freshvintage

Buttons

As promised, here are a few pictures of the buttons that I won during my night of drunken ebay bidding. Like most things that you buy when you are drunk, I had a touch of buyer's remorse when I opened the boxes.

Most of the buttons are small, nondescript black and white shirt buttons or just big ugly coat buttons. I enlisted my son, Finn, to help me pick out all of the colored buttons. We filled eight of these little red containers with all of our favorites.  I love the glass buttons and mother-of-pearl buckle at the bottom of the picture. 

The red containers were from the dollar spot at Target (but they aren't selling them anymore). They have strong magnets on the back, and came with a metal strip that mounts on the wall. Instead of using the strip, I put the containers on the side of this metal storage cabinet.

I bought the cabinet for $3 at a yard sale last summer. It is a great place to hide my fabric, patterns, ribbons and anything else I can stuff in there. The bottom was rusty, so I covered it with fringe from an old chenille bedspread. On top of the cabinet, I have even more fabric in a pair of vintage locker baskets.

If I ever clean the rest of my "studio" (more commonly known as the guest room), I'll share some more pictures.   

Comment and Win!

This is my 25th post! I bet that everyone in my family thought this blog would only last 6 or 7 posts. And then I would just move on to something new. Like that time that I was obsessed with opening a drive-thru coffee shack.

Anyway, in honor of my long and illustrious blogging career, I'd like to have a little giveaway. Leave a comment and I will randomly pick a winner from all of those who commented. But, I'm going to make you work for it. You can't just leave a comment and tell me how smart and funny and pretty I am, and that reading my blog has made you a better person. You have to tell me what you collect. Everyone collects something, whether it is pottery or fabric or shot glasses (Doug).

I'll go first. One of my collections is white pottery.  I prefer matte finishes, but if a piece is cheap enough, I'll buy it regardless of finish.  I completely stole the idea of collecting white pottery from my sister-in-law, Sari, who has a really nice collection. I bought her a few pieces for Christmas and birthdays over the last few years.  And then I said "screw her!", and decided to start buying them for myself, because I love the way they look when they are grouped together. A couple of them were gifts from my in-laws, but I bought most of them for less than $10. Here are a few of them in my kitchen:

So, what do you collect? I don't care if you are a lurker, a frequent commenter or a new visitor - just don't forget to include your name & email address on the comment form so I can contact you if you win. On Saturday, February 17th, I'll pick a name. The lucky winner will win one of my new bucket tote bags! I made it with Heather Bailey's freshcut fabric, funky old buttons and vintage woven rick-rack on the handles.

If you feel like sharing the city & country where you live, I would love to know that, too. Since I started this blog in November, my statistics on Google Analytics tell me that I've had visitors from 27 countries, including Iran, New Zealand, Romania and Malaysia! 

Market Tote

One button down...only 1,546 more to go.  I used a lavender button and my favorite freshcut fabrics for this BIG market tote bag.  I'm keeping this one for myself, but I'll be making more market totes with other freshcut fabrics, and my new obsession, Erin Michael's Uptown fabrics.

I Dig Doug

Doug is my sister Erin's husband. They both went to Ursinus College, but they didn't get together until they had both graduated. Doug was an obnoxious frat boy. When Erin was a freshman, she knew him as that guy who would throw boloney at her friends in the cafeteria. When Erin was a sophomore, she invited me to Ursinus to see David Spade perform in their gym. This was during his funny Saturday Night Live years and we were big fans at the time. Doug and his "brothers" had been partying at a farm all day (I still don't know why) and were shouting cow calls during the whole show. "Yamma Yamma Yamma!"  If I knew that day that Erin would eventually marry one of those cow-calling assholes, I would have asked my parents to force her to study abroad in Myanmar.

But, it all worked out. They fell in love five years later and got married. Doug's classmates and faculty from Ursinus are still dumbfounded that he is now a nanotechnology scientist at a pharmaceutical company. But he hasn't changed a bit.  Remember my mom's yard sale that I talked about a few months ago?  Doug decided to dress up in some of the clothes that my mom was selling.  Here he is, looking so dapper in too-tight ladies' blue polyester pleated pants, a t-shirt that proudly states "Color Me Grandma", and holding a Las Vegas oven mitt:

That get-up just beckons "come hither", huh?

