Saving The Past

I think most of us have a fondness and appreciation of old things.  Especially things that are handmade.  Years ago, I found this little piece of an old appliqued quilt in an antique mall:

It was in pretty good shape at the time.  I brought it home, washed it and sewed a back on it.  I stuffed it with polyester fiberfill and called it a pillow.

Over the years it of course has continued to age.  Time is not always so kind to vintage textiles.  It was time for another good cleaning and some repairs.

I washed by hand in my kitchen sink and replaced the missing french knot for the birds eye.  It had a few tiny tears so I tucked a tiny piece of fusible web beneath the tears and ironed those in place.

Finally, I added a piece of lightweight iron-on interfacing to the back and squared it up.

I pulled a few of my 1930's reproduction prints out, soft shades of green and yellow:

I decided to do a border on the top and bottom of the vintage piece using strip quilting which I do on a foundation:

When I finished up the strip piecing, it kind of screamed "new fabric" against the vintage piece.  I didn't want to "olden" it by tea dying or running through my washing machine a bunch of times so instead, I pulled out some of my cream colored laces and sewed strips of that down over or next to the seams:

This definitely softened the look of the new fabrics also adding a feminine quality to it.  Once I completed that, I squared up my "sheet of fabric":

It was at this point that I realized I had made a much bigger piece than what I needed!  I really just wanted about 3 inches on the top and the bottom of the vintage piece.  That's okay though.  I'll save the rest for something else.

Here is the finished pillow:

This now sits in my living room in an antique spindle chair that my father in law gave me.

A Box Of Old Lace

My husband and I are already climbing the walls with cabin fever.  Spring fever actually.  This has not been a terribly cold or snowy Winter but every year, by mid-February, we need to get out!  So, we went a flea market yesterday.  It's an indoor flea market and not one of our favorites but it was something fun to do. 

I never find much at this flea market but this time, I hit the jackpot!  Look at this box of old crocheted and tatted lace:

There are a few pieces of manufactured lace in here but most of it is handmade.

I washed it yesterday when I got home and now it's ready for pressing. 

I don't know why, but I just can't leave a box of lace like this sitting around a dirty old flea market.  I already have more than I will ever use but this is just such a treasure to me.

If you're lucky enough to find some beautiful vintage and antique lace in a flea market, garage sale or thrift store, here are the directions for washing old lace.

In this article, I recommend a product called Orvus.  I do not know if it's still available or not.  I don't have any here and have actually been using Dawn dish washing detergent.  My thoughts on that are, if it's safe to use on precious wild life, caught in oil spills, then it's safe for textiles. 

Crazy Quilt Christmas Purse

I just finished sewing my Crazy Quilt Christmas Purse together.  All that's left to do is to sew the snap on:

I have a friend coming next week who asked me if she could see this one.  These are even prettier in person than they are in photos.  Hard as I try, the camera just doesn't capture the texture and sparkle of my bags.

If you haven't been following my progress on this purse, the poinsettia fabric at the top is from a vintage hankie that I bought at a flea market earlier this year.  All the various lace pieces are either antique or vintage.  I used a lot of pretty Kreinik metallic thread because Christmas is all about the sparkle.   And heaven knows, all that glitters is gold to me!

I'll leave you today with a cute cat picture!  Cotton and Wrigley laying in my white wicker rocking chair together:

Treasures from the Flea Market in Grayslake Illinois

I had a lovely morning with my husband today.  We went to the Antique and Collectable Flea Market in Grayslake, Illinois.  One of my favorite Flea Markets in northern Illinois!  A perfect "something to do" the 2nd weekend of every month.  Especially in the cold months because it's all inside!

I found some nice treasure there today!  First, a couple of vintage rhinestone brooches.  Well, one is a brooch and the other little bee pin:

Next, I found some pretty vintage buttons in pink, green and purple:

Some of my prize flea market and antique shop finds are vintage handkerchiefs.  I found quite a few today.  First some Christmas ones:

And then some everyday hankies with pretty flowers:

Something I've been collecting for many years are little vintage cat figurines. Are you surprised?  LOL!!! I have quite a few but they have to have a certain look to them.  They don't have be really old but they have to have that old look.  I found this little one today:

 Last but not least, the piece de resistance.  I found this gorgeous old hat box:

And you'll never guess what it was filled with!!!!!

And can you believe, I only paid $15.00 for the box and all the old lace?  Talk about a Crazy Quilter's dream day!!!!

Sunday Treasures from the Flea Market

Sunday was such a beautiful day here in Northern Illinois!  Sunny and warm. The perfect day for a flea market!

Scott and I picked mom up and drove out to Grayslake Fair Grounds in Lake County for the monthly Flea Market & Antique Show.  Wow!  The theme for this show was "vintage" which is right up my alley!

Mom & I found all sorts of neat little goodies!  These are the "treasures" that I found:

These old hats are covered with vintage millinery flowers!  I love to pick them up and take the flowers off for my crazy quilts and other crafts.  I sat here last night while watching Dancing With The Stars and took them apart.  The cranberry colored hat was commercially made but the pink one and the lavender one were handmade.  You can tell the difference with how the flowers are attached.  With commercial hats, the flowers are glued on.  With handmade hats, the flowers are hand sewn on.  The lavender hat took quite awhile to take apart.  But it was so worth it as all of the little flowers are velvet!

My next treasures are these beautiful vintage lace collars:

 

I don't see pink vintage collars too often.  I only paid $2.00 for each of these!  I love old lace and will cut these up for my crazy quilts.

