Oh......the treasures that can be found in a thrift shop!!

As I have alluded to before I love to fossick for 'finds' in thrift shops. The beauty of thrift shops is that you never quite know what you will discover when you step over the threshold. Sometimes there is not a single 'pretty' that tickles your fancy and then there are those times when a 'find' jumps out from it's hiding place, trips you up and finds itself in your bag ready to begin another life in another home!

Not so long ago I was looking in the childrens' dress up section of our local thrift shop (why I have no idea as my girls are grown up) and found a man's wool brown suit. The trick with thrift shops is to look in every nook and cranny.....more often than not there are treasures in the most unlikely of places.

"So".....I hear you say. "Surely there is nothing spine-tingling about a man's brown suit????" Ordinarily no.....but at a glance I could see the wonderful cut and the tailoring that one usually finds in a man's jacket. Now, I'm not a gal that wears a lot of brown, nor am I a gal that normally wears men's clothing; so to notice this poor old, may I say, vintage, piece of men's apparel was a peculiar thing for me to get excited about! "BUT.....a man's jacket; you've got to be kidding!" Yes...a man's jacket. I liked what I saw from a glance and had an inkling that perhaps, just perhaps, I could transform it into something half-way acceptable for li'l ole me to wear about town. I know, I know (yes I can read your thoughts)......but the buttons and button holes are on the opposite side to that of a lady's jacket!! I concede that point, BUT button holes can always be covered by a smidgen of lace, a trailing ribbon or some other embellishment. Actually there are so many things that lace, ribbon, buttons etc etc can cover....but I digress.

Besides, I am always on the lookout for jackets that I can tart up.  It's what one can do to tart up these pre-loved jackets which is the adventurous part. Indeed I have 'tarted-up' numerous articles of clothing in my life.....'tis such fun!

So, once home with my new acquisition to my wardrobe, I set to work gathering up an assortment of different laces, a doily or two (of course!), ribbons, a vintage brooch and a gorgeous vintage buckle, which was a present from my husband many moons ago;  and started to design and play and stitch. There was a notion formulating in my rather fuzzy head that if I added a dash of lace with hints of the colour blue, and a brown and blue length of ribbon, maybe, just maybe I could fashion something quite unique; which funnily enough, when out and about my 'one of a kind' jacket  receives so many favourable comments from people.

First things first, I snipped off the buttons and cut a doily in half and began to stitch each half of the doily along the lapels of the jacket with tiny, almost invisible stitches.

 

 

On the inside of the jacket I carefully snipped around the doily, stitching it onto the lining on the inside of the lapel, with just a hint of the edge of the doily peeping out in the front.

 

I covered the buttonholes with a gorgeous blue vintage buckle (which I love, love, LOVE)...that my husband bought me as a present and a trailing length of blue/brown ribbon stitching it in a visually pleasing effect down the length of one side of the jacket.

 

 

 

Once the doilies were stitched in place I then proceeded to stitch smidgens of lace over the doilies, following the line of the lapels, stopping at the neckline.

I then stitched another length of ribbon at the top of the lapel, trailing it around the back of the neck and bringing it round to the other side.

 

 

 

I then covered the end of the ribbon with a beautiful, vintage (of course) brooch.

 

 

  

So there you have it.....what was once a rather drab man's jacket, is now revamped into a 'new' fashion statement! I might add that my 'one of a kind Sarah Lizzie's original' is hanging on a vintage mannequin (another 'cheap as chips' thrift shop find), posing in front of curtains fashioned out of vintage Italian coverlets with a vintage hat case sitting nearby! Aaaah....yes, there is many a thrift shop, vintage find in my humble abode!

 

  

Mmmmm.....looking at this photo, my poor old vintage, stained mannequin could do with a little 'tarting up' with a dash of lace.......must see what I can do!!

 

 ........just stepping out in my 'tarted up' jacket!!

