>To cut or not to cut…
16 Mar 2011 8 Comments
in butterfly room, embroidery, junking, sewing
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I got this serape about 5 years ago at a thrift store for about 3 to 5 dollars. I held on to it becasue I love the bright colors on the embroidery. This is vintage probably from the 60′s or 70′s. I have seen similar ones on the internet for between 175 dollars and 200 dollars. It said it is made out of wool so I had hopped it would felt and make a nice thick fabric to make a pencil skirt or suit skirt out of. 
May still make the skirt but it would not be as warm as I had hoped it would be becasue it did not felt at all trust me I tried several times. So here is my question is it a bad idea to cut up this. I know it has a ton of embroidery in it and I know I will never wear it as a serape. I would wear it as a skirt. Should I feel bad about cutting into this piece of fabric and in that process tossing some of the embroidery. I really would like some feedback on this. There are more photos of this on flickr sorry I had a hard time getting a good photo of it.
>Bits of this and that
14 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
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I have been working on little ideas here and there some I can’t show some I can. A little knitting a little crochet some hairpin lace and such. These are the accumulation of the projects I have been caring around with me over the last little bit.
I am thinking this pink knitted lace will become the cuffs of a knitted sweater. I am still just trying to get rid of this pearl cotton I have made several things with it. It was a thrift shop find and it has gone on way longer than expected. This is a large pearl cotton not sure exactly what size other than the label info. UKI, dk fuchsia, number 56, size 5/, lot 2017
This one is an experiment as well but this is done in size 8- tatting thread another thrifting find the thread that is.
making hairpin lace I am thinking this is the start of a skirt depending if I don’t get sick of making the lace. The hairpin fork is an antique store find.
>Bag of Lace
03 Mar 2011 1 Comment
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Here are the other pieces of lace that had been in the bag that I bought for 2.99. I think it was a great find. Just sad that someone didn’t like their work enough to keep it.
This green one isn’t too interesting to me but I will figure something out for it. Maybe take it down to the center section by removing all the chains and make a bun cover for my girls. That would make it at least useful again to someone.
The pink one I want to copy the pattern the tatted piece in this photo may end up becoming the edge of set of wrist warmers to make lace that hangs over the hands. If you want to see these photos better click on them and it will take you to a bigger photo on flickr.
The top piece that is cut off matches the thread used in the last tatted photo above and at the bottom of this photo so might figure out a way to add them to one another. The top pink one is crocheted in the round and has some slight damage so not sure if I am going to fix it and make it into something else or just copy the pattern. The next pink one I know I want to make more of it so I will be coping that pattern I think it is so pretty.
The tatted medallions in this next photo are just tied together with a separate piece of string so I am thinking I will separate them and figure out what to do with them at that point. They are made out of a pearl cotton. You can see I have already separated one in the very top photo of this post.
Nice white tatted edging haven’t a clue what to do with it at the moment it will just go into my lace box for future use.
>Tatted Capelet
03 Mar 2011 1 Comment
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I found this large bag of lace scraps at a thrift store the entire bag cost less than $2.99 and had at least 5 such pieces in it plus a lot of crochet too. There are several usable pieces of crochet and tatted lace in the bag I just have to figure out what to use them for. The first piece I decide I would use was this piece of tatted lace made out of pearl cotton. It was already connected into a continuous piece. So I decided I would make it into another capelet.
The pieces of tatting are so large they make a strong focal point. It was very simple to do put a shell edging around the already tatted pieces which added strength to them. Since the tatter is unknown I was not sure how strong the person was in their skills of finishing work. Upon inspection on the piece, the creator only tied knots at the end of their work and didn’t weave the ends in so it is a fragile piece and will have to be washed by hand. I rarely find tatted pieces that have the ends finished in a good way. Yet it would be sad to toss that much work and not enjoy it. Which means it would have to be made into an item that could easily be hand washed and not something that would get a lot of wear and tear. So after I had added the shells I started into the mesh area working with different techniques to get the valleys between the motifs to the same high so I could then just work up the piece simply with rounds of chains that get less and less number of chains near the top. At the necks edge I once again lengthened the chains to give ease in the drape and finished it of with a picot edge took less than a day to do this transformation. Those that know me know I do not usually wear pink. But every now and again it is nice, would have been good at Valentines but I didn’t have the scrap of tatting then. Since the pink pearl cotton I used was also found junking(thrifting) a long time ago. I have made a pair of gloves already with this thread. So the few dollars I spent on that cone has gone a long way. The whole item cost me less than $2.00 probably not even $1.00. Not bad!
