Vintage Linens....

I love vintage linens; hankies, dresser scarves, table cloths....so I have been putting my plans for a few of these into action. Sew Beautiful magazine recently did an article with Marsha Greenberg. Marsha is the author of Hankie Couture, Handcrafted Fashions from Vintage Handkerchiefs wherein she shares her story and her passion for creating wearables for 'Barbie' size dolls. Folks, I have never played with dolls in my whole life! Here I am, past the big 5-0 and this was just way too much fun! And really fast....I finished this dress in under 2 hours and then had fun with the hat and the purse. (BTW...JoAnn's has the book, I got mine with a coupon!)


 
This next pic is just a piece of a bedspread I found in an antique shop in Montana. It was huge, this is the section from the top that would have been over the pillows. The embroidery work was wonderful, but worn as this had actually been used as a bedspread, likely in a guest room, but had raw seam allowances and had been laundered. Did I say the embroidery work was wonderful?
I went around the embroidery work on both sides first. Then I drafted the feathers after studying feathers from several books. I only marked the spine and then free-handed the feathers. The background was 'mctavished' which I didn't really like as I was doing it but when I took it off the frame and can see the whole thing....I like it! Consistency throughout is always at issue when you are free-handing....digital camera is a wonderful thing. This is about 28" x 42".

I did this piece several months ago....the lavender center is a vintage hankie with just the tiny flowers with gold stems embroidered on. I added some white satin, some purple rayon, a heart, some feathers and it is about 36" sq.

I also recently started playing with hot fix crystals on the quilt from my previous post. There is something to post about later. Today I have an antique DWR loaded and won' get er done till I get er started!