make it myself. This project is as old as the hills, but I'm doing a tutorial anyway.

To make this project you will need:
-a piece of 1/4" plywood, you decide the exact size
-2 medium triangle ring hangers
-see-through ruler or L-square ruler
-hammer
-staple gun
-disappearing fabric pen
-package of upholstery tacks (they come in packs of 24, I only used 17)
-remnant of fabric big enough to cover the board + 2" all around
-remnant of  quilt batting just big enough to cover the board
-3+ yds of or 5/8" ribbon (I used exactly 3, for a bigger board, get more)

I attached the hanging hardware first. I thought it would be safer than doing it after the fabric and ribbons were on.

It's a good idea to mock up your ribbon placement on a piece of paper first. Fold it in half horizontally & vertically to find the center and plan for a ribbon criss-cross there. I think it looks best not to have 45 degree diamonds. Make sure whatever angle you choose, that you mirror it on the other side. Add parallel lines, repeating every 5" or so.

I'm channeling my inner 94 year-old and have chosen an ivory brocade upholstery fabric. She's gonna love it! Trim the fabric with 2" of extra all around. Trim batting to the board size.

Now layer the batting between the board and the fabric and staple. Staple one side, then the opposite side, pulling tightly.

Be careful at the corners...

Now use your mock up to mark the ribbon placement. Make holes with pins and stick the tip of the fabric pen through.

Lay on ribbons and cut allowing  for 2" overhang, so you can staplegun the ends to the back. Now you can pound in the tacks, but FYI, the tacks I used came through the back. If you care about your table, put a scrap piece of wood underneath. Turn over the board and flatten the points with the hammer.

And there you are Gramma!

end of an era

It's a gloomy day here in Wilmington and not just because we are on our 4th day of rain. This morning I decided to make a trip over to the only true art supply store in town, Wilmington Blue Print, for a roll of tracing paper only to find that they are CLOSED. CLOSED. As in out of business. I guess with the slump in construction, their architectural printing business must have just suffered too much? Maybe they didn't keep up with the times? Certainly the local big box Michael's store outdid them on price... I think the root of it is that most of us are willing to sacrifice the experience of good service for cheaper prices. It's very sad to me since Wilmington Blue was an institution since 1934. Now I will have to buy online instead.

This comes on the heels of the local children's shoe store, Children's Shoe Boat, closing thanks to competition from Target, etc. Sure, the store was unglamorous and hadn't updated it's decor in 20 years, but they had a nice selection of quality shoes and very experienced shoe-fitters. Now I am forced to buy shoes in stores where I am on my own, pulling boxes of shoes off the wall, and hoping  I am measuring the kids feet right, no salesperson in sight. Sad.

So what is there to take away from this? Maybe the mom & pop shops need to do better at keeping up a spiffier, more stylish image. Hard, I know, when profits are low. Maybe they need to be more creative with marketing and play up the service aspect.

On a brighter note, my favorite sewing store in town is not a chain. Hayes Sewing machine Co. is doing a brisk business despite the economy. Established 40 years ago by Trevor and Mary Hayes, the whole family still works there. It's not a glamorously turned-out place, but you can barely walk 3 feet into the store before someone is helping you find that obscure notions item, or whatever. I asked Mr. Hayes one day (he is in the store everyday, personally repairing machines) what he attributes his success to and he said: SERVICE. They also do a good old-fashioned newsletter mailing quarterly or so, despite the expense, rather than mass emailings. "What good would emailing do if half you customers are elderly?" says Mr. Hayes. He's got a point- you have to tailor your marketing to your audience. They also have many, many classes expertly taught by the Hayes' daughters. I can attest that they are good, and I always wind up buying a gadget or two or three afterward without any pressure to do so. Now THAT'S marketing. It feels different buying something in a store where they recognize you from one visit to the next rather than someplace where they couldn't care less who you are. That feeling breeds loyalty. I hope.

Loyalty is probably why Fairfax Harware, the local mom and pop hardware store, stays in business despite being within 2 miles of a Lowes and a Home Depot. They can't compete on price, but their service is impeccable- no wandering up and down aisles looking for that random washer or screw. Everyone knows about them and says they love them, but do they put their money where their mouth is? I hope so!

Shop mom & pop!

the peeps are in!

It's that time of year again. The snow is melted, bulbs are poking up out of the ground, Easter is around the corner...

The peeps are in! We Americans are champions at cheesifying our holidays, so in remembrance of the death and resurrection of our Lord, we celebrate with garishly colored, blobby marshmallow treats!

Appetizing right? That's not the point though. Peeps have many uses.

If you're lucky enough to live in the Washington DC area, you qualify to enter the Washington Post Peeps Diorama Contest. It's been going on since 2007 and gets better every year. The rules are simply to use Peeps as characters in a diorama of a famous occurrence or scene. It can be a historic, current or future event, or it can be a nod to pop culture. I hear 30 other papers have contests now, so maybe you can enter one in your town...

 "Night Peeps" by Melissa Harvey

Last year's winner. A take on Edward Hopper's painting "Nighthawks". Just brilliant!

"Double Peep Strike" by Bradley Gordon, LeElaine Cormer, & Justin Donnely

Finalist  from last year. I sort of thought this one should have won on topicality alone. This flight 1549 image dominated the media.

 "Oh My Peeps, there's an 'H' in There!" by Gwen Jones

Another 2009 finalist. The other major media obsession of 2009: the "Octomom".

"Chinatown's Lucky Dragon Dancers Perform Goodbye Year of the Rat, Hello Year of the Peeples" by Betty Thompson

Another finalist. So realistic, right down to the sauce on the poultry. Can't wait to see what people come up with this year...

 

Retail store display is getting in on the action too. 70's style guru, Cathy of California, created this ingenious window display at the Yolk store on Silverlake Boulevard in LA. Fab use of Peeps!

What the... an actual Peeps store??? Yes indeed, just outside Washington DC in National Harbor, MD.

from cakespy.com

And of course there are culinary uses.

from fancyflours.com

Peepalicious!