The Custards

Inspired by...

2012-02-29T11:30:00.001Z

I am now at great risk of not completing required work needed to start 'proper' job tomorrow - I have been thoroughly distracted by Marcie (the Rustic Victorian on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/therusticvictorian/ ) and her lovely little mannequin on flickr. I have just made a prototype of our own and I am now in grave danger of being distracted for the ENTIRE DAY. I will not be decorating this properly with a little vintage embroidered apron (made out of a tiny scrap), or trying to fashion a little shrug (made from vintage Paisley fabric rescued from an old Tootal scarf!), or fishing round to find a collection of old Victorian lapel pins. NEITHER will I be then making one for Bronte out of 70s fabric for her to hang her jewellery on....I MUST GET ON!!! Last year I sold my lovely, adorable 1930s mannequin (gnashing of teeth - but she was rather large) - I do love the smaller version and followed an online pattern here: to make my own. This is only the first one so lumpy, bumpy and lots of seam wobblege. I will adapt the pattern as I would like more nip and tuck!

Have changed things a little this afternoon so these pictures are in reverse chronological order!

This is an old bracelet that I remember buying at a jumble when I was a teenager - 30p I think (a long time ago!)

The teeny weeny knife was given to me by my mother when I was about 12 - it opens up and is fully functioning

The candlestick I rescued from the charity bag that I keep by the front door - I feel guilty so may have to put it back in!

I will confess now that it is not finished - I cannot think what to complete the neck with (I am thinking of a mini tower of mother of pearl buttons - large to small size) and not stuck on to the base

I was actually looking for some Victorian lapel stick pins but remembered these little teeny, tiny Edwardian baby brooches. Why? I am not really sure..

Anyway a very, very easy pattern - it was my execution that was lacking

Just using up scraps of vintage embroidery and the fabric is from a huge roll of 50s cotton fabric that I bought at a car boot two years ago (£5 and there is lots and lots of it).

I must GET ON

Ego fully swollen....

2012-02-27T21:03:00.000Z

Thank you always and 'all ways' for kind comments - much needed due to mid-life crisis (Reader:"What do you mean mid????" "Don't be cheeky" - Ed). Further chuffedness came from being on the same blog page as Tif aka Dottie Angel last week - proof below if needed (shall we add in paranoia to the crisis?):

Extra special chuffedness came from Tif's niceness in mentioning my blog on her Facebook page in glowing words (blushes accordingly) - the wonders of t'internet strike again!! Thank you to Wend from Ticking Stripes for informing me that these were indeed Ghost Lampshade - I had no idea

Mollie Makes have posted my makings before (perhaps I should say here there is no payment or free magazine involved!). I have said many times that I like to share (and I also like to steer where the sharing takes place - cough, cough).

I shall now come out of the closet (like Mr Benn all over again) and mention that my sewing room was in Issue 6 of Mollie Makes (best to keep some things in the closet until after the settlement of dust) - here:

Wish that I had tidied up - I can see a tin of paint in one of the photos and that irritates me greatly. I really have to go now as we are getting the doorways widened on the morrow for some reason.....

My baskets brimeth over

2012-02-27T20:46:00.001Z

I mentioned that I have one or two baskets - they are handy objects don't you think? Dom thinks that they are pretty awful...

I like to line my baskets, sometimes with vintage embroideries or with vintage fabrics. I am especially fond of little children's baskets and 'forced' my children to use them they were younger (poor souls).

I sold this little one last Easter - why did I do that?

These are some large and some small..Too many???

There are just perfect for Easter time aren't they - a multitude of uses!

See - useful for all sorts of bits and bobs, I used nice barkcloth to line this one above

Anyway have you seen the price of these in a certain Emporium? Gulp! Well I have had a good look at the lined ones that are in that shop, so for some time I have been lining mine in this way - I will demonstrate thus:
Take your basket and cut out rough shapes that will fit, use tape to keep in place around the exterior and pin fabric around the outside (the pins will becomes your approximate stitch line).

Oh, I nearly forgot - after you have cut your rough shapes sew a hem around what will be the top of the lining - then stick and pin!

Shush it around a bit to check that you have got it roughly the right size (tape is handy again here I find). If your basket has a flat bottom just draw around it to get the base pattern - an approximation is all that is needed. I/we are not after perfection are we???

With the right sides together stitch all your pieces together - I then use a glue gun to glue to the top side only. Don't worry about damaaage (always spoken with a French accent please) to the basket - I always find that this type of glue will peel away quite easily - this means that next week you can change it to something else!

Fill your lovely basket with pretty la la la's and fiddle de dee's and twirl and swirl around..

First Flickr Photo

2012-02-27T19:32:00.004Z

This was not strictly my first Flickr photo but it is the first one that is there now. I made this a few years ago to fit inside a Bonne Maman jam jar - I just used iron on interfacing to give these little scraps of vintage embroidery and fabric some support and glued them into the jar lid. You could make a whole series of these - I made this as a story jar to create stories with the children. When in the jar it does not photograph too well but it does have little birds hanging from bits of thread down inside the jar. A few years on it still sits nicely on the shelf and has not flopped!

Now for something completely different

2012-02-26T15:40:00.002Z

As well as spending lots of time in the garden, nice walk along the seafront, sewing, having friends round for dinner, a little bit of 'proper' job, listening to flute practice, listening to violin practice, cooking and cleaning, on and on - I also went to the local car boot. Well, the sun was out and I am up at five (get by on less and less sleep as I get older)! I have outlined before how I whizz round at great speed and rarely spend more than half an hour - sometimes I think that my scanning technique will fail me and that the 'sweeping of eyes, left to right' might miss something. If so well never mind. Today there was a embarrassment of riches but I am always supposed to be getting rid of things so some things I have to pretend that I did not see (many suitcases from the 1950s, two Lloyd Loom chairs (lovely), more Pyrex than is kept in a Pyrex warehouse and two lovely dolls houses - one I think was possibly 1950s or earlier, a very pretty painted garden on the front and all wooden). Still we must keep our minds focussed on decluttering....

I may have bought a few things - this little shirt I thought was soooo lovely (handmade button holes). I was getting a bit worried that I might not buy a tablecloth (I always buy at least one) but - phew - there it was waiting for me. I got chatting with the stall holder and before you knew it she was saying that I could have all sorts of things for next to nothing - in her words: 'Because I know that you would love them'. I was quite teary. Then she asked her husband to come and look at my bags and my purse and he 'ooo'eed and ahhhd' (that doesn't happen too often in my experience).

I also bought another vintage basket - I will post another time about those - I DO NOT NEED ANOTHER ONE! This one is lovely - the stall holder was using it to hold nails - the man said that I could have it, without the nails, for £2. I did buy a Tala cake tin, some fantastic crochet, oh and a pair of curtains....the man selling those (a different man to the nail man) said his mother made them for him in the 60s and he had never put them up...they were a £1 so I was forced to buy them! No hope.

PS: I am gnawing my knuckles that I did not buy a pair of late 60s/early 70s pale blue patent leather, chunky shoes - there were sooooo lovely and only £2 (the stall holder had lots of others so maybe they will still be there next week...)
PPS: Those shoes would be for Bronte not for myself - what do you think I am like!!

Spring really, really, really is in the air

2012-02-26T14:08:00.003Z

Ah the warmth of the sun - blissful is it not. Been out in the garden lots and lots this weekend and already feel like 'getting more done' - amazing what that golden disc in the sky can result in.

I have been trying to sort through some fabrics and came across (in the way that you do...cough, cough) a large cake tin that was joyfully full of about fifty vintage embroidered bunting triangles that I must have cut out a year ago and then put away for some reason. Well I have been able to whizz that up at long last and also found the 'fronts' for several bags and purses (again I must have cut them out and they then went into the "Drawer of Not Yet" (also said in an echoey voice - similar to the DoS but no shame attachment). I have finished some (not all because the "Drawer of Not Yet" does not like to be completely empty at any one time!) this weekend.

Fished out one of my favourite Blackie books to team up with a finally finished bag thingy - tra la.

My love of Blackie books is worth a whole blog on its own I think!

One of my sisters gave the fabric on the reverse to me - it is my current favourite and I think the colours are super!

Please do let me know if, at any time, my bottom is beginning to irritate!!

I could just add a dash of salt (maybe a pinch of pepper) and eat this fabric up!!

Finally my Blackie book gets a solo opportunity

Bronte's Blythe comes for vintage tea

2012-02-25T13:29:00.000Z

The joy of having a reasonable 'back catalogue' of photos on Flickr is that I can now peruse my photos to make my blog-a-thon. Chose these ones today. A while ago Bronte and I had a lovely time creating scenes with Blythe (sorry I have now forgotten the name Bronte gave her). She is dressed in some old Sindy clothes and an old knitted cardi.

The cakes were a little on the crunchy side and to be honest the tea was not the best. The wooden bead brooch my sister gave to me when I was about 10!

This dress is another jumble sale job lot. The brooch bottom right my sister gave to me when I was about 11!! All scraps of embroidery are pressed into action.

The 'truth' behind the scenery! See - I said old suitcases come in handy!

Friends coming round for dinner later so need to start cooking - custard again perhaps!!

