Pocket Pillow Swap

Just a tiny little taupe vintage suitcase pocket…

Filled with an old French letter…

My AMAZINGLY TALENTED (adopted) sister Sandy Navarro is hosting a Vintage Pocket Pillow Swap for the up coming Moulin Rouge Art Event. With the help of my friend Jan Arnmtrout I have completed my pillow & now have to design my presentation so I can ship this little treasure out to Sandy ahead of the event.

In case you haven’t see one of these in the Stampington Magazines or out in Blogland here is the theory… You take the pocket out of a vintage suitcase, attach it to an embellished pillow & fill the pocket with treasures. My first plan was to use tea dyed bridal fabric but, my swap partner Robin Sanchez loves burlap. And once I found that out… the bridal fabric wasn’t going to work. So… I went in search of a more rustic fabric. I settled on a much washed/distressed painters drop cloth (there is a HUGE difference in quality/texture of these so find one you like, mine turned out soft & the perfect color after much washing). Next, I did a transfer of part of my beautiful French Themed Blog Banner onto soft linen & applied it to the pillow. I did try the CitraSolv method of transfer that many of you are using (Robin used it on the pillow she made for me & you can go HERE to see that post) but, it did NOT work for me.

Next was the ruffles… This is where sweet Jan & 4 sewing machine needles later… we got the PERFECT RUFFLES! First layer of ruffle is the drop cloth fabric itself. Second step is BURLAP… hand ruffled. Then a double layer of vintage tea dyed wedding underskirt from my sweet buddy Cindy Craine of Lilly’s Lace. And last but, not least… the vintage crocheted edge off of a pillowcase purchased from Linda of Itsy Bits & Pieces Etsy Shop.

The next little piece of “goody” is two velvet petals off of an old hat. I took the hat apart. I kept all the little pieces & two of them seemed to work for the pocket corner. A BIG dark colored Mother of Pearl button is topped with a beautiful taupe colored carved MOP button for a beautiful finish to this. Also, peaking out of the pocket is a tiny vintage perfume bottle with a blue lid (Robin’s bedroom has just been redone in blue so I wanted just a touch… the blue bottle top & stamp on the envelope seemed just right). The bottle is filled with a mix of gold & silver German Glass Glitter. I am really loving the whole look.

This shows the back of the pillow with vintage images all printed on linen. The images are of the Moulin Rouge button from the event, a vintage image of Moulin Rouge/Windmill & two Can Can girls. Along the gathering line I ruffled a beautiful brown vintage seam binding LOVING the look it gives. Another cream colored velvet flower & a few vintage buttons & she’s done(well OK I do have to come up with presentation but… basically she’s done). Sorry the photos are a bit sepia toned but, they are taken in my guestroom on the duvet in there & the light is less than perfect. Flash seems to make the colors glare, someday I will take some photography classes & learn how to deal with this better. I didn’t want to wait for “just right conditions” outside. I WANTED TO SHARE! Hope you like my creation. And I hope Robin LOVES it. It’s girlie like me with a burlap twist like her. It’s so much fun to make new friends & learn to work outside of YOUR BOX.

HUGS! Charlene

Up for Air!

I have missed all of you so much! I did a short post wishing you a Happy Easter & sharing a sweet card on Sunday. In that post I told you about the Swap I was busy working on. I am going to Savannah, GA at the end of the month for the Petticoats & Parasol Plantation Art Event. I am very excited & when I first signed up they started the Yahoo Group for this event. There was MUCH talk about swaps & what all we were going to be doing. So, when Rosalyn-Sue said she was going to do a Dessert Bar & Swap Get Together in her suite I signed up thinking "Oh Boy That Sounds Like Fun". And I'm sure it will be. You had to do a gift for each of the girls that signed up. I HAD NO CLUE HOW MANY WOULD SIGN UP! Well, she cut it off at 18 but, there were two late arrivals that you could include (heck you don't want any one excluded right?) AND then how about one for the teachers? Add 3 more.... And one for the key note speaker (none other than Jo Packham editor of Where Women Create Magazine) OF COURSE!!!!! Now that's 24(I did have the count wrong Sunday I said 26). YIKES! Well, today I shipped them. I am sorry my photos are AWFUL but, you can get a little bit of an idea of what I have been up to. Below is three of them laying next to a sweet nest sitting on my kitchen table.

And a close up of one of them. Here is the process that was entailed... I bought 2 & 1/2 yards of white muslin. Washed & dried it to remove the sizing. I read & was going to use Dawn's tutorial (HERE) for this but, in emailing her she sent me a link (HERE) from Rebbecca for printing on muslin so you might check both of these excellent tutorials from these sweet gals (I think my friend Lisa had also done a tutorial on this subject). Thank you to all who had the tutorials. You are so sweet to share. In the long run I went with Rebecca's method of using the freezer paper & it worked well. I did not set my image (she gave directions) & I can tell you that if there is a chance your item might get wet you might take the time to do so because, one of mine did have a drop of water get on it & the ink bled. Doing the printing yourself will save you A LOT of Money! Those packets you buy at the store cost about $12 each & don't go very far. This process gives you the softest prettiest fabric transfer. The only other suggestion I would give is to trim with pinking sheers when you cut the freezer paper so the edges don't fray as badly (unless that is the look you want).

After peeling the back off of the freezer paper you stitch the linen to your item (ITEMS!) This was no small feat I can assure you. I added the beautiful cotton lace I bought from my sweet friend Pat at this step. Things really wanted to slide around on that blackberry velor I used. I wanted it to be soft & velvety feeling without the use of velvet. Then you sew the two pieces together to make the pin cushion. I filled a small zip lock bag with rice to put in the bottom of each one so that it would be weighted & not want to "JUMP" off the table when you use it. Next stuff the cushion. Yep all 24 of them. That was a treat. :0

And then let's not forget getting them all sealed up! I tried stitching it closed & was not happy with the way it looked. So, I tried Fabric Tack by Beacons & it worked GREAT! Then there were the seed beads, the buttons, the flowers... are you getting the picture? And when that was all done I made pins to go in the pin cushion. I dipped pearl headed pins into glue & then into 3 different colors of glitter for these pretty sparkly pins. A GIRL'S GOTTA HAVE HER BLING!!!!!

And then it was time to wrap them up. Originally I was going to wrap them in purple tulle but, by this time I was in a time crunch & I was OVER MAKING THESE! so I placed them in cello bags, put a card I made that had the same image(small in size). Under the image I wrote "The Real Gift Is NOT the Item Received But, The Friendship Made" my name, blog address & Petticoats & Parasols Art Event 2010 & placed these on the back of the bag. On the top I folded over a pretty white doily & stapled it all closed. My last finishing touch was to do each bag a beautiful glass bubble with the image of a dainty Southern Belle. The one above belongs to the Event hostess Jennifer so it had her name & the Belle Bubble on it. Below is a regular one. Sorry the cello bag has such a glare. I tried to fix it but, that didn't work too well. You can get the idea.

For the Teachers & Jo's bags I used HEART shaped doilies & as I said they got their names on their bags. I think the bubbles turned out really cute.

Here is the PILE all ready for the shipping box. I told you the glare was bad but, I had to show the PILE!

I'm so GLAD to be done & up for air. Now, I'm going to visit all of you & see what you have been up to. By the way, I NOW have to do 6 Paper Dolls for a different swap for this same event! WHAT WAS I THINKING? See ya soon!