Vintage Buttons In Our Etsy Shop

Not long ago we decided to try some vintage buttons in our Etsy shop. They seem to partner nicely with vintage sewing patterns. Today we got the nicest shout out by Lauren over at Wearing History.

She bought these really cool vintage red filigree buttons from us that look like they were made for the sweater she put them on, don't you think?  

She sells this pattern via .pdf download here. 

It's really fun to get to see the finished product of something made with items that we sell.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Beaded Stilettos

Do you know SkyMall? It's a catalog that's found on airplanes. I remember a comedian once saying the catalogs were full of things you never knew you needed until you saw them there. In some ways Pinterest is like that for me. Take stilettos for instance.. The only stilettos I knew about before Pinterest had to do with shoes. 

Did you know these are stilettos too?

I didn't. I saw them at Pinterest and immediately repinned them onto my Tutorials board. These are the lovelies that I discovered there.

This set was made by the Empress of the Universe over at her blog, (what a cool blog name.. I'm totally jealous!). When I saw them at Pinterest the pretty beads caught my eye so I clicked through and read about them. 

They're handy little tools that can be used in a lot of areas of crafting and sewing. From guiding fabric near the presser foot on the machine, to turning narrow hems up at the iron, and even something to manipulate objects around wet glue or paint. 

I looked for the turkey lacers for awhile after discovering the stilettos at Pinterest, but didn't find them anywhere. Then, a couple of weeks ago I ran into Bed Bath & Beyond and remembered that was where the Empress mentioned finding hers.

I found the same ones she did. They were $.99.. A craft project for a buck! (That's Mr. ShowMe's favorite kind! heheh) 

 I bent the angled ends into loops with my jewelry making tools.

 Then went through my bead stash and pulled out beads with holes big enough for the lacers. 

 What a great way to use up some of those pretty onsies lampwork glass beads! It was so much fun trying the different beads on the lacers and figuring out which ones went together! Once I got that part worked out I decided on which glue to use.  

Then put a bit of glue between the bottom two beads and at the bottom of the last one. 

I took the Empress' tip and clamped the looped ends in clothes pins and set them up like that to dry overnight.

And voila!

I named them from left to right, Her Majesty, Heavy Metal, Circus Circus, He Loves Me, Woody, and She Swims With The Fishes. They were a blast to make and I've already used them countless times. Oh yeah, and I found the perfect place to store them... this little Florida souvenir toothpick holder that I picked up at the flea market for $1.

Has Pinterest helped you discovered something that you never knew you needed and then just couldn't do without?

I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks for stopping by :) 

Christmas Sleighs

I've been blog absent for a long time. Between working 60-70 hours a week and getting ready for Christmas, it hasn't left much time for anything else. Even though I haven't been able to post anything, I haven't completely forgotten about my blog. I've been taking pictures and have lots of blog posts to put up. I wanted to get this one up, in case it might inspire some of you to do something similar while you still have time. I made something like these years ago, but this time I decided to challenge myself to see if I could do it on the cheap with all of my components coming from thrift and dollar stores. 

I completed the challenge by creating two fun and festive center pieces at a fraction of the cost from my previous versions.

I started in early November watching the thrift stores for just the right sleigh basket. The ones I made in the past were wicker. I found this wire one at a Goodwill and paid a little more than I wanted, $3, but I had been looking for sometime and it was the right size at 15" long and in good condition, so I went ahead and bought it. I found a smaller wicker and metal version at a much better price since it was in my Mother-in-Law's basement making it free. (Yay Free!!)

While I was watching the thrift stores for sleigh baskets, I was buying up festive bobbles, picks, sprigs and candles. I actually found one big bag of misc stuff for $1.40 at one shop.

At another I found a bag with two short pillars and a nutcracker candle still wrapped in cellophane, never used, for $2.00.

I hit the Dollar Tree for the clear plastic bowl that I needed for the wire sleigh and a bag of Potpourri so they would smell AND look pretty.