Let's start a campaign to bring back jug cover thingys

2012-02-24T22:58:00.002Z

Yesterday I made apple crumble as usual and of course matching custard. Bronte chose the green jug (I do hope that I am not passing on my ~~hoarding, obsessive behaviour,~~ penchant for a nice jug to my children). As there was a short interlude whilst the custards developed a nice thick skin (Bronte and I fight for the skin) I covered the jug with my favourite (oh dear is that very sad to admit that I have a favourite) jug cover (I know there is a proper word for these but it escapes me at the moment). Having washed the jug today I then remembered the other jug cover thingys...I stopped short of getting more jugs out...what do you think I am !!

I love how these are made and the jingly jangly beads on them - I have some very large ones, would they be for bowls perhaps?

Whilst out and about on my bike yesterday I dropped a bag of donations to the charity shop. I may have gone inside the shop and I may have bought the two items below - they kindly rounded the price up to 50p for the two items. The embroidery is tray cloth and has the same motif on both ends - interesting that it has the same colours as the egg cup. Oh dear I am sounding tooo sad - off to bed I must go. Do join me again at 03.30 when I usually tune into the BBC World Service...

Vintage embroidered purses that I have known and loved

2012-02-24T22:31:00.001Z

I don't wish to give the impression, in any way shape or form, that I am obsessed...
I had a spell of making lots of these purses (apart from THOSE ONES for YOU KNOW WHO!). My obsessions tend not to last too long thank goodness. Here are some favourites of mine that I have made in the past.

Well, since we are confessing things this evening, I am a bit obsessed by Crinoline Ladies - please join my little group on Flickr if you have not already done so, always happy to see your Ladies too!

The one below was the one I sent to you know who - I was sad to to it go

As Spring is just around that corner these are appropriate today I think

Perhaps not so much bottom admiration needed here

Does the one above look familiar?

Seasonal variation below as always. You mean you only have one purse that lasts ALL year through! Yikes

A few more posts to cram in...computer overheating I think

More bloomin' pursey things and a vintage cottage montage!!

2012-02-24T22:17:00.000Z

You will recall I am sure my recent unexpected trip to a place I never go to (what the heck does that mean!) - you remember, the day I came back laden with 'stuff' (the blue fabric that I then busied covering the suitcase with...that day, yes that one). Well I also bought this painting of this cottage - it was only £2.99 and as usual I had the wrong glasses so asked the girl in the 'local shop' (now we do all know what I mean here!) if she could tell me if it was embroidered (my eyes are that bad nowadays!). She kindly got a huge magnifying glass (thank goodness the children were not with me - oh the eye rolling that would have incurred) so that I could see that it was painted. It looks almost like a painting by numbers picture but it is painted nevertheless - it was in a horrible frame so I have taken it out of that to admire. Either way, fiddle de de, I like it real or not. I then made a 'matching', sort of, pursey thing. Then rummaged round the tablecloths...wish that I had fished out one of the one with cottages on.

I do like the sateen fabric on the reverse. Please admire my bottom below...

A full reverse shot!!!

I do like mother of pearl buttons also

Ending with a cottage full frontal!

Peg Bag Season - est arrivé

2012-02-24T09:37:00.001Z

Pegging out officially started for me yesterday - a sunny day with some warmth that could start the drying process. I have never had a tumble dryer (never wanted/needed/desired) so drying clothes through the colder months can be tricky. I like to update my peg bag every so often, though some of these I have sold in the past - many have gone to Australia. This first photo is my current peg bag - I do also love a nice wooden hanger

The one above is from two 'seasons' ago. I love painted wooden hangers also!!

This red one went a bit wrong - I hadn't left enough room to get your hand in - it remains in the "Drawer of Shame" (said with an echoey voice). I love painted wooden hangers with faces on too..

This one looks a tight fit (cue the song..) but in fact was just fine. I hope that wherever you are in the world you are also having some sunshine to peg clothes out too. PS: Add in a nice vintage apron for extra tra la la la'ness

My flurry of blogging should soon be drawing to a close - in 'real life' I have several contracts that start in March and keep my hands/head occupied with more cerebral matters (just adding in here that I do not think for one minute that making things does not require a brain - quite the opposite - for 'real life' I just have to use a different part of it!) for the next few months. I was working at a local hospital on Monday and met up with a group of my students - I reminded them that we would only be meeting one more time before the end of their course. They kindly said that they wanted me to be their tutor until the end of time - I was very touched, especially as I was teaching cellular respiration at the time!!!

Revamping my revamped bike

2012-02-23T16:22:00.002Z

Just a little post to say a fond farewell to my bike in its present form. I have decided to change the colour - Dom insists that this means I have to take the whole thing apart and that I should on no account try and paint round the fittings...

It was particularly lovely weather today - sometimes when I am cycling by the seafront I am practically stationary in the oncoming wind. I can puff along to the supermarket and back. From where this photo was taken it takes me two minutes to get back home again (make that four minutes if I am going into the wind). I always use these bags for my shopping - I have a little army of them depending upon whether it is a 'big shop' or a 'little shop'. I do tend to wobble a bit as I cycle along...

PS: I know you wish to know if this is a top of the range, super,duper, Pashley, Dashley bicycle....no...this is a very bottom of the range, second-hand, via Freeads, Slowly, Lowly bicycle....I love it dearly

Suitcase update

2012-02-23T16:17:00.001Z

Finally got round to finishing that suitcase - made some matching bunting and a series of zipped bags for toiletries, so now I am all set. I was going to add in my vintage hat boxes and travel outfits but that would just be crazy.. cough, cough

It was tricky to go round the handles but I never said that it was going to be perfect!

I may have rummaged around for some extra bits....we are off to the seaside!

Just adding in my bottom as per usual...

'Ghost' lampshade in Bronte's bedroom

2012-02-23T10:14:00.001Z

Just hastily writing this in case you have popped over from Mollie Makes today - realised that there are no photos of that lampshade here!

Dom says that we need to have a vintage blanket clearout - as well as one or two ( oh dearie me that dreadful cough again) crochet ones I seem to have acquired enough woollen ones to supply the army!!

All rooms in our home get changed pretty regularly - a continuous stream of adding and taking away!

This room is 95% from charity shops or car boots or home made - I think that the children would love something new one day! Nothing in this room has cost very much - except the bean bag, I think that was £30 (cripes) but I tried making one once and never again! Jenny perhaps you would like to share why your bean bag making was not successful? Could it be that you were too mean to buy a pattern and tried to make one out of newspaper, but you were too mean to buy a large newspaper so used sticky tape to enlarge the pages of free one that comes through the door? Maybe...

Bronte and I fixed all sorts of bits and bobs to the lampshade and since these photos were taken more stuff has been tied on.

These are toy metal tea cups

I like this old chenille poodle dog thingy!

This is a teeny doll's tea strainer - why not! I think we were thinking of Alice in Wonderland at the time.

It will be different again next week....

Other lampshades that I have known

2012-02-22T08:54:00.000Z

Just reviewing my lampshade 'collection'! Of course the joy of making your own things is that sometimes they turn out just how you want them to. So our home has many lampshades that I have made using vintage fabric.

This one resides on our landing - I love the mix of colours (not everyone's taste I know - Dom would rather that taupe again I think!)

I think that the one above is one of the first that I made and I was pleased with the result - some edible 50s fabric which has a jolly mix of colours.

Next we have one that lives on an old standard lamp base in our front room - lovely Mary White designed fabric again from the 50s (I have some of this left that I am going to make a purse this very day!)

1950s David Whitehead fabric (it comes in several colour variations so I had to think hard about which one to use) .

In situ in my sewing room - though I am thinking of changing it to a patchwork embroidered one.....

There are also several strung along the hallway and landings - this is another 50s botanical print

Ah, another Mary White fabric - just lovely designs I think. I went on about my old chaise longue on Flickr but suffice to say I waited many, many years for the right fabric to be found (and the cheapest upholsterer - turned out to be just around the corner!) for this to be rejuvenated. Lampshade to match!!

The usual mix of stuff - as is the case in every room

I will end with another picture of the 50s Hertzberger fabric lampshade.

I only use my own photos for this blog and things that I have bought over many, many years - vintage is not a sudden passing trend for me!

Homes under the Hammer....thrifty half term entertainment...

2012-02-21T17:26:00.000Z

Like many others I love the world of miniature things - ever since we were sent a postcard of Queen Mary's dolls house when I was little I wanted to live in that world. We took the children to see that most splendid of dolls houses a few years ago and it did not disappoint!
Anyway I was wandering to the Post Office on Monday and popped into a 'local shop' (I think that we both know the type I am talking about) - saw this for the grand sum of ten of our Kingdom's pounds. As it happens I bought a smaller version of this dolls house about four years ago for two of our Kingdom's pounds (and it had lot of furniture) so I was not sure if this purchase was a good buy. However this one is bigger, better condition and has a balcony!!!

Detail preserved for posterity....

The poor home was in a bit of a sorry state and needed a clean up - so it was all hands on deck for a 60 minute makeover!!!

The furniture all comes from other dolls houses that we have (oh dear that awful cough again...) - the little cushions I made (after a fashion) for Maille a few years ago. I hear that Draylon is making a comeback!

As the sun sets in the west we are watching the Coronation on the telly - hang on a minute, as this is 1977 I think it is in fact the Jubilee.

Bronte was chuffed to find that the bath could hold water so put bubbles in to celebrate!

I am fed up of telling the children to close the fridge door.....

We decided to set our hair in rollers for the evening

...and we are very pleased with our new 'phone

All in all we were very pleased with our ten pounds worth of fun.

It was a shame that my big head got in stage right (or left depending upon your perspective!). This kept us entertained for hours and we then got the other dolls houses out....anyway the point is that you don't need to spend a fortune.

