available now in the shop. yardage might be available too, if you hurry!

Funny how sometimes I will find matching sheets on the same day…

I really like butterflies…

I absolutely LOVE this one. And… it’s in perfect condition, I think it was barely used. And… it KING size. And… I have two matching pillowcases, also in perfect condition. I really hate cutting into it, so I was thinking of offering it for sale as is. The sheet for $15 and pillowcases $3.50 each.

If anyone is interested before I put these in the shop, let me know. How about a 10% off??

You can find them in the shop.

My original idea was to use black, white and yellow, but when I put the fabrics together, given that the yellows were not too bright, I decided that black was just too dark. Each square is made up of one gray triangle and one either white or yellow. The gray fabric is from my stash, the yellow and white are upcycled from vintage sheets. I used the half square triangle method to construct the squares.

I wanted a “tossed” look and the above was the original layout I came up with. I also tried a layout with sashing – I did not actually add sashing, I just moved the squares apart to try imagine what would it look like:

I preferred the first layout. And sometimes sashing is just painful to do.

But when I put all of the squares together (after trimming all of them – not my favorite thing) I noticed, ahhh, a mistake. Look at the first column on the left. I DO NOT like ripping seams. Nope. But I had to. And even then, it did not end up as the original layout. Oh, well. It was good enough.

Quilting was fast and easy. On diagonal, both sides of the seam, white thread. I liked the contrast of the tread and the gray fabrics.

I really like making quilted pillows. I wishe I had more time and made a quilt instead, but with a pillow, you get the results faster. Also, it is in a way, a test to see if the pattern works. More or less, if it works for a pillow, it will work for a quilt too.

Ever since I first found sheets (vintage and not so vintage) with small print like this I have been thinking about turning them into sleepwear. I was trying to come up with the right pattern for a while, and finally came up with two. This is the first one. I like it. A lot.

This one was made completely from upcycled fabrics and thing found around my studio. The bra top was made from a vintage pillowcase. The lower part from a 100% cotton sheet with lovely tiny pink/red roses. The bra is fully lined with pices of a white vintage sheet. All the fabrics is beautifully soft.

I took out my serger for this one. Most seams are serged and the hemline is done in picot stitch. I wanted to make it soft and flowy (not really a word! but you know what I mean).

I will be making more of these. I already pulled out some fabrics trying to match them up. But first – I will try the other pattern. Another camisole coming up.

So I pulled some of those sheets and pillowcases (both vintage and not so vintage) and some of my stash fabric:

I also pulled out a tool I really like – the bias tape maker. I have three of those, and this is the smallest one – makes a tape 1/4 in wide (when finished). Opened, it measures 1/2 in. I made some tapes, but not bias this time.

I had a cold this this week, and when I am congested and/or coughing, I cannot sleep very well. Sometimes, if the cough is very bad (like this time) I end up sleeping on a sofa because that is the only way I can sleep “sitting up” and not cough all night. So, during one of those sleepless nights, I had an idea – idea of making some strips from the sheets, and weave them together in a grid pattern. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the strips before they were sewn, but here they are all finished, on a piece of linen – which will become a quilted cushion:

or in a closeup:

I did not use all the fabrics from the first picture… that’s what happens. I always tend to pull out more fabrics for a project, and then some get tossed out. In this case, a few were too bright, and some just did not fit in.

Then I quilted the top – I quilted inside the little squares, between the stripes, and out from the stripes to the edges of the pillow top.

For the back I used remnants of some Ikea curtains I used before – nice thicker cotton fabric. I used the edges that were already folded (a little shortcut) for the buttons:

Buttons are covered with one of the fabrics used on the front.

I like the way it turned out – it is really close to what I had in my mind. And I like the combination of linen and vintage sheets. I might be using this combination more…

They are about 16″ sq and instead of linen being framed by contrasting fabric (as in the tutorial) in this case, I framed the vintage sheet pieces with linen. I used a very soft linen (not sheer though) in natural.

I said I like linen, but working wit it, sometimes, can be a pain. This linen in particular. It is a bit stretchy, and silky, so it moves a lot; changes shape. Pair it with a super-soft and delicate vintage sheet… ah… it took forever to pin before sewing. I need to invest in some starch. I’ve been told it helps when working with linen.

But I am happy how they turned out. Really happy. I like the combination of linen and vintage sheets. Next one will be in blue tones…

These will be listed in the shop shortly.

As I mentioned in the last post – I have gotten my hands on some vintage lovelies recently and I wanted to share. Finally, I have cut up the sheets and I am giving away the following:

1. 7 fat quarters cut out from lovely vintage sheets. These are oversized fat quarters, each about 20×22 in.

2. 6 buttons covered with fabrics cut out from vintage sheets and pillow cases, small print only.

3. Something you don’t see here, it is going to be a little surprise – bias tape cut out of one of the sheets with smaller print. OK, so the surprise will be the print…

How will this work? I will give you two chances: First – simply leave a comment here. Second – do you twitter, or have a blog? tweet about this giveaway, or post about it on your blog, then come back and add another comment. That’s it. Anyone can play – I will ship internationally. I will leave this giveaway open for two weeks, until Feb 7, then announce the winner Tuesday Feb 8.

Good Luck!

I don’t know what happened. It might be a fluke – but I’ll keep looking… Let me share some pics (click on the picture to see it bigger):

sheets…

more sheets…

even more sheets (these are all with smaller prints).

Some pillowcases:

And finally my favorite find (a sheet):

.and what do you know it’s vintage marimekko. Ha! I love it!

So what am I going to do with all this. I got plans. Sewing. And sharing. I want to share. So the plan for today is to cut some fat quarters from the sheets and tomorrow I will give you the details for the giveaway. (btw I washed all the sheets and pillowcases at least once at 140 F. Most of the stains are out and the smell – no more smell.)