With all of the components finally gathered I spread them all out on my work surface and started putting them together. I started with the wire one, since it was bigger. I knew I wanted the silk flowers standing up in the back, so I cut a piece of the floral foam that I had to the right size and wrapped it in aluminum foil since it would show through the sides. With the poinsettias inserted in the back piece of foam I added the bowl to the body of the sleigh, wrapped another piece of foam in foil and inserted cinnamon sticks at the four corners. I poured the potpourri into the bowl around the block of foam and placed one of the pillar candles on top of that foam piece.

Then I filled it in with some of the little sprigs and sprays that came from that mixed bag that I bought at the one thrift store. I added straight pins and secured them into the foam under the candle where I needed.

Of course the candles not for burning, but it adds a pretty festive touch, don't you think?

For the smaller sleigh I decided my nutcracker candle should be the driver so I positioned the remaining piece of floral foam in the basket, carved out a small section for him to rest in and set pins around the parameter to so he wouldn't topple out too easy. I poured the rest of the potpourri around the foam and added more sprigs and sprays to fill in. I decided it needed some height so I added the golden berries at the back.
 

I have about $5.00 cost in each which is pretty cheap for large, floral, fragrant centerpieces. They were really fun to do and came together really fast. And I must admit, the best part was in the hunt for all the pieces in the thrift stores! I'll have to keep my eyes open for another sleigh. I think I have enough of the decorative bits for one more. Potpourri and flower foam is easy enough to come by if I find the right vessel to make one more.

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm linking up at Debbiedoo's  , Home Stories AtoZ and other fun parties listed on my Link Party page. See you there!

A Bag For My Bike

With Labor day coming to a close it's time to bid adieu to summer time. We didn't get to take an official vacation this year, but Mr ShowMe and I did take up bike riding. We've had quite a lot of fun with it. My bike's an old hand-me-down, but I really like it. It has a sort of retro vibe and of course you can't beat the color!

It didn't take too many trips out on the bike with my keys and other personal effects crammed into my pockets that I decided I needed a bag for it.
My intentions were good. It's not as if I don't have a lot of wonderful fabric in my stash. I searched the web. I even picked one bike bag as my favorite. 

Tamara at Etcetorize posted this lovely bag that she made for her bike and even provided a tutorial to take out all the guess work. But before I got that far I ran across a ready made zipper bag that I received from the airline both times I flew to the Philippines with my job. 
They gave us these bags with toiletries in them. I had one from each of my trips there. They aren't really big enough to use as a travel bag, but with me being a bit of a pack rat, of course I still had them. 
I hand sewed on strips of some nylon strapping that I had and added Velcro on each. 

It turned out to be the perfect size for the front of my bike. The fabric will be more water resistant than anything from my stash would have been any way, and it's plenty roomy to hold my keys, cell phone, Kleenex and inhaler for my allergies, and even my camera. 

So on one hand I cheated, but on the other hand I recycled something that I didn't really have a use for otherwise. Maybe I'll embellish it with fabric flowers or something so I don't feel like a complete sell-out! (But if I do that, I'll stick to embellishing just the bag on my bike. I don't think Mr. ShowMe would find it as aesthetically pleasing on the one I put on his bike! hehe)

Did you have any fun adventures over the summer?

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Sewing Machine Cover

I've been meaning to make a sewing machine cover for some time now. When I won the Amy Butler fabric from Flamingo Toes I considered making one with some of that, but before I made my final decision I went through my fabric stash and rediscovered this really cool retro apron. I should have taken a picture of it when I started so you could see the "before". It was in really bad disrepair. There was a hole in one corner and the tie was ripped. I could just never bring myself to toss it because it was just so darn cute despite it's poor condition.


I always thought I might find a project for it that wouldn't stress it too much. I tossed it in a lingerie net bag and washed it on gentle and was super careful ironing it once it was dry. I had to piece the back section with the ironing woman fending off her man with the steaming iron. I cut the phrase in a separate piece and made a pocket with it. 

