The Stately Homes of England, how beautiful they stand.... Noel Coward

Over the next few days, I'm going to be giving you a tour of Chateau Newstead.....Why? Because, after posting pictures of my bedroom makeover,  I have been asked to share my home by so many of you, with many of you. You seem to think it worthy of note. :)
There are, I promise, some nice photos of flowers and pretty things, all kinds.

One of my good friends once compared our 'umble 'ouse to a 'staytli ‘ome.'

Well.. no not really. It’s no where near as BIG as a stately home. For one thing, it’s just an average modern detached house.
However, Stephen and I have decorated it in a very classical manner. I suppose you could say that much of what you might find in a Stately Home, also appears, in a pared down form, in Newstead Manor. No, we have no real Rembrandts, no Titians grace the Great Hall, no Verrios are painted on the ceilings but we do have some hand painted walls. We have no 17th century Grinling Gibbons panelling but we have nevertheless, some fancy woodwork. There are no four poster beds with hand embroidered coverlets from the 18th century, but we do have the odd bit of hand done needlework.



So come along with us for the fun of a....


Guided Tour of Newstead Manor.

Let’s approach this as if we were actually being taken round by a knowledgeable guide....you know the sort...all tight grey bun ( bun I said ), pince nez and adenoids.


If there are bits you don't understand ( and I'm sure there will be - my jokes are really terrible... and some things are very English and won't be easy for my foreign friends ), then scroll down for an explanation. If you DO know what I'm on about....Good for you.
You just need to switch on your 'double entendre' button. ;) and maybe suspend disbelief for a moment or two. Oh, and put on your Silly Billy glasses. :)


"Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen.

Do step over the threshold but kindly watch your step around the antique cast iron doorstop. This item has been in the family for at least a twenty fourth of a century and The Earl and Countess use it every windy day to prop open the front door. It saves on vet’s bills when the dog is chopped in half by the violent slamming of the door, in a howling gale.

Welcome to Newstead Manor, the home of the twelfth Earl Brackley and his wife Lady Susanna.
You are now standing in the Great Hall. This is a room of many moods.

Good ( the char has been in to dust ), Annoyed ( when the dog has been in the pond and the paintwork is splattered ) and Downright miserable ( on a dull day when the colour drains, thereby showing up the dents in the walls made by eons worth of removal men. )
Here are housed many of the Manor’s smaller artworks; landscapes by Constable Newstead, Genre paintings by Vermeer Newstead and interiors of farm buildings by Cornetto Newstead. ( He was a younger brother of Canaletto and couldn't afford to paint grand interiors.)*1

Behind the door is a portrait of Delphi Dog Newstead painted entirely in Tapestry Stamps, ink and chalk and a work of great value ( to the incumbents ).

The chandelier is an early British Home Stores piece which was altered particularly to fit the Great Hall. It’s especially beautiful at Christmas when this room comes into its own ( this phrase is trotted out in all the best Interiors magazines...so I thought I'd use it) and the light is decorated with hanging red and white doves, holly and mistletoe. All tradesmen and visitors are grabbed and kissed, under it .....an old Newstead tradition.


In the Summer it’s hung with paper butterflies...an homage to the third Lord Burns who was a big butterfly collector in his youth. ( The present Lady Newstead’s  brother - who indeed has a fine and legal butterfly collection.)

Note the state of the art Smoke alarm, essential in a house of such National Unimportance.

Above the portrait of Delphi, the Divinitory Dog you will see an unusual collection of marble eggs. These were stolen from the nests of several small marble hens in the early 19th century by the ninth Earl Newstead, a scoundrel and a rotter.

Above the servants' door is a lovely late 18th century piece of Worcester porcelain. Lady Newstead found this tatty piece at a junk shop, paid one pound for it and re-painted it with enamels. She’s like that.

On your right you can see the Jacobean Staircase. So called because it was first painted by a chap called Jacob.

Mounted on the wall is a portrait of the family ghost, Magdalena Newstead daughter of the third Earl. She is said to haunt the Jacobean staircase. That‘s quite a difficult job because, for one thing, she is totally flat and the staircase is very short. Few have seen her.  As a ghost she is not very efficient, very hard to spot - especially sideways. { It's one of my dummy boards of course}*2

To the right of the Jacobean Staircase is the family rocking horse, made by the tenth Earl known as the DIY Earl. Owing to him, the manor was in a state, in the early part of the 20th century. :) He was pretty good with the horses though.

