Posts tagged ‘vintage’

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It was January in 2009 that Clever Nesting went live. In these 2 years we’ve come a long way. From no readers to our best month yet. January 2011 had 20,000 pages views. I’d say that’s pretty exciting and well worth celebrating. Plus, my birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, and that’s ALSO well worth celebrating.

decorator weight fabric. Cotton blend.

Polyester, dress weight knit. Lovely Drape!

Cotton/poly blend. Seersucker. Beautiful!

Cotton, seersucker. Great for Easter dresses!

That means good things for you! I am going to give away some fabric to one reader. All you have to do is comment on this post with some sort of indication that you are human (like a congratulations or something), and you’ll be entered in the drawing for a cut of vintage fabric. Comments will close on my birthday at 11:59pm, February 23rd. The winner will choose between four prints, each from the late 70s/early 80s.

If you want to be entered more than once, you can follow us on Twitter  @clevernesting and come back and write a comment letting us know. Or if you already follow us on Twitter, you can let us know that too and it’ll count as an entry.

And! If you “like” us on Facebook, which there is a link to do so right over there in the sidebar, you can put in another comment for an entry.

What the heck, just to up the odds, if we get 50 comments to this post, I will draw a second winner and they can choose between the 3 fabrics which are left over. I am just feeling that festive!

Thanks for reading, sharing and tweeting about us, Friends! We’ve met so many fun crafters in the 2 years we’ve been here, I feel so blessed!

I have this truly wonderful vintage fabric, gifted to me from my friend Martha, that has been sitting in the dark corner of my brain waiting to be turned into a shirt dress. Though I haven’t been able to muster up the time and gumption to follow through with my inspiration, and so it has remained un-cut in my fabric closet waiting for me to get my act together.

Well, thanks to the lovely

Craftzine, I was introduced to Casey’s Elegant Musings and her Swing Dress Sew-Along. Hello, Destiny! This is the perfect dress, and the perfect timeline for me. I am PUMPED!  I’ll be getting the rest of the supplies this week so that I can hop right in. I’m downloading the pattern right now!

medicine viles used for bead storage

Awhile back I posted some nontraditional bead storage ideas.  Here’s another idea…old medicine viles.  It’s not my idea.  A friend gave these to me with the bead supplies already in them.  I wonder what else I can do with the viles though!  They’re so unique.  Have any good ideas?

This beautiful vintage button belonged to my grandmother.  There’s only one, and I’ve been painfully particular about how to use it.  When guest blogger, Erica, wrote about making a vintage brooch into a necklace, I immediately thought about my button.  But since I’m on a hair-accessories kick, I thought I’d try it within a flower instead.

I used recycled shirt fabric & a vintage button for this flower.  It’s just like this orange flower one I made a while back.  The original pattern & idea came from a fabric flowers tutorial at Wise Craft.

Being in the “business” of repurposing things means that I get a lot of bags of things destined for the landfill or Goodwill. My friends, family and acquaintances will drop stuff off here before they donate or pitch it. I love this. I rummage through the goods and take what I want and then drive the rest off to a Goodwill donation center.

In my most recent bag-of-stuff acquisition I found, among other things, these cool vintage flour sack tea towels with calendars printed on them. There’s no wondering what year they were made, as it is stamped right on there. I kept them even though they don’t match my decor at all. They just seemed so unique and quaint. Now I am wondering what to do with them. I don’t want to put them into my regular rags, since they get used for things like wiping up grape juice, but I can’t think of a good place to display them.

Should I just let them make their way to the thrift store, or should I keep them around for some project later on?

I’m not talking about my “I found this in the car & won’t get sunburnt hat” in the left picture.  And I didn’t buy a hat either.  I did buy a headband though.  Isn’t it pretty?  I met Paula Singleton of What A Great Hat! at the Akron Arts Expo this weekend (she’s wearing pink in the left picture).  Her vintage style hats are each originals with the most delicate & perfectly classy embellishments.  Plus she’s getting ready to begin teaching classes.  I suggested a hat embellishments class where you bring a thrift store hat and learn how to add flowers, beads, feathers, etc.  But she also does the blocking herself for the straw hats, so I’m guessing she’ll teach that as well.  I wish I got a close-up of the brown hat above my right hand.  The base is hand blocked straw of the most wonderful pattern.  I’d take a class to make one of those!

