Make it sew: decorative centerpiece

Having recently acquired a magnificent sewing machine, I've been anxiously toying with ideas about what to create as my first piece. I have great costume patterns, but I must admit I don't have the experience to succeed or the courage to fail as I just begin to use this beautiful machine (named Agnes, for reasons unknown).

After two weeks (I know!) of bumbling around with no patterns or material, I figured maybe I could make up my own. So off I went to the thrift store and came home with some patterned scraps left over from someone else's probably-way-more-fabulous project. I folded some printer paper, cut out what later turned out to look like lips, and sewed it all together with extraordinary cleverness. I have yet to devise a plan for creating fabric flowers, but never mind. One success at a time.

Today I have recreated this masterpiece in a similar pattern step by step to show you. Because anyone with fabric and a needle and thread is clearly in want of a decorative centerpiece on which to exhibit flowers and a natural sewing talent. (You don't actually need natural sewing talent, but a sewing machine helps to fool people.) The great thing about this project is that you can do it with or without a sewing machine, and with or without great amounts of sewing experience.

Here's what you'll need:

15" x 24" sheet of fabric (or two 12" x 15" sheets)*

Pencil 

One 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper*

Ball-ended knitting needle (or long pencil)

Thread (spool and bobbin if machine sewing)

Needle 
Sewing machine (optional)

Fabric shears

Pins

Iron and ironing board


*If you want to make one twice as large, use two sheets of fabric at least 25" x 30" and tape two sheets of paper together.

1. Start by ironing your fabric flat.

2. Fold the sheet of paper in half twice (until it's 4.25" x 5.5"). Draw a simple design on it in such a way that when you cut it out, it will be a single piece (not four!).

3. Cut out the design.

4. Unfold the paper to make sure the design is what you want. It should be completely symmetrical. Adjust if needed. I recommend not making it too scalloped or it will be hard to shape later (these scallops were hard enough!).

5. Fold your fabric (or place your fabric sheets) pattern-side together.

6. Use pins to secure your homemade pattern to both sheets of fabric. Give the pins at least a 1/2" margin from the edge for when you're sewing it.

7. Cut out the design. Give yourself a good 1/2" margin for that as well.

8. Sew a seam along the edge of the pattern. You can do this with a sewing machine or by hand. If by hand, I recommend using the backstitch technique to avoid gaps and to strengthen the seam.

9. Take the pins out as you go along. It's ok to sew over the paper because you can pull it out later, but try to keep as close to the edge as possible to maintain the symmetry and uniformity of the piece.

10. Leave a gap a little wider than your thumb without a seam. You'll use this to turn the piece inside out. If you do sew around the pattern completely, use a seam ripper to create about a 1" gap.

11. Check the pattern when you're done before removing the paper pattern entirely. If there are places that are far off the pattern, don't be afraid to use a seam ripper to pull out the stitch and redo it (I had to do that for the shoddy seamline you see below).

12. Peel the paper off the fabric - make sure to get all the little bits out from under the seam.

13. Cut out the corner of the extra fabric near the points so that when you turn the piece inside out, the fabric on the inside doesn't create an unsightly bunch on the outside.

14. Push the fabric inside out through the gap using a ball-ended knitting needle (or something with a strong thick end - even a pencil would work, just not the pointy end).

15. Pull the rest of the fabric through by hand once you've gotten some fabric through the gap.

16. Push the pointed end of the pencil or knitting needle into the pointed end(s) of the fabric to define the point (be careful that you don't poke through the fabric).

17. Use your forefinger and thumb to work the edges out, especially in areas where the seam is rounded. You won't see definition to the scalloped shapes if you don't work the fabric out to the seam.

18. Fold the ragged edges into the gap.

19. Iron, iron, iron! Flatten the piece into the shape you want it - all the seams, curves, points, and the gapped edge. Be ruthless.

20. Thread your needle and sew up the gap now that it's flattened into place. Make the stitch invisible by sewing just on the inside of the gap.

21. Survey your work. If any curves or points in the design fail to make their presence known, the iron can help. And it's ok to turn it back inside out and pull some seams. To be honest, I got fed up and actually threw this project away halfway through because I did a rotten job the first time, but in the end I pulled it out of the bin and tried again. Practice makes perfect!

