Headbands

Today I made some pretty cute (I think!) headbands. The thing that I love about making them is that they are a great way to use up scraps of fabric, and they don't take up much time at all. Here are today's selections:

Here they are reversed. The beauty of these headbands is that they are reversible. Two looks for the price of one!

Here are 3 more. The outer layer of the middle headband is a piece from an old sofa. I got that fabric in a thrift store. Somebody gave me both the fabrics on the far right. I love them --- very early 70's calico.

Here they are reversed. I love the little windmills. It's a reproduction of a feedsack type of fabric.

On the right is another incarnation of that same sofa upholstery. Different fabric on the other side, though. And on the left, is another reproduction pattern.

And on the left in the below photo is a groovy paisley print. I made a wrap skirt from it that is in my etsy shop. Wearing the headband at the same time as the skirt may be a little much!

On the right, is a vintage fabric that I scored at the free shed at our local trash collection center. People put things in this shed if they think it is something someone might like. Well, I sure did!

Here they are reversed:




I have a good stash of leather, so I thought it would give a leather headband a try. I think this one is pretty cute, especially if you like the 1970's. Haha! I cut out the two shapes, glued them together and did some fancy stitching. It's nice, because it is a very heavy duty headband.



Here is it reversed:

Then my eyes fell on my grommet maker, and I got all inspired. Same technique, but I added a row of grommets. It's awesome!

And reversed.... I can't decide if this is Rocker Chick, Harley Mama, Xena Warrior Princess, or early 1970's. Anyhow, I think it's pretty cool.

The leather ones are on etsy in my shop. I mailed the fabric ones to Down Creek Gallery in Ocracoke, NC where they are sold. But, I can always take special orders! Hint, hint!

Feedsack Charm Squares

I love feedsack fabric.  I love it so much that I decided to write another post about it.  But, I am going to be lazy this time and not provide you with another illuminating, albeit brief, history of this type of fabric.  If you are dying to know ALL about (okay, a little bit about) feedsack fabric, you might want to check out my last post.  Today, I am only going to present you with pictures of some small pieces I have.  

My sister, a supremely talented quilter, gave me a big stack of feedsack charm squares.  I am not sure why they are called charm squares, but maybe because they are cute and charming? Anyhow, they are 4" squares that are pre-cut and I assume they are used for patchwork quilting.  However, I don't quilt, so I don't know for sure.  I suppose I could do some top notch research and find out via google, but it really is all I can do to publish a blog every so often.  I just love the fabric, so I will leave it at that.  I think there are about 40 in the stack I have, but I have only included twenty five.  These are all pretty great, I think.

Gotta love these colors....

More fantastic colors.  I really, really love this one....

More pink and blue....

Simple, darling....

This is one of my favorites.  It has a kind of Pennsylvania Dutch feel to it....

I think this is another favorite.  The colors are unusual and fantastic...

This is another pretty unusual one that I have seen...

More loveliness....

More really cute pink and blue....

Maybe those are violets and asters?  Maybe they are made up?  Who knows.  I just like the colors!

More crazy fake flowers...

This one is pretty spare, but I love it...

This is neat.  It looks like it might be from the 1950's....

A really great shade of blue.  I think that is supposed to be a poppy, but do they actually come in blue?

I would love to see this one as a big piece....

Oh, absolutely gorgeous!

Another beautiful red and white piece....

another geometric....

And again.  This might be my favorite shade of green.  Or of any color, for that matter...

This is a super cool pattern with great colors....

More green geometry....

Okay, now this is one of my favorites....

And this one.  Actually, can you have more than one favorite?  I guess since it is my blog, I can do what I want!  Haha!

More funny, imaginative flowers....

And, lastly, stripes.  I love the variety of widths and colors.

I am not sure what I am going to do with all these.  I might make some coasters out of them. But probably not a quilt!  If anyone has any knowledge about charm squares and feedsacks, I would love to know more about them.

Feedsack Fabric

I love where I live. I really do. It's really beautiful here, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We are about 15 miles from the closest big town, Waynesboro, and about 30 miles from Charlottesville. Sometimes I get tired of driving, but then I look at those mountains!



Okay, why am I telling you this? Because, being out here means that I don't have access to high speed internet service. I do have something called cellular broadband which uses a modem to access a signal from a cell phone tower. Usually, this works pretty well. It's kind of fast, but not the real deal. The biggest issue I have is that it takes FOREVER to load a photo to blogspot. It can take anywhere from 3 minutes to overnight to never. This is not a lie. I have tried to make sure the files are small (they say they can load pictures that are up to 4 MB, and mine are generally about 600 kbs). Thus, sometimes blogging can seem like a bit of a chore. But enough of that!!!

I have had an obsession with feedsacks for quite awhile. They are becoming more and more collectible, which means more and more expensive,  so that means I don't get to buy them. That makes me sad, but such is life. If you don't know what feedsacks are, they are the cotton bags that feed, flour, sugar, etc. used to come packaged in from about 1840 to about 1950. Originally, the sacks were plain white in color with a company's logo on it (the logo's were originally round, because barrels were used before cotton sacks. The logos would be on top of the barrel, which was round). Gradually, around, the 1920's, companies began to use colors and patterns on their feedsacks. As women had been using the feedsacks for quilting and undergarments, manufacturers realized there was a huge marketing opportunity to be had. If they could make their feedsacks prettier than the next guy's, the ladies would be more likely to buy their sack of flour rather than the competitor's. Pretty smart! So, there became a big industry in designing lovely prints on these double duty sacks.

Feedsacks died out in the 1950's as the manufacturing of paper became less expensive. Now you can find them at quilt shows, antique shows, ebay, junk shops etc. Or maybe in your grandma's attic! I have only a few large pieces of feedsack fabric, as they are quite pricey.


I really love the colors they used.

This is a neat one, with the gray and orange.

I love the gold tones mixed with the turquoise.

Again, gray and orange.  This is one of my favorites.

Some companies are reviving the feedsack type of pattern, but I have yet to see them in larger prints.  Mostly they are small, calico type prints.  This color is too gorgeous.

I haven't done anything with these, as I am waiting for the perfect project.  I might make some coasters with them.  Just simple squares, but then they will be scattered around the house, and we can all admire their beauty.

I got this information from http://www.womenfolk.com. She has lots of great information if you are interested in quilting and history.

A Word About Mending: Part 2

As I noted in the previous post, I am all about mending, recycling, saving money, etc. (smoked salmon, $16/pound cheese, and free range chicken notwithstanding). Here is another example of my thrifty, some might say Depression Era, ways. I bought a set of expensive Wamsutta sheets several years ago. Finally, after many nights of use, these sheets have become incredibly soft and cozy. However, that softness, I assume, can be attributed to the breakdown of the fibers. Breakdown of fibers leads to weakened threads which leads to holes. Holes lead to rips. Really big ones. As a testament to my thrifty ways, I decided to not throw out the sheets but instead to mend them. I found some fabric that was similar in weight and kind of matched (but not really, since it is a different color!) and decided to work my magic. I did the patching technique which I explained in my previous post. And I'll be damned if it doesn't look god-awful! The irony of this story is that my sheets are really no longer all that comfortable. I mean, shouldn't I have known that adding another fabric and stitching the heck out of it would kind of ruin the texture? So now I just keep that section at the bottom of the bed, and I curl my legs up in the fetal position. Problem solved.  I think the true purpose of my blog is teach others who sew how to do a better job.


(These sheets aren't dirty, just old!)