Note as we move into the Sitting Room to your left, a fine French mirror dated to the Fin de Siecle. If you look into it, you’ll look Fin for a Sec.
The frame has been restored; the original was found in a barn and was covered in bat poo. Lady Newstead rebuilt the piece in plaster of Paris ( apt ) and evicted the bats.

As we cross the threshold in to the Sitting Room or Grand Salon, note the fine Regency bay window added by the eleventh Earl, a great builder and renovator, nicknamed the Anglian Earl. *3 You will see several examples of Lady Newstead’s passion for glass displayed in this window. Single glass candlesticks dating from the last week of 1990 to the present day are seen here alongside other curiosities, such as a superb collection of dead flies and dried Harvestmen, moths and Lacewings.

Also her passion, note the many cushions which decorate the sofas and settees. Many of them were hand worked by her. They are often to be found on the floor. The dog evicts them at times when she wishes to lie on the sofa.

To your left is a fine example of a late 19th century gilded marble topped table. Curios displayed here range from a tiny pill cup ( very useful if you have tiny pills to take ) from the Worcester porcelain factory dated to the middle of the 19th century, to an Edwardian compote or tazza ( dish) in glass and silver gilt. This was a gift from the Twelfth Earl, for which Lady Newstead said “Tazza very much”
The little Fox Terrier was a hand crafted gift from an American friend and though seemingly incongruous in its present place - it's where Delphi the dog wants it!

On this table you will also see a beautiful early 20th century crystal and brass oil lamp, found in a junk shop, which has been altered, electrified and re-built. The ceiling chandelier is of the same variety. In an attempt to make it resemble an horrendously expensive Venetian coloured example, Lady Newstead has strung it with bits and bobs from her sewing box and rubbish tin. Looks a treat!

The French Walnut Settee comes originally from the historic town of Banbury. It dates from the middle of the 19th century and copies an earlier style. Lady Newstead found this piece in a local junk shop for the princely sum of £100. It was originally covered in bright yellow and purple Designers Guild huge tulips fabric which did it no favours at all. One boring Boxing Day the present Earl decided that they would recover it in a fabric more in keeping with its style and age. Thousands of taps of tacks, one gouged thumb and several innovative swear words later, the piece was finished and went on show. It's now worth nearer to £1000. It’s not bad to sit on...considering.

If you look up, you will see a particularly fine piece of Grinning Baboon’s * 4 handiwork. He worked extensively at Newstead Manor ( under the 4th Earl ) when he was on holiday from his other projects, at Petworth, Burleigh and Hampton Court. With bits left over and bits that fell off, he created a fine pelmet to grace the Salon window and hide the ugly bits left by the 17th century builders. The work was painted at a later date by the wife of the Fifth Earl, who couldn’t bear bare Medium Density Fibreboard. *5

There are, in this room, several examples of the glass blower’s art. Two large Silvered glass apothecary jars commissioned by the seventh Earl, known as the Shirty Earl, to house his large shirt button collection. The shirt buttons were sold off by his son, the Miserly Earl, whose shirts were not large, to finance the building of the automobile garage in the early 20th century. He was car mad and was killed, in his dotage, when he was in collision with a penny farthing bicycle, living up to his name.

Two mid 19th century Mercury glass candlesticks can be seen on the mantel. These have actual Mercury in them and have been hermetically sealed, for we know that Mercury is poisonous should it come into contact with humans and can turn you stark raving mad. ( Quite safe in this house then...)

It’s said that the seventh Earl bought this pair and opened them to use the Mercury as a cure for his Syphillis ( contracted whilst on the Grand Tour...of Brighton ). He went mad ( and shirty), had over two hundred shirts and employed twenty laundresses to wash them ( more about them later) - and sew on the buttons. Also on the mantel are two Bonbonieres from the Dresden factory dated to the end of the 18th century.
They have never housed any bon~bons or buttons ( except chocolate ones at Christmas ) but do occasionally see a drawing pin.

                                               Paul Revere.....does he look as if he trusts you?

The fine silver condiments ( salt and pepper pots ) on the mantel are from the U.S.A. and are based on designs executed by Paul Revere, the famous 18th century American silversmith and revolutionary. They were given to the Manor by a departing American tourist ( sorry Bonnie ), who decided she'd never get them through customs. ;)

The beautiful mirror above the fireplace is a mid 19th century picture frame. The present Lady Newstead renovated this and built up three corners from one existing. This was her first foray into water gilding, which owing to an error in the printed guide booklet ( on sale at our gift shop ) she never attempted again. Water gliding can be done only once.

