More Vintage Linen

 Picking up on the last post about using tablecloths, I seem to be on a roll and can't stop sewing up those vintage linens. I went into a huge storage container at the bottom of the pile to see all of the linen I've collected. Some got washed, pressed, photographed, and made ready for my Etsy shop. Others had stains or even holes so I have earmarked them for porch pillows. I then worked on making summer tops out of two of them in better shape. Here's a very fancy top sheet that was probably never even used it was so pristine:

Bed sheet?

The embroidery was only along one edge so that was my conclusion. I went with a sleeveless shirt pattern and put the fancy work at the bottom

Decorative edge extends on the back also

I like it but it seemed like it was a long way from the top of the decoration to the neckline so I added a row of stitches

Embroidery stitches using light gray embroidery thread

What machine did I use for this nearly perfect stitch? My Bernina Record 730, of course. Now I'm happy with it. Next up was a cross stitch tablecloth that reminded me of a little shirt my daughter Kelly wore when she was only five years old. I didn't trust myself to make up a peasant blouse pattern although there are free ones online. Here's what I came up with using a commercial pattern:

I couldn't fit the long sleeves onto the tablecloth so I tried elbow length sleeves with the scalloped edge of the tablecloth at the bottom. It worked great so I went with that rolled hem edge for the hem of the shirt, too. As it turns out, not every serger can make a decent rolled hem (I tried three) and I finally had to pull out a Simplicity tiny three thread serger to get the best rolled hem. I leave that one set up for rolled hem only!

While looking for the sergers, I had to check out a shelf that had some old White treadle heads. I know I'm not going to be using them so I bit the bullet and listed all three for sale: I got two calls for buying all three! Dwayne came down yesterday and picked them up, telling me he refurbishes and sells them to the local Amish community. We then had a bit of discussion if I would have others without motors and I just might have to take him up on that. I would love to see some of these machines go to good homes and sometimes a motor is the only thing that holds them back. Dwayne might be my next best friend.

Everyone is sewing and buying sewing machines with cold weather and indoor activities at an all-time high. Some sell as soon as they get posted, other linger but are just as worthy. They are all my friends, but some just a little lower on the list. 

Keep calm and sew on.

Tablecloth Magic

 I would love to be able to pull a tablecloth out from under a full setting of dishes but I'm no magician. Instead, I've been busy with vintage tablecloths and finding new life for them as pillows. When I could no longer contain my personal collection of tablecloths, napkins, and placemats in the four large containers, I knew it was time for a clean out. Those I knew I was not going to use I sold in my Etsy shop but I had even more vintage linen in a huge Rubbermaid container. I dug down into that box and pulled out most of the tablecloths and then started to evaluate their worth. Only a few were worthy to sell and the rest were in various stages of disrepair. What can you do with stains that do not come out and holes worn through the fabric in others? I got busy and started to figure out which pieces were of usable size and what to make of them. First up was a rosy red tablecloth with four good corners so I pieced them together, added piping border

Four corners red and teal tablecloth into pillow

and pieced the rest of the salvageable tablecloth for the back.

It's even pretty on the backside!

I got fancy and added an invisible zipper so it can be removed for washing. This one got a new pillow insert with the very last of the poly filling I had, encasing it in a new white cotton case. Could I do this with each one? Probably not.

Next up was a lovely green scalloped edged tablecloth that had no flaws except for some of the stitching coming undone on the scalloping. Thinking I had good luck with the four corners idea, I did the same

Green scalloped edge with delicate flowers

for this pillow. Instead of the zipper insertion, I made an envelope pocket style of closing where one side of the back overlaps the other by at least six inches to allow the inserted pillow to be removed. I really liked this one but now I'm wondering where I'm going to put these two pillows.

The next two pillows just cried out for lace edging and did I ever have a stash of it to use up:

Faced roses and lullaby land pillows

The print was so delicate, maybe faded, on the teal and green tablecloth but there was enough to capture two sections for a pillow with a zipper for easy removal for washing. That little lavender gem was a tablecloth made out of what seems to be hankie linen so maybe it was not a tablecloth. Looking closely it appears to be a sailboat and looks like it belongs in the nursery. The front and back are the same on both of these lace trimmed pillows and by now I've exhausted my stash of pillow forms. What is left is a very large tablecloth and a couple bed pillows so that is what I made up:

Full sized bed pillow with new blue and white casing

For this one I found some thicker piping and there was enough fabric to make up my own matching piping. I used the envelope style of closing but added vintage buttons to keep it closed:

Last section of this tablecloth on the back, buttons on right side

I had already used a large piece of this tablecloth to cover my BIG iron board having read that tablecloths can make the best ironing board covers. I'll give it a try!

