Treasure from Yorkshire

Vintage mother of pearl buttons

This week I have been the lucky recipient of treasure.  It was presented to me in a bag & having spent some time looking through it all I thought I would share it with you ...

Spare buttons from many sources

Green buttons

Knitting needles, crochet hooks and other paraphernalia

Vintage tins

There was also some yarn and felt which will go to this year's yarnstorming project - planning underway - more later! (Did you spot the 18 count Aida in the background in some of the pics?)  And this was just some of the treasure.  It was such a lovely surprise and do you know what else - when Rosalie told me she had this for me, she was wearing one of my brooches. Thank you very much, Rosalie! 

Vintage Spools

Spool colours

I have also had some good finds at my local charity shop this week with some vintage threads and a sewing box - which inspired me to sort out my sewing things.  Hooray!

Sewing box

And inside ...

Upcycled Shirt - Now a Cushion

Wool Shirt Cushion

Recently I spotted a rather nice grey shirt on the reduced rail in my local charity shop.  It was only 50p and it was 80% wool.  I thought it had potential so I snapped it up.  After pondering (briefly) about the possibilities I decided that its fate was to become a cushion.  One reason for this was the rather nice placket it had down the front, covering the buttons - an instant opening for the cushion pad.  Also, I liked the shirt pockets (with flaps) on the front - excellent places to secrete Freddo bars for some secret indulgence whilst watching a favourite TV show or DVD.  

So, I set about the transformation.  It was quick & inexpensive to make - no fraying edges to finish off, ready made opening for the cushion pad, just the corners to trim and hey presto it's done.  (It'll even match the #Wovember Big Knit Pumpkin Pouffe - http://hippystitch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/wovember-project-finished-for-christmas.html).

And on top of all that I still have some bits left over to make other things:

Leftover bits of shirt for future makes

I did throw a few bits away but not many.  Why not have a go?

Yet More Embroidered Jumpers!

Fairy princess embroidered jumper

Yet again I have to apologise for the title - it isn't "Yet More Embroidered Jumpers" - it's "Yet More Embroidered Jumper".  

I think it's becoming a bit of a thing!  I now have a little stock of jumpers waiting to be upcycled & embroidered with some strange & wonderful(?) phrase.  

The cycle begins like this, first scour the charity shops for suitable candidates (in jumper terms that is - I like to buy pure wool ones in nice colours - which generally, for me, means anything that isn't brown), then await inspiration in terms of a phrase (this can be immediate or very slow - write them down when you think of them - then you'll have some to choose from.)  Next, plan out how the phrasing will look - capitals, joined up writing, one line, several lines, any additional details etc., draft it out exactly as you want it to appear on the jumper and get going!

I have just completed a lovely pink sparkly one with "fairy princess" on.   .... And no, it wasn't for a littley, it's with a large pinch of irony for a teenager.  Don't know what everyone else thinks but it's certainly keeping us entertained.  Although the next one in the pipeline probably rates as an "in joke" so I'm not sure whether it'll ever see the light of day.  Watch this space ...


Quick comment on this jumper - I won't be using the sparkly pink thread again - it made it very hard to thread the needle and from time to time the thread itself, which is like a continuous chain stitch, just all came undone and had to be finished off quickly to stop it affecting what I'd already done.  

If you'd like to know how to do these jumpers in more detail leave a comment.  They're a fun way to spend a few hours and you can wear them afterwards.

You might like to take a look at my other embroidered jumper blogs:

http://hippystitch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/more-embroidered-jumpers.html

http://hippystitch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/happy-new-year-with-embroidered-jumpers.html