Sleight of Hand

Throughout my adult life I have collected covered hangers for my wardrobe. I find they allow your clothes much more room in the space and prevent creasing and marking of the shoulders.
I am always on the lookout for pretty ones, or unusual ones and have, in my time, made a few from materials I have particularly liked. I use nothing else in my wardrobe now.

Some of these are covered with Liberty fabrics. I used to work alongside Liberty ( amongst other companies ) when I was younger and had my own business in the late 1970's, 80's and early 90's. They would send me the fabric and I would make up the finished item of their choice which they would sell in their shop on Regent St. for at least six times what they paid me to make it. :)

One of the perks, however, was that the left over fabrics ( and they always sent me far too much metreage ) were mine to do with as I wished.

So I have a lot of Liberty hangers in my wardrobe.

These hangers are quite easy to make and I propose to show you how to do this in my next post. Those who hate machine sewing ( like me ) will be happy, as there isn't a machine to be seen - it's all done by hand.

Onto these hangers I used to sew little pretty potpourri bags and sometimes, in addition, the hangers would be adorned with a little something special in the way of a bigger bag, a tussie mussie type creation.

So using lace and ribbon, bits of silk and embroidery, pearls, buttons and pieces from old clothes, I anticipated the fashion for pretty feminine things now sweeping the world of the Vintage collector, by at least two decades .Dunno how or why.

This means I have a lot of lovely things tucked away in drawers and in my wardrobe which I can show you in future posts and can help you to re-create for yourself.

Here are a few.
The first is a two tone silk creation double sided with antique bugle beads sewn on to the top. This pattern I have re-created many times in Christmas fabric for presents for my friends.

The second is a most delightful piece of lace which is Edwardian and which came with the effects of my friend's house when she willed all her materials etc. to me, after she died. It's the front of a chemise and I added another piece of lace and silk to make a sort of hanging ball.

 The last is a silk hanger with one of my little ( very easy ) silk potpourri bags.

All hand sewn...so get out your silks and lace, and sharpen your needles..... we shall begin to sew something like this- by hand....