You're done! If you want to leave it as it is, it makes a lovely centerpiece, especially with flowers or some other decoration on top. A perfect Easter centerpiece!



Look for my next post on embroidering this piece soon. We'll give definition and personality to this decorative centerpiece. 


If you try this project, I hope you'll post a comment or email me and tell me how it went!

Cheers!

Marjorie

I'm a little teapot

I have been looking for the perfect teapot for years. Years. And just a few months ago, I found it - well, her. She was sitting on a corner table at the back of a newly-discovered antique store, and she commanded my full attention.

It's difficult to say what is so special about this perfect little teapot. Perhaps I just know deep down that if I were a teapot, I would be this little teapot. Maybe I saw her in a dream, or met one of her matching cups and saucers at an antique shop in my past. One thing I do know is that she spoke to me, and one should always buy, if one is able, the items that speak to one's soul.

This little teapot is named Angela for a cat-loving friend of mine who, when I think of her, always makes me want to curl up with my kitty and a cup of tea. My teapot does much the same thing, and it doesn't hurt that she has quite recently been clothed with a tea cozy of delicate design and delightful colors, making her all the more inviting. Many thanks to my wonderful Oma for the gift!

Another recent acquisition was this fanciful embroidered table runner, found for a few cents at an estate sale. Birdie and I have decided she needs a bosom, so I think I will attempt something innocently come-hitherish using my library embroidery books soon. I love her shoes, and I can only dream of bloomers with flounces like that!

Here are a few details of my lovely embroidered belle. Enjoy!

A new thread

For those of us still en route to a home and lifestyle reminiscent of a prior century, there are many ways to thread old-fashioned ideals into everyday life. Some take the work away from the machines and put it back into our own hands, some require learning a new skill (or seven), and some are just practicing looking at the world differently.

From what I've seen of the people who really own the vintage lifestyle, they are the picture we want to see. They dress the part, they simplify their tools, and they spend their time and energy doing things technology could do faster and probably better - but less humanly. Life is about living, and I for one do not want to spend it staring into the screen of a smartphone.

Here I have compiled a list of behaviors - threads - of the life I choose to live this year.

Cell phones

They are for talking and texting, yes, but not at the expense of living in the moment and being with the people who are with you. The person doesn't have to be there - he or she chooses to be.

The next time you're stopped at a traffic light watching cars go by, count how many people are on their cell phones. Or if you're in a crowded street, take a look at the pedestrians and count how many are texting or talking on the phone, obviously not mentally present in their environment. This is not the way I want to live. 

This year, I choose not to make a text or call more important than the experience or person in my presence. Remember when telephones were only in your kitchen? Let's pretend that's where they were meant to be.

Mending

There always seems to be a pile somewhere, inevitable as laundry and dishes. This year I choose to make sewing a priority; a) because it's rather fun, b) because I don't like looking at the pile of clothes I wish I could wear, and c) because it requires that I slow down and live in the moment, stitch by stitch. 

If you want to start sewing or mending your own clothes, here are some resources with tips and stitch types you can try as a beginner:
janegrey.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Stitch-for-Sewing-and-Mending
www.coletterie.com/tutorials-tips-tricks
diyfashion.about.com/od/mendingandalterations
www.makeitandmendit.com

I also found a blog dedicated to sewing vintage at makingitvintage.blogspot.com. Lots of great ideas here!

Canning

I recently became aware of some serious health issues regarding store-bought canned tomatoes. I love using canned tomatoes in my cooking, so I am going to have to remedy this by canning my own. Time for some tomato plants in my garden! In any case, lots of delicious foods can be canned and I intend to experiment with them this year. 

If you want to start canning, here are some good resources for learning:
www.pickyourown.org
www.freshpreserving.com
www.amazon.com/Canning-New-Generation-Flavors-Modern
busterbucks.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Can-Tomatoes

Shopping... &c.

Big travel plans this year have thwarted my spontaneous spending habit, so now frugal's the word! I love to shop, especially vintage. This spring it will mean a lot of window shopping and digging around for the rarity of inexpensive finds.

