Category Archives: antique textiles

AEsop’s Fable Quillow

Posted on April 15, 2010 | 2 comments

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Quillows have been featured in previous posts, but most were of polar fleece. I find quillow projects to be universally useful and always fun to make.

Recently, while plundering through my Liberty of London scraps, I was reminded of this little quillow.   It is currently  among the missing and presumed to be residing in the depths of one of my grandchildren’s dressers.  An all-points-bulletin has been issued and I hope soon to have news of its whereabouts.

 

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Some time ago, it was featured in an article I wrote for Creative Needle magazine.  All of the photos and parts of that article are included in this post.

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A uniquely contemporary version of the Great American Quilt, a quillow is a small quilt which folds up into its own pocket to create a pillow. One of simple design, such as a whole cloth with no piecing, can be made in as little as three hours.

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Posted in antique textiles, baby accessories, Binche Lace, home dec, quilts

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Alice Camisole

Posted on April 6, 2010 | 3 comments

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BACKGROUND:  The tatted yoke on this camisole is at least 90 years old.  What a testimony to the sturdy fruit of the shuttle!  I had sentimental reasons for my appreciation of this yoke (detailed below in HISTORY) and made a camisole for my daughter.  Miss Alice, the previous owner, was especially fond of my children and they grew up knowing her as an exemplary model of Christian womanhood.  In 1996, this garment was featured in my series entitled  Antique Textiles in Creative Needle magazine.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE: The project was a challenge.  I needed a way to attach the yoke to the gathered fabric without detracting from the intricacy of the tatting pattern.  Commercial entredeux just seemed too new and joining it to the gathered fabric would be bulkier than desired.  Also, white entredeux was too bright and ecru was too dark.  Machine made entredeux was the perfect solution but just how to do that on a diagonal line across the gathered straight of grain fabric made me ponder long and hard.

 

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Posted in antique textiles, heirloom sewing, ladies, techniques

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Walter Mitty Reports

Posted on March 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

 

So often, bits and pieces are all that remains of what once was a spectacular piece of needlework. It’s likely that I have hoarding tendencies, because the idea of throwing away the beautiful stitches of an unknown and long since departed kindred spirit is abhorrent to me. And I have boxes of these bits and pieces to prove it.

No doubt one or two of these are lace pieces from Queen Elizabeth's play dresses.

So often, bits and pieces are all that remains of what once was a spectacular piece of needlework. It’s likely that I have hoarding tendencies, because the idea of throwing away the beautiful stitches of an unknown and long since departed kindred spirit is abhorrent to me. And I have boxes of these bits and pieces to prove it.

Crazy patch is my preferred technique for these items.   Pillows seem particularly suitable as they are laundered infrequently, putting the aged beauties at less risk of damage. This pillow is made of some of the remnants in my stash.  Each tells a silent story, the tale of its origin which I plot out as I stitch the pieces together. Continue reading →

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Posted in antique textiles, hand embroidery, heirloom sewing, home dec

LaceTape Quilted pillow

Posted on March 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

A pillow is a great project for learning new techniques.  The use and actual quilting of heirloom lace combine two of my favorite sewing genres.   Adding free motion quilting and the use of lace tape to the project makes it an instructive and pretty little ornament.

Beginning with rice Imperial batiste, two rectangles were cut 14″  x 18″, two inches  larger than the intended finished pillow size of 12″ x 16″.  A piece of lightweight batting was cut to the same measurement.  The bow was traced onto one of the batiste rectangles using a fine tipped blue water soluble marker.  The quilt “sandwich” was hand basted together, with the traced bow on  top, then batting and finally the second batiste rectangle.

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Posted in antique textiles, heirloom sewing, lace tape, quilts, techniques

Grandbaby Projects from Tea Napkins

Posted on February 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

Once again I am offering a re-run, an article written for Creative Needle magazine some time ago.  As I was thumbing through my old issues, this jumped out at me as I thought about modern projects for old fashioned Nanas.  This is quick and easy handwork at its best.

