Bah! Humbug! Pleats and Ruffles Challenge

This week at Bah! Humbug!, in honor of the royal wedding, our challenge is to use pleats or ruffles. I'm telling you, with the gorgeous 8o degree + weather we're having, Christmas was far from my mind today, but I just couldn't miss it. I knew I wanted to do something vintage, but a number of attempts were unsuccesful so I resorted to an image and frame from the Graphic 45 Christmas Past Collection. I'd bought a number of colors of the ribbon from WalMart several years ago before I realized it was too stiff to tie a pretty bow so it's been sitting in my stash ever since. Fortunately I was able to pleat it using Terrifically Tacky Tape. The pleated medallion is from K&Co which I backed with a Nesties circle.

I popped the frame and added a peelie border to the mat and a few adhesive gems and there ya go. I still feel like I'm playing "catch up" after my birthday trip, so I apologize for my sparse and irratic comments and visits to all of your blogs. Please forgive.

Inspirational headwear

I absolutely LOVE these 1950s bathing caps - I think I will use them for inspiration for one of my designs. Watch out for the results at New Designers this summer!

An Adorable Freebie From Peggy Loves Vintage!

Looky here! Peggy has done it again, offering one of her adorable vintage images ABSOLUTELY FREE on the Peggy Loves Vintage Blog. So why are you not a follower? Not only does Peggy offer wonderful freebies, but it's THE place to go for info about specials on her CD's and Cut Outs. Nobody does vintage like Peggy! Anyway, in the middle of the night I had a bit of insomnia and of course did some blog hopping. I snagged Peggy's adorable image and when I went back to bed, all I could think about was how am I gonna use it? Just before falling back to sleep the idea of an envelope on the front of the card crossed my mind and I fortunately still remembered it when I woke up. I used my Crafter's Companion to make the little 3x4" envie which was the perfect size to fit on this A2 card. I embossed the portion of the card front directly with the Heart Blocks Cuttlebug folder. The Lattice Border is an MS punch embossed with tiny hearts from the Cuttlebug Love Language Card Making Combo. The envie insert is from the Cuttlebug Embossed Tags Emboss Plus folder (trimmed a bit) with a computer generated sentiment.

The sentiment fits into the little front envelope which folds down so the whole card still fits into the regular A2 envie and when you pull out the card, it pops open a bit to reveal the contents. The tiny hearts used both inside and out are a $1 punch from M's.

Inside I repeated the lattice and added the postage stamp cut and emboss folder that I got free with my Cuttlebug. I don't do many A2 size cards, but I love how this one turned out! Now don't you want to go check out the Peggy Loves Vintage Blog? And while your at it, check out the fab CD's and Cut Outs available on her Web, Etsy and Ebay stores. Valentine's Day has never been easier.

Now David and I are on our way to Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur for a little R&R. No tv or internet, but a beautiful place with gorgeous surrounds and YUMBO food. On Saturday morning I'll be back to post the winner of the BBTB2 Blog Candy so be sure to return to see if you've won, and if you haven't already commented, there's still time, so please scroll down.

And announcing DANIEL MICHAEL CALENDA, born (finally) at 2:40 AM EST today. Danny Boy is the 5th grandbaby (4th boy) for my dear friend Margie (Bella Bug). Congrats, Margie! You're working on a baseball team, eh? Now get some sleep, it's been a long 2 days! BTW, I just talked to Margie on the phone and she said it was ok to post this. Didn't want to steal her thunder. LOL

I feel another pinnie coming on!

I was given this piece of vintage Whaleys fabric and I still have some vintage bias binding left in various colours so I feel another Lynnie Pinnie project coming on. Probably as a displacement activity as I really should be getting on with my Final Major Project, unfortunately the weather has rather scuppered any location drawing.

Lynnie Pinnie

I've been so busy lately I haven't been updating my blog. BUT that was then and this is now!

I was given some vintage fabric and some vintage bias binding by a lovely lady recently and thought I just had to do it justice. My friend, artist, mentor and aficionado of all things vintage Karen Taylor has a vintage pinnie and kindly lent it to me so that I could magic up a pattern. Note, Juliana Sissons! I have put what you taught me to good effect. Here is the pinnie! The upside of a vintage wrap around pinney is that you don't get paint / flower / mud on your backside!

Karen recently exhibited at the Towner Art Gallery and Julie is currently artisit in residence at the V&A - check out her book on knitting in the Basics range - also available at the V&A

Drawing lace

Apologies to my followers for the enforced silence of the last few weeks. I have been having major techno problems with my internet connection. I am happy to say that all is resolved so I will be posting regularly again.

I can't believe it is reading week already at Northbrook - I had forgotten how fast the time goes when it is sliced up into projects, deadlines and semesters. The last five weeks have flown past in a flurry of activity and ideas - it is great to be back in the studio and part of a creative group.

So, on with the show! I am doing a fashion fabric project based on florals, sustainability and embellishment. I have chosen to use found fabrics, threads and trims so my designs will be upcycled from vintage odds and ends. I have been looking at lace and translating the patterns into drawings. Here is one I made earlier. The exciting bit comes next when I translate the drawing into a fabric sample.

Vintage Cami 1944

It is amazing what you can find in book shops. I came across a 1964 Stitchcraft and they seemed to be just as interested in vintage designs as we are today. Here is a beautiful knitted cami from an age when people had the time and inclination to knit such things. I think though given the shortage of materials during WWII and especially this late in the war, it was something of an aspirational design even then.

Vintage knitting

On one of my many quests for all things vintage I came across a really super Patons and Baldwins knitting pattern yesterday. I really love the fit, the closely spaced buttons and the round neckline. For those knitting aficionados out there it is on size 11 and 13 needles. If anyone would like any more informatation about it, just post comments on the blog.

Vintage Undies

I, like at a large slice of the textile community, am currently really interested in all things vintage and particularly vintage underwear. I haven't yet been able to get hold of a sewing pattern - I keep missing out on ebay, so I have decided to embark on a pattern cutting course to design my own! Watch this space - it could take a while, especially as the course does not actually start for a couple of weeks. [Check out JULIANA SISSONS in Brighton - amazing knit designer, pattern cutter, lecturer and author.] In the meantime if anyone (in the UK) reading this blog actually HAS any vintage sewing patterns in size 10 - 12, please let me know. I am happy to trace out and return in good condition. Annoyingly I did have some vintage undies (circa 1940) which I bought antique shop years ago but they were lost - along with a lot of other "treasures" when a packing case went missing during a house move.

I found this wonderful knitting pattern on ebay - I was outbid on the item but had the forethought to copy the image. Enjoy!