Vintage - the gift that keeps on giving, ho, ho!

Vintage gifts for the seamstress

2012-02-21T17:07:00.002Z

Sorry not the best photos - to be honest all done in a bit of a rush - I could have chosen much nicer accoutrements. Anyway this is one of the vintage embroidered 'do dahs' that I made the other day - this one is small and will hold sewing thread (just what I have always wanted...not!). I feel a whole range coming one with different coloured buttons denoting different coloured threads! Daft really.

The reverse and top is a delicious piece of 1940s (maybe even earlier) linen fabric that my sister gave to me - a very small strip but I have made it go a long way.

This embroidery is tiny but perfectly formed - it was from an old table mat that sadly had mildew in the middle that no amount of soaking would budge. I rescued the embroidered cottage that was on it and made that into a purse a while ago - I remember that I was not too happy with the shape of this purse but I did love the embroidery

I feel some vintage Spring embroideries coming on

A simple make for a Spring gift

2012-02-18T17:32:00.000Z

These have been swimming round my head for some time (along with world peace, global warming, children's future - I have capacity to cram it all in). My thought was to make these with a zipped top so I did a mock up of it but it was too fiddly for me and not quick enough. Late last night (along with world peace, global warming, children's future) I thought that this would be the way forward - very, very quick and very, very easy! But what the heck are they I hear you cry? These are little bags to hold your garden twine of course. Mind you they could be for thread/ribbon of any description I think ( I put wool in the one below). Of course I will have to make a few more to get them out of my grey matter - I have just made some out of vintage hand embroidered fabrics that are particularly lovely but it is too dark now to take a photo.

I have not lined these or done anything fancy - plain and simple = two rectangles sewn together

I will be selling these in my new shop which will be opening so far into the future it will never happen...

What a difference an afternoon makes...

2012-02-17T14:05:00.000Z

There is one room (apart from that one!) I have shown very little of on flickr. The reason for this is because when we moved in, and started decorating, Dom chose the colours in here...taupe....As the vintage wallpaper in the spare bedroom is still under threat I am now trying an old distraction technique so have persuaded Dom this other room now needs a redo. We last decorated this 10 years ago and it is looking worse for wear. I can see it all decorated in my mind but I will have to compromise to fit in HIS ideas...
This fireplace used to be bog standard white - this blue might look a bit bold but hold your fire (ironic word choice) - we have to take a breath and think about the bigger picture..

Dom kindly painted this while keeping one eye (just the one) on the rugby last weekend. This photo shows the fireplace after one coat - Dom insists on two or even THREE!

The fire surround is quite big so does not leave too much chimney breast exposed (pardon!) - there is also a picture rail and then the original Lincrusta from 1910 above that! That leaves a little bit of wallage for further decoration. I suggested that we might use ~~our~~ my 1950 Sanderson wallpaper. Some may remember on Flickr my gloatage when I bought this original wallpaper - now being reproduced but this is the real McCoy - the ends are zig zagged, a bit like Izal.... Would you use it?? I am likely never to find this ever again but there is enough for what is needed and Dom agreed that it would go (I don't think he looked too closely to be honest).

As so often is the case I then started scouring round the house finding old things that might go nicely with the fireplace. I bought these teeny tiny cups about 25 years ago...you just never know when things might come in handy (I have others with different coloured innards). Similarly the 'thing' on the right was bought many moons ago - I usually use it for salt!

Of course it will takes us some time to ~~finish~~ start this room - it will be done in stages...I will update when there is a update to be updated upon.

Vintage paperweight gifts..

2012-02-16T12:14:00.002Z

Let us campaign for the wider use of paperweights - I remember that I had a pretty reasonable collection as a child (Quick interview: 'Do you still have them Jenny...even after all these years? M-m-m-m-ay be....), they are both handy and nice to look at. Every charity shop you go in to will have a selection - usually containing a naff'ish image (not to my taste anyway) - sometimes there might be one that takes the fancy of collectors such as this one here http://kitschandcurious.blogspot.com/ ...(just checking that I can do this Elaine!!And is this ok given my own comments!!). I buy them if they are in the 50p (and below!) range. I have written before that I am not in the business of bartering with charity shops (or at car boots sales for that matter) - I always pay up and often make a donation on top of that. Life is about reciprocity for me. Anyway I remove the backing and then put the paperweight through the dishwasher - this removes all the gunk (though it bungs up your dishwasher...which will cost slightly more than 50p to replace...).

Select a pretty image (non-copyright) for the reverse. Place paperweight on top of image and cut out - this needs to be little bit smaller that outer edge of the weight. Do the same again with some felt (this time it will be the same size as the weight) and a dab of Pritt Stick (other glues are available) to add on a felt bottom (colour co-ordination preferred). By the way it will soon be time to get my vintage Easter tablecloths out!

I also have a 'range' for seasonal variation...

I do love The Magic Roundabout and these look like sweets to me

Of course the joy of these is that when/if you get fed up of an image you can simply change it something else. In the past I have made these as little Easter gifts.

We will end with Mr Benn..

Sorry if you thought I would be showing how to create Millefiore glass paperweights in your back garden ! some things are beyond my capabilities!!
Have you noticed that I am very fond of brackets and exclamation marks!!((()))

A simple make for Valentine's day (well any old time of the year really!) PS:Thank you

2012-02-13T16:41:00.002Z

Many thanks for all of your kind comments about this blog - my doubts all started when I realised I was tracking my own views! I felt like that old Dave Allen sketch where he is Robinson Crusoe going round and round his little island, thinking that he has found someone else's footprints but they were only his own! Kind words noted and tucked away for rainy, sadder days. I appreciate comment regarding dynamic views, I may well change it back but it looks so purdy....

You are right Elaine I am not sure why I would expect people to comment on my blog when I do little commenting elsewhere (this partly relates to the logging in and logging out Shenanigans that happens ALL THE TIME (children take note). I also need to chew the cud and think why I have a blog in the first place - if it is for adulation and plaudits then that says more about my sad ego than anything else. If it is for sharing what I make then it should not matter if there are comments or not - it just is and leave it at that. Perhaps I could pick the collective brains a little further and ask if there is blogging netiquette? Part of my disgruntledness comes from finding my entire blog pages lifted and placed elsewhere within someone else's blog. Also (this I thought was pretty odd) someone had written what appears to be a mini interview with me (taken from my flickr profile I think) and used my photographs to illustrate it on their own blog. Is that how it works in blog land - what is mine is yours and vice versa? Oh this modern world (said the old woman shaking her wooden leg...).

Anyway I will shut up now and share these very easy things to make for Valentine's day - cake pops and pie pops (or something like that I think) are popular so the children tell me - here is my version. The other day I defrosted my leftover shortcrust and made these (top frugal tips - freeze all leftovers) little chocolate pies on a lollipop stick. I make shortcrust pastry at least twice a week and all the trimmings, no matter how small, are rolled up and frozen. By the end of the month I usually have enough for a pastry case!!! This time I defrosted just enough for these few pie pops! My take on it is to add a little vintage something for extra specialness!

I thought that bear looked a little cheesed off so then replaced him with a pig...thus....

Pig looked a little more content with the situation! And for goodness sake do not pretend that you don't have any old egg cups - if you really, really don't have any I will send you one

So just roll out pastry cut out hearts or any shape that you like (you don't need a cutter - I often use cereal packets to make shapes)

Note the old rolling pin - you do have to be a bit careful that flakes of old paint don't drop in your food - still it has never done me any harm...Also note that if you do not wait until the pastry is properly defrosted it is a little crumbly - cough, cough.

After cutting out the shapes add in your filling (I used Nutella but other chocolate spreads are available) and place lollipop stick (note - not the plastic type...mistake easily made)

Add the top, crimp round the edges and plop a drop of milk on each one

Don't worry about filling dropping over the side. Nearly forgot to add that you then bake in the oven - I have no idea what temperature, I just turn mine on hot and then turn it down when I feel like it (remember I HATE measuring anything!) I don't even measure time so take them out when they look about right.

Dust with icing sugar and then cram them in your mouth - two at a time!
PS Could I please ask that these photos are not posted elsewhere - I was saddened to see that despite my request on Flickr my 1950s purse thingy was on Pinterest within few hours of my posting it....Please drop me a line first.

When the urge strikes...

2012-02-11T13:24:00.001Z

Oh go on then!
As well as making Maille the zipped purse thingy as a present I also made this one from some 50s atomic 'Hourglass' fabric (left over from my lampshade making before Christmas). Some fabrics are just so lovely I could eat them (do not try this at home).

However I did not eat this fabric but continued making things with it. As before I like how bottoms and zip

turned out!

The little vase thingy is in reality a vinegar bottle (I carefully put the stopper for it somewhere several years ago - it will turn up again eventually). The dried allium came from the garden about 5 years ago and apart from gentle shaking to remove dust keeps just fine!

I finished sewing at about 23.20 last night - some people go out and some watch the telly..

PS: Please let me know if this blog is of any interest to the greater world - I am thinking of converting my blog to a log and keep it on my computer. I fear that I am speaking mainly to myself, Mary and Elaine, and maybe one or two others. Not to worry as I frequently have very long conversations with myself. A log, not a blog, may be the better place for me to plough my furrow (this is a phrase that I often use with the children - never make judgements about others because all of us in life are trying 'to plough our furrow'...they just roll their eyes and throw in a 'good grief' for good measure...). I like ploughing my furrow. As ever no one understands what the heck I am going on about but myself!

