Yesterday was Lace Day. It’s not on your calendar as an official holiday, but I’m proclaiming it.
Sometimes when I’m out shopping buttons call to me, other times it’s tattered linens who beg to be cut up and sewn back together. Yesterday it was lace. Everywhere I looked I saw lace.
There was white tatting, crocheted edging in white, black, and beige. Technically, these may not be lace, but they are lacy and perform the function of lace in some of my projects. All in today’s hunt were bargains. Most were handmade.
If it’s stained, I will dye it. If it’s not stained, I may dye it. But I love giving a home to someone’s pieces with a memory. I keep it out of the landfill and get to add more history to a photo on cloth, or just a collage of vintage remnants.
I love walking through antique malls. I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. It soothes my soul to see old things. Memories surface at the sight of roller skates like I once owned, a towel in a stripe like my Mother had, even a can that held a ham. The can may still hold a ham. I didn’t want to know. But when have I thought of those Sunday menus? Ham from a can and orange macaroni and cheese from a box. My Mother grew up wringing the chicken’s neck for lunch, so she embraced all the convenience foods available to her once they moved to town.
Inspiration comes in many forms. The color palette here suggests a touch of black with some neutrals and that green. Wow – that green. If you subscribe to Julia Cameron’s advice in The Artist’s Way, to take your artist self on a date each week, this is the kind of thing she’s talking about.
I didn’t buy all you see in the photos. Displays in the antique malls are inspiring, even if I don’t always make a purchase. The way the pieces are displayed in a drawer, or old suitcase, or in a basket make me smile.
I bought some home with me. Here is the pile of treasures. I love the vintage bias tape and seam binding in the original package. 100% cotton, unstained. At 25? each, I didn’t buy them all, but I did add to my supply. And even the basket came home with me. I love the double-handled baskets for storing and carrying projects in progress. The Longabergers are so sturdy. I never bought them when people were having parties; I missed that boat. But when I find them for a song (this one was $14), I grab them!
I don’t know what these finds will become. But I know they will find their way to a project filled with memories. Memories that include the fun time shopping for them and memories unknown to me but stored in the fibers of these pieces with a past.
I love the way that lace was displayed; that cascade of soft lusciousness! My Mama didn’t sew very much and she wasn’t a great seamstress, but those words, biased tape and seam binding I remember. Thank you for sharing your treks and thoughts with us!
Those displays always get my imagination going!