>Toe-up socks
08 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
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I found this cone of Mayan Green yarn at a thrift store a long time ago. I know it isn’t to old because of the labels that are in it but I liked the color and at 1.00 who could go wrong. Crafted with pride I think is only been on labels in my life time so not to old. I do not know the company if any one knows from this label let me know as I like the yarn and would love to get more in other colors yes I know at the real price not the thrift store price.
label reads
Heirloom
3/14
ART #1025
MAYAN
GREEN 25
847202
I had a real hard time photo graphing this color it looks like a rich turquoises green but didn’t come out that way in photos. Looks to be 100% cotton not sure how they will wear in boots but this is an experiment so here I go anyway with that in mind.
I didn’t know what to do with it when I didn’t knit that tells you it was over a year ago when I found it. Now I have this idea to make a pair of stockings using it. I have not decided yet if they are over the knee or if I am going to make them into a set of winter tights will have to work that out as I have never done either. 
This is a sort of winged pattern meaning I am making it up as I go so we will see how it goes together. When I get the second sock to the same length as the first one I am going to put them on the same circular needle and just work it that way from here on out, yes two balls of thread have to be used.
>Pink Crochet Sweater
11 Jun 2010 3 Comments
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I made this sweater over 4 years ago during one winter Olympics. It is what I did while I watched. At the time I used an antique pink boot button as the closure for the sweater. The sweater was from an antique pattern ( that I found junking) so I figured it was fitting. I also used antique rayon thread and size 10 pink discontinued crochet thread. I really loved this sweater and the pattern but I have almost never worn it. I decided I didn’t not like the way the closure looked and the way it would creep when worn so I just never wore it.
Today I was going through my clothes getting rid of things I don’t wear or have out grown. I didn’t want to toss this but still didn’t like the way it looked buttoned.
Hmm… well I made it I can just fix that. So I sat down cut off the current button which will be much cuter on a baby’s outfit and sewed on 5 sets of closures. The sweater isn’t lop sided I just didn’t put it on the mannequin well the sleeves are the same length and the new closures are not wonky. I actually like this a ton more now and will wear it. Before the sweater would creep up over my bosom and just looked weird. This way the closures hold it in place and it does not creep now. I also like the way the new closures open up the lace stitching around the edge and show it off more.
>Vintage collars
01 Jun 2010 2 Comments
in crochet, gifts to me, junking, Needlelace
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This first one is a piece of hand made needle lace.
This next piece is a piece of vintage cotton bobbin lace that has had a piece of crochet added to its header. This made it a much wider piece of lace. the bobbin lace was either a decorative edge at the top outside of the collar or it is what the wearer used to pin the collar to their sweater when wearing it and was placed inside near the skin in that case. The bobbin lace is very narrow about 1/2 inch so it is hard to see in these photos sorry about that.
This next piece is also a Crocheted collar. Made out of a much heavier thread in cream and green. even though this is a heavy looking colalr it has lots of fine detail.
This next even though it is a machine piece of lace (acid lace)used as a collar it is very very pretty.
Last items in the package are three machine pieces of lace in medallion form. they are pink and one has seen way to much wear but they are beautiful to me all the same.
This last collar is a piece of battenberg that I found thrifting (junking) and just thought I would show it too while I was at this. It has nothing to do with the package in the mail.
If you want to see a few of the other collars I have go here. I have more just have not added all of them to flickr yet.
>Fall Star minus the star
15 Feb 2010 2 Comments
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I started this yesterday I think it is working up fast. Currently have about 12 inches on the body section for the size that is supposed to fit me I am supposed to make this section 14 inches long but I think I am going to make is 15 1/2 inches long as I don’t like wear it hit right at the jean waist line sort of odd to look at for me. This is the sweater that I am making out of the thrifted yarn I posted about.
Like I said not my favorite colors but will still be a nice fall sweater to wear at Thanksgiving time or any time I am wear neutral colors which isn’t too often. This sweater reminds me of Charlie Brown’s shirt in Peanuts even though the colors and stripe are all wrong I can’t seem to get that image out of my head it will probably leave once I get the rest of the bands on it around the neck and the sleeves. The sleeves will not have quite such a wide strip of the darkest color just a square like two of the other colors.