Come back Woolworths....

2012-02-11T13:08:00.000Z

Maille has been invited to a birthday party and wished to buy something from Ms Kidston's Emporium by way of a present. How I miss Woolies - the establishment for purchasing birthday present items for many I think. You could always find something suitable in Woolies. Well I would not go to the Emporium but I did, kindly I thought, offer to make something out of CK fabric. You recall my crinoline lady bags I am sure (lowers eye lids and blushes) - well as well as buying 0.5 of a metre of fabric for Bronte's flute bag I also bought 0.5 of a metre for Maille - phew, always best to be even handed. Late last night (22.45 to be exact) I made this from leftoevers:

I 'created' a little shelf for this to rest on for the photo - I pulled out a piece of fabric (1960s Sooty towelling fabric to be precise) and now cannot shove it back in...

In that 'too smug and satisfied with myself' sort of way I like how the zip turned out...

And of course my bottom is to be admired...thus -

Despite the cost of fabric (even at reduced prices I still consider it to be pricey) this still works out as a reasonably priced present I think. We put some little bits and bobs inside.

Other suitcases that I have known...

2012-02-10T09:04:00.000Z

Following on from my storming suitcase success (I am joking of course) I have gathered some old photos of mine to show what useful objects they are. These ones were nice on the outside but not so nice on the inside - I used vintage wallpaper to line them but anything pretty looking would do.

I used ordinary wallpaper paste - a little packet of this goes a long way - to stick the wallpaper down. This one normally houses vintage paper lanterns (why wouldn't it!) but this particular day Bronte had made these peg doll dancers. The suitcase was the perfect travelling theatre!

The handle had broken so a plait of fabric tied on sorted that out promptly.

I keep all sorts of bits in my suitcases - large and small (the bigger ones are on top of our wardrobe - I shall dust them off!). All too often I forget what is inside so every day can be like Christmas when I open them up.

This one has some different wallpaper and is very small. I bought it over a thousand (!!) years ago (slight exaggeration for comedic effect..) from my favourite jumble sale spot - at the time of purchase it was full of sylkos - it would have been about 20-30p (I was a student at the time!). Just think of the things that I could have bought back then if I had had some money....
As always could I please ask that my photos are not posted elsewhere (Pinterest) - I like my photos just where they are

Steamer trunk revamped

2012-02-09T11:17:00.003Z

On flickr you may have seen the steamer trunk that I bided my time in buying - when the shop finally opened I bought it for the grand sum of £5 (along with some 1950 umbrellas that he was selling for 50p each...one has a lovely Lucite handle on it...more of umbrellas another time perhaps!).

The suitcase did take a bit of rubbing down with steel wool, a squirt of lemon juice and Brasso (other cleaners are available but I LOVE Brasso...childhood memories..) - probably about an hour for the cleaning bit (in between making the dinner - note that Brasso and pie making are not a great mix). The longest part, as always, is the selection of fabric - should it be 1950s holiday scenes, 1960s nursery fabric, a collage of vintage embroideries, different fabrics for each panel...on and on it goes. Anyway fickle finger of fate (see in part my reply to kitch&curious on 70s breakfast posting) I had to go to a town I never go to and 'forced' to visit certain shops. Long story but ended up with a little too much stuff....which included two vintage bed covers. I have promised that I will use one to make things for the shop but the other I used for the suitcase. What do you think?

For reasons that I cannot explain I particularly like how the rusty edgings buffed up!

Alright - I may have spent a little too long then looking for anything in the house with a rose on. I stopped short of getting a load of plates out...

The backdrop in this photo is a lovely1950s dress that has such undergarments it stands up all by itself!!

So the beady-eyed amongst you will notice that I haven't quite finished this yet - tonight Dom has to get his scalpel out to finish off my locks (oooeeerr missus). However this whole thing very, very easy to do. I only cut the fabric to approximate size (well when I say 'cut' I mean 'ripped'...if there is a shortcut I will take it..), used PVA glue and folded the raw edges under as I went. Amazingly ruck free!

I reckon the total cost, including the trunk was about £7 = £5 for the trunk, about £1 of glue (difficult to estimate but not a huge amount), fabric (again difficult to estimate as a whole bundle of stuff, including two of these bed covers cost £5) about £1. I have offered this trunk to Bronte for her bedroom and she tells me that she will: "Think about it".....

In case you missed it here is the original trunk:

Note how I have deliberately carried out an old trick of using a smaller, duller photo.

PS: I had forgotten that we have another of these (shoved under a bed) that we keep old Christmas decorations in - that one I painted many years ago, with stars and moons. The children have asked me not to cover that one with fabric.....Never mind I have other suitcases....

PPS: I notice that Mr Langford is currently holding a large stock of old suitcases - starting at £10. If you don't know Mr Langford's then you can find a video of his shop on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_custards/6481974651/

Vintage Peter Rabbit - getting ready early for Easter!!

2012-02-08T08:43:00.002Z

Just over a year ago I made this selection of items from some vintage Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit fabric (from the mid sixties I think) that sister Sue had given to me. I thought that I would now post those things here so that they are carefully preserved in the ether!

Lampshades are simple enough to make - I used an old one here (20p from a charity shop) and this time I sprayed fabric glue over it. I made a template (by rolling the lampshade onto a piece of paper and drawing round it), cut the fabric out and glued it into place. Make sure you tuck the hem around the edge neatly - I finished it with matching bias binding (you can also make your own trim).

What I particularly like are the little teapot and cup - which of course are the same as in the book illustrations. You can then add in some fabric bunting and a little Easter Egg hunt bag....

If you don't have any Peter Rabbit fabric you could use an old Peter Rabbit book instead - sadly these are often to be found in a dilapidated state, here is your chance to rejuvenate them!

And when you have done all of that you remember that you have some alternative Beatrix Potter fabric and you start all over again.....

PS This one is just big enough for two Cadbury's Creme Eggs (sorry for the advert!)

Getting safely to school - vintage children's fabric and shoes to match!

2012-02-07T10:52:00.001Z

Two posts in a day - this is a sure sign that I am supposed to be doing some proper work and I am putting it off for as long as I can (gulp).

Anyway, I am busy making a 'range' (a bit grand I know) of different zipped bags/pouches/bags (not sure what to call them). I am about to start rummaging around my 1950s fabric and cutting into it (gulp again...) I have made one from some lovely Herzberger fabric (some left over from the lampshade I made before Christmas) but forgot to take a photo - for now we will make do with this one made from some 1950s/early 60s children's fabric. What do you think? Did you notice the crease on the side? Grrrr - into the 'Drawer of Shame' (that Drawer is pretty full I can tell you).

Add in a few vintage Ladybird books, plus or minus a vintage tin..

I bought these little shoes from a junk market stall about 12 years ago - I used to cram the children's feet into them regardless of fit! Recently I took them to a vintage fair to sell but very pleased that no one wanted them (they still have their original box). I am bit useless at selling things to be honest.

Reverse of purse - coming home is equally important!

PS tomorrow I will be digging out my old Tufty club badge....what do you mean you didn't keep yours....

Cakes aplenty!!

2012-02-07T10:24:00.001Z

Some may know I am very partial to a home baked cake - quick and easy ones at that. Put the cake with some vintageness and tra la! I am beginning to take my photos from flickr (there are soooo many of them and I think that they may be a bit lost over there) and blogging them here with a little more information and detail than I have put on flickr I think. Here are some old and new cakes!

A more recent make of blueberry muffins - very, very easy but always delicious. I do like these vintage souvenir tablecloths (especially if they are images local to your good self) .

Hearts are such an easy shape to make - cut out from an old cereal packet.

Initials are simple enough too!! Mix in a nice vintage tablecloth (from the selection that you have carefully stored away...), plus one of those plates you have hiding in the back of the wardrobe...

This is a Blue Peter recipe for flapjacks - mixed with a 1970s tablecloth and an Edwardian cake rack!!!!

Quick interview: 'Could we please ask if you cook using old implements and cooking utensils?'
'Yes indeed....I have a few...oh dear this dreadful cough again...'

This is my favourite little teapot (a whole English pound from the car boot), Melaware plastic cups (also come with us camping, with the plates and the rest of the set), the china plates were given to me by one of my sisters when I was about 16 (always best to hang on to everything I find..), I have had the other stuff so long I can no longer remember from whence it came.
Thank you for your kind comments - I wish I knew how to blog properly - every day my children log me out and everyday I cannot remember how to log in!

Pretty Maids all in a row, a row, Pretty Maids all in a row...tra la

2012-02-03T11:17:00.000Z

I really, really have to use up my little (cough, cough) supply of fabrics and vintage embroideries. I was busy sewing until late last night and then worried that in the cold (brrr) light of day they would be all skew whiff. I only have about another 50 or so to make and then the ladies will be clear I think....
I also used NEW fabric - some Cath Kidston fabric that I had bought to make a bag for Bronte's flute (sounds a bit fancy to have a bag for a flute but it really isn't!). Don't worry in case you thought I had gone mad buying new and expensive fabric , we live near a CK outlet so it was half price. Little pieces of fabric go a long way.

I have made these as larger sized make up bag type thingies...some are lined with wipeable nylon (which sounds awful but good for housing toiletries) others with vintage florals

Do you know I only learnt how to put zips in last year (I watched a tutorial on You Tube) and now I am a zip fiend!! I am thinking of adding some zip charms, made from little bits of vintage embroidery - but thought that this might be gilding the lily - what do you think?

