We have a thing for it over at our shop. We snap up pieces of colorful, vintage seersucker gingham like nobody’s business.

I love the feel of it, the gradient colors, the texture… the lightness… and rescuing pieces of old fabric that are still beautiful and shouldn’t be stored for another few decades.

Recently we made up some spring and summer dresses with some little pieces we found. A blue and brown gingham seersucker one…

… and a hot pink raspberry and golden yellow one

 

To celebrate the sweet first signs of spring (the warming sun, the growing frenzy of the animals, the feeling – that feeling – of rebirth)… I thought it was time for a little giveaway.

To say thank you to you, for reading, for visiting, for sharing your thoughts and ideas.

Here is a set of 5 lovely crisp, shiny midcentury vintage linen napkins, in beautiful condition (they seem unused).  Tied up with a length of vintage floral seam binding.

For your summer picnic, your dinner table, a delicious weekend brunch (hmmm… can you tell I’m hungry again?!)

To enter, please leave a comment below. You may enter once a day until the giveaway closes one week from today – Wednesday March 9th. I’ll pick a winner randomly.  Bonne chance!

p.s. VERY important: please make sure I have a way of contacting you should you win (leave an email address or a website… otherwise I will choose another winner – thanks!)

Update: thanks to everyone for entering!
Random Number Generator said # 18 was the lucky entry… so congratulations to Rachel – At the Butterfly Ball!

I have a thing for scraps. Especially old, pretty ones that make me think of my grandmother when she was my age.  And I have quite the collection now, of small pieces of cotton with frayed edges but gorgeous colors and patterns. In almost every color in the rainbow.

And I’m not really a collections kind of girl.

I have all sorts of ideas for these nuggets of beauty. When I have more time, I think sometimes. In the meantime, I use them to make our little upcycled gnome dolls in the shop, often pairing them with bits of organic cotton leftover from other projects like bedding and dresses.

It makes me feel a little bit cozier inside knowing that these tiny but beautiful bits and odds and ends are being put to use, made into something functional… my version of upcycling.

refreshing – photo print from polaroid by girlhula

organic flap cap kid’s hat 4-8 years by worthygoods

sweet memories photo print by mariterecr

Vondelpark pillow cover by hazelandhunter

vintage bookworm dress from Dycee

vintage blue and red 1970s peasant skirt from TheRubyKitten

Brighton Beach camp footstool by gallantandjones

large metal swag lamp from AMradio

soft leather ballet flats, size 9 from lunashoesuk

mixed media assemblage by PaulaArt

vintage 1960s wedding wiggle dress from iloveswift

porcelain pomegranate vase by NewMoonStudio

kiss me print by holli

orange vintage uzebek suzani from bazaarbayar

wooden butterfly wand in red and pink by ImaginationKids

Juliet Hogan

{My mom and I share a love for the kind of style that hints of an earlier time, just a little bit. These pieces – old and new – are some of my new favorites. I like to keep images and shapes, cut-outs and design motifs from different times, around where I work. What inspires you?}

Fancy Clothing

itsastitch

birdie handmade

d4discus

patouche

madametambourine

Where I do dishes is a very beautiful place in my home now.

The window looks out onto our 100 year-old (and slightly, well, more than slightly) rusty fire escape, and then the house next door, which is altogether too close.

At first I had a sheer window drape there, but then I took it off, put up a wax papered window star, and set about finding some little collections to make me smile, and reflect the beautiful light.

Little awkward spaces can be very beautiful, I learned.

I folded up a vintage tea towel to catch the spray, and have two old, old Mason jars side by side. One has vintage marbles in it, the other very old spools of thread in the sweetest shades.

What do you look at when you do the dishes?