So, Sew Vintage

I can't resist a bargain, even if I don't know what I'm going to do with that prize! When I went to a few garage sales this summer I struck it "rich" at a few with old tablecloths, dresser scarves, pillowcases, and linen towels. All had either embroidery, crochet trim, or a beautiful faded print from an era gone by. When I finally had a big stack of these goodies I consulted my daughter, Kelly, whom I have a booth at craft fairs with, for her ideas. She is really gifted at visioning: she can take a look at an object and place it with other things to make each one work well together. She's great to shop with because she can look at items of clothing and say "Try this one on" and be right on the mark. The only complaint is that she finds she can't seem to do this for herself, only for others.

She suggested I look at ideas on Pinterest and that did help, but I corralled her on one visit to my house and she looked at each one and gave me ideas. I finally got some out and made up those that were easiest, for me, to make up. Now we have VINTAGE LINEN ON PARADE!

Linen calendar towels made into tote bags

Calendar towels on parade!

There were calendar towels made into tote bags; some were lined with vintage fabrics and some of the calendars were vintage, too. I had so much fun making these, using different decorative stitches, finally learning how to make them better by using a serger.

Toaster covers

In an earlier post I wrote about using vintage table cloths and tea towels to make toaster covers (and here they are again but the rose design has already been sold).

Tea bag holder

It's hard to know what to make with old table napkins but once I figured it out these tea bag holders are a nice way to show off all of that fancy stitching!

Tea anyone?

Dresser scarves made into tea cozies turned out pretty nice and were fun to make up. The embroidery has held up so well but the fabric has started to show stains so this was a nice use of the salvageable parts.

Here is the stack of linen I have left so you can see there are many more projects just waiting to be stitched up. What would you make with grandma's old linens?

For anyone who is a regular reader of Sewing Machine Mavin (you know who you are!) this is the 100th posting. Who knew there could be so much written about sewing machines? A big thank you to those who read SMM and have encouraged me!