This one I have lined with pretty florals...I am not too fond of making the same thing over and over again, so these will all be slightly different, one way or another

Some have a mitred bottom and some do not (ooeer missus!!)

I did not put a binding on the top of these last two, now wish that I had!

All in a row....

Most of my ladies end up having career in South Korea - who knew!!

Heart warming hand warmers

2012-02-02T10:43:00.001Z

Very easy to make and much needed on a day like today. About five years ago I accidentally boil washed a vintage mohair scarf - I was particularly cross about it at the time I recall!! I have one or two vintage scarves but we won't dwell on that today...cough, cough...

Of course I did not throw the scarf away but hid it waiting for the right moment. Today that moment came! Cut out simple heart shapes - mine are a bit bigger than the palm of my hand.

I used pinking shears for the edging - spent a little while dithering about whether to embroider the front or not, decided upon buttons as it is quicker but will do some embroidery ones too. Then use your trusty vintage enamel funnel (oh come on - I am fed up with the pretending that goes on - you do have one!) to fill your shapes (I used felt for the reverse as the mohair would make them a little thick). I used rice but when that ran out I used some lentils (double handiness because when you run out of food you can use your warmers to turn into dinner!).

Of course I knew that both children would be needing them so made four - one for each Polly Pocket...

Update 18.19 - Had to go to the Co-op to get provisions, very cold (not as cold as some places I know!) so thought that I would test the efficacy of heart warmers. Warmed them up (30 seconds) and popped two down my top and one in either hand. They worked a treat and soon I was all aglow - in fact by the time I reached the Co-op I looked a little like Fenella Fielding (Carry on Screaming - where she asks Sargeant Bung if he minds if she smokes...) - I was gently steaming like a wet dog!! The warmth lasted until I had walked back home - next time I will increase the warmage to Warp Factor 40 (a slight risk of skin damage but what the heck we only live once!) in an effort to lengthen warming time.

Update on the update 18.35: Following the success of putting two warmers down my top I am now considering fashioning some sort of body wrap. I hate wind chill so I think that a body wrap would work quite well - it might look as though I have had some prosthetic work but what the heck we only live once...

Breakfast through the last century - the 1970s

2012-01-30T11:16:00.000Z

Hello again and thank you for all you support re:wallpaper and your excellent ideas - I have managed to distract Dom by saying it was time our living room was redone (it has been 10 years) so swished 50s fabrics around yesterday and got the children on my side. I am finding (as usual) that formatting is a problem so cannot reply - my revamped blog is a bit vampish!

Anyway here is my take on a 70s breakfast - I realise that I could also do early versus later part of any decade so this is becoming very tricky to do so let's say 70s'ish

The egg cosies I have had a while (and don't worry they are proper 70s egg cups underneath!) - the large Winkle plate I like with the birds and then blow me down at the car boot yesterday I bought an armful of linen for 50p and the orange bird place mat was amongst it. The plate in the bottom right was from under the bed - a whole set of that...cough, cough.... made by Woods and called Alpine

The cookery book is one that was written for children and has lovely illustrations

The tea towel at the back must have come from a car boot but cannot remember when!

My vintage wallpaper wall under threat!

2012-01-29T19:27:00.002Z

Only last year Bronte and I created, what I thought, was a lovely wallpapered wall (well chimney breast) - it is in a spare bedroom so did not think to ask first.....at the time Dom did mutter that he thought he might use that room for 'men's type activities'....I think that means listening to very old rock records. Anyway that issue has recently resurfaced and this room is again under threat - you may recall that this wallpaper dates from 1956 and came from an original wallpaper sample book - cost £12 (a very good bargain I thought as I nearly gave in to Cath Kidston wallpaper and £350 a sheet - just joking, that would be against all my thrifty ways!).

The negotiations are currently at a tricky stage - Dom has upped the stakes by suggesting that I move my sewing room into this spare bedroom (he says he will also move all the shelves and he will set up a nice little table for afternoon tea...). By doing so he then converts my sewing room in a room for 'men's type activities' - this is a much smaller room so in theory a better deal. BUT he then says that my wallpaper in the sewing room would have to go.....I am thinking of having a conservation order put on both...any ideas???

1950s hat for cheering up a not so cheery day!

2012-01-26T10:09:00.002Z

Mmmm - see what I have done to this blog? I cannot get it back to how it was and I have no idea how to add widgets/gadgets and do dahs. This is all because I do not want to write another essay...
Anyway a strange day yesterday - Dom had to take the day off work as holiday (all trains were cancelled due the copper being stolen again!). This threw me out completely - we took a stroll down the high street to get something for lunch and walked past a charity shop - just being put in the window were an array of straw hats. I put the brakes on all walking - perhaps I should state here that Dom does not 'do' charity shops/car boots/jumble sales - Dom thought that the hat below was some sort of plate????

I fearfully asked how much the hats were and was told that they would: '..have to be £2 I'm afraid as they are old and from the 1950s'. I have written before how women in charity shops often apologise to me about the outrageous cost of some things....I must look very hard done by. I thought that this black one was just lovely - though sadly I have one of the biggest heads in the entire kingdom so no chance of ever fitting!

The mimosa is particularly pretty and I was going to embark in trying to find my mimosa plates that would also go very neatly with it - therein madness lies I thought!

A little bit of Frenchness today (some delicious vintage fabric from the 1950s with scenes of gay Paree) and also paired it with an old original drawing that I have - bought a thousand years ago from a local junk shop - turned out that the artist designed all the clothes for The Avengers!

I possibly have also been a bit grumpy because a woman drove into the back of our 'new to us' car - we had saved 5 years to get a 'new to us' car and our previous one was held together with duct tape. Because of my thrifty ways we have never had a loan/credit (mortgage aside - two months left to go, whoop, whoop) so we bought the car the old fashioned way - by saving up....only got it just before Christmas....grr
Anyway I did buy another hat - a little straw one, again from the 1950s, it is also lovely and will do something with it for Easter. I did tiptoe back to the shop and the others had gone of course...

Vintage printed purse

2012-01-23T08:31:00.002Z

I am currently a bit obsessed by making this type of purse. I think that my sisters are truly a bit cheesed off with having purses for every single birthday/Christmas and all events in between!! I have to get a few more out of my system then normal service will be resumed! For a long time now (several years!!) I have been wanting to make bags or purses out of images of my grandparents (strange but true). I have tried all the techniques that you can find on the internet about printing fabric through your own printer (well all except the one where you have to buy special fabric paper stuff - I am thrifty remember). I thought that I would have one last go before I throw in the towel and....it worked! This method is just buying iron-on interfacing (not that expensive sort!) and cut out a piece of fabric - all done!

This has an image of the envelope that you see in the previous posting - grubby marks and all! I wanted to do a little embroidery in the corner because this is just the sort of thing that my mother would have done. For the reverse of this purse I used a little scrap of some lovely fabric that my sister Gail had given to me - I love the colours.

So the photo below is of my paternal grandparents at their wedding at the start of the First World War - a poignant image for me. I have some lovely 1930s French linen that I used for the remainder of the purse and edged with some very old ric rac (from the 1930s I think).

The 'Make do and Mend' booklet was from my sister Sue for Christmas. As I have written before we set ourselves a financial threshold for Christmas presents - it is usually £1. Sue did herself proud as this was free - it was mixed up with some magazines that she got from the WI - she wins the 2011 prize for the best bargain. This is an original copy and full of helpful tips and hints (some of which I already employ)! The old Woman's Own magazine was bought from Mr Langford's wonderful shop a year or so ago - I have a few dating from the 40s. Thank you for reading - I hope/intend to post more here and perhaps less on flickr, in an attempt to cut down on those copying my pictures to pinterest....

Update - two lucky (some may disagree) readers will be receiving one of these purses in the post any day now. This follows my: "give away something even though I have no idea how you do that sort of thing" give away!! I do hope that they like them - please let me know if possible. If not please return to sender...address unknown. Got to go now - I have treacle sponge pudding cooking and toad-in-the-hole in the oven!

Bryony - if you manage to find this - and read it - show of some technical skill and leave a message...

Just for you...

2012-01-19T16:14:00.006Z

Well I have decided just to post these few photos here and see who notices (I may succumb to Flickr later). I have been enjoying printing things through my trusty printer and made a few purses for my sisters (who may be a little fed up with purses I fear but I do not know what else to do with them). Anyway I was going through my old envelopes (oh I do wish you would stop pretending that you don't have any - especially you Mary!!) and found one that was written by my grandmother to my mother (that has now been printed and turned into a purse of course) and then another with Dig for Victory as a postmark. This set me off on a whole tableau thingy and here are the results. I shall call this 'Breakfast in the last century'!

I was trying to go in decade order but that will go to pot now - here is the first decade....

Oh just to say (in case the style police are watching) that this is my stuff and not necessarily exactly the right era - just a flavour of it (shades of Eric Morcambe and Andre!). All of the things in the art nouveau photo I have had for decades (no, not that long - I am not that old!)

Once again I find myself asking for help re:blogs. Does anyone know how to turn a photo around? I turned them around on my computer but when they upload here they are all lop sided again!
We shall move on a few years and I shall call this 'Chintzy Breakfast':

I am sorry if you do not eat cake for breakfast...

To end today I shall add in what I shall call: 'Thrifty 40s' breakfast

This picture shows the envelope that started this all off today! There is an egg because we kept chickens!!!