The two portraits at the left side of the mirror are housed in renovated, but not water glided, frames from the early 20th century. The left hand one is of Lady Newstead’s Great Great Grandmama, painted by the famous Swedish water colourist, Anders Dis, and the right hand portrait is Jacobean, painted by the Scottish painter Anders Dat and is known as Ruff Maudie. Nuff said.

On this wall is also a small statue of one of the Estate’s fine cattle - a Highland Cow. This was made by the twelfth Earl and has undergone a sex change. The original wooden piece was male but the Earl rebuilt it in Papier-mâché and so Angus became Agnes.

All other pictures are oils by the infamous 18th century forger Raphael Peale Newstead*6, from an American branch of the family. We don’t talk about this branch. It’s a rotten branch. Fruitful but rotten.

The demi lune ( half moon ) table is 19th century burr walnut and was made from the shells of those cracked at a particularly good party at the end of the Naughty Nineties. Newstead Manor was famed for its orgiastic parties under the eighth Earl.

Many famous people dined here and all of them left something for the Earl to remember them by. These mementos are all displayed on the demi lune table.

                                                                 Such a snazzy dresser
Oscar Wilde’s *7 pretty little porcelain rose and forget me not brooch; Queen Victoria’s Viagra pillbox- the loss of which prompted the phrase "We are not amused"; King Edward Vll’s *8 pot, ( it was rumoured he had a very large pot ), Jules Verne’s*9 shrunken Fox Terrier and other treasures.

 

Mahogany Canterbury ( music chest ) with beautiful inlay c. 1901

The beautiful inlaid Canterbury is an Edwardian piece and houses some of the Manor’s collection of recorded music. No room for a piano. <sigh>


The early 19th century Mahogany and Satinwood roll top desk- come -bookcase is a fine Maple and Co. piece. It is full of good china, glass and rubbish that won’t fit anywhere else. Bought as an investment by the twelfth Earl, she is named Mabel and has become one of the family. She will not now be sold under any circumstances.
The Earl and his good Lady have plans to live in her when they retire. ( Hmmmm Mercury again?)

Squeezed in to the space between the desk and the sofa, is a French Salon Chair dated to about 1780. It has its original Chinese silk cover and is rather tatty. The Earl and Lady Newstead are loathe to have it restored. It would cost a lung and a kidney.They are already operating on just one each, after having had to pay for the the house to be renovated in the 1990’s. Besides, they like it that way.

By the east door stands a 19th century cabinet of ease*10, made in Burr Walnut, which is known as Deputy Dawg*11 owing to the large flaps either side, which look like ears. Upon this is a beautiful piece of Irish silver - a little pierced basket - or least it appears so when you have had one over the eight.

I will leave you now, to roam at Will. He won't mind.

Another guide will take over shortly. Please remember, this is mostly abject drivel but, amazingly this account does contain some facts. If you can find them. "

( Explanations  - *1 Actually they are all by me....yes....I was all those painters - in a previous life. ;)
*2 If you don't know about these go to my blog PastMastery
*3 Anglian windows- A well known British double glazing company.
*4 Grinling Gibbons 1648 –1721 was the finest wood carver this country has ever seen. Grinning Baboon however, was not.
*5 MDF- a wood substitute....poor Grinling.
*6 Raphael Peale 1774-1825 American painter...yes I am pretending to be him again.
*7 Oscar Wilde 1854-1900 Wit, satirist, writer and all round clever dicky. He was a snazzy dresser...and Gay of course.
*8 King Edward Vll (reigned 1901- 1910) of Great Britain. Son of Victoria and an all round gigolo.
*9 Jules Verne- the first real science fiction writer. Many of his ideas are now science fact. Perhaps not shrinking people though...or dogs.
*10 Cabinet of Ease is a polite word for a place to put your used chamber pot at night.
*11 Deputy Dawg- You MUST know about him.....

2 Pounds for Your Thoughts.

Someone asked me at a weekend craft fair ( I must have been staring into space ) : "A penny for your thoughts..." and then went on to ask me what it was like being creative. If you are...you are and it's hard to quantify, for someone else..

I have been a life long creator of things.
As far back as I can remember, I have made things.  I remember once when we had a fridge delivered and the huge box was sitting in the kitchen for a while, I dragged it out to the garden to make a house of it... cut windows, made 'curtains' and filled it with flowers from the garden using milk bottles for vases. I was probably about 5.