I also found a couple of beautiful vintage hankies with gorgeous lace on them:

It a little challenging to get a decent photo of these but the lace is gorgeous!  I like these because the lace is on all 4 corners so I get a lot for my money.  I paid only $2 each for these!

My next treasures are some lace pieces:

 

Again, it was a little hard to get a good photo of these but the laces are gorgeous!  And a little goes a long way with crazy quilting!

Finally, I found a couple pieces of pretty vintage jewelry:

To use the rose earrings, I will cut the clips off the back with wire cutters and then glue a pre-threaded button to the back with E6000 Jewelry Glue. Then they can easily be sewn onto my project.

So those are my treasures from this past weekend!  I love Flea Market season!  I love the thrill of the hunt!

Be sure to see my article on How To Take Apart An Old Hat!  You can find them at flea markets and antique shops for just a few dollars and you'll get loads of vintage millinery flowers off them!

And The Winner Is....

My husband arrived home from work last night at about 6 pm. Once he had his beer, (heaven knows if the man doesn't have a beer when he gets home, the world will stop turning!) he drew a name from the basket. So the winner is: Allie A!



Allie, your mason jar filled with my homemade Christmas Tea Cookies will be on it's way to you in next 2 or so days. Congratulations!

Thank you to all who entered! I really enjoyed having this drawing and am planning on doing more. I have all sorts of ideas rolling around in my head (what else is new?) I will be doing another fun drawing or contest in January.

I received some lovely comments on my Glitter Houses:



Many of my long time readers know that Christmas is not my most wonderful time of the year! To be honest, the commercialism gets to me. The insanity in stores, the rude drivers, the hurry-up attitude, it's all so obnoxious!

For many years, I didn't even put up a tree. Just a few small things that were pretty to look at but didn't scream at me. I conceded to a real tree last year at my husband's request. Honestly, I couldn't have cared less about having a tree.

I must say, that my glittery little village is quite peaceful to look at. I truly enjoyed making them and after the holidays, I'm planning on doing some more. Anything that gives me a little bit of peace right now is a good thing!

I spent my afternoon yesterday stitching on Block #2 of my Garden Quilt:



The hand-painted lace at the bottom seems a bit heavy but I'm sure it lighten up with beads & sequins. I have a vintage spiderweb pin that will go in the bottom left-hand corner. I haven't decided on what to do with myself today. I usually go to the grocery store on Thursday mornings but it's a whole 2 degrees outside and I'm not sure I care to venture out in that.

I may do a bit of baking and then start beading this.

I received another lovely package in my mailbox yesterday. This pretty lace came from Gina in Australia:



Gina has found some really lovely things for me at her thrift shops. And I do believe that some of this will make it's way onto my Garden Quilt. Thank you so much Gina!

Button Block #33

I've completed the Seam Treatments on this block so now it's ready for beading:



I really like the colors on this one. I'm getting ready to bake some cookies and then I'll get back to stitching on it.

In other news, I received an email recently asking me how to wash vintage & antique lace. Here is the link to my tutorial on that. I'll add it to my sidebar as well.

Ok, I'm to bake but first, I'll turn the calendar over to February!

Tutorial - Washing Vintage & Antique Lace

I recently received an email from a stitcher who just purchased a bagful of Vintage Lace at an antique shop and she wanted to know the proper way to wash it.

I'm sure many people are intimidated by old textiles, fearful that washing them will somehow cause deterioration. Honestly, it's quite the opposite. Dust & mold is what causes damage to lace & fabric so washing it is indeed a good way to preserve it.

The proper way to wash lace is to do it by hand, just as you would any delicate hand-washable item. I fill my kitchen sink with warm water and a bit Orvus. Orvus is technically and chemically not a soap. What it does is, it makes the water "wetter". To read more about Orvus, visit Martha Beth Lewis' article on Orvus and Needlework. Orvus is available at most fine needlework shops.

I use Orvus to wash all of my needlework pieces that are indeed washable. Crazy quilting for the most part, is not.

With my old lace that I find at flea markets and antique shops, I put them in a large strainer which I then set down in the sink and I let it soak for about 1/2 an hour. I swish it around a bit and then drain the water from the sink. I then refill the sink with plain warm water and let the lace sit again for about another 15 minutes. After swishing one more time, I drain the water and let the excess drain out of the lace through the strainer.

Many times, you'll find that the water is extremely yellow or gray in color. You'll want to continue draining the water and re-soaking until the water is clear.

After draining for about 15 minutes, I lay it all out on a big, fluffy bath-towel and roll it up. After 1/2 an hour, I lay it out again on a dry bath-towel. This time, I don't roll it up, I just let it air dry a bit.

When it comes to pressing it, it's best to do that while it's damp. Use a cotton setting on your iron for crocheted & tatted pieces and a cooler setting for nylon or anything for which you do not know the content of.

If you like, you can use a bit of spray starch on your lace but please keep in mind that cottonworms and silverfish love starch. Which leads me to speaking of storage. Textiles of any kind should not be stored in plastic bags. They need to breathe. I store my lace in an old dresser. The drawers are lined with acid free tissue paper. A good way to prevent cottonworms and silverfish from dining on your lace stash is put a few cedar-balls in with your lace. Those icky bugs don't like the smell. Mothballs would work too but oh, I hate that smell! Cedar-balls are available at Wal-Mart.

So that's how you do it! It's very simple and well worth the effort if you like to use beautiful vintage and antique lace on your crazy quilting. One last thing that I should mention about deterioration is this: look it over before you buy it. Lace that's deteriorating will literally fall apart when you touch it. It will feel dry so to speak and dust will fly everywhere! That's the fibers breaking down. If you give it a very gentle pull and nothing happens, it's in good shape!