When I got all of this china out of the cupboard I then found that I could not get it all back in - some spare plates have now gone back to the charity shop, whence it came from in the first place! When I pluck up courage to venture into the china cupboard again we shall have the 50s, 60s and 70s!!

Christmas preparations...

2011-12-16T21:56:00.001Z

Mmmm - I am certainly not the best blogger on the planet or even in my little corner of it! However I have been busy getting ready for Christmas and trying to get ahead with my proper work in order to free up more time!
Recently I have had a stall at two vintage fairs with my sisters

Not the best photo but this is one corner of our stall - merrily sold one tin that I now think was full of vintage haberdashery that I had forgotten all about. Also sold my lovely 1930s patchwork quilt - I am now thinking why did I do that!!
In true thrifting tradition, I have been making gifts for my sisters - as some may know we sisters have had a pound threshold for the cost of our presents for many years now - so making them gets round this very neatly. Here is the patchwork that I made and then turned it into a purse for one sister:

Thank you to Minxy Magic I went to Waterstones and had a gander at the latest Cath Kidston book about patchwork and sure enough there was this very pattern - complete with buttons.

I have also been sorting through the Christmas decorations - one or two to get through! Remind me that I do not need any more vintage Christmas tins or (lovely though they are) glass baubles - I counted at least a dozen boxes...gulp. Each tin is stuffed with more Christmas items and lovely though they are it is becoming difficult to display all as prettily as I would like!

I particularly like tins that have an equally delicious design around the sides - just like this one!

There is something particularly nostalgic about an old tin and I love it when people gather and recognise objects from their own past on our shelves. Still plenty more to uncover!

Vintage Autumn leaf china today

2011-10-29T19:23:00.001+01:00

Today some friends came round for tea - Dom made a very nice Vicky sponge so my job was to get the china ready. Not an onerous a task you might think - well it bloomin' well is in our house! I selected one or two cups but then rooted around and more turned up. I now wish that I had chosen a different leafy tablecloth (I am sure that there is another one in the house..).

This has all been bought from various jumbles and car boots over the past few years.

Added to this it has been a lovely sunny afternoon here and it made this room very bright.

Forgot to take a photo of the cake and a pretty orange cake stand - now that I am writing this I have just remembered that I have a cake stand with nasturtiums on it! Maybe tomorrow!

Lampshade making - simple but quite effective!

2011-10-23T17:12:00.000+01:00

This is yet another of those jobs that I have stored away in my head - well today I finally got around to doing it. These lampshade kits are very easy to use (I have not mastered the art of anything other than this cylinder!) - choosing the fabric is the most time consuming part. I had some other 50s fabric in mind but thought it a bit too girly for this particular room. Geometrics it is then.

This fabric was designed by Herzberger (something like that anyway) in the 1950s and comes in various colour combinations. Makes for quite a smart lamp. I have recently purchased one of those huge shaped lampshades that I was going to attempt to recover - the art must be in getting the bias right. Any tips gratefully recieved.

Sewing with the wrong glasses!

2011-10-17T16:58:00.000+01:00

Sewing whilst watching the telly last night - a dangerous game as I need two pairs of glasses (should get bifocals really). So I either see a blurry telly or blurry sewing! Well the result is this:

What I really need are two eyes that can move independently from each other!! That way all events are covered! On top of this I chose silly fabric for the white - too thick - as a result of that my fingers were aching by the time I finished the wretched thing! Changed glasses at the final hurdle only to find I had missed all sort of stitches...grrr Still it is only for pins. Made this with some little scraps left over from the CK make. My sisters are planning a trip to London to track my purses down in her shop

Getting distracted....again

2011-10-13T14:59:00.000+01:00

Meant to have a very quick search for a particular tea cosy (more properly a tea cover as it has no padding) didn't find the one that I was looking for but did remind myself of these:

Some of them I have used to make lovely (I think!) little bags (just right for little things) - so often these cosies are embroidered on both sides so double the value I reckon
I particularly like one with houses on:

This type always seem to have lots and lots of embroidery - the more the merrier!

Still clearing out stuff....

2011-10-12T13:11:00.000+01:00

It can be tricky deciding what to 'hang on to' and what to move on to pastures new. I keep a selection of nice childhood things that I think the children will want in later life - all too often I put things by the front door (ready for a new home..) and then change my mind. I have already donated a little wooden cot to my local charity shop (who, by the way, are asking extraordinary prices for some of the things that I have previously donated) - this one is particularly nice I think. I am thinking of making a little Miffy quilt for it. What do you think?
When I took this 'photo I rememberd a vintage Galt puzzle that I have - I do love the graphics on these puzzles, I have a few of them.

Then I started a bit of tin rearranging..then a whole morning goes by and I still haven't finished my bloomin' essay!

Getting ready for Christmas - starting too early??

2011-10-09T21:56:00.000+01:00

Well I have already starting opening the vintage Christmas cupboard and sifting through the contents. Vintage 'stuff' lends itself very well to the Christmas festivities don't you think? I am in the process of sorting through my Christmas bits and bobs - but started making little Christmas displays that I can then photo for my Christmas cards.

This is a favoured Christmas tin - just right for mince pies!
This wreath I made back in the summer, on a very hot day. I am just in the process of making some more as my sisters have persuaded me that it would be a good idea to have a stall at one of the popular vintage fairs next month. I fear that I will only have the shabbier end of shabby chic to sell so I am trying to 'up my game'

In fact I know what will happen - my sisters and I will end up just swopping with each other and we might just as well stay at home. I intend to remain resolute and clear some space in our house! Watch this space! Can I just add here that for some quirky reason I cannot comment on my own blog or the blog of anyone else - not sure why. Any solutions gratefully received.

Is the saying 'More is more' or is it 'less...'.? Anyway purses nearly all done!

2011-10-01T11:15:00.000+01:00

There was a little bit of vying for pole position in these photographs!! Not q-u-i-t-e finished (you might be able to spot this!) but wanted to take a photo of them on a sunny morning - all in rows like soldiers. Off to a shop that had kindly ordered this batch - I hope that they like them because there are only so many purses that I can use in a lifetime!

You may have heard of the shop that ordered these purses - if you see them when you are tra la la'ing around town please let me know.

I will post a picture of the backs of these purses as I think that the fabric is rather lovely

the custards' photostream

2011-09-27T19:28:00.002+01:00

the custards' photostream on Flickr.

Here are my latest projects - work in progress (as usual!). Still at least there are no handles to apply!

Is that really you?

2011-08-31T09:08:00.000+01:00

Hello again - I cannot believe that you have dropped by! I know, I know - it's been a long, long time and we are all a little older and possibly wiser. Anyway how have you been? Me? I have been fine, busy and trying to sort the house out as usual but not getting very far with it. Why is that so Jenny? W-e-l-l....I do find it a bit difficult to 'move things on' but you do too don't you?

Today I am going to try and turn over a new leaf - a leaf of 'getting on' and not thinking so much! Here is a little taster of recent 'doings'. As you may recall much of what I make ends up in the 'Drawer of Shame' or the 'Land of no Bag Handles' (why do I hate putting handles on bags so much!) but some things make it to the finishing line....just.

Off travelling....vintage style

2011-03-22T14:19:00.002Z

I have been going through things in the house to get rid of - rediscovered this lovely little suitcase in the back of the wardrobe (oh, don't pretend that you don't have a stock of stuff there too!) and decided that it has to go. Took one photo - then added in the vintage Worcester Ware tin tray/table that I bought at the car boot at the weekend (by the way had sucessfully hidden this in the boot of the car - Dom decided to take a holiday from work yesterday and took the car to do the shopping...busted!) - then added in some 1950s fabric that seemed to match - then thought that the purses that I have been making might go too - then remembered that 28 years ago (yep, my mind works in a strange way) someone gave me these vintage holiday labels.....phew, my work is done!

Dom winced when he saw the tray and said that two of this type was the maximum allowed...

I love this Miss Dannimac - it is the most delicious yellow and perfect for Spring. I thought that Bronte might like it as it is a great style...sadly she has told me that yellow is just not her colour. I may have to 'move it on'...sniff, sniff. The Horizon holiday labels were given to me many years ago - in my early days in London I worked as a nanny to the then casting director of the National Theatre. Quite simply the best job I have ever had - I would go to the theatre at least twice a week and always go back stage and meet everyone in twinkly theatre land. Everyone knew Gillian and she would always kindly introduce me - though I was very gauche and had no idea what to say. I was a little stage struck by it all. Anway long before she was a casting director Gillian was a holiday rep in the 1950s and these were a souvenir from those days. Of course I kept them as Gillian was so kind to give them to me!

Vintage cushions for a bit of cheeriness

2011-03-15T08:52:00.000Z

Now I do like a bit of colour and have one of two (cough, cough) vintage bits and pieces to try and introduce colour and pattern into the home. Dom chose the decoration for our 'front room' (known previously as the 'other room' - this is because I was brought up in a two up, two down house and we had a kitchen and the 'other room' - gradually changed to being the 'other room' - now upgraded to the 'front room'. Phew!!). Anyway Dom chose the colour scheme for the 'front room' and that colour was......beige!!!! Triple yuck - he is on the brink of capitulation as two girls and I keep on moaning and complaining about the dullness of it all. I have been gradually sneaking in colourful, vintage (of course) cushions and Bronte sneakily said last night:'Let's bring colour in slowly and he won't notice...tee hee'.

