How to Make a Vintage Embroidered Doily Apron

Happy Summertime to All of You Lovely Art Ladies!  

summer traveling sewing kit...

welcome june and sitting by the pool, traveling in the car, and enjoying a cool summer evening.
what i need is a little traveling sewing kit to tuck in my purse at a moments notice.

it all started with this bag of horrible embroidery floss i bought at the thrift store for $3.99.
this mess was tucked in an old Bucilla embroidery kit. usually i would just pass on that nightmare
but there were a couple of vintage thread skeins in colors i just loved...
so i bought the bag and decided before i threw the 'uglies' away i would give them a second chance.
warning~ hideous before photo~


i had a bowl of coffee on the counter i was using to dye some fabric pieces so i experimented a bit.
a more concentrated coffee or tea will create a deeper color, a watered down mixture gives you just a hint of color.


i use gloves to protect my hands from the dye (bad experience in the past) they actually work really well. i wrapped the floss around my fingers and dipped it in the dye bath. after working the dye in the threads i squeezed out the extra liquid and blotted it with a paper towel.
to heat set the dye i placed the floss on a paper towel and microwaved it until it was dry.



check your samples every 20 seconds or so to avoid overcooking them. i really liked almost every color.

the rest of the awful thread mess i just threw in the dye, labels and all. i left that bunch a while to soak. i squeezed out the extra dye and placed in on the counter. the darker colors were mostly unchanged, a few were still so awful i just tossed them out. but surprisingly after i microwaved the rest i was thrilled! biggest surprises were the variegated threads, they will be so fun to sew with. ~after photo~

all wrapped up pretty and tucked in my traveling sewing kit.


here is one of the pieces i embroidered using a piece of linen for the base, vintage millinery stems, and dyed wool and cotton embroidery threads. a blossom passing fair.....




here we are with our graduate, love to her and happy june all,
julie collings

DIY with Vintage Wallpaper

I have to admit that I have been enamored with vintage wallpaper ever since Julie and Candice sent their welcome kits for an Art Nest art retreat and they used some sweet vintage wallpaper to decorate them.  One of the teachers at that retreat was Pam Garrison who was using a lot of vintage wallpapers in her art journaling at that time.  I fell in love with the soft colors and the florals and geometric patterns.  Since then I have seen vintage wallpaper used in many ways and it always looks so fresh and lovely.  Here are some fun examples of things that you can do with it!

Pretty Correspondence

100 Layer Cake

A Fresh Approach to Wallpapering

Pinterest Pin

Oh Joy

Applied to Furniture

Better Homes and Gardens

bare wunderbar

Country Living

A Sweet Wreath

Such Pretty Things

Mini Chocolate Bars

Such Pretty Things

Fabulous Lampshade

Fondue

Decorative Windows

Mitzi's Collectables

My Vintage Wallpaper Cabinet

When I was thrift shopping I found this ugly, brown, house-shaped wall cabinet.  It had potential and I had some cute pieces of vintage wallpaper that I had found and some that I had purchased on Etsy.  So I decided that I would decoupage the little cabinet with vintage wallpapers.  First I removed the hinges and hardware from the cabinet.  Then using Mod Podge and a small sponge brush I cut pieces of wallpaper and applied them to the cabinet.

You can cut a decorative edge on the pieces that overlap.

Almost done!

Mask the glass on the doors so it stays cleaner.

Prop up the wet doors to dry so they don't stick to your work surface.

Just to make sure it was all the way dry I set it out in the sun for a bit.

All finished and loaded with trinkets and what-nots!