Embroidery and patchwork quilt.

 

I've cut back on doing swaps this year, but I signed up for this mini quilt swap last year. The idea was to combine embroidery with quilting. My partner likes LiliPopo's embroidery designs and I've been wanting to buy some of her designs to embroider for ages, so this swap was a good excuse to finally buy some!

The one I used for this quilt is called 'Night, Night' and was the one that my partner chose out of the designs I'd bought ( I bought five designs for £10, which is a bargain) but I used my own colour scheme to match the patchwork fabrics I was going to use for the quilt.

Everything on this quilt has been hand-stitched, whether it was the patchwork, quilting or binding. I've used a lovely bias binding that has a crocheted edge that picks up on the colours used in the embroidery. 

My partner loved her quilt, despite its wobbly edges!

 

This circular quilt was made for me by my partner (the same one I sent to). Isn't it magnificent? Her sewing machine skills are much better than mine and the shape of the quilt (I definitely wouldn't attempt a circle!) fits in with the embroidery beautifully. It's going to be hung on my bedroom wall underneath one of my own pieces of work.

TTFN

Louise. 

Blue and white gingham lavender sachets.

Blue and white is a classic combination and I found this organic cotton gingham at The Draper's Daughter (they have a fantastic collection of fabrics) and thought that it'd be perfect for making lavender sachets with.

The first ones I made have hangers so you can hang them on a coat hanger or door handle. I decorated each one with a piece of vintage embroidery (from an old tablecloth) and lace daisy's that were originally bought for bridesmaid dresses when I was little (all of the stuff in my staff eventually gets used even if they've been there for over 35 years!). The hanger is blue and white braid and is tied on with a little button.

The second set are sachets for popping in a drawer or placing on your dressing table etc. Each one has a corner from a vintage fine cotton hankie, attached with running stitch and french knots. Once they were sewn up I tied on a tiny mother of pearl button at the point of each hankie piece.

All of the sachets are just filled with dried lavender flowers and are available from the Elsie May and Bertha Etsy store.

Happy Easter.
Louise.

Putting on the Glitz - 1930s evening wear (Part 3)

This evening coat is made from silk velvet and angora rabbit fur. It was bought from George Henry Lee & Co, Liverpool about 1930-36 by Mrs Emily Tinne, a Liverpool lady with a great love of fashion.

This evening dress made from rayon jersey, about 1938-40.

Fitted and draped dresses were especially fashionable during the 1930s . The separate pattern pieces were cut out of the fabric on a diagonal to the direction of the threads. This was known as bias-cutting. It gave the dress pieces stretch so that they could be closely moulded to the body’s shape when  the garment was sewn together.

 

This evening dress is made from cotton net and metallic sequins in about 1935. The shoulder cape worn with it, is made from silver lame and rabbit fur and was made in the 1930s.

Sequinned dresses were fashionable throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

 

An evening dress made from silk velvet in about 1939-40.

During the late 1930s, evening dresses with padded shoulders were especially fashionable. The wide shoulder-line was exaggerated further by a nipped-in waist and padded hips, resulting a v-shaped bodice. The film star Joan Crawford often wore dresses in this style, which were widely copied.

During the 1930s, long gloves of fine black or white leather were often worn with evening dresses. Evening bags were small and could sometimes be attached to the owner’s wrist with a strap or short chain.

This is the last installment of the posts about the exhibition, Putting on the Glitz. I hope you've enjoyed seeing the beautiful frocks and accessories as much as I did.

TTFN

Louise

Click on the links below to see the first two posts.

Part 1.

Part 2.