In honor of the recovering frat boy's birthday, I was commissioned by my sister to create a special bag for holding his prized liquor (Wild Turkey 101). I made a bag and shoddily embroidered this loving sentiment on it:

It all comes back to booze on this blog, doesn't it?

Fabric Labels Tutorial

I've been looking for custom fabric labels for the bags and other stuff that I make.  They can be pretty expensive, especially if you want them printed with your own logo in non-standard colors (lime green & aqua). Making bags isn't my full-time job, so I can't justify spending a lot of money on custom labels. So, I decided to try using printable transfer fabric and twill tape to make my own labels.  It was really easy and I am pleasantly surprised that they don't look too homemade. The paper costs $10 and the twill tape is $1.50.  Depending on the size of your image, you can make around 120 labels using 6 packs of twill tape.  Total cost: $19.  Here are the steps I took to create the labels:

This is the paper and twill tape that I used. This paper only works on white or light-colored fabric.

STEP 1: CREATE IMAGE FILE
I created my logo in the correct size using Macromedia Fireworks (you can use Photoshop, or any other graphics program). The twill tape was 3/4 in wide, so my logo need to be smaller than that.  Mine was 1.75 inches long and 0.6 inches high. I set the resolution to 300 dpi (dots per inch) since it was being printed (70 dpi is standard for images being used on the web).

STEP 2: PRINT IMAGE ON TRANSFER PAPER
I copied the image into Microsoft Word and pasted it 44 times, leaving some space between each image. When you print the page, you have to select "mirror image" in your printing options. I printed the page on a regular piece of paper before using the printable transfer paper, just to make sure everything looked okay. Then, I printed it on the transfer paper as pictured below. You have to wait 30 minutes for the ink to dry before you continue to the next step.

STEP 3: CUT OUT IMAGE
Next, I cut out the images to transfer to the twill tape. It is best to leave a little bit of white space on the sides of the image, so you have room to peel off the backing paper (in a later step). 

STEP 4: IRON TRANSFER TO TWILL TAPE
Cut the twill tape at least a half inch longer than the image on each side. Turn the image face-down and press with a HOT, DRY iron for about 15-20 seconds.

STEP 5: PEEL OFF BACKING
According to the directions for the transfer paper, if you want a matte look to the image, then peel off the backing while the image is still hot. If you want a glossy finish, then wait for it to cool down.  I wanted a matte finish, so I immediately peeled off the backing. This didn't always work - sometimes it was too hot, and the image was still stuck to the backing.  So, I eventually found that if I blew on it for 3 seconds before I peeled the backing, then the label would be perfect.  I screwed up about 4 labels before they started looking good, so don't be nervous...just keep trying different things until it works (maybe turn down your iron setting and/or press it for longer than 20 seconds).

STEP 6: SEW ONTO FABRIC
Turn the edges under and stitch onto your fabric. If you use the iron to press the edges, be sure not to touch the image with the iron.  I used polyester twill tape, which tends to unravel easily, so you may want to use Fray Check on the edges.

You could also create a looped label, instead of the flat one that I made. With the looped kind, you could transfer another image to the "back " of the label that has the washing instructions (great for washable tote bags or diaper bags).

Please let me know if you use these instructions to create your own labels. I'd love to see how they turn out!  Or, if you have other budget-friendly alternatives for creating custom labels, I'd love to hear them.

Painting Woes

I received a couple of requests to see some of the buttons that I drunkenly won on ebay. I don't have pictures of all of them yet, but here's a picture of a diaper/wipes wallet that has 3 of the 1000+ buttons. It is a little hard to see, but I stacked 3 buttons, including a big mother of pearl one:

Chris and I spent Sunday painting the dining room. In our old house, we didn't spend too much time preparing before we painted. This time, we diligently taped all of the trim and chair rail. It still looks like crap. The paint seeped through the tape in a lot of places. Brown paint on white trim actually does look like crap. Luckily, you can't tell from these pictures:

The colors we used are Sunwashed Blue (also known as aqua) and Mayfield Common (aka brown) by Ralph Lauren at Home Depot.

