Etsy Favourites - Gypsy Soul

Custom Bohemian Maxi Dress

Hand Stamped Gypsy Soul Necklace

Mountain Nature Photography

Follow Your Arrow Necklace

Mookaite Raw Piece

Burgundy

Handmade fabric flower brooch in burgundy with black bead centre.

Linked to:
Annemarie's Haakblog, I Heart Naptime

March 25

This lovely lady is a vintage doll wearing traditional greek costume, the kind that you will see today worn by children and adults in parades all over the country.

That's because today is a national holiday celebrating the beginning of the 1821 Greek War of Independence that led to the liberation of the country from the Ottoman Empire.

Today's parades are a wonderful sight as traditional costumes from all over Greece are pretty amazing in themselves but to see them parading down the street en masse -in bold technicolour- is a truly moving spectacle.

For more history click here or here.

For some great costumes click here, here, here, here, here or here.

Teal Tulle

I was going through some old photos when I came across these, of some long-gone teal tulle leaves. (In the picture above you can see them straight off the sewing machine and still attached to the tulle, before being cut out.)

I love making tulle leaves and I use them quite a bit when making my fabric flowers. But usually they're white or ivory, maybe silver, sometimes baby blue. 

 This particular shade is, perhaps, the boldest I've used in my tulle leaves.

Which is surprising, given my love of colour..... ( glaringly obvious in the pairing of said leaves with a flamboyant hot pink)

 I think I'll go get some of my bolder coloured tulle out and make some leaves, just for the fun of it...

Linked to:
Homework

Hydrangea Floral Bag

Just a few days after posting this vintage 1940s hydrangea flower applique I saw this wonderful hydrangea bag by Cath Kidston.

Even the colours look like the colours used for the trio of flower appliques in my vintage Vogart applique set.

Aren't they wonderful?

The whole bag is so totally girly and perfect for spring!

Etsy Favourites - Spring Blues

Clouds Nature Photography

Blue Star Decorative Pillow Cover

Large Hole Blue Czech Beads

Handmade Nautical Flat Shoes 

 Abstract Blue Painting

Vintage 1940s Vogart Appliques

Beautiful, vibrant, vintage floral applique by Vogart from the 1940s or 1950s with 3 different flowers: blue and pink hydrangeas, colourful tulips and a very big, very pink water lilly.

I got these a couple of years ago from The Last Pixie on etsy and it's taken me this long to get up the nerve to actually contemplate cutting them up and using them.

I get like that with rare vintage items that have a special hold on my heart.

 It's not like you can go out and buy another set to replace them if it turns out that you're not happy with the outcome of your project......

Now I know that I want to make a bag with one or more of these. A big, tote-style bag, something like the bag Marilyn Monroe is holding at the beach in this picture.

This is the back of the Vogart packaging with instructions on how to use the appliques and all sorts of suggestions on what to use them on: towels, wash cloths, dresses, table linens, scarves, doilies, aprons, bedspareds, draperies, blouses.

Personaly, if I didn't have the bag in mind, I'd put them on cushions and give my sofa a spring makeover.

Don't you just love the 1940s bedroom and fashion sketches?

It's great to see how they would probably have been used by women at the time these were being manufactured.

I want to incorporate them in a Vintage Pattern Pledge make, so I'll be searching for an authentic bag pattern to add them to.

The Last Pixie

Linked to:
The Silly Pearl, The Dedicated House, Homework

Humphrey B Bear

This dapper brown bear is over 40 years old but you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at him. 

The bear in question is Humphrey B Bear, a children's tv show character that was created in the 1960s and this is one of the early character merchandise items; a stuffed cushion to be precise.

He's been safely kept in storage since the early 70s and I just had him re-stuffed and introduced to our couch.

He's lots of fun to have around.

Humphrey B Bear lounging around in the sunshine

You can check out the Here's Humphrey site here, his facebbok page here, read all about the bear himself here and you can have a look at pictures of the tv character here.