We had a huge garden in those days and being an only child, my amusements were often solitary and creative. Me and my little Dachshund, my best friend Remus.

Remus and me..making pies 1961

My Granny taught me to knit. My Mum carried on where she left off  ( Granny lived in the North of England and we, in the South). I had a sewing box for my birthday when I was eight. I made lots of little dresses for my tiny dolls ( most of my dolls were mini ones ) - I was into small things even then. I learned to draw..( my Grandfather was a superb pen and ink man ) and finally, I took up water colour painting.
I sold my first painting when I was 13 - well, alright, to my Father's friend - but I thought I had become a millionaire, when he paid me £12.00 for it....in old money! I earned £100 for my very first car when I was 20, by having an exhibition at the Bajazzo Gallery in Marlborough. And when I qualified in 1976, I had put myself through my finals with money earned from my artistic endeavours. I financed all my own education from then on, by working in paint.

I spent some time in Sweden as a young woman and slowly the arts of the Scandinavian area seeped into me. I took up embroidery, as it was big in Swedish culture. I learned cross stitch and tapestry, ribbon weaving and band weaving.

 Above.. A tapestry design created by taking a picture from a plastic bag!

When I returned I had the germ of an idea for a business and in 1982 launched a silk painting business ( it was relatively new then ) and I painted anything that wouldn't move! Including rocks and eggs.
I taught it at night school. I did trade and craft fairs.
Finally I began Rice Mice - probably the business which will go down in history as ME. ( Though, truly it was not Me at all ).

The stand of Rice Mice at THE HARROGATE GIFT FAIR  in 1985

 A page from the Christmas catalogue from General Trading London about 1989

I traded for 17 years, employed 12 workers and sent my goods all over the world, including the U.S. Japan, the Middle East and Australasia. I travelled to most major trade fairs and could count Royalty and 'celebrities' amongst my customers. I supplied Fortnum and Mason, Harrods, Liberty and many other large stores here and abroad and lots and lots of little ones. Then, I created little WHIMSICALS ( GO TO : http://pastmasterywhimsicals.wordpress.com - sorry for some reason it won't form a link to this blog ) and they too went winging around the world. All this alongside my real job.

I used to wake up on Christmas morning thinking..." there are hundreds of people all around the world waking up this morning, like me, who will open a present and find something I have made."
It's a lovely feeling to think you can make so many people happy.

I got married, moved away and started to paint dummy board figures in miniature - small things again :) PastMastery was born. ( Click the links above to know more.)

When I got ill and was no longer able to paint small things I founded BoxCleva- working with paper. I work when I can and with what I can...less and less as time goes on but I still have that urge to create. If ever I couldn't create something - I might as well not be here. Put me in a box and bury me. :(

Now, I have Gather Ye Rosebuds to show some of the things I do, or have done, which are not always paper and perhaps not painting. Strangely, I'm not a flower painter, yes, I have painted them but it's not my speciality.
I do like to make them in paper and I LOVE to embroider them.

Embroidered cushions - very Victorian I think I did these between  1989 and 1997

I can still manage free embroidery, where the action of sewing comes from the wrist. I can't manage tapestry any more where the pulling of the woolen thrums through the canvas has to be a shoulder action. I miss it - I do. There are so many lovely things I'd like to create in wool.

So I tried, a little while ago, wool on wool embroidery. That was whole lot of fun. Very slow to grow.... but wonderfully engaging.

A small lap rug wool on wool embroidery much of it three D. Took me from 1999 to 2004

I'd recommend it to anyone who liked to do canvas work but who no longer manages the holes.
Similar but different and so very rewarding.

I have little notion what will be my next idea....it might be my own entirely...it might be inspired by ( but not copied from ) someone else. We all owe a huge debt to all those crafters who have gone before us. However, more and more 'technology' can now be applied to craft. Sadly I think this somewhat devalues those items made entirely by the sweat and the furrowing of the brow, the fiddling of the fingers, the engaging of the left side of the brain.

My last idea was taken from the web.. silk flower making. Not my own idea but I think I've taken it a little further than some. I have the little tickling in my creative brain at the moment which tells me that there is another idea percolating. It still needs some thought. It needs refining... it has potential..more than that I will not say. I have made the first experiment on my Tussie Mussies. :)

I have no children, no nieces or nephews, no grandchildren to leave my hoard to. No one. Every time I make something new ( which I am not trying to sell, of course ), I think " What for? Where will it end up?"
I think that is why I like to give things away. ( See my latest Facebook Giveaway ).
But I can say that I will have left behind me, not children of my body, but children of my creative brain, my fingers, my eyes and my heart. And I hope I have given people pleasure..and still do.