Now I have this great collection of vintage tablecloth pillows but where am I going to use them? Some would look nice in the porch for summer and others really wouldn't but I get another brainstorm. How about taking the dark quilt and pillows from the guest bedroom

and replacing them with the bright quilt my aunt made for me? Here's how it turned out:

It looks quite old fashioned with the metal trundle bed but I like the brighter look for the coming spring. The pillows look great with all of their colors, finding some of those shades in the quilt. My aunt hand quilted the whole thing! I've had it for 40 years so there's no sense in keeping it stored. although I did use it for several years as a bedspread when I first received it.

There are still more tablecloths left, some to be used for clothing, some for the remaining bed pillow in that bedroom, but I feel like I've made good use out of these worn out beauties. Their best parts are now on display and the rest is cut up for rags. I really hate to use paper towels so now I have a good stash of rags that might be used once, might be used and wash up but at least they are getting used.

Which sewing machine did I use? My Husqvarna Viking Designer 1, of course. I managed to repair the broken bobbin winder but in the process now the LCD display if a bit off so I'll have to investigate and see which part I jiggled lose but my bobbin winder is back! Sewing machine sales are still going on with another Bernina leaving midweek and a Viking Freesia 415 finding a new home yesterday. There are many happy sewers out there and I love to hear from them. How about you?

Getting Creative

 With the best of intentions, I brought home a bag of "minky" scraps that were from a production of pillowcases. The factory cut the pillowcase fabric to size and it left long runs of 13" wide fabric. While I was working on an industrial sewing machine at Ellie's house last winter, she was cleaning up and asked if I wanted to take some of the scraps home to play around with. She packed up a bag with four colors of this fabric that reminds me less of minky and more like velour knit, reminiscent of velour shirts that were popular in the 1970's. During the early months of staying home last spring I pulled out the bag of scraps and decided to make up a quilt using a chevron pattern. What is mess! Every fresh cut edge made a whirlwind of fluff that sticks to everything: scissors, fabric, clothing, hands, machines, tables. I managed a few rows and then had to walk away from this project. Last week I found the bag of pieces and decided to either finish it up or throw it away.

I was now in a better frame of mind to tackle this type of fabric so I tried a few tricks others have suggested. Once cut, toss the pieces in the dryer to get the fluff off the edges. Use a sticky roller to keep fluff contained. Use a lint brush, the type that has a nap for using in only one direction (this seemed to work the best for me). Keep the vacuum cleaner nearby. Since I was almost half way done with the quilt top, I worked on it first but didn't know what size I cut the pieces. I measured and cut but they were too small but then decided since this is really a knit fabric I needed to allow extra for that flexibility. Here's how it started:

How many rows can I get away with?

Taking seams out so the points were more accurate  was painful since I was using an elastic zigzag stitch but I tried to correct as many as I could but some were better than others. Which machine did I use? This called for a Pfaff with the IDT, their built in walking foot system.

Pfaff 125?

This is such a great machine! Easy to use, comes with a full set of accessories and a flip up top with a nice sewing guide. It made the whole process easier but I have to confess I set it up on a TV tray in the family room so I would have room to place the strips on the floor and then sew on the larger piece with a machine close by. This took a couple of days and finally my husband asked how long was I going to invade every room in the house. Checking to see how much of these two colors I had left, I concluded I only had enough to make a throw sized quilt so I wrapped things up by adding a border and backing it with green flannel. I stitched around the outer edge with a serpentine stitch and then stitched in the ditch on two interior rows just to stabilize:

Chevron throw with velour fabric

I still had purple and light cream fabric strips left and I didn't have the heart to try another throw so I ended up making bears:

Howdy, folks

Using three of the strips, I made up six bears. They were a bit fussy but not as bad with shedding due to my use of lint rollers and brushes. Then I made up six more:

Just me and my friends

using the cream fabric, too. I still had more fabric but couldn't make myself sew any more bears so I decided to try to make a dress for my granddaughter Evelyn. In the process of moving pieces around I accidentally cut the opening for the zipper down the front of the dress instead of the back. I decided to make it look intentional by adding a decorative stitch by using silver thread with a satin stitch:

Making a mistake look good: silver zigzag

Using my trusty Bernina 730, some stitches still needed to be removed and corrected since it was right on the front but it still turned out cute. Never one to leave anything alone, I added a snowflake to the front

Snowflake number one

But it wasn't centered. Checking back with the instructions for the Singer Futura XL400 I was using to embroider, I needed to move the snowflake and then hit "apply" for it to actually stitch where you want it to go. Trying again, I added another snowflake to balance it out

Snowflakes 1 and 2

And now it was done. I washed it up since there was stabilizer on the front that needed to be washed out and it turned out nice. 

Never one to leave anything alone (where have I heard that one before?) I went back to the bag of scraps and had just enough left to make one much smaller bear

Mister tiny purple bear in the front

for Evelyn to carry around with her. There's a small piece left from when I was testing out the first snowflake that I'll whip up into a sleeping bag of sorts because he's going to be very tired after being carried around all day.

Oh, the fun sewing grandma's can have!