Recent Vintage Finds Part 1 and a Baby Bonnet

Please click on all pictures to enlarge them.

 I love to search estate sales, antique shops, and thrift shops (like Hospice Resale Shops) for wonderful old linens, tea cups, and other small items.  I use them in my home and I use some of them in my sewing creations.  When I discover the hand-made stitching of another woman's hands from long ago I feel like I am rescuing the piece and giving it new life. The wonderful tablecloth above is all cross-stitched in green and is in excellent condition.  My daughter's favorite color is green and she has claimed this one for herself (although it lives in my linen closet and gets used on my table until she has a home of her own).  : )

The glasses below were discovered at Hospice.  They are old but I don't know how old.  The glass is delicate and the etching is beautiful.  They were an incredible deal to begin with but Hospice Resale was having an 50% off sale on glasses that day.  I got 32 vintage pieces for less than $16!  I love using them for tea parties.

 Aren't they pretty?

 Here are two lovely hand towels that I found in an antique shop in Georgia on my recent visit.  Those are hand-stitched Madeira butterflies on the one on the right and satin stitching.  The white one you can see better if you click on the picture to enlarge it.  It is also hand stitched Madeira work.

 These linen hand towels will be made into baby bonnets some day like the one below.  It was wide enough to go from ear to ear so all I had to do was cut the length and add a casing to the back of the bonnet.

 I wanted to soften the edge of the front so I hand applied gathered French cotton lace to the underside of the bonnet with tiny stitches using fine sewing thread.  Pretty pink ribbon was attached with a blue flower button to each side.  I embroidered little lazy daisy leaves to the side of the buttons.

This next find was unbelievable to me.   Someone in the last 40 years (the fabric is polycotton, more cotton than poly) spent untold hours stitching scenes from Bambi on a crib sheet and pillowcase, probably as a gift, and the recipient didn't keep it!  I first saw this in the window of an antique store here in St. Petersburg and agonized over the fact that I had spent more than I wanted to that day already and really couldn't get it.  I told the dealer that it shouldn't be left in the window to get sun damaged and left.  It was still there (but not in the window) over a month later and had a reduced price on it so it came home with me to go in my grandmother's hope chest.  Both my teenagers thought it was cute so I know my future grands will use it.  

 The last photo shows two tablecloths, two pillowcases, hankies, and some sweet little crocheted baby shoes.  I don't believe that the blue cross-stitched tablecloth was ever used!  It cost me $6 at Hospice Resale. I think that I will use the other light blue edged tablecloth after a few minor repairs in a baby dress.

Have you 'rescued' any vintage things lately?  Isn't it fun?

Have a wonderful day!