Victorian Robe

Have you ever noticed how modern house coats and bath robes are lumpy squares of fabric that don't emphasize a woman's shape?  Well, truth be told, I've filled out a little and really need some help to "create" a more feminine shape.  So since I can't find a ready made feminine robe, I decided to make one.  The closest thing to what I was looking for is this Simplicity Victorian Robe pattern. It took me forever to find it at a reasonable affordable price (which I finally did on eBay)

 The next step was to find just the right fabric - all NINE yards of it. Then of course there were the yards and yards of lace.  Putting it all together was fairly easy, but adding all that lace was a test in patience for me.  But I did finish it and it really didn't take as long as I thought it would.

 It's not even close to being authentic in design, but still, it gives me a much nicer shape than the square modern ones.

I wear it almost every night. It's not as heavy or cumbersome as you might think and it's a lot of fun to wear. I feel like a princes floating around the house.  Now I need the perfect PJ's to go with it.

Patricia :o)

What to do with a damaged runner

The plastic bags in my pantry were getting out of control! We try to use the reusable tote bags, but no matter what, we always seem to come home with a bunch of plastic bags, too. I had been stuffing them into a brown paper bag in the corner, but I'd put so many bags in there it ripped down the middle. But of course that didn't stop me from stuffing more bags in it. 

For a long time I've been wanting to make a bag for my bags (a bag-bag) but was just too lazy busy to do it. I came a cross an old runner full of holes. It was hand embroidered with the cutest little birds on it! So I cut off a "good" section and went to my fabric stash to see if I could find fabric that would match it and at least sort-of go with my kitchen.  I found some brown and red toile, brown and white gingham and some vintage clooney-type lace.

Because the runner is white, I backed it with part of an old pillowcase so that the pattern of the toile wouldn't show through.

I laid it all out, pinned it all together, and then began sewing. This is a very simple project but I kept making silly mistakes and so had to to a lot of seam ripping and re-sewing. But finally it was done!

Now I have to make one for the laundry room, the garden shed and maybe the garage. Sounds like a lot, but I have a lot of runners I could use!!  LOL

Blessings,

Patricia :o)

Keep the Embroidery

I can't resist beautiful embroidered pieces. I can't stand to let a great work of art go to waste just because there is a hole or stain on the linen. This adorable hand embroidered heart used to be part of a vintage pillowcase. There was major damage right smack in the middle and no way to hide or repair it, so I cut off the embroidered part and made it into a Christmas stocking.

I used a mixture of vintage items and new fabric. I know that these stocking are found all over the place, but since I hadn't made one before, I was pretty proud (I made this one two or three years ago)

The inside is lined with pink and white cotton gingham and trimmed with a white cotton ruffle.

The back is an older, though not quite vintage machine embroidered fabric.

Check out the tiny embroidered roses. Aren't they cute!

My favorite part of this whole stocking is the rhinestone button sphere on the very end. I've made several stockings since this one and all of them had vintage embroidery on them. I even made a pair using "his" and "hers" pillowcases. If I ever find the pictures, I'll post them.

Patricia :o)

M'Lady and her nightgowns

M’Lady is finished and is showing off some of her my favorite night gowns. I didn’t even know I had a nightgown collection until Deanna of Timeless Things asked me if I still collected vintage nightgowns. She pointed out that I have several at home and that I was always looking for them when we went shopping. Huh! I didn’t realize that!

Now that M’Lady is presentable, I can show some of them off.

I'm not sure if this is a robe or part of a wedding dress. All I know is that it's gorgeous! I found this at a Goodwill store for only $9.99!!

It's supper long and goes all the way down to my feet. I'm almost 5'8" so that's amazing to me (now if it would only go around my middle).

All the little beads and sequence are hand sewn.

This nightgown is pretty old. I think it is home made. It's also very long, which I LOVE. The seams are all done with a tiny French seam. The original pale taupe-yellow ribbon still runs through the eyelet lace at the collar.

