For the Love of Buttons

I've had a bin that's been filling up with stray cards and

vintage buttons picked up here and there

at thrift shops and estate sales...

...to be later sorted into mason jars like these on shelves

in the old closet my wonderful husband re-outfitted.

Yes, I did reorganize my buttons and 

got them off my window sills and into pint and quart jars

in my glorious closet of (usually unfulfilled) efficiency!  

[Bliss]

Jars full of buttons of every color and type...

 large mother-of-pearl, medium mother-of-pearl and small mother-of-pearl...

 ...shoe buttons, pink buttons, itsy-bitsy pearl buttons,

clear yellow buttons, rhinestone buttons, red buttons,

cream buttons, cloth buttons, calico buttons...

Then I just happened upon an estate sale on Lake Five the other day... 

and bought some buttons.  There were also some amazing mod 60s fashions, 

but really overpriced... for an estate sale. 

Anyway, one day I just started sorting buttons

into piles on my sewing room bed.  Lots of piles.

Every time I passed the sewing room door,

I'd stop in and sort a few more buttons.

Snatches of organization in otherwise chaotic days this spring.

Piles of gray mother-of-pearl, cloth, tan, red,

vegetable ivory, purple, blue, green, pink, brown and more.

And now a jar just for toggles, too.  :)

Happy button hunting, organizing and SEWING to you!

There's a Pattern Here!

The new year's a great time for setting goals and getting organized, right?  I started the ambitious project of organizing my mod sewing patterns last fall - not all my patterns, mind you, just the ones considered candidates for my current sewing interests for RubyLemons (my Etsy shop that I am trying to get serious about!  Another resolution!).  I am really stuck in between 1967-1974 right now.  I am totally into that era... but I digress... organizing patterns.

Even though we're not talking about all my patterns, still, it's about 175 of them and what a drag it is to dig through all those patterns every time I'm looking for this dress or that skirt.

A while back I noticed that one of the system updates for our computer allowed files to be shown in a different way.  Pictures of the files appeared and could be shuffled through as each file was highlighted... just like the iTunes music artwork... if you know what I'm talking about... maybe it's just a Mac thing, but it's cool.  Files or photos can be organized like this:

As you click through the files, the picture of the file swings to the forefront of the screen... which I think is very cool and makes it very easy to locate a pattern.  So, I took photos of all my patterns - cropped them and organized the jpgs into files like this:

 

Now I can easily search through all my patterns in seconds!  Need a jacket or coat?  Click click and voila!  There it is!

Then I just have to go to my pattern bins in my sewing room and grab the pattern where it is filed in numerical order.  I love it.  It makes everything so much EASIER!  Hooray for efficiency!

Shelf of the Week - White

Here it is.  The final shelf of the week.  White.  This was the last phase of the great sewing room reorganization -- refolding all the fabrics.  It has been a process of rediscovery and realization:  I rediscovered many long forgotten, cool fabrics and I realized that I HAVE to use them or lose them.  I have committed to converting my Etsy shop to handmade garments made from these vintage fabrics using vintage 1950s-70s patterns, too.  I am very excited to actually start selling something creative in RubyLemons.  But, I digress -- shelf of the week.  White.

The shelf had turned into a mess of ribbons, laces,

tablecloths, tea towels and hankies.

Now everything is neatly organized.

This was a fun rediscovery - birds on a medium weight cotton.

A huge-scale tropical barkcloth.

A 60s pique featuring 5" daisies and bouquets of daisies.  Yards and yards.

Four aprons.

I like the one featuring sewing tools and tape measure borders.

Is this a kitchen print?  Very 60s.  Lots of wrought iron.

Here's a barkcloth that I found in a basement shop of the Milwaukee Antiques Center on an early 90s scouting trip with my good friend, Mary. A number of curtain panels were stuffed in a box under a dark stairway.  Some of them were in bad shape, but some were like new.  I didn't really like the print at the time, but now I love it.  I'm thinking late 50s.  The picture represents a piece 16x24".

50s kitchen towels.  How 'bout that vaudeville guy and the can can dancer?

Barkcloth yardage in a fairly small all over print. 

Another barkcloth with chartreuse and red roses.

I decided to centralize all my 50s tablecloths in one location on the white shelf.  Most of these I'll have to sell because I won't cut them up unless they're too stained or damaged to use on a table.  I'm much more of a purist than I used to be.  Maybe somebody else will actually use them instead of let them sit on a shelf in a sewing room like me.

Well, that's it for my shelf of the week features.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my vintage fabric! 

Shelf of the Week - Gray

Some people will be relieved (my sister, Barb) that next week will be my last shelf-of-the-week feature.  Yep, my fabric shelves will all be reorganized with white next week.  This week's color is gray.

Disheveled grays.

New and improved, organized grays.  YAY!

A vibrant, large scale barkcloth with an unusual texture - almost like a fused knit.

Those flowers are at least 10" across.

A nice medium weight woven.

A plain weave floral with a big 30" repeat.

A stylized geometric barkcloth in chartreuse, green and rose.

A barkcloth with a scene showing a fence, well and bucket/jar.

Another scenic barkcloth disguised as a floral.  This print features Grecian statues, architecture and the red seems to give it a touch of Asian.  That will do it for my gray highlights - hope you enjoyed them. 

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!  I'm off to make Belgian waffles for the fam and then we walk a block to watch our little local Memorial Day Parade.  Have to see the clown on the bike with uneven wheels, the musket-toting mountain men, and the Shriners on go-carts... and of course, my son in the marching band on trumpet!

Later that same day...

Chelsea, Nate, Trent, Lars and Spring at the parade.  Trent found a big piece of chalk in the grass and directed the paraders where to throw their candy.  It worked.  They pulled in quite a haul this year!

Keaton (center), Daniel(left) and Devon (2nd left) on trumpet.

The following picture needs no explanation.

 Hope you had an inspiring Memorial Day.

Shelf of the Week - Brown

We are nearing the end of my "Shelf of the Week" series with the brown shelf.  I've already blogged about the reorganization of my pink, blue, yellow, red & purple, black, green, and cream vintage fabrics.  The only remaining groups are gray and white, but today I will highlight some of the fabrics on my brown shelf.

My browns were getting mixed in with the nearby grays and greens.  I actually got rid of a couple old and decrepit pieces - which proves I can part with my fabric... some of it, anyway.

 Ahh, take a breath -- so much better!

There were still some interesting pieces like this old narrow yardage with bursts of turquoise and pink roses over larger silver shadowy outlines of flowers.

A heavy chintz.

A 50s cowboy print cotton.

This is an unusual eyelet with 2" amoeba shapes.

A fun 50s barkcloth with touches of gold and turquoise.

A crisp, heavy cotton featuring a Jacobean style print rounds out some of the fabrics on my brown shelf.  Two weeks left of "Shelf of the Week."  After that I have drawers, bins and boxes full of hankies, laces, trims, ribbons and buttons - but don't worry, I won't go on and on.  It's time to start showing you what I'm makin' with this stuff!  Happy sewing!