Tag Archive | vintage lace

A Heart a Day: 25

Feb25

Heart Felt Wishes to you all! I love hearts, I love the shape, I love to decorate the house at Valentine’s Day, and I have a lot of hearts… so I decided to post A Heart a Day for the entire month of February.

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs,
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes,
Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers’ tears.
What is it else? A madness most discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet.
– William Shakespeare “Romeo and Juliet”

Happiest of heartfelt wishes for a wondrous day! ~Christen

Day 20 of FLOWERS GALORE!

May20

Day 20 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Lace in Bloom

This is a sampling of the flowers that I created for a class that I call Lace in Bloom. Several of the flowers are made with individual petals that are made from a “magic web” technique that I created using Solvy. The other flowers are made from a length of lace. All of the laces were dyed with ColorHue dyes. Fun, fun, fun!

Happy Stitching, enjoy~ Christen!

Day 19 of FLOWERS GALORE!

May19

Day 19 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Brides Choice

This is a gallery project that I made starting with an old salt shaker for the vase. I wrapped the vase in several pieces of vintage lace and added a satin ribbon bow. I filled it with buttons attached to wire stems, and blooms that can be found in my book Ribbonwork Flowers by C&T Publishing.

Happy Stitching, enjoy~ Christen!

Day 4 of HEARTS: Hanky Heart

Feb4

Day 4 of HEARTS!

Many of you know that I love hearts! I love the shapes and all of the possibilities. The base of the brooch is made from a vintage embroidered hanky, sewn over a Fast2Fuse base. The heart shape is adorned with vintage lace, silk ribbon embroidery and ribbonwork flowers, many of which were hand-dyed in my class Dyeing to Be Beautiful.

Happy February to you!

~Christen

Elegantly Embroidered Silk Gardens

Apr6

Elegant Gardens Wall Hanging/10 Lessons/$90.00

silk ribbon embroidery with ribbonwork flowers

Elegant Gardens consists of nine individual panels worked in a variety of silk bias ribbons and silk embroidery ribbons. Each individual garden is worked in a variety of stitches, which also include extra embellishments such as buttons, vintage lace or charms. Each of these vignettes could also be worked into an existing quilt block or square. There are fourteen embroidery stitches, which you will learn in Lesson 1. There are nine ribbonwork flowers that you will learn throughout the following lessons, with variations of the fourteen embroidery stitches.

Lesson 1: In this class you will learn the embroidery stitches that include the blanket, feather, pistol stitch, outline, straight, couched, lazy daisy, bullion, French knot, ribbon stitch, bullion tipped lazy daisy, petite rose center, ribbon rose and loop stitch. These will be worked in silk embroidery ribbon and threads. In the second part of the lesson you will prepare your squares of fabric for the following classes.

Panel 1~ Roses • Panel 2~ Lace and Irises • Panel 3~ Hanging Heart Vines

ribbon embroideryembroideryribbonwork, silk ribbon embroidery

Panel 4~ Lace and Pansies • Panel 5~ Lace, Roses and Vines • Panel 6~ Ribbon Basket

ribbonwork, embroideryribbonwork, silk ribbon embroideryribbonwork, embroidery

Panel 7~ Fuchsias • Panel 8~ Hanky Basket • Panel 9~Lace and Vines

ribbonwork, silk ribbon embroideryribbonwork, embroideryribbonwork, embroidery

Cameos and Lace

Nov17

cameos and lace

Cameos and Lace

The vintage sleeve was found at an antique store, I don’t know who wore it, but she must have looked very lovely if the lace and embroidery on her sleeve are any indication. I added in cameos because I always thought that they represented the best of a proper ladies jewelry. One set that was a brooch and a pair of earrings that had belonged to my husband’s grandmother; the other pieces are shell and resin that I gathered from here and there.

The lace around the picture was a gift from my husband’s brother’s wife’s mother’s husband (whew!), and there is a lot more where that came from and will be used in many projects to come. The Mother of Pearl buttons are all vintage; the tiniest of them are whistle buttons, the larger have a pink and green shimmer. The glass flowers add just the right amount of color here picking up some of the rose color of the cameos. The velvet milliner’s leaves are from an old hat and the ribbon flower is of my own design.

Happy Stitching! ~Christen

Bearie Antoinette’s Hat

Aug13

Bearie Antoinette

Bearie Antoinette

My dad always wore a paper bag on his head when he worked on the car, couldn’t mess up his look or get grease on those locks! It was a great hat, and as time wore on it really acquired a lovely patina…. So I thought about taking a long not so wide paper bag and try to make my own cool hat.

I had in mind the height of something similar to the wigs that Marie Antoinette wore. So I began crunching, munching and scrunching the bag into shape.

The next step was to add bits of lace pieces to cover the entire hat. These pieces were a gift from a relative, but were a little on the grungy side, so actually perfect for this project. I stitched the lace into place with crochet cotton. I also stitched the brim and the top of the hat.

Then I painted the lace and bits of bag that showed with four different colors of acrylic paints, I sealed the paint, then added Lumiere paints on top of this to finish off the coloring.

hat close-up

hat close-up

I embellished the top and the brim with ric-rac and vintage mother of pearl buttons. I added in a bow made from French wire ribbon for the decoration. This I embellished with a few flowers and leaves that I also stitched from French and satin wire ribbons.

The teddy bear was a long ago crib-mate of mine. Then I was not so concerned with names, hence the easy to remember “Bearie”. I think I was more concerned with comfort than conversation. At one point I must have been very naughty though, because she only has one ear! OOps I feel really bad about that!

Bearie Antoinette

Bearie Antoinette

The tatted baby bonnet could also be considered a hat of sorts. I purchased this a few months ago at an antique shop. I changed the cord that is used to tie the hat around the neck. I stitched several silk ribbon roses with ombre ribbon leaves and stitched these around the hat.

The collar that she is wearing is made from French wire ribbon that I ruched. The ribbon flowers are made from vintage Jacquard ribbon and these are decorated with vintage mother of pearl buttons.

I hope that you, the viewer, are not offended and don’t mind that I used Marie Antoinette as a model here for the “look”.

Enjoy! ~Christen

Marie’s Boudoirs Pillow 1- silk ribbon embroidery

May19

Marie's Boudoirs Pillow

Marie's Boudoirs Pillow-1

When I first pieced the fabric for this pillow it was origionally to be a purse, but then I decided I would be able to look at it more often if it were a pillow. I cut a plain fabric for the back, and I am embroidering the other half of the purse that will be a second pillow.

The entire pillow is made from silk, excluding the vintage jacquard ribbon (and the stuffing). The striped and solid color fabrics and lace, and the embroidery ribbons and thread.

The embroidery ingredients are:

  • 2mm, 4mm, and 7mm silk ribbon
  • silk rococo trim was used for embellishments
  • several colors of buttonhole twist and floss

The embroidery stitches I used include:

  • straight stitch
  • chain stitch
  • woven rose
  • lazy daisy
  • ribbon stitch
  • colonial knot
  • French knot
  • straight stitch w/ bullion tipped lazy daisy

I just love working with silk ribbon because it is so elegant and feminine and I feel that I am a part of history: where the ladies were beautifully dressed and demure and the gentlemen noble and well mannered…. another time and place!

6-1/2″ wide x 8″ tall

Happy stitching and dreaming! enjoy- Christen