A Tea Towel Project Finished...

I thought I better post this before I forget. I finally decided to take one of my favorite tea towels down off my inspiration wall to make a tote that I had planned for it. Here are the fabrics I chose to put with it.

I found a beautiful old pillowcase that had a perfect sized floral center to use as the tote's lining.

And the handles were made from a coordinating purple floral design from some vintage linens.

The lavender color is such a treat because I have found that it is hard to come across purple in vintage linens.

Here is the finished tote. And as hard as it was to do so, I am parting with it. it is in the shop:)

What To Do With Vintage Linens #12-"I think"

It is funny how if you gather enough of the same thing, it all of the sudden becomes an inspiration in itself! That is what has happened with all of the bed linen hems that I have lopped off of the sheets I cut up. Those hems are like little treasures, especially to someone( ME)who likes "easy" sewing and quick solutions! I have always loved the hems for making pants for my kiddos like the one below.

These pants were made for my Madi girl who is 10. They were made from two king size pillowcases! The ruffle is so sweet at her feet, and what is even better is that it was already made! But I am getting off track here. I wanted to share today, what to do with the linen hems when they are cut off of the sheets. Below are a few combinations that I was able to put together with some saved hems.
SUMMERTIME!!!!

GIRLIE DREAMS....
Some hems are so detailed and so unique that they are art within themselves.

GRANDMA'S PORCH
HAPPY TOTE...
The first thing I did was to lay out the hems on a piece of fabric that would become the body of the bag. I simply sewed the hems in strips, starting at the bottom. I did roll the cut edge under so that the hem would be finished even though it was not going to show once it was layered with the remaining hems.
I have shown this in the photo above. Next I chose fabric to line the tote and to serve as handles. All was made from vintage linens. The body of fabric simple gets folded in half and is stitched on two sides leaving the top of the tote open. Then the wrong sides of the body and the lining are folded in , straps are pinned in and the body, lining, and handles are stitched together.

All finished and in the shop! Yeah...now to get those others finished!
And just to get that imagination going, here are some more possibilities for the hems to add to the countless possibilities...

How fun would it be to make a skirt with the layered look of these linen hems!
Or a blanket that would completely fascinate any little fingers.
Add them to a pair of pants that have become a bit too short.
Use them at the bottom of curtains.
These would be fantastic for creating a unique pillow as well...

New In the Shop

It has been awhile since I listed anything in the shop that I have made. Today we were officially back to work, Matt and I. And I have one week before starting back to school with the kids. I have enjoyed working through my sewing pile this afternoon. I was able to get three new pillowcase dresses listed for girls between 4 and 10 years old. I was also able to get a tote bag made as well. Here are some of the pictures.
All of the new pillowcase dresses were made from 100% recycled materials. All being from vintage bed lines. Soft and sweet for the perfect sundress. You can see pictures of my girls in some pillowcase dresses I have made for them with the same design. All my girls swap dresses with each other. They also use them in the winter with a shirt and leggings underneath .



This tote is from my library toes line. They are not too small and not too big. Works wonderful for kids to carry their toys, books, or snacks in. As you can imagine, my girls and I have ended up with quite a few of these that we share. We use them for Bible totes at church and awana, a small diaper bag since we are no longer in the baby baby stage requiring us to carry around an arsenal of baby equiptment:), snack bag for road trips, toy tote for errands, gift bags for hospital visits or baby showers, the art bag for avoiding boredom when we have to sit quiet and still, and of course the all important WEBKINZ collections that must travel everywhere with us!