I also want to change my attitude towards shopping to something rather foreign - spending within my means. Whatever I buy, I have planned for. While credit itself has been around for more or less ever, credit cards are new and honestly of the devil. I refuse to be another of this country's horrendous statistics of people who spend money they don't have.

Also, it's time to get creative with gifts and household items! I've found a few websites that will allow me to maintain my zeal for change and excitement while keeping a respectful distance from my pocketbook:
http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com
http://www.squidoo.com/reuse-everything
http://moneysavingfrugaltips.com

Cooking

By the way, I hate it when I write a fabulous and sardonic section on how cooking will change my life this year, and then refresh the page without saving only to lose it all. Life hates me.

Anyway, moving on. 

So I have this theory about the impossibly-tiny people who lived in this country half a century ago. Actually, two theories. One is that they were malnourished because the food they ate was limited by - well, a lot of things. The other is that they ate just fine, it's just that we are now enormous human beings because we eat just as much hormone as we do nutrient anymore. So this year, I resolve to go back to basics. We're talking fresh fruits and vegetables instead of canned and processed ones (unless homemade, of course), whole grains (such as my newly-beloved quinoa) instead of the useless sifted grain-product known to the wise as "empty calories" but otherwise known as "white flour," and lean meats--and less of them.

I've already begun to adjust my pantry to more organic and non-hormone-imbibed animal products and I have one thing to say: people should not be drinking milk produced by cows on steroids. I have very good reasons for saying this, but they stray too far from my vintage theme to be discussed here. The point is, that lovely lady I discussed in The living doll? She did not serve her family food on drugs, and therefore I refuse to, as much as possible. Her downfall was most likely Crisco, which, I am convinced, was the beginning of America's food problems.

Ok, enough about drugs. I have some recipes to share that our kitchen-bound women of the 1950s can only wish they'd known about. Here are some I have either tried and love or will try this year:
Quinoa chocolate cake
Baked kale chips (I like them with garlic and salt)
Quinoa chili (double the quinoa to make it last longer)
Zucchini with quinoa stuffing (my favorite quinoa recipe to date)
Stuffed eggplant
Rosted shrimp and orzo
Sesame soba noodle and veggie salad

Writing

Okay, so work on the novel last year was short-lived. For something so long in coming, I'm disappointed that I didn't make more progress when I said I would. This year, I am determined. The fact that finishing it has been on my list of new year's goals for the last seven years is irrelevant. Also: more letters. Someday I might even write them in calligraphy. Journaling is also an important and satisfying re-addition to my life. In keeping with the vintage theme, I have a journal made from an old copy of Emily Dickinson's poems.

Exercise

I always love the pictures of girl scouts from the '50s on hikes in the mountains. Exercise is not my favorite thing, but pictures like that inspire me and make me want to go do it. They did it without the help of spandex and breathable socks, so I have nothing to complain about. My only question is, when did they start selling cookies? And then how did they manage to keep their girlish figures after that?

Speaking of girlish figures, I also want to take more walks and enjoy the day because I'm convinced Americans drive too much. I blame the beautiful 1950s Cadillacs for making us want to drive everywhere instead of walk. Doubtless I would have a different opinion if I owned one myself, but in the meantime, this year is about diligence and discipline, and maybe even some tennis... but only because the outfits used to be fabulous.

Reading

While I'd love to say I plan to read nothing but fashion history this year, I must be honest and admit my interests are more variable than that. I have some great Victorian history books (especially about the shift to home life) I'd like to read, and I may yet find my way to a Sears Roebuck catalogue. And perhaps I'll add a dash of Viktor Frankl and Dale Carnegie for good measure.

Music

I love watching Jane Austen movies where you see these middle-class young women singing and playing the pianoforte at social gatherings. What's happened to the world? 

Anyway, obviously real life in this century is not like that, no matter how much we make believe. However, inasmuch as my ingenuity allows, I resolve to a) participate in more social gatherings, and b) start practicing the piano and singing more often to be prepared in case we fall back into the 19th century. Community choir, don't start without me!