*Update*

Paula send a photo of that hat for us!

hat by Paula Singleton

My collection of pretty antique tea cups is stored in a small corner cabinet in our bedroom. They are lovely to look at and bring a peaceful feeling to the room but I often think I should try harder to actually use them. On a recent visit to FARM Restaurant in Calgary I saw this delightful and innovative use of china cups as holders for tea lights.

Just drop a candle into the base of the tea cup and set it out. A grouping of tea cup candles on the table or one set at each individual place setting is a perfect way to add a sweet touch to a spring or summer meal. I also love them on the windowsill to enjoy during the day.

Read more about guest blogger Erica of Nest and Sparkle.

Vintage is in and has been for a long time now and my guess is that it is here to stay. Whether it’s clothing, jewelry, dishes or furniture, there is something truly lovely about beautiful vintage goods. The whiff of memory and nostalgia, the authenticity and uniqueness, the refreshing quality of something old made new again through use in a different age. Sustainability is also a factor – there are so many talented artists and designers recycling vintage into gorgeous new things and rescuing heaps of fabric, metal, woods and plastics from overflowing landfills in the process.

My personal style is quite simple and minimalist but within that I have a collection of elegant vintage jewelry, china and silverware, much of it gifts from my dear grandmothers. Jewelry is a popular topic here on Clever Nesting so I thought I would share a couple of ideas about how to wear vintage brooches.

The easiest way, of course, is to just pin them on. I love the look of a sparkly brooch on a coat or jacket and they are lovely on sweaters, especially as a substitute for buttons or clasps. Lately I’ve also been wearing several of my brooches as necklaces. This is such an easy thing to do: string a chain or ribbon through the closed clasp of the brooch, swing it over your neck and voila, a unique and creative accessory that will leave you smiling all day long.

If you already have a few prized hand-me-down brooches try looping them around your neck the next time you’re thinking of it. And if there’s nothing sitting in your jewelry box yet, ask around at the next family gathering to see what the generations before you may have stuffed away in their dresser drawers or start scouting antique shops, garage sales, consignment stores and other treasure troves. I highly recommend the latter as a fun, indulgent and inexpensive way to spend a day and spark your creativity and the former is a great way to share in stories from the past.

Read more about guest blogger Erica of Nest and Sparkle.

My friend, Mary, let me look through these books she bought at a library sale. I am just OOOh-ing and Aaaaah-ing over some of the projects inside. My favorite book out of the three is 167 Things to Make for Children. There are so many cute knits inside, as well as some woodworking projects I want to try out this summer. The one detail that just keeps me laughing as I flip through the pages is just how short the children’s dresses are! My kids wear shirts as long as those dresses! They do ook cute with the knee socks though.

I have been in the “make-for-me” phase of crafting since the holidays are over and I wanted to work through some of my stash fabric. This wrap skirt from Stitch by Stitch is just awesome, and the pattern pieces are included in the book and uncut! With the right fabric this could look really current, and the length makes it a great choice for winter. I hope I have enough yardage in my stash closet!

Tonight is the Journal Binding Class and I have to bring a TON of supplies. That is what makes taking a class so much fun, I buy the supplies and you get to try it out, without filling up your house with things until you are sure that they will be useful for you.

But for me, I now get to have 6 awls, and 6 exacto blades, and 3 special glue sticks, etc., that I have to carry along to the class all at once! That’s why I made “Clever Nesting To Go.” This $.75 vintage suitcase was thrifted and overhauled by me and waiting to be filled with crafty goodness. If you’re coming tonight you get to meet her in all her glory.

Hopefully I will be able to take some time out of instructing and get some decent pictures of the class. I’m anticipating lighting issues, so forgive me if they are dark. But look tomorrow for an update on our first Clever Nesting Education event!