Thursday, December 3, 2009

Christmas Re-fashions

Every building on our farm was, is, or is in some state of, being full of old stuff - mostly old appliances, jars, etc. I have pulled a few vintage kitchen things out of the barns; as well some other cool stuff - but that is for another post another day.
One of my finds in the second story loft of one of our barns amidst the boxes and fruit baskets of old blue canning jars, I found a plastic bag, containing this faded, worn pink chenille bedspread:

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And this old crazy quilt top:

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And an old flour sack. An actual old-timey flour sack! All three pieces are torn, have holes, etc. But as a lover of textiles, who cannot bear to see them tossed, I washed them, and stashed them, while I pondered what I could do with them. As usual, when December rolls around, I start making various little Christmas objects - little ornaments for the tree, little embroidered thingys for here and there. As I mentioned a few posts back, Kevin and I didn't have any Christmas stockings, so I improved a few sock thingys out of an old table linen I had in my enormous stash.

Inspired, I whipped out my four sack and pink chenille bedspread and went to cutting. I still haven't decided what do do with the quilt top - I'll think about that later. I bought a few trims off Etsy (I highly recommend Etsy for purchasing trims, lace, buttons, ribbon, etc. It is sooooo inexpensive, and the selection is better than my fabric store....)I am NUTS over the cherry red mini pom-pom trim.

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First I made a little bitty one; I was thinking of a "baby's first Christmas" kind of theme. So I embroidered a "B" on it.

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Then I made a bigger one, and used my red pom pom fringe! My favorite.

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And the pink Chenille I did with a piece of a damaged crochet doily, and a length of pale pink vintage ribbon, also found amongst the stuff I've found here. So this one is entirely made from vintage scraps of misc. stuff!

 


 


This I made from a leftover scrap of te flour sack. I free-embroidered the whole thing with my own design. I will add a handle for it; and then it can be filled with blossoms and hung on a obliging door knob seeking adornment. In fact, I will probably sell this on Etsy later.
 


In case you are wondering: I sewed these entirely by hand; no machine. I made my own pattern from newspaper, too.

It's kind of too late to sell these on Etsy for this Christmas; but I will probably sew up some more and sell them next year. But, if you are reading this and you really realllllly want one; I might part with one this Christmas. Maybe.
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4 comments:

Pattern Princess said...

Give me five years...and I'll be coveting your baby stocking. It's a charmer, but alas...no babies allowed until Justin's out of medical school. *sigh*

I really wish I could embroider! You always have such pretty designs. I'm in love with the embroidery you did on the sachets I bought...I may just have to learn!

Hosanna said...

Do you have Mary Jane's Stitching Room book? That has an easy how to. The best thing to do is just get some stuff and start! It might look all funny at first, but the more you do it, the better you'll get.
My mom started me at 8 - and I've been doing it practically non stop since. :)

Jodi Eliza said...

I suppose I'm going to have to put her book on my wishlist, then! I have a big, ancient stitchery book packed away somewhere that goes over the basics, I think, but I haven't seen it in a while...now I may have to search for it. :)

lislynn said...

SOOO CUTE!!! I've been pondering re-doing our family stockings this year... I think it'll have to wait though, I'm out of time!