The 2 year series was entitled Antique Textiles: Loving, Collecting and Using.  I certainly love antique textiles and collected enough for several sewing lifetimes.  I’m still working on using. Continue reading →

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Posted in antique textiles, baby accessories, hand embroidery, heirloom sewing, infant clothing

Antique Lace Crazy Patch Pillow

Posted on February 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

In the crazy quilt of life, I’m glad you’re in my block of friends.  ~Author Unknown

I love crazy patch.  It’s been a while since I’ve done any, since there’s not much call for crazy patch clothing for grandchildren.  But I came across this pillow while plundering through Rebecca’s cedar chest and recalled fondly the fun I had stitching it.

Many years ago, my dear friend  Suzanne Sawko and I sat down one day with bags and bags of scraps, two women on a mission to learn crazy patch.  We sewed for almost 7 hours and each finished a piece about 8″ square.  But we loved it.  Later, Suzanne made hers into a checkbook cover for my birthday.  I treasure and use it still.

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Posted in antique textiles, home dec, quilts

Memories in Lace Quilt

Posted on January 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present and the promise of the future.~ Author Unknown

This is certainly true of my daughter Rebecca, though she has alrealdy fulfilled all the future promises  for which I had hoped—and more.    This quilt holds happy memories of the past, some mine, some hers, some which she cannot possibly recall. 

Made in the traditional snowball pattern, this quilt is composed of alternate blocks filled with applique’d hearts.  Lace scraps from skirt fancybands and remnants of Rebeca’s little dresses make up the bulk of the hearts.   Continue reading →

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Posted in antique textiles, Binche Lace, heirloom sewing, lace tape, quilts

No Machine Embroidery Monogram

Posted on January 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

This monogrammed pillowcase was made so I could use one of my treasured vintage crocheted  edgings.  Long after the fabric of the pillowslip was worn thin,  many of the sturdy American made lace trims survived unscathed.  They were routinely removed and put aside for a second life on another pillowcase.The pink variegated filet crochet edging on this pillowcase is enjoying at least its second life on my daughter’s bed.

The pillowcase is made of linen and the back of the design was covered by the 5″ hem which was pinstitched in place.  Both the hem and the crochet edging were attached with a pinstitch, worked in pink Madeira Coton 80 wt. thread.  A #90 needle was used instead of a wing needle which might have damaged the crochet edging.

Fond as I am of monograms, I enjoy trying different techniques.  This “R” was taken from an alphabet for hand embroidery, copied and resized on my printer/copier, then traced onto the linen fabric with a blue washaway marker.

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Posted in antique textiles, home dec, techniques

“You’d Better Not Pout” Pillowcase

Posted on December 22, 2009 | 3 comments

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.~Laura Ingalls Wilder

I love holiday pillowcases. Christmas, being the most special holiday of all, is reason enough for several sets of pillowcases—for my bed, for the guest room, for my grandchildren’s beds at my house and at their homes, for our cabin in North Carolina, for the guest rooms in my children’s homes, for special little friends……. I could go on and on. Continue reading →

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Posted in antique textiles, heirloom sewing, Holiday Projects, machine embroidery

Special Angels

Posted on December 12, 2009 | Leave a comment

During the Christmas season, references and images of angels are as pervasive as Santa Claus. They appear on greeting cards, holiday attire, tree ornaments and home decorations. It is not surprising that there are so many embroidery designs and projects that reflect the public’s interest and fascination with these celestial beings.

In literature, angels are equally prevalent. There are Biblical references, such as, “For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways.” Psalm 91:11

And tongue in cheek references, “A baby is an angel whose wings decrease as his legs increase. ~Author Unknown

We just can’t seem to leave angels alone.

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Posted in antique textiles, baby accessories, Holiday Projects, home dec, linen blanks, machine embroidery, quilts