In the lower right corner of the above picture, you can see part of our victrola cabinet. That was the first piece of furniture that we ever bought at an auction. Before it went up for bid, I looked at it quickly and thought that it would be a great place to store our stereo (the victrola had been removed years ago and replaced with shelves).  I ended up being the highest bidder at $70.  When we went to carry it out of the auction, we realized that it didn't have a back! So dumb. I learned my lesson with that one.

I bought the 2 cake plates at a moving sale on Saturday morning for $5 each:

Diapers & Butts

I went to a friend's baby shower last weekend and gave her a diaper/wipes "wallet" that I made with my new Freshcut fabric by Heather Bailey. She is having a boy, so I used two of the more masculine fabrics in Heather's line. I didn't have a pattern - I just measured the fabric using a travel wipes case and a size 6 diaper.  After I finished it, I went to the store and bought a package of newborn diapers so that I could include them with the gift. I grossly overestimated the size of a newborn diaper. Did you know that there is a huge size difference between a newborn butt and my daughter's 2-year-old butt?  The diaper wallet was a little too big (9.5" by 5"), but it still gets the job done. My friend can just throw it in her purse when she doesn't feel like carrying her big diaper bag.

 

Handmade Chenille Tutorial

I attempted a handmade chenille doll blanket a few weeks ago and took pictures along the way, just in case someone else wanted to try it. One of my friends has a baby blanket that her mother made using this method. Mine didn't turn out as cute as hers, but what the hell. 

STEP 1: Cut out 5 pieces of fabric that were 16" by 20".  You won't really be able to see the pattern on the fabrics when it is finished, so choose the fabric by the dominant color instead. I also cut a piece of white chenille from an old beadspread for the backing.

STEP 2: Stack the 5 fabric pieces together, right sides all up, and sew a straight line from one corner to the opposite corner.  Continue to stitch lines about 3/4 inch apart on each side of the first line. This would probably be much easier with one of those quilting bars or edge guides.

It ended up looking like this, after I sewed all the lines:

STEP 3: Put the backing on. I probably should have done this at the end, but its too late now! I put the right sides of the fabric stack and backing (piece of vintage chenille spread) together, and sewed around the edge. I left 4 inch opening so I could turn it right side out:

STEP 4: Press the edges and topstich around the edge of the blanket. Here's what the back looks like:

And here's the front:

STEP 5: Cut the first 4 layers of fabric in between each line of stitching. Be careful not to cut the bottom fabric, or the backing (if you put on a backing already). 

Here's what is looks like with all the cuts:

STEP 6: The hard part is done! Now, just throw it in the washer and dryer to fluff up the cut edges of the fabric:

Here's the final result:

Alternatives:

• If you put the backing on at the end, then you wouldn't be able to see the top fabric around the edges, like you can see with mine (the pink/white gingham).
• Use 3 or 4 layers of fabric instead of 5, and the chenille will not be as thick. 
• Sew the lines closer together (half inch) and you won't be able to see any of the base fabric.

   

Homemade Christmas

My kids are two of 14 grandchildren on my side of the family (almost all are 6 years old and under). We usually do a gift exchange among the kids, but this year we decided to change it up a bit and do a Make or Bake Pollyanna.  Each child has to give a homemade gift to the cousin whose name they pick. The price limit is $10, but you don't have to spend money if you don't want to. Since there are so many small cousins whose greatest creation thus far in life is a big stinky poop, the parents seem to be making the gifts instead. No complaints here.

Here is what my son, Finn, I made for my sister's son, Tony.  Tony is a great artist and loves sports, so I made him a holder for colored pencils using sports-themed flannel fabric.

Here's the attached sharpener & eraser bag:

 

My daughter, Maeve, is remarkably talented with the sewing machine at the tender age of two. She made this giraffe for her baby cousin, Emma:

This was actually Maeve's my first attempt at making a stuffed animal. I used an old pattern that I bought at a yard sale. Her limbs look more like fins than legs. I think I'll name her Nessie.

I also made two little handbags...one for Maeve (for Christmas) and one for our neighbor, Emily's, third birthday:

This one is for Emily. It is only about 6" by 8" (it looks bigger in the photo):

Maeve's bag is my first attempt at a quilted bag: