Vintage Velvet and Ikea ... Thrifty Snippet-y Ways ..Of Course!

Hello there .... 

Has it rained with you?

... I thought it would never stop today ...

mind you it was quite nice sat by the fire sewing ... listening to the wind in the chimney and the rain lash against the windows.

As you can see my Summer curtains are lacy and lightweight.

 I've been a bit remiss in my Winter preparations ... last Spring I decided the winter curtains had about had it ... time for new ones.

Plenty of time ... thought I .. to organise some nice new ones.... well ... where has the time gone?

In my defence I had picked up a pair of lined... wonderfully dark bottle green cotton velvet of Vintage persuasion .... but I had forgotten just where I had put them/or had I sold them? umm..

I Know ... bitten nails!

So late last night I decided to find them ... as you do ... and three cupboards and numerous boxes later ....ta da!

And what a good do ... I just had to shorten them and cut each one in half to make two pairs of curtains for the sitting room windows ... only very small cottage-y windows. 

 I sat in front of the fire and just hemmed the required bits ... I just left the header tape where it was ... and well did very little really.

The curtains were nice and clean .. they still had a dry cleaning label attached ...dated 1976.

All nice and cosy!

So nice to work with good quailty old fabric .... I can't remember where I found them.

But they will have a good home ... and I have some fabric left to make up into cushions ... if I ever get around to it. 

 On the flip side of the coin ... as it were..... Hubby P ambled in the other day with these under his arm.

Bright and cheerful!

 Now it must be said that Hubby P has been well trained in the field of ...'Fabric and Notions Acquisition'...

In that he .. 1) must never.. ever just 'bin' anything that is old/tatty/damaged etc if it is remotely fabric like.

                        
                               2) must always put aside any tins/boxes/bags etc with 
                                      'sewin-y stuff' in them.

                       and 3) just show me everything ....just in case!

So it was the other day with the cushions ... 'this anything... any good ... bit damaged'...says he.

Well what a jolly pair ... nice and bright and cheerful. 

At first I thought they had been made by someone .... you know ... new to sewing ... just learning ... not expertly made by any means.

But on closer inspection ...and discovering a label I found they were no other than Ikea ...at its best?

 Shameful really .... and I bet they would have cost a pretty penny.

Anyway the fabric was pretty although some of it was damaged ... looked like a cat or dog had had a good time with one cushion.

I unpicked the end of one thinking I would save the cushion inner and launder and save the pretty fabric. 

However Ikea don't even run to cushion inners ... it was simply stuffed with loose wadding.

 

Well ... no matter ... I will bag up the wadding and keep it for stuffing things or make some cushion inners. 

And I got a good piece of fabric and a dog chewed bit that can be used for my patchwork.

So a nice new bit of cotton for my stash .... 

That's been me today ... I'm quite pleased I got the new curtains up... whats been keeping you busy?  

xx