This is another of my favorites. It's made of soft cotton. The detail on this one is beautiful!

It also had a taupe-yellow ribbon, but was in bad shape so I pulled it out. I'm looking for a vintage ribbon replacement.

Just check out the details. This nightgown looks small but is actually large enough to fit me. It's very comfortable, but I'm afraid to wear it.

I found this little nightie at the Salvation Army for $1.00! It's probably from the late 50's early 60's and is made of the softest pink nylon.

I'm pretty sure I won't be wearing this one for a very long time. It's a tiny 32 bust. It's very femine and delicate. I wish they still made them like this...

Patricia :o)

PS: Here's M'Lady all nice and clean.

M'Lady the Vintage Dress Form

Last summer my hubby and I were visiting our favorite little town just North of San Antonio, Boerne (sounds like brun-e). We stopped in a little antique shop and found this great dress form. It had been marked down, and marked down again to $175.00. I'd been looking for a dress form for years and could never find anything in a reasonable price range. Although the $175 seemed fair, I asked for more. I was thrilled when the dealer let me have her for $125!!!! (I know some of you have gotten way better deals, but I'm rarely that lucky LOL)

Unfortunately, my dress form was so stained and dirty, that she wasn't even invited into the home (except to take these photos). I removed her outer cover and found...

shredded paper!! I have to tell you I was shocked and disappointed. But I had to get her clean if she wanted to stay inside the house.

Here she is naked! I vacuumed her off really,really well and them steamed her all over. It was a lot harder than I had thought it would be, but I finally got her smelling almost good.

I obviously wasn't going to put that nasty paper back in so I wrapped her in thick batting. Meanwhile, the nasty, dirty cover was being soaked for a couple of days in a big tub of powder Tide, Oxyclean and what started out as very hot water. The fabric came out very clean with only one or two little ink marks on it.

I didn't put the cover in the dryer because I was afraid it would shrink. And I think it did anyway because it looks a little tight. I hand stitched the opening all the way up the back and it looks really good. This was the part I thought would be the hardest and it turned out to be the easiest. The really hard part was filling her bust! The first go-round she looked like Dolly Parton!! After a little reductive surgery, she looks pretty normal.

I've heard that every dress form should have a name and this one is named M'lady. When we first bought her, my hubby referred to her as "your lady" meaning my lady. He carried my lady on his shoulder. It was sooooo cute and funny looking. Then my lady had to stay in the garage, and I had to work on my lady to get her cleaned up. I kept thinking of her as "my lady" so the name stuck.

Now she's in my guest room wearing the prettiest lace robe. I'll share that with you on the next post. It's beautiful and I'm sure you'll love it!

Happy New Year!!

Patricia :o)

Easy Pillowcase Project

Have you ever come across a wonderful vintage pillowcase that was too damaged to be used, but too beautiful to pass up? The great thing is that you can usually get them at the lowest prices ever because nobody wants them. And when you find that special pillowcase, you can make this!

To make this sweet little pillow, all you need is about 9" to 10" of the open edge. Take off the back side of the pillowcase and reserve it for later. The front side of the pillowcase is usually where all the hand work is done and should measure around 20" x 9" or so, depending on the design and pillowcase size. Fold it in half, short sides together, with the wrong side facing in, and sew along the short end. Press seam so that it's centered on the back, and sew along the top. (I should have taken pictures at each step, but didn't think about it until it was too late).

For this pillow, I used the crocheted edge of the back of the pillowcase to use at the top. I just slipped it in before sewing up the top. Use the left over fabric of the pillowcase to make the little pillow for the inside. I used a scrap piece of fabric with tiny checks of pink and white so that the crocheted skirt would show off better.

I like the back to be pretty, too, so I added a pink bow and a vintage-looking pink rose in the center.

Now you know how to rescue a beautiful pillowcase that may have seen better days. You only have to sew a few straight lines, and that's it! Super easy!