Here is cushion number one:

Bag in the making

2011-03-15T08:36:00.000Z

Now some of you will know that I am partial to a nice bag made from vintage fabrics - I have them piled on my vintage coat hooks (five deep plus in places!). Shocking really but I find it hard to give them up - even more so when I see the price of a bag in Miss Cath Kidston's Emporium!!! Staggered that cloth bags, made with vintage fabric, cost £38!!!!!! I spied a bag in there made from my old bedroom curtains - fortunately I still have my old bedroom curtains so....

Anyway the bag that I made last night has a vintage embroidered spring basket (topical you see!) and delicious wooden red button and ditsy daisy fabric. Just right for trit trotting around Miss Kidston's Emporium and tut tutting at the cost of her items!! You may have noticed that I am rather fond of exclamation marks!!!!

Oh deary me.....

2011-03-15T08:24:00.000Z

How awful have I been - I have not even looked at this blog for half a year!! I then couldn't remember how to log on...

Well anyway I thought that I would kick start things with a few pre-Easter bits and pieces. I just adore Spring - full of hope and promise, the garden is just starting to peep through and the evenings become lighter again. I have been on a whirlwind of work and cannot sit still for five minutes of late. I have a paid, 'proper' job and then cram in as much sewing and making of things around that - plus the children's homework seem to take up most of the weekend (not me doing it you understand! Just supervising and cajoling!)
Last weekend I kindly asked if Dom would get his jigsaw out (careful ladies!) and he made me some plywood wreaths (does anyone know where you can buy these in the UK?) so that I could get busy with my glue gun. I had carefully selected key items and arranged them (after a fashion) - the children spied all this going on and started grabbing the aforementioned, carefully selected items.....so I was left with a depleted wreath and will now have to go to the car boot this weekend to re-stock!! I love the Betty Boop face - I bought a little plastic bag of these from a charity shop about 3 years ago - it was 39p for the bag but thought that there must have been only a few in there. When I got home I realised that there were in fact 100 (!!!) all tightly placed together. One day I will do a montage of them staring at me all googly eyed.

There are two sides to me...

2010-07-04T02:55:00.000+01:00

This has always been my trouble - I like too many things and too many different styles. Hence my house ends up looking a hotch potch, rather than the unified, streamlined icon of design that I would wish for!!! These two placemats sum up the 'problem' quite neatly. On the left we have a typical 1950's geometric design - I like this because it is bold, colourful and makes an impact. On the right we have a typical 1960's flowery design - I like this because it is pretty, colourful and makes an impact. So everywhere in our house has a bit of both and everywhere there is a bit of clashing going on with the two very different tastes. Which is your favourite?

A Dolly Darling has come for tea

2010-07-04T02:49:00.000+01:00

Do you remember these? My sister and I loved them and would save pocket money for several years to buy one - we had built up a nice little collection over the years and eventually (as is the way of most things in life) they were put away (in a very nice vanity case I seem to remember) in the loft. Spin forward in time many years - I had left home, all my sisters had left home and my mother was about to leave that home. My brother had returned home (from one of his many sojourns abroad) and was helping to clear out that loft - along with my old doll's house all of our treasured Dolly Darling collection was thrown away.....and burnt.....Fast forward a good few years and about four years ago I 'found' my favourite (school days) Dolly Darling for sale. Back together again

I have got to stop making bags!

2010-06-06T19:00:00.000+01:00

However I just have a few more to make! Yesterday we popped over to the Isle of Wight (10 minutes on the Hover and 10 minutes from our house to the terminal - so it is popping!) - lovely time on Ryde beach, stopped for tea at grandmother's and of course popped into the charity shops (rude not to!) - bought a few bits and bobs including this piece of embroidery for £2. Started sewing within five minutes of getting home...

India aaahhhh

2010-06-06T18:52:00.002+01:00

India is my favourite country in this whole wide world of ours - pre-children we did lots of travelling/backpacking and went back to India many times. Lovely people, lovely places and lovely food. I would love to take the children there (money notwithstanding!) but not quite brave enough - I have a distorted view of travel as we have always 'roughed' it in some pretty unsavoury places. Anyway, my children have always loved playing with these little clay musicians and Maille announced today that I was never to get rid of them and Bronte has named them Sgt Pepper Lonely Heart Club Band. One has lost his head over the years but they evoke lots of memories and have stood, playing on a mantlepiece, for years now - not bad for the cost of about 50p all those years ago!

Do you remember Aqua Manda??

2010-06-06T18:45:00.001+01:00

When I was about 12 my older sisters all had Aqua Manda - I never did - how I longed for a bottle of perfume or talc. I admired the bottles from afar and examined the adverts in Woman's Own. I never did own any of these exotic potions...until day!!! At the car boot I bought an unopened bottle for 50p - so something that I had yearned for has been reduced to such a low value! How times have changed. I might put this in Bronte's 70's bedroom and it will go a treat on the shelf

Tailoring your cloth to match your china...

2010-04-19T21:45:00.001+01:00

I find it that it is always best to, wherever possible, match your china to your tablecloth! I had been watching this tablecloth on Ebay but decided, in the end, that I had FAR TOO MANY tablecloths and did not need another. To console myself I went out to the charity shops - there, glimmering at the back of one shop, was the very same tablecloth I had spied on Ebay! £1.99 and no postage to pay! Lo, it was taken home, washed, dried, ironed and china matched up. The cups and saucers (and plates..) are from the 1950's, I think that the tablecloth might be a little later.

Vintage Crinoline Lady tin - vibrant wonderful colours adding joy to a room

2010-04-12T11:36:00.000+01:00

I have had this tin for a couple of years or so - it has been housed in my Cupboard of Wonders (see Flickr) but that is about to be overhauled (ie: redecorated!) so it has been 'upgraded' to a shelf. The colours are just marvellous and the four sides tell the tale of our Crinoline Lady meeting a young man, getting married, having a baby and living happily ever after. Altogether now - 'Ah, sigh!' !!!

Vintage bag in the making - Nine stages of making a vintage hand embroidered Crinoline Lady bag

2010-04-07T09:04:00.009+01:00

Well, I escaped briefly over Easter to my 'sewing room' and made this bag and I am posting how to make such a creature. Please note that I rarely measure ANYTHING (that includes flour, marg and fabric!) - I am not sure where this all stems from but I HATE measuring!! I really don't think that it matters as all that needs to happen is that everything is even - no two bags are the same size or shape as the fabric will determine the outcome.

Stage One - fabric selection. At this stage you spend a good hour cursing and swearing because you are looking for THE one piece of fabric that you have set your heart on. Of course you can't find it first time round, that would be ridiculously easy - at least one hour must pass and then you spy it, lying right in front of you.....You also have to locate the right fabric for the lining....another hour spent!

Stage Two - spend another hour fiddle faddling around trying to use the maximum use of embroidery balanced with the right proportions of the bag (trust your eye (just the one!) as we 'umans know the right proportions). Then, with right sides together, sew a rectangle around three sides (leaving the top!) - using another vintage fabric as backing (I try and always use the same fabric). I cheat further by using any straight lines on the fabric as my guide (none of that fancy measuring a line for me!)

Stage Three - Snip off the excess and turn right way round to check the proportions (then find out that your eyes are not quite as accurate as they used to be and adjust accordingly!). Try and not to snip on a crowded table, that way your ensure that you do not snip through the piles of fabric that are layered underneath...

Stage Four: If correct turn back again and then make folds in the bottom of the bag to get a bit of extra width to the finished article. Fold the bottom corners across the seam - it is good to get this right so that the seams meet up when complete. Stitch across the corner, check that the seams do indeed meet (not cockeyed, as father would say!) and snip off the excess!

Stage Five:Then snip two lengths of plain fabric for the handles (I tend to use the edges off the same cloth) - size and length are not measured as they don't need to be, so long as they look right and are both the same size - do the same with two lengths of vintage patterned fabric that you will use for handles and lining. Use the tried and trust fold and finger press method (see Flickr for how successful that has been of late!) to get a straight edge that will be your stitch line (my table has a handy straight line along it)

Stage Six: Sew the handles - this is where you wish you had cut the fabric a little wider as now there isn't quite enough to fold under the seam! However, we sally forth using our wonderful 'finger press method' (which I will quickly go and patent!) tuck the seams in, pin rapidly and sew all in piece (none of that stitiches right sides together, making a tube and then turning the tube and then top stitching - do it all in one go!)

Stage Seven: Making the lining - you need to create the lining, using the same method that you created the outer bag with. Do not measure! You have now absorbed that you do not need to measure - you simply lay the outer bag on top of the fabric you wish to use and cut out! You do need to make the bottom corner folds, in the same way you did the outer layer. Make sure that the lining is within a cat's whisker the same size as the outer bag (otherwise you end up with tucks and folds all over the shop!). I admit that this is a palava if the fabric is the slightest bit stretchy - many a bag remains unfinished because of this fault in the design process!

Stage Eight - Fitting it all together. My least favourite part and the bit where I swear like a Navvy and the children run and hide - this is where you find that HAD YOU MEASURED it would all fit together perfectly. However, we NON MEASURERS, having been so smug for the last hour, now find an awful lot of egg on our faces and secretly just push our work under the table.... If, by some miracle, it does fit together then process as follows: With wrong sides together fit the lining inside the bag - I pin the bottoms together so that it doesn't move about as I do the 'WORST BIT OF ALL'. This is folding in the tops of the bag and fitting the handles - at this point the air is blue with fury (why, oh why, didn't I measure the **!!^% thing). But the essential bit of advice is make sure you stick to the 'NO MEASURE RULE' (ironic choice of words there I think!). I use a cotton reel to ensure a small degree of accuracy for handle distance. Just pin like crazy before the wretched fabric, that you chose so poorly in the first place, doesn't start shifting about like sand in the desert!

