1934 Farmer Fashion

(Click the photo to enlarge)

-Taken from America's Money-Saving Style Book Fall and Winter 1934, National Bellas Hess, Inc. - New York and Kansas City

A New Roof for Moonlight Cocktail Cottage

Our little lake cottage is needing some TLC this year.  The roof was a low-end roof and has lived out its' years and it's time to replace it.  Along with the roof, the eaves and soffits are needing replacement and 3 logs on the front of the cottage need replacement, as well.

When we purchased the cottage in 2005, the roof was white and it has since turned quite drabby and dreary.  Something as integral as a roof should never have corners cut, so we're pulling out all the stops to hire a licensed contractor to do the work.  The roof has never been properly vented, so that needs to be done and we'd also like to install seamless gutters, eventually, as well.

Our city home has Elk shingles that look similar to this:

I love the black on our roof and it goes perfectly with the red siding.  We are having an identical roof quoted but then I started really looking online last night at the various designs.  Our cottage is vintage c.1930:

and I thought scalloped-edge shingles would be darling:

But after studying this design, it reminds me of fish scales and honestly, I couldn't get past that.

Finally, I found a roof which makes my heart skip a beat, literally:

I love the color, which is called Williamsburg Slate and I adore all of the copper finishes.  If and I mean a huge IF we can afford this roof, I think it would be perfect for the cottage.  I also want all of the copper finishes, as well, because I really think it would show it off.

We've had one bid so far, another one tomorrow and 2 on Friday.  Then we'll narrow down the contractors and go from there.  I'm so excited!  Am I the only person who views getting a new roof thrilling?  :)

And then we're considering changing the paint scheme to this:

I'm not sure I'm that daring so I think we're going to paint the shed in this combination to see if I'm in love with it.  But it would certainly make a statement!!

An Unfinished Vintage Apron Becomes a Zippered Case

I finally went through 3 large boxes of fabric which have been in storage for awhile now.  I kept everything that interested me, and sent the rest off to a friend.  One of the items I kept was an unfinished vintage apron in the blue pattern above.  The seamstress added bright yellow bias trim to the neck opening, but both arm openings were still unfinished and I didn't have any matching yellow binding to finish off the apron.

Since I loved the pattern so much, I cut it up and made a lined zippered case.  I had an alfalfa seed on the shelf, so I cut a bird out of the word, "hardy", explaining the seed's reliability and attached it to the front of the case.

The lining consists of a plain seed sack:

The case is large enough to carry in a pocketbook and fill with either cosmetics, or as I have, an iPhone, some crochet needles and a pair of glasses:

I added two layers of thick sew-in interfacing to give the case some body.  I rather like the outcome:

If you are interested, here is the link to my Etsy listing:    Vintage Zippered Cosmetic Case

Three Years

Three years ago yesterday, my mother died.  She was released from the broken body which contained her loving spirit for 3+ years after a severe stroke that left her in a vegetative condition and existing in a nursing home.

Three years ago today, I was in the basement of my parents' home working on the picture boards that would be placed in the narthex during her visitation and services.

Rarely a day goes by that I don't think of my mother and I miss her very, very much.

Seamless Grain Sack Pillow

I finished the seamless grain sack pillow the other day and finally listed it on Etsy yesterday.

Here are the photos:

While the grain sack was washed, the original staining to the piece is still visible, however I feel that adds character and believability to the history of this pillow cover.

As stated earlier, I scanned in the image of grain sack advertising from a 1906 Montgomery Ward Catalogue and printed fabric at Spoonflower.  I used that fabric for the back of this pillow cover.

I constructed the back in the envelope style and added vintage red and white bias trim to the opening.  The trim was still in its' original packaging, so it was in very good condition.  Four buttonholes were created and 4 vintage white buttons were placed to help keep the back securely closed.  I then added my name tag to the back and wa-la, a finished cover!

I'm pretty tickled with the results. It was my first time using thin bias trim and the second time creating buttonholes on my sewing machine.

Many more projects are rolling around my noggin', but this is my newest creation.  I printed a fat quarter of the grain sack advertisement, but I ordered 2 more yards yesterday since I still have a few seamless sacks in my stash.  Yay!

Here is the link to the listing:

Seamless Grain Sack Pillow

Printing Farm-Related Fabric

I purchased a 1906 Montgomery Ward catalogue umpteen years ago for little to nothing.  I remember sitting down and carefully thumbing through the hundreds of pages full of everything you could imagine from undergarments to farm equipment.  It was truly a fascinating look back at what shopping was like near the turn of the century.

The book was then placed in an armoire and sat for several years until I resurrected it just a few weeks ago.  You see, I'm making seed/feed/farm sack pillows and I wanted a backing with farm-related fabric.  So with my 50% off coupon, I hightailed it over to JoAnn Fabrics and began my quest but was sorely disappointed.  Bright yellow and green John Deere fabric wouldn't do, neither would large-scale colorful farm fabric.  I remembered my 1906 catalogue and decided to try making my own fabric by scanning in images and printing the design at Spoonflower.  

This fabric is from the front page advertisement in the catalogue before all of the farm implements Montgomery Wards sold at the time.  

Since I adore windmills, this fabric is from a windmill advertisement:

But the most exciting fabric that I made, was an advertisement for grain sacks.  While I ordered a yard of each fabric, this design was much smaller, so I ordered a fat quarter so I could judge whether or not it would work before I ordered a yard.  I have the exact feed sack on hand, so I took a picture showing the two:

Neat, huh?  I just finished up the pillow and will post pictures soon of the finished product.

I also found a 1925 farm auction flyer from Sedalia, Missouri and I printed just the top portion:

I'm pretty tickled with the results and I have many, many other pieces that need to be scanned and made into fabric, but first I must use what has been already printed!  Spoonflower is a great resource and their printed fabric is delightful.  I've washed all the fabric I featured here and they all did wonderfully in the washer and dryer.  :)

So, when you can't find what you want at the fabric store, make your own!