 

 

Linking up to Karen at Quilty Creations where for the month of July she is holding a Something Old Something New challenge? Thank you Karen, it has been fun being part of this linky party.....I could write a tome on the subject 'Something Old Something New'....just because of my propensity of bringing many a vintage find home to live with me!!

 

Something Vintage.....Something Blue

Oh I do love to sit my gluteous maximus on an old comfy chair. Which is just as well as our li'l ole humble abode is filled with many a vintage chair. Some that have been recovered by moi (many a bona fide upholsterer would raise their eyebrows heavenwards as to the manner in which I have recovered my chairs); and some rather woebegone 'upholsterer's delights' that are sitting waiting rather patiently to be transformed into a new object on which one can lounge, in a rather relaxed manner.

We are in the middle of a very frosty and chilly winter, where I am greeted every morning with a new day of shivers. Old Man Winter has slowly crept up our country road and covered everything and everyone in his path with deep frosts, biting winds and at times horizontal rains. Indeed, there are days when I rather feel like the legendary Snow Queen sitting in her icy castle where stalactitic and stalagmitic encrustations abound!

The upside of this wintertide is that our home has several fireplaces that are ablazing with wonderful heat 24/7 to melt away all signs of Old Man Winter. Open fires are truly one of the magical things of Winter. They invite you to sit in a comfy chair with a cuppa, to stare into the hypnotising dancing flames and flickering embers, slowly being warmed from the tip of one's toes slowing travelling upwards until one is warm and cosy. The downside is that sometimes these fires spit out hot embers  that unfortunately, on one occasion, found it's target on one of my favourite vintage rocking chairs and left a very noticeable black hole in the upholstery. (I am afraid that I don't have any photographic evidence of this mishap.....this tragic event happened before I started my recent journey into blogland.

Oh no........what to do.............??

My 'dowry of cloth', (of which I have waxed lyrical in an earlier post)...those piles of glorious hand embroidered doilies that I have collected for years, have come to the rescue.....yet again. I covered the seat of my chair with a selection of embroidered pretties and an assortment of blue fabrics from my stash, hand stitching them carefully in a visually pleasing arrangement.

 

And.....I must admit I love my old and  "oh so comfy" chair even more.

 

Now........in my 'parlour' where an assemblage of  vintage chairs sit each day, there happens to be a chair, which I have christened 'The Throne'. This beautiful artefact of bygone times was on display in my favourite vintage shop in Sydney, 'Frou Frou Old and New'. As I looked in the window it beckoned me, enticing me to take it home with me. Of course it was not as it appears below, it was covered in olive green upholstery and the wood frame was ostentatious gold!

 

Me being me, saw beyond its tacky exterior and carted my treasure home. With my trusty staple gun and paint brush in hand I immedialely set about to transform my 'throne''. I covered the beautifully carved wood in white paint quickly wiping it off  before it dried, to give a limed effect with just a hint of gold peeping through. I then covered the less than desireable olive green upholstery with part of a vintage Italian coverlet, also a find from the lovely Parisa, from Frou Frou Old and New. The coverlet is a lovely white damask with lovely raised cartouches and touches of lemon, apricot, blue and pink flowers. Of course every chair needs a cushion, so I stitched a cushion, using the same vintage coverlet and fashioning a garland of ribbon flowers weaving in and out of a bowed ribbon.

 

So these days as I sit in my  parlour, enjoying the ambience and warmth of a fire, I have a choice on where to place my gluteous maximus. Will it be the 'queen-like'  throne, the new doily-covered rocking chair or.... perhaps my chaise lounge which is next in line for my amateur upholsterer treatment!

 

 

Linking up to Karen at  Quilty Creations  where for the month of July she is holding a Something Old Something New challenge? Have a 'bo peep', it's all about turning something pre-loved, something which has seen better days, or in my case something vintage, into something new, into an object which will give many more years of pleasure.

 

 

 

 

To embellish or not to embellish..........that is the question!!

Well.....in my case 'tis a rhetorical question as there was never any doubt that I would embellish.....even if only a little!!

