9283 Vintage Crafts

Contents To Make Something Out of Nothing 9 Commandments of Crafting 13 Good to Have at Home 14 Bedroom 17 The Good Taste? 44 Kid’s Room 47 About Flea Markets and Such 57 Kitchen 63 Living Room 83 Nooks 95 The Dream of Having a House 113 Garden 117 There is No Right Answer 136 Index 140 Acknowledgments 143

Bedroom The bedroom should be a quiet and peaceful place, a haven for beauty dreams. Yet, too often it’s strewn with dirty laundry, strange-looking earplugs, and piles of books scattered in a mess. That is when you will need to have a good amount of storage space to tuck away the mess, so you don’t have to look at it.

I love cozy fabrics and would love to have a pretty rug to put my feet on. I make the bed with lots of blankets and pillows; a bed can never have too many pillows. Number one is under the head, number two is on top, number three goes to the bedmate, and number four is lost by the feet.

Number five is to throw when the dog wakes up and barks. I always miss, though. Hence pillow number two—a reliable protection against noise.

Instead of a blanket, you can have a flea market bargain-quilt. In the past, they made fun quilts—floral, polka dot, and plaid in absolutely hysterical color combinations. Today, they always white. Stylish perhaps, but certainly boring. I have heard people say that it’s disgusting to re-use used linens. So it amuses me to no end to think that these same people, with good appetite, eat vegetables that are grown in cow shit.

The Bed 18

c r a f ts

Champagne in Bed

geous headboard. In our attic, there were some

As a side table, I use an auction find—an old

old mirror doors left behind when we moved

Champagne box from Moët & Chandon. I bought

in, and I used those to build a headboard. Three

wheels from the auto shop and fixed them on

of the mirror doors create a really magnificent

with screws, so the side table’s easy to move.

headboard, but two fit well with a standard

On top are two old chests that I inherited from

70-inch wide bed. I simply leaned them against

a relative. I like that the paint is abraded and

the wall and slid the bed against them. The bed

a little drab. And I love that the side table is so

works as a stopper and prevents the doors from

high! I set the alarm clock at the very top so I

tipping over. If you only have one door, you can

can’t turn it off in my sleep.

instead lay it down longways and use it as a slightly lower headboard. Consoles on the bot-

Pretty Sugar Boxes

tom and two screws hold the end cap to the wall.

The side table in our guest bedroom consists of a sugar box standing on its side, filled with books.

Side tables in particular are often cluttered with books, so why not let them get the lead role? This side table can fit a large amount of them.

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v inta g e

Our bed is a lovely thing. Mostly I love the gor-

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v inta g e c r a f ts

Bed cover of kitchen towels

quilt top and sew around all the edges, keeping

Old towels are simultaneously a piece of art and

a 3/5 inch seam allowance. Leave an opening of

a piece of women’s history. Here, I have made a

16 inches, so that you can turn the blanket the

patchwork of my grandmother’s old towels. It’s

right way out. Press the seam allowance with an

a bit fiddly and requires a bit of care to make.

iron. Then turn the cover right side out so that

It’s also important that the lining is washed and

the padding is now inside the quilt. Hand sew

shrunken. Preferably use polyester thread as it

the opening closed. In order to keep the padding

does not shrink the same way as cotton thread

from lumping in the laundry, you may want to

does, and sew with a stitch length of one-tenth

sew through all three layers in some places. Fol-

of an inch.

low the seams in the towels and sew together the quilt, padding, and lining fabric.

Instructions: Place the towels on the floor to get an idea about the best composition. Since the towels are of different sizes, I chose to sew them so that they overlapped; in this way, the outer edges of the quilt form straight lines. Pin a few of the towels at a time and sew them together with a straight stitch (it’s easier if you start from a corner). Place three layers of padding on the floor. Place the lining on top of it with the outer side facing the outer side of the quilt top.

Pin the three layers of padding to the lining and

what you need: • 16 towels (for a single bed) • padding • lining • sewing machine • tape • polyester thread • needles and pins • iron