Vintage embroidery put to good use...

Welcome to new followers and kind words.  Still time to enter giveaway if wished.

So  busy with work so why then do I find myself being drawn to doing anything but that which I am supposed to be doing.......

This is an old photo of mine from defunct Flickr account.....  Sorry if it is old hat and you have seen it before .  I made these for a great niece but I find it very difficult to figure patterns out sometimes so the main bit of the embroidery ended up on the underneath bit - I was so cross they went into the 'Drawer of Shame' (said in an echoey voice - keep up...you should know the format by now...).  I have a mind to dig them out and make another pair today - though my great niece is now far too old.

I thought that I had placed the pattern so a nice 'scrolly' bit went over the top.  It is a bit like cutting an angled piece of wood - I have to think really, really hard about it.  I cannot reverse a car into a tight parking spot for the same reason - I cannot for the life of me figure out what the mirror is trying to convey to me!

Back to the drawing board as usual

Oh - I did manage to make a little blanket from vintage embroideries - as she is half Irish I placed a shamrock within it as well as a blue bird of happiness for good fortune all of her life.

I started this little dress the other day because one of my sisters rang to say that my nephew and young family are going to come and stay at the end of September  - just cut a bodice pattern from paper (the back two bits need to overlap for button purposes) and will gather a ruffle of vintage fabricos for the skirt

Should it be lace?

Found that red ric rac - might change the skirt fabric altogether to match the red or might do something completely different - the joy of homemade things!

I am a bit slow on the uptake and only just realised that the lining of the shoes, some patches on the blanket and the skirt of the dress are all made from the same fabric - yet all made over a long'ish time period! I must have been subliminally drawn to it - in reality a pair of large old curtain but soft, soft cotton so nice for small people to wear.

General Pearls of Wisdom when using old embroideries:
1.  I have never chopped up a perfectly decent embroidered tablecloth (my bulging cupboards can bear testament to that...cough... cough....it is has been a while since I counted them...this wretched cough...but I think that there are one or two........................).
2. Endeavour to use originals for intended purpose wherever possible: table runners for tables, antimacassars for anti-grease warfare, embroidered placemats for place settings etc, etc
3.  Consider wisely before launching into a chopping up session - THINK FIRST - can this burn be neatly concealed by discreet overstitching/embroidery, could a light peppering of bootons save the day, would a generous overnight soak get rid of this mark........what would Mother have done?
4. Always think very, very carefully before you snippity snip - there is no going back you know!
5. If your mind is resolved and you are very, very sure then consider reinforcing the reverse first - especially if the underlying fabricos is a little on the delicarto side!
6.  Think backwards from your end 'design' (grand - I have never had one of those in my life but sounds good!) -  how much embroidery can you save and create your 'design' on the basis of maximum embroidery salvage
7.Check again - are you really sure?????????
8. Do not - I repeat - do not - make that first snip and then retract - IT IS TOO LATE NOW!!
9. Commit and go..
10.  Tra la la down the High Street swinging your latest tra la la

Using my flickr photographs I have figured that if I do a post every day I should have cleared the decks IN about three years!  Sorry that that is a bit dull and 'oh not the old stuff again...'