Adorning Fabrics; More Vintage Sheet Finds!!

I love to adorn fabrics with embroidery and other things.  And if you’ve followed enough of my work, you also realize that I love bright colours.  This photo below shows my embroidery thread stash.  I actually culled some skeins out of it a few weeks ago because I knew I wouldn’t be drawn to them anymore when looking for just the right shade for a new project.  And what did I do after that?  Promptly went out and bought five more colours.  😀  C’mon, you have to admit that having various shades of colours makes creativity fun, right? (please, justify my purchase!  I’d be the first to tell you that creativity is abundant when you work with little!)

cotton embroidery thread floss pinks reds blues greens yellows oranges purples

Another item I use to adorn fabric is buttons I scavenge from upcycled clothing from thrift stores.  Don’t they look pretty in their glass jar on the right??  I also culled these a few months ago and kept only the colourful ones plus some white ones, and only ones that had a shiny, glossy, or pearly coating on them.  As well, I bought a container (50% off at Michaels) of colourful holographic sequins.  I’d once tried sewing sequins to cloth, but I couldn’t get the hang of it so I gave away the ones I had.  But lately I’ve been fascinated by colourful, sequiny accessories (particularly boho style), so I made myself learn properly (it wasn’t difficult after all!).  I wanted to start using sequins, too, to adorn fabrics.  As I stood in Michaels, confused by the variety of styles, sizes, colours, package sizes, and price points; I finally figured out that the ones I kept being attracted to had the word “holographic” on the package.  So, I picked up the bulk package of holographic sequins – it had mostly colours I liked.  When I got home, I separated out all the gold ones and gave those away.  Yes, that was quite the job, but my daughter helped me – it was a mindfulness exercise for both of us!  😀  (see below?   holographic!  They reflect the light so much better! more sparkly!)

holographic sequins lime navy red pink blue turquoise green silver shiny glossy pearly buttons

And now, for one of my favourite new adornment toys – beads!!  Once again at Michaels, I spent probably an hour or more looking through the bead collection (60% off that day). I settled on two different styles that really jumped out at me.  I liked that I could use these glass nuggets and purple peacock glass beads as focal points on small projects such as makeup bags (wait til you see what I made – future post and Etsy shop listing!) – they weren’t too big or too small, and I LOVE the designs of both styles.  I bought as many strings of them as I could.

glass nugget purple black oval peacock beads

After that, I decided to look up Canadian places online where I could get seed beads.  I found a place called Northern Bead Company, and it was having a year-end clearance sale!  I bought several colours of the silverlined beads – I love these!  They are so sparkly!  I also saw glass pearl beads in many colours, so I selected a few of those.  And then there were these clearance multi-faceted beads with an AB (aurora borealis) coating, so I picked up a few colours of those, too.  You can’t see them in the photo, but I also picked up come pretty clear red faceted beads that were on clearance.  I’ve already been digging into this collection to add to some things I’m making.

silverlined seed beads pearl beads AB faceted beads rainbow colours

And last but not least, a couple photos of the latest vintage floral cotton sheets I like to feel I “rescue” from thrift stores!  I love this white one with big blue flowers all over it – I had never seen this pattern before!  Does anyone know what company made this?

big blue flowers white vintage cotton sheet

And this one is one of my favourite Wabasso sheets – orange and yellow floral.   This pattern comes in at least three other colourways that I’ve seen – blues, pinks, and purples.  I have some purple and some blue, not not pink.  These beautiful Wabasso sheets are hard to find!!  I’ve seen them on ebay and Etsy, but I am not prepared to pay those prices (nor will I sell my finds – I like using them for my sewing!!).  I have been using thrifted vintage cotton floral sheets for my sewing long before it became popular on the internet, because it was a very inexpensive way to buy good quality beautiful fabric.

orange yellow floral Wabasso vintage cotton sheet

Anyway, that’s it for this post – stay tuned for the next few revelations here!

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