Vintage jumble, button addiction & blue poppies...

I thought that this update I would tell you about my weekend adventure at the
 V & H Jumble Sale in a village called Box in Wiltshire....

I was quite excited to discover it was on because I do love a delve around in jumble, picking up lots of little bits 'n' pieces that inspire or delight me  so add the word 'vintage' and it's just about the perfect combination for a leisurely browsing session!

The venue 'Selwyn Hall',  is on a steep little road leading down to the beautiful expanse of Box Park and as it was quite a bright morning and the fair was only on between 11-2pm I set out early, safe in the knowledge there is a big (free) car park that is hardly ever full.....  except for, I soon learnt, this particular Saturday when I was lucky to just squeeeeeeze into the weeniest space left! 

Still, it was worth it because, having paid my 50p entry fee I stepped inside to see a room full of wonders and immediately found myself dreaming over things like this...

'oooh.... ahhhh.....lovely textiles...what could I make...hmmmm'

and these...

'oooh look...dolly bundles.. I love them...I want one!'
(from Lucia Collectables who you can find on www.RubyLane.com)

In fact there was tables laden down with all kinds of vintage-y things lining the walls of the whole place with a row of little tea tables down the middle.

As you can see - it was already getting busy and I couldn't get near to the first few tables I passed as most were 3-4 people deep!  In the end I had to weave my way back & forth around the room, getting a look in here and a peep in there where I could.  Luckily I didn't need to be anywhere in a particular hurry so quite enjoyed my indulgent little meanderings!

The BBC Homes & Antiques stand was there, manned by the lovely Alice Roberton (H&A ambassador and a familiar face at such events around these parts)...

And this little corner of gorgeousness was courtesy of the washerwoman.blogspot.co.uk from where I picked up a piece of black & white 'dogs tooth' tweed fabric and a jar of metal buttons..

Mmmmm buttons....

This little slice of curiosities tucked away in a corner was courtesy of Sue from 'Vintage to Victorian' 

And do you see that big china bowl the lady in the scarf is looking at? Can you guess what's in it....yes, that's right - more buttons!  

And yes, I bought a little paper bag full. Well, it would have been rude not too wouldn't it?

I think I might be a little bit addicted to buttons (I appear to be growing a rather large collection...).  Although I'm not sure it's possible to have too many because they are such useful crafting embellishments - for example, on my return home I immediately picked one of the metal ones for my crochet flower idea which I wanted to make with some gorgeous petrol blue cotton yarn I picked up from Lucia Collectables 

...have wool... just add hook & scissors!

Make a flower... add a button...

then pop it on a hair grip!

This flower is made using the same pattern I used for the poppy tutorial here (scroll down the page). I just fancied a blue one and I thought the old metal button topped it off nicely. I guess you could say that re-using the pattern and adding an old button gives this make the U factor! (U as in up cycling!) 

So, all in all a thoroughly enjoyable morning. Can't wait until the next one and I am sure I will translate my other purchases into other new makes soon too.  And yes, I confess, I maybe did buy a few other bits too (...bundle of dolls, books, a brooch..)

Want a last bit of jumble eye candy before I sign off? Oh go on then..

I bought a pretty brooch from the ladies on this table...

Happy browsing :-)

xxx

Flapper style earrings & all that jazz....

Hello Again,

Hasn't it been lovely to see that big yellow orb thing in the sky once again (in the UK at least!)  It really does seem to make a difference to everyone & everything -  although it also seems to gives me permission to just sit in the garden and bask in it whilst not getting much done.  Apart from these...

Recently I got very excited about the release of 'The Great Gatsby' movie (which everyone must surely be aware of by now?) It's just all the style & glamour of the era - fabulous!  It also brought back memories of an amateur stage production of  'Chicago' I took part in many moons ago.  I was in the chorus line and what fun we had...it was all neatly bobbed hair, feathered headbands, sparklies and all that jazz !

Here's one I made earlier...  1920's inspired fascinator
 (for Simply Homemade Magazine, issue 27)

As you know, many things that inspire me end up as some sort of project and being that I totally LOVE those glittery, jaunty flapper girls I simply couldn't resist making up a few pairs of earrings starting with those dangly fringed darlings at the top of the page!  I thought you might like to have a go too - they'd be great to wear to a summer party so  come on babe why don't we paint the town...