And besides.......Little Miss Rhapsody in Blue is clamoring that she has a little bling sewn to her frock. Her French lace-cuffed hands are on her hips, ever so impatiently stamping her shiny, bright blue, satin slippers, petulantly demanding that her gorgeous, blue-hued frock be embellished with a little razzamataz!!

And....what do I need to add an ounce of sparkle, a shimmer of glitz to Little Miss Rhapsody in Blue?

Well......I must, must, MUST have a plethora of beautiful blue ribbons, of various widths to fashion ribbon flowers into a gorgeous arrangement of floral beauty.

And, of course I must have a receptacle in which to hold these flowers.

  

I happened upon a gorgeous vintage Indian sari in one of my favourite vintage shops in Sydney (Frou Frou Old and New) which had four of these wonderful jewel encrusted embroideries sewn on to it. I, of course, snapped it up for a song, having no idea at the time of what I was going to use it for; but I had an inkling that it just might come in handy some day as I strolled down my colourful, quilting path. And come in handy it did!

This exquisite embroidery reminds me of the beautiful French jardinieres from a century or so ago, that were filled with masses of floral extravagance with the odd cherub smiling amongst the flowers, with scrolls and cartouches dancing everywhere. So.....I decided to carefully stitch it on the quilt and fill it with a bouquet of flowers and leaves representing every shade of blue as a feature of Little Miss Rhapsody in Blue.

This jewel encrusted embroidered fancy is a beauty. The beads and jewels are sewn on duck egg blue tulle and has  a gorgeous aged patina where the jewels shine with a wonderfully muted brilliance. It is truly stunning......... and how serendipitous that I should find such a treasure!

 So....after ruching length after length of ribbon into zinnia-like flowers, folding and stitching french wired ribbon into blousey roses, stitching dancing ballerina-like fuchsias,  manipulating ribbon into pansies and fashioning ribbon into 'boat' leaves; with the addition of the odd smidgen of French lace here and there; I then stitched these efflorescent blooms where they now sit for evermore in the vintage 'vase'.

An overspilling abundance of floral extravagance.

  

 And....my signature vintage glove holding two or three long stemmed flowers.

And to finish the embellishing, swirls and swirls of ruched ribbon, buttons, buckles, beads and a few pieces of vintage ornamentation meandering it's way across Little Miss Blue.

 

 

I have covered the back seams with a 50mm width satin ribbon to cover any messy seams (as the backing is satin and just would not behave; there are a few seams that, let's just say, are a little less than perfect.....AND I am a bit of a  fusspot). Besides, by doing this the seams will have added strength.

Now......drum roll please................after stitching what seems like millions of tiny stitches, numb needle picked fingers and the bearing of Quasimodo after being hunched over and stitching for what seems an eternity......here she is....................

Little Miss Rhapsody in Blue.......... posing in all her glory complete with a pert little 'Alfreda' concoction (a present from my daughter whilst she was in France) sitting atop her pretty little head!

  

A blue-hued, embellished hexie which I hope will give many hours of delight to my very special friend Michelle!! Ours is a friendship of thousands of fibres connected to each other; threads which have lasted the gamut of life experiences....oft times hilarious, sometimes sad, shared interests, companionship, bottomless cups of tea AND always......Cadbury's chocolate!!

 

So Little Miss Rhapsody in Blue is all neatly folded, tied with a shiny blue satin bow waiting to make an appearance at her new home......where I hope she will give many years of pleasure as her new owner gazes upon her, bringing to mind special thoughts of a special friendship.

 It has been said that the road to a friend's home is never far......mmmmm.....well in this case my journey with Little Miss Rhapsody in Blue will involve a flight on a giant silver bird, flying over a very big pond, crossing a state till we arrive in Ole Sydney Town. Not to worry......I am looking forward to enjoying a lovely long weekend celebrating with my dear friend. I do hope that Little Miss Rhapsody in Blue behaves herself in the cargo hull of the big silver bird......she is not one for being couped up for too long.......and let's hope that she doesn't go missing in transit!!