Plain white cotton for the sides, top and back. And now I have another reason to smile when I walk into my sewing room!

Maybe I'll tackle the ironing board cover next!


Have you made a cover for your sewing machine?


I'm joining DebbieDoo's and Fox Hollow Cottage Pin the Tail on the Bloggy. You should join us for the fun!

Beaded Tassel Earrings - Tutorial

I was inspired by some earrings that I saw on Pinterest and decided to try my hand at making something similar. They are beaded tassels. I made two pair and changed the process slightly after the first. I'll show you both methods here, in case you'd like to try them yourself.

You'll need two cones from the jewelry finding section at your local craft store. An assortment of embroidery floss and the beads of your choice. Other findings in the first pair included 2 jump rings, and 2 eyepins.

I wanted purple, grey and black, so that's my embroidery floss choices for the first pair. Cut your floss to lengths. You'll double each piece, and I'd rather cut off extra than have something too short, so I probably started with 12"-14" strands. Once you've got your floss strands cut divide them out for the two earrings, then put one grouping through each jump ring. You want them stationary, so take an extra piece of coordinating floss, wrap and tie it tightly up against the jump ring. 

I opened the eye on the eyepin and hooked it through the jump ring too. Then I tested it to make sure the entire jump ring would go inside the cone. At first it didn't, so I took my needle nose pliers and squeezed the jump ring until it did. Then, just to keep it from sliding out while I was beading, I bent the pin over to hold it in place.

 I wanted this first pair a little fuller, so I split each strand of floss in half to three threads each, (as you know, embroidery floss starts out as six threads). Now decide on your beads. I went through my seed bead stash and picked out the colors I wanted and just dumped out some into a shoe box lid. I didn't want the beading to be uniform, so I just made a pile. Then I was ready to start adding the beads to the tassel strands. 

Now, here's where my trial and error might help you. I was making my finger tips raw trying to wet and twist the ends of the floss so it would go through the tiny sead bead holes when I decided to try some school glue and it worked like a charm!
Squeeze a dollop out on a piece of cardboard.

Drag the end of one of the tassel strands through the glue.

 Twist the glued end and let it dry for about 30 seconds. (I would glue and twist 10 or so strands at a time then bead those all at the same time then glue more strands and bead, and so on.)

The process that seemed to work the best for me was, bead a strand, slide them up, figure out where the knot should go. Tie it, clip the excess thread away, then slide the beads down to the knot.

 Keep doing that until they're all done. Then repeat for the second earring. I just used my judgement on the length of the strands, I didn't want them exactly uniform, so I cut them accordingly. When I started on the second earring I kept the first completed one handy and just used it as my gauge for determining the lengths of the strands on the mate.
Cut off the excess pin length, bend it into a loop, and hang it on your earring wire.


For the second pair, I wanted to make them red, white, and black. I also wanted to bead the entire strand of floss and make this pair slimmer.


Because of the excess that I cut off on the pin on the first pair, I decided to try it without using a jump ring. I uncurled the eye at the top of the pin, just straight enough to go through the top of the cone. I formed a bigger oval shaped loop on the other end. Make sure it's thin enough to fit all the way into the cone.

Select your embroidery floss and cut the strands.

Divide them.

Put one group through each of the altered pins. Don't forget to tie it off to secure them.

Insert the threaded pins into the cones and re-form the loops at the top.

Glue the ends and twist them tightly.

 Select your beads.

 Start beading the strands.

 Decide on the lengths, tie the knots, clip the excess floss, and slide the beads back down to the knot on each strand.

 Hang the finished tassel on your choice of earring wire.

Then repeat for the matching one. Use the first one as your gauge on the length so they match.

If you try to make some for yourself, be sure and let me know. I'd love to see your creations.


Thanks for stopping by!


I'm linking up at Debbiedoo's Newbie party and all the others listed on my Link Parties page.