Living A Vintage Life: Sweet Dreams

'Diary Of A Quilter' Gives Old Sheets New Life

Submitted by Three Chicks Vintage
I remember a lot about the sheets and pillowcases I slept upon as a child. My dear Grandma Alice's white sheets were pressed and starched and her pillowcases were lovingly embroidered with flowers and fancy ladies. Even now as I close my eyes I can smell the starch and feel the gentle scratchiness of grandma's freshly made beds. When my Dad remarried, my stepmother had a closet of striped sheets - it was the 1970s and the sheets were white with stripes in fashionable color combinations - yellow and orange, pink and gold, blue and purple. I was especially jealous of my little stepsister's sheets - wild, mod arrays of flowers in bright pink. How I longed to choose my own sheets! When I finally got my chance, sometime in junior high, I picked lime green sheets scattered with yellow-eyed white daisies. Green, no matter the shade, is a calming color to me, and at that time in my life I longed for the calm and the freedom to choose that those sheets represented.

Another vintage sheet project from Amy.

Nowadays it is rare for me to purchase new sheets, (unless I find good, Egyptian cotton on sale) instead I pick up beautiful, high thread-count, vintage percale at second-hand stores. For a couple of dollars I find a sheet that will outlive almost any sheet I could buy new AND I get to pick colors and patterns that remind me of childhood. But I don't just pick up vintage sheets out of a sense of nostalgia or thrift, I pick them up because they are simply beautiful fabric. Holding them at arm's length I can imagine them as quilt squares, little sundresses, hair bandannas, valances ... Of course my imagination is much more active than my needle, so I've a healthy stash of vintage sheets and pillowcases awaiting a resurrection or a sleepy head!

Fortunately, there are folks who actually put their stashes to good use. Amy Smart is one such person - the smiling face on her 'About Me' page suggests that she is a colorful, creative person and the pages of her blog, 'Diary of a Quilter' confirms it. The project I discovered in her blog post 'Vintage Baby Sheets Quilt' looks like my own sheet stash come-to-life. In her quilt I can see both sheets I have and sheets I have slept upon.
Her vintage sheet projects include hangable art and sundresses too!
So ... you have a stash, you have the inspiration, now you have pictures and the instructions to guide you through a vintage sheet project!
Do you need to start your own vintage sheet stash? Or build on one you already have? Search etsyvintageteam bed sheet or etsyvintageteam pillowcase to get started!

Fresh Picks: So Sew!

Around this time every year, Mom began sewing my back-to-school dresses. Beginning in 7th grade, I created my own new fall outfits. Today my sewing machine is hidden in a dark closet corner, but seeing these fabulous vintage patterns and notions…I’m itching to go again. Even if you don’t sew, the addition of vintage buttons or trim gives a ho hum piece fresh vintage style!

VINTAGE 1960s MCCALLS SEWING... sewsewenchanti... $6.00	Vintage Leaf Pattern Bark Cl... tparty $49.90	Sunburst over Emerald Green ... AddVintage $7.00
Sweet Sunflower Buttons TheVintageRecy... $3.50	Loopy Mod 1970s Trim 10 feet thehappyhoarde... $10.00	McCalls 4567 Vintage 70s Eas... sassybydesign $6.50

Treasury tool by whalesharkwebsites

Live Vintage!

You love to look at, touch, buy, sell and give vintage, but do you live with your vintage? Are your vintage goodies untouchables or are they an integral part of your everyday life? Are your vintage possessions only trinkets on a shelf to be admired, pieces of jewelry taken out and worn only on special occasions, or reminders of yesteryear hung on the wall for looks only? How do you live with your vintage obsession?
Let me tell you how I live with mine!
I confess that I plunk lots of my vintage goodies on the piano, inside and on top of the breakfront, on shelves and on dressers; I intermingle them with photos of my kids, crafts and odd bits of jewelry, bobby pins and notes, and of course dust. I like it that way. The dusty, controlled chaos is comforting. But I also live with my vintage in very practical ways.

This gorgeous blue and white handkerchief is one of many lovely linens offered by team member Vintage Linens from Massachusetts.

