Vintage Doll Trunk

 

Isn't this the best old doll trunk? This is the perfect display piece! The metal trunk is wonderfully battered with bent "dings" on the case, and sporting steamer trunk travel decals. The trunk also came with visions of the doll and dresses that must have lived inside the trunk.

 I remember receiving, one Christmas, a white leatherette trunk comeplete with a bride doll wearing a  satin and lace wedding gown made from fabrics from my cousin's wedding dress. We had been in her wedding, in the summer, and our Mother had managed to gather fabrics from the wedding and make a wedding gown for a "much-coveted" doll that we hoped Santa would deliver.  This trunk will be displayed in the parlor, filled with ribbons, until it finds a new home via Etsy!



Exotic flower bloom

I wanted to capture this flower while it was blooming. Further research needed for the correct name of the plant. I know it is an exotic, which I'm hoping will not follow the same path of my orchids! I've been watching the blooms since February. My husband has a huge greenhouse next to his office building. He works with a designer there, that assembles baskets of exotics. Beth will call him and tell him that new plants have arrived and he should come by and pick up his basket!  Their color and beauty helps us through the dark winter months.  My mission is to keep them alive!



Shabby Chic flower cuff full-length

The base for the cuff is ivory/gold Scalamandre tapestry fabric. One shabby chic flower from our flower trim, is the focal for the cuff. 3/4" mauve velvet ribbon adds  vintage appeal. Two rolled-ribbon roses in the pastel color-way, using our vintage hand-dyed rayon tape, were added among the doily pieces. Vintage buttons, and old glass pearls from our Etsy site, were used as added embellishments.

This is a 3-hour workshop project. Please contact victoria@ribbonsmyth.com for additional information.

Vintage Shabby Chic Flower Spring Cuff

Pictured, a new cuff design created for 2014 workshops. Using vintage elements such as  our vintage hand-dyed rayon tape, old doilies and pearl buttons, combined with our shabby chic flowers, create a great look for spring and summer.

Velvet Leaves and wire-edge ribbon collage

Velvet leaves always add dimension to collage pieces. Using eight inches of  7/8" wide wire-edge ribbon,  fold in half and add a running stitch along the folded edge; pull to gather with nymo beading thread. Once the flower is gathered, tack to the silk fabric and stitch a Japanese disk, anchored with a seed bead, into the center of the gathered flower.

Using our #13 chenille needle, stitch two RibbonRuffle Spider Web roses beneath the wire-edge ribbon flower. Using a yard of  peach iridescent wire-edge ribbon, make three small folded-ribbon roses and tack those around the RibbonRuffle roses. Clip velvet leaves from the lavender and moss velvet leaf branch and stitch around the wire-edge ribbon flowers. Add vintage pearls among the design.

Wire-edge ribbon and Velvet leaves Collage with Butterfly

 

I've never met a French Poscard, that I didn't like!

Here's one of our fusible vintage post card images, ironed onto moss doupioni silk and then embellished.

I cut pieces of heavy netting from a wedding gown, and basted around the card.  Adding  1950's Japanese mother-of-pearl disks, tacked on top of the netting, creates movement in the collage. Then add a velvet butterfly to the silk fabric. The velvet butterflies are created from silk velvet using century-old German presses. I tinted the butterfly using a cosmetic sponge and stamp pad ink. Different inks layered, create vintage shades. Amethyst seed beads are stitched into the body of the butterfly.



Velvet flower and Chenille Ribbon Leaves

 

Close- up detail.

Velvet flower and chenille work velvet table runner

Hope this will inspire! This is a velvet table runner that I believe was embroidered in the 1930's. The embroidery is approximately 18 inches in length and embroidered at each end on brown velvet fabric.  I rarely find or see chenille work, and the last piece I saw was in an New Orleans antique store. The 2mm stitches were embroidered with some type of "crinkle" ribbon. 



Duct Tape Flower Pen Bouquet

Isn't this a clever use for Duct Tape?

We are lucky to have two kind, supportive women, that help out, here at the farm.

Last week Cindy gave  me a duct tape flower pen bouquet.  Love the bright colors and the pens should help in the scramble of always looking for  that elusive pen in the studio. 

Detail of Embellished vintage image

A close-up of an embellished vintage image, illustrating the use of a RibbonSmyth hand-dyed rayon motif and our hand-dyed rayon tape, used to cover the edges of the vintage image. Add vintage beads, bits of ribbon embroidery and now the image is the focus of an altered book, a post card or a crazy quilt block.