 

Begin at the begin....how to make a hexagon quilt

 

 

Let's start at the very beginning........'tis a very good place to start......

 

...........which is a pity really, as I always find the beginning of a 'quilt-as-you-go' hexagon quilt a wee bit tedious. All that cutting......hexagon after hexagon......the batting, the backing and the top fabric.......plus the myriad of laces required to prettify my quilt, are required at the start. But all that ho-hum preparation in the beginning is well worth it when you get to the fun part....the part when you embellish and needless to say; the end, where with the final stitch stitched, you have in your pin-pricked and calloused fingers, one very original and spectacularly sumptuous, embellished hexagon quilt.....quite unlike any other that has gone before!!

 

The beauty of this quilt is that you can take each individual hexagon with you wherever you go and work on it and as each hexagon is finished, you sew them together until it grows to the required size. Then, when the quilt is all together you embellish it as little or as much as you desire or, perish the thought, you may not want to embellish your quilt at all. Me being me, whose philosophy is 'more is never enough' and who has a soft spot for those gorgeous crazy quilts of yesteryear; I rather go to town with the embellishing stage!

 

Though I have stitched many different sized hexagon quilts, this quilt is going to be made up of 14 inch hexagons as I only have four weeks  to present my 'piece-de-resistance' to my friend in honour of her 50th birthday. I'll probably be living on a wing and a prayer for the next little while but I am determined to deliver one gorgeous (well I hope it will be) lavishly embellished, 'Rhapsody in Blue' hexagon quilt.

AND I must stress that this is one of many methods in making one of many hexagon quilts. You might read this and find another easier way to make your "quilt-as-you-go" hexie. Good for you! To all those quilting purists out there, I apologise in advance if I offend your traditional quilting sensibilities. Though there are many quilting techniques that should be regarded, I am a gal who likes to play and experiment with quilting boundaries and have fun and see what eventuates. Sometimes my playing works and sometimes it doesn't. Quilting first and foremost should be enjoyable, playful and fun (though mind you.......there are those moments when it is downright frustrating..........and come to think of it I am having a few of those 'I am never going to make another hexie' moments in the stitching of my 'Rhapsody in Blue').

I am afraid that I have horrible memories of sewing classes taught by a horrible sewing teacher, with a horrible shrill voice; where it was her way or the highway. Where, if you so much as had a different idea that was just a tad 'too out there' then she would look at you menacingly with her rather large ruler in hand, as if you had committed an unpardonable sin and aboard that rattling old school bus, banish you to sewing hell forevermore! Needless to say, I gave sewing class the flick and didn't give sewing another thought until my husband bought me my first sewing machine when we were newlyweds beginning down the avenue of marital bliss!!!

Find out what works for you, and run with it. To me it is not  always about following the traditional techniques that are set in all those quilting tomes for time immemorial. It is about experimenting and seeing where that yellow brick road of creativity and discovery leads you. More often than not I veer from the acceptable scenic route and meander along the pot-holed, bendy stitching road, wearing my pretty pink and green coloured flower gumboots, splish-sploshing in the potholes that come along my path. Yes indeedy.....I am that gal who walks in the rain......whilst others just get wet!
 

So first things first.........
 

 

In this quilt there will be 5 rows of 6, 5, 6, 5, 6 hexagons with 1/2 hexagons either side of the 5 hexagon row. (As stated above, each of my hexagons are 14 inches across. I made my hexagon template out of thick cardboard as my plastic hexagons only go up to size 12 inches.)

 

 

Cut 28 hexagons and 4 half hexagons of batting.......(or indeed whatever number of hexagons you require).

  

Cut the same number of hexagons and half hexagons of the top fabric.

Cut the same number of hexagons and half hexagons of the backing fabric. This needs to be larger. For this quilt I have made my backing hexagons 17 inches across.