If I had to choose one practical vintage item I couldn't live without, I would choose my linen hankies. Having just recovered from a 2-week cold, I can tell you that linen hankies are the absolute best thing to blow your sad nose into. Thick and absorbent, soft and pretty, they add a touch of sophistication to a very unsophisticated act. After two weeks my nose is neither red or chafed.

The Happy Hoarder offers a variety of vintage fabrics from her studio in Ohio, including this charming juvenile printed cotton seersucker.

Hailing from Virginia, Dandelion Girl offers this gorgeous octagonal English tin.

As I look around I see all sorts of ways that I live with vintage:  the lovely old tin holding my ink pens, the rug I crocheted from vintage fabric, plates and pie pans in my studio holding tiny parts and paint, the bright wool blanket on my bed, the necklace with the big cotton pearls I wear with t-shirts...
Look around and tell me, "how do you live with your vintage?".

Vintage Buzz: Make It (With) Vintage



This 'Shabby Quilted Strips Bag' from
Such and Sort is a fun way to use
old fabric scraps and cutter quilts.



 

Kitschy little Mice R Nice Charms

come in several colors and have

lots of creative potential. They

are offered by True Colors For You.

Scooping up piles of broken and orphaned vintage jewelry at the local Salvation Army along with sifting through jars and tins of old buttons clinched my vintage addiction. Sorting through my little treasure hoards was at once exciting and relaxing, yet the gratification that came with each acquisition was short-lived. The sense of satisfaction that came each time I found something special drove me to seek more. At some point I had to do something with all this fun junk - thus my first Etsy shop was born as an outlet for my handcrafted-from-vintage creations. I have since found that I'm not the only Etsy Vintagephile that crafts green, using vintage materials both as inspiration and for the very substance of their handcrafted offerings. A search under the 'handmade' category for 'etsyvintageteam' reveals well over 400 items - badges and broochs, pouches and purses and so much more! You'll find plenty of styles too - contemporary, steampunk, country, retro, Victorian and more! 



Check out the Pearl and Brass Steampunk
necklace crafted by DRyan327
in her shop, Purple Toes Jewelry.
(In my opinion, she competes for one of the
greatest avatars on Etsy!)

Once you begin searching, it becomes obvious that members of the Etsy Vintage Team enthusiastically practice the three 'R's (reduce, reuse, recycle) - after all, didn't we learn that from our Grandmas who reused everything from foil to raggy old clothes? But not everyone has a stash of vintage goodies to work with, and for those people there is a fabulous hoard offered by the Etsy Vintage Team.

Etsy Vintage Team shops offer a plethora of vintage supplies: fabric, buttons and lace; paper ephemera, beads, buckles and charms, as well as all sorts of intriguing oddments you never even thought of until you found them surfing through fun shops like The Vintage Recycler or 12Karri Elegant Junk Shop (L-R, below).

Whether you're thinking of something crafted from vintage or are looking for supplies to craft something wonderfully unique yourself, the members of the Etsy Vintage team can provide plenty of satisfaction for your creative muse.

 



Vintage Buzz: Ephemeral Memories

Autumn is a memorable time to many: chilly football games and warm homecoming dances; homecoming picnics with church and club friends; school days, crisp apples and flaming trees. A fun way to commemorate those precious days is by creating scrapbook pages and multimedia art treasures with beautiful vintage ephemera. Sellers on the Etsy Vintage Team have lots of fabulous paper goodies to offer! Check out the selection below and click here to search 'etsyvintageteam ephemera'.

Opalessence is home to this fab 70s Vintage Pattern - McCalls 2845 - 1971.
The Vintage Gooding Amusement Tickets can be found at The Happy Hoarder.

Vintage Goodness has crisp and tasty Vintage FRUIT Illustrated Prints - 1960s Book Pages.
Nachokitty has this wonderful Old Halloween Magazine Cover...The Country Home, October 1933.

Callooh Callay has these fabulous 1950s Paper Dolls, Vintage Retro Couple.
The Bakers Daughter Too is home to the Dick & Jane Poster.