Stage Nine: Stand back and admire!

Some things that have got to go to a new home....

2010-04-02T13:18:00.002+01:00

I know that I keep going on about the changes in our house (and it does seem to be taking a long time, unlike certain telly programmes where it is all done with a sweep of the hand!) - but here are some more things that have got to be re-housed. Our lovely, mini size, childrens Lloyd Loom chair (because it is not as if I don't have any others...) and my Imperial Typewriter (which my children have never taken a blind bit of notice of until I brought it downstairs and they now think that it a great contraption - especially the bell at the end of the line! Ping!). I did play the Typewriter Music to them to add in some atmosphere! I think that Ian Fleming wrote James Bond on something similar! I intended to do the same, just like that, but somehow I have never got round to it. Anyway here they are for posterity!

Crinoline ladies and their endless variety

2010-04-01T18:55:00.000+01:00

I am a little partial to those crinoline ladies of yore - why are they so popular I wonder? For me it is the endless variety - even the same embroidery patterns are never embroidered quite the same way twice. I bought two items featuring this perennial lady at the car boot last week - a jug and a printed cushion cover (bizzarely this was buried inside another cushion cover and wrapped around a towel!). Both rather sweet.

Delicate teeny weeny chintz cups

2010-03-31T05:54:00.003+01:00

These were rediscovered yesterday as I was decanting stuff from one room to another (plus half a dozen teapots strangely!) - I did have the teapot at one stage so I am not sure where that has evaporated to. Are these coffee cups or tea cups? They are balanced on their teeny weeny saucers in this photo. I have a multitude of tiny vessels that I use for flowers or doll's tea parties!

My most essential cooking implement!

2010-03-31T05:46:00.006+01:00

Of all the things in the kitchen I would not be without it is my vintage pastry blender - what a super article it is. It is pressed into use two/three times a week for pastry and for crumble (both items a little too popular in our house!). I am convinced that I can make pastry as quickly as any electric blender (I am a 'no measure' type of cook so that helps speed things up!). Here are my stages of pasty making. Well truth be told this was supposed to be an apple crumble but I was so distracted by taking photos, doing my Nigella impression, that before I knew it I had added the water - still it all tasted fine! I always add a flower - just as mother taught me!

New sewing room in progress...

2010-03-29T21:02:00.001+01:00

Well there was a big change at the weekend when the children moved up to the top of the house - great excitment (what with the clocks going back they didn't go to sleep until gone 10 o'clock). Mother in Law is coming from the Ise of Wight for Easter so we had to hastily cobble together her room. It has been like a giant logistic puzzle - decanting two bedrooms on one floor up to the top, and moving 'stuff' from the top down. Still lots to do but this is the first 'draft' of my sewing room (a rather grand title for a little room but in here I will let rip - full on vintage displays at every turn!) - note the piles of fabric, no shelves to put them on yet! As this is south facing it will be nice to get all the light and we are near the sea so the seagulls will keep me company!

2010-03-25T16:17:00.000Z

Some Spring bunting that I have made from an old tablecloth - I will post a tutorial on how to make bunting (if needed), as it is such an enjoyable past time and a great way of using fabrics that otherwise would be destined for the rag bag!

How to create spring and summer all year round

2010-03-25T16:13:00.000Z

I am a huge fan of vintage tins - the endless designs and patterns - all contribute to that nostalgic charm. This is a little tin decorated with daffodils, so even though mine have been very slow to bloom this year I can still have a display! I have just discovered my vintage primose tin - there must be a tin for every occasion!

Maille's new/old elephant mug

2010-03-24T18:55:00.001Z

You can't win with children can you? We have enough mugs in our house to provide tea to an army so I thought I would pass some on to the charity shop. I dutifully cleared those from the very back of the cupboard, that I know have not seen the light of day for about a year or so. Just A FEW days later my younger daughter was teary eyed as she could not find her suddently SPECIAL elephant mug. There was, by now, no chance of rescuing it from the shop but LO I found a delightful little mug to replace it! It was duly gift wrapped and presented, and accepted with good grace!

Vintage multi coloured crochet blanket and vintage tin

2010-03-24T18:49:00.001Z

We are s-l-0-w-l-y decorating the children's bedrooms. Bronte's is going from a 1970 retro purple to plain white with splashes of multi- coloured bits and bobs. The blanket I have had for ages (genuine vintage, with holes to prove it!) and I bought this large tin at the weekend for £1 - this is just the colour scheme that I was looking for so ideal. I/we are going for the hipply flower look I think - should be good.....when its done! In the meantime I have to find a good home for all that purple stuff I have collected!!!

Keep the Home Fires Burning with Woman's Own

2010-03-21T08:09:00.006Z

I bought this yesterday and baulked at the idea of buying the piles of others for £2 (was I mad!) - however, I chose this one carefully because I thought that it had the best cover (though there is another delicious one that I am thinking of sneaking back to get..)
I poured over this with my children and was amazed by the talents of these women - very much the emphasis on healthy living.....

Vintage Easter tins and crafting

2010-03-20T18:03:00.007Z

Well as the days are now getting a tinsy bit longer I am more inclined to get on with sewing - I hate sewing in a fag end light (as my mother would say) ditto that low in the sky glaring light of winter. It will soon be the perfect light so the table is spread with fabrics all of varieties. Yesterday I ran up some cheerful bunting for the front of the house - made from bag of 1970 Laura Ashley scraps that I found. Also took some pictures of one or two of my vintage tins - can you have too many tins? Aren't they just the most useful item for squirrling away bits and bobs. I particularly like the detail on the vintage bunny tin - as the bunny family are baking the sides are peppered with images of kitchenalia!

A vintage hand embroidered Spring bag in the making

2010-03-20T17:49:00.005Z

Well I made another Spring bag today - this was made from an old embroidered tea cosy, so not too large. I love the embroidery on this as it has all the right Spring colours (not that it is Spring like here - the fog horn was going out at sea all night long last night!). I did make this bag to sell but (like so many other things) I have taken a liking to it so I shall keep it for now. I shall tra la la along the High Street with it and pick daffodils along the way ! To compensate I routled around and found another Crinoline Lady bag that I had made some time ago and have not used - I am trying to instigate a one in one out policy...

A vintage Easter in the making

2010-03-17T19:07:00.003Z

Just as at Christmas so Easter is a time when I can routle around my cupboards and, 'ta dah' rustle up some vintage Easter bits and bobs. Of course there is vintage bunting to be found and delicious vintage tins - with an Easter type theme. These are dispersed around the house in that Country Living fashion. I am busy making Easter Egg Hunt bags - all from vintage hand embroidered fabric (otherwise rendered useless due to some sort of damage) - I then force them into use by making by children tra la la around the garden looking for eggs (eggs which I could have simply handed to them in the morning (they are of that age when the hunt bit is not so charming as it once was!). Anyway here are a selection of vintage Easter delicacies!

God Save the Queen

2010-03-16T08:59:00.003Z

As outlined on my Flickr page, I was 'allowed' a guilt free trip to a car boot fare for Mothering Sunday. I sadly bought armloads of vintage fabric (the whole bundle was 50p!) and, on another stall, I bought this lovely hand embroidered God Save the Queen fabric. This is certainly not fine stitching, but my sort of stitching (a bit haphazard!) and will go in my new sewing room (when we get round to completing it!)

Creating bags and bunting from vintage fabric

2010-03-16T08:47:00.003Z

I had a very pleasant Mothering Sunday - making bags and bunting from a selection of vintage hand embroidered fabrics. Bags and bunting are the easiest things to create and add charm and olde worldiness (!) to any room... sometimes they go a bit wrong, namely because I hate to measure anything and most of my sewing is done by eye. Add to this the fact that I am also spinning many other plates at the same time and there is plenty of scope for it all to go wrong!

1950's Orla Keily style fabric bunting

2010-03-07T17:41:00.000Z

Well I am now trying to post my first proper picture - this is of some bunting that I made the other day, before breakfast (we are up early in our house!) - made from some vintage 1950's fabric that has an Orla Keily type pattern on it I think.

Welcome to the Custards

2010-03-07T16:58:00.001Z

Gosh my very first bit of blogging - well now that I am here I am not too sure what to write! Blast!! I was so full of hope and promise! Anyway just like many hundreds, if not thousands of women I dream of that little tea shop, with vintage china, home baked cakes and crisp linen and there I am tra la la'ing around smiling at customers! Never to be I'm afraid so this is my virtual little world where I can live out in that vintage world of cosiness and loveliness. Of course I would like to share all of the lovely bits and bobs that I have aquired over the years and share also my love of things old and not so new.

My main likes are making 'stuff' out of vintage fabrics and hand embroidered fabric - this results in a house having an awful lot of vintage bunting (this is changed with the seasons, of course!) and far, far too many bags. The range of 'stuff' covers pretty most of the last hundred years! That means things from the Arts and Crafts Movement, through to the 1940's (excellent for Crinoline Ladies!), the wacky 1950's and on to the 1960's. I sadly can produce a teaset from each decade and then co-ordinate it with a tablecloth.....I have many failings. I shall list those failings (in no particular order): old books, tablecloths, vintage china and fabrics (and a few others... chairs, clocks...)