Or rather, perhaps just follow these steps!

1) First you will need to gather together some pliers, head pins, eye pins, earring findings, jump rings and lots of bugle beads (long & short) an a small sparkly rondelle...

2) Thread 6 x long bugle beads onto a head pin (this will be your centre pin)

3) Then turn a small loop on the end of the pin with your round nose pliers...

4) Repeat the above two steps until you have a total of 9 beaded headpins with the following number of bugle beads on them: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (i.e. as shown in the picture from L-R)

5) Now thread up 2 x eye pins with around 10 x short bugle beads each, bend & trim the tops of the pins and turn a loop on each..

6) Pop your sparkly bead onto an eye pin and make a simple loop on the end of the wire..

7) Open the bottom loop on an earring finding and attach the wired sparkly bead to it..

8) Now use a small jump ring to attach the short bugle bead eye pins to the bottom of the sparkly bead...

9) Thread all the long bugle beaded head pins onto a new eye pin...

10) Bend the wire over at right angles, trim and turn a small loop (aim for this to hold all the beaded eye pins in place evenly)

11) Use a couple of small jump rings to attach the 'bar' of dangly bugle beads to each 'arm' of the earring...

12) ...and don't forget to make a second matching earring!

C'est complète!

                                           
Now you can mix a gin cocktail and go shimmy 'till your garters break....



                                             Enjoy xx

Oohh Velma.. did you hear that Addicted to Making is posting a delightful earring tutorial for us to make! 

Promises, twisting wire & the Mini Beaded Crown

Well I did promise the crown would follow so here it is and you still have time to make one (or two...) before the Coronation!  

Part of my inspiration came from the crown on this gorgeous vintage embroidery sampler that was taken from HM Queen Elizabeth's first Christmas broadcast in 1952 where she paid tribute to her late father and asked that people pray for her on her Coronation Day the following June (1953).  I don't know who worked the sampler but the stitches are absolute quality.

So, back to the project.  You will need some seed beads, thin wire and pliers and the key to it all is really twisting the wire and tucking it neatly 'inside' the crown so it doesn't show as you work.

To start with you will need to cut a longish length of wire - around a 12" ruler type length should do it.  Thread 18 x red seed beads onto one side of the wire and thread through the other side of wire as well (like below...)

Pull the wire ends tight so it looks like this...

Then thread on another 18 x red seed beads (with both ends of wire threaded through as before) and pull tight until you have a sort of 'figure of 8' shape ... 

Squash so one circlet sits on top the other.  Wind one of the wire ends around the two beaded circlets to secure them together...

...then trim the end neatly and thread 7 x white seed beads, 1 x red seed bead, 7 x white seed beads onto the other wire end.. 

Bend the beaded wire over to the opposite side of the crown base and wrap the wire end around the circlets to secure.  Trim the end neatly.

Attach a new length of wire at the top of the crown (next to the red seed bead in the center).  Thread 7 x white seed beads onto one side of wire and secure to the circlet base.

Then add 7 x white seed beads to the other side of the wire and repeat as before..

Continue beading the wire (add another piece if necessary) to make the final pair of beaded wire stems then finish them off by twisting together, adding some blue seed beads to make a little loop then giving a final twist & trim (try to tuck any ends underneath so they don't show) 

Ta-dah your little crown is ready! What will you do with yours?  If you make another one and add an earring finding to the loop on the top...

...you'll have a right royal pair of earrings!

                                 Happy Regal Making!

Retro-posting, Her Maj & wearable bunting!

This is a bit of a retro-post as I've been a good girl trying to rest my hand a bit since those jabs and staying away from anything that involves too much effort on the knuckle joints.  I'm glad to report that they are looking much more settled now so it was all worthwhile!

I've been doing a bit of light crafting and have made up the project I wanted to show you pre-jabs, that was inspired by a lovely day out (see the bunting necklace in the picture above) and I've just finished another one  - the little beaded crown - which will fit nicely with the up-coming celebrations for HM Queen Elizabeth II's coronation anniversary!