Place the top fabric hexagon on top of the batting and then place the lace or doily on top of the fabric. I suppose I should point out that you place the fabric with the straight grain on the batting.........but sometimes I break this rule. 'Tis very naughty of me, I know.....but I did warn you that I sometimes break the sewing tenets! Pin rather extensively as the fabric and the lace need to be flat. You could of course spray quilting adhesive on the batting and then place the fabric on top instead of using pins...this would make the hexagon completely flat and easier to sew. Zig zag (serge) around the edge of the hexagon. Trim and neaten excess fabric/lace.

Of course if the size of each hexagon for the quilt that you make is a lot smaller and is made from 100% cotton fabric, then, you can bypass the zig zagging around the edge of the hexagon step.

At this point hand stitch tiny invisible stitches randomly all over to secure lace/fabric to the batting.

 

Place the wrong side of the hexagon (top fabric and batting) on top of the wrong side of the backing fabric.

 

Bring the excess backing fabric to the top folding under raw edges forming a border all around the hexagon.

 

 

Pin around the border securing the backing fabric to the hexagon.

 

 

 

At this stage you can either stitch round the hexagon with a tiny, almost invisible blind stitch or if you prefer you could stitch small quilting stitches. I also stitch the mitred corners down. Previously, in other quilts which I have made from 100% cotton fabric, I have carefully machine stitched the border....but.....as my backing fabric in this quilt is satin, and satin has an inbuilt DNA of not wanting to behave; slipping and sliding everywhere.......I have stitched by hand.

 

 

If you are going to quilt the hexagon, then this is the time that you would quilt. Though I have quilted previous 'hexies'......with meandering butterflies and stippling......and also singular motifs/patterns.....I am not going to quilt this beauty. In this quilt I have used fabrics that do not lend favourably to quilting. Besides, each hexagon has lace/doilies that have been stitched to the batting and I will be embellishing with ribbons and other techniques that will anchor the top to the batting. It is really up to you. Perhaps if you feel the need to quilt then individual motifs on each hexagon might be the go. I envisage a puffed, soft eiderdown-ish look to this quilt not an overly quilted and flat look.

 

When you have completed sewing the backing fabric all around each hexagon you can now start to join them. Or.....of course you can start joining them together when you have completed only a few. It is really up to you. This is done by whip stitching the hexagons very closely together at the back. Smooth the fabric down and pin close to the edge ensuring that the batting is  right at the edge inside the hexagon. Make sure that you catch the edge of your batting with the fabric when whip stitching.......this will help the hexagons fit better together and lie flat at the front. Sometimes the hexagons don't align exactly.....easing and tweaking the hexagons whilst stitching them together will fix this problem. Join the first two hexagons and then the next one until you have completed your first row across. Then add the other hexagons one by one until you have reached your final row.

 

Below is the back seam of two hexagons which have been whip stitched together.

 

When I have finished putting the hexagons together I will stitch wide satin ribbon over every whip stitched seam on the back which gives a finished look. This also gives added strength to the seams. Mmmm............more work I know......but I am a bit of a fuss pot.......some would say a tad persnickety!! But I will show you that process in the next post...Part Two.

 

So for those of you who have asked for the 'how to' of my 'quilt-as-you-go hexagon quilts in my previous post.........there you have it. The begins of  a 'quilt-as-you-go' hexagon quilt. I truly hope that this is not 'as clear as mud'.......it can be a bit tricky articulating the why and wherefores of making my hexagon quilts.  

 

Stay tuned for Part Two of the making of my 'Rhapsody in Blue' hexagon quilt......which is really, I think, the fun part.......because this is when I will start to embellish and play with all those ribbons, beads, vintage jewellery, gloves and bits and bobs. I envisage many an hour or two over the next couple of weeks stitching  in front of the fire, transforming 28 hexagons into a splendiforous 'Rhapsody in Blue' tomorrow's heirloom!! 

 

Now before I slip into a mini breakdown....I am going to indulge in a cup of tea in a pretty fine bone china tea cup; and some of Mr Cadbury's chocolate taste sensation..... to bolster my strength for the next stroll down that yellow brick road of embellishing!

 

So until the next time.......Happy Stitching!