Shabby Chic Pillows

 I made these little pillows from some of my less than perfect vintage linens.


The round one is made from an apron that had a few stains. I just cut around the bad areas and used the rest. The ruffle is made from the apron ties. I did have to do a little seam ripping (taking off the stained pocket and removing the pink trim so I could reuse it).

The square one is made from napkins that I would never have used because they were a satin type of fabric and there were only 2 of them. I added the lace trim.

So next time you are thinking about tossing those vintage linens that have stains you can't remove or a few holes, consider repurposing them instead : )












Linking with:
Shabbilicious Friday
Pearls and Lace Thursday
Feathered Nest Friday
Pink Saturday

Washing Vintage Linens

Victorian Whites

 I love that fresh air smell of laundry that has been line dried! I hand wash and line dry all my vintage linens.

If the linens don't have any spots or stains that I'm trying to remove I just hand wash with a mild detergent, rinse thoroughly (I usually rinse at least twice) and line dry.

When I find linens at the thrift store or a yard sale they usually have a few spots or have yellowed. First I soak them in laundry detergent with a little oxygen booster added.  After a few hours I rinse them thoroughly and line dry. If any spots remain I put lemon juice and salt on the stained areas and hang in the sun for several hours. I rinse thoroughly and line dry again.  

If any stains remain my next step is non-chlorine bleach added to the soaking water.  I try to stay away from chlorine bleach as it can break down the fragile fibers of the linens and cause little holes to appear in the worn areas.  

When you have finally removed all the stains (some stains just won't come out) and your linens are dry, it is time to iron them.  I starch and iron all my linens to give them a nice smooth, crisp feeling.  If you don't want to use starch you can mist with water and then iron. Now they are ready to either sell or add to my linen closet!  

 

 Linking with:
 The Scoop at Cedarhill Ranch
 Blissful White Wednesday at Timewashed
 Shabbilicious Friday at Shabby Art Boutique

Hankie Apron Tutorial

For this project you will need 3 hankies of similar
size that look nice together.

One will be used for the body of the apron.

One will be cut diagonally and used for the sides.

Another will be cut in half and used to make a ruffle across the bottom of the apron.

Arrange the hankies and decide which one you want to use for the body etc.

I used a rotary cutter to cut the hankies as shown below.

Cut one diagonally for sides.

Cut one straight across the middle to make the ruffle.

Version 1: 
If the sides are cut from a hankie that is smaller than the body hankie (like the one I used) center and pin sides to body right sides together.

 
Straight stitch leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. Finish raw edges to avoid fraying. I used  a simple zig-zag stitch for finishing but you can use whatever you want to.

There may be protruding ends where the sides are a little longer than the body. Clip these off so that the apron is even across the top and bottom.


Press seams toward body of apron.

 Stitch the two pieces that you cut for the ruffle together to form a long strip (right sides together, 1/4" seam allowance).

Using a basting stitch sew 1/4" in from edge. Pull threads to gather. Matching center fronts pin ruffle to apron right sides together.

Stitch using 1/3" seam allowance. Finish raw edge. Press apron.

Version 2:
If the sides are cut from a larger hankie attach the ruffle before pinning the sides to body. Then pin the sides to body and sides of ruffle, lining everything up at the bottom. Sew  







Attach ribbon, lace or bias tape to apron top to tie the apron with.

And you're done!!

 

This one is for sale in my Etsy shop.

WhatGirlsLike






Linking up with:
Pearls and Lace Thursday at Faith Grace Crafts

My Love of Vintage Hankies

I've loved vintage hankies since I was a little girl. Sometimes when I was sick my mom would get out the satin glove box she kept her hankies in and let me take them all out and look at them. When I grew up I started my own collection. 







Vintage hankies come in a variety of fabrics including linen, fine cotton and silk.





Some have bright floral prints.

 
Others have added embellishments such as handmade crocheted or tatted lace, hand embroidery or pulled thread open work.

 
They are small, easy to store and relatively inexpensive making them a perfect item to collect.
 
Hankies can be used is so many ways!

Over the next few weeks I'll be talking about how to use hankies in decorating and sewing projects. 

Knitting Myself a Vintage Hat

I decided to knit myself a warm hat. I hate stocking caps and all the others that cover your whole head. When I pull one of those off my head my hair gets full of static and sticks out everywhere! I remembered having a headband type of hat that tied under my chin when I was little. So I started looking for a pattern.
Some of them were not wide enough and the one that I found that was perfect had already been sold. While on one of my weekly trips to the thrift store (searching for vintage sewing patterns to stock my shop of course) I found this book with several hat patterns, yay!

I decided to make the one shown in the picture below on the left. But I didn't want a snowflake design so I left that out. I'm knitting it in blue yarn with a white edging.

Now, I have to tell you that I haven't knitted anything in a really long time. I didn't even remember how to cast on correctly! And except for the part that I had to pull out and redo, I've been going along pretty well. In fact I'm almost done with the blue and will soon be ready to crochet the edging and tie strings. I'll post a picture when it's finished.

Black Friday Blitz and Pattern Sale on Etsy!!

The PatternPatter Team is having a Black Friday listing blitz. Several of the team's shops are also running sales from 10% to 50% off !

If you love vintage patterns like I do,

you won't want to miss this event.

The participating PatternPatter shops will either have sale prices shown on the item's listing or the coupon code BFBLITZ. Check out the shop's announcement to see how long the sale will be running and if you will need to put in a coupon code.

Take a peek at this discussion thread where we will be posting our newly listed patterns on the 23rd.

PatternPatter Blitz New Listings

Or just browse through our shops. We have thousands of patterns listed for sale!!