My inspiration started after a walk about a local village, more recently famous for it's racing track, called Castle Combe.  It's on the edge of the Cotswolds and you can see lots of the famous Cotswold Stone in the rows of pretty little cottages..

I believe that there was once a hill fort which was used by the Britons, Saxons and later, the Romans to protect  'The Fosse Way' (a long Roman Road that ran from Exeter to Lincoln) and that it was the Normans who would later built more of an actual 'Castle'.  Sadly, all that can be seen now is a vague outline or what's commonly called an earthwork. 

There's a good couple of public houses in which to have a nice Sunday lunch (and yes, we did..nom nom!) plus an old market cross around which the village was built and the obligatory Medieval village Church...

One of the things I love most about old places like this is simply looking at all the interesting little features such as this old door bell pull (spot the studded door too!) I bet the bell on the other end was loud...

And I wonder what the people who peeked through these ancient looking, time worn window frames saw...

This lantern looks more modern to me but is still quite in keeping with the overall look I guess.....

It's also one of the few places you'll go nowadays where there is someone selling their homemade wares in front of their house with just an 'honesty box' for payment - in this case lots of scrummy looking cakes...

(I think it was the flag on this house that triggered my bunting idea!)

Right at the bottom of the village the road goes over a bridge by some old weavers cottages...

You can see why the village has been used as film locations in the past!

Then the bridge goes over the 'By Brook' which was used to power the mills of the prosperous wool industry era in the Middle Ages....

There's a magnificent Manor House (hotel) built in the 14th Century and of course, just outside the main hub you'll find that famous race track which was built in the 1950s (just after Silverstone) It's all very traditional and all in all I can recommend it as a very pretty place to potter about on a sunny day!

I'm afraid I'm still a little slow typing things up so the crown tutorial will have to follow later, but would you like to see how I made the 'village bunting' style necklace...?

You would?  Ok here goes...

First gather your bits 'n' pieces such as selection of pliers, some tiger tail, thin jewellery wire, crystal beads, seed beads, small spacer beads, crimps, crimp covers and a trigger clasp (oh - and a couple of clips to hold the beads on the necklace while you are working will come in very handy!)

Start by cutting a long length of fine 0.2mm beading wire (around 16-18cm should do it but this will ultimately depend on your seed bead size).  Slide a single seed bead onto the middle of the piece of wire then secure it by passing the wire back through it once.  

 Next, thread 2 x seed beads onto one side of the wire and thread the other side of wire through from the opposite direction as show above. 

Pull both wire ends firmly so that the beads end up sitting above the single seed bead nice & neat as shown below...

On the next 'row' add 3 x seed beads to the wire as before, then pull the wire ends to sit them on top the stack...

Continue in the same way, adding 4 x seed beads then 5 x seed beads on the next couple of rows...

And finally make a row of 6 x seed beads.  By now you should have a nice little seed bead 'flag' shape as pictured below...

At EACH end of this last row, thread the wire through the last bead to secure it...

Now make lots more little flags in the colours of your choosing (I made 3 of each in red, white & blue)...

When you have made all your flags, use round nose pliers to coil ALL the long wire ends (you may need to trim them if they are a bit too long)....

Now they are ready, cut a piece of tiger tail (around 18-20cm for a shorter necklace) and thread it through one coiled loop of the first beaded 'flag'...

Add 6 x seed beads onto the wire then thread through the other loop on the other side of the flag...

Add a crystal bead between each flag as you continue to work and add all the little flags to the length of tiger tail (remember you can use the clips to stop the beads falling off the ends of the tiger tail - it really helps!)

Make sure you add enough extra seed beads on each side of the necklace wire to make it the correct length for you, then add the endings to *finish off (see the two pictures below).
  

*To finish the necklace ends thread the following onto the ends of the tiger tail: a crimp bead, spacer bead, wire guardian - then thread the tiger tail back down through each one and pull to tighten.  Squash the crimp bead and hide with a crimp cover then add your trigger clasp & a large jump ring to attach it to. Always thread the end of the tiger tail back down through the first few beads before trimming it.

All you need to do now is wear it with pride on 2nd June!

                    Happy Anniversary of your Coronation Ma'am :-)

....and Happy Making to all of you xxx