Tag: buttons

Old Fabrics and a Cow

We went to Lakewood last weekend and I found a few vintage treasures.

Some delicious homespun fabrics and a cow came home with me.

The definition of homespun fabric is fabric made at home; fibers spun and/or woven at home.  Synonyms include plain, unpolished, unsophisticated, simple, rustic.  Well, those words fit the life I love.

The simplicity of design is part of their appeal, I think.

The wear and the stains in these fabrics speak to me of people who used them in their everyday life.

These homespun fabrics were in Shelby’s collection.  Shelby’s son and daughter-in-law were delighted to sell them to me, seeing that I appreciated these pieces of history as Shelby had.  I didn’t know Shelby, but I like her.

Who else do you know who would delight in finding that the vintage fabric they bought was patched?  I was thrilled to discover this … more stories in the cloth.

And, this worn French tea towel came home with me, too.  Look at those vibrant stripes after washing a gazillion times!

Kristine was not at her booth yet – we were early browsers – but her treasures spoke to me

old clothespins in a BLUE bucket…what’s not to love?

I came home with more than the fabrics I bought, though.  I always find ideas to send my brain spinning…doors, buckets, buttons, even a beekeeper….

I’ve written about visits to Lakewood before: The button lady post is here. Why I love beekeepers is here. And another cow is here.

Swatch Journal

I recently had to buy a new one of these.  If you sew, you recognize this as a seam ripper.  We all use them to rip out mistakes, but I’ve lately been using one a lot – to deconstruct some garments.

I came into possession of some old sewing paraphernalia and vintage clothing in our family.  I sorted and washed and cut apart and added the bits to my stash.  Most deconstruction is done with scissors and a rotary cutter, but button removal is most easily done with a seam ripper.  There were lots of buttons. There was some delicate lace edging to remove with a seam ripper, too.

The seamstress wasn’t a quilter, but she had some unfinished projects.  The yellow at the top of this photo is a little girl’s dress – almost finished – only the lace to add down the front.  Maybe buttonholes were needed.  Maybe the little girl decided she didn’t like yellow, maybe she outgrew the size of the pattern.

There was yardage of the navy fabric on the right in the photo above. From the shapes of the fabric that wasn’t used, I knew an apron had been made from that fabric.

In the bundles, there was fabric that was wool, rayon, cotton, silk; of course I am anxious to dip some of these in the dye pot.  In the interest of research and because I like to do such things, I wanted a record of what fabrics were made of which fiber.

Also on my “want-to-explore” list is making books with fabric.  I’ve done some of that, but for this one, I started with a paper booklet and stitched the fabric swatches on the paper, leaving room to add written notes.

There were also some patterns and what looks to be a template cut from a 1956 newspaper.  Some of these treasures will end up in art projects of mine.  For now, bits of all of them are in this project, the booklet.

I left room to add swatches of the fabrics once they are dipped in the indigo bath, and as I continue to dig through the treasure chest, more embellishments can fill some spaces.