Sunny Days, Making Days...

Last week at the local flea market I came across a few lovely bits of vintage crochet and linens.  A lady was selling lovely little bundles tied up with string.  When I got home I untied them and found a few treasures....

 

hand embroidery

 

 

fragments of crochet trim

 

 

part finished embroidery

 

 

transfer printed linen and exquisite embroidery

 

 

There were several lovely pieces of old linen part embroidered and this led me to ponder on what I could make with them.  I love hand embroidery and always embellish my work myself.  However there was something about these linens that inspired me.  I decided to try and use them to make some new work.

 

A making day was arranged with Gill P for Friday.  We sat in the sun in Gill's lovely back yard amongst pots of geraniums, hanging baskets, lanterns and fairy lights, happily sewing in the sunshine.  A lovely lunch of home made quiche and salad followed by a chunk of chocolate cake. Gill was making a purple frayed fairy.  I decided to cut into my lovely linens and started to layer them on top of each other with hand dyed vintage linen in shades of ochre in between. 



 

cutting and layering - a work in progress

 

 

linen and mother of pearl buttons using matching threads

 

 

layered corsage with hand embroidery and buttons - the finished article!

 

 

I am hoping to make a few more of these vintage style brooches - not a piece of lace in sight.  I will leave you with an image of a cuff I am working on in shades of ochre, again a work in progress...

 

 

 

 

Until next time........ hope the sun is shining where you are. Jayne x



 



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Obsessions revisited.....

I realise I have been neglecting my blog lately, in fact I didn't realise that so much time has slipped by.  My latest (in a long list) obsession has definitely taken over.  I decided to make some 'Inspiration Packs' using hand-dyed fragments of lace, crochet trims, fabrics and motifs.  I am so delighted to say that they sold extremely well and lots of different colours were requested....

Yellow Ochre

 

Every container that would hold a dye bath was utilised, washing machine full of net bags containing varying shades, ironing board (yes I did say ironing board!) was permanently on stand by to iron each and every piece once it had dried.  Our kitchen table was littered with fragments to be sorted, pressed and displayed before being photographed.

 

Rich Teal

 

Housework ignored, a last minute dash to buy new boxes of dye before the store closed, the array of colours went on and on... my obsession was taking over!  Ashes of Roses, Shades of Grey, Purple Haze, Green Earth, Raspberry Crush, Sea Foam, Sugar Almond, the list was growing by the minute.

 

Sugar Almond

 

The hoover was working overtime as I was cutting, ripping and tearing fabrics, trims and lace in preparation for dyeing.  My Etsy shop was left to its' own devices, not even checked as my dyeing gained momentum. 

 

Shades of Grey

 

and then - I came to my senses, having dyed enough fragments to stretch from here to California I decided enough was enough!  Time to get back to the real world and actually make something with some of these fragments.  There was a gorgeous set called Bitter Chocolate which was a duck egg blue tinged with chocolate edges.  I had dyed a small amount of velvet which I was particularly pleased with so I decided to make a couple of corsages with it.

 

 

 

 

 

the finished corsages

 

Normal service has been resumed although I do have a confession to make.  At my local flea market I did buy some lovely bits and bobs which are just dyeing (excuse the pun) for a dye pot!

 



trims and tablecloths 

 

Until next time, hope the sun is shining where you are...... Jayne

 

p.s. I have to admit I have an ochre and brown dye bath on the go tonight - ooops, well you have to wean yourself off slowly...