This picture came out pretty well I took about 30 photos to get 1 that would show that there are four colors in this sweater it was hard to read in photos.
>Fleisher’s Yarn
13 Feb 2010 1 Comment
in junking
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Did a little thrift shopping today found some Fleisher’s Yarn in Knitting worsted weight 4 oz per hank. It was $2.00 a hank and there was 6 hanks. So 12 dollars for 24 oz of virgin wool yarn. The colors are not my first choice by any means. That being said they should make a nice fall Thanksgiving or Halloween sweater with some color work in it. I have already rolled them into balls to make them useful with the help of my middle daughter as a yarn swift. Some day I will have a real yarn swift my kids would love that. I am going to use this yarn for the Icelandic Star sweater by Sarah Hoadley not sure who I am making it for me or my oldest daughter will see who it fits when done that will be the deciding factor. I may leave out the star part of the pattern ( the embroidery), lengthen the sleeves and change the color-work in other words I am just following the basic pattern and making it work with the yarn I have.
The colors are
- sort of dark peach color 486 4 oz ( the top left in picture)
- pumpkin color 487 12 oz ( this of course would have to be the main color as it has the most skeins)(top right)
- a sort of medium rust color ( medium dark brown) 488 4 oz. ( bottom right)
- a sort of dark burn umber color 402 4 oz. (dark brown)(bottom left) bad light in photo
Each hank was actually sorted into two skeins in side so each gave two 2 oz. balls of yarn. Other than being a little dusty it seams all good and well and fine. Since I am still new to knitting and usually would only collect vintage threads for crochet I am new to collecting vintage wool yarn. Would this amount of yarn be enough to make a small/medium sweater for an adult female ( ie. me). I guess I could fined other colors to mix with it such as cream or something liek that to make sure there was enough yarn to complete a project. The labels only gave the weight not the yardage so I have no idea how much yardage is in each hank.
the label had some care instructions on it so I thought I would post them here encase I loose the labels ( which they all still had complete skeins not partials). Also thought it might be useful info for someone else who has vintage woolens to take care of them.
Washing Instructions
- Hand wash, using lukewarm water and mild soap-flakes or a detergent recommended for woolens.
- Squeeze gently-always support garment in hands while washing. Do not wring.
- Rinse Several times in lukewarm water until every trace of soap is removed.
- Add a few drops of white vinegar to the last clear rinse water.
- Roll in Turkish towel to remove moisture. Unroll at once.
- Lay flat in original shap to dry-away from sun or heat
>Help with damaged old sweater ?
23 Jan 2010 6 Comments
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She lets us go shopping every now and again in her closet to get one item from her. Sad thing is at some point in her closet she had wool moths so before I ever saw it this damage was done. I kept in in the hopes I could repair it some day and wear it. I tried mending it but after 12 hours of fixing holes I wasn’t even 1/10 the way done.
This was made in Turkey and is 100% wool. The reason I know ruffly its age is well because it was a commemorative sweater and there is a date inside on the tag, one more reason not to toss it. It has buttons that hold on the hood. Can I just say putting on such tight neck with buttons around the neck over the head it is a wounder that my girls and I do not have cuts all over our faces. As it scraped past all our faces it was painful to say the least. What was that knitter thinking oh yeah wasn’t I bet that is why my grandmother never wore it bought it on a trip tried it on after getting it home and that was the result to stay in the closet.
I was so hoping I would get to wear this sweater but I don’t think that is going to happen at least not in this form. I thought about felting it and making a skirt from it for me or one of my daughters, or a hat and mittens I don’t know yet what will become of it, any ideas? The pompoms you see in some of these photos fell off right after the photos because the moth holes in the cords where so big just moving it around broke them off. They had been just decorative anyway they didn’t actually cinch anything they just hung there as decoration to be tied but do nothing.
There are way more holes then are shown in these photos I stopped counting when it got to be over 100. Figured it would be easier to re-knit and embroider than to fix. And trust me I am not thinking of re-knitting just yet not sure I have that skill. Having made my husbands hat in black and trying to mend this in black my eyes hurt just from the thought. Sorry for the bad lighting in these photos. So any ideas!
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