Lots of people create.
Few are truly original. No one however, creates in isolation. As John of Salisbury a long time ago,     ( and Newton after him in 1676 ) said,
"We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours." ( Metalogicon 1159 )

We are standing on the shoulders of giants. It's written on the edge of a £2 coin..did you know that?


I think thoughts are probably worth much more than a penny now...with inflation!

Thank you http://blog.imb.biz/2007/09/07/shoulders-of-giants/  for the photo

A Famine of Roses, a Tussie mussie of Toile.

It's sunshining but it's windy. The temperature has risen...doesn't it always after a Bank Holiday? It's almost as if the weather waits for everyone to go back to work and then pulls out all the stops.

Best thing to do, I think..is work the bank holidays and have the rest of the week off....;)  That'll do it!

So, owing to the weather being so horrible, I have hardly any roses blooming in the garden as I had hoped. After all it is Flaming June and the beginning of the rose season. Well, it should be. I have one tiny little white rose out, just one bloom - a miniature one ( Frothy). I think that has only come out because it's sheltered by a lot of other plants. Brave little mite.

I am suffering then, with 'Rosacareo'... a famine of Roses - a deep seated psychological need for the blossom of the rosebush accompanied by the smell of them.

So what can I do?

Make my own of course.

 A little rose, touched with pink chalk.

I made them in Mulberry paper which isn't something I use very often and I shall be adding them to a fabric project soon.
The fabric I shall be using is this.....

A lovely blue and cream pastoral Toile de Jouy. Do you know about Toile de Jouy?

It is a fabric style invented in the latter part of the 18th century in Jouy in France. It usually depicts jolly rural folk doing jolly rural things. Of course it's a sanitized version of rural life in France at this time. Heavens! The actual truth was about as far as you can get from the pictures lovingly drawn onto the first Toiles.
On Toile fabrics we find, amongst other things, shepherds sitting amongst a riot of flowers tootling gently on their flutes. Their well endowed ladies ( in dresses they could NEVER have afforded ), sit decorously making daisy chains, feeding lambs, cuddling ( clean and healthy ) dogs or tripping lightly under the boughs of blossoming trees holding the hands of sweetly dressed and well nourished children. In the background are rivers full of game birds, water mills turning obediently, whilst swallows swoop and dive to the eaves.
Hmmmm.
Let them eat cake eh?

What price the French Revolution?

But this Idyllic world of the Toile has a HUGE appeal to us now.... us with our hustle and bustle of 21st century life; with the noise, the dirt, the lack of decorum in behaviour, the 'In your faceness' of everything, the paucity of grace and poise, the very real lack of beauty. This is, of course why people have the hankering for the nineteen- fifties, at the moment too, which is seen as a Golden Age, an age of common sense and order, when females were ladies and men were gentlemen.

Everything comes round again doesn't it?

I'm glad there is a revival in Toile de Jouy. It's so brilliant for crafty projects. Mine came from a book of old GP and J Baker swatches. They get thrown out when new books arrive at the Interior Designers. What a waste...so I bagged some. In the next few weeks I'll be using them in different ways.
I shall make something special with it, for a inaugural GIVEAWAY on my new Facebook page for Gather Ye Rosebuds.
Yes I have added GYR to my Facebook list so those who would like to follow there can do so easily.
Gather Ye Rosebuds Facebook
Do go and have a look.

I shall be making a Tussie Mussie in Toile.

Oh...you might not be familiar with what a tussie mussie is?

Originally, in the days of smelly open sewers, poor personal hygiene, in the days before the electric washing machine and the detergent to go in them, when REAL shepherds smelled of sheep, when children were filthy all the time and houses were home to fleas and lice, a tussie mussie might have been a Jolly Good Thing.

 This image comes from Flowers for Canada

Naturally only the wealthy could afford them. They were, when first we hear about them in the early 15th century, little posies of sweet smelling flowers tied tightly with ribbon or string. A nosegay. They would be the sort of flowers which had strong perfumes, roses, pinks, carnations, lavender, rue...you get the idea.
The epithet tussie mussie also applied to the little pomanders that people would stick under their noses when travelling around the smelly town. These might be filled with a pot pourri of dried flowers mixed with spices and herbs and they were thought - certain combinations of plants - to ward off plague.
Of course they did nothing of the sort.... but it was a nice thought. You could die with a smile on your face and carnations in your nostrils.

No one seems to know precisely when the words were first coined. The words were around in the 15th century.
Tussock comes to mind...when we look at the original bouquets, as they were semi circular humps. Tussock is small hill. Tussie can also mean a collection of flowers.

Mussie? Well in certain parts of Canada..it's a horrible monster though I don't think we shall go there.
In Scotland it's a wee mousie and it can be said that, in certain quarters the word mussie applies to a higher power...gods and goddesses.
But I think it's much more likely to be from the Anglo Saxon mose - moss.

When you make a flower tussie mussie you wrap the stems in moss to keep them fresh.

I'm not going to wrap mine in moss. It would be a toossie messy then. :) But I am going to fill it with goodies. You see a Tussie Mussie is also, nowadays, a cone of paper or some other material filled with pretty things and decorated to the hilt with ribbons, lace and flowers, like this one....

If you go to Facebook and LIKE Gather Ye Rosebuds, you will be in with a chance to win my Fabric Tussie Mussie plus...the contents.

Some antique lace,
Some ribbon,
Some old buttons
Some hand made millinery flowers
Some hand printed paper and some Vintage images for cutting out.

Some of my silk flowers
and some little embellishments which will do nicely whether you are a card maker, a box maker, a candle decorator. They would be useful for lots of crafts - and for making your own tussie mussie too.




Off you go!

I'm going to check my Rosebuds...can't gather any yet ;)

Gather Ye Hangers

At last I am able to bring you the promised tutorial on how to make padded hangers really easily. The ones you buy in the shops are mostly machine sewn and that is quite hard to replicate if you haven't a sewing machine, or like me, you aren't keen on things machine sewn, preferring to do things by hand.

YOU WILL NEED
Some thin -ish material. You can make them with upholstery fabric. I've done this to match my spare room, for guests to hang their clothes, but it's not an easy project if you are a beginner. If you are sure of your sewing skills then go ahead and make one from a thicker material.

A wooden hanger or a good quality flat plastic one.

Some wadding - the sort of thing that wears well and doesn't move is patchworkers wadding. Ordinary stuffing will do but you will need to carefully glue it in place. It might even be a good idea to run a few stitches through and over it to make it stable.

Some lace - should you want to decorate the bottom of the hanger. Wider lace is easier to manage.

Thread- this needs to be nylon or strong thread as you will be pulling your running stitches quite hard to gather the material around the hanger.

Ribbon - as a decoration....and anything else you might like to add. Pretty trims like you find on underwear, look good, little rhinestones and pearls - anything that takes your fancy.

THIS IS WHAT YOU DO

Cut your material two inches bigger than your wooden hanger.
Wrap the wadding around it, securing as you wrap with glue or stitching.
Fold your material in two. Round the edges.

If you want lace on the edge, sew the lace to one of the edges, turning a tiny hem as you go.

With the strong thread, sew running stitches to the edge, turning a hem as you sew and passing through BOTH the pieces of material. Now make a small incision in the folded edge right in the middle and pass the wire hook through it. Finish the stitching but don't cast it off.... leave a long thread and PULL it tight.
This will gather the material around the hanger. Once it's as tight as you would like it, finish the stitches and cut the thread.
Now tie a bow around the wire hook where it emerges from the material and glue in place. Decorate as you wish.

If you want to make a hanger without lace then the fold goes to the bottom of the hanger and you will gather the top. Sew the running stitches along the top ( folding a hem as you go ) and slip over the hanger leaving a gap for the hook to protrude.

For the rest, the process is just the same. ( click the images to make them larger ).

~~

When I got married I made myself a hanger for my wedding dress. I was an older bride and so I didn't have a white fru -fru dress and actually, I hired it. It was cream lace with a handkerchief hem and though I was only in possession of it for a few days...it looked really nice on its hanger. I still use that very hanger today for other clothes. It's a reminder of the day I got married - with me every day.

Below is the wedding hanger with my honeymoon nightdress and negligee. There is a small silver horseshoe sewn to the top. :)

I have made hangers for other occasions too and for other people as presents. If you are a bit handy with the needle, you can make them embroidered with names, flowers, or monograms.

 This little hanger has been slip stitched and not gathered and tiny pearls sewn on here and there.

I rather went to town on this one!

You can add little lavender bags ( a future tutorial ) to keep the wardrobe sweet smelling and it's a great way to use up tiny bits of lace or ribbon you have hanging ( forgive the pun ) about! :)



There is just one thing about making these hangers One is never enough!