Inspiration: Lovely Old Lace

There is a cabinet of lovely old lace fragments at my local museum, which always serves to remind me that it is good to tackle a more complicated craft project every now and then, and that it is amazing what craftsmen and women could make with their hands before machinery started to do it for us.

These pieces of handmade lace are so delicate and intricate, and must have taken an immense amount of time to complete: they certainly show the benefits of patience and dedication.

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A Little Embroidery

I made this little silk purse as a present, and it was a great small project to experiment with embroidering with silk threads on to silk cloth. The silk threads have a lovely lustre, making the colours glow, and thread slides so easily through the fabric. The finished piece is relatively delicate (I think that the pale silk fabric would mark quite easily), but was made as a decorative piece for someone who would appreciate the techniques and materials used.

I always seem to forget quite how time consuming embroidery is (if you want it to look neat and tidy!), but I enjoy the process as well as the finished piece. This was just a simple design, but I didn’t plan it out before I started sewing which made it slightly more complicated to complete than necessary!

I have seen some beautiful (and often very intricate) antique and vintage embroidered purses, an I can certainly appreciate the time and skill required to produce them- and am inspired to try to achieve that level of detail and neatness one day!

Monday Mood Board- Flowers

I am inspired by all things floral at the moment, particularly the vibrant colours that can be found in the garden now that the flowers are blooming!

This is a mish-mash of crafty floral items: the ceramic flowers are vintage, the postcard was from Paperchase, the leather flower was made in this DIY post, and the vintage buttons and handmade lace motifs are awaiting an appropriate project!

Bright Colours and Sunshine

Some colourful vintage sewing bits and pieces on this sunny bank holiday weekend…

…I dyed the lengths of vintage handmade lace myself (see previous post here).

The sunshine is definitely inspiring the use of bright colours, so I have spent the afternoon in the garden making a brightly coloured tassel garland- photographs to follow soon!

Monday Mood Board-Sewing Brights

Mmm, lovely colours!

The two reels of lace trim (blue and pink) are lengths of handmade vintage trim that I dyed myself; see this post for details of how to make your own!

Monday Mood Board: Lovely Fabrics!

Mmm… lovely patterned fabrics! These are a mixture of vintage and ‘new’ (not bought this year- I am still still sticking to my New Year’s Resolution!) printed cottons from my fabric drawer (ok, I’ll be honest with you: I actually have three ‘fabric drawers’…). I plan to use them in a project soon, I’m just trying to decide on the details.

Christmas Present Pom Poms!

Pompoms can make great decorations, but are ideal for topping presents too…

Big or small, and whether you buy them in a shop or make your own, pompoms can be used to add a bit of colour and fluffiness to any present! And if you make your own, then pompoms are an ideal stash-busting project: a way to use up lengths of yarn left over from knitting/crocheting projects. You could even upcycle yarn unraveled from an old scarf or jumper.

I’m off to add these beauties to a few more Christmas presents…