Restoring the Old Girl

Sew you think you want to renovate....

We have found the most incredible amount of craft things in the house including needles and thread, old scissors, thimbles, two sewing machines, transfers, pieces of needlework half completed (needle & thread still attached). The house actually included a designated 'sewing room', a tiny room off to the side of the sleepout.

I've come across hundreds of buttons, many of which have been stored in intricately carved old cigar boxes - gorgeous!

I had so many buttons a friend of mine divided them into colours and another friend has taken them off to turn them into other things, although I've since found I still have hundreds left.

I found details of an embroidery competition - entries due some time in 1931 (won't bother sending mine in).

I have come across metres of old fabric, most of it ghastly, but some is fantastic, including some red and white print cotton in a Marimekko style.
I've also come across beads, beads and beads. Many beads are from broken necklaces, kept for some spare time when they can be repaired.

The beads are mostly glass, crystal, shell or bakelite.

I always think of myself as a bit of a Martha Stewart, and oddly so do some other people, but in actual fact I'm hopeless at making things.

The ideas are in my head, and they look fabulous, but obviously the instructions aren't getting through to my hands.

I'm happy to keep looking at the beads though, imagining what I'd do with them if I had the capabilities.