Good morning

Hello Everyone, sorry to pop up again at this early hour but I wanted to write a post to you before going to work.  I was too tired last night to finish this last night but wanted to get it off to you all this morning.  I hope you are all well and have had a good night's rest - my lovely Readers from over parts of the world I hope you have all had a wonderful day.  I wish I could meet you all and say hello personally.  Shall I put the coffee on or would you like tea?

 

After the problems yesterday with my computer and the photographs I wanted to write to you as soon as I could to ensure that nothing else had gone wrong.  I know I am a worrier Folks but it is important to me to carry on writing to you.  I started to make a couple more cushions - I am sure you must all think I have an obsessive trait in me what with bags and now cushions........Part of this is wanting to get things right so the more I practise the better my work will be - well at least that is my reasoning behind it all. 

 

In earlier posts I showed you these two pieces of vintage embroidery which I had picked up.  The first one below is a chair back or an antimacassar which everyone used to have in the old days because men would put Brylcreem in their hair which was like the hair gel of today but extremely greasy as it contained beeswax.  The antimacassar was placed on the backs of all the easy chairs and settees to keep them clean and free.  They were introduced in the Victorian era.  I think the one below is from the 1940s/1950s and it looks as if it has been fold up and put away, it hasn't been used at all.  I really liked the embroidery on this but am not too happy with the background colour. 

This pretty lady has been made into a cushion but needed some work on it to finish it off.  I do love crinoline ladies and this one is a favourite of mine.  These ladies seem highly sought after nowadays.

Last night I decided to have a go at these two pieces of linen as they have been on my to do list for ages.  I couldn't decide on the fabrics to line each of them and  am trying to make sure that I use my stash up and not rush out buying new fabrics all the time.  I had a couple of options which eventually found.

 

 

 

I chose this pink fabric as I thought it was quite nostalgic and old fashioned and in keeping with the age of the cushion.  However, the mind plays games with colours and I was thinking that this would be a good match but when I put them together I realised that the cushion is more of a salmon pink rather than a true pink so it didn't really work for me.  What do you think Folks?

 

 

I have also been fretting about not cutting fabrics correctly so yesterday I went and bought myself a cutting mat, ruler and rotary blade.  I made myself straighten all the edges of the fabric before starting as I have been very remiss in the past about this.  I have to say Everyone that, surprise surpise, it made life so much simpler which, of course, is what everyone else has told me...............lesson learned.

 

 

 

 

You can also see that I am using the lovely Lillyblossom pattern again.  I realise that the fabric looks creased Everyone but I did iron it carefully you will be happy to know.  Ironing is the wonder tool of sewing, I have quickly realised this and so important.

 

 

 

The pink fabric looked quite sweet against the chair back and matched quite well.  There are a lot of colours I could have matched but I was working within my stash.  I wanted to keep the old fashioned 1940s look about it all.  I had to straighten all the edges as it was a little out of shape obviously with all the years it has been lying in a drawer somewhere.  This made it a little smaller than I wanted but no matter.

 

 

 

 

I was pleased with the finished piece and thought it looked quite sweet.  I hope you like it Readers and approve of my choice of fabric.  I like to think of the history of these old pieces of fabric as they have all had long lives and have been specially chosen by someone in the past. 

 

Embroidery is especially poignant to me because of the hours of work which have been done by someone, maybe at the end of a long day sitting by the fireside in a world devoid of the technology we have today.  Maybe I am being a little too nostalgic?  A simpler life but possibly harder going by our standards and depending where we live in the world. 

 

I would love to hear your views on this lovely Readers.  My students all say that the old days were far happier than present times because we were more family orientated and made our own fun without having to rely on computers and laptops and so forth.  However, there is now a swing towards some of the old values - look at what is happening in the craft field here in Britain - the Make Do and Mend culture.  To our lovely friends outside the UK I would love to hear about your views on this. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I showed this to my husband last night he loved it, which surprised me as he doesn't comment much on the things I make.  He is always so supportive and encouraging but doesn't really take much interest in the furnishing of the house.  He asked me not to give this one away as he liked it so much so I took this as a compliment.  I need to find some fabric now for the pink crinoline lady - any ideas about colours would be so helpful to me Everyone.  Thank you again to the lovely LillyBlossom for the wonderful pattern, it has worked a treat!

 

Well Everyone I must love you and leave you all as I am off to work.  I am so glad that the computer worked just fine and the photographs slid in without any hesitation.  I hope you have a wonderful day or night depending where you are in our fabulous world.  I wish you all peace, happiness and lots of laughter until I see you again very soon.

 

I would really love to hear from you all if you have time but do call in again as it would be very boring here without you all.  I really do appreciate all your comments and views.  See you all soon.  Lots of love